“Enzo was a man who said his ‘Yes' to Christ with an astounding devotion which was both intelligent and totalizing; he dedicated his life completely to Christ and His Church.”
–Father Luigi Giussani

Pier Paolo (“Widmer”) Bellini is a composer and associate professor at the University of Molise, where he teaches Sociology of Communication in the Department of Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education. The CL USA Newsletter recently interviewed him about his work on Luigi Giussani’s Spirto Gentil series. Here, he joins us again to share his latest book based on the adult life of Servant of God Enzo Piccinini. Enzo Piccinini (1951–1999) was a surgeon, family man, devoted companion and student of Fr. Giussani, and a charismatic leader in the Communion and Liberation movement.

Widmer, when and how did you meet Enzo Piccinini?
I met Enzo in 1984, when I was just beginning my university studies. He was 14 years my senior and was a leader in the CL university student group, which I was involved with as well. What immediately struck me was what I can only describe as an all-encompassing desire toward everything. I was not initially comfortable with this; he was too much for me! But then I asked myself, “Where does all this passion come from?” I discovered that it was inspired by his deep friendship with Fr. Giussani, who had introduced Enzo to Jesus Christ, the source of Giussani’s own passion. Enzo shared this love of and passion for Christ with Giussani, and with me.

What do you miss the most about Enzo?
What I miss the most about him, and about Giussani, is their “totalizing” approach to all of reality, inside the particulars. They witnessed to the fact that the Christian faith can illuminate every detail of life. Faith gives meaning to all aspects of life – personal, communal, political, cultural… The embrace of all of life is something very rare now, even in the Church, and this is sad to me.

This seems to be one of the major focuses of your book…
What I wrote about in this book, this profound vision and fervor for totality, was the status quo for us at that time. This expansive vision in daily life was the norm, this realization of the profundity of life within the quotidian. We expected nothing less from our friendship, our communion that led to liberation.

There is already at least one biography of the life of Enzo Piccinini. What else is original about your book?
I wanted to speak about the life of Enzo in his own words. This is different from a linear biography – though the biography is absolutely essential to knowing the man, and for his cause of beatification as well. The Enzo Piccinini Foundation has collected dozens of transcripts of Enzo’s scheduled talks and other accounts. I used these in my book, so we can actually hear his voice. I lived my life with Enzo from 1984 to 1999, 15 years. This is what makes the book unique. It is good to see something from the outside, but also from the inside, which was the perspective I had to offer.

How is the book organized?
It is ordered by themes, drawn from his own words on specific topics. I interviewed the people who knew him best, to explain how his words were creating Christian life in a certain place and time. These themes address matters of the heart, boldness and reticence, communion and unity, gusto for life, our stance in front of the “ideal,” and more.

As a friend, why did you include some descriptions or incidents that put Enzo in an unfavorable light?
Many people have asked me about this. I think the sign of sanctity is the fact that Enzo was not a perfect person – he was a real man with human limitations – but he was continually offering his limits in service of the ideal. Also for me, Enzo often seemed “exaggerated,” which, from the Latin, means to go beyond the bounds. When a river goes beyond its limits, it can overflow and destroy, but it can also fertilize. With Enzo, this is how it was.

The offering up of his limits continued to change his personality – I could see it changing. Adrienne von Speyr said that holiness is not to say, “God, I offer you all” but it is God who says, “It is I who take all of you.” Holiness is not an attribute of man, but the grasp of God. The true response is to say “yes” to this. Enzo was a spectacle of this “yes,” of this availability. His exaggeration, his limits continued, but he was always changing. Fr. Giussani said that his love for Christ changed Enzo’s temperament. This is the truest confirmation of the action of God.

The Diocesan Phase of the Cause for the Beatification and Canonization of the Servant of God Enzo Piccinini concluded with a Eucharistic celebration presided over by Monsignor Erio Castellucci, Archbishop abbot of Modena-Nonantola and Bishop of Carpi, in the Modena Cathedral on Saturday, February 22. The Roman Phase with the Vatican Dicastery for the Causes of Saints for Canonization is predicted to take no less than four years.