In Pace Christi

Giuseppe was born at Offlaga (Brescia) on 27 February, 1942. He was attracted by the Comboni Missionaries and applied to join them. He entered the novitiate at Gozzano, in Novara province, and took his first vows there on 9 September, 1961. He spent some months in Verona and then went to the London province where he worked until 1970.

During that period, Bro, Giuseppe worked on the construction and maintenance of the houses of Sunningdale, Allanton and also Mirfield. He was known for his friendliness and constant smile. When he went to England, he was just twenty and full of energy and enthusiasm. With his communication skills he made many friends; he was a happy character and loved to chat with the students.

He was a great football fan and he would go with the students of Dawson Place to watch them playing football in Hyde Park.

Like many Comboni Brothers, he was well qualified in his trade and also completed a course in woodwork at the City and Guilds Technical College, Huddersfield.

During those years, the Brothers were building the junior seminary at Mirfield, in Yorkshire. They worked constantly and gained the admiration of the local foreman who, on his arrival in the morning, would find them at their work, having already recited Lauds, done an hour’s meditation, assisted at Mass and had breakfast.

Bro. Joe, as he was called, also worked with the group of Brothers who built an extension to the house at Allanton (Dumfries), in Scotland, opened in 1964. He was then sent to the various communities of the province as builder and carpenter. He worked with joy and dedication. He was diligent in his spiritual duties with a great devotion to Our Lady and loved to pray the Rosary.

In 1970 he was sent to Uganda. His major contribution was his service of teaching at the “Polytechnic School” in Ombaci, lasting seven years. He then moved to the mission of Otumbari and, lastly, to that of Koboko. He also acted as trainer to youth sports groups, one of which produced a vocation. In 1972, he, too, was expelled from the country. That was the time of the dictator Idi Amin: the missionaries were given 24 hours to pack their bags and disappear.

After a short period in Lebanon, supervising the construction of a house, he returned to Uganda, after Amin had been deposed. At weekends he was involved in religious safaris, preparing the Word of God with the catechists, the true animators of the local churches.

In 1980 he was assigned to the province of Spain where, besides being formator, he was also local bursar. That was a period of great missionary efforts including those in the field of mission promotion.

In 1986, he did the renewal Course in Rome, after which he was asked to go to the Philippines, in the new mission to Asia.

In his letter assigning him to his new appointment, Fr. General wrote: “I am appointing you to the District of the Curia for the opening in Asia as from 1 July, 1987. I am certain you can give a qualified contribution for various reasons. First of all, because of your clear Comboni identity, shown during the many years of missionary service in various provinces, from England, to Uganda and Spain. You show your Comboni identity in your serenity, your ability to create communion and cooperation. All these elements are important at the commencement of such a fundamental and new missionary presence as that in Asia”.

“When we had opened the centre where we were to begin mission promotion – Fr. Rafael González Ponce recalls – Bro. Giuseppe was like a busy bee who never stopped working to make sure everything was ready and running: the building, tables, chairs, supplies, the kitchen, the first workers, the nascent groups of ‘friends of the missions’, etc. Later, when it was decided to launch World Mission Magazine – a colossal undertaking for such a small group – with Fr. Manuel Augusto Lopes Ferreira and also the group of Fr. Alberto Silva, Bro. Giuseppe also had to take care of the administration of the magazine without being able to rely upon economic resources.

One could mention many other facts such as the inauguration of the Postulancy, the opening of the language study place in Hong Kong and, later on, the mission in Macao. Bro. Giuseppe lived through it all with his simple and profound spirituality. His upright and good personality won the hearts of the Filipinos who still remember him”.

In 1996 he was again assigned to the London Province, up to 2001, as local bursar and then as Provincial Bursar, residing in London. He carried out this task faithfully, keeping in contact with many confreres abroad, assisting them in the financial administration; he was modest and discreet and worked peacefully and quietly.

During the latter years, having contracted Parkinson’s disease, he struggled courageously to the end of his days against the merciless pain and frustration inflicted by that condition.

In January, 2006, he was definitively transferred to the Italian Province. He spent a few years in Limone at the native home of the Founder and was then transferred to the Milan home for sick and elderly confreres where he died on 5 May, 2015. After the funeral Mass, his remains were taken to his home town for burial.
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 266 suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2016, pp. 53-58.