BALZOLA, GIOVANNI

**BALZOLA, GIOVANNI** – Salesian missionary and explorer. Born on 1 Feb. 1864 in Villa Miroglio (Cuneo), died in Barcellos on 17 Aug. 1927. At the age of twenty he was welcomed by Fr. Bosco into the “Maria Ausiliatrice” work for late vocations. Ordained priest in 1892, on 2 Apr. of the following year he departed for Brazil as secretary to Mons. Lasagna; on 8 Jan. 1895 he was named director of the government colony “Teresa Cristina” (Matto Grosso) to civilize the wild Bororo tribes, whom he gradually won over to work through patience and tenacity, taking an interest in their lives and caring for them in sickness. In 1900 he took part in an expedition among the Caibi Indians; the journey, lasting several weeks and beset by hostile natives and fevers, ended in the region of the upper Paranatinga, at the place he called “Redenzione” (a name now official). In the years that followed he founded many other settlements, continuing his explorations as far as the borders of Venezuela and Colombia. Worn down by climate and hardship, in 1925 he was obliged to return home; but once recovered, he resumed his work. His health, however, broken, he died after seeing his work crowned: faith and civilization had taken root in the forests of the Rio S. Lorenzo and the Rio Negro.