"Hello, Don Eugen! I have to start worrying, seeing that now a priest is arriving? Am I in that bad shape?" ... Jokes a hiker who sprained his ankle during an excursion on Colle, one of the mountains overlooking Bolzano , upon the arrival of rescuers.
In fact, among them there is also Don Eugen Runggaldier, the vicar general of the Diocese of Bolzano and Bressanone.
The priest is a full member of the Bergrettungsdienst of the Alpenverein, the mountain rescue team of the German-speaking Alpine Club.
The priest responds with a big laugh and a warm greeting.
A few minutes later, the injured man has stabilized his ankle and, placed on the stretcher, begins the descent into the valley.
The 54-year-old is a sunny person, his smile never goes out,
neither when he takes on the role of the priest nor when he wears the rescuer's red-blue jacket.
Bishop Ivo Muser's 'deputy' has always been passionate about the mountains, perhaps because he was born in the heart of the Dolomites, in Santa Cristina di Val Gardena.
Since he was a child, he has looked upwards, not only towards the sky, but above all towards the Dolomite peaks.
The priest, who was consecrated in 1993, is very well known and appreciated in South Tyrol.
Speaking all three languages spoken in the Autonomous Province, Italian, German and Ladin, he can address all 'souls' in their mother tongue.
"Being a priest is a vocation, but outside the walls of our cathedral I have another great passion", confesses the priest with a lively smile.
"25 years after my priestly ordination, also given my great passion for the mountains, the desire to become a member of the mountain rescue in Bolzano has matured", he says.
So now he doesn't just save souls, but people as well?
"To those who ask me this question, I answer that souls are already saved by Jesus Christ", specifies Don Eugen, who in any case is not the first priest-rescuer.
"It's true - comments the Val Gardena -, before me the legendary Don Josef Hurton was not only a member of the mountain rescue team, but also one of the founders of the section of Solda, the village at the foot of the Ortles, where interventions in the mountains certainly not lacking ".
Don Hurton, now 94, always had and still has an avalanche dog.
"Being a priest and rescuer in the mountains is a great commitment, but this also applies to all the other volunteers", explains Don Eugen.
Unfortunately, the intervention does not always end positively, like the one on the Colle.
"AND'
happened - he says - that during an intervention I also had to be a priest, having to recover a deceased person.
Being close to these people and their relatives, saying a prayer, was important for them ".
