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In Pace Christi
Meneguzzo Albino
Date of birth :
29/04/1927
Place of birth :
Isola Vicentina
Temporary Vows :
09/09/1950
Perpetual Vows :
09/09/1953
Date of ordination :
12/06/1954
Date of death :
05/09/2003
Place of death :
Schio/I
Fr. Albino Meneguzzo died on 5 September 2003. He was in Italy since 14 August on holiday. While there, he began to feel a light ailment, which he attributed to a digestive problem. He had undergone medical tests in Portugal before leaving for his hometown, and the results only showed that he had to be careful about his diabetes, from which he had been suffering for the past few years. A week later he felt very ill and was admitted to a clinic in Schio. Diagnosis: heart failure. For a few days he was in intensive care. Following a complete medical check-up, he was found to be suffering from a thrombus phlebitis of the abdomen. He immediately underwent surgery in the attempt of finding the damaged vein, but the operation was not successful. Fr. Albino died at 22.30, shortly after coming out from the operating room. Cause of death: cerebral embolism.
He was very much missed, in particular by the Lisbon community, where he had practically passed his last thirty years and where he was known for his pleasant character and extraordinary missionary activity.
Fr. Albino was 76 years of age and was born on 29 April 1927 at Isola Vicentina, in the diocese of Vicenza. He had arrived in Portugal in 1954, immediately after his priestly ordination, which took place on 12 June 1954. He was then 27 years of age. Sent to Viseu, he taught mathematics to the seminarians and cooperated in missionary animation for four years. In 1958 the Comboni Missionaries bought an estate called “Quinta dos Leões” in Catassol (Maia). Fr. Albino became the first superior of the students’ philosophy course and started the work of missionary animation in the Porto area. He was the first to start mission appeals in Portugal.
Two years later, in 1960, Fr. Albino left for Mozambique, where he worked for nearly thirteen years, almost all of them in the vast Nampula Diocese. He was at first in the difficult and unexplored mission of Mossuril on the Indian ocean, an area under Islamic influence, and later on he worked in Netia, in the interior. Fr. Albino was an excellent hunter and often told how he used to provide meat for his mission schools and the confreres from other missions by hunting wild game.
Fr. Albino returned to Portugal in 1973. During this period he was always a member of the Lisbon community, except for the year of 1977 when he accepted to assist in opening the new community of Aveiro (closed down two years later). The times were hard and Fr. Albino dedicated himself to missionary animation in the Lisbon region, but also in the Azores, Madeira and in the Algarve, especially during the summer holidays, in order to collect funds for the Lisbon community and the confreres in the missions. A diplomat by nature and gifted with an extraordinary pleasant character, he used to make a good impression on those who came to know him. He made many friends and collaborators and encouraged a number of young people to become missionaries. In his last years, sensing that his strength was leaving him, he dedicated himself more to local ministry by helping in the nearby parishes.
He was very much missed, in particular by the Lisbon community, where he had practically passed his last thirty years and where he was known for his pleasant character and extraordinary missionary activity.
Fr. Albino was 76 years of age and was born on 29 April 1927 at Isola Vicentina, in the diocese of Vicenza. He had arrived in Portugal in 1954, immediately after his priestly ordination, which took place on 12 June 1954. He was then 27 years of age. Sent to Viseu, he taught mathematics to the seminarians and cooperated in missionary animation for four years. In 1958 the Comboni Missionaries bought an estate called “Quinta dos Leões” in Catassol (Maia). Fr. Albino became the first superior of the students’ philosophy course and started the work of missionary animation in the Porto area. He was the first to start mission appeals in Portugal.
Two years later, in 1960, Fr. Albino left for Mozambique, where he worked for nearly thirteen years, almost all of them in the vast Nampula Diocese. He was at first in the difficult and unexplored mission of Mossuril on the Indian ocean, an area under Islamic influence, and later on he worked in Netia, in the interior. Fr. Albino was an excellent hunter and often told how he used to provide meat for his mission schools and the confreres from other missions by hunting wild game.
Fr. Albino returned to Portugal in 1973. During this period he was always a member of the Lisbon community, except for the year of 1977 when he accepted to assist in opening the new community of Aveiro (closed down two years later). The times were hard and Fr. Albino dedicated himself to missionary animation in the Lisbon region, but also in the Azores, Madeira and in the Algarve, especially during the summer holidays, in order to collect funds for the Lisbon community and the confreres in the missions. A diplomat by nature and gifted with an extraordinary pleasant character, he used to make a good impression on those who came to know him. He made many friends and collaborators and encouraged a number of young people to become missionaries. In his last years, sensing that his strength was leaving him, he dedicated himself more to local ministry by helping in the nearby parishes.