Venerable Enzo Boschetti

Enzo Boschetti (19 November 1929 – 15 February 1993) – once known as Giuliano in the religious life – was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and the founder of the Casa del Giovane. He once served as a friar from the Carmelites and did work in the missions in Kuwait though decided to return to his homeland to serve as a diocesan priest instead. He did his studies in Rome before his sacerdotal ordination in 1962; he began working in parishes where he became sensitive to the needs of workers and those suffering from gambling and drug addictions. He founded an institute for those people suffering from addictions and set up a range of courses and workshops to help addicts lead better and healthier lives. Boschetti's process for beatification opened in 2005 and he became titled as a Servant of God. The cause culminated on 11 June 2019 after Pope Francis signed a decree that acknowledged the fact that Boschetti had led a life of heroic virtue. Enzo Boschetti was born in Costa de' Nobili in the Pavia province on 19 November 1929 as the second of three children to the truck driver Silvio Boschetti and Esterina. In his adolescence he joined the Catholic Action in Pavia while attending some spiritual retreats gave rise to his call to enter into the religious life. He fled home after he turned 20 in late 1949 in order to join the Carmelites and then served as Fra Giuliano in his convent with his fellow friars (he decided to join the Carmelites at their convent in Monza after having read about Thérèse of Lisieux). He was later assigned to work in the missions in Kuwait in spring 1956 but there struggled with his call to the diocesan priesthood as opposed to the religious life. He decided instead to serve on the so-called frontlines of parish life rather than continuing to work in the missions. The challenge became that a religious could not opt for the diocesan priesthood which prompted Boschetti to leave the order in a move that surprised and baffled his superiors and peers.