Fr. Camminati was known for his dynamic youth ministry, service to the poor, work with Catholic Action, and passion for the mountains. He was the parish priest of Our Lady of Lourdes in Diocese of Piacenza, where five other priests with COVID-19 have died.
Among the dead in Piacenza is Fr. Kidane Berhane, a Cistercian monk originally from Eritrea, who resided in the historic Chiaravalle Abbey in Lombardy. Also deceased are 87-year-old twin brothers, Fr. Mario Boselli and Fr. Giovanni Boselli, who died within a day of each other.
“It is a tough trial. We are dismayed. We feel great suffering,” Bishop Ambrosio told Avvenire.
"It is a darkness that we must face, but with the hope that God never abandons us, that he himself has gone through all the suffering to overcome it,” the bishop added.
Other priests who have died of COVID-19 in Piacenza include Fr. Giuseppe Castelli, 85, and Fr. Giovanni Cordani, 83.
The Diocese of Bergamo has reported the deaths of 20 diocesan priests and two religious. Fr. Fausto Resmini, a former prison chaplain and minister to the homeless, died on March 23 at the age of 67. He had been treated in intensive care since March 5.
“In these days I am listening to the voices of many people, feeling pain for the loss of their loved ones,” Bishop Francesco Beschi of Bergamo said March 19.
In response to this suffering, the Diocese of Bergamo has opened a telephone service that offers free psychological and spiritual counseling and support.
Other Italian dioceses that have lost priests to coronavirus include Parma, Cremona, Milan, Lodi, Brescia, Casale Monferrato, Tortona, Trento, Bolzano, Salerno, Ariano Irpino, Nuoro, and Pesaro.
Italy has the highest coronavirus death toll in the world. The Italian Ministry of Health reported March 23 that 5,476 people have died. More than 59,000 people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Italy since February.
