In Pace Christi

Macram Max Gassis was born on 21^st September 1938 in Khartoum to Max Habib Gassis and Fahima Girgis. His father was a Catholic, a member of a family originally from Aleppo (Syria), while his mother belonged to a Coptic-Orthodox family from Luxor (Northern Egypt), who moved to Genetti, a village in the Nile Delta.

Macram attended the Comboni schools in Khartoum and very soon he started to say he wanted to become a priest, and his mathematics teacher, Father Giacomo Mosciatti, encouraged him. But it was the meeting with the Archbishop of Khartoum, Agostino Baroni, that convinced him to take the step. In July 1955 Macram was sent to Sunningdale, to the Comboni novitiate.

On 9^th September 1957, he made his first vows and began his theological studies. Two years later, he went to Verona to continue his scholasticate. In 1960 he was in Venegono Superiore (Varese) for the last years of theology. On 9^th September 1963, he made his perpetual profession and on 28^th June 1964, in the parish “Tempio Votivo” in Verona, Cardinal Krikor Bedros XV Aghagianian, prefect of Propaganda Fide, ordained him a priest, in the presence of his parents.

At the end of July, he returned to Khartoum and, on August 15 he celebrated his first solemn mass in the city’s cathedral. Soon after, he was assigned to the parish of Wad Medani as pastor. Two years later, he was recalled to Khartoum, to the bishop’s residence, in charge of the Catholic community of Gedaref. On 1^st July, he was the bishop’s chancellor, university student chaplain and spiritual director of the Society of Saint Vincent and the Legion of Mary.

In the early 1970s, Father Macram visited the United States several times to raise funds.

Appointed secretary general of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Sudan (SCBC), he immediately set about finding a piece of land in Khartoum to build the headquarters of the Secretariat. Father Macram enjoyed good relations with many senior government officials; he also tried to establish good relations with Islam and did not hesitate to hire Muslims in his Secretariat.

On 4^th October 1983, he was appointed by the Holy See Apostolic Administrator of El Obeid. On 12^th March 1988, Pope John Paul II would appoint him bishop of El Obeid. On that occasion, Father Tarcisio Agostoni, Superior General, delivered to Bishop Macram the pectoral cross of San Daniele Comboni, a precious heirloom kept by the Comboni Missionaries in Verona, deeming it appropriate that the relic of the saintly first bishop of Sudan should go to the first North Sudanese bishop.

Both as apostolic administrator and as bishop, Msgr. Macram managed to reorganize and develop the diocese. He reopened the parishes of Nyala and El-Fasher in Darfur, the parish of El-Nahud, in Kordofan, and rebuilt that of Mading Achweng, near Abyei. He also reopened the parish of Abyei; he opened a new parish in the Nuba Mountains, in Heiban, and increases the number of chapels in the entire area. In 1987, he built an Arabic language school in El-Nahud - for church personnel who were not familiar with this language and with the Sudanese culture - and, later, countless dispensaries and medical centres.

Archbishop Macram also stands out for his prophetic role through courageous public denunciations of injustices and human rights violations. As the only Arabic-speaking bishop in the bishops’ conference, he had numerous talks with government representatives. At a certain point, however, the regime began to file complaints against Msgr. Macram precisely because of his initiatives in defending the Christian population of his country, invoking respect for human rights on the part of the Khartoum government. For these commitments, the bishop was awarded various prizes in Europe and America. In 1988, he was even among the proposed candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize!

In 1990 he left for a trip abroad. In 1991 a Christian member of the military junta “informed” the Holy See that Msgr. Macram Gassis “Must never return to his homeland”, as he is considered a “persona non grata”.

From 1992 to 1995, for 4 consecutive years, he was a guest of the United Nations Commission for Human Rights in Geneva, and his interventions touched the conscience of those present and he received further awards. The forced absence from the diocese of El Obeid by Msgr. Macram induced the Holy See to provide the diocese with apostolic administrators. 2018 was a particularly painful year for Msgr. Macram due to problems with his health. Also, in 2020 and 2021 he undergoes various check-ups.

From 14^th to 21^st August 2021, he went to German-speaking Switzerland at the invitation of the association “Aid to the Church in Need”, where he celebrated Masses and held meetings in numerous parishes. Also in 2021, John Ashworth, an English lay missionary who worked with him for nearly four decades, published the book An Angry Shepherd printed by Pauline Publications Africa-Nairobi, in which he recounts the life of Msgr. Macram, «A Sudanese bishop who fought slavery, religious persecution, enforced hunger and mass murders in a country that was his own and which also suffered many years of civil war […], a pastor who knew every kind of suffering and has put his life on the line on countless occasions for love of his people».

At the end of May 2022, Msgr. Macram arrived in Pregnana Milanese at the family home of Sergio Rossetti, whom he met when he was a young priest and where he spent long periods over many years. But his health was now in a critical state. After Christmas 2022, his nephew took him to his home in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. On 4^th June 2023, surrounded by the love and care of his family, Msgr. Macram died, aged 84.

In Pregnana Milanese, El Obeid, Khartoum, Juba, Rumbek, Nairobi, Washington, New York, Milan, Rome, Florence… Masses were celebrated in his memory. The funeral would take place on 13^th June in the church of Saint Teresa in New Cumberland, presided over by Msgr. Ronald William Gainer, Bishop Emeritus of Harrisburg. The remains were interred in the local cemetery, in the sector reserved for priests. (Father Franco Moretti, mccj)