Chapter seven
1. “All the ignorant think they can succeed in agriculture” reads the aphorism inscribed on the wall for all who enter the Institution Bonsignori, in Remedello. This was not from Bonsignori himself, but expressed well his conception of agriculture as “art, science and prosperity”.
2. Father Bonsignori was a zealous pastor who, moved by concern for the extreme poverty of his people bowed down by the disease of malnutrition and forced to emigrate to avoid hunger, became an agriculturalist. “Is it possible, the intelligent Pastor wondered, that the earth is so ungenerous as to not feed her children?” He concentrated his studies on the most qualified agronomists and chemists of Europe. He found a method to multiply cereal production by four and even six times, and became the distributor. They gave him the title “Apostle of the new agriculture”. His published works had remarkable success, and have been translated into many different languages.
3. One day Father Bonsignori had lunch at the Institution Artigianelli. Since he was a brilliant speaker he told the marvels of the new agriculture, enchanting those present. Father Piamarta had been tormented by the problem of the exodus of so many young people from the land. He thought immediately, “Here is the man I have been looking for”. He proposed that they build a school together where these ideas could be spread. Amidst the applause of those present the Pastor accepted the proposal.
4. The idea was bright, but the financial resources were questionable. Father Piamarta awaited the course of Providence. Before long he received a bequest of many acres. He started the Agricultural community of Remedello that in 1895 would become a practical school of Agriculture following the program: “from the land to the books”. This school became well known in Italy, France, and Belgium; whence directors of acreage, small and medium farmers, would come to enhance their studies.
5. Here, Father Piamarta achieved his dream of social holiness and contributed to improving society thanks to the restoration of the artisan, the farmer and their families. Here his plan to build whole men clarified further: Bonsignori would cure science, Piamarta the conscience. The first would promote the art of cultivating the land, the second the art of cultivating the heart; the first the art of producing, the second the art of using the product well. One would build the refined specialist; the other, the esteemed man. The first would fashion the modern entrepreneur; the second, the eternal man. One would teach how to fill the granaries of his own farm, the second would accumulate for the granaries of the final dwelling.
6. Father Piamarta gave Father Bonsignori the technical responsibility of the Agricultural Community but would remain in the background pledging financial support to his venturesome experiments. He would always be present in the community during the formative years of the boys, solicitous to keep an equilibrium between the cultivation of the field and cultivation of the Spirit.
7. The agricultural community would change its name to Bonsignori Institution and would remain a benchmark model for a large numbers of farmers for many decades. This was thanks also to eminent directors who updated the initial intuition, promoted crowded agricultural congresses, backed the publication of the magazine: The Agricultural Family, and made innovations in the biotechnical sector. Today, on the main building of the Institution, you can read the inscription: “Father Piamarta, father of the sons of the fields”--a fitting reward for the author of the human and Christian growth of these young farmers for whom he had created a work unique in its kind by utilizing the brilliance of Father Bonsignori.
2. Father Bonsignori was a zealous pastor who, moved by concern for the extreme poverty of his people bowed down by the disease of malnutrition and forced to emigrate to avoid hunger, became an agriculturalist. “Is it possible, the intelligent Pastor wondered, that the earth is so ungenerous as to not feed her children?” He concentrated his studies on the most qualified agronomists and chemists of Europe. He found a method to multiply cereal production by four and even six times, and became the distributor. They gave him the title “Apostle of the new agriculture”. His published works had remarkable success, and have been translated into many different languages.
3. One day Father Bonsignori had lunch at the Institution Artigianelli. Since he was a brilliant speaker he told the marvels of the new agriculture, enchanting those present. Father Piamarta had been tormented by the problem of the exodus of so many young people from the land. He thought immediately, “Here is the man I have been looking for”. He proposed that they build a school together where these ideas could be spread. Amidst the applause of those present the Pastor accepted the proposal.
4. The idea was bright, but the financial resources were questionable. Father Piamarta awaited the course of Providence. Before long he received a bequest of many acres. He started the Agricultural community of Remedello that in 1895 would become a practical school of Agriculture following the program: “from the land to the books”. This school became well known in Italy, France, and Belgium; whence directors of acreage, small and medium farmers, would come to enhance their studies.
5. Here, Father Piamarta achieved his dream of social holiness and contributed to improving society thanks to the restoration of the artisan, the farmer and their families. Here his plan to build whole men clarified further: Bonsignori would cure science, Piamarta the conscience. The first would promote the art of cultivating the land, the second the art of cultivating the heart; the first the art of producing, the second the art of using the product well. One would build the refined specialist; the other, the esteemed man. The first would fashion the modern entrepreneur; the second, the eternal man. One would teach how to fill the granaries of his own farm, the second would accumulate for the granaries of the final dwelling.
6. Father Piamarta gave Father Bonsignori the technical responsibility of the Agricultural Community but would remain in the background pledging financial support to his venturesome experiments. He would always be present in the community during the formative years of the boys, solicitous to keep an equilibrium between the cultivation of the field and cultivation of the Spirit.
7. The agricultural community would change its name to Bonsignori Institution and would remain a benchmark model for a large numbers of farmers for many decades. This was thanks also to eminent directors who updated the initial intuition, promoted crowded agricultural congresses, backed the publication of the magazine: The Agricultural Family, and made innovations in the biotechnical sector. Today, on the main building of the Institution, you can read the inscription: “Father Piamarta, father of the sons of the fields”--a fitting reward for the author of the human and Christian growth of these young farmers for whom he had created a work unique in its kind by utilizing the brilliance of Father Bonsignori.
Traduzione a cura di Mary Levine e Matteo Toschi
