In Pace Christi

Paolo Negrini was just 17 when he crossed the threshold of the Novitiate of Venegono in November 1927, moved by the desire "to dedicate myself totally to Christ through service of my brothers and sisters who do not yet know the Lord and his Gospel of Salvation".

That step had cost him a lot. Having entered the diocesan seminary of Como as a boy, he had come through the five years brilliantly. His parents were already having ambitious visions of his future, and imagined themselves in a pleasant presbytery, living with their priest-son.

Annibale, the father, worked in Switzerland and returned home three or four times a year to spend some time with the family before going back across the border. Mamma Annunciata looked after the house and worked on some small plots of land. They were both very devout Catholics, but at the news that their son wanted to be a missionary, they were deeply shocked.

On 3rd September 1937 Paolo had written to the superiors of the Comboni Missionaries from Caspoggio: "Having carefully taken advice on whether there are grounds for my vocation, with the permission of my superiors I ask you to allow me to enter the Congregation of the Sons of the Sacred Heart. I have already been given leave by my Bishop.

I beg you, therefore to accept me among your sons, to prepare for the mission of winning over souls for Jesus..."

His Parish Priest, don Pio Parolini, had played an important part in this vocation, even though it appeared and flourished in the diocesan seminary, in which the missionary spirit had taken deep root.

Don Parolini wrote on 20th September 1927: "The mother has given her consent, on condition that the son does not leave home until his father returns. The father will certainly be back in Italy by the beginning of November, and there will be no problems, because he has also consented.

Father General proposed that Paolo should enter the Novitiate, and that his parents could go to visit him there, but it is another thing altogether for the father to enjoy the company of his son in the family, with the other children and relatives. I think that a <%-3>concession can be made, given their generosity in giving their consent, which has cost them a lot."

Leaving home in this way must have been very painful for Paolo too, even though he was young, and determined to follow his calling.

The Rector of the seminary in Como wrote this letter to accompany the young man into the Novitiate:

"Negrini Paolo is one of the best clerics in his class, both as regards character and conduct, and his aptitude and application in his studies. He is a young man who has drawn much profit from the education received over the past five years in the seminary, and has shown both tenacity and good will.

I should be sorry to see him leave our seminary, but thinking that the Divine Master has absolute authority over his workers, I not only bow to His Will, but I praise and thank Him for it."

Hard years

The Rector used the word "tenacity". But in the Novitiate it turned out that this virtue could be carried too far, and become a defect.

"He is very wild," wrote Fr. Bombieri, the Novice Master, "not too careful about small things. He is rather close, and keeps to himself. I do not have the courage to put him forward for the Vows, at least at present."

Fortunately the Superior General was not of the same opinion, and on 19th March 1930, our subject made his Religious Profession, though in Verona, not Venegono.

After which, Paolo was sent to Carraia as "Brother Assistant" of the younger seminarians. The superior of that Comboni seminary was Fr Cesare Gambaretto, who wrote on 2nd March 1932: "I have nothing negative to say about his behaviour. He was very diffident at the start of the year, afraid to come into my room, keeping himself to himself with me, and saying little even to the boys. But with a bit of help he has opened up, and now he's doing a really good job. Maybe he was hiding a great shyness under that rough exterior. I feel he will become a good missionary and do a lot of good, because the stuff is there."

So it would seem that the formation years were rather difficult for our Paolo. It depended on his character, but also on some persons he met along the way who were not able to understand him. But he was always sure about his missionary vocation - maybe sometimes only of that - and so found the strength to overcome the problems and to persevere.

On 7th October 1934 he made his Perpetual Vows in Verona, and on 7th July he was ordained priest, also in Verona, by Bishop Girolamo Cardinale.

Among the cliffs of Okaru

After the celebrations following his first Mass at Caspoggio, he was sent to England to study the language in preparation for an early departure for the missions. In fact, he arrived in Southern Sudan in March 1936. He was given the tasks of teacher and Spiritual Father in the seminary of Okaru, and did both until 1940.

Fr Negrini showed the full range of his determination and stubbornness: he did not come from solid, willful mountain stock for nothing. First in applying himself to learn the language, then in preparing the lessons for the seminarians. The experience with Fr. Gambaretto at Carraia was providential, because it helped him to fit in wonderfully with the young world of that seminary, stuck among the peaks of Okaru.

He would not be satisfied with teaching, however; to be honest, he did not feel cut out for that kind of work. So in his free moments and on Sundays and feasts, he would make contact with the people, visiting the villages on the plain and chatting with the villagers.

After a few months' teaching at Palotaka between 1940 and 1941, he was sent up to Khartoum for a year off. Being shut up in a seminary, even with the excursions on Sundays, had been rather wearing on our professor.

Forced break

He was posted to Torit between 1942 and 1945, first as assistant and then as superior. They were the years of the greatest expansion of that mission, and Fr Negrini showed himself to be a man of great ideas, foreseeing the development of activities that was possible in that mission. He encouraged the confreres who were doing the material work, and proved to be a first-class animator. Nor did he neglect his ministry: indeed, teaching catechumens,  visiting the elderly, going out to the villages and watching over the catechists occupied the greater part of his days.

From 1945 to 1948 he continued his experience as superior and animator of material work at Lafon. But all this activity was a bit too intensive, and began to affect his health. The Superiors decided to send him to Italy for some well-earned rest - and besides, 12 years had gone by in the mission. So we find him, at the end of 1948, teaching in Venegono (though he did this for just one academic year) and ministering in the parishes dotted around the Varese countryside.

However, it was a forced break, because the call of the missions was very powerful. Fr. Paolo kicked up such a fuss that he finally got his papers back to Africa where, by now, he felt much more at home.

"I was really happy"

He was superior at Loa for ten years (1949-59) before returning to Torit from 1960 to 1962. In 1962 he was expelled, along with other confreres who were having the most impact on the population, and so were considered "dangerous". Those were the days in which an air of persecution hung over Southern Sudan, with the missions one of the main targets of the Arab rulers. The sad state of affairs dragged on until 1964 with the mass expulsion of all the missionaries; a bitter chalice Fr. Negrini had drunk two years earlier.

He wrote to the Superior General from Uganda, on 18th December 1962: "Following the decree of expulsion from Sudan, I asked the Provincial to go directly to Uganda, since I did not need any holidays. I arrived safely in Kampala by air, and now I am waiting for the chance to go on to Gulu. I hope to find a place there or in Arua. I have no preference: I will go wherever Providence leads me."

Writing about this period of missionary work, so abruptly terminated, Fr. Negrini stated simply: "I was really happy", underlining the "happy" twice.

What others said of him

And what did confreres say? We have views of Frs. Crazzolara, Patroni and Briani, that complement one another. Here are some excerpts:

"He has shown great leadership qualities, which he uses kindly, prudently and firmly. He watches over the regularity of community life, and is zealous for the good of his confreres. Exemplary in carrying out material work, with zeal for the spreading of the Kingdom of God among the people. He shows special concern for sick confreres or those with problems. Even outsiders like and respect him." (Crazzolara).

"Fr. Negrini is a great worker, with experience, prudence and ability in directing a mission. All in all, a very good missionary" (Briani).

"Despite his severity, he wins affection both in community and outside. A man of faith and good judgement, he tires himself out a bit too much in material work, although he always gives precedence to specifically missionary activities.

He accepts directives and is virtuous in his obedience to the superiors. He has excellent qualities, both as a religious and as a superior" (Patroni).

In Uganda

Fr. Negrini worked in Uganda from 1963 to 1988, almost always as Parish Priest. His first ministry was in Warr, where the industrious missionary became the founder of the mission of Zeu, that was detached from Warr. He himself supervised the building of the house and other buildings, especially the large church. As usual, the put everything into this task. But again, he showed even more concern for the formation of the catechists, whom he saw as the animators of Christian life among the people. He undertook an intense programme of visits to the people, convinced that a word from the Father could be a great help and comfort in trials of all kinds, from drought and sickness to armed conflicts.

As in the Sudan, he won the affection of all. The Alur soon looked on him as one of them, and a "father of the faith".

In 1984 his strength was failing, and he moved to Parombo to help in ministry. It cost him a lot to leave Zeu, but he accepted the sacrifice with equanimity and his usual spirit of obedience; like Comboni, he believed that God's works have to have a taste of the Cross to bear fruit.

Serene last days

In 1988 his health began to cause anxiety. The superiors decided he should return to Italy. He went to Arco for treatment, thinking that he would be able to return to Uganda after about a year, "to lay down my bones in the land I have loved so much", as he wrote himself.

The Superior General replied that poor health is a limitation that is received from God, and that we have to accept it in a spirit of faith, "so I ask you to offer your disappointment to the Lord for reconciliation in Uganda and the conversion of the non-Christians".

After a couple of years his health declined even further, and he was moved to the Centre for Sick Confreres in Verona.

In another letter the Superior General wrote: " May the Holy Spirit help you to remain a great missionary. Let your zeal now show in prayer, in suffering offered up to the Lord for the conversion of pagans. And try to build up joy and serenity, so as to able to share them with the other confreres in the community."

This encouragement became a programme for Fr. Paolo, who accepted it and tried to live it, with the docility of a Novice. His serenity grew by the day, and he understood that the Lord had opened another way to him, that of silent suffering and the daily offering. And he tried to walk this way as faithfully as he could.

He was always first and foremost a missionary. He now spent the days praying and talking about the missions: Sudan and Uganda were where he had left his heart. As the months passed, his mind began to wander too. From time to time the assistants would find him in his room in the middle of the night, packing a little case.

"What are you doing, father?"

"I have to leave for a safari, "he would reply.

Occasionally, when he dug in his heels, all the nurses had to say was:

"Look, if you don't obey, they'll send you to Verona!" Convinced that he was still in Africa, he would answer: "Okay, okay! I don't want to be sent away from the mission!" And rather than causing hilarity, his reaction seemed somehow very moving and edifying.

We can say, then, that our confrere never left the missions; during the last seven years of his life, spent in Italy, he remained a missionary through and through, and exercised a true mission. As long as he was able, he tried to be cheerful, friendly and helpful with the other confreres on the second floor in Verona.

His heart began to grow weaker and weaker, until finally he died of heart failure. After the Requiem Mass in the Mother House, his body was taken to his home parish in Caspoggio. Fr Paolo Negrini leaves us with the example of someone who worked hard for the Kingdom; a missionary who did his job quietly and unobtrusively, and who enriched his labours by prayer and charity. (Fr. Lorenzo Gaiga)