The Liturgical Office of the Archdiocese of Bologna (Sacred Music section) organized a training conference for choristers, animators, and instrumentalists for the Liturgy, to commemorate, 20 years of the death of Father Giovanni Maria Rossi (September 1, 1929 – February 7, 2004), a Camillian religious who dedicated his life to music, understood also as a tool to support the sick.

Father Giovanni considered art as one of the means to uplift the spirits of people, especially the sick. “I am made of music,” he used to say. However, he didn’t pursue studies out of personal passion alone but also and above all to help others. For this reason, he specialized in music therapy, a method of healing through sound that he used in the service of the sick. The artist, the shepherd, the religious all merged into a single person completely oriented towards the Other and others.

Luciana Mellone