Don Aurelio's forced departure from Lago

Don Aurelio’s forced departure from Lago di Velo is both a removal imposed by church superiors and a test of the priest’s own commitment to obedience. The villagers grieve his loss and try to keep him among them, while he concludes that he must leave secretly to avoid defying his superiors or being detained by his congregation. His departure brings the conflict between institutional authority, communal affection, and religious conscience into sharp focus.

Background and the village response

The news that Don Aurelio must leave follows the controversy over his sheltering Carnesecca. Some villagers had disapproved of that decision, but after Don Aurelio explained it from the altar, rejecting the Bible seller’s doctrines and invoking the Gospel, open criticism subsided. The news that Carnesecca had gone and that the priest must also leave nonetheless distressed the people of Lago.

A locally respected community leader, known as the Capo della contrada, gathered the family heads and urged a religious, measured response. He warned against disorder and pressure on the priest, arguing that a priest must obey his superiors and that the people should appeal to those authorities instead. Not everyone shared his restraint: some women spoke of preventing Don Aurelio’s departure at any cost, even by appealing to the Pope. The Capo persuaded them to wait while he and a commission approached the archpriest. The archpriest rebuked the delegation, and the villagers returned humiliated, with their agitation increased rather than eased.

Don Aurelio himself repeatedly urged his congregation not to intervene. Even so, a second commission, including respected visitors, sought the archpriest’s help with the Curia. Don Tita praised Don Aurelio and promised to act, but the villagers did not trust those assurances. They resolved to approach the Bishop together to request at least a postponement. The effort to keep their priest was therefore collective and persistent, though it was not unanimous in method and did not alter Don Aurelio’s decision to leave.

The decision to leave secretly

When Massimo Alberti learned that Don Aurelio was departing, he first feared that his friend was abandoning him at a moment of need. Don Aurelio stopped his questions and warned him to speak quietly, since Lúzia might overhear and the departure was to remain secret. He saw no realistic hope that his superiors would allow him to remain at Lago and feared that the villagers might try to hold him there by force. In his view, his duty was precise and absolute: he had to go at once.

His plan was to walk through the night to Schio, catch the five o’clock train to Vicenza, and present himself to the Bishop. He intended to clear himself of accusations he supposed had been made against him, then entrust what followed to Divine Providence. He believed the Bishop might help him find a position in another diocese, perhaps in a mountain chaplaincy even more remote from the world than Sant’Ubaldo. The account does not establish what the accusations were; it presents them as Don Aurelio’s understanding of the situation, not as proven charges.

When Massimo erupted in anger against the people he believed were persecuting his friend, Don Aurelio silenced him and insisted that they might sincerely think they were doing right. He urged Massimo to pray for them rather than judge their hearts, and asked him to promise. Massimo clasped the hand Don Aurelio extended, holding it in both of his own and kissing it. Their exchange makes the departure more than a transfer of a priest: it is a painful parting in which Don Aurelio asks his friend to practice the forgiveness and restraint that he himself is struggling to sustain.

Farewell and spiritual consequence

A knock at the street door interrupted them. Giovanni, sent from the Montanina by Marcello Trento to find out whether anything had happened to Massimo, was waiting outside. Don Aurelio told him that Massimo would come at once. Massimo then fell at Don Aurelio’s feet, and the two parted only through a wrenching effort: Massimo sprang up, rushed out, and disappeared into the night.

Left alone, Don Aurelio withdrew to his bedroom and knelt before the crucifix. He prayed intensely for the two priests of Velo and for the superiors who, in his view, were making him disgraced, rootless, and hungry. Yet even in that private anguish he asked God to forgive them, because they believed they were serving Him. The prayer holds together the injury he feels and the charity he commands himself to extend; the scene closes not with public vindication or a settled destination, but with a priest departing into uncertainty and asking for mercy for those responsible.