In Pace Christi

It was all over in a matter of four hours, during the night between Thursday 15 and Friday 16 October, 2009.

He had accompanied Fr Giuseppe Giannini to the airport and left him there at 1.35 am. As he was coming back, he made a u turn to take the road to the house but was struck violently by a speeding car on his right. The collision was tremendous. He was thrown out of the car and lay in the road until the police came on the scene, about ten minutes later, and took him to hospital where they arrived soon after 2 am. Using his cell phone, the police contacted the confreres who arrived at the hospital before 2.30 am in great distress, realising they could do nothing to keep him alive. Fr. Giovanni stopped breathing at 6 am. The funeral was carried out at 5 pm of the same day, as customary in Khartoum, in the Cathedral at the presence of all the priests, religious men and women and a crowd of the faithful. He was buried that same evening in the Christian cemetery of St. Francis, next to another priest, Fr. Emile, a younger Sudanese priest who died of cancer just a few months ago.

Fr. Giovanni Fenzi was born in 1946 at San Massimo, in the outskirts of Verona. Having done his novitiate in Carraia (1968-1970) and his scholasticate in Rome, he was ordained priest in 1974.

Appointed to the Sudan, he went first to Lebanon to study Arabic only to find that the war was raging there.

He reached Sudan in 1976 and was appointed to the diocese of El Obeid and the mission of Kadugli, in the Nuba Mountains, remaining there for eleven years. From Kadugli he went to Dilling, where he stayed for two years up to 1989, when he was expelled by the government under the false accusation of possessing a radio transmitter. He then went to the mission of Port Sudan where he stayed for five years, up to 1994. Those 18 years in Sudan were very intense and left deep traces in his life.

He was a jovial character and made friends easily. He travelled the length and breadth of his vast mission. He was continually visiting the villages where small Christian communities were being formed. He learned by heart the names of an endless list of people as he noted possible leadership talents in some who might become catechists or teachers in the work of evangelisation. His main concern was to form Christians who were able to stand on their own two feet. Promotion is not simply emergency relief. A number of boys joined the seminary. The first priest to visit him in hospital after the accident to give him the last sacraments was formerly one of his boys and now a priest and curate at the cathedral of Khartoum, Fr. Adam Abu Shok.

Mgr. Antonio Menegazzo spoke of him thus: “When the news of his tragic death was heard, there was general mourning. He was beloved by all. No need to mention his enthusiasm, his ability to mix socially with great and small. His heart and his main interest was for the Nuba people among whom he worked for a number of years up to 1994 when he took a break in Italy. He often recalled the wonderful times he spent in Sudan. In April of this year he came with me to visit some villages in the Nuba Mountains: he remembered the roads, the names of the villages and the people as if he had left the place only yesterday... instead it was 15 years earlier. He was warmly received: all, except the youngest, remembered him and he showed them the photos he took years before when he lived with them. They all looked at the photos trying to recognise themselves”.

Together with the people and with the help of some Italians he managed to build chapels and schools in all quarters. His enthusiasm spread to everyone and especially the Christians who thought the world of him and felt at their ease with him. Gifted with practical skills, he was able to respond easily and naturally to the emergency situations which continually arise in the missions. He was the electrician, the mechanic, the builder, etc.

At Port Sudan he built a parish pastoral centre to give a proper formation to the catechists, leaders, the women and the youth of the area, obviating the need to go to Khartoum, 1,200 km away. He opened small schools for refugees from the South, thus guaranteeing them Christian instruction and formation.

In 1994 he went to Italy for family reasons but also for reasons of health. He remained there for 12 years showing great talent as a missionary animator appreciated by priests and groups. He was at Thiene (1994-1997), Florence (1997-1998), Troia (1998-2003) and at Venegono (2003-2006). From 2002 to 2006 he was a member of the provincial council.

He returned to Sudan in 2006 and was appointed to the community of El Obeid from where he served the out-stations of Rahad e Um Ruwaba. In 2008 he was called to Khartoum North and the provincial House. He was always busy there helping in the parish and in the procure and assisting passing confreres. He took to heart the construction of the school at Izba. In early 2009 he was appointed superior of the community.

He suffered constantly with his liver and his eyes. For this reason he would go to Italy each year for check-ups. He had already been to Italy this year and had returned on 19 September.

“The death of Fr. Giovanni Fenzi” - Fr. Teresino Serra wrote in his message to the provincial superior of Khartoum - “places a great burden on the shoulders of many people. Faith tells us to take up also this cross and follow Christ. For those unable to open themselves to its mystery, the cross means nothing but suffering. It means only suffering for those who do not accept the wisdom that comes to us from above or those who do not respect the times and mysteries in which the work of God unfolds... In sorrow and in the cross I invite you to thank God for the life and death of Fr. Giovanni Fenzi. His was a life of generosity and love for the mission”.
(Fr. Salvatore Pacifico)
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 242 suppl. In Memoriam, ottobre 2009, pp. 65-69.