From a testimony of Bishop Geremia Bonomelli, Bishop of Cremona,
concerning his friend, Blessed John Baptist Scalabrini

Bishop Scalabrini gave himself completely

"God blessed him with a mind that was lively, resourceful, sharp, lucid, and wide-ranging. To whatever academic discipline he dedicated himself to, he would succeed without a shadow of difficulty. He dealt with the hardest questions of philosophy, theology, history and politics with a self-controlled affirmation and clarity that filled me with awe. It seemed that he had dedicated himself just to the study of such subjects."

Bishop Scalabrini's motto was that of St. Paul: "to make oneself all things to all." Even though it might sound irreverent to say this about someone like him, who had felt the zeal for the universal Church - what really set him apart was not the second part of St. Paul's quotation, namely, the universality of Bishop Scalabrini's concerns and his vastness of heart ("to all"), but the first part, the word "all". In everything he did, he gave himself totally and not just halfway.

Bishop Scalabrini was convinced that God acts in history

Bishop Scalabrini is not a ready made figure of saint, but a dynamism of energies leading to holiness. His journey toward holiness is marked with hard discipline to achieve perfection. Bishop Scalabrini's holiness was not grounded an acquired goals, but always striving to be more genuine because of his desire to show his authentic self. His soul leaps forward in bounces that can hardly be restrained. His focus is set on following the footsteps of God who leads him from uncertain deserts paths toward the sure signs of times. Bishop Scalabrini is absolutely convinced that God is in charge of history. "Though man's behavior may be frantic, in whatever situation of life God is the one leading".

Bishop Scalabrini: a man of the theological virtue of hope

The mother of his moral virtues seems to be fidelity and perseverance. For this reason, Bishop Scalabrini is a man of the theological virtue of hope. He is gifted with patience, which is also the virtue of a fisher of men. His ultimate vision of things (in politics, in his role as a founder, and also in the field of migration) is never on shaky grounds. For him sure success and achievement are the reward of fidelity.

His holiness is something that is compensated by hard work, study, testing, experience, counsel, friendship, collaboration, failures, crosses and all the other virtues which are qualities of charity, which is patient and believes, hopes and bears all things. For this reason, as he wrote in 1882, his roots are in Como, "the city of the crucifix." Hence his motto: "Fac me cruce inebriari" (Let me be inebriated by the cross).