In Pace Christi

Bro. Francesco Ragnoli was born on 15 October, 1925, at Mazzano in Brescia Province, to Bortolo and Maria Maccarinelli. On finishing primary school, his parents, who wanted him to become a tailor and hairdresser, sent him to Brescia where he came to know the Comboni Missionaries and began to think about becoming a Comboni Brother. So it was that, in 1941, he entered the house of the Institute at Brescia. He was sent to Thiene (Vicenza) to the house of formation for Brothers and completed the three years of middle school in two years. He then moved to the novitiate at Venegono Superiore where, on 15 August, 1945, he took temporary vows. He was then sent to the Mother House in Verona to take charge of tailoring. It was then that he began to practise various arts: sculptures in plaster cast, painting, wood inlaying, etc.

In 1952 he was appointed to the professional Institute in Khartoum, Sudan. There he taught technical subjects, industrial and artistic design and workshop skills. He also taught other subjects in which he was an expert, such as working with glass and tailoring. The mission diaries almost always called him an architect and builder, a sector in which he was very competent and had many original ideas.
In 1971, he was sent from the North to Juba in South Sudan to carry out repair works on a school. In 1972 he made the altar for the church of Omdurman according to the indications of Vatican II (facing the people), concealing the woodwork of the trusses and the zinc roof with a ceiling that he himself decorated. In those years he carried out numerous works of construction, repairs and decoration. Worth noting is his painstaking work which he carried out in a church in Port Sudan using 14,000 shells of mother of pearl taken from the shores of the Red Sea.

In 1993, Bro. Francesco was assigned to Egypt, an appointment he found it hard to swallow. Despite this he committed himself fully in offering his service. In 1995, he was again sent to the province of Khartoum, working both in the North and in the South. In July 1998, he spent some time in Italy to rest and received treatment for his health. In 2000, he suffered a physical and psychological breakdown; taken urgently to Khartoum, he spent a month in hospital. He had to leave Malakal, where he had worked for many years, for good. On 25 March, he left for Italy. On 1 January, 2002, he was again appointed to Egypt but, a year later had to resign to return to Italy for good. He returned to Italy in 2003, after 53 years spent in Africa. He went to Rebbio (Como) from where he went to Brescia for some months. In September, 2004, he was transferred to Milan where he died on 25 December, 2011.
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 251 suppl. In Memoriam, aprile 2012, pp. 54-61.