In Pace Christi

Fr. Mario Cisternino was born at Castellaneta, in Taranto province, on 16 December, 1939. He studied at the diocesan seminary of Bari from 1951 to 1956. He joined the Comboni Missionaries and was sent to Sunningdale, in England, to do his novitiate and there took first vows on 9 September, 1958, and completed the first two years of the scholasticate. He then went to Verona for the remaining two years and was ordained priest there by Cardinal Gregory Peter Agajanyan on 28 June, 1964, as a member of the largest group ever ordained in the Institute.

He was then sent to London, in England, for a specialisation course in “Anthropology and Linguistic Education”. He then completed further courses in Uganda and Rome (“Research in Bantu Anthropology”) 1970-1972 and a specialisation at Swansea, in Wales (Politics of Development and Social Planning), presenting a thesis on the Karimajong people (1978).

In 1965, he had been assigned to Uganda and worked in the Kigezi region at the missions of Makiro and Rwanyena. Speaking of the Makiro, he wrote: “These are a mountain people, rough, strong and independent. They were once greatly feared. And they are still serious people. They number 70,000 in my parish alone. When they sing, the walls of the church shake! Thank you, Lord, for having purified these strong people without spoiling them. They have never had it easy. In the past, the Protestants maintained an obstructionist policy towards Catholics. In order to have their own strip of land in the National Park, a Catholic had to become a Protestant. This gave rise to the «Catholic Relief Service»: a common fund to which every Catholic contributed and which gave loans to those who had no land. The experience of the Catholic Relief Service taught everyone to appreciate the cooperative system and saving”.

Writing to those ordained with him, Fr. Mario recalled: “The pastoral activities of the first years in Africa were more or less like those of every other missionary: visits to the communities, the youth, the catechumens and the schools. Then the work became more personal, more of the heart: the work of helping the poor people in social development and economic activities through the cooperative system which helped the poor people and freed them from exploitation. I helped them build schools of straw and mud, I gave them money to send their children to school, I taught them, besides the catechism, how to sew, to weld, to repair motors, learning together with them. I relentlessly set up cooperatives, I became a private banker and I established savings and credit banks for them. I dug the ground and taught to dig to people who were proud to have achieved independence but who still had to discover the wheel and the plough... This, and more, I taught from the pulpit and on the roads.”

After the course at Swansea, Fr. Mario returned to Uganda, working in the diocese of Moroto among the Karimajong in the north-east of the country. There he started and continued the department of Social Services and development of the Catholic Church. He was in charge of the “agricultural scheme” to include 40,000 Karimojong and make them self-sufficient. In the area of public health, he coordinated the work of two hospitals and seven dispensaries. In the education sector he opened around sixty schools. He carried out several works of research in the district concerning ecology, anthropology and economy.

In 1986, he was appointed to the Italian province, first at Lucca and then at Brescia as a professor. In 1987, he was sent by the Superior General to Malawi-Zambia for research and to compile a report on the Mozambican refugees in the countries where they had fled to escape the war and massacres in their own country. He therefore met the bishops involved in that tragedy, suggesting a list of organisations to contact. With regard to the Comboni Missionaries, he advised them to form a team of missionary Fathers, Brothers and Sisters to respond to the emergency.

In 1990, he again returned to Uganda, residing at the provincial house where he could do some teaching.

In 1998, the Superior General appointed him Librarian at the Curia in Rome (1999-2006).

At the end of this period, Fr. Mario was again assigned to the Italian province and, after some time, was given permission to live outside the community in order to assist his elderly mother.

Ten days or so before his death, Fr. Mario was involved in a road accident, colliding with another car. He suffered a broken rib and bruises to his head for which he also had stitches. He was taken to Taranto hospital where the doctors said his condition was not serious: he was to rest a little and take some painkillers when he needed them.

Even though Fr. Mario said he did not feel well and had difficulty in breathing, he was discharged. Some days later, his condition got worse and he was taken to Castellaneta hospital where he died on 17 June, 2011. The relatives asked for a post mortem which showed that the cause of death was a blood clot on the lung.

On Thursday, 23 June, a prayer vigil was held with the local bishop Mgr. Pietro Maria Fragnelli presiding. On the following day, Friday, 24 June at 5pm the funeral took place in the presence of the bishop, Comboni Missionaries, most of the priests of the diocese and many of the faithful.

Fr. Pietro Ravasio wrote concerning Fr. Mario: “In losing Fr. Mario we have lost one of our greatest intellectuals. We may describe the record of his work as librarian in two parts. The first represents his writings. In fact, the Curia Library contains no less than thirty-six of his contributions published in Italy and abroad. We may note his anthropological works such as his book of Kigezi and Ankole proverbs (Leadership, Kampala 1987, pp. 471), his research on the initiation practices and the pedagogy of some African tribes (I segreti della serenità. Pedagogia tradizionale nel cuore dell'Africa, EMI, Bologna 1993), and his chief work, fruit of twenty years of research: Passione per l'Africa. Carte missionarie e imperiali sulla prima evangelizzazione in Uganda e Sudan 1848-1923 (Urbaniana University Press, Roma 2001, p. 571), afterwards translated into English “Passion for Africa. Missionary and imperial papers on the evangelization of Uganda and Sudan, 1848-1923” (Urbaniana University Press, Roma 2004, p. 571).

The second part of his work concerns his work as librarian and a missionary researcher. We must not fail to note the characteristics expressed by Fr. Mario in this monotonous office after thirty years of Africa and a career in writing and research already expressed in his writings. For the sake of clarity, it will be simpler to list those things which will remain in the memory of the life of the Library and of those who frequented it in those years: the welcome afforded both to confreres and externs coming to do research; his proposals for themes of Comboni research, like the theses on Don Daniel Sorur, on Fr. Filiberto (Gero) Giorgetti, the diaries of Fr. Giuseppe Zambonardi, etc.; the depth of his personal relationships with those doing research; his rapport with learned personalities such as Prof. Richard Gray”.
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 249 suppl. In Memoriam, ottobre 2011, pp. 92-99.