The Jubilee Year of Saint Richard Pampuri, proclaimed in 2019 to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the canonisation of our Doctor Saint on 1 November 1989, was officially closed on Saturday 1 May with a Solemn Mass presided over by the Bishop of Pavia, Mgr Corrado Sanguineti. The celebration was attended by the Provincial Superior, Brother Massimo Villa, and several Brothers of the Lombardy-Veneto Province. The Jubilee Year was extended in 2020 following a written request by the Diocese of Pavia on 15 April, in answer to which the Apostolic Penitentiary (in the document signed by Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, the Major Penitentiary)  granted a further year for the Jubilee celebrations to give the faithful more time to make up for the period of the pandemic emergency.

In his homily, the Bishop emphasised one particular trait that has always surprised those who had the gift of meeting Erminio Pampuri as a young student, a caring doctor, and a humble Brother of the Order of St John of God: his cheerfulness, even in his final illness, and even on his deathbed: cheerful not because he was naïve or a dreamer, but his joy was because he his certitude of the Presence of Good Lord at the centre of life itself, and in every situation in life.

At the end of the celebration, Mgr Sanguineti signed the Decree of Erection of the Parish Church of Saints Cornelius and Cyprian in Trivolzio to the rank of a Diocesan Shrine dedicated to St Richard Pampuri.

This has not only been a historical event but for us, as Brothers of Saint John of God - Fatebenefratelli, but above all a spiritual event that helps us to look to Saint Richard as a living model of Hospitality who spurs us on to boldly live the Charism of Mercy. May the Shrine of Saint Richard Pampuri become a "New Home" for all the members of our Hospitaller Family, where they can gather spiritually every day, and commit to Saint Richard the confidences of so many people who are suffering and seeking consolation and help in their lives.