In Pace Christi

Fr. Elia was born in Castegnato, in the Brescia Province, on 25 February 1931. After his novitiate in Florence he took first vows on 9 September 1955, and then went to the scholasticate in Venegono. He was ordained priest on 15 June 1957 and was sent to Kapoeta in South Sudan a year later. He worked there as curate for six years. In 1964 he went to Uganda where he stayed until 1979. He spent two years at Thiene in Italy for health reasons and then went back to Uganda. In 1994 he was again appointed to South Sudan where he worked a further nine years before going to Kenya where he spent the years from 2004 until 2015, the year when he returned for good to Italy and the community of Brescia.

The Superior of the community wrote: “Fr. Elia wishes to stay here. I am not against the idea as he is very flexible and good company. If he recovers well, he may help out with ministry and raise funds. To sum up, I believe he is willing and able: I would not be displeased if he were to stay with us”. This was a message that augured well for a man of 84 coming back from Africa “worn out” and ready to begin a new phase of life: as a missionary in Italy.

In December of that same year, 2015, Fr. Elia was awarded a Bulloni Prize for Good Works for all he did in Africa.

Fr. Elia lived out with serenity and good humour his return from the mission in his old age, a time of fragility, ill health and decline, a difficult time. For some it may become a time of bitterness and for blaming others. It was not so for Fr. Elia. Once he became aware of his condition, he agreed to return to Italy and become part of an ordinary community of the Province. He had a long list of benefactors with whom he kept in touch and maintained very good relations. He handed all of them over to a younger confrere so that the flow of help to the mission would continue. This showed a great inner freedom.

One day I found him in his room in Brescia where, full of fervour, he was sharing with some confreres his joyful experience of the spiritual exercises he had just completed in Limone. Like a gushing fountain he was joyful and exuberant: he was clearly sharing a moving experience and was enthusiastically spreading the word.

When he realised how weak he was becoming and how much assistance he needed, he peacefully accepted to come to Castel d’Azzano (April 2019), a more suitable environment for one in his condition. He became part of the community and, as far as he could, participated in its activities.

He suffered much at the end but never complained. His serenity also affected the staff looking after him; many relatives and friends of his came to visit him during his final months.

We all knew that, during his long and laborious years of missionary endeavours he had received abundant donations. But he died poor, leaving all earthly goods to others. We are aware that, even while in Italy and despite his advancing years, Fr. Elia continued to work for the mission through his constant search for prayers and funds for his last project: the “Nakwamekwi Girls High School”.

“After setting up twenty pre-schools in the countryside in recent years – he would explain – we have about seven hundred girls attending primary school for the first eight years, and they do so in buildings and with teachers directed by the missionaries who welcome them and provide them with clothes and food. The next step was to start a high school for ninety girls in each of the four years of school”. With the funds raised, the “Nakwamekwi Girls High School” was completed and is now fully operational.
(Fr. Renzo Piazza, mccj).
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 282 Suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2020 pp. 107-111.