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On November 29th, 2019, the Holy See announced the recognition by Pope Francis of the miracle that occurred through the intercession of Father Giuseppe.
On December 17, 2015, Pope Francis named Father Giuseppe Ambrosoli as Venerable of the Catholic Church.
Born on July 25, 1923 in Ronago, a small village in the province of Como, Father Giuseppe left his family and walked away from a brilliant career as a doctor to serve the poor.
"God is love, there are suffering neighbours and I am their servant". With these simple yet profound words he announced his missionary vocation to his mother and his family. After obtaining a degree in medicine and surgery, he went to London to specialize in tropical diseases, then became part of the Congregation of the Comboni Missionaries and on December 17, 1955 he was ordained a priest. In February 1956 he embarked for Africa. He was assigned to Kalongo, a village lost in the savannah, in Northern Uganda, to manage a small medical dispensary. He remained there until the day of his death, in 1987..
Even today, Father Giuseppe is remembered in Uganda as “the Doctor of Charity”.
Thanks to his great professionalism, his tireless dedication, his unfailing faith and entrepreneurial spirit, during his thirty-two years of missionary work Father Giuseppe managed to transform the small medical dispensary of Kalongo into an efficient and modern hospital. Next to the hospital, he also founded St. Mary's Midwifery Training School, now officially recognized as one of the best midwifery schools in the country.
On February 13, 1987, during the most dramatic moment of the civil war that swept Northern Uganda, Father Giuseppe was forced by military order to evacuate the hospital. With heroic determination, after having saved the medical staff and the sick, he managed to save the midwifery school and allowed the students to finish the school year. Yet his already precarious health was permanently affected and on March 27, 1987, forty-four days after the evacuation of the hospital, he died in Lira, worn-out from illness and suffering and without the possibility of being treated. Shortly before dying, he asked to remain in Uganda among his people, to whom he had dedicated his life. He rests in Kalongo, next to the hospital that bears his name.
Faithful to the Comboni ideal, he left to future generations the best testimony of how it is possible to "Save Africa with Africans". And to all of us at the Ambrosoli Foundation he left the legacy of his work and his commitment to the poor.
A legacy of life, strength and joy.
