 |
|
Carlo Gaetano Samuel Mazzuchelli was born on November 4, 1806, in Milan, Italy. He died on February 23, 1864, at St. Patrick Parish in Benton, where he was pastor. Years later, when I became pastor of St. Patrick’s, my knowledge and admiration of him deepened.
Father Samuel accomplished so much that I get tired just thinking about it. One parishioner appropriately called him “our steam engine missionary.” It would take books to completely cover his many accomplishments and gifts, so I will focus on just a few areas.
A mysterious occurrence
On October of 1863, according to Sr. Nona McGreal, Father Samuel rode to St. Matthew Parish in Shullsburg to celebrate Confirmation conferred by Milwaukee Bishop John Henni.
Three Sisters who sang in the choir accompanied him. During the trip, they noticed that Father Samuel’s face became radiant and he spoke with heavenly speech. The Sisters knew that something mysterious happened, but they were afraid to question him.After Father Samuel’s death, Fr. John Kinsella, his confessor and spiritual director, confided to the Sisters that Father Samuel had experienced a vision of Mary. He told Father Kinsella that he always admired beauty, but he never experienced anyone as beautiful as Mary.
Vision gave him strength
I believe that it was Mary’s inner beauty that moved Father Samuel so deeply. Because she was full of grace and mirrored God’s beauty, God the Father chose her to be Jesus’ mother.
Mary’s appearance to Father Samuel did not eliminate his problems, but strengthened him to face them. She reinforced his lifelong belief in providence and prepared him to face death.
In 1850, a cholera epidemic struck New Diggings, Wis. Senator James Earnest helped Father Samuel care for the sick. Susan, his daughter, wrote to Sr. Benedicta Kennedy, “I have heard my father tell of the time there was an epidemic of cholera in New Diggings, which affected nearly every family. Hardly anyone was left to care for the sick. Many died each day, and Susan’s father and Father Samuel worked day and night to give them help and comfort.
Father Samuel transacted wills and bequests made by dying Catholic and Protestant parents. He knew the pain of losing a parent and took responsibility for orphans. His mother died when he was six, and some classmates at his first school were orphans.
He liked all people
Father Samuel liked people. In Rudyard Kipling’s words, he could “walk with kings, nor lose the common touch.”
After his death, his friend, Judge Charles Corkery, wrote, “Today Father Samuel could be found in the mansion of the affluent and tomorrow in the hovel of the poor. There he is high upon the scaffold with coat off and sleeves tucked up, industriously at work in brick and mortar. In the evening you see him in the pulpit, discoursing on some obscure topic and tomorrow he lectures before judges, governors, and legislators.”
Father Samuel lived as he died, ministering to the needy. No Catholic died without receiving the sacraments in his area. On February 15, 1864 he gave the last sacraments to Denis Murphy, Benton’s first settler.
Then a dying woman requested the last sacraments. During the long cold ride to her sickbed, Father Samuel experienced severe chills. A physician diagnosed that he suffered from pleura pneumonia. During the next week, he was attended to by two physicians and his confessor. The Sisters kept an unbroken vigil of prayer.
On the Sunday prior to his death, he woke from a deep sleep and exclaimed, “O good mother!” Tears of joy rolled down his cheeks! When asked what he meant, he replied, “Oh, nothing but happy thoughts. Grant that I may have them in my last moments! If you saw a person who had been on a long painful journey, separated from family and friends, and he found himself at the end of his journey, and got a glimpse of home, would you not allow him to rejoice?”
The following Tuesday he died after praying Psalm 84, which is engraved on his tombstone. After his death, an iron penance chain was found which he had worn to unite himself with Christ’s suffering.
Father Samuel has been declared “venerable.” Let us keep praying for Father Samuel’s beatification and canonization.
Fr. Donald Lange is a pastor emeritus in the Diocese of Madison.