Giuseppe Ambrosoli

In October 1951, Giuseppe Ambrosoli entered the novitiate of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus in Gozzano. He made his perpetual vows and was ordained a priest on December 17, 1955, in Milan by the then-Archbishop, Msgr. Giovanni Battista Montini (the future Pope Paul VI). In February 1956, he set sail for Africa and arrived in Uganda. He was assigned to Kalongo, an isolated village in the savannah in the north of the country. Upon his arrival, he found only a modest bush dispensary in the form of huts. With inexhaustible energy, great professional rigor, and unwavering faith, Father Ambrosoli undertook the task of transforming this precarious structure into a modern and efficient hospital: Kalongo Hospital (today Dr. Ambrosoli Memorial Hospital). Alongside the hospital, aware of the importance of training local staff according to the intuition of Saint Daniel Comboni ("save Africa through Africa"), he founded the St. Mary's Midwifery Training School. This school quickly became one of the most renowned medical training institutions in Uganda. In 1972, the Ugandan health authorities also entrusted him with the management of the Leprosy Control program, allowing him to treat nearly 8,000 lepers spread across five regions. Nicknamed by the local population "the doctor of charity" or "the good doctor," he spent his days between the operating room, visiting the sick, and prayer. However, starting in 1985, Uganda plunged into a violent civil war. On February 13, 1987, the Ugandan army ordered the immediate evacuation of Kalongo Hospital. Despite the heartbreak of seeing his work threatened, Father Ambrosoli showed heroic courage: he organized the evacuation of the patients, staff, and students of the midwifery school to the town of Lira, located 124 kilometers away. He then uttered this memorable phrase: "What God asks is never too much." This physical and moral ordeal definitively exhausted his already fragile health. Suffering from severe kidney failure (acute pyelonephritis), Father Giuseppe Ambrosoli passed away in Lira on March 27, 1987, just a few weeks after the evacuation. His mortal remains would later be brought back to Kalongo to be venerated there.

The reputation of holiness of Father Giuseppe Ambrosoli, already immense during his lifetime in Uganda and Italy, spread rapidly after his death. The cause for beatification and canonization was officially opened in Uganda in 1999, under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Gulu. After a meticulous diocesan inquiry into his life and writings, the Positio was transmitted to Rome. On December 17, 2015, Pope Francis recognized the heroic nature of his virtues and declared him Venerable.

To pave the way for beatification, a miracle attributed to his intercession had to be formally recognized by the Church. This miracle concerns the extraordinary and scientifically inexplicable healing of Lucia Lomokol, a 20-year-old Ugandan woman. On October 25, 2008, while she was at Matany Hospital in the Karamoja region, Lucia Lomokol was dying, suffering from severe sepsis after losing her baby. Faced with the lack of medical means to save her, the doctor on duty, Dr. Eric Dominic, placed an image of Father Ambrosoli under her pillow and invited her loved ones to pray to the "holy doctor." The next morning, the young woman woke up completely healed. After examination by the medical and theological commission of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, the miracle was officially approved by Pope Francis on November 28, 2019. Initially scheduled for 2020 but postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the beatification ceremony was celebrated on November 20, 2022, in Kalongo, Uganda, at the very site of his apostolate. The celebration was presided over by the Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda, Archbishop Luigi Bianco, representing Pope Francis, in the presence of thousands of faithful and numerous civil and religious authorities. His liturgical memorial is set for July 28, the eve of the anniversary of his baptism.

The spirituality of Blessed Giuseppe Ambrosoli rests on an intimate union between medical science and evangelical charity. For him, treating a patient was not merely a medical act, but an encounter with the suffering Christ. He drew his daily strength from the Eucharist and from a filial devotion to the Virgin Mary. He wrote in his spiritual notes: "People must feel the influence of the Jesus I carry within me; they must feel that in me there is a supernatural life that is expansive and radiant by its very nature." His legacy remains extremely alive today. The Kalongo Hospital and the midwifery school continue to operate and treat thousands of people each year, supported by the Dr. Giuseppe Ambrosoli Foundation. He remains an inspiring model for healthcare professionals, illustrating how the most advanced professional competence can be combined with humility and the total gift of self.