By 1784, the organization of Turin’s Amicizia was nearly complete, thanks mainly to the cohesion between Father Luigi Virginio and Father Pio Brunone Lanteri. Although living in Vienna, Father Nicholas Diessbach often visited them and helped with advice. At the same time, he let his two disciples organize the association’s work in Italy. He trusted their abilities and understood that they knew the general direction he wanted to give the association’s apostolate there.
According to Amicizia’s statutes, Father Virginio, the librarian, should be the director. However, founding new nuclei in other Italian cities required special care. Father Virginio was the right person to ensure that all the local Amicizia would keep the same spirit. His special observation skills enabled him to objectively survey the towns he visited and determine which were favorable for a new foundation. Consequently, he often had to leave Turin, and Father Lanteri became the soul of the association in the Piedmontese capital. He took care of forming its members, establishing relations with families—especially the nobility, looking for new adherents, organizing the library, and taking care of many minor details. He ensured that Amicizia would have the structure its founder desired.
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However, no work of God progresses without trials. The more necessary it is, the more God, in His wisdom, allows it to encounter seemingly insurmountable and unavoidable obstacles, which multiply the difficulties. Father Lanteri experienced many such problems.
Father Lanteri gave himself entirely to Amicizia. Every indication seemed to confirm that it was God’s will. Then, Father Lanteri received a call from Cuneo. He needed to visit his sick father. Initially, he thought it would be a quick trip. Arriving in his hometown, he found that his father’s condition was much worse than he had been told. Dr. Pietro Lanteri required special care and continuous assistance.
By this time, six of Pio Brunone’s nine brothers had died. The other two were religious—Joseph, who joined the Conventual Minors, and Joseph Thomas, a member of the Barnabites. They could not leave their convents. Only his sister, Maria Angelica Luisa, remained. A man’s presence in the house was indispensable. Only Father Lantreri could help his sister by directing their father’s treatment and taking the steps that a severe illness requires. At first, the doctors held out hope for a rapid recovery. However, the patient’s resistance to medicines gradually forced Father Lanteri to stay in Cuneo. At that point, he could not know how long he would be away from Turin.
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On September 18, 1784, he wrote to a friend—probably Father Virginio—to give the news and express his state of mind. He explained the treatment the doctor prescribed. Unfortunately, three weeks passed without a glimmer of improvement in Dr. Lanteri’s condition. Pio Lanteri admitted there was no hope of a rapid return to Turin. Distressed by the drawbacks caused by his prolonged absence, he wrote:
“Even without hope of returning to Turin (which is utterly impossible given my father’s condition), I have firm confidence in the Sacred Heart of Jesus and place great hope in the novena to St. Teresa, which we will begin shortly. I will also ask others to pray for this intention during this novena. If it is His most holy will, the Lord has a thousand hidden ways to get us out of any difficulty. Now, since one should foresee the future with prudence, Fr. Diessbach and you would do well to examine what things would be like in my absence, which, humanly speaking, is morally certain—and thus provide for my replacement.”1
In the letter, Pio Brunone showed his zeal for the interrupted work. He made many recommendations, with information about people who should receive material or spiritual support. He showed great satisfaction at the news about Aa’s progress and development. In Cuneo, he continued receiving Le Journal de Luxembourg, of which he was a subscriber and diligent reader. In another document, he said that he kept abreast of events and verified where the highest interests of God lay. These were the goals, he said, for which the Friends should fight. After reading that Bercastel’s Ecclesiastical History and the last volume of Flexier de Réval’s Dictionary had come out, he explained how to buy them so the library could make them readily available for members.
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Father Lanteri spent three months in Cuneo, keeping his father company. Despite constant care and medical treatment, Pietro Lanteri died from his illness on October 30, 1784. His last moments, assisted by his priest son, were the crowning achievement of a virtuous life fully dedicated to his duties as a Catholic physician.
Dr. Lanteri had devoted the best of his apostolate to the city’s poor population. He had soothed bodily pains by offering his professional services to the indigent sick at all hours of the day and night. He earned his patients’ esteem with the charity that only a Catholic soul knows how to practice. He gave his patients good advice, encouraged them to practice Religion, and led many to convert or grow in their spiritual lives. The gratitude of Cuneo’s inhabitants to the pious doctor was apparent during his lifetime, earning him the title “father of the poor.” Their sorrow upon receiving the news of his death again highlighted their esteem for him. The whole town paid homage to this brave Christian who had worked hard for Our Lord Jesus Christ.
At the same time, new difficulties arose with Pietro Lanteri’s death. His estate needed to be well administered, and Pio Brunone was the only son who could devote himself to that task. That threatened his work with Amicizia. God seemed to want him in another field. Nevertheless, the association was the center of his life, and the fact that it was just beginning indicated that it was not the time to abandon it.
The servant of God resolutely set about administering the goods left by his father. All the while, he waited for the hour of Providence. He did not know how to administer an estate well and asked his friends for advice. His relatives also helped him. He knew he could not sell or abandon the inherited patrimony because he had to ensure his sister’s subsistence. Additionally, he wanted to receive an income so that he could devote himself to Amicizia’s work without other burdens.
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One of his cousins, Father Pietro de Medici, resolved the whole problem. He knew the business well and could manage the family patrimony much better than Father Lanteri. He offered to do so, and the Pio Brunone gave him a power of attorney. In this way, Providence smoothed out Pio Brunone’s difficulties. He returned to Turin and his dear Amicizia, which he would never leave again.
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