Don Matteo Balzano during the celebration of the Mass
A community in shock that of Cannobio, in the Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, for the suicide of Don Matteo Balzano35 years old, deputy parish priest of the country.
The young priest was found lifeless on Saturday morning in the apartment where he lived, annexed to the oratory he was responsible for. The news was confirmed by the diocese of Novara. The young priest had not presented himself to celebrate the morning mass and the alarm had triggered, also because Don Matteo did not respond to the phone. Then the discovery.
Originally from Grignasco, in the Novarese, born in 1990, aeronautical expert, Don Matteo had entered the seminary in 2010, serving in the parishes of Borgosesia, Trecate and the diocesan center vocations. Ordained priest in June 2017 he was then a parish vicar in Castelletto Ticino. After a period lived at the King Sanctuary, in Val Vigezzo, he had arrived in Cannobio.
“Just last night he had organized a bingo in the village,” explained the mayor of Cannobio, Gian Maria Minazzi, «That of Don Matteo’s death is news that leaves the whole community without words and pain. However, nothing has ever presaged that he was experiencing a situation of discomfort. He had created a nice relationship with young people and had just organized the Grest. He was welcome by everyone, even in the oratory he was well seen. We are all upset, we have never caught signs of any kind of discomfort – continues the first citizen -. We don’t really know what happened ».
The comment of the diocese is entrusted to an official note signed by Don Franco GiudiceVicar of the Bishop Franco Giulio Brambilla for the clergy: “After a period lived at the King Sanctuary, he had enthusiastically resumed his mission among the young people of the oratory of the parish of Cannobio, offering his service also for the Cannobine valley”, reads the note that reconstructs the path of Don Matteo, “”Only the Lord, the one who “scrutinizes and knows” each of us, knows how to understand the most impenetrable mysteries of the human soul. We raise prayer for Don Matteo to the God of Mercy, our confrere in the priesthood, expressing a human closeness, at this dramatic moment, to his family and the whole parish community of Cannobio “.
On Monday 7 July, the prayer vigil will be held at the Collegiate San Vittore. Tuesday 8 July at 10.30, always in Collegiate, Bishop Franco Giulio Brambilla will preside over the funeral. The body will then be buried in the Cemetery of Grignasco where the parents live who, now, are trying to understand what the priest has pushed to such an extreme step.
On the matter he intervened, with a post on Facebook (below), too Enzo Bianchi: “Dear Don Matteo, too many words for your exodus from us,” he writes, “you only deserve silence and respect. Your decision is a mystery that belongs to you and God. Nobody has the right to question you, nobody has the right to make homilies. I bow to you and I love your mystery While I see you in the arms of Christ who welcomes and loves above all those who prefer another land is another sky in certain situations. I would like to hug you and tell you only: Amen! ».
