Memory of Ven. Andrew Beltrami Preserved in Hometown

Memory of Ven. Andrew Beltrami Preserved in His Hometown

(ANS – Omegna, Italy – August 23, 2021) – The civil and ecclesial community of Omegna (Verbania) holds dear the memory of its illustrious son Fr. Andrew Beltrami, a Salesian of Don Bosco. This year is the centennial of the transfer of the mortal remains of the young Salesian priest from the cemetery of Omegna to the collegiate church of Sant’Ambrogio, which took place on April 26, 1921, on the occasion of the patronal feast of St. Vito; thus they wished to remember Fr. Beltrami and his testimony as a man of hope and faith.

The monument that preserves Fr. Beltrami’s remains bears this inscription: “The Servant of God ANDREW BELTRAMI, Priest of the Pious Salesian Society. He died in Turin, at the tomb of Ven. Don Bosco, on December 30, 1897, with a reputation for holiness. His venerated body was kept in Omegna, in the family tomb, from January 2, 1898, to April 26, 1921, when, by decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, it was devoutly transferred to this Collegiate Parish, where it reminds fellow citizens of sublime Christian virtues.” And the chronicle of the time adds that despite the secrecy surrounding the transfer and the closing of the cemetery gates, the people, having learned of it, burst inside en masse, proving the high reputation of holiness in which his fellow citizens held him.

This veneration for Fr. Beltrami has not died out. Indeed, in recent years, thanks to the commitment of the parish community, led by Msgr. Gian Mario Lanfranchini, and the municipal administration, it has renewed itself with various religious and social initiatives. On Sunday, August 22, in the solemn Mass presided over by Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, postulator general for the causes of Saints of the Salesian Family, it was underlined how Fr. Beltrami knew how to live God’s choice in every moment of his life, especially in the hour of trial and sickness with great faith and abandonment in God. “Beltrami,” said Fr. Cameroni, “made his cross a helm, his suffering a hope, so that nothing and no one could separate him from the redemptive love of Christ.”

For the occasion, new medals in honor of Venerable Andrew Beltrami were blessed and a new painting by the painter Barbara Piana was unveiled and presented.

[Ven. Andrew is one of the Salesian saints commemorated in stained glass in the chapel of Don Bosco Retreat Center in Haverstraw, N.Y.  The others are Sts. Mary, Domenica Mazzarello and Louis Versiglia, and Blesseds Ceferino Namuncura', Philip Rinaldi, and Michael Rua.  The windows were originally in the Salesian novitiate chapel in Newton, N.J.]