Blessed Enrico Rebuschini
Camillian
(1860 Como – 1938 Cremona)
Conferring the honor of beatification on a
hospitaller who suffered occasional nervous breakdowns is an act that might
seem surprising at first. But in proclaiming Father Enrico Rebuschini blessed
on May 4, 1997, Pope John Paul II comforted many men and women of our time who
face similar difficulties, either in themselves or in loved ones.
Enrico was born in northern
Italy, in Gravedona on the northwest shore of Lake Como, on April 28, 1860. His
father, Domenico, an administrative clerk before becoming head tax inspector
for Como province, was not in favor of religion. He would accompany his wife to
the church door but remained outside. His mother, Sophia, a model Christian,
was a native of Livorno in Tuscany. Enrico was the second of five children.
After finishing his secondary school studies, Enrico, who because of his
father's opposition could not follow his call to religious life, enrolled at
the university in Pavia to study mathematics. A calm boy of good upbringing, he
stayed only one year at the university, where anticlericalism aroused in him
bitterness and disgust.
Upon his return to Como, he
completed his military service with a year of volunteer work. In his free time,
he was glad to isolate himself in prayer and good reading. A student at the
Military School of Milan, he emerged from it a reserve second lieutenant,
esteemed by his superiors who encouraged him to make a career for himself in
the army. But when he got home to his family, he opted to pursue studies in
accounting, in 1882 receiving a diploma with honors.
A path that didn't
suit him
His sister Dorina's husband, who
managed a silk business 45 km north of Como, welcomed him into his home and
entrusted to him a job in administration. Harmony prevailed between Enrico and
the household. Nevertheless, at the end of three years, there were signs that
the young man was in trouble. Sadness could be read in his eyes. He confided to
his father that this work in industry and commerce didn't suit him. He was 24
years old when he wrote to his brother-in-law: «The thought of forever
remaining a burden rather than being a good assistant..., the fact of knowing
at the same time that my parents will never be at peace as long as I remain in
a path that doesn't suit my nature (and which makes me unhappy), has finally
persuaded me that I have to give it up, for my mom and dad's good, for your
good and for mine. I am telling you this with a painfully heavy heart» (August
9, 1884).
Enrico's difficulties were not
caused by his choice of a profession that matched his talents and inclinations,
but by his persistent attraction to religious life, an attraction his father
was opposed to. Soon, despite all his efforts to accept his fate, he fell into
a state of moral dejection. He was so thin that he looked like he was
recovering from illness. At last, in the summer of 1884, after long discussions
with his son, his father finally gave up, in part through the intervention of
Blessed Guanella (a priest who initiated social institutions, beatified in
1964), who had all the monasteries in Como pray for this vocation.
Three months after leaving his
job, Enrico enrolled in the Gregorian University in Rome to pursue
ecclesiastical studies. There he won the esteem of his professors. He received
the Minor Orders with this distinction: «Edifying conduct, with a very good
spirit of the Church.» Towards the end of 1885, his parents and his Aunt
Magdalena came to Rome and were happy to find him pleased and calm. Magdalena
noted in her diary: «Enrico is content and at peace. I understand how he can
feel this way. He is sure he is on the way that God has prepared for him.»
Through the
winepress
But an unexpected obstacle
suddenly arose—from March 1886 to May 1887, Enrico was overcome by a profound
nervous depression. A very generous soul, with a sense of duty that never
allowed half-measures, Enrico was prompted to perform excessive penances,
without taking his frailty into adequate account. He needed to eat more, but he
forced himself to imitate, even go beyond, the examples of mortification he saw
around him, and thus was brought to a state of nervous and mental exhaustion, a
frequent cause of depression. Before his time, when Saint Teresa of Avila
arrived at a Carmel and found tensions and spiritual battles there, she first
asked everyone to get an extra hour's sleep! Indeed, fatigue diminishes our
capacity to resist, weakens us, and increases our vulnerability. One of the
weapons the devil uses in spiritual combat is to overburden us under the
appearance of good.
Enrico returned to his family. He
also made a stay in a clinic. In Magdalena's diary can be found the following
notes: there are «moments when the hand of God has weighed down on us and has
plunged us into suffering... What a month of silence and what suffering at this
time. May God at least put an end to this and give us back our treasure.» Eight
years later, in recalling this period, Enrico would write, «I was sent to a
spa. There God restored my health by giving me total confidence in His infinite
goodness and mercy.»
A great spiritual
capacity
Before recognizing his vocation
as a hospitaller, he experienced what it means to suffer. He would have been
able to say, as Pope John Paul II has said in our time, «I too know, through
personal experience, the suffering that physical disability brings, the
weakness brought on by illness, the lack of energy for work and the sense of
being unable to lead a normal life. But I also know, and I would like to make
clear to you, that this suffering also has another, sublime aspect. Namely, it
gives a great spiritual capacity, for suffering is a purification for the one
who suffers and for others, and if it is lived in the Christian dimension, it
can be transformed into a gift offered to complete in one's own flesh that
which is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for His Body which is the Church
(cf. Col. 1:24). To you, dear sick people all over the world, the main actors
of this World Day, may this event bring the announcement of the living and
comforting presence of the Lord. Your sufferings, accepted and borne with
unshakable faith, when joined to those of Christ, take on extraordinary value
for the life of the Church and the good of humanity» (Message for the First World
Day of the Sick, February 11, 1992).
In May 1887 the depression
receded, and Enrico fully recovered his health. He experienced relapses, but
they were less prolonged and less serious. Specific remedies for his illness
did not exist at that time. The trial was overcome by a progressively more
correct understanding of God, which brought about a filial relationship based
on trust. The best feature of our Blessed's spirituality would from then on be
the consideration of the infinite ocean of mercy found in the Heart of Jesus,
of the maternal tenderness of our Mother, the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, whom
the Church invokes by the consoling title of «Health of the Sick.»
During the summer of 1887, Enrico
was employed at the hospital in Como. But shortly thereafter, he was graciously
dismissed because, instead of working in his department, he spent his time in
the hospital wards at the bedside of those sick who were the poorest, the
neediest, the isolated, for whom he sacrificed his last dime and even his own
clothes. He also made numerous visits to the poor and the sick in their homes.
His contact with these sufferings gave birth to his vocation as a hospitaller.
Abandoned to Mary
In a notebook he jotted down his
spiritual program, which was inspired by the ways of perfection proposed by
Saint Ignatius of Loyola. He also wrote there: «The Most Blessed Virgin, to
whom I have abandoned myself in order that she might find me a task suited to
my weakness, obtained a position for me in the administrative department of the
civil hospital, where I was working several hours a day. I spent the rest of
the time alone, in pious exercises... Seeing as how I could not continue in
this way and feeling called to embrace religious life, my spiritual father
(when I revealed to him my attraction to the religious family of Saint Francis)
suggested to me that of Saint Camillus, which seemed to him more suited to my
circumstances and also because he feared for my health. I did it without
discussion—I embraced it immediately.» Reading the life of Saint Camillus
confirmed Enrico in his choice.
Born in the kingdom of Naples in
1550 and endowed with extraordinary vitality, Camillus de Lellis first entered
the military profession, but shortly thereafter sank into debauchery, then was
hospitalized in Saint James' Hospital in Rome. Profoundly touched by the
extreme poverty in which the sick stagnated, he became a volunteer nurse, then
gathered several companions who would form «the Company of Servants of the
Sick,» or Camillians. Himself a sufferer of stomachaches and headaches, stones,
ulcers, and almost permanent boils, Camillus circulated through the wards, a
sick man among the sick, attentive to the needs of all. He died in Rome on July
14, 1614. The Church has proclaimed him Patron of hospitals, the sick, and
sisters of charity.
On September 27, 1887, Enrico
Rebuschini, 27 years old, entered the Camillians in Verona. The first attitude
that he proposed to have was that of friendliness. This most necessary virtue
did not come easily to him. He already had experience in professional work,
while his companions in the novitiate were still in adolescence, and loved
freedom, recreation, and noise, quickly turning serious thoughts into amusing
puns. He therefore made a point of having a positive opinion of others, in
spite of their faults or irritating attitudes. This ideal was sometimes
difficult for him: «I am letting myself be taken in,» he wrote, «by fits of
antipathy towards one of my holy companions. Sometimes he asks me about my
studies, and instead of replying gently and just satisfying his question in a
friendly manner, I answer this question irritably: 'I don't want you to ask me
anything.' All this is the fruit of pride combined with a lack of union with my
companions in love. I would like to think of nothing but doing the greatest
good possible at all times.» In everyday reality, his resolution to be friendly
was often destroyed by temptations to rash judgments and feelings of
antipathy... But he did not let himself be discouraged by these battles. He
renewed his intention to see in others the temple of God. He looked at the
Crucifix and courageously resumed the slow work of softening the heart.
Relapses
His good-naturedness attracted
the esteem of his superiors who, in consideration of the studies he had already
completed in Rome, had him ordained a priest during his novitiate, on April 14,
1889. The bishop of Mantua, who conferred on him the sacrament of Holy Orders,
was Bishop Sarto, the future Pope Pius X, a friend of the Camillians. Enrico's
perpetual profession took place on December 8, 1891. But Father Rebuschini was
prone to relapses of nervous depression. These relapses were a consequence of
his predominant fault—a perfectionist nature which led him to spiritual
undertakings that did not take his nervous frailty into sufficient account. In
the years 1890-1891 he experienced another depression and suffered greatly from
a spiritual trial. Too concerned with thoughts of eternity, he was strongly
tempted to believe he was damned. His appointment as chaplain to the hospital
allowed him to recover his balance and calmness by helping him to forget
himself in attending to the afflictions of his neighbor. But in 1895 the
beginnings of another depression could be seen. He had been named vice-novice
master and professor of theology. However, because of a lack of
self-confidence, he considered himself incapable of taking on these tasks. A
state of constant tension ensued. His superiors had to release him from these
responsibilities and, thanks to God, he quickly regained his stability.
Finally, in 1922, a long spell of difficult responsibilities and an overload of
work brought about a final depression which he overcame in a few months.
In light of these manifestations
of depression, one might be tempted to think that Father Enrico had a gloomy
and wavering nature. But it must be observed that between the attacks of 1895
and 1922, over 25 years of normal activity passed, during which he admirably
took upon himself heavy responsibilities with great generosity. Then, from 1922
until his death in 1938, for over 16 years, he more than ever showed a stable
equilibrium and complete serenity. Father Joseph Moar, who worked alongside him
during the last seven years of the Blessed's life, affirmed in the beatification
process that it was only through biographies that he had learned of the
depressions Father Rebuschini had experienced. «When I knew him, he was utterly
balanced and always his same old self. It had never occurred to me that he
might have been able to suffer from depressions.»
By means of these sufferings,
Father Enrico was able to practice the principles of Christian wisdom that the
Holy Father Pope John Paul II gives to the sick: «Dear sick persons, I would
like to leave in your memories and in your hearts three little lights which are
valuable to me. First, no matter what your suffering might be, physical or
moral, personal or within the family, apostolic, even ecclesial, it is
important that you come to a clear awareness of it, without minimizing or
overstating it, and with all the stirrings it engenders in your human
sensitivity: failure, the uselessness of your life, etc. Then, it is essential
to move forward on the path of acceptance, yes, to accept that this is how
things are, not through blind resignation, but because faith assures us that
the Lord can and wishes to bring about good from evil. So the greatest gesture
remains to be made—that of oblation. The offering, brought about by the love of
the Lord and our brothers, permits us to attain a level, sometimes a very high
level, of theological charity, which means losing oneself in the love of Christ
and the Blessed Trinity for humanity. These three steps experienced by each of
the suffering, according to each individual's speed and grace, give him amazing
interior liberation. Is this not the paradoxical teaching brought to us by the
Gospels: He who loses his life for my sake will find it?» (Message to
the Sick, Lourdes, August 15, 1983).
They couldn't
resist
In 1890 Father Enrico was named
chaplain for the military and civil hospitals in Verona. The clerics and
religious, as well as the soldiers, considered him a saint. His holiness was of
itself the quietest that can be imagined for a chaplain. It was not based on
dazzling deeds but first and foremost on the exemplarity of his life in the
service he rendered to the sick. In his apostolate, he had the gift of touching
the most hardened hearts. The parish priest in Vescovato testified to this: «On
more than one occasion, I was at the bedside of a sick person with Father
Enrico. My parishioners, to whom I had been unable to administer the sacraments
back home, (the parish of Vescovato had at that time a reputation for being
«difficult») often would confess and receive Communion with serenity and joy
when they were at the clinic. When I asked them how they came to this decision
to receive the sacraments, they answered that with a priest like Father Enrico,
they couldn't resist because he had the words and the attitudes to convince
them.»
Father Rebuschini's success with
souls can be explained by his union with God, especially by his pious
celebration of the Holy Mass, his fervent recitation of the breviary, his
adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and his remarkable love for the Most
Blessed Virgin. His genuflections were marked with great respect. At the
elevation of the Host during the Mass, he would stop for a moment in adoration.
The Our Father, which is prayed with the very words Jesus used, seemed
to him the most moving moment of the Holy Sacrifice.
At the beginning of May 1899,
Father Enrico was sent to the convent in Cremona. The first charge entrusted to
him was that of serving as chaplain to the Camillian Sisters. The following
year his Superior also named him the bursar of his community. A man of interior
life and prayer, Father Enrico carried out this responsibility, which was not
to his liking, in order to do the will of God. He had at his disposal neither
office nor secretary. But he could rely on the cooperation of active and intelligent
Brothers. As part of his regular routine, he had to buy various goods, fix any
plumbing or electrical failures, keep the clinic's operating room functioning,
make the vegetable garden and henhouse at least marginally profitable, oversee
the production of wine in the cellars, and prepare the salary budgets. But the
extraordinary labors continued over the course of the years—renovating the
kitchen, connecting to the city electric system, roof repairs, installation of
central heating, not to mention difficulties caused by the insolvency of the
bank in which the community's modest savings were kept...
Optimist as a
matter of principle
Father Enrico's management style
was marked by certain principles that his successor related. «He taught me
criteria for prudence in managing the household finances. For example, he
always wanted us to buy quality goods so as to serve the sick well, and he
always wanted items to be paid for right away... He was an optimist as a matter
of principle in his opinions of others, and only reluctantly would he resign
himself to admitting anything bad about someone else. He always excused other's
intentions.» A lawyer reported, «Father came to consult me in Cremona to
request my professional services in a civil case connected to an inheritance
going to the Saint Camillus clinic, the validity of which the heirs were
contesting. I had various opportunities to see Father and to deal with him...
He always seemed to me to possess extraordinary simplicity and a rare
detachment from earthly things and interests... I recall the edifying
impression that I came away with when I was called to attend to this
inheritance. He showed that he looked after the interests of the house, but at
the same time he attracted attention through his goodness in his way of doing
things and the total absence of a spirit of quibbling.»
Attentive to those
who suffer
Father Rebuschini exercised the
duties of bursar for 35 years, until 1937. But starting in 1938, his strength
began to fail. He was 78 years old. «Father Enrico's last days were marked by
exemplary serenity and perfect abandon to Divine Providence,» a
neuropsychiatrist who studied the saint's life from a medical standpoint
reported during the beatification proceedings. In the first days of May, having
received the Sacrament of the Sick, Father Enrico asked forgiveness of everyone
for the bad examples he might have given, for his imperfections, for everything
that might have offended anyone. He also asked that they pray for him, leaving
to God any judgment on his life on earth. On May 9, at 6 o'clock in the
morning, Father Vanti celebrated Mass in Father Enrico's room. At the moment of
receiving Communion, the dying man stretched out his arms, received the Body of
the Lord with great piety, then folded his arms and was absorbed in prayer. The
supreme meeting with his beloved Lord took place on May 10 at 5:30 in the
morning. «His example,» said the Holy Father during the beatification,
«constitutes for all believers an urgent invitation to pay attention to the sick
and to those who suffer in body and spirit.»
Through the intercession of
Blessed Enrico Rebuschini, we pray for you, for your loved ones, for all those
who find themselves faced with nervous weaknesses or diseases, so common in the
modern world, and for all your intentions.
Dom Antoine Marie osb.
http://www.clairval.com/lettres/en/2002/11/25/2271102.htm