In Pace Christi

Born in 1917, in Florence, into a large and profoundly Christian family, Fr. Giuseppe Furlanetto entered the diocesan seminary of Pordenone as a boy. The visit of the newly-ordained missionary Fr. Angelo Tarantino (former seminarian of Pordenone and later Bishop of Arua, Uganda) awakened in him the missionary vocation. So it was that, at the age of eighteen, he joined the Comboni missionaries and was ordained priest in 1943. After some years teaching at the Comboni seminary in Padova, he left for South Sudan in 1949.

“My years in the Apostolic Prefecture of Mupoi in South Sudan, among the Azande people, were unforgettable. That was the missionary life of which I had always dreamed: living in a straw-roofed hut and eating simple food prepared by a local cook. One day I complained that the food was too salty. And the cook: ‘That is not my fault; it is the salt that is salty’. I would travel through the forest on foot, by bicycle or by motorcycle, visiting the Christians and the catechumens in the chapels and school scattered in the savannah. I had some frights, all too often, when I met elephants or lions”.

Fr. Giuseppe worked mainly in the missions of Nzara and Ezo where “The Azande people were very open to the Gospel and truly wanted to know the Lord. … At Christmas, 1954, I saw in front of me a sea of black heads devoutly intent on listening: I saw the Catholic MP, Cosma Rababe, the Head Chief Diko, the sub-chiefs and the civil servants. Being alone I could not see to everyone: some of them came back to make their confession after the Christmas Mass while others went home without receiving the sacraments”.

Just when all seemed to be going well, persecution broke upon this mission; the experience of Fr. Giuseppe came to an abrupt end. In 1956. Sudan became independent and the Islamic regime immediately began to persecute the Christians. “For the Arabs, politics and religion are one so one cannot be a good Sudanese without being Moslem. The oppressive regime provoked the rebellion of various African tribes. The government of Khartoum reacted with violence. In 1957, the African priest Gabriele Duatuka, who was in the same mission as myself, was arrested and tortured. I accompanied him to the prison at Yambio and, the following day, with the help of the courageous bishop Mgr. Ferrara, we succeeded in freeing him”. In 1958, Fr. Giuseppe, was tried with two other priests and was expelled from Sudan. In 1964 there was the expulsion of all the missionaries from South Sudan, 300 people between Priests, brothers and Sisters.

Fr. Giuseppe was immediately assigned to Brazil where he worked for 42 years. “The Combonis arrived in Latin America in 1951. The first to reach Brazil was Fr, Rino Carlesi, who later was to become Bishop of Balsas. The arrival of the missionaries had a dual purpose: firstly, to assist the local clergy, still very few, in the work of evangelisation (most of the people had only been baptised); secondly, to create a missionary spirit among the rejuvenated Christian communities, especially by means of the Basic Christian Communities. I arrived there in 1959”.

He worked for fifteen years in the diocese of São Mateus, in the State of Espírito Santo. As soon as he arrived, he had the joy of taking part in the ceremony by which the first bishop, Mgr. Giuseppe Dalvit, a Comboni missionary, ‘took possession’ of the newly-created diocese. “I felt very homesick for Africa where – to tell the truth – I left most of my heart. But almost immediately the cordiality of the Brazilians healed the wound. I used to visit the communities within a range of 60 to 80 Km. I travelled on horseback. It was only later that we managed to get a Jeep, the only vehicle suitable for those muddy and rough roads. The affectionate and respectful hospitality of the families was touching. They often repeated, like a refrain: ‘we can accept to be poor but not of the grace of God’. I felt realised as a missionary. I lived, made friends, gathered the children for catechism (catechesis had always been my passion), and then there was the festive gathering for Mass with the people. The diocesan pastoral priorities were the formation of community leaders and the creation of basic communities that would help the people to resolve even serious social problems, such as that of the land, to be clear”.

He tells of when he was curate at Mantenópolis (1961): «“In our parish, we have had ten murders in seven months’, I complained to a friend. ‘That’s what I say’, he replied. ‘Ever since you Combonis came the situation has improved a hundred percent. In former times, there were crimes nearly every day in the city. Thanks be to God, this is no longer the case’».

Fr. Giuseppe also worked in the Amazon region. From 1975 to 1985, he worked in Rondonia, first at Ouro Preto and then at Espigão. That was pioneering work, one hundred percent missionary with long journeys on horseback, on foot or driving on those muddy roads just carved out of the forest. “The festive encounter with the poor peasant families gave me great joy and gratitude to God for having called me to such a beautiful work as is the building up of the Kingdom of God”. Thanks to the collaboration of many Christian families coming in search of land, it was possible for the Combonis to establish in the new dioceses of Ji Paraná an advanced type of pastoral work that served as a model in the future development of the diocese.

Due to problems with his eyesight that left him unfit to drive, in 1985 Fr. Giuseppe asked permission to work in the outskirts of the city where he could meet the people without having to travel very much. As a result, he went to Taguatinga, a city of 400,000 inhabitants, close to Brasilia. His main work was catechesis, not just at the parish level (children, adolescents and adults) but also at the diocesan level, in the formation of catechists and leaders by means of updating and spirituality courses. “I am now preparing children and adults for Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion and then I will dedicate myself to the pastoral care of the infirm, regularly visiting the sick in the hospitals and in their homes. Our own Sagrada Familia parish is a centre of spirituality with very high attendance at Mass and the sacraments, even on weekdays. There are many young people and this gives me reason to hope in the future. Furthermore, the mission is translated into charity. We have a soup kitchen for the poor. Every day a group of lay people cook huge pots of soup with rice, pasta and meat and then they go to the various city quarters to feed the hungry”.

Towards the end of 2000, Fr. Giuseppe returned to Italy for health reasons and was soon assigned to the Italian Province. He stayed almost all the time in Arco. In January, 2013, he was sent to Centre for the Sick and Elderly in Verona. He died there on 22 December, 2013. His funeral took place on 24 December, at the chapel of the Good Shepherd in the Mother House. He was interred in the monumental cemetery of Verona.
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 258 suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2014, pp. 161-165.