In Pace Christi

Fr. Vittorio Albertini was bom at Negrar di Valpolicella, in the province of Verona, on 20 June, 1915. Having finished primary school, he was admitted to the secondary school of the Verona Seminary. In September, 1931, he entered the Comboni novitiate at Venegono Superiore. He studied philosophy at the diocesan seminary of Venegono Inferiore and went on to study theology for four years at the Urbanian Athenaeum, Rome. He obtained a Licentiate in Sacred Theology and was ordained priest on 8 April, 1939. He spent eight years teaching in the schools of philosophy and theology of the Institute, exercising his priestly ministry and working in mission promotion in Italy. He was then sent to England (1947) to study English. Fr. Vittorio was due to leave soon for Sudan to teach at the Major Seminary of Yei but circumstances prevented its construction. As a result, the superiors kept him in England for four whole years, appointing him Master of Novices at Sunningdale Novitiate.

            He was assigned to Uganda and arrived at Mombasa after a voyage lasting 25 days. On 25 November, 1951, he reached Gulu, in the north of the country, the place of his fìrst appointment. He was placed in charge of studies at Lacor Seminary but immediately felt the need to exercise his pastoral ministry in the surrounding area. At the moment of his departure for Uganda, the former General Superior, Fr. Antonio Vignato, urged him to carry out an accurate research into the case of the two catechists Daudi Okello and Jildo Irwa, both of whom had been killed at Paimol, in 1918. Fr. Vignato wanted to know, above all else, the reasons why they were killed. Fr. Vittorio questioned a large number of witnesses who had been alive at the time of the tragedy of Paimol and prepared the Raccolta di Testimonianze (Collected Testimonies) which were duly translated and examined and sent to Rome to be scrutinised by a member of the Congregation for the causes of Beatification and Canonisation. The opinion of the expert was quite favourable and he encouraged the continuation of the work, pointing out the areas that needed clarification. Unfortunately, Fr. Vittorio could not carry on compiling the Collection of Testimonies which, in fact, was lost. When it was eventually found, in 1996, the juridical cause of Daudi and Jildo was initiated. The Collection was re-examined and inserted in the "Positio Super Martyrio", where it was quoted scores of times under the title of Raccolta Albertina (The Albertine Collection).

            In 1953, at the request of Mgr. Giovanni Battista Cesana, he agreed to become his Diocesan Procurator, adding this to his other commitments, especially that of teaching. In that period, all the missions of northern Uganda, some of which are now independent dioceses, such as West Nile, Lira and Karamoja, were all part of Gulu.

            Fr. Vittorio also helped in the pastoral care of the various small chapels in the area served by Gulu Cathedral. The Cathedral was in the outskirts of the city and Fr. Vittorio realised that the construction of a church in the centre of the city could no longer be postponed. After some difficulties, delays and much labouring, the church in honour of Our Lady of the Rosary was built. Fr. Vittorio continued to serve that community for five more years.

            Once he left the post of Procurator, he again took up his ministry in the various chapels. When the national seminaries were established in the early seventies, he was also freed from his teaching duties at Lacor Seminary and could then engage in a wider pastoral field. He was given charge of the area of and around Layibi, three Km. south of Gulu, where there was a Comboni administered College. The original plan of Mgr. Cesana was that the College church should also serve the local population but the pastoral needs of the people of the local villages increased to such an extent that plans had to be made to build a separate church. In the course of those years, a whole series of chapels sprung up around the central church of Layibi.

            Remembering the tensions and dangers which began under the regime of Idi Amin Dada (1971- 1979), Fr. Vittorio wrote: "All of us have experienced to some extent the threats and the risk of being killed. I personally was threatened with death at least five times. One night the rebels came to Gulu mission: they wanted money and I had to take them to the different rooms while one of them kept his revolver pressed to my head. Twice I was forced to kneel down as I had a pistol pointed at me; they also shot at me without hitting me. While I was visiting the chapel of Angaba, they robbed me of everything I had. One day, as I was recording up baptisms in the Baptismal register, the considerable number of people there suddenly disappeared and some men came in armed with rifles and stole everything they could lay their hands on. On one occasion, when the terror was at its worst, immediately after the massacre at Pakwach, Fr. Romano came to me saying: 'If we stay here they will murder us all! Let's go up to the hospital where Dr. Corti is'. The superiors sent a letter to all Comboni missionaries in which they said, more or less, that everyone was free to stay or to go as they wished, but nobody left. The same situation occurred in 2003, when the news spread that Joseph Kony (head of the LRA, the Lord's Resistance Army) had threatened to destroy the Catholic missions, kill all the missionaries and attack the Sisters. Again, nobody left. " In 2009, Fr. Vittorio was moved to Lacor Hospital (Gulu) for medical treatment. After a fall and a broken hip, he was taken to the Orthopaedic Hospital of Kisubi, Kampala, where he died on 2 February, 2011, at the age of ninety five. He was buried at Gulu mission cemetery.
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 249 suppl. In Memoriam, ottobre 2011, pp. 18-25.