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Brazil: Father Alfonso Cigarini – 100 years of life and mission

Brazil: Father Alfonso Cigarini – 100 years of life and mission

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Monday, January 26, 2026
On 7th January 2026, Father Alfonso Cigarini, a Comboni missionary, celebrated one hundred years of life and dedication to the mission of the Kingdom. Born in Bagno, in the diocese of Reggio Emilia, on 7th January 1926, in the Emilia-Romagna region of north-central Italy, at a very young age he entered the Urban Episcopal Seminary of Reggio Emilia, where he remained until the end of his fifth year of secondary school, always nurturing in his heart the desire to become a missionary.

In November 1952 he entered the Comboni novitiate in Florence, during which he attended the first course of theology at the Seminary of Fiesole. On 9th September 1954, he made his first temporary vows and was assigned to the scholasticate of Venegono Superiore to complete his theological studies. On 9th September 1956 he made his perpetual profession and was ordained a priest on 15th June 1957 in Milan Cathedral by Archbishop Giovanni Battista Montini, the future Pope Paul VI.

Father Alfonso Cigarini at Casa Comboni in São José do Rio Preto.

After his ordination, Father Alfonso carried out his missionary ministry on three continents: Europe, Africa and America.

From 1957 to 1962 he worked in Mozambique. From 1963 to 1976 he served in Portugal. From 1976 to 1978 he was in Italy; from 1978 to 1984 in Brazil. After two years spent in his homeland, in 1985 he returned once again to Brazil, where he remained until 2000, when he went back to Italy for one year. In 2001 he was assigned once more to Brazil, where he still resides.

In Brazil, Father Alfonso has worked in Uruçuí, in the State of Piauí, Diocese of Floriano; in Sucupira and Tasso Fragoso, in the State of Maranhão, Diocese of Balsas; in Santa Rita, in the State of Paraíba, Archdiocese of Paraíba; and in Timon, in the State of Maranhão, Diocese of Caxias. Today he lives at Casa Comboni, which welcomes elderly and sick missionaries, in São José do Rio Preto, in the diocese of the same name, in south-eastern Brazil.

Father Alfonso – or ‘Funsein’, as he is called in his native land – is a witness to life and mission. He has reached the age of 100 with great energy and missionary enthusiasm, despite fragile health. For him, faith continues to be the main fuel of longevity.

“What motivates me is the presence of Jesus, who invites us to hope for a new heaven and a new earth. What I leave to people is the invitation to lead a serene life, trying to be good examples, valuing others and maintaining hope for a better future,” Father Alfonso emphasised on the day of his centenary.

Let us praise God for the gift of his life and his missionary vocation.

Father Raimundo Nonato Rocha dos Santos, Provincial