BROTHER SILENCE Saint Nicholas of Gesturi

The Capuchin Church at Calgary is dedicated to St Anthony but is better known as Br Ignatius' church. When the visitor enters the chapel of the immaculate Conception he cannot help but pause before a tomb cut in Sardinian marble on which are inscribed in bronze lettering the words: "Servo de Dio, fra Nicola de 'Gesture, Cappuchino-4.8. 1882-8.6. 1958".

During the last fifty years the name of Br Nicholas of Gesturi has become well known all over Sardinia, like that of his Franciscan compatriot St Ignatius of Laconi who preceded him on the road to sanctity and in certain respects was his model. But when mention is made of the "saint of silence", everyone knows that Br Nicholas is the one meant. Probably very few Sardinians have ever heard of Gesturi, an out of the way little village where Giovanni Angelo Salvator Medda was born on August 4, 1882. Most of the villagers were shepherds and farmers like Giovanni and Prima Zedda, the parents of Br Nicholas.

The family was neither poor nor rich. A few acres of ground and some head of cattle assured them of a modest sustenance. Most of their income came from farming. It was hard work, beginning at sunrise and not ending until after nightfall. Everybody had to pitch in, men and women. There were no exceptions. It was a risky business at best. A late frost, a hail storm, and they could lose a year's work in a couple of minutes. Giovanni worked as a farm hand for food and lodging but received no wages. As before, he toiled in the fields and herded cattle. He soon became known for the punctuality and honesty with which he carried out his duties. He remained there with his sister until the time came for him to follow the call of the Lord to enter religious life.

One rainy day in March 1911 Giovanni Medda went to the Franciscan friary at Cagliari and asked to be admitted as a lay brother. Father Martino do Sampierdarena, the Commissary Provincal received him kindly bit accepted him only as a Third Order brother. He wished to find out personally more about the seriousness of this strapping 29 year old man who came to the friary after a life spent exclusively in cultivating the soil, and, it would seem,Giovani was qualified after some hesitation.

No one knows when Giovanni Medda first heard the call to religious life. He never spoke about it. One thing is certain; it was not a hasty decision. He thought about it and agonized over it for a long time. He visited the church whenever he had free time and spent long hours before the Blessed Sacrament. He loved the poor. When the Commissary Provincial wrote to the parish priest for a recommendation, Don Vincenzo replied "Herewith I sent you a statement regarding the character of the party concerned. I am sorry to see him leave my parish where he has been a source of edification to all, not only be reason of his outstanding piety but also because of his blameless moral life and spirit of penance. I am consoled by the thought that once he has been transplanted into the fertile garden of St Francis he will produce even more abundant fruit of virtue. I rely on his fervent prayers to obtain the mercy of God for myself."

After seven months of petulancy the Commissary Provincial was convinced that he was dealing with a mature vocation, one quite out of the ordinary, and he had no further qualms about admitting the candidate to the novitiate. On October 30, 1913 Giovanni Medda, with six other postulants, received the Franciscan habit and took the name Br Nicholas of Gesturi.

The novice master was a religious who was strict with himself and others, and rigorous to the point of tyranny. He felt it was his job to test the vocations of the novices. If there were any remaining misgivings about Giovanni's vocation they were dissipated in the course of his novitiate.

After novitiate there was some problem finding a suitable assignment for Br Nicholas, all he ever did was farm work. Just at that time the friars needed a cook at Sassari. The superiors selected Br Nicholas. It was an unfortunate choice. Working in the kitchen with pots and pans was not exactly his cup of tea. Complaints, loud n clear, were heard from the community after a particularly bad meal. Br Nicholas heard them and tried his best to satisfy everybody. But good will was no substitute for cooking skill. The meals were still culinary disasters.

Finally the superiors took notice of the discontent of the community and the predicament in which the poor brother found himself in. They transferred him to Oristano. The friary had a big garden where a man of his experience would find his niche. Strangely, this arrangement did not work out either. Not that Br Nicholas was unwilling to work-quit the contrary. But the superiors soon discovered that it was not the place for him. Once more he had to pack his few belongings and move to Sanluri, the novitiate house where he could breath more freely. His favorite places were the church and his cell where he spent months preparing to make his solemn profession and total consecration to the Lord.

Ten years passed since his first profession. During that time the superiors had the chance to observe Br Nicholas and they decided that his extraordinary spiritual gifts would flourish better in a wider field. On January 25, 1924 they sent him to the large friary of Buoncammino in Cagliari. There he was to spend the rest of his days until his death thirty four years later

The appointment of Br Nicholas to Cagliari as questor was a fortunate decision and a blessing for the local community. The task meant knocking at every door and repeating the typical plea, "a santu Franciscu". It meant braving all kinds of weather, winter's ice, and summer's heat; and meeting all kinds of people, friendly and hostile, those who greeting the brother as a man of God and those who despised him as a loafer, those who gladly him alms and those who heaped insults on him.

There was another aspect to the questor's life. The city was a scene of apostolic ministry, silent but nonetheless efficacious, where every person he met represented a soul to be won for God.

The first district allotted to Brother Nicholas was the old and heavily populated quarter of Castello and Villanova. Soon the towns people grew accustomed to seeing the humble friar trudging through the narrow, winding streets with his sack on his shoulder, his eyes downcast, the rosary in his hand and his lips continually moving in prayer.

Not that he has a prepossessing appearance. He was rather short in stature and not very handsome. But the people saw him as "different" from the other friars. He seemed to exercise an unusual fascination and attract people like a magnet. He was, in fact, an exceptional questor. He used no high pressure tactics. He moved along peacefully, almost oblivious to his surroundings . He rarely raised his sight from the ground but when he did, one looked into two sparkling eyes that reflected purity of soul.

As the years rolled by, more and more people of Cagliari and the surrounding countryside tried to meet him. They stopped him on his way to share some personal grief of family problem. He was the friend and confidant of all, great and lowly rich and poor, ignorant and learned. He listened to them and gave advice tin simple, words, an eloquent gesture or a promise of prayer.

Many still living assure us that they regained peace of mind, a solution to their problems and the courage to ho on living thanks to a talk with Br Nicholas. Many families are grateful to him for restoring peace to their homes.

The city of Cagliari was the field of his apostolate where he could perform spiritual and corporal works of mercy. Someone wrote wittily about Br Nicholas, "a brother more asked for than asking for". This was true in the friary as well. Some troubled soul was always asking for a word of advice or for remembrance in his prayers and he always obliged. "He was ready to receive anyone who came to the door of the friary to speak with him or ask for his prayers".

During World War II the law of enclosure was lifted and the friary served as a shelter for the homeless. Br Nicholas was constantly at their side like a consoling angel. An eyewitness described the scene: "In those dreadful days when Cagliari was an open graveyard littered with unburied corpses Br Nicholas did not abandon his post. Instead of begging he became the benefactor. As in days gone by when religious houses were the shelters, the hospitals, the schools and food dispensers, the Franciscan friary at Cagliari devoted itself to the material welfare of the people. Br Nicholas was an invaluable help to the few friars who remained behind to provide food and shelter.

"This was not his only task during the war years. The wretched mob fugitives, homeless and starving, sought safety in the many caves scattered in and around the city. He was their helper and apostle. It was then that he appeared most saintly. He spent himself without limit and that wasteland seemed to spur him on to new efforts.

As soon as the "all clear" sounded, Br Nicholas would leave the friary and go to the hardest hit areas. His little body seemed to be everywhere at once. "in the barracks, in the rubble in the streets, in air raid shelters, in ruined churches and in field hospitals" Wherever there were bodies to be buried or wounded to be tended or tears to be dried Br Nicholas seemed to appear form nowhere. His presence was always a sign of help".

The most outstanding characteristic of Br Nicholas was his silence. He rarely spoke at all during his long begging tour. "Br Nicholas loved silence and spoke only when necessary", as we read in the informative process. Another witness testifies: "For Br Nicholas sanctity meant silence. His remarkable silence lifted him out and above the workaday world It was a gesture of gratitude for gifts received; it was a wordless reproof for those who were able to give but refused: his silence was the answer to frivolous or impossible. He broke silence only to carry out God's will"

Behind that silent demeanor lay hidden a world of virtue, prompt obedience profound humility and absolute poverty. All he kept in his cell was some rough boarding which served as his bed, the back of a chair for a pillow. He usually wore second hand clothing. If he had to take a street car he kept the receipts to give to us an exact account to his superior. He wrote his notes on scraps of discarded paper. He passed many silent hours of the day and night in prayer before the blessed sacrament or in the chapel of the Immaculate Conception, his usual retreat after a day of begging.

Br Nicholas eventually died on June 8 1958 at five in the afternoon. The whole town heard about his death and the next day the local papers reported it in banner headlines. "A saint is dead" expressed the feeling of all. An immense crowd of people came to the friary to view his body. On the following days the numbers increased to such an extent that it was necessary to call in the police to help maintain the order. They still came in droves, from the topmost civil and church officials to the ordinary workmen and school children.

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