In Pace Christi

Fr. Urbano was born in Troia, in the Province of Foggia, on 24 May, 1920. Ordained a diocesan priest, he immediately joined the novitiate at Florence, moved by the desire to become a missionary. He made his first profession on 19 March, 1947, and, three years later, took final vows. After working for some time in Italy – as temporary bursar in Florence, professor and vice-rector of the seminary of Padova, spiritual director at the Comboni seminary in Pesaro – he was sent to Viseu, in Portugal, to study the Portuguese language and to do ministry.

In 1953 he had his first missionary appointment to Mozambique at the parishes of Mossuril and Nacaroa.

The first years were uneventful but then some health problems arose. Fr. Urbano received treatment and, little by little, he recovered and was able to do the renewal Course in Rome and organise the twinning of Ercolano (Naples) and the mission of Lunga, where he was based. On 13 August, 1968, he was back in Mozambique and appointed assistant priest at Lunga where he stayed until 1974.

He then returned to Italy and spent four years at Troia and Bari in charge of mission promotion. He subsequently worked for two years at the same task at the Maia Postulancy.

On 17 December, 1980, Fr. Urbano arrived at the Provincial House in Colonia Moctezuma, Mexico City. He stayed there for a month to become used to the country and was then assigned to Lower California as Curate of the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes in Ciudad Constitución.

He brought with him vast missionary experience acquired in Portugal and Mozambique in many fields – mission promotion, teaching, spiritual direction, academic administration and evangelisation, especially as assistant priest.

Fr. Urbano was a firm character with clear ideas, a good human formation and a sense of irony. However, his stay there was not without its difficulties due to which he spent time in various communities of Lower California: Guerrero Negro, Santa Rosalía and La Paz. In 1983 he was appointed to ministry at the community of the Pre-postulancy of Cuernavaca, where he could take care of his health in a more moderate climate. He stayed there for two years. In 1984, he was appointed assistant priest of the “Martyrs of Uganda”, at Colonia Moctezuma. The following year he was appointed to Sahuayo Novitiate, Mich., as probus vir and for ministry. He spent 15 years there apart from one period when he went to Rome for the Renewal Course. On his return, he again engaged in the apostolic ministry in the communities under his care in the parish of Jiquilpan, Mich., in the ranchos of La Arena, La Cantera and La Lagunita where he also built some chapels. There he felt very much at ease and was beloved by the people. For this reason he asked to be buried there where “he would never lack people to pray for the happy repose of his soul”.

In 2011, aged 91 years, he asked to move to the community called “The St. Daniel Comboni Oasis”, at Guadalajara, having recovered from cancer in 1992, attributing his recovery to St. Daniel Comboni: “I prayed very much to the Founder and he worked the miracle for me”, he told his friends.

Fr. Urbano died of a pulmonary infarction, at Guadalajara, on 24 August, 2014, and was buried at La Lagunita, as was his desire and that of the people of the place.

“Fr. Urbano – according to the testimony of Fr. Teresino Serra – had prepared well and in good time for the encounter with God. People of the area where he had ministered flocked to his deathbed, His request was the same to everyone: ‘Pray that I may die soon with the same joy I have in my heart today’. He had founded the Marian cenacles in various countries and was known a man of unshakeable faith and deep prayer. When his death was announced, pilgrims came to Guadalajara from various parts. After the first requiem Mass in our community, his remains were followed by a long cortege of cars up to Sahuayo and our minor seminary where there was an all-night vigil. The people walked past the bier without interruption until the following day. Then there was a solemn procession at the parish of Sagrado Corazón, in Sahuayo. Besides a large number of confreres, almost all the diocesan and religious priests of the city concelebrated. Then the catafalque was accompanied for almost 30 km to the rancho of Lagunita. The vast crowd who accompanied it was a clear demonstration of gratitude towards this ‘great little man’ who spoke of God and the mission with his simple and human testimony”.
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 262 suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2015, pp. 85-90.