P. Ernesto Luviè
Pizzighettone (Cremona), 10 settembre 1940
Parma, 31 maggio 1991
Lavorò in Italia 10 anni. Dedicò al Bangladesh 13 anni. Morì all'età di anni 51. È sepolto a Pizzighettone (CR)
P. Ernesto nacque nel 1940. Venne a noi nel 1956 dal seminario di Cremona, del quale ebbe sempre grato ricordo. Più tardi scriverà ad un amico: "Nel seminario ho imparato ad allargare l'amore fino ai confini del mondo".
Fu ordinato sacerdote a Parma nel 1965; dedicò i primi cinque anni del suo sacerdozio come animatore delle vocazioni nella nostra casa di Brescia.
Nel 1972, dopo un anno di studio a Londra, partì per il Bangladesh dove per cinque anni divise il suo lavoro tra le missioni di Baniarchok, Khulna e Si. Joseph. Furono pochi anni, ma lasciarono in lui un richiamo indimenticabile.
Richiamato in Italia, dedicò altri cinque anni all'animazione missionaria a Macomer in Sardegna.
Di nuovo tornò in Bangladesh nei 1982 e fu parroco a Shebalunia. Suo metodo di lavoro, collaudato negli anni precedenti, fu il contatto personale con la gente. Contadini, facchini dei porto, tagliatori di legna, musulmani e indù, tutti potevano conversare con lui da amici. Seguiva in particolare i suoi 3000 cristiani seminati in poveri villaggi su un'area di 50 kmq. "A tutti ho cercato di comunicare la sola cosa che ho sempre avuto: la certezza che Gesù è tra noi e ci ama".
Dovette lasciare la missione nel 1987 per un'operazione delicata. Si ristabilì abbastanza presto e tornò nel Bangladesh dove gli fu affidata la parrocchia di Jessore.
Purtroppo dovette rimpatriare definitivamente nel 1990 quando il tumore, che pareva estirpato con l'operazione di tre anni prima, tornò a farsi sentire con virulenza. Fu curato con ogni mezzo ed egli sopportò tutto con serenità esemplare.
Morì a Parma il 31 maggio 1991, assistito dalla madre e da alcuni familiari e confratelli. La sua salma riposa nel paese nativo.
Fr. Ernesto Luviè
Pizzighettone (Cremona), 10 settembre 1940
Parma, 31 maggio 1991
Fr. Ernesto Luviè died at Parma, on May 31 1991, following a long battle with colon cancer. He was 50 years old, born at Cremona on Sept. 10 1940.
He joined the Xaverians in 1956 after years of studies at the Cremona’s Seminary, an experience he remembered with fondness, because it was in there “that I learn how to share my love to the ends of the world.” After the year of Novitiate at S. Pietro in Vincoli, he professed religious vows on Oct. 19 1957. He was ordained priest at Parma on Oct. 17 1965. He dedicated his first years of service at Brescia, as vocation director.
On Sept. 26 1972, Fr. Luviè reached Bangladesh after a year of studies in London. He served for only 5 years at Baniarchok, Khulna, and St. Joseph. He wrote: “I am now at Baniarchock. I look around and see an insurmountable work to be done, and I’m urged to continue and enlarge this work so that I can reach out to many more poor and abandoned. I leave home at 6:30am and approach the Hall-Church. I go there to pray. People say that my work is prayer, I am the man of God, their voice from God… Our presence here has its focus on being able to combine the great truths of these people, dress them with the spirit of the Gospel, fulfill them of God, so as to give meaning to their work and transform their sweat in grace.”
Recalled in Italy, he was assigned to Macomer, for vocation work. There, he shared his missionary experience, and proclaimed with conviction what he had seen and done in Bangladesh. His mission experience helped him realize, in his own words, that “to love is to give, and only in true friendship, love is the right way for conversion, for it is the most evident proof of the presence of God among people.”
In 1982 he went back to Bangladesh, this time as pastor of Shelabunia, and exercised his ministry among the 3,000 Christians scattered in many communities that covered 35 square miles area. “I approached the courageous fishermen and wood-cutters, the rice farmers and the port workers… all of them equally burned by the tropical sun or soaked of the monsoon rains, relentless, damaging, and beneficial. It was among the mud of the marsh, rich of fish, of tuberculosis, and much hope, that I shared and walked with my people: a community of 3,000 Catholics spread around a region of 35 sq. miles, inhabiting very poor villages. Together with few Christians, I came near people of Bangladesh who believed in Allah, and those who followed the power of Bogobhan… I tried to share with everyone the only thing that I have known: the certainty that Jesus is among us and loves us.”
Fr. Storgato recalls: “In the early morning, and even late in the night, at the end of full day of activities, he would go to the church, and stay there a long time. When everyone was in bed, and the lights off, the lamp of the church was on. He was there. I could see it from the veranda of my room. At times I would go and stay awhile with him. After a few words of conversation on the events of the day, I would invite him to go to sleep; but he would unwillingly leave the church. He would often wake up in the middle of the night and play the organ, to pray and sing.”
His first bout with cancer came in 1987, when he went back to Italy for operation and treatment. His health seemed to bounce back, and went back to Bangladesh, at the parish of Jessore. Unfortunately, in 1990, he had to return to Italy, because the tumor had spread in his body. Fr. Luviè endured all treatments with exemplary serenity. He died in Parma, assisted by his mother, relatives and confreres.
