Marcello Candia

Venerable
Marcello Candia
Layman
Born (1916-07-27)27 July 1916
Portici, Naples, Kingdom of Italy
Died 31 August 1983(1983-08-31) (aged 67)
San Pio X Clinic, Milan, Italy
Venerated in Roman Catholic Church

Marcello Candia (1916-1983) was an Italian Roman Catholic industrialist and entrepreneur who became active in the missions in Brazil.[1] He worked to protect Jewish people during World War II and was involved in preventing their deportation and the creation of documents that would save their lives. Candia assumed management of his father's firm at the war's end and assumed full control with his father's death in 1950; the plight of the poor in Brazil concerned him which prompted him to sell the firm in 1964 (creating a rift with his brother Riccardo) and move to Brazil.[2][3] It was in Brazil that he worked for the needs of the poor as he was dedicated to social justice initiatives and supported the work of the local charities. Candia was subject to suspicion in the beginning since there were those missionaries who were confused at someone from a rich background coming to serve the poor as a poor man. He shrugged off those suspicions and considered himself a disciple of the poor who wished to alleviate their suffering and social conditions.[4]

His main concern was the construction of a hospital to be managed for the poor with construction starting in 1961 and concluding at the decade's end when it was inaugurated. He also opened a center outside the town he lived in for the lepers and began working with them until the end of his life.[2][5] Candia's health grew worse over time despite his exhaustive work standards which led to several health crises leading to his death back in his native homeland where he had made annual visits. He created the Fondazione Candia in 1982 not long before his death.[3]

The cause for his beatification opened in 1990 titling him as a Servant of God; confirmation of his life of heroic virtue enabled for Pope Francis to title Candia as Venerable in 2014.[1][3]

Life

Education and activism

Marcello Candia was born in Naples in 1916 as the third of five children to Camillo Candia and Luigia Mussato (often called "Bice"; 1890-7.2.1933).[2][5] He was baptized on 4 August in the church of Santa Maria della Natività and he later received his Confirmation on 11 June 1925 in the church of Sant'Andrea Apostolo.[3] His siblings were (in order):

  • Linda
  • Fernanda
  • Emilia
  • Riccardo

Candia said of his parents: "I had parents who gave me a zeal for life".[5]

His father served as an industrialist and founded several carbonic acid factories in Milan and Naples before spreading to Pisa and Aquila. His rather retained his upbringing in the faith but was not active in practicing it; he was respectful of others and was a keen supporter of social justice initiatives. His father was also opposed to fascism and enrolled his children in private schools to ensure his children were not tainted from the totalitarian ideas. Candia's mother instilled the faith in her children and collaborated with local charities; he accompanied his mother to visit the poor at the end of each week.[5][2]

In 1928 he started to help the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin on Via Piave in Rome in giving soup to the poor. His mother died in 1933 from pneumonia and his grief at her death was so profound that he fell ill and from that moment suffered from frequent headaches and bouts of insomnia.[2][3] It was after this that the Capuchin friar Cecilio Cortinovis encouraged him to work for local charities. Some people accused him of leading a double life since he was rich and elegant while on the other hand he was in constant dialogue with God and wanted nothing more than to serve Him.[5] In 1939 he acquired a PhD that made him a chemist and he worked at the beginning of World War II in explosives before he worked with his father and continuing his studies at the college in Pavia.[3] He earned his doctorate in 1943 in biological sciences. Candia participated (from September 1943) in the resistance against the Nazi forces that occupied the region (also working with the National Liberation Committee) and he often risked his own life working with the Capuchin friars assisting the Jews threatened with deportation.[2] The war's end saw him help deportees and prisoners return to their homes while he opened a medical and humanitarian welcome center at the local train station with three friends.

Initial work

He and Elda Scarsella Marzocchi decided to help teenage women in crisis pregnancies and founded the "House of Mother and Child" in 1945 to take care of them. He hid this from his father knowing he would not approve though he found out and approved of it knowing that it did good work for those who needed it most.[2] But his father thought that his son's piousness and regular Mass attendance was exaggerated though never interfered in this. But his Capuchin spiritual director (Fra Genesio da Gallarate; secular: Alessandro Premazzi) did not approve of his collaboration with Marzocchi believing that a home for teenage mothers was not a suitable environment for one who desired to live celibate.[3] Candia therefore ended his involvement and began the magazine titled "The Mission" in 1947. He later co-founded the "College for Overseas Students" in Milan alongside Giuseppe Lazzati at the encouragement of the new Archbishop of Milan Giovanni Battista Montini - the future Pope Paul VI.[2][5]

In 1950 his father died and he inherited the business. During the night on 22 October 1955 there was an accidental explosion of 60 000 liters of carbonic acid that killed two people while causing destruction to the warehouse that had just been renovated. Candia provided for the families of the victims and assumed the task of reconstructing the warehouse so that no client or worker would be wronged due to the accident.[2][3] It was around this point that he first met the Capuchin friar Alberto Beretta (the brother of Saint Gianna) who was preparing to leave for the missions in Brazil. He learnt of the conditions of the poor there while talking with Beretta. In 1957 he made his first visit to Brazil to Macapá where he studied the local problems and he arrived at the request of the PIME priest Aristide Pirovano.[4] He commissioned the building of a church for the Saint Benedict parish. In 1965 he met with Pope Paul VI in a private audience while that month moving to Brazil; he later said of the decision: "I am called to live with them". He had difficulties in learning the Portuguese language.[3] Candia sold his father's business around 1964 which caused an extreme rift with his brother Riccardo who resented the fact that he sold the organization to go to Brazil.[5]

Brazil

Now that he was in Brazil fulltime he could dedicate himself to his dream of the construction of a local hospital for the poor though he made annual visits to his homeland. The construction began in 1961 using his own fortune and he wanted to name the hospital in honor of his parents. But in 1967 he suffered a heart attack causing a decline in his health though he returned to work after making a gradual improvement. It was after this also in 1967 that he organized a hospital for lepers in Marituba as well as providing them with other essential services. In 1969 his hospital was inaugurated and he remembered something the then-Cardinal Montini advised him in that he had to make the hospital be "Brazilian" rather than just a plain hospital with a narrow purpose.[2] Candia liked reading about the lives of Pier Giorgio Frassati and Saint Thérèse of Lisieux and at his new home had no running water in his room. This prompted him to use the tap outside to fill a jug of water to wash and shave with.[5] In 1975 a popular Brazilian magazine dedicated a long article to him titled "The Best Man in Brazil" - he was quick to shrug this honor off and said: "I am but a humble instrument of Providence". Since 1967 he suffered four consecutive heart attacks and grew fearful that another could claim his life; on 9 April 1977 (Good Friday) he had to have a triple bypass in São Paulo and was urged to seek better treatment in his homeland if he wished to survive. Candia returned to his work in Brazil a month later after heading back home for treatment. In 1982 he founded the Fondazione Candia to keep his work alive.[1] During his time in Brazil he became known as the "Doctor Schweitzer of the Amazon" and in 1980 met Pope John Paul II after the latter visited his leper hospital.[4][5] He collapsed due to ill health in May 1983 prompting plans for him to go to Milan for treatment.

Illness and death

He left Belem for his homeland on 10 August 1983 knowing he would die there but wanted to get his health checked as well as to reconcile with his brother Riccardo with whom there were difficulties. But he fell ill on the plane and once he arrived at the airport in Paris he collapsed and was rushed to hospital. He was taken to the San Pio X Clinic in Milan on 11 August. The skin cancer soon metastasized to his liver causing liver cancer. He died on 31 August 1983 at 5:30pm in the San Pio X Clinic in Milan and Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini presided over his funeral on 2 September. He had died from liver cancer and skin cancer as well as a related bone tumor over his right lung. His remains were later transferred on 6 April 2006 to the parish of the SS. Guardian Angels and were placed to the left side of the altar.[3][1][5]

Beatification cause

The beatification process opened under Pope John Paul II on 20 January 1990 after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued an edict declaring "nihil obstat" (no objections to the cause) and titling Candia as a Servant of God. Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini oversaw the diocesan phase of investigation in Milan from 12 January 1991 until its closure at a Mass on 8 February 1994; the C.C.S. validated the process on 15 December 1995.

The postulation then compiled a Positio dossier which was submitted to the C.C.S. in 1998 for assessment. Theologians evaluated the dossier and voiced their assent for the cause on 8 March 2013 as did the cardinal and bishop members of the C.C.S. sometime in 2014. Pope Francis named Candia as Venerable on 8 July 2014 after promulgating a decree that confirmed that Candia had lived a model life of heroic virtue.

The current postulator for this cause is Dr. Francesca Consolini.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Venerable Marcello Candia". Saints SQPN. 18 November 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Spiritual Newsletter". Abbey of Saint-Joseph de Clairval. 3 June 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Venerable Marcello Candia". Santi e Beati. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  4. 1 2 3 "Pope: Marcello Candia to the altars". Asia News. 9 July 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "'I would like to make clear that I was with lepers not because I am good but because I love Jesus Christ". Ministers of the Infirm. 12 February 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
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