Father Fernando Bortone
Father Fernando Bortone (1902-1982), Jesuit missionary in China, was a propagandist of the work of Maria Valtorta, which he discovered in an original way. This strong personality is known for having spoken directly to the Holy Office about what he thought.
The article below is taken from the Pisani editions Bulletin, No. 26, July-December 1982. The collection of the very first bulletins was published by the Centro Editoriale Valtortiano.
"Fr. Fernando Bortone S.J. passed away on August 5, 1982, following a short illness.He was born in Fondi (Latina) in 1902 and studied in Rome, at the Capranica College and at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Entering the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), he left in 1931 as a Missionary to China, where he devoted himself to evangelization also through teaching and the publication of linguistic, historical, and religious works. In 1949, the communist regime forced him to return to Italy, where he continued his cultural activity especially with the production of volumes on the history of the missionary apostolate in China. He received numerous distinctions and awards. An expert, among other things, in dowsing, he healed bodily illnesses thanks to the system of the pendulum, then advising his clients to read a volume by Valtorta for the healing of the soul. During his activity in two Roman residences of the Jesuit Fathers (St. Andrew at the Quirinale and St. Ignatius on Via del Caravita), he distributed almost uninterruptedly the works of Maria Valtorta, to whom he had approached in a unique way:
One day (it must have been about twenty years ago), he listened to the reasons of a lady who wanted to resolve a painful personal case by accepting a relationship that the Church disapproves of. While he tried to dissuade his confidante, he heard her reply that the Church was wrong in its prohibitions, as demonstrated by the condemnation of the work Goodfaisant The Poem of the Man-God. "If She did it, there must be reasons" commented Father Bortone; and to corroborate his response, he obtained the work and began to read it, precisely with the intention of highlighting all passages worthy of censure. However, the more he read it, the more fascinated he was, until he was completely won over. With the boldness of the Missionary, he began to openly disseminate it, even protesting at the palace of the Holy Office: "You don't throw away a mountain of gold just because it contains a few grains of sand!"
He remained so until his death. The number of readers he won for the Poem cannot be counted, and he reread it himself and thought he would never let it go."