In Pace Christi

Fr. Antonio Figini was born in Varedo, in a large and exemplary family. He absorbed from his early years the values passed on by the region and the Church of Milan. Besides his own religious vocation, four of his sisters followed the same path: two became Comboni Sisters and two Cottolengo Sisters.

He entered the diocesan seminary where he studied up to his second year of high school. In June 1924 his rector introduced him to Fr. Federico Vianello and wrote, “My handing him over to you is no little sacrifice, it is a gift to the Institute”. In the novitiate of Venegono he met Fr. Faustino Bertenghi, great teacher and educator, who chose him to be the head boy, anticipating his way of service in the future. For eleven times, in fact, he was chosen to be local superior (Assouan, Rebbio, Crema, Brescia, Zahle, Rome, Pordenone, St. Tomio in Verona and the parish in Milan).

He took his first vows on 1 November 1926 and spent his entire scholasticate in Verona. He was then ordained to the priesthood on 5 April 1930. Of those years we mention only a remark about him, often repeated: “Very charitable and very identified with the Institute”.

After his ordination, Fr. Antonio was sent to Egypt, where he remained for eight years as a teacher (1930–1938), first in Helouan and then in Assouan.

He was the one who took care of the community’s diary – a praiseworthy tradition – that would later on provide a description of his and other confreres’ activities. Those were heroic times due to the social and political situation, the climate and the poverty – a chapter in the history of the Institute that needs to be better highlighted. He returned to Egypt again in 1946 and stayed until 1950 when he moved to Zahle, Lebanon, where he remained until 1953.

Fr. Antonio spent the next 48 years in northern Italy, mostly as superior and formator in minor seminaries and doing priestly ministry: he was in great demand as a confessor of priests and religious sisters.

In May 1993, completely blind by then, Fr. Antonio retired to Rebbio. In 1997 he was transferred to what was to be his last community: the Ambrosoli Centre in Milan. These were the silent years: a very vigilant silence, however, with an active participation in the Eucharist celebrated in the chapel and in the community meetings. During these last years he put his papers in order. He also sent to the general archives his research papers and writings on Egypt: a sign of his attachment to the Institute and of his conviction that history would continue after him, so that it was proper to leave behind memories of his passing.

A confrere who lived with him, wrote, “Of his past Fr. Antonio often remembered the good times, the comical or unusual happenings. Never a word about events or people who had made him suffer. He seemed to have erased from his memory all that had been negative (Fr. Pietro Ravasio)”.