Accanto alla tomba di Giovannimaria a Montagnana PD,
i ragazzi si raccontano.
Describe your image
Describe your image
Describe your image
2023
4-5 febbraio
Il Seminario Minore di Gesù Bambino dei frati Carmelitani Scalzi, situato accanto al Santuario del Bambino Gesù di Praga di Arenzano, ha ospitato 2 incontri per i seminaristi e i loro genitori sulla vita di Gio.
2022
Maggio 2022
Angela Allen & Kathleen Melee dagli Stati Uniti, visitano la tomba di Gio
2021
ALESSANDRO RICCIARELLI
MUSIC THERAPIST at Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center in New York
Gio's guitar was used all the time, with some eight or nine year olds who liked to play. As I often work with adults, it has been used more with adults. Also because it is a beautiful guitar, solid, but also light, so that the patient can put it on his stomach while lying in bed. And there is also another Gio's guitar that you gave me, which is called Guitalele, …… .. the real Gio's guitar with his name at the head of the guitar; I have also used this continuously with sick patients. With both guitars I always think of Gio …… when I give them to some patient.
Extracted from an email dated January 24, 2021
Some thoughts on Giovannimaria.
I met some in his family, his strong and witty mother, his dear grandfather, his sweet sister.
It has always made me feel calm and peaceful. He loved music. I felt good about him, always. Giovannimaria, in her room in the hospital, was never alone, but her smile and her friendly and open manner have always made me feel welcome.
What really stuck in my memory was his direct and calm behavior, as if he were not in the hospital, as if he had the certainty of being expected in another higher world. However, he was present and joyful. Giovannimaria was a very special child, and my relationship with him was very different from my relationship with other children. I'll never forget it. Extract from email of 13.04.2021
For GIO
I know your hands,
that touch the mind,
thoughts.
Your hands that with one touch
they make grey skies vanish
that one to light,
who are you.
I know your mind,
your thoughts,
who think,
disguise,
who are free,
alive.
That touch the minds of others,
they move them,
wake up,
calm down.
I can say I recognise your eyes,
that are brightness,
for the other looks,
a glow that not everyone is able to see,
looking is not seeing.
There,
your eyes see,
they see deep,
they see the light,
and the darkness,
they see sick hearts,
and those that shine,
they see the mouths asking for help,
and those who let themselves go with a sigh.
Olivia Rainaldi 23.04.2021
Thoughts for Gio
"Don't behave like that, you have to stand properly": it is one of the few words I remember from the past with Giovannimaria, I was quite small. On Sunday we went to mass in st. Catherine and it was time for the Eucharist when we kneel, I knelt while leaning on the bench behind my shoulders. The words he said to me that I quoted above were just how to kneel and how to behave in front of the exposition of the Eucharist. At first it seemed strange to me that such a small child would tell me what to do, however, over time I understood much later what it meant. This was one of Gio's ways of teaching people how to behave and how to go towards the right path, understand Jesus in our life and welcome him into our hearts. Giò's words at the beginning perhaps one for all were very strong, very direct and it was not known where they came from most of the times, it seemed that they came from a person who has seen what truth is. The truth of Jesus, and what he wants to teach us. This is exactly what Giò did, he left a mark on people. The peculiarity of these signs that he left and of these teachings was the fact that you did not understand them immediately in the moment but they helped you and help you on the journey of life.
A few months ago I was chosen by my sister Elisa and Alex to become the godmother of their son Arturo. The reason for this choice is because they think I have faith, but this is thanks to Gio, for this I say that in life to understand Jesus and follow his path you need to know people who help you towards that right path.
There are those who passed close to Gio and spoke to him and there are those who understood and who on the contrary "decided" not to believe in the face of truth and evidence. Some of these people are close to me. Here I ask myself at times how in the face of the evidence a person cannot believe in God. Maybe because they are blind, perhaps because Giò has not transmitted something important to him? My answer is no. Because Giò did not come into this world to change or force people to believe but he came here in the world to love people. And above all, leaving an imprint that could help people over time. .......
He was obviously a child like the others in that hospital, he played, enjoyed himself, suffered in silence and cried but one thing made him very different: he understood EVERYTHING (more than an adult). ... he immediately saw what people were in front of him and what intentions these people had. Once he told my mom to stay away from bad people from people who didn't follow Jesus and that's why we had to pray for them and walk away with serenity.
Celeste Rainaldi excerpt from her testimony of April 21, 2021
My favorite memory of Giovannimaria was a Sunday when I came to your place and we all prayed the family Rosary together after lunch. Gio was praying with piety and recollection, but also with a certain “crazy” impatience about singing the hymn “Salve Regina” which was one of his favorites. At the end of each decade of the Rosary, he would ask you “can we sing it now?” or would even intone the first few notes. He accepted your “not yet” with a beautiful acceptance but without giving up his youthful impatience.
There were other times when his energy ran low and he radiated a peaceful tranquility, seemingly accepting the cross with which the Lord had entrusted him. And yet he was a completely normal kid in every respect, with a strong excitable temper when something just didn’t seem right to him. But at least to me it never seemed to be about getting “what he wanted” in a selfish way.
His boyhood intensity was captured in this picture I took the first time
I met your family, with his older sister Celeste sitting in the back letting
Gio take the driver’s seat.
His smile was infectious. It always lifted my spirit when I had
the opportunity to see him. I really loved him and felt loved by him.
Bill 8 March 2021
William P. Orchard
President
Association for Cultural Interchange, Inc.
2020
Giovannimaria taught me to be a mother before becoming one: to take care of him in the days of his illness, to feel joy and satisfaction for every little growth and an infinite love for who he was.
Giovannimaria taught me to be a mother, so when my son was born, I was able to take care of him in difficult days, feel joy and satisfaction for all his little steps of growth and an infinite love for who he is every day.
That's why we called our son: Arturo Giovannimaria.
Elisa & Alex with their baby Arturo Giovannimaria, born 19.01.2020
Testimony of Sofia Buoncristiani, Celeste's classmate and Gio's friend.
Video made on 11.12.2020
© lalucedigio 2022