To celebrate the Venerability of Fr Carlo Crespi, which was declared by Pope Francis on 23 March, 2022, the association named after him and the city parishes of Legnano have proposed a three day programme.

On the evening of Friday, 20 October, Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, the Postulator General of the Causes of the Saints of the Salesian Family, and Mariafrancesca Oggianu, curator of the Positio, evoked his multifaceted figure not only as a religious person but also as a lover and promoter of culture. The event was held in the Basilica of San Magno.

On Saturday 21, the San Magno parish housed a photo exhibition on his life to benefit the public.

On Sunday 22nd, again at the Basilica of San Magno, Fr Cameroni presided over the Eucharist during which the Decree of Venerability was read by Mr Carlo Riganti, the President of the Carlo Crespi Association.

In his homily, Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, drawing inspiration from the Pope's message for the 97th World Mission Day, presented Fr Crespi as a missionary with a burning heart, listening to the voice of God who called him. Even as a boy, he had a revelatory dream, taking him to distant lands, of which he recounted: 'I was still studying at the College of St Ambrose (in Milan). I had just fallen asleep, and the Virgin appeared to me in a dream and showed me a scene: on one side, the devil who wanted to grab me and drag me; on the other, the Divine Redeemer, with the cross, was showing me another way. I was dressed as a priest and had a beard; I stood on an old pulpit, around me a multitude of people eager to hear my words. The pulpit was not in a church, but in a hut”.

At the same time, Fr Cameroni emphasized the ability of Fr Crespi to listen to the voice of the little ones and the poor whose dignity he promoted with the strength of love: 'Fr Crespi is a patriarch of Cuenca. For many he is a saint. For all, he is a priest with a big, tender, and generous heart. How many have benefited from the early works initiated by this Sower of schools, sports fields and refectories for poor children!".

Again, Fr Crespi was remembered as a missionary with open eyes in contemplating nature, especially fascinated by the beauty and mysteries of the Amazon rainforest, as he wrote in his letters: "As so many, so many times, enraptured in the sublime contemplation of nature I have felt crushed by the creative Omnipotence of God, humbled before the sight of a new world, still almost completely unexplored by science"; in contemplating the Eucharistic mystery, the source of his apostolic industriousness and creativity: "My life is at the feet of the Tabernacle for whole hours and from there comes the blessing over these works, and the continuous sacrifice; there are shortcomings, but God forgives them".

Finally, his being a missionary with his feet on the road was stressed: as a tireless explorer in the Amazon rainforest, to get to know and evangelize the Shuar people; and on the streets of Cuenca, to bring the proclamation of the Gospel through the education of the young and the poor. On his death in Cuenca on 30th April 1982, the following narrative illustrated the life and mission of Father Carlo Crespi: 'Always with a childish smile on your lips; with your lively eyes as you danced merrily, with the fingers of your right hand nervously unrolling the beads of your old and worn rosary… Your whole life was a hymn of praise to God and a loving dedication to mankind! You were a contemplative in action, a monk of God in the midst of sinful people'.

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