In Pace Christi

With the death of Fr Roberto Cona, we have lost our faithful and attentive "correspondent" from the second floor of the Mother House, where a score of our sick missionaries are cared for.

But another voice has fallen silent: the one that spoke on Radio Maria more or less every Thursday, giving reflections full of spiritual and topical insights on the Gospel reading of the following Sunday. This ministry made Fr. Roberto known, respected and mourned all over Italy; and through it he found continual fulfilment as a priest and missionary, even though seriously weakened in health.

There is a great amount that could be written about him: partly because, knowing how difficult it is for the obituary writer to gather information on each "de cuius", he had left almost 50 pages on his missionary vocation and work; and partly because the number of testimonies received show the impact he had on confreres and on many lay people, especially regarding the two great loves that drove and guided him: the Eucharist and Our Lady.

Difficult early years

"I was born in Verona, 33, Austrian Cemetery Rd. (now 5, Via Forte Procolo), third of the 5 children of Giovanni Cona, gardener, and Carolina Pasetto, a very sweet lady and very good at all household activities.

"From what I heard, my mother - I knew her too little, because she died when I was 5 - was a holy woman. She died three days after the birth of her fifth child. On her deathbed she urged our father to bring us up in the holy fear of God. And so we were sent to school at the Ursulines, right by St Zeno.

"Without a mother life was sad, even though our father, grandparents and uncles and aunts did their best to cherish us."

In the Cona home everyone prayed, and never missed Sunday Mass. The First Friday was a solid tradition, also never to be missed.

Fr Roberto remembered some details of his early childhood, such as when his mother went down to the river Adige to do the laundry, and his father would break the ice with a sledgehammer in Winter, so that she could get at the water... or when, during the Eucharistic congress in Verona in 1938 he wandered away from his mother and, having walked at the head of the procession, got lost in the crowd and almost died of fright before he was found.

In 1942 his father married Elisabetta Tomaroli. That same year one of the boys, Luigi, entered the Comboni Missionaries (later he left), followed twelve months later by Vittorino; both of them were drawn by the example of an uncle, Fr Ettore Pasetto, who had been a missionary in Sudan since 1934.

Following the Armistice Day (8th September 1943) Roberto watched the German troops coming down from the Brenner Pass. His father, risking his life each time, helped fleeing Italian soldiers to cross the river by boat. Then came the Allied bombers, with the blare of sirens and the sudden flight... There was hardly a thing to eat, even maize flour for polenta.

Vocation

During his final two years of elementary school (1944-1946) Roberto used to attend Sunday School in St Zeno, and there he met Fr Germano Pilati, who was helping in the parish while he waited for the chance to go to the missions. One day Robert went up to him and whispered: "I want to be a missionary, too".

A few days later Fr Carlo Cappelletti, who was the vocations promoter, arrived at the Cona house to see Roberto, who was in bed ill, and his father.

"Fr Pilati's example was the decider in my choice," wrote Fr Roberto. Before entering the seminary I was a naughty child: disobedient, no inclination to work, set on being a fruiterer, quarrelsome with my cousins, scrumper (= stealer of fruit, translator's note).

In October 1946, with a cheap suitcase containing a few clothes packed by his stepmother, Roberto entered the Comboni seminary in Padua, and joined his two brothers there. The seminary was in Luvigliano, since the house in Via S. Giovanni di Verdara was too near the station, being rebuilt after all the bombing.

"There were 31 of us in the first year of Secondary. Two of us were ordained. I was neither the best nor the cleverest".

I'm the worst

There are some odd little notes that he wrote around the time to the superior to ask his forgiveness for some prank or other...

"8-4-48. In this note I want to say everything I think should be said. With hands joined I beg your forgiveness for answering back. I have been unhappy for two days, and am lost in a sea of difficulties... Everybody says `you could do more, you could be better', and they are right, even though I have done my best to correct my ways during the past two months, even going without bread or fruit, and sometimes skipping a meal to punish myself for my thoughtlessness, but I see no results... I'm a miserable piece of work compared to my friends. They try, and they are good, but I... I'm like a rabid dog, and I spare nobody. If I do well, I boast, and if I do wrong, I hide it. If it were not for Communion and my mother in heaven I would have run away, because I am unable to correspond to God's grace. As you said, I am very untidy, and it's true; completely scatter-brained, and it's true. If I had my mother I would be tidier, more obedient, kinder. Father, you cannot imagine how painful it is to lose the most important support in your life while you are very young. I have had the experience, and I still suffer and cry. If it were not for Our Lady, whom I have chosen for my mother now, I would have run away out of shame, and would no longer be in this holy house. I am happy to be here - indeed, very happy - and the Lord gives me all these crosses to test me... As sacristan I am in the best possible job, while people much better than me are not... I enclose a blank sheet of paper for your reply".

For a boy of 13, becoming mature in the school of suffering, the letter says a lot.

Even as a priest Fr Roberto would have similar periods of "spiritual depression", which some superiors put down to inferiority complex. Maybe we should say a deeply-rooted principle of humility.

Jesus my Friend

He was in the choir in Padua cathedral, and sacristan in the seminary chapel, and a good actor in the plays they put on. He did well in his studies, and was able to give time to music, and learned to play the harmonium and the organ.

Fr Giacomelli, the superior, wrote: "He has a fine intelligence, and he is willing and decisive. He works hard at his studies. Has a lot of initiative, but is sensitive and quick-tempered. Rather untidy, and tends to bear a grudge."

He did his middle school in Brescia from 1949-1951, in the Istituto Comboni.

"In Brescia I understood the missionary vocation much better, and learned to study properly. I enjoyed the meditations of the Spiritual Father, Fr. Dalvit, and the talks by the superior, Fr. Parodi, both of whom became bishops. A decisive moment was the retreat preached by Fr. Cirillo Tescaroli on `Jesus our Friend'."

During the holidays, Roberto was a zealous promoter of the missionary press. In three weeks at home, he managed to find 130 subscriptions for Nigrizia, and won the first prize of 30,000 lire, which was a great help towards his fees in the seminary.

It was also while he was in Brescia that he went on the Holy Year pilgrimage to Rome. Yet - just like a boy! - what impressed him most on the trip was not the basilicas, the catacombs, the Colosseum in Rome; it was a certain Beppe in the Baptistry at Pisa, where the group of pilgrims stopped off: their guide shouted, "Beppe, the acoustics!", and Beppe responded with a remarkable "Oh, oh, oh!" to demonstrate the echoes around the building.

Novice

At the end of his grammar school, Roberto was sent to the Novitiate in Florence; it was September 1951. "And my father worries over money also came to an end," he wrote, "because he had a terrible job scraping together the modest fees."

The two years of the novitiate were a wonderful time for him, characterised by continuous acts of self-sacrifice (starting with putting the sports paper, Gazzetta dello Sport, outside the door, to the amusement of his friends and the road-sweeper who witnessed the act.

One of the retreats during the novitiate left a mark: it was given by a Jesuit who definitely hated women. In one talk, he had shouted: "I thank you Lord, for not putting me beside any witch!" Roberto commented: "I was hurt inside, thinking of how good my two mothers Carolina and Elisabetta were. They were angels to me, not witches!"

The Novice Master Fr Audisio wrote about him: "Full of the best intentions, and a holy enthusiasm; they reflect his goodness. He is aware of his duties, and feels the responsibility. He is sensitive to his slight shortcomings: he feels their weight, and struggles to overcome them. Find judgement, open intelligence above the average, praiseworthy application. A good musician, much improved during the novitiate. Expansive and warm character, a bit quick-tempered and rather domineering. He says what he thinks without hesitation or complexes. He will make a very good missionary". He made his First Vows on 9th September 1953.

Verona, Crema, Portugal

In the scholasticate at Verona Roberto found Fr Albrigo as superior ("a real father") and a group of very understanding lecturers. He was appointed organist, and went to teach catechism on Sundays in the village of Oca Bianca, a poor area on the outskirts of the city. His zeal showed here, in his efforts for the poor lads who had set out on the road of petty theft and violence.

At the end of his second year he had a breakdown, and was sent to Crema as prefect of the juniors in the Comboni seminary. He taught singing, and worked on plays and other recreational activities. He showed that he could deal with boys. When his health had recovered he was sent back to Verona.

Here he found a pleasant surprise. He had been assigned to Portugal with another student, to look after the junior seminarians in the Comboni seminary at Viseu.

During his holidays in 1956 he studied the rudiments of Portuguese, and set out by train for his new destination on 12th August.

There were two mishaps on the journey. First of all the two chickens the Sisters had cooked for the journey soon went bad in the heat, and began to affect the air in the compartment. Partly through scruples about their vow of Poverty and partly because they had nothing else to eat, the two held their noses and forced the meat down. Shortly afterwards they became violently ill, with vomiting and the other consequences everybody can imagine.

The second misadventure came at the border crossing: from the grins of the officials, Roberto understood that his first name meant "puppet", and that his surname was rather a foul word in Portuguese! He had to change them both once they reached Viseu.

Three Cribs and three operations

He stayed in Viseu from August 1956 until September 1959. The day after their arrival the superior, Fr Calderola, told the two newcomers to use the free days they still had to prepare a nice Crib in Lisbon, complete with lights, moving figures and scenery.

"Neither of us had any idea of carpentry, electricity of mechanics... and hardly any knowledge of the language! St Joseph must have taken pity on us, because the Crib was a great success, and brought in some much-needed funds for the seminary.

The Crib was put up again in the following years. And despite the use of poor materials and sub-standard wiring, we never had an accident: indeed, everything worked for the whole time the Crib was up.

"In those years," continues Fr Roberto, "I had three operations for hernia: one for each Crib. The Theology lessons were in the diocesan seminary about a quarter of a mile away; and they went very well too."

Not everything was perfect, though. When his brother Vittorino was ordained a Comboni Missionary in 1957, Roberto was not given permission to travel to the ceremony in Italy, even though his family offered to pay the fare. "I was very upset, and my father wept with disappointment", wrote Roberto. He returned to Italy two years later to conclude his Theology with his classmates (October 1959 - April 1960) at Venegono Superiore. He was ordained in Milan on 2nd April 1960, by the auxiliary of Cardinal Montini.

His first Mass in Verona was a Nuptial Mass for his brother Luigi, the one who had been the first to go to the seminary, but had found that his calling was different.

Teacher in Portugal

After his ordination Roberto and the classmate who had gone with him to Portugal, were sent back to that Province; the first to teach, and the other as vocations promoter. However, after ten years as a priest, the other lost his faith and became a Protestant pastor, with wife and family. Fr Robert was greatly saddened by this, and made great efforts to make him change his mind, but things had already gone too far.

Fr Roberto was asked to teach History, Geography, Maths, Latin and Greek. "I used to spend half the night studying what I had to teach the next day!" he wrote. It was a huge labour, but he tackled it with great enthusiasm. Even the cold and hunger that they all suffered in the seminary were accepted with the same missionary enthusiasm, and seeing it in the youngsters made the effort worthwhile for the teachers. Fr Roberto worked to extend his circle of benefactors and supporters to obtain help for the seminary. And a bit at a time he managed to pay off the debts and ensure a better diet for the lads. Because, besides teaching, he was bursar, as well as Vice-Rector, animator and preacher.

Too much activity

During this time his spiritual life went through a crisis. He was so taken up with all his activities that time for prayer, meditation and devotions was greatly reduced. The heresy of action. It takes the place of contemplation and can take over a whole life. He wrote: "I realised that activity was absorbing me too much. And where was God? Where had I left Him? Our Lady was no longer a mother who was close to me, but a painted image, distant and meaningless. Mass and the breviary were dealt with summarily, with little conviction. The others held me in great esteem, which I did not merit. I was building on the sand. I even took up smoking!"

Well, he may have slackened a bit, but maybe it was also a matter of another attack of scruples, such as had affected him as a lad - but which had the effect of making him work harder at his spiritual life.

In fact, his superiors wrote at the time: "A very good father, full of zeal and a great spirit of sacrifice. He prepares his Masses in a superlative way, and involves the boys, whom he dresses as pages. The people have a great esteem and even veneration of him."

A great crosss to bear

From 1966 to 1970 he was superior and Rector at Famalicão, in the junior seminary in North Portugal. Here he re-launched the magazine "Além Mar" which the government had suspended to get back at "Nigrizia" in Italy, over it strong anti-colonialist stance towards Portugal. He also repaired the seminary building, which was part of an old monastery, and brought in discipline that fitted a seminary. He published a simple Latin grammar that was clear, basic and easily understood, with an introduction on parsing. He even introduced school by television: lessons on television, under the control of the state, and with an officially-recognised public diploma at the end of the course. He wrote to a lot of Bishops asking for help, and a good number responded...

But the shadow of a cross - a big cross - fell on him. The cook, who was married to a shoemaker, became pregnant. Nothing unusual in that; but the husband started to say all around that the child was not his, but Fr Roberto's.

"I swear by the Gospel that I have not touched a woman even in thought!", wrote the Father. But the word spread, and the superiors, intending to put a quick end to this, sent Fr Roberto back to Italy without going into the matter publicly. This made things look bad for him, unfortunately, as he had to pack and leave with a mark over him, being guilty, in some minds, of adultery and sacrilege.

"I was heart-broken," wrote Roberto, "because everything was decided without a word to me. I felt like leaving the Congregation to be chaplain to Portuguese immigrants in France. But Our Lady took a hand, and led me to Rome, for the up-dating course, where I found first-class teachers who helped me to recover my confidence and trust."

Brazil: bitten by a snake

We find Fr Robert in Brazil at the end 1970, in the parish of São Gabriel da Palha. He had found his feet and had begun visiting the far-flung chapels of the area when he was called to the Comboni seminary of St Gabriel, to teach.

One night a fire broke out at the back of the seminary, and everyone rushed round to put it out, as it could have been very dangerous. Fr Robert went with them, barefoot because of the haste. When he got back to his room, he saw his left ankle was swollen, with two small punctures - like a snake bite.

The night was long and painful. In the morning a confrere took him to town to see a doctor, who came out already drunk, with a bottle in his hand. He looked at the leg, which was all swollen by now, and said: "If he's not already dead, he's not going to die. Have a nice day!" (or the local equivalent) - and shut the door.

Three days later the leg was cold and stiff. Fr Roberto was taken to the hospital at Nova Venecia and then that of Vitoria, where he had a femoral artery by-pass: an operation that lasted seven hours. He seemed to recover well enough to return to St Gabriel, where he was made Rector of the seminary.

But the next year he needed a similar operation in his right leg. It seemed that the snake's poison, of which he had received only a small amount, was still affecting his blood, which tended to clot easily.

In 1974 Fr Roberto moved to Ibiraçu, where there was a Senior Secondary school, as Secretary of Formation. The School was attended by seminarians and by day-pupils, both boys and girls. The moral atmosphere was not very sound. How were priests supposed to come out of such conditions? In spite of all his efforts, Fr Roberto could not change the situation for the better. Two years later he wrote: "We have made enormous efforts, but we have not had any results."

Spain: from the frying pan...

In 1976 a letter came from the Superior General asking Roberto to go to Spain as formator in the Scholasticate of Granada, a post with very great responsibilities.

Granada was going through a serious crisis at the time. The student upheavals in Europe in 1968 had left savage marks. The formator would go to the chapel to weep over the state of the scholasticate. Besides, Fr Roberto did not speak Spanish, and still had trouble walking: he had to stop every 200 yards or so to let the poor circulation get oxygen into his legs.

"It's a good thing, too! he wrote. "I would have run away long ago otherwise. I could see at once that the work would be exhausting and very difficult. Something wasn't working, but the immediate cause was not obvious. It took me two years to find out that the students on the top floor had a powerful telescope, with which they watched the girls undressing in the sisters' college not too far away!"

Needless to say, none of that particular group went on to ordination. But a much bigger anguish came when the Rector himself went off and got married. As if that were not enough, the Spanish students made it clear that they did not want an Italian formator: foreign and demanding - he wanted things to be as they should in a seminary. It was a real torment for Fr Roberto.

At the end of the academic year Granada was closed down. Roberto was sent to Moncada to sell the property to the Legionarios de Cristo, a Mexican institute with a lot of money and vocations.

"When troubles come..."

"Lord, you know how much I suffered and wept during those days. Indeed, my life went from one failure to another. You also know how much it cost me to walk along streets, go up and down stairs, consult people. Yet the superiors continued to put their faith in me. They even sent me to sell the house in Corella, which was too big, and buy a smaller one at Saragoza, for missionary animation. I did not know much about banks and accounts and contracts. Some people managed to cheat me, and I made mistakes myself..."

Heart attack

Then in June 1983, on his return from a journey, Fr Robert felt ill: it was a serious heart attack. At the hospital they said there was nothing they could do, and he needed to go to America for an operation. In America they sent him straight back to Madrid, with a similar diagnosis: it was an unusual type of heart-attack, and they did not want to risk operating. The reason was the blood that moved so sluggishly through his veins.

He was rushed to Verona, where an emergency operation cleared a blockage in his right carotid artery and put three by-passes around his heart.

"Thank you, Lord, for the heart attack; thank you for the hospital and the operations, because in the silence and the recollection and in prayer, I seem to have found myself again. I have realised that you were never far away, even though I was busy with so many material activities, and did not pay you the attentions you deserved. Thank you, Mary, now that I have rediscovered you. I feel you are close, with my mother Carolina. Thanks also to you doctors. May God reward you." After the operation he gave up smoking.

Ministry of mercy

In January 1984 Fr Roberto went back to Madrid to hand over his work, then returned to Verona. Even though his health was improving, he needed constant medical check-ups.

In a letter to the Provincial he asked to be assigned to the church of San Tomio (St Thomas the Apostle), where there is perpetual adoration and where four missionaries are available for the ministry of Reconciliation, all the year round. "But please," he added, "don't make me superior again. I don't have the health, the strength nor the ability." But he was sent to San Tomio as superior, and stayed six years, to everyone's satisfaction.

"They were a truly priestly six years, the best of my life. A gift from Jesus to a friend of His who had never loved Him enough before coming to that church where the only work was prayers, adoration and bestowing the mercy of God through the Sacrament of Reconciliation".

Medjugorje

In February 1986 Fr Robert met some people who had been to Medjugorje, where it was said the Queen of Peace was appearing. on 2nd of March he went to the hallowed place himself.

"Let people talk," he wrote on his return, "I saw Our Lady with my heart, I heard her, I embraced and kissed her." And his life took on a special "marian" direction. He went to Medjugorje ten times between 1986 and 1990, sometimes staying for several days to pray and to help with Confessions.

A Knight of Our Lady

In Verona he started a weekly group of people with a devotion towards Mary. There was opposition from confreres and the religious authorities, who were suspicious of the movement and of the pilgrimages to Medjugorge. Fr Roberto was not put off, and stuck to what he was doing. In an article published in "Nuovo Veronese", a lay paper, because the Catholic paper would not have taken it, he wondered why the diocesan authorities forbade prayer meetings, while not saying a word about the weekly gatherings in the stadium, where bad language and violence of all kinds prevailed. They could not say he was wrong, and it all ended with a word in his ear from one of the Deans.

The final mission

"My final mission has been the most difficult, but also the most wonderful". In June 1990 the blood vessels to both his brain and his legs were silting up again. The doctors who were treating him with such affection and admiration said that an operation was out of the question, because impossible.

Fr Roberto asked to be replaced as superior, and to remain at S. Tomio for Confessions. But his attacks of vertigo became so frequent that he was taken to the Centre for Sick Confreres in the Mother House. "It is a difficult moment for me," he wrote, "but a beautiful one too, because I feel the constant presence of Jesus and Mary."

Nobody would have given him another five years. Every day he seemed to be at death's door, then recovered enough to be able to get around a bit, and sometimes downstairs to the dining room; he would visit the confreres who were worse than himself, and chatted to them, with words of encouragement and faith. He had to go into hospital frequently, and left a strong impression among the medical and nursing staff, as a real man of God.

He began to write a "life" or testimonial for each confrere who returned to the Father's House; after reading them at the funeral, he passed them on to the one who writes the obituaries. Among the missionaries who died in the Mother House, consumed by their missionary work, there were saints, heroes and martyrs.

Radio Maria

It was at Verona that Fr Robert began his apostolate through Radio Maria. He joined the phone-in every Thursday to make his contribution to the reflection and explanation of the Word of God. He prepared carefully, but then usually it was his heart that spoke. And he did a lot of good. Someone even said that Our Lady was keeping him alive just for that ministry.

He was not without experience in the use of mass media; he had used them for apostolate in Portugal, Brazil and Spain. Radio Maria gave him the chance to speak to thousands of people. And many learned to love God and others through his words, and found a loving Mother in Mary, and the strength to accept their illness and sufferings. Through the radio he entered their homes and their hearts. Fr Francesco Pierli, former Superior General, says: "Fr Roberto was a missionary right up to the last moment."

The only time that counts is the time of love

From a priestly point of view, he counted only the last 12 years of his life as "valid" - from the time of his heart attack onwards. Because, according to him, it was the period in which he really came to know the Lord and Our Lady; and he considered all the rest a waste of time...

"It took me 23 years of priesthood to realise that you are my Mother, that you lead me towards Hope. I suffered a lot between 1971 and 1983 because of the problems with my legs. The sufferings were worse afterwards, but I suffered less, because I was no longer alone.

Psalm 72 would give me such comfort! ."

The Lord is calling me

A few months before his death, on 18th October 1994, he wrote to the Superior General: "Yesterday evening during the Mass, I asked Jesus, through the intercession of Mary, his (and our) sweetest Mother, to give me the grace to write this letter. I feel so ill these days; I feel that my heart is giving way. Quite often I have the sensation or the presentiment that the Lord will call me soon. Our Lady is very close to me now; present and active: she obtains serenity for me and fills me with hope.

I am helped greatly by the thought of the prayers of confreres, relatives and listeners to Radio Maria. So while I feel that my mind is clear, and before the Lord calls me, or allows my brain to stop functioning properly, I want to thank the Congregation of having accepted me and trusted me in the various places and tasks to which I was called.

I know that on many occasions I have not come up to the standard required by what I was assigned to, and I know I made a lot of mistakes. For this I ask your pardon, and so that of the whole Institute. What I can also say before God is that I always did my best, to the limits of my physical powers. What I lacked, very often, was faith in God and trust in Mary; trusting in myself too much. Too often my faith was cerebral; it lacked heart, lacked a true feeling of affection towards the supernatural. It is this lack of true faith that becomes, in my opinion, lack of prayer, of adoration, of confidence in Mary.

I ask you to make sure that my obituary, which should not be so far off now, does not leave out my errors, my stubbornness and my superficiality. It is not a good thing for eternal life if those who read the Bulletin think that I was a good Comboni Missionary and, maybe, forget to pray for my soul because of this. I need to be forgiven for many things, and I need to be purified."

After his spiritual testament, he made some requests regarding his death and funeral:

1. To be told in good time, so as to receive the Sacraments of the Sick while still fully conscious.

2. To be laid in his coffin with his Comboni cassock and sash.

3. "Above all, I ask my confreres and relatives to celebrate, or have celebrated, as many Masses as possible. I do not deserve them, and that is the very reason why I am asking for them."

As we can see, Fr Roberto had an almost dramatic sense of his imperfections, of not being as holy as the Lord and Our Lady wanted.

Spiritual testament

In this document, after the offering of his life for various intentions, he concludes: "O Heart of Jesus, I offer you my present state of health with all the dangers it carries with it. I do not refuse anything, not even the loss of my life or of my reason". The loss of reason was perhaps what he feared most. And he lived his offering intensely, while the cross of his illness became increasingly heavy, and the ascent of Calvary increasingly difficult.

Because of his background in formation in Portugal, Brazil and Spain, his ministry as a confessor in S. Tomio, his apostolate of suffering, especially during the years in the CAA, many people went to him. They went to find comfort and serenity, not to take it. He communicated faith and joy.

"At this stage in my life," he wrote shortly before dying, "realising that my health is getting more and more fragile, conscious that everything possible has been done to relieve my sufferings, grateful to those in charge of the CAA of Verona and the doctors who have treated me with such great patience and love, while I am at peace with everyone and quite serene in my present state, with gratitude to God for all that I am and how I am, grateful to Mary, my most sweet mother, who always helps me and is a guide and comfort to me... I thank Holy Mother Church, of whom I profess myself a devout and obedient son; I thank the Congregation, which has always esteemed me even too much, and entrusted tasks to me for which I was quite unready; I thank the superiors and confreres who have always treated me much better than I ever deserved...".

The Lord took him, fully conscious at 20.45 on Sunday, 23rd April 1995, in Negrar hospital (VR). Now he rests in the cemetery at Chievo, next to his parents.

Fr Roberto leaves a wonderful example of faith, of hope and of love. He accepted the Will of God in his life unreservedly, both in times of joy and in times of sorrow. He embraced the Cross with the enthusiasm and generosity of Bishop Comboni, offering his long years of suffering with serenity - offering everything to the Lord for the salvation of the world. As the Superior General wrote after his death: "I am sure that he already enjoys the glory of the Lord".

We, however, not wanting to disappoint him, will continue to pray for the repose of his soul, so that the Lord may help and protect us. (Fr. Lorenzo Gaiga)