In Pace Christi

He was born at Serravalle (municipality of Apecchio, province of Pesaro and Urbino), on 28 June, 1926, the first of four children. When his mother, Beatrice Pazzaglia, gave birth to him, someone shouted from the window to the father: “Eliseo, you have a son!”. The father, who was ploughing the fields with oxen, dropped what he was doing and came running to the house to see his first-born he had longed for so many years and whom he always loved so much. The family of Fr. Bruno was like a warm nest and he assimilated this atmosphere so well that, everywhere he went and exercised his priestly ministry, he spread love around him with a welcoming smile.

From his boyhood, he thought of consecrating himself to God. In 1942 he packed his cardboard suitcase to go to the Comboni novitiate in Florence. He said goodbye to his family but his father Eliseo was not there. He had gone to the fields because he did not want his eldest son to leave. Bruno, however, had already decided, even though, as he himself said later, he could have thrown his suitcase out the window. He overcame that testing time with the help of his mother who encouraged him saying softly: “Never mind, my son; go where God is calling you”.

On 7 October, 1944, he made his religious profession. His father was also present, now happy with his son’s vocation. He was ordained on 3 June, 1950, in the Duomo of Milan, by Cardinal Ildefonso Schuster. His First Mass in Serravalle on the following Sunday, was a great feast for his family and all the people of the towns.

On 13 August, 1950, he left for Zahle in Lebanon to study Arabic but he fell ill with pleurisy and had to return to Italy where he helped with the formation of our seminarians in Pesaro and Sulmona. Once he recovered, he left for Mexico where he worked in Tepepam, Sahuayo, and Guadalajara in our Comboni seminaries. He then went to Mexican California where he was completely involved in pastoral work in the parishes of Santa Rosalía, San José del Cabo, Puerto San Carlos, and others. Mexico was a second homeland for Fr. Bruno. In 1995, after taking his holidays, he moved to Cuernavaca as vocations promoter. In 1999 he returned to Italy and our seminary in Thiene (VI).

In October, 2002, Fr. Bruno was appointed to Costarica to help in mission promotion in Central America. He also went to Guatemala and Panama. In 2006, once again back in Italy, he worked in Messina and, on 1 January, 2009, he landed in Cordenons.

“Surround yourself with people you love and who also love you” was one of his maxims that became his missionary life-programme. At San Quirino, close to Cordenons, Paolo testifies to this. He is in charge of a neo-catechumenal community. Every Saturday, Fr. Bruno would go to Paolo’s home, have supper and then go with the whole family for the prayers and to celebrate Mass in a room at the parish. Willy and Laura met Fr. Bruno during a pilgrimage to Medjugorie. Together with all their friends, they decided to form a prayer group that met every Monday evening at the Comboni house in Cordenons to pray in silence before the Blessed Sacrament and then pray the Rosary.

The years passed and Fr. Bruno was almost 90. The house at Cordenons had become a hive of activity with friends continually coming to see Fr. Bruno, some for a word of advice, others to go to confession or to pray with him in the little chapel. Then, when Fr. Bruno began to get weaker and needed blood transfusions, his friends from Spilimbergo and Maniago, belonging to the prayer group, were always there for him. They would take him to hospital, assist him day and night and purchase everything he needed. Sadly, he did not recover and at last, following the advice of the doctors, Fr. Bruno was transferred to Castel d’Azzano (VR) on 17 October, 2016. The following day at 2.30pm, he expired in the arms of Fabiano, the male nurse who took such good care of him. One of the ladies of the prayer group, speaking privately to Fr. Tonino, exclaimed through her tears: “We miss Fr. Bruno terribly!”. On Thursday, 20 October, his funeral took place at Castel d’Azzano in the presence of family, friends and confreres.
(Fr. Tonino Falaguasta Nyabenda, mccj).
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 270 suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2017,  pp. 135-139.