In Pace Christi

Fr. Paolo Tabarelli was born at Faver, in the province of Trent, on 4 February, 1947. During High School, he felt attracted by the Comboni Missionaries but, before entering the novitiate, he did his military service as an Alpino (mountain soldier). After his military service he had begun to work in a shop for household electrical goods when he decided to join the Comboni Missionaries: he took first vows in 1978 and perpetual vows in 1981.

He was ordained the same year and was sent to the Congo (then Zaire). He spent the first three months in Rungu mission to learn the language (Lingala), the culture, the ways and customs of the people of the tribes of the north-east. His confreres immediately became aware of his preparedness in the fields of biblical and theological studies as well as his technical gifts and began to ask for his help in various fields.

His first mission was that of Ango among the Azande, where he became parish priest and soon became known for his clear and incisive language against injustice, which annoyed the authorities who had him spied on by ANR agents (security police).

Back in Rungu, Fr. Paolo busied himself with operating the power station and the technical formation of the forgerons sans frontières (metal workers without borders), an ironic name he chose for the street children to whom he gave refuge and some practical electrical and electronics training, enabling them to earn their living with dignity. He ministered to the youth in various places: Ango, Dungu, Kinshasa, Kisangani and Isiro, leaving behind him many young and capable technicians. At Dungu, he started an experience of insertion among the people, living and working among them as a guest of the family of Kino, one of his best students.

At Rungu, he immediately took to heart the power station, the Kapplan turbine and the network for the distribution of electricity, especially to the hospital. Here, too, (even though he still had a small room at the mission), he chose to live with his forgerons, among the people, buying some land and building some huts for them; he took special care of the poor and marginalised.

Jonathan, for example, was a boy from Niangara, who had been considered as a bearer of bad luck by his parents and sent away from his family. Fr. Paolo took him off the street where he was in a sorry state, had him treated in hospital and assisted by the voluntary workers of the COE (Centre for Educational Orientation), until he regained his health and the will to live. He then allowed him to join his forgerons and looked after him patiently. For him, as for many others, Fr. Paolo was truly a father and mother and that was how they saw him. To them he was affectionately known as “The old man”. One of them, Masudi, stated that Fr. Paolo was a real father to them and to all the forgerons, to whom he gave work, dignity and help in their difficulties and defended them when the need arose.

It must be said that his way of living among the people and the way he carried out his ministry gave rise to a certain amount of perplexity and conflict with his confreres and superiors. However, Bro. Duilio Plazzotta gave the following testimony.

He was a modern-day prophet. Like all prophets, he spoke out and condemned corruption and the injustices against the poor and the marginalised. He took on himself the sufferings of all; he took care of and defended the weakest, even if they were at fault. For him it was evident that the Church had to change and leave the traditional confines of the parish to take on itself responsibility for the ‘black sheep’ who comprised the majority of Christians with no fancy for the Church and occupied with their own interests, and who are a challenge that is often ignored. He was always trying to get his confreres to abandon their ideas, to sow the seeds of doubt in them regarding their ways of carrying out pastoral work and human promotion.

The first meeting with Fr. Paolo could be traumatic as his flowery and direct language could give offence but then, after getting to know him better, one understood what a good heart he had. He loved the African people, even if he did not fail to insult them (as he insulted his confreres) and, apart from the invective, everyone could count on him, and on his service. He did not spare himself.

With a lively intelligence bordering on that of a genius, he had a great store of Biblical-theological and intellectual knowledge which he would cultivate, especially during the night hours when he could concentrate without being disturbed. He knew Greek and Hebrew. In his homilies he was able to bring out the deep meaning in a clear and incisive way. He would willingly celebrate Mass at the hospital and for the Dominican Sisters who considered him to be their chaplain.

He loved agriculture. In the library at Rungu there were some magazines and books left there by the Dominican Fathers including a collection of agricultural magazines from the time of the Belgian colony. Fr. Paolo was the only one who read them and he knew how to make good use of them. He knew the soil lacked humus due to incessant rain. He would plant not only fruit trees. He knew how to make a coconut sprout and produce a new tree.

After the Comboni missionaries left Rungu, he was appointed to the community of Mungbere but continued to help, not only Mungbere hospital but also Rungu hospital, looking after the power station and accompanying his forgerons. He would stay for alternating periods at the community of Mungbere and at Rungu.

On Palm Sunday, Fr. Paolo was suddenly taken to hospital where he underwent an operation for a strangled hernia. He seemed to be recovering but relapsed twice. Fr. Raphael, the Parish priest, administered the sacrament of the sick. His condition soon worsened and, on 31 March, shortly after midday, the Lord called him to himself.

The remains were taken to Isiro where the funeral Mass was celebrated by Mgr. Julien Andavo Mbia, Bishop of Isiro, with 25 concelebrating priests, many Christians and religious. To one side of the coffin, a number of benches were filled with his boys, the ones he had taken off the streets, assisted and trained as good technicians. Some, like Masudi, Tonton and Kino, informed by telephone, came from Durba and Dungu and had travelled a full day and a night by motorcycle to be there and bid him farewell for the last time.

In his homily, the bishop expressed his friendship for Fr. Paolo and his gratitude for all he had done for the people and the poorest, as well as for his stimulating presence in the Church of Isiro and especially in the mission of Rungu.

After the Mass, everyone – including the Bishop, the priests, the religious men and women and a crowd of friends and Christians – accompanied Fr. Paolo to Mgambe (3 Km), where he was buried in the internal garden of the house of the Comboni community, alongside the novice Magloire (who also died at Rungu some years ago), close to the small remembrance chapel of the Golden Jubilee of the presence of the Comboni Missionaries in Congo and the martyrdom of the confreres during the Simba rebellion of 1964 (three of whom were killed at Rungu).
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 266 suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2016, pp. 40-49.