Our Dearest Riccio,
There are three of us writing to you.1 What a coincidence! If you were here also, it would be possible to make a square out of a triangle; we would then have two sides going to Villafranca, one side going to this bank of the Tanaro, and one side going to the other. Well, what do you think? Marello is speaking for himself now. Please, forgive him if he is late in writing to you. The family affairs, a business trip to Turin that lasted eleven days, have taken away, one by one, even without his noticing it, the forty-three days of vacation which have already gone by. Forgive him also in view of what he promised to do in the way of reparation in the future; but forgive him especially because the thousand headaches which the wedding of his brother has caused him has put him in such a state of abnormal behavior that, without forgetting his friends (heaven is his witness), he has not been able to write anyone. (Within parenthesis, the marriage of Victor will be next Tuesday. The bride is no longer the young lady of Vercelli. She has been replaced by a simple neighbor of ours. Enough, you shall see her.) It was just lucky to run into Rossetti in Turin and into both Faggiani and Rissone2 here in Asti. Motta,3 good soul, will have to be as generous in forgiving as you will. Within twelve days from now he [Marello] promises to do his duty and inform you minutely of everything that has happened. Agreed? Now I will yield the pen to a friend close by who is urging me…4
Joseph Marello
Faggiani – Rissone
The letter was written and signed by the three seminarians Marello, Faggiani, and Rissone who were in Asti for the Bishop’s solemn Mass on the feast of the Assumption (cfr. Letter 15). Faggiani and Rissone were from Villafranca of Asti. Marello from San Martino (on the Asti side of the Tanaro River) and Riccio from Agliano (on the other side). ↩
Cleric Evasio Rissone, ordained a priest on December 23, 1871, and then Archpriest at Viale. ↩
Cfr. Letter 53 ↩
The letter is incomplete. ↩