Family man, catechist and oratory animator, Salesian cooperator and missionary in Mato Grosso. A member of the St. Augustine parish, run by the Salesians of Milan, Attilio is the soul of the oratory and of the parish, he is a magician of the oratory, a phenomenon of inventiveness, of joy and of educational ability with the boys. His vocation as a committed Christian lay flourishes and matures in the furrows of the oratory, with the apostolic and joyful heart of Don Bosco. He is an exceptional actor, one that fascinates with his way of acting: very natural and always fresh. It has a charge, something like a secret, like a grace, which is not that of the actor. What attracts is something beautiful that it has within itself. Being with children is the vocation of Don Bosco and of every Salesian. Don Bosco called it "assistance". The way of being with Attilio's boys is as enchanting as his way of acting. He is not afraid of boys, it is natural with them. Yet how much everything prepares before going among the young: the songs, the bans, the verses, the cries. He knows how to listen, he listens carefully, he watches what they say and he always has a lively, lively joke for everyone. Always cheerful and optimistic, even his teasing is sweet and does not hurt anyone. He generally speaks in Milanese dialect. It is an Attilio spectacle among the boys: this is how Don Bosco must have been! Watch the group and keep an eye on the individual. He is attentive to the real situation, follows the instinct of the boys and stems his inventiveness. If the boys do revel, instead of learning the catechism, they like to make a cry, a jump, throw out a little of carbon dioxide and then take over the reins and then the silence. His inventiveness is to adapt to situations.
The stages of his journey were the stages of his time: in the time of fascism he sought freedom in the oratory, in Catholic Action; in times of war and post-war, when people look at each other in politics and for parties, they invent the crusade of goodness; in time of protest, when the young take possession of the land that the old leave empty of ideals, he supports Operation Mato Grosso that his sons brought him home. His method and way of being with the boys, shows his constant concern for the boy's soul, his respect for the young man. What Don Bosco asked his Salesians, in Attilio was always a well done task. The message that Attilio transmits with this method, always updated, can be summarized with the word "goodness".
Attilio, Don Bosco incarnated it! In joy, in being with the boys; also in piety: a simple piety, the one that prays before eating: "Thank you Jesus for the bread you gave us, also for those who are without it". Attilio lives from union with God, with Don Bosco. His day begins with the lift at 6; 6.30 in the church to attend Mass and take communion. If the altar boy is missing, he is not ashamed to go, even at 58/59 years, to serve Mass. Then meditation. Then at home, listen to the latest news on the radio and off to work. Come home at noon. After lunch he goes to the Salesians of the S. Ambrogio in Milan. He knows them all: from the inspector to the last dear Salesian, blind, who comes from Bethlehem. And when there is someone who suffers or is a bit marginalized, he is present.
His life is understood from death. At the age of sixty Attilio Giordani, with his wife Noemi, the eldest son Pier and the younger daughter Paola, left for Brazil - Mato Grosso. This tells the parents: "If we want and we must share the vocation of our children, understand our children, when they make some important and exemplary choices, we must be willing to follow our children to support them in the trial, to be able to judge with a conscience of cause what they do ". "In life it doesn't take much to say the things we have to do. It doesn't take much preaching, it matters what you do. We must demonstrate with our lives what we believe. There are no sermons to do. The sermon is to live ”. His life is all a race, with young people. And it reaches the finish line like a sprint, showing what the Christian's permanent vocation is: giving life! What is being young until the last day. Several times Attilio had said: "Death must find us alive". He so alive in ordinary things, in joy, in piety, even in the final encounter with the Lord is there ready to continue to be among the boys in the Salesian garden of heaven. Death captures him while he is speaking at a missionary meeting in Campo Grande (Brazil), when he feels himself failing, he rests his head on the shoulder of Don Ugo De Censi and whispers to his son: "Pier Giorgio, you continue". It is the message that Attilio also leaves to us: to continue being Don Bosco alive today with joy and passion to the end. "Death must find us alive". He so alive in ordinary things, in joy, in piety, even in the final encounter with the Lord is there ready to continue to be among the boys in the Salesian garden of heaven. Death captures him while he is speaking at a missionary meeting in Campo Grande (Brazil), when he feels himself failing, he rests his head on the shoulder of Don Ugo De Censi and whispers to his son: "Pier Giorgio, you continue". It is the message that Attilio also leaves to us: to continue being Don Bosco alive today with joy and passion to the end. "Death must find us alive". He so alive in ordinary things, in joy, in piety, even in the final encounter with the Lord is there ready to continue to be among the boys in the Salesian garden of heaven. Death captures him while he is speaking at a missionary meeting in Campo Grande (Brazil), when he feels himself failing, he rests his head on the shoulder of Don Ugo De Censi and whispers to his son: "Pier Giorgio, you continue". It is the message that Attilio also leaves to us: to continue being Don Bosco alive today with joy and passion to the end. Death captures him while he is speaking at a missionary meeting in Campo Grande (Brazil), when he feels himself failing, he rests his head on the shoulder of Don Ugo De Censi and whispers to his son: "Pier Giorgio, you continue". It is the message that Attilio also leaves to us: to continue being Don Bosco alive today with joy and passion to the end. Death captures him while he is speaking at a missionary meeting in Campo Grande (Brazil), when he feels himself failing, he rests his head on the shoulder of Don Ugo De Censi and whispers to his son: "Pier Giorgio, you continue". It is the message that Attilio also leaves to us: to continue being Don Bosco alive today with joy and passion to the end.
