Fr. Lucio Dalla Fontana came to the Focolare  Centre to work for a period of time, but, instead, he lived  the last months of his life , sharing an experience of deep communion with the community he was living with. Fr Lucio Dalla Fontana was really happy when in October 2019 he arrived at the Focolare Diocesan Priests’ Centre at Grottaferrata (Rome-Italy). His bishop, Mgr Corrado Pizziolo, granted him the opportunity to dedicate three years’ work to the Focolare Movement. He came from San Polo di Piave, located in the vast Veneto plain in northern Italy, with a population of about 5,000 inhabitants. For ten years he shared his life with the community of this locality, where he was appreciated for his culture, his ability to build relationships and his very effective homilies. Previously, he spent some years in Germany, with the communities of Frankfurt and Bad Homburg, where he did mission work with Italian immigrants. Fr Lucio met the Focolare Movement at the age of 16, and since then his life was inspired by the ideal of unity. He was ordained priest on May 3, 1986. When he arrived at Grottaferrata he fitted in so well in the life of our priests’ focolare, one of the small communities where diocesan priests and permanent deacons live an experience of brotherhood in the light of Chiara Lubich’s charism. Then the pandemic started, and there came also unexpected news: signs of a serious illness showed that Fr Lucio migħt have “to change his abode” to the other life within a few months. Visits, treatments, hospitalisation meant that plans for the focolare and the community also had to change. Difficulties were not lacking. How could we help him in the best way possible? How could we get news of him when we were not allowed to visit him in hospital?  This experience helped us to grow in the art  of listening and in respecting diversity, even cultural diversity, which led to different ways of dealing with the problems that arose.  This was really a gift and gradually we realized that it was Jesus in our midst who was guiding us. There were times when we were really scared, but we reminded ourselves of the ‘washing of the feet’,  a  model for our way of life given to us by Chiara Lubich. With the help of friends, we quickly managed to prepare two rooms with all that Lucio needed when he came back from hospital. Everything became an opportunity. He needed to be supported to do his first steps? Lucio created an opportunity for us; he became our gym. Did we need to go to hospital or the pharmacy? These were an opportunity for good walks, healthy exercise for the body, and also for the mind and spirit. Was it necessary to prepare food that fitted into his diet?  This made us improve from a gastronomic point of view. At times we had to go from his room to the chapel: this helped us experience the proximity and care of our brother to which the Eucharistic celebration directed us. At a time when the pandemic was suggesting social distancing, we could have easily shut ourselves away from others, yet the experience our focolare lived with Fr. Lucio taught us to be more open to others, to live ‘outwardly’ . As the days went by, the situation became worse. At times it was not easy to find the right solutions, but we tried our best, giving him the care and the full  attention he needed. And Fr Lucio repaid us in abundance, because till the very last days of his life he offered us a smile that tasted of heaven.

Don Natale Monza