In Pace Christi

Fr. Lorenzo was born on 28 December 1935, at Padua (Italy) and was already grown up when he entered the Institute after gaining a diploma in accounting and administrative sciences. He did the novitiate in Florence where he took first vows on 9 September 1961. He then went to Venegono scholasticate. He pronounced final vows on 9 September 1963 and was ordained priest on 28 June 1964. A year later, in July 1965, he was sent to the Comboni missions in Burundi where he stayed for ten years, first at the parish of Cibitoke (Bujumbura). In a letter to his parents dated March 1968, we read: “Here, everything is going well as usual; one works and one is happy … we are finishing the famous building for the catechumens (5 fine big rooms). Next month we shall commence teaching religion as well as reading and writing. I will probably go to start a new mission, that of Kabulantwa (in practical terms, the present mission of Cibitoke is to be divided in two, creating a daughter mission) … and I know the beginning will difficult; however, no matter; all for the Kingdom and the glory of Jesus Christ”.

Having been expelled from Burundi in 1975, he went with Mons. Bartolucci to the Vicariate of Esmeraldas, in Ecuador, and remained there for the rest of his life except for a brief period in Peru as socius of novice master at Huanuco novitiate.

In the Vicariate of Esmeraldas, Fr. Lorenzo rendered untiring service to the people including that of official exorcist of the vicariate. The poor were his missionary raison d’etre: it was to them that he devoted his attention, his prayers and his unreserved assistance.

He was also a great animator of community events: he always took an active part in community meetings, being involved in the planning decisions and evaluation of the life of the community and of the parish. He enjoyed the esteem of all the parish groups, especially those he accompanied personally. Fr. Seraphin Kakwata could write in his testimony: “I had the honour of giving Fr. Lorenzo the Holy Anointing and blessing” and of being with him right to the end together with the provincial superior Fr. Ottorino Poletto.

The Sc. Larzon Alexander Angulo Burbano, who had known Fr. Lorenzo since 2008 when he was parish priest of “El Carmen”, at Manabí, describing the ten years of friendship and the many lessons he had learned from Fr. Lorenzo, recalls that, one day, after praying Vespers and the Rosary, he asked him how long it took to become a saint: “Even just a minute, depending on how much you love”, was the reply and Larzon never forgot it.

“Fr. Lorenzo was a simple and charismatic person with his feet firmly on the ground and his eyes fixed on heaven, one who radiated joy, the result of the deep Eucharistic and Marian spirituality he lived in daily life”. These are the words of Fr. Sergio Ivan Paucar from whose testimony we draw the following remarks.

When he spoke about his missionary life in Burundi, he used to make the young novices fall in love with the ad gentes mission of the Church. After his African experience, Ecuador welcomed him with open arms for the rest of his life. He gave himself completely to the service of the people, even during the pandemic. At the Sanctuary of the Merced, where he served until the end of his life, he was always to be seen in the confessional or outside listening and speaking to all those who turned to him in their thirst for God: lay people, priests and religious.

During the entire period he spent in Latin America, he exercised the ministry of exorcist in which he could feel with his hands the suffering of the people. He loved to share these experiences with his fellow priests so they could assist him with their prayers.

His humility made him careful despite the praise and wonder of the people and it was wonderful to hear him speak of spiritual matters as he did so in such a simple way that everyone could understand.

Fr Lorenzo died on 13 July 2021. With great sorrow and despite the restrictions imposed by the pandemic, the people of Esmeraldas, for whom he had lived in his later years, gathered to say their farewells to one who was a father, brother and a son of Saint Daniel Comboni, from whom they had received so much.