In Pace Christi

Giovanni was born in Bellori, Grezzana district (Verona), on 14^th January 1935. After the novitiate in Gozzano (1954-1955) and in Sunningdale, Great Britain (1955-1956), he took his first vows on 9^th September 1956 and his perpetual vows six years later, on 9^th September 1962. In 1959, after three years in England, he was assigned to Uganda, where he spent his missionary service until his assignment to Italy for health reasons in 2022.

A year ago, Brother Giovanni agreed to answer the questions of a confrere who asked him about his life and his experience as a missionary Brother. From that long conversation – a true testimony – I would like to underline some points that struck me.

First of all, the trauma of his father who died in an accident on Christmas Day 1957, while carrying out the charitable work supplying the cloistered nuns with food and firewood. He was crushed by the horse-drawn cart and died, leaving behind seven children and a young wife.

The second point that struck me was the missionary spirit widespread in his town, Lugo, where there was already a beautiful tradition with fine missionaries like Father Luigi Zanini (a victim of Covid); Brother Arsenio Ferrari, who just turned 102 in Mexico; the missionary promoters who spread Nigrizia, Il Piccolo Missionario and the missionary press. Giovanni was moved as he read the life of Brother Giosuè Dei Cas who died a leper among lepers and decided to join the Comboni Missionaries as a Brother candidate.

Thirdly, the importance of the missionary testimony of the Comboni community of Thiene. Brother Gianni said: “Three years spent listening to the stupendous African experiences of the missionaries were enough to make me follow my vocation. Since then, I have never had any doubts or hesitation about my vocation.”

Another point is his good and grateful view of the missionary confreres who opened up the path of the mission to him and the joy of having found in Ombaci “a stupendous Comboni community, with superior Father Luigi Ponzoni, a saint, good and experienced missionary who he wanted everything just right.”

His relationship with the other Brothers was not one of rivalry, but of great collaboration: “In Ombaci we were five brothers (Cometti, Menini, Staton, Fochesato and me). We got along very well, and no one did anything without the advice of the other four.”

Another providential fact that Brother Giovanni stressed was the fact of having lived alongside exceptional people, “like Father Bernardo Sartori (already Venerable and on the road to beatification), who had come to us from Otumbari because of the war. In church every morning I had him in front of me and I was struck by his strong and stupendous testimony of life apart from his prayers.”

We know that Brother Giovanni had the grace of being the first to help Father Bernardo, who died in church on Easter morning, while he was praying in front of the tabernacle.

Finally, he talks about his ‘last effort’: his return to Italy after 61 years of uninterrupted service to the mission in Uganda. “I returned to Italy with great suffering, because my heart remained and will always be in Africa. I keep dreaming of Africa. I have always been at the side of Africans and I feel that I could still continue to teach them to be honest and faithful Christians.”

In the long interview, it is surprising to note how Brother Giovanni does not talk much about what he did as a builder, mechanic, or bursar of the diocese. He speaks more willingly about the Christian life choices of his workers who, enlightened by his words and his example, all formed beautiful Christian families: “The whole group of bricklayers and even the driver got married in church.” This is his consolation: “My workers and my people over there call me four or five times a week, even just to hear my voice.”

Time and again he tried to convince Father General to allow him to return to Africa for his final years. “At first, he told me: ‘Yes, yes… we’ll see’. But just this morning I received a letter from him telling me: ‘Giovanni, I am sorry, but you are assigned to the Italian province.’ I did not think it would be so difficult to stay in Italy after so many years of mission.”

Brother Giovanni died on 5^th January 2024, at the ‘Brother Alfredo Fiorini’ Centre in Castel d’Azzano, after a few weeks with his health progressively deteriorating. He was 88 years old. He passed away peacefully. In the last hours of his life, he had the fortune of being visited and comforted by numerous confreres, relatives and friends who showed him all their attachment, esteem, and affection: a true viaticum for his last journey.

On 8^th January, we celebrated his funeral in our chapel in Castel d’Azzano, in the presence of family, friends and brothers from different communities, including Father Fabio Baldan, provincial superior. The celebration was presided over by Father John Baptist K. Opargiw, a Ugandan Comboni missionary and current provincial superior of South Africa.