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In Pace Christi
Sina Ottorino Filippo
Date of birth :
17/08/1915
Place of birth :
Lonato
Temporary Vows :
07/10/1933
Perpetual Vows :
07/10/1938
Date of ordination :
08/04/1939
Date of death :
16/01/2003
Place of death :
Cairo/EG
Fr. Ottorino Filippo Sina (17.08.1915 –16.01.2003)
Fr. Ottorino (as he was called at home and in the institute, “Philip” as he was always called by the Sudanese) was born in Lonato, diocese of Verona, but province of Brescia, on 17 August 1915, shortly after the beginning of World War One. He completed his secondary school in Brescia at the famous Collegio Arici, where the future Pope Paul VI had also studied.
He entered the novitiate of Venegono in 1931 and made his first consecration to God for the missions on 7 October 1933. He was sent to Rome to study theology at the Pontifical Urbaniana University where he earned his licentiate “summa cum laude” in 1939. He was ordained in Rome on 8 April 1939 and left immediately for England, where the beginning of First World War caught up with him. He stayed there until 1947 working also among the Italian prisoners of war while earning a BA at London University.
Finally he could leave for Africa and he was assigned to Khartoum, Sudan, where he worked mostly at the Comboni College, of which he became the principal. Twice he was appointed regional superior up to the time when he was called to Rome to head the commission for the preparation of the important Special General Chapter of 1969, during which he was elected Vicar General of the Institute of the Comboni Missionaries. He had a great role in the post-Second Vatican Council’s renewal of the Comboni Institute.
After the Chapter of 1975 he returned to Khartoum where he was elected provincial superior. In 1982, with the return of Comboni Missionaries in South Sudan, he moved to Juba where he had another stint as provincial. In Juba he founded the Comboni College, a very important institution, held in high regards for the formation of leaders. In 1992, having taken part in a student march to protest the imposition of Islamic law on non-Muslims, he was exiled to Khartoum, from where he was eventually expelled in 1995, when his residence visa was not renewed.
He asked and obtained to stop in Egypt. With great zeal, generosity and courage, despite his age, he worked particularly in the formation of catechists, in the marriage pastoral, not only in the parish, but also in centres at the outskirts of the city, where the Sudanese used to gather. He was always available to be of service to religious communities. A confrere, who knew him well, wrote: “Fr. Ottorino was entrusted by the Lord with extraordinary gifts. He had a great intelligence. He knew to perfection the subjects he taught at the Comboni College, but even more he knew the Institute, our problems, the confreres and the people among whom he lived. He also had a great faith and his knowledge had become “wisdom’ because he was able to judge people and events in the light coming from the Lord. Fr. Ottorino was also very open-minded. While several older confreres endured “crises” because of what was happening in the Church and in the Institute, he was never perturbed because he knew how to evaluate things with the Christian optimism that comes from trusting the Lord.
At the end of November 2002 he became very weak and was taken to hospital. He had asked to be tended to in Italy with the idea of returning soon among his beloved Sudanese, but his health took a turn for the worse and God called him to his eternal reward, in the Italian Hospital of Cairo, the evening of 16 January 2003, assisted by his confreres and by the Comboni Sisters. During his last illness, and up to a short time before his death, he prayed continuously and showed acceptance in faith of the will of God.
He is grieved by the Sudanese community who has lost a father, by his confreres and the Sisters who have lost an example and a guide. From Heaven may he continue to assist us. (Fr. Giuseppe-Zeno Picotti)
Fr. Ottorino (as he was called at home and in the institute, “Philip” as he was always called by the Sudanese) was born in Lonato, diocese of Verona, but province of Brescia, on 17 August 1915, shortly after the beginning of World War One. He completed his secondary school in Brescia at the famous Collegio Arici, where the future Pope Paul VI had also studied.
He entered the novitiate of Venegono in 1931 and made his first consecration to God for the missions on 7 October 1933. He was sent to Rome to study theology at the Pontifical Urbaniana University where he earned his licentiate “summa cum laude” in 1939. He was ordained in Rome on 8 April 1939 and left immediately for England, where the beginning of First World War caught up with him. He stayed there until 1947 working also among the Italian prisoners of war while earning a BA at London University.
Finally he could leave for Africa and he was assigned to Khartoum, Sudan, where he worked mostly at the Comboni College, of which he became the principal. Twice he was appointed regional superior up to the time when he was called to Rome to head the commission for the preparation of the important Special General Chapter of 1969, during which he was elected Vicar General of the Institute of the Comboni Missionaries. He had a great role in the post-Second Vatican Council’s renewal of the Comboni Institute.
After the Chapter of 1975 he returned to Khartoum where he was elected provincial superior. In 1982, with the return of Comboni Missionaries in South Sudan, he moved to Juba where he had another stint as provincial. In Juba he founded the Comboni College, a very important institution, held in high regards for the formation of leaders. In 1992, having taken part in a student march to protest the imposition of Islamic law on non-Muslims, he was exiled to Khartoum, from where he was eventually expelled in 1995, when his residence visa was not renewed.
He asked and obtained to stop in Egypt. With great zeal, generosity and courage, despite his age, he worked particularly in the formation of catechists, in the marriage pastoral, not only in the parish, but also in centres at the outskirts of the city, where the Sudanese used to gather. He was always available to be of service to religious communities. A confrere, who knew him well, wrote: “Fr. Ottorino was entrusted by the Lord with extraordinary gifts. He had a great intelligence. He knew to perfection the subjects he taught at the Comboni College, but even more he knew the Institute, our problems, the confreres and the people among whom he lived. He also had a great faith and his knowledge had become “wisdom’ because he was able to judge people and events in the light coming from the Lord. Fr. Ottorino was also very open-minded. While several older confreres endured “crises” because of what was happening in the Church and in the Institute, he was never perturbed because he knew how to evaluate things with the Christian optimism that comes from trusting the Lord.
At the end of November 2002 he became very weak and was taken to hospital. He had asked to be tended to in Italy with the idea of returning soon among his beloved Sudanese, but his health took a turn for the worse and God called him to his eternal reward, in the Italian Hospital of Cairo, the evening of 16 January 2003, assisted by his confreres and by the Comboni Sisters. During his last illness, and up to a short time before his death, he prayed continuously and showed acceptance in faith of the will of God.
He is grieved by the Sudanese community who has lost a father, by his confreres and the Sisters who have lost an example and a guide. From Heaven may he continue to assist us. (Fr. Giuseppe-Zeno Picotti)