“I prayed, I succeeded at my studies, and I dreamed...”

Mario BORZAGA was born in 1932 in Trent, at the foot of the mountains in northern Italy. He was the youngest of a family of four children: three boys and a girl.

He had an lively personality and the solid build of the mountain people. In his native city, he was known to like adventure: he loved to climb trees, race through the streets on a bicycle that was too big for him, and walk in the mountains.

Growing up in a family atmosphere that was deeply Christian, he felt the attraction of the priesthood. He went to the diocesan minor seminary. Remembering this period, he wrote: “I loved Jesus in the sacraments, and Mary. I prayed, I succeeded at my studies, and I dreamed...” When he entered the major seminary, his love of nature remained intact. Thanks to that, he learned to observe people and things in a penetrating way; and he regularly noted his observations in his journal.

In a well-known photo sent from Laos, one sees Mario seated at the typewriter; the expression on his face is one of deep concentration and attention to his task. He filled many a page, in fact, in the course of his brief missionary life: today, his journal and his letters are a treasure which reveals, besides his activities, also his internal journey. His fellow seminarians would later say that they were already aware of this growing spiritual depth; they guessed that it would lead Mario to a deeper commitment.

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