The Founder: Don Ottorino Zanon

“Know and love Jesus, let him be known and let him be loved” these are the enlightened words of the reverent servant of God Fr Ottorino Zanon, founder of the Pia San Gaetano Society, a religious-missionary congregation formed by priests and permanent deacons.

As an incredibly young diocesan priest, at the beginning of his apostolate work, he completely dedicated himself to constructing new service roads in order to restore dignity to those who lived in marginalization and loneliness. The young people, then orphans of war, motivated impulses and audacity to start working, but these could only commence if he received a clear sign of God’s will. A clear trait of Fr Ottorino’s sensibility is evident in his style of feeling the wounds of humanity and presenting them to the Lord, a line of orientation for his Work. He permitted the poverty to guide him and tried his best to respond and alleviate its grave consequences on the young people who suffered the most. His love for the people, encouraged Fr Ottorino to set up his first communities outside Vicenza and future missions in the neediest places and dioceses. Where absence of clergy seemed to be a clear appeal for the presence of this new congregation; where streets, neighborhoods and suburbs became ideal places to delineate the style and kind of service that Fr Ottorino had always dreamed of, for the permanent deacons of his congregation. Priests and deacons together on the altar and in life; in community service thus demonstrating a church capable of proximity and fraternity in the daily life of the needy.

God’s will. To be obeyed always, at all costs, sought and loved day after day.

This guides Fr. Ottorino’s spirit of donation and he expresses it with a mosaic patchwork cross, in which everyone must seek and occupy his rightful place to live in harmony with man and with the Lord, giving color to life.

‘Am I in my rightful place?’ It is an urgent, ever-present imperative to think and act in the presence of the Lord with whom we must cultivate intimate union in a daily encounter, a celebration of the Eucharist, proclamation of his word and constant prayer.

‘Am I in my rightful place?’ This became one of his most popular slogans because he felt he was the instrument of spreading the Charisma of the Holy Spirit. Fr. Ottorino let himself be transported by God’s work which he had neither wanted nor sought, but to which he submitted without hesitation after he realized that it was the Lord’s calling, putting everything in God’s hands.

To begin his work Fr. Ottorino asked for signs of conversion; he sought collaborators as a trace of God’s constant Providence that never abandons those who rely on it; he remained faithful and obedient to the church even if his intuitions anticipated the times, emanating the spirit and reverberating the echo of the second Vatican Council.

With a profound attitude of deep humility, he dreamt of the restoration of the permanent diaconate prophecy; a dream shared with some of his first companions since the 1940s. He patiently followed the pace of the church and was able to introduce with brilliant creativity, the seed of permanent diaconate.

Heart, family and work, according to Fr. Ottorino, hold the presence of the Lord, where we can live the true sacrament of his closeness. “With Christ in our heart, family, work” was written at the entrance of the St. Gaetano Institute so that it could be a reference for hundreds of young people, collaborators and families to help them understand that it is possible for everyone to live in the presence of the Lord.

The purpose of his original intuition is the gift of unity. Unity not abstract and generic, but in charity. ‘Unity in Charity’, is Fr. Ottorino’s ideal first, and then the religious missionary congregation.

He feels that the price of unity in charity is the cross of the Son of God. On it he finds the reason for his existence and finds the source to renew himself even when the wounds of communion are more painful than ever. He says ‘Love the Cross’, despite the fact that these words always hurt those who can even dare pronounce them.

Fr. Ottorino’s idea became music for the soul, as time went on. He repeatedly said that he could feel the music within, but could not compose it alone. He was filled with humility as the work progressed and got the desire to share everything so as to let everyone participate in what he recognized to be the presence of Jesus.

His charisma spread constantly and with it the need to announce grew. Soon lay people and friends became part of the idea. The story developed into the Charisma that matured into the fruit of “Fr. Ottorino’s Family”. The religious, the sisters in the deaconry, the laity and families, who despite the diversity of their vocations and callings, live and cultivate the charisma of Fr. Ottorino testifying the diaconal face of the church and pastoral style in the parishes, they are called to operate in.

Fr. Ottorino always recommended intimate contact with the Lord: ‘Talk to him’ and called unto him before making challenging choices. Contact and dialogue with Jesus to be renewed every day and to love the cross that always visits the friends of God.

The immense trust in Providence made Fr. Ottorino a credible man in the eyes of all, a man of the future and of great projects. It made him contagious and many could not resist his ardent impulse that demonstrated him as authentic and optimistic man of God, who submitted himself entirely to man and the Lord.

The Pia St. Gaetano society, a religious-missionary congregation – now Fr. Ottorino’s Family, are currently engaged, in different vocations, to live in the Unity of Charity inside the parishes. In the sensitization of the vocation of the permanent diaconate and in the certainty that the answer to ‘I am in my rightful place?’ is the source of every authentic joy of life to be spent in commitment and donation to God and to brothers and sisters.

Spirituality and charisma, go hand in hand and identify Jesus with traits of a servant priest. This fulcrum became an icon of the pastoral religious charisma of the Congregation. It became an inspiration for the choices of the missions and for the pastoral work of Fr. Ottorino’s family. He became more like Jesus a servant priest, who offered everything to the Father and celebrated his mission among men.

He presented himself in a deacon servant style, so that no one could feel him distant, as he became the path of true sanctity for members, a call to be renewed every day.

Don Ottorino, a humble disciple of Jesus, an obedient member of the church, and a prophet without glories, is an inspiration to all those who are in his family today both in the world and in the church.

Priests and Deacons with pastoral action, Sisters in the deaconry, consecrated women participants of the charisma, friends and families continue to compose that music that Fr. Ottorino felt within himself. Dedicated charisma to live ‘United in Charity’, is the inner joy and creative impetus to build bridges and willing to be mosaic pieces ready to occupy that place in the design that the Lord has always reserved for everyone and for the church.