In Pace Christi

Fr. Giuseppe Buffoni passed away on 7 December 2008 in Lunzu, Malawi, of heart failure. A few days before, he unexpectedly exclaimed: “You know what? I am sure I will have a sudden death!” It must have been a premonition. The funeral took place at Limbe Cathedral, Blantyre, on 9 December. He was buried in the cemetery of the archdiocese, next to the tomb of Fr. Giuseppe Gusmini, the first Comboni Missionary to come to Malawi.

Fr. Giuseppe was born on 19 March, 1930, at Cornello, near Bergamo in Italy, the youngest of ten children. Three of them became Comboni Missionary priests (Alberto, Luigi and Giuseppe) and one of the sisters (Maria Teresa) joined the Comboni Missionary Sisters. The family moved to Selino Basso in November, 1938, to go and stay at Razzoli, about four miles from Valsecca.

In October, 1942, Giuseppe was brought to Clusone diocesan seminary, where his brother Luigi also was. It was war time and food was scarce; there were times when the seminarians were sent home to continue their studies in parishes.

Influenced partly by the example of his elder brother and sister (Alberto and Maria), Giuseppe decided to become a missionary. He joined the Comboni Missionaries by entering the novitiate in Florence, where he made his first vows on 9 September, 1950. While studying theology, he served as prefect in Rebbio, Verona and Pesaro and completed his studies in Venegono. On 9 September, 1956, he took final vows and on 15 June, 1957, he was ordained priest at the hands of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini, later to become Pope Paul VI.

After a month’s holidays, he was appointed to the community of Troia, near Foggia, where he worked as vice-rector, mission promoter and bursar for four years.

Assigned to Uganda, Fr. Giuseppe was sent to Moyo mission, in West Nile, where he arrived in July, 1962, and spent the next nine years. He threw himself into the study of the Madi and English languages. In his spare time he helped in the mission dispensary and the orphanage and in preparing a house for the Sisters fleeing from Sudan. Mgr. Angelo Tarantino, Bishop of Arua, gave him permission to review the hymns used at that time, and, if necessary, to compose new ones. That mission, and wherever Fr. Giuseppe was sent, became a hive of activity.

Towards the end of 1970 he was asked to move to the parish of Adjumani, where he also started numerous activities. Here, too, he began to compose hymns, again with the permission of the bishop. Some of these hymns became very popular even among other tribes. At the cost of great effort he also managed to prepare and print liturgical books and a translation of the New Testament into the Madi language: the latter in cooperation with other Christian denominations. For this work he was assisted by one of his catechists who knew well both English and Madi, a protestant primary school teacher and a lady typist. This translation was approved by the Bible Society of Nairobi.

In the Madi language, all together, he prepared The Daily Missal, A Catechism, A History of Salvation, Sacred History (the main events), A Life of Christ and Liturgical Lectionaries.
After the renewal course in Rome, in 1975, Fr. Giuseppe was appointed to Malawi together with his brother Fr. Alberto. In Malawi he worked in different places, always with great enthusiasm and energy. He first worked in the missions of Chiringa and Lirangwe. He then built the parishes of Mthawira and Chipini and for some time he served the province as provincial bursar.

In 1987 he had to go to Italy for a double bypass operation. The following year he returned to Malawi and stayed in Lirangwe. In 1994 he handed over the parish of Mthawira to the diocese. Then he worked in Chipini and in 1998 he also handed over that parish to the diocese.

Towards the end of 2001, while he was in Lirangwe, he suffered a stroke. He was taken to Lunzu hospital and then to Italy accompanied by Bro. Luigi Cometti. His survival was nothing short of miraculous.

After over a year in Rebbio to recover, Fr. Giuseppe returned to Malawi, arriving on 13 January, 2003, full of enthusiasm and a feeling of joy for still being a missionary and in a missionary country. He was appointed to Lunzu community, where he continued his missionary work with great dedication. He maintained regular contacts with friends, benefactors and confreres of the province by sending them greetings on special occasions, and also with the parents and families of our Malawian and Zambian confreres.

On 15 May, 2007, he went to Italy to celebrate the golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood, first to Valsecca, then at Selino Basso and also at Venegono Superiore with the Comboni community. In all these places he was overwhelmed by so many people wanting to greet him. He returned to Lunzu on 18 August, 2007. It was a long flight, but he felt he was coming home. He was happy to be back where he belonged. Also in Malawi the confreres and the people wanted to mark his jubilee.

Fr. Giuseppe will always remain in our memory and in our hearts as a great Comboni Missionary. He was a man of great energy and enthusiasm, totally identified with his Comboni missionary vocation and totally committed to the work of evangelization. With his enthusiasm he touched the hearts of many people. He had a great devotion to our Lady, to whom he attributed his ‘miraculous’ recovery after the stroke. He had a great love for the people of Africa and a heart full of compassion for the poor.

Though the stroke had prevented him from moving around as he wanted, he never got discouraged. He carried his cross with faith and joy until the last moment. He will remain for ever in our hearts. Thank you, Dear Giuseppe.
(Fr. Dário Balula Chaves)
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 241 suppl. In Memoriam, luglio 2009, pp. 6-12.