He gave it to diocesan Catholic Action in memory of Gianni De Polo, that brother-in-law, former president of the AC youth, never known because he died a martyr in the Resistance war in the hills of Refrontolo in October 1944.

Nikla De Polo prayed and wrote the icon of Blessed Toniolo with a triple content: portraiture, hagiographic, spiritual-mystical. Using the photographic and witnessed documentation of the period in which he was alive, the icon reproduces the somatic features of the blessed, the fundamental features of his face so that it is recognizable.

The hagiographic aspect makes us perceive the blessed Toniolo as a man who lived in known times and places. His kind of life, his biographical profile, his writings, his mission as an educator, his being the father of a family, the way in which he made himself famous in leading a life totally inspired by the teachings of the Gospel, the kind of death, the miracle obtained through his intercession. The icon therefore presents the figure of a lay person who has come to holiness through a life striving in the constant effort to adhere to God in every situation of daily life.

Even the clothes retain the style of his time and reflect the customs of the era in which he lived, in addition to the role of teacher played throughout his life.

The third level is what can be called mystical and spiritual. Toniolo is proposed as a living character in his glorious reality in heaven, in the communion of saints.

His appearance is that of a purified, transfigured man who has become a living icon of God.

The shades of the color of the face are another of the symbols used by the icon to highlight the transfiguration and the sanctity of Blessed Toniolo: with a very sweet brown tone, like earth illuminated by the inner sun, the complexion shines like the light of a glorious and risen body. In his face, the immense and luminous eyes because they receive light from within, invite us to enter the inner shrine of our heart, discover the presence of God and invoke him: "in your light we see the light".

The superciliary arches, while underlining the expression of the eyes, highlight the spacious forehead, the seat of true wisdom which is a gift of God.

The mouth, of which only the lower lip is visible, is closed in the silence of contemplation.

The head of Blessed Toniolo is surrounded by the halo of holiness that bears engraved the three virtues he pursued in his journey of faith: humility, patience, obedience.

The icon proposes to us Blessed Toniolo as a model of holiness in lay life, holiness that can be achieved in the concreteness and in the everyday life of our little history inserted in the larger one of the society of our time.

Through the icon, Blessed Toniolo speaks to us of that harmony that was his ideal, starting from the unifying principle of faith ... and of that hope that animated his life, making it fruitful then as today ...

He teaches us "how sobriety and essentiality become a sign of the 'good life' of the Gospel that knows how to deal critically with the challenges of the times".

source: beatotoniolo.it