In Pace Christi

After precisely 50 years of priesthood, the Lord called him to himself to celebrate his priestly Golden Jubilee. Fr. Ambrogio was born at Legnano (Milan) on 27 February 1943. After the novitiate in Gozzano, where he took first vows on 9 September 1967, he studied theology in Venegono where he made his perpetual profession on 9 September 1970. On 18 March 1971, he was ordained priest. He remained in Venegono for missionary animation among the youth of the GIM. Those were glorious years with many young people coming to “the castle” for the monthly meetings. Intense work in the parishes with youth groups and with good fruits for the mission. The presence of the novitiate in Venegono was a concrete and visible testimony to arouse in other youths the desire to respond to the call of the Lord.

In 1973, the way to Africa opened for Ambrogio and he was appointed to Togo. After a period in Paris to study French, he landed in Lomé in June 1974. The Combonis had then been present in that small African country for ten years and it was in 1974 that the presence was also begun in the bordering countries of Benin and Ghana, in the south of the two countries which belonged to the same cultural area and spoke the same local languages. Fr. Ambrogio threw himself into the study of the language that would enable him to live his missionary ministry with a sound and deep closeness to the people. Vogan, Afanya, Aklakou were the parishes where he exercised his missionary ministry: years of great work in the various Christian communities, in the parish centres and in the many villages of the area, accompanying the catechumens, the children and youth and the many associations that brought young and old together for catechesis and prayer. It was an environment in which the traditional religion, voodoo, was familiar and deeply rooted in the heart of the people. With his fiery character that sometimes burst into flames, once the storm had passed, Ambrogio showed who he really was: a big-hearted man, generous, tireless in his work, full of projects that were not always easy to accomplish with the people who were not always able to respond to his expectations.

That was a long period of mission: almost twenty years, rich in hope and in self-giving; he lived the last two years (1990-1992) in Lomé as the provincial bursar. He did not expect such a post but he took to it with dedication and generosity. Being a man of the periphery, he did not love the city and preferred the country communities: on Sundays and on other occasions, he would go to Sanguera, a community that gradually grew and matured.

After twenty years, it was only right to take time out for renewal and updating: Fr. Ambrogio went to Italy for the renewal course in Rome and for a period of rotation which he spent in Troia (Foggia) in missionary animation.

His heart was always in his beloved Togo and in June 1996, he returned there. There had been some changes: the deanery of the south-east (Aneho), in the care of the Combonis since 1994, has become a new diocese with a local bishop. We are still present but the parishes will gradually be handed over to the local clergy. Fr. Ambrogio returned to Vogan and, for four years, continued to offer his work and dedication to the people he knew and loved. When the parish was handed over to the diocesan clergy in 2000, he went to Akoumape, a former outstation of Vogan and now a new parish. He then spent eight more years in ministry and as parish priest. Fr. Ambrogio was always in the front line with his ardent, generous manner! The important thing is to know how to live while giving yourself just as you are. Akoumape was also handed over in 2008, allowing the Combonis to open a new mission (Toko-Toko) in the north of Benin in the diocese of Djougou.

Eventually, Fr. Ambrogio returned to Italy where we find him in Milan, Gozzano and Rebbio, busy with ministry and missionary animation. Having regained his strength, he asked to embark again on a new missionary experience which he lived out for one year (2016-17) Chad at Moïssala. However, he had health problems and had to return home. He would forever be the same big-hearted Fr. Ambrogio, always willing to live out his priesthood with generosity right there in Rebbio, his last community. On 19 March last, he celebrated his fifty years of priesthood in the chapel where he was ordained in 1971. He expressed his infinite gratitude to the Lord who allowed him to spend 35 of those fifty years of priesthood in Africa! His condition worsened during the last months of his life and he returned to the home of the Father on 9 May 2021. Africa remembers him as a great worker who gave his life for Togo; many remember him with affection. What really matters, at the end of life, is to have loved! (Fr. Girolamo Miante, mccj)