Don Milani, la povertà e l'ottavo Sacramento

The article presents the figure of Don Milani by focusing on the representations of poverty that accompanied the maturation of a “spiritual” discovery (a real “vocation” that completes the priestly mission) to educate through school, defined by Milani “eighth Sacrament”. Precisely in the pastoral work in the parishes of Calenzano and Barbiana, faced with the “spiritual poverty” and empty formalism well documented in Pastoral Experiences, Don Milani captures the radical problem of the “poverty of the word”. Historical poverty, which certainly causes scandal and clearly indicates which side to take, is only the symptom of a more radical poverty, that of the word, which triggers social exclusion and distracts from spiritual life. Hence the commitment in school in favor of the poor, to make everyone capable of expressing themselves, of expressing their real interests and of being willing to encounter the Word, the only thing necessary.