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Don Guetti: His MinistryDon Guetti: His Ministryon Lorenzo Guetti wrote that he was:

born a farmer and always living among

farmers, I lived their misery, I knew their

sufferings and troubles and tried to help

them. In a few profound and heartfelt words, he depict-

ed his world in which he lived the 51 years of his shortlife, giving voice to the dedication that prodded him on

even during the hard times of the late 19th century.

The small village of Vigo Lomaso in the exterior

Giudicarie Valley was what he called home: a hamlet of

about 500 residents at the time, nearly all small farmers.

He worked the land alongside his father Girolamo and

mother Rachele Molinare, as well as his thirteen siblings

(he was second oldest), to procure the basic necessities

for survival. At a young age he learned first hand the

meaning of hunger and poverty, the uncertainty of lifefor those who depend on the land to scratch out a living

and are at the mercy of the weather, in addition to the

continual fear of illness and the burden of debt. In

short, what it meant to live every day on the verge of

falling further into poverty without relief in sight. His

family was not alone; the story was the same among the

other villagers in Vigo and everywhere in Trentino. He

later wrote that the poor workers of the land were left

to their own devices, on the margins of society, and no

one gave them a thought except for how to exploit invarious and multiple ways the fruit of their labor, there-

by confirming the old saying : scarpa grossa porga ogni

cossa (cosa), farmers and laborers are born only to serve.

Lorenzo Guetti carried these experiences with him when

at age 16 he enrolled in the seminary of Trento, to finish

in August 1870 at age 23. In this environment of study

and prayer, the young Lorenzo came into contact with

men were his teachers who were able to accompany his

sensibility to social issues with a concrete and open study

of history and of the cur-

rent social situation. This,

alongside dedicated study of

the spirit of the gospel as a

message of hope for the

poor, proved to be particu-larly formative for the young

student. Seven years later he

left the seminary a man of

God and a man of the

people, of his people, the Trentino people who had

always known that life meant to work, not complain and

accept your fate. He spent the 28 years of his ecclesias-

tical career in three communities in the diocese of

Trento: eight years in Terragnolo, near Rovereto; then 15

years in La Quadra, in Bleggio; and the last five years of

his life in Fiav, in Lomaso of the Val delle Giudicarie. Itwas in Terragnolo where Don Lorenzo perfected in a

sense, the formation of his character and his moral foun-

dations, as well as his grasp of many aspects of the agri-

cultural sector and life. Many insights came from contact

with the local community, where he saw the extreme

consequences of poverty, hunger and recurring disease.

He learned how to walk alongside his flock, sharing the

tears and hopes of the people he served.

At 31, Don Guetti arrived in La Quadra that comprisethe four villages of Cavaione, Marazzone, Larido and

Bivedo. Full of energy and enthusiasm, he saw the need

to live among the people. He worked in the school to

make it more welcoming and better equipped; he became

interested in the serious issue of emigration from the

exterior Giudicarie areas and subsequently from

Trentino in general. To stem this tide and offer hope to

the local people, he founded the co-operative movement,

establishing the first Co-operative Consortium at Villa of

the Bleggio and the first Cassa Rurale (Rural Bank) at

Larido, in one of the church buildings. Don Lorenzoarrived in Fiav in 1893 and continued to develop his

project, which led to the founding of the Federation of

Family Cooperatives (Cooperative Food Chains) and

Casse Rurali (Rural Banks), for which he also served as

president. Lorenzo Guettis boundless physical and spir-

itual energy and support for the community was cut

short only by his early death on 19 April 1898. He had

left his mark on the landscape and in the hearts of

Trentino people, who had found in him the face of real

hope for a better life. Written By Don Marcello Farina

DD