Monsignor and Bishop

Alberto Ablondi was born on 18 December 1924 in Milan to a family of cooks: his grandfather, uncle and father were the same. He and his mother almost died on the same day during childbirth. When he was only eight years old (1932) he was called by a good nun of the parish to the role of catechist and from there he began the journey of faith, which continued throughout his life. In fact, three years later (1935), at the age of 11, he entered the seminary.
After completing his studies in Ventimiglia, at the age of 23 (1947), he graduated in classical letters with an archaeological focus and was ordained a priest in Sanremo on 31 May 1947. In Sanremo he carried out his ministry as chaplain in the parish of the old Sanremo and taught literature and philosophy in the seminary and religion in high school. In 1950 after teaching philosophy in the seminary for several years he graduated in philosophy and in 1952 he carried out his ministry as parish priest of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Sanremo, continuing to teach religion in high school. In 1955 he obtained his third degree, in law; in these years he was also assistant to the FUCI and the Catholic Graduates. ( we, young students, remember him with affection in the summer camps of Realdo ).

After the Second Vatican Council he was elected to the titular See of Mulli on August 9, 1966, and was consecrated bishop on October 1, 1966. He carried out his ministry as auxiliary bishop of Livorno and apostolic administrator of Massa Marittima. On 26 September 1970 he became bishop of Livorno. As bishop of Leghorn he became the forerunner of dialogue with other religions, and manifested his ecumenical vocation with a special relationship with the Jewish community to remove mistrust and silence. Symbol of this rapprochement was his friendship with Rabbi Elio Toaff, with whom he was united to a large Jewish community and numerous presences of the Muslim universe. In 1978 he was among the so-called "courage-bishops" (together with Luigi Bettazzi and Clemente Riva) who, during the Moro kidnapping, offered themselves, without success, to the Red Brigades to be taken hostage instead of the statesman. In 1979 he had his first experience in the ecclesial field during the European Council of the Universal Biblical Association.

In 1984 he became world president of the Universal Federation for the Biblical Apostolate and in 1988 he became world vice-president of the Biblical Societies and in the same year in Livorno he called the diocese to refound itself with the synod. In the following years he led the struggle alongside the head of the Leghorn dockers (Italo Piccini) in the 1989 protest against the Prandini decrees. In the same year, on 28 September, at the request of the Secretariat for Ecumenical Activities and the Federation of Jewish-Christian Friendships, the Ecumenical Commission of the Italian Episcopal Conference, presided over by him, established the Day of Judaism to be celebrated on 17 January each year at the beginning of the Week for Christian Unity (18-25 January). It was the first initiative of its kind in the world to highlight the progress of Jewish-Christian dialogue in Italy.

In 1990 he was appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity. From 1993 he was joined as auxiliary bishop by Vincenzo Savio, who had already had as his right arm during the diocesan synod. In the same year the idea of dialogue with the young people began, which no longer consisted in "preaching to them", but in listening to them. The results of this dialogue were published in the book No, not a sermon, Borla 1994. In that same year he was also declared an honorary citizen of Livorno by the mayor Gianfranco Lamberti. In 1995 he was elected number two of the Italian bishops (he will remain so until 2000) and on 26 November 1999 he announced the letter of resignation in advance of the expiry of 75 years, according to canon law.
On 9 December 2000 the official announcement arrived and after thirty years he left the office of bishop of Livorno: with tears in his eyes he read the message of leave to the Leghorn people and said that he would always remain with them. Diego Coletti succeeded him.

On 18th December 2004, for his eightieth birthday, the mayor of Livorno, Alessandro Cosimi, gave him the Livornina d'Oro, the highest honour given by the city of Livorno to illustrious citizens. In 2009, together with his collaborators, he started the project of a new catechesis with sheets of paper that were distributed to the people about the new catechesis. The sheets were then collected in the same year in the book "A passo d'uomo verso il divino", Morcelliana 2009.

Stricken by a cardiovascular arrest, he died at the hospital in Livorno at 11:15 a.m. on 21st August 2010.

In the morning about 200 people had taken part in a pilgrimage to the sanctuary of Montenero led by the Bishop of Livorno Simone Giusti to pray for him; during his stay in hospital and in the days before his death his collaborators and his city had been very close to him.
At the end of the exequial mass, held on 23rd August in the Cathedral of Livorno and presided over by the Archbishop of Florence Giuseppe Betori, he was buried at the cemetery of the Misericordia of Livorno.
One year after his death, the Alberto Ablondi Association was founded with the aim of "preserving, keeping alive and transmitting the memory of [his] human, intellectual, Christian and pastoral journey [...] and his ecclesial witness of service to the implementation of the Second Vatican Council".

(source: Marco Mauro)