Father Luigi Bertocchi, OSB

Monk of Saint John's Abbey
Collegeville, Minnesota

Born: June 21, 1939

Professed: July 11, 1990

Ordained: September 27, 1970

Died: April 30, 2022

Luigi Bertocchi was born to Mario Gino and Lorenzina Antonietta (Gobbi) Bertocchi, on June 21, 1939 in Venice, Italy. Both of his parents worked at the Società Adriatica di Elettricità (Adriatic Electrical Company).. After attending elementary school, Luigi was sent to a boarding school in the mountains run by the Congregation of the Schools of Charity, commonly known as the "Cavanis Institute." 

Following graduation, he entered a technical school (1953-1956) to learn the trade of his father. He later transferred to a commercial school (1957-1960) where he learned typing, stenography, English, and French.  In 1962, Luigi left to begin compulsory military training in a cadet military school in southern Italy where he learned to operate cannons. He became a second lieutenant and moved to Padua to continue his training. 

Luigi attributes his vocation to a meeting with his Carmelite spiritual director who suggested that he should become a Jesuit missionary. Inspired by this counsel, Luigi decided to pursue a vocation with the Jesuits. However, his parents’ confessor convinced him to enter the local Venetian seminary. Unhappy with the seminary and longing to be a missionary, Luigi sought out the Xaverian Missionaries and entered the novitiate in 1964. After completing his years of philosophy and theology, he was ordained to the priesthood on September 27, 1970.

Father Luigi accepted an assignment to teach at a minor seminary in Bergamo Province in the region of Lombary (1970-1978). Part of his assignment was to go to local parishes and speak to youth groups about vocations to the priesthood. During this time, Father Luigi started a photography club at the school, an artistic passion his mother instilled in him. In addition, he started giving retreats to  local women religious communities.

Following the deaths of his father (1973) and mother (1978), Father Luigi felt free to be assigned to the missions. The Provincial sent him to Sardinia for a year to give talks about the missions and collect funds. In 1979, Father Luigi spent a year in London to further his studies in English. 

In 1980, Father Luigi flew to Osaka, Japan, with another Xaverian missionary to begin a life in the missions. There he studied the Japanese language in the Provincial House in Kobe. To further his language skills, he accepted an assignment to the mission in Kanoya on the island of Kyushu. Father Luigi described his life in Kanoya: “On Fridays I said Mass for the leper colony and also I was in charge of a church in the town of Shibushi, 20 miles from Kanoya. I taught simple English to the kids of the kindergarten at a school in Shibushi. To prepare the homily for the community in Shibushi, it took me about seven hours because it was given in Japanese.” Father Luigi loved the Japanese language and the people of Japan.

In 1987, Father Luigi had a turn of heart: “I developed a vocation for the Benedictines. I had sympathy for them during my military service but my missionary zeal drove me to the Xaverians. Now, I was attracted to a community with whom I could pray. I went to Tokyo to speak with the Benedictine prior. I was told to return the following year to talk with Abbot Jerome Theisen, O.S.B. (1930-1995), who would be coming for an ordination ceremony.”

Father Luigi arrived at Saint John’s Abbey in 1989 and entered the novitiate. After making his profession of vows as a Benedictine monk on July 11, 1990, Father Luigi returned to Japan as a Benedictine monk. He returned to Collegeville in 1991 to work in the Saint John’s University Registrar’s Office and was an associate chaplain for Campus Ministry until 1996. 

In 1996, Father Luigi was appointed guestmaster and cashier at the Collegio Sant’Anselmo in Rome. A natural connector, he was perfectly suited to offer warm and generous hospitality.  Father Luigi also took classes at the  Pontifical Athenaeum of Sant’Anselmo, earned an S.T.L. in Spirituality in 2001, and began a doctoral thesis on “The Spiritual Journey of the Lay Benedictine Oblate in the Contemporary World.”

During his stay in Rome, Abbot Primate Notker Wolf, O.S.B. asked Father Luigi to organize the first World Congress of Oblates in 2005. The congress brought together 330 participants from 40 nations and was a wonderful success. After the congress, because of his facility in Italian, English, and Japanese, Father Luigi moved to the Basilica of Saint PaulOutside the Walls to assist hearing the confessions of the many pilgrims who visit the basilica, and to serve as guestmaster.

In 2008, Father Luigi returned to Saint John’s Abbey and worked with the North American Commission for Monastic Interreligious Dialogue, and the Collegeville Institute for Ecumenical and Cultural Research to develop good relations with local Somali Muslims. In addition, he served as a spiritual director for guests at the Abbey Guesthouse.

Father Luigi died peacefully on April 30 in the retirement center at Saint John’s Abbey. The community at Saint John’s Abbey and his friends will celebrate the Mass of Christian Burial for Father Luigi at 10:30 A.M. on May 5, 2022, in Saint John’s Abbey and University Church, with interment in the Abbey Cemetery following the service.