In Pace Christi

Davide was born in a small town called Rubiera, in the province of Reggio Emilia, on 19^th July 1941.

Even as a child, he loved “saying mass”, trying to imitate the old parish priest to perfection. His friends formed his “assembly of the faithful”. When the fifth elementary class was about to begin, his brother Romano and his cousin Mario, a year older than him, entered the diocesan minor seminary, together with three other classmates. Davide would have liked to follow them, but he couldn't as he still had to finish fifth grade. He would follow them year after.

While attending eighth grade, a Comboni missionary, Father Luigi Crotti, visited the seminary and talked about the missions in Sudan. The boy is quite struck by his words and decided that he too will be a Comboni missionary. The following year, he entered the Comboni seminary in Brescia for secondary school and high school. In October 1949, he entered the Novitiate of Gozzano where, on 9^th September 1961, he took his first vows. For theology studies, he went first to the Verona Mother House and then to Venegono. He also spend a year in a Comboni house in Spain.

On 9^th September 1965, he made his perpetual profession and, on 26^th June 1966, he was ordained a priest. He then moved to Rome for various specializations: a license in Pedagogy, a license in Theology, Diplomas in Psycho-Pedagogical Sciences, Islamology and Spirituality, excelling in every subject.

On 1^st July 1970, he went to London to study the English language. In July of the following year, he went to Khartoum, destined for the missions in Sudan. He stayed in the capital for a year to study Arabic. In May 1972, he was sent to Kadugli, in the Nuba Mountains, as an assistant parish priest and worked there for four years.

In 1975, he was transferred to El Obeid, as parish priest (1975-1977), then teacher at Comboni School, (1977-1980) and finally as principal (1980-1987). He would always say that El-Obeid was his first and unforgettable love. The Nuba people live in the Vicariate of El-Obeid and Father David was devoted to so much that he became “a true Nuba at heart”, through the liturgy and their songs.

In the decade 1980-1990, the Archbishop of Khartoum, Gabriel Zubeir Wako, promoted a great liturgical movement throughout Sudan. Father David began to collect religious songs from Lebanon, Egypt, some Protestant churches, from Juba or the Roman liturgy. The collection also included a number of songs in the local Sudanese languages, such as Dinka and Nuba Moro. His immense effort of collecting, translating and even creating new songs and hymns was crowned by the publication of a voluminous songbook. “Songs are wonderful tools for the ministry of the catechumenate… I teach them to the catechumens, and they spread them in their homes and in their villages. And people sing them on the street, in the fields, at the market and – of course – also in church».

Towards the end of 1987, Father Davide asked for a holiday period in his homeland. After three months, he returned, this time parish of Kadugli as parish priest.

In 1990 the foreign missionaries received the order to leave Kadugli, Dilling, Abiei, Nahud and Babanusa, and Father Davide was assigned to the Combonian postulate in Cairo (Egypt). He only stayed there for a year, as formator of postulants. In July 1991, he returned to Italy and obtained from his superiors the right to complete his studies in Arabic and Islamic studies at the Pontifical Institute of Islamic Studies (PISAI). In 1993, he returned to Cairo as a teacher in the Institute that the Comboni Missionaries had set up to prepare ecclesiastical personnel from all over the world and belonging to every Christian denomination, to work in Arabic-speaking countries.

In 1994, Father Davide was able to return to Sudan, as pastor of the mission of Nyala, in Darfur. He stayed there for four years. In 1998 he was a member of the Comboni House of El-Obeid, in charge of the ministry; in 2003, he became its superior.

In September 2005, he was assigned to Omdurman parish. It was his last appointment. He worked there until November 2022 when he was transferred to Comboni College, Khartoum.

On the morning of Thursday, 23^rd March 2023, he told his confreres he was not feeling well. He is promptly taken to the hospital for a medical checkup. After a few hours, he came back saying: “I feel better now” and retired to his room. In the evening, he seemed to have fallen asleep peacefully but the following morning  he didn’t come as usual to the chapel for mass with the confreres. After Mass, they went to his room only to find he was “already resting in peace”. (Edited by Fr. Jorge Naranjo, mccj)