Fr. Comini's "Dear Little Book"

Fr. Comini’s “Dear Little Book”

The Diary of Fr. Elijah Comini, Salesian martyr

(ANS – Rome – August 26, 2026) – To mark the beatification of Fr. Elijah Comini, scheduled for September 19, the text Caro librettino: Diario di don Elijah Comini, salesiano, martire di Monte Sole has been published, edited by Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, postulator general.

In an unabridged version, as faithful as possible to the original manuscript, Fr. Elijah’s spiritual diary – which he affectionately called “my dear little book” – provides an intimate and safe space in which to express his thoughts, emotions, dreams, and concerns: the Diario (Diary) which Fr. Elijah kept faithfully from the end of 1927, when he was a 17-year-old Salesian, until July 1944, just before the chain of events that would lead to his martyrdom on the evening of October 1. In his “dear little book” – small even in size (13.5 x 5.5 cm) – he records daily events thru a rigorous examination of conscience that helps him to scrutinize his intentions and aims; to adjust them in constant conformity with the primacy of the Gospel; and, above all, to give thanks, pray, and formulate firm resolutions, to which he remained faithful.

Rereading the diary in the light of the final event in Fr. Elijah’s life – his martyrdom in the Monte Sole Massacre – takes on a very special significance. It’Hs the supreme culmination of a life constantly oriented toward virtue and love, the pinnacle of a journey of faith and fidelity, in which his fortitude enabled him to face the ordeal of the supreme witness of love for Christ and his brothers. The young Salesian with an open smile and a practical nature, who showed his love first and foremost by doing things for others, lived a world within that largely eluded his confreres and which is – once again – revealed by his diary. Above all, certain resolutions he formulated at particularly significant moments in his religious and priestly life bear witness to a clear awareness of the total self-giving that being a religious and a priest entails: he asks God for the gift of holiness and shows himself to be clear-sighted and steadfast in ratifying, thru a free act of commitment, the sacrifice of his life.

The diary brings to light his “heroic love for souls” and his total self-giving to God, expressed from his youth: “Cupio dissolvi et esse cum Christo,” as he noted as early as the age of 18. This helps us to understand his “pastoral charity” in the spirit of St. John Bosco, which drove him to remain among his people “until the very end” and which illuminated, beyond all uncertainty, “the 3-day period of suffering” (September 29 – October 1, 1944), culminating in his holding “the breviary tightly in his hands” and the loud recitation of the Litany of Loreto in his final moments.

As Fr. Pasquale Liberatore, SDB, then postulator general of the Salesian Congregation, wrote in the Preface to the edition of the diary edited by Fr. Rino Germani in 1994: “This diary will contribute to a more complete understanding of Fr. Elijah Comini thru his daily determination to strive for perfection in religious life, in accordance with the demands of his consecration to God and in the spirit of St. John Bosco’s joyful yet demanding spirituality. The value of the diary lies in a revelation. It reveals, thru language imbued with intimacy and confidence, the degree of familiarity attained in his dialog with the Lord. This revelation comes as a surprise because, outwardly, Fr. Elijah never let anything show. It is precisely this contrast – a somewhat austere demeanor and such an eloquent heart – that gives rise to an intriguing interplay of light and shadow in his holiness.”

The most brutal and largest massacre carried out by the Nazi SS in Europe during the 1939-1945 war took place around Monte Sole, in the areas of Marzabotto, Grizzana Morandi, and Monzuno, altho it is commonly known as the Marzabotto massacre. Between September 29 and October 5, 1944, 770 people were killed; however, the total number of victims at the hands of the Germans and Fascists, from the spring of 1944 until liberation, stood at 955, spread across 115 different localities within a vast area comprising the municipalities of Marzabotto, Grizzana, and Monzuno, as well as parts of neighboring territories. Of these, 216 were children, 316 were women, 142 were elderly people, 138 were recognized as partisans, and 5 were priests, whose “crime” in the eyes of the Germans was to have stood by the entire population of Monte Sole – thru prayer and material aid – during the tragic months of war and military occupation. Alongside Fr. Elijah Comini, a Salesian, and Father Martin Capelli, a Dehonian, 3 priests from the archdiocese of Bologna were also killed during those tragic days: Frs. Ubald Marchioni, Ferdinand Casagrande, and John Fornasini. Fr. Fornasini was killed on October 13, 1944, and beatified on September 26, 2021.

For further information, please write to: postulatore@sdb.org