On 26 June, we took up the invitation of Salesian Fr Giuseppe Maffei, and went to visit him at the 17th-century Villa Sora in Frascati, which now houses the Salesian Institute, home to a secondary school. This 86-year-old 'young man' spent several years as a missionary in Colombia. There, he says, 'I teach philosophy: I educate young Salesians in criticality and commitment. On Sundays, Mass is among the campesinos'.
Once back in Italy, at the end of the 1980s, he is destined to teach theology at the Salesian University in Rome: "For a period Stefan Oster, the future bishop of Passau, is also there: Balthasar makes us friends and Stefan passes on to me his interest in Ferdinand Ulrich." But it is above all the arrival at Villa Sora, which took place on the threshold of his 70th birthday, that allowed Father Giuseppe the time to "read all of Balthasar" and devote himself to the Italian translation of two of his minor works: Von der Aufgaben der Katholischen Philosophie in der Zeit (The Tasks of Catholic Philosophy in Time) and Kommt und Seht (Come and See) published by the LAS publishing house.
Along with recounting these glimpses of life, Father Maffei showed us the beauty of Villa Sora, especially the Sala delle Muse, as well as Arrigo Minerbi's Crucifix in the school chapel, and, leading us up to the rooftop, he showed us the panorama with a view of Rome, set between the sea and the hills.