P. Walter Giua
Muravera (CA), 14 marzo 1927
Cagliari, 21 dicembre 1986
Lavorò in Italia ed in Giappone. Di anni 56. Sepolto a Guasila (CA)
Il P. Walter Giva, nato a Muravera (CA) il 14 marzo 1927, dopo il primo anno di liceo nel seminario regionale di Cuglieri (NU), entrò nel nostro Istituto. Fatta la professione religiosa il 20.10.1947, compì gli studi li ceali a Desio.
Superata una grave malattia polmonare, studiò teologia nella nostra casa di Piacenza. In quel periodo manifestò le sue doti personali, e un particolare temperamento comico. Si trovava spesso al centro delle nostre ricreazioni, per i suoi motti di spirito accompagnati da un sorriso lievemente beffardo, che subito si spegneva, come per farsi perdonare. Sui palcoscenico era lo spasso generale quando imitava Chaplin o altri divi del momento.
Ordinato sacerdote i1 17.3.1956, insegnò nella nostra Casa di Macomer e nel 1959 partì per il Giappone. Lavorò a Kobayashi, Kisliiwada e Misaki.
L'inglese fu sempre il suo cruccio. Perciò, tornato in Italia nel 1967, andò a Glasgow per far pratica di quella lingua.
Ritornò in Giappone nel 1969. Lavorò a Misaki e Kobe. Rientrò in Italia nel 1982. Si sentiva stanco e bisognoso di riposo per un esaurimento che si trascinava da tempo. Chiese un periodo di assenza dall'Istituto che trascorse parte in famiglia e parte lavorando nella parrocchia di S. Margherita.
Nel 1985 nella nostra Casa di Cagliari si dedicò all'animazione missionaria e l'anno seguente passò alla Casa di Macomer.
Il mattino del 21 dicembre 1986 era partito per Cagliari per partecipare ad un funerale. Giunto all'altezza di Serrenti, forse colpito da malore, perse il controllo della macchina e si spostò sulla corsia opposta mentre giungeva una macchina con due sposi diretti ad una cerimonia nuziale. La collisione fu tremenda. Ci volle l'intervento dei pompieri per estrarre i corpi dalle lamiere contorte.
Ricordiamo al Signore questo confratello e le altre persone coinvolte nell'incidente.
Fr. Walter Giua
Muravera (CA), 14 marzo 1927
Cagliari, 21 dicembre 1986
Fr. Walter Giua died in an head-on car accident on the road between Sassari and Cagliari, at Serrenti, on Dec. 21 1986. He was 56 years old, born in Muravera (Cagliari) on March 14 1927.
After finishing High School in the Institute “P. Martini” of Cagliari, he had entered the Minor Seminary of that city for his Junior College studies. Later on he had gone on into the Regional Seminary of Cuglieri (Nuoro) for his Senior College. After his first year in that College, he entered our Congregation at S. Pietro in Vincoli on Sept. 14, 1946. Having made his first Profession on Oct. 20 1947, he finished his philosophical studies in our Seminary in Desio.
Suffering from pneumonia in that first year, he was hospitalized in a Sanitarium in Sondalo (Sondrio). Having sufficiently recovered, he finished his philosophical studies and entered our Theology Seminary of Piacenza. It was during these years that the best Fr. Giua came to light for his gifts of goodness, his comradeship and his outstanding capacity at personifying people in theatrical sketches.
Ordained on March 17 1956, he was first assigned as teacher at our Apostolic School of Macomer. On Aug. 8 1959 he left for Japan where he served at Kobayashi, Kishiwada and Misaki until the first months of 1967. “I love the mission of Japan, and I’m very happy to be here. First of all, because Divine Will has decided this way; secondly, because I think this is the mission that best responds to my liking and my abilities.” (Easter 1960) After a period of vacation, he went to Glasgow (Scotland) to perfect his English and for a period of rest.
In 1969 he returned to Japan and was newly assigned as Pastor to Misaki, where he stayed until 1980, except for a brief vacation in Italy in 1974. From Misaki he was transferred to the Regional House of Kobe as Rector. Fr. Pugnoli recalls: “His devotion life was simple, yet sure and constant. His time was almost like a watch. No one could disturb him during his prayer time. And, in the evening, we would recite the rosary walking in the large park of our residence in Kobayashi, like we did in Novitiate, and end our prayers in front of the small grotto of our Lady.”
However, in 1982 feeling tired and in need of rest, being on the verge of an exhaustion – as he himself stated in a letter – for having dragged on for years without a proper treatment, he asked for a period of absence, which he was granted, spending it, first in the family and later working in the Parish of Santa Margherita, Cagliari. In 1985 he was assigned to our Apostolic School in Cagliari for Missionary animation work. In September of that year he was transferred to Macomer for the same work.
On Dec. 21, after having said Mass in a Parish at Macomer, he had left for Cagliari to attend a Funeral Mass. At about 20 miles from Cagliari, nearing Serrenti, probably overcome by sudden illness, he lost control of his car and invaded the opposite lane and headed into an on-coming car, occupied by a couple on their way to a wedding. The impact head-on collision was deadful. The two cars entwined each other, provoking the death of the three occupants. It was necessary the intervention of firemen to free the bodies from the twisted wreckage.
Finally, we recall some notes from Fr. Sottocornola, on his period in Japan: “His exceptional comic talents would make each encounter very cordial and much appreciated. And even when I thought that his frank thoughts would be inappropriate, I could see, to my surprise, that the Japanese would immediately capture the generosity and transparency of his soul, confiding in him. His heroic act was his daily witness of humor in the midst of many personal crosses, hidden inside of his soul.”
We wish to recommend to the Lord’s mercy our dear Confrere and the two persons involved in the accident.
