Supreme WitnessBrief profiles of Comboni Missionaries murdered in the Missions

SUPREME WITNESS

BRIEF PROFILES OFCOMBONI MISSIONARIES

MURDERED IN THE MISSIONS

Contents

Preface ................................................................2Fr. Luciano Fulvi ..................................................5Fr. Mario Mantovani ............................................7Bro. Godfrey Kiryowa ........................................9Fr. Raphael di Bari..............................................11Bro. Alfredo Fiorini ............................................13Fr. William Nyadru ............................................15Fr. Egidio Biscaro ..............................................17Fr. Egidio Ferracin..............................................19Fr. Ezekiel Ramin ..............................................21Fr. Osmundo Bilbao ..........................................23Fr. Silvio Serri ....................................................25Fr. Silvio Dal Maso ............................................27Fr. Antonio Fiorante ..........................................29Fr. Giuseppe Santi..............................................31Fr. Marco Vedovato ..........................................33Fr. Barnaba Deng ..............................................35Fr. Antonio Zuccali............................................37Fr. Evaristo Migotti ............................................39Fr. LorenzoPiazza ..............................................41Fr. Remo Armani ................................................43Fr. Luigi Corsini ................................................45Fr. Angelo Arpe..................................................47Fr. Alfredo De Lai ..............................................49Why Martyrs ....................................................51

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COMBONI MISSIONARIES - LEEDS

Under the MahdiaThe events that began in March 1882, when Mohammed Ahmed Ibn Abdullahproclaimed himself The Mahdi (Guide, Restorer of religion and of justice), mark a mostdifficult period in the history of the Church in Sudan and in the lives of the ComboniMissionaries, men and women. It was the start of an Islamic revolution that lasted until1898. From September 1882 the whole area became unsafe, with tensions that made partsof it extremely dangerous. On 14 September the commander of the small centre of MakUmar surrendered to the Mahdi, and the missionaries of Delen had to do the same. Threedays later they set off on the long march to El-Obeid. During this journey, all theirpossessions were taken from them, they were ill-treated and subjected to fierce pressureto join Islam. Exhausted and drained, they arrived at the Mahdi’s camp on 27thSeptember. The pressure on them to become Moslems was relentless: “Do you want tobecome Moslems?” “We would rather die!” The two months of physical and mentalanguish, hunger and privations began to take their toll, and some of them did die:Sr.Eulalia Pesavento (27.10.1882), Bro. Mariani (31.10.1882), Sr. Amalia Andreis(7.11.1882). Meanwhile, at El-Obeid, Fr. Losi was doing his best to move the missionpersonnel to safety. The attempt failed, and the group took refuge in the fort, along withthe other inhabitants of El-Obeid. Here too the missionaries suffered deprivation and

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If COMBONI had lived a few more months,he would have witnessed the tremendoustrials to which his missionaries weresubjected. The Mahdist Revolution reachedits peak in 1882. In this rebellion, all theMissions founded by Comboni weredestroyed and the missionaries takencaptive. They remained faithful to theirpromise and to their missionary vocation‘until death’ as taught by their Founder.Martyrdom implies and expresses afaithfulness that aims to complete themission received, in the cause of God fromwhom we receive it and in the cause of thebrothers and sisters to whom God sends us.

SUPREME WITNESS

A GENERATIONOF MARTYRS

Faithful witnesses up to the end

sickness. El-Obeid came under siege on 9 September 1882, and fell into the hands of theMahdi. The members of the mission were taken captive: Sisters Teresa Grigolini,Concetta Corsi, Fortunata Quascé, Elisabetta Venturini and Caterina Chincarini, FathersGiovanni Losi and Paolo Rosignoli and Brother Isidoro Locatelli. Finding themselves alltogether, the missionaries now began to discover more strength to support and consoleone another, though the conditions remained unchanged.

Ready to dieAt first, the missionaries faced the situation with courage, all of them ready to die for thelove of Christ. But the way of their Cross proved long and arduous, filled with sufferingand humiliation. They were taken to the Mahdi’s camp at Boga, and remained there fortwo years. During this period they were able to support one another against the constantpressure to apostasise. And for a while they were sustained by a new hope that they mightsoon be rescued. But news of the failure of the Hicks expedition soon extinguished theirexpectations. Things quickly came to a head. The Mahdi decided to march on Khartoumand take possession of the city. Mgr. Sogaro, successor of Bishop Daniel Comboni andSuperior of his Missionaries, informed of this, ordered the missionaries to flee towardsCairo. But they did not want to look only to their own safety. They had been sent toannounce the Good News, so like good shepherds they gathered their flock together andset out on the journey Northwards. It was like the fulfilment of one of the principlesreceived from their Founder: “Missionaries cannot go to Paradise alone... they have to gothere in the company of the souls they have saved” (St Daniel Comboni) In themeantime, the prisoners tried to draw up a plan of escape from the Mahdi’s camp. TeresaGrigolini wrote about that time: “…for several days I have been unable to sleep, either atnight or during the day, I am so tense; we have all been so impatient...”. But the plan failed,and what they had all feared from some time happened: they were separated from oneanother.

CrushedEach one was given to a Moslem family as slave. In total isolation they set out with theMahdi for Rahad on 7th April 1884. All of them suffered long and bitter humiliation,anxiety, fear, the terrible journey on foot, ill-treatment and physical violence. Theirresistance began to crumble as the physical and moral pressures built up, while theirphysical and psychological weakness increased. One by one they broke under thepressure and pronounced the ‘Formula’ of Islam. It was a bitter and humiliating defeat. Topronounce the formula did not mean conversion to Islam, and indeed they continued tolive as Catholics and practise what they could of their religion. But the appearances werea searing pain. Humiliations did not end at Rahad. For some of them there was a long andslow martyrdom that went on for years. The Sisters were faced with another danger, theycould be given to a madhist as a wife.

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As this threat increased, the missionaries sought a solution. Rudolf Slatin, formerGovernor of Darfur, suggested the celebration of show marriages with some Greeks whowere also captives of the Mahdi. Despite the risks involved, the Greeks agreed to the plan.Khartoum fell on 26 January 1885. This time Bishop Sogaro threw himself completelyinto the liberation of the prisoners, sending aid to the missionaries and helping them toescape. Not many would enjoy early freedom. First Fr. Bonomi escaped and then, at theend of October 1885, Sisters Caprini and Fortunata Quascé. Some of the men and womenmissionaries were kept prisoner in Omdurman, and here they tried to organise their lives,amidst deprivation, humiliation and suffering of all kinds. They felt they had beenabandoned, and their Faith and Hope were stretched to the limit.

Final eventsOn 8 December 1891 Fr. Ohrwalder, Sr. Caterina Chincarini and Sr. Elisabetta Venturinireached Egypt, physically exhausted, but finally free after 10 years of harsh imprisonment.Later, Fr. Rossignoli was also liberated. With the battle of Kerri, the Mahdist revolutionwas destroyed. For the Sudan it was the beginning of a new period under the Anglo-Egyptian rule. After the fall of Omdurman Teresa Grigolini and Br. Regnotto were freed.

The cross is part and parcel of every Christian vocation. For each Christian, the sharingin Christ’s cross takes on a different form. For some privileged people, the identificationwith Christ’s sufferings reaches the supreme form of martyrdom, as in the case of someComboni Missionaries who wanted to remain faithful to their missionary vocation to theend. We may mention, for instance, the four Comboni Missionaries killed in Congo in1964, Fr. Ezekiel Ramin, Br. Alfred Fiorini, Fr. Raphael Di Bari, Sr. Liliana Rivetta, Sr.Teresa Dalle Pezze, to mention just a few. Following the example of those who had gonebefore them, they have become examples of a dynamic faith that enlightens our path andrenews in us the conviction we have received from our Founder: “Our mission prospersthrough martyrdom”, because this is the mission’s normal growing ground.

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Fr Luciano Fulvi+ Uganda, 30.03.2004 (Aged 76)

Fr Luciano was killed by unknown assailants in Layibi, a Mission on the outskirts of thetown of Gulu, in Northern Uganda where he was working as Chaplain to the MissionTechnical College, Gulu Diocese Youth Chaplain and Vocation Promoter.

It happened on the evening of 30th March 2004, between 21.00 and 21.45. After supper,Fr Luciano retired to his room for the night. Most probably his murderers had precededhim into his room and when he entered they confronted him with knives and machetesand slaughtered him. His confreres realised that there was something wrong when hefailed to turn up for Lauds and Holy Mass on the following morning, while his bicycle andcar where in the places where they had been left on the previous evening. His confrereswent to his room looking for him and found him dead, still fully clothed near his bed ina pool of blood that had already congealed.

Fr Luciano had spent three years in England (1953-56) before going to Uganda where heworked until 1964 after which he returned to the U.K. All his life he worked amongyoung people as Vocation recruiter and Formator in the Verona Fathers’ Junior Seminaryat Mirfield (West Yorkshire) first and then at Ardrossan, Ayreshire, and in Glasgow. In1990 he returned to Uganda where he worked until his death. In 2004 Fr Luciano visitedthe U.K. to celebrate his Priestly Golden Jubilee and went around greeting old friends hehad left in Yorkshire, Lancashire and Scotland.

At the age of 76 and with great generosity and inner peace Luciano returned to Ugandaonly to be murdered three months later. Upon learning of his death, his sister, Daniela,herself a Comboni Sister said :” On the day of his death, I got up at 4.30 a.m. and I hadthe impression of hearing his voice, I do not know whether inside or outside myself,saying: Love and sacrifice give birth to life. That is precisely what Luciano has done allhis life. He loved everyone and gave himself up for them”.

With Fr Luciano’s death, the Comboni Missionaries who have died in Uganda in the lastthirty years number fifteen.

There is a strong belief among the Missionaries in Uganda that Fr Luciano was killed bya group of LRA men (Lord’s Resistance Army) who for the last fifteen years have beenplaguing Northern Uganda with looting, murder, maiming, rape and kidnapping boys andgirls in their senseless war against the central Government of Kampala.

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Fr. Mario Mantovani + Uganda, 14.08.2003 (Aged 84)

Fr. Mario Mantovani was born at Orzinuovi, in the region of Brescia, on 18 December1919. He was ordained priest in 1946. After 11 years of service in Italy, in 1947 he left forUganda. He remained in Karamoja until his tragic death on the eve of the feast ofAssumption, 14 August 2003.

Fr. Mario was nicknamed by the Karimojong “Apalongor”, which means, “bull of an ash-grey colour”. The Karimojong, nomadic shepherds, give everyone a nickname taken fromthe names they use to describe a characteristic of one of their cattle. Fr. Mario was a kind,friendly, generous, zealous and very human. He was also an excellent cook. On specialoccasions, he was the one to work around the kitchen stove preparing somethingappetising. His fish and pasta were delicious. Fr. Mario was a man of prayer, alwaysavailable and very understanding. One felt comfortable in his company. He would adapthimself to any situation. He could get along with anybody, but especially with those whowere open and not too demanding, and particularly with young people. Lately at Kapedohe had a good relationship, based on trust and respect, with the young Ugandan Bro.Godfrey Kiryowa - who would be killed with him - almost as the last sign of the gift Fr.Mario had to create communion with all.

Fr. Mario knew well the Ngakarimojong language. He had written two grammars and astudy on the verbs of Ngakarimojong. He was very happy to teach. Fr. Mario worked inan area on the border with Sudan where the Dodoth people lived. In the south of thedistrict lived the Jie people, a tribe traditionally clashing with the Dodoth overpastureland. Fr. Mario had been at Kanawat, the mother mission of the Jie for three weeks,to recover from malaria. Bro. Godfrey had gone to fetch him from Kapedo on 14 August.They left from Kanawat at 9 a.m. In the Kopoth area, which lies on the border betweenthe Dodoth and the Jie, there were over 300 warriors armed with guns roaming about, asthere had been a cattle raid carried out by the Dodoth together with some Sudanese. Itseems that the Dodoth had been unsuccessful in the raid. Around 10 a.m., our twoconfreres were driving through the Kopoth area when a group of Dodoth in retreat shotat the driver, Bro. Godfrey, who died instantly. Fr Mario was found shot dead on thefollowing day, 15th August a short distance away.

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Bro. Godfrey Kiryowa+ Uganda, 14.08.2003 (Aged 30)

Bro. Godfrey Kiryowa was born of a family of Tanzanian origin at Kwawangabi, in theparish of Kasaala, in Southern Uganda. He did his postulancy at Layibi, where hespecialised as a builder. Then he went for his noviciate to Namugongo (2000-2002).

Bro. Godfrey was a simple, humble, good and friendly person who generously madehimself available for service. By nature he was rather phlegmatic, so it was natural for himto take things at his own pace. During his noviciate he had done his pastoral experienceat Loyoro, where the confreres, among whom was Fr. Mario Mantovani, appreciated himas a member of the community and for his skill as a builder. At Kapedo he was alwaysavailable for the various chores needed in the mission, like looking after the buildings,generators, going shopping to Kampala and being the elderly Fr. Mario’s driver. On oneof his first trips through Karamoja, from Loyoro to Kapedo, he was fired at. On thatoccasion there were some soldiers with him who, though scared to death, fired back. Thatwas his initiation to Karamoja. When he met people in Kampala or in Karamoja, he wouldjoke about the shootings on the roads of Karamoja. He was scared, but never refused todrive on those roads whenever necessary. In his last visit to Kapedo, at the end of June, Ispoke to Bro. Godfrey. Obviously the discussion soon came around to the insecurity onthe roads. Fr. Mario Mantovani remarked that the Brother was dramatising the situation,while he himself, when stopped on the road, always managed to get out of trouble byoffering tobacco to the raiders. Bro. Godfrey had worked out a theory about the best timeto travel from Kapedo to Kotido. The two confreres, in fact, happened to drive throughthe Kopoth area after an attempted cattle raid by the Dodoth against the Jie. The Dodoth,humiliated by their unsuccessful attempt, must have given vent to their anger by shootingat the first car that happened to pass by. Bro. Godfrey was hit first and died instantly. Fr.Mario tried to run into the bush, but he was soon found and riddled with bullets about300 m. from the car. The body of Bro. Godfrey was found the following day, in the earlymorning of the feast of the Assumption. That of Fr. Mario was found around two in theafternoon of the same day. The blood shed in Karamoja by Bro. Godfrey as a ComboniMissionary becomes a strong symbol of the fruitfulness of the Comboni charism in Africa.In the case of Bro. Godfrey we can say that the Comboni charism has truly been absorbedinto the culture. Let us hope and pray that his sacrifice may be a fruitful seed for theChristian transformation of the Karimojong society, so hostile to change.

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Fr Raphael di Bari + Uganda, 14.08.2000 (Aged 71)

Fr. Raphael Di Bari is the 22nd Comboni Missionary Martyr, killed in an ambush atabout 4 km from Pajule Parish, while on his way to Aciolibur for the Holy Mass. Born atBARLETTA, near BARI on the South coast of the Adriatic sea, Raphael worked and diedamong the Acholi tribe in the Diocese of Gulu, Northern Uganda. It was about 10:30 a.m.when suddenly a burst of firearms was heard and then the explosion of a bomb, a bazzokafired at the car in which Fr Raphael was travelling. The grenade hit the car near the driver,pierced the door, hit Fr Raphael in the side, went through the dashboard and stopped onthe engine. Having ransacked the vehicle, one of the LRA guerrillas, probably the leader,gave the order to throw a hand grenade to set the car on fire. This they did but the cardid not ignite. The leader then sent two of his gang to snatch some straw from a hutnearby and try to burn the car. Flames burst out suddenly engulfing the Father’s corpse,which was still sitting at the driver’s place. Then the rebels started moving quickly awaytaking with them the boys, whom they set free shortly afterwards, except one, the son ofthe parish cook who was never seen again.

Fr. Raphael had just time to cry out three times: “Ahi! Ahi! Ahi!” Some people who weretraveling with him, ran away. A woman, who happened to pass by was hit in the back bya burst from a machine gun and fell down dead. The Sister and others who were travelingwith him, escaped.

Wrapped into his albThe news reached the parish centre, Pajule, as they were coming to the end of Mass. Fr.Antonio Simeoni with other people, went to the scene of the murder. The pick-up wasengulfed in flames which they were unable to extinguish. They rushed back to the centreto collect some water to put out the flames. On returning to the scene, they were unableto open the car door while the Father’s corpse burnt furiously. Eventually, after manyattempts, they opened the door and Fr Raphael’s burnt and blackened remains fell to theground. Fr. Simeoni, then, spread out the mass alb he had in the box and with tendernessand veneration, collected the few charred bones and returned to the parish.

Why a martyr?Fr. Raphael, like all the others who preceded him through a violent death, could havestayed quietly in the parish and nobody would have disturbed him, or he could have lefthis place and retired in Italy; but he did not. Fr. Raphael wanted to share the life of hispeople, even at the risk of his life, aware that his missionary vocation was asking this. His grave, dug next to the church, near the Sisters’ property, surrounded by a little fence,has become a place of prayer.

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Bro. Alfredo Fiorini+ Mozambique, 24.08.1992 (Aged 38)

Alfredo was the eldest of four children, always bubbling and highly intelligent. He spenthis formative years in a happy home close to the local Parish Church at Terracina, Southof Rome. His father, a printer by profession, was for many years the President of the localbranch of the Lay Association of “Catholic Action”.

A very determined young manHaving completed high school, Alfredo attended the Faculty of Medicine at theUniversity of Siena, where he graduated on 23/7/1980 with top marks. During hismilitary service, he had the opportunity to practise first aid and emergency medicine. Itwas here that he considered joining CUAMM, an Italian Volunteer Organisation ofDoctors for Third World countries, but made the more radical choice of joining theComboni Missionaries. After his Novitiate he made his Religious Profession and went onto theological studies at the end of which he confided to his Superiors that he felt hisvocation was to remain a simple Brother without Holy Orders. In 1989 Alfredo came toLiverpool for a Course in Tropical Medicine and then received his assignment toMozambique. After a short course of Portuguese in Lisbon, on 3/2/1991 Alfredo reachedhis Mission in Mozambique where he was assigned by the local medical authorities towork for two years within the Government hospital structures at Namapa in order toacquire some experience. During that period he wrote:” Namapa hospital is semi-destroyed by the war. RENAMO has destroyed the roof of the hospital and so, beforeanything else, I have to work as a mason”. After a short experience at Namapa, he realizedthat he would be unable to work properly within the Government structures and so heobtained a transfer to a Mission hospital run by the Comboni Sisters where there wasmore efficiency and he could apply his talents more freely. He was always full of new ideasand projects that he discussed with the local Bishop. Feeling exhausted at the beginningof August 1992 he went away for a few days. In the morning of 24th August he wasreturning to the Mission of Carapira, when his car was riddled by a hail of machine-gunbullets, four of which hit Alfredo in his head, chest, wrist and arm, killing him. The bulletscame from RENAMO guerrillas who were intent on creating chaos in the country andwere against any organization helping the Government.

The body of Alfredo was taken to his native Parish in Italy. At his funeral in Terracina, thelocal Bishop presiding over the funeral Mass, announced that Bro Alfredo would be buriedin the Parish Church, saying,” How can we fail to liken Alfredo’s sacrifice to that of themartyrs of Terracina: Cesareo, Giuliano, Domitilla, Felice, Valentino and Maria Goretti ?”.

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Fr. William Nyadru+ Uganda, 25.10. 1991 (Aged 31)

Through many years of preparation, William willingly followed the faithfulness of Godwho had called him to the priesthood. And with such powerful help he fulfilled desiresand hopes he had nourished since his youth.

Morulem: William’s first Assignment Although Fr. William had been asked to work with ‘Leadership Magazine’, he was quitehappy to begin his priestly duties with pastoral work at Morulem. After Fr William’s deathmany people witnessed to his successful ministry. Fr. Klement Otim, a native of Morulem,at present Vicar General of Moroto Diocese wrote, “I do not know what particularproblems Fr. William faced as a priest, but one thing I know is that, whenever I met him,he expressed to me as a native of Morulem, his concern about the Labwor people as hispeople. In other words the problems, the sufferings, joys and frustration of the Labworamong whom he worked, were his problems. No wonder he was so dear to them. My ownexperience of Father, is of a kind hearted, and intelligent person.”

The supreme sacrificeOn Friday, 25th October, 1991, around 9 a.m. Fr. William told Brother Gregori that hewas about to go to Moroto by motorcycle, a distance of 120Km, to collect the tithingforms that had to be distributed in church the following Sunday. It was quite common forthe missionaries of Morulem to cover that distance by motorcycle and be back beforedark. Nothing had ever happened along that road, no one had ever been stopped orrobbed. However, by evening William had not returned. He never came back. After anintensive search in the area, William’s body was found lying face down in the grass. Therewas a bullet hole in his skull and the ground below was still wet with his blood, he hadbeen shot from behind. On 3rd Dec. of the same year, Fr Martin Devenish wrote,“As yetwe have no idea why Father William, Priest, victim, Missionary of the Gospel, martyr withChrist for his brothers and sisters, was killed. Most probably, he was the victim of someorder by local witchdoctors to kill anyone on a motorcycle so that the clan could avoidsome imminent catastrophe. We know that such a story had been going around for at leasta year. In fact, some local people who have motorcycles, (Government officials), stoppedusing their cycles on long distances some months previously. So perhaps William’s deathwas a sacrifice. At his supreme moment, William had prostrated himself on the ground andlaid his forehead on his crossed hands, as he had done on the day of his Ordination.”Some time after the murder, a man in prison in Kampala confessed to being his killer. Healso said that when Fr William realized they would kill him, asked for time to pray. Heprayed for the killers in their language, then in other tongues, perhaps his own Mahdilanguage.

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Fr. Egidio Biscaro+Uganda, 29.01.1990 (Aged 61)

EGIDIO was born at Foresto di Cona, near Venice, on the 22nd of September 1928, theyoungest of six brothers and sisters. His family was poor and in order to improve theireconomic position, after his mother’s death, the family moved to Milan where the fatherhoped to find a better job. Egidio started attending the local Parish Church and becamean altar server. One day he confided to the parish priest his wish to become a missionary.Unfortunately, times were difficult. The war had just started and Egidio had to help hisfather in the fields and so he could not go beyond his primary education. One day aComboni missionary visiting his Parish, told him that Africa did not only need Priests, butalso lay brothers to teach how to farm the land and other practical skills. Egidio toldhimself:” I am a farmer: if I cannot study and become a Priest, I shall be a lay missionaryBrother”.

Serious workerAt the age of 22, after his Religious Profession and technical training, Bro Egidio wasassigned to Uganda. The evening before his departure, his father called him aside andsaid:” How happy I am that the Lord has chosen the smallest of my children to be one ofhis workers. Your mother and I had prayed so much for the grace of a priest among ourchildren. You are not a priest, but are close to them, work with them, love them and seein them your elder brothers. You are the youngest in order to serve, not to be served. Thenafter a silent pause, his father knelt down in front of Egidio and asked for his son’s blessing.“I am not a priest dad, I cannot bless you”. You are a man consecrated to God, come on,bless me”.

UGANDAIn Uganda Bro Egidio worked in several Missions applying his technical skills as amechanic, but never lost the desire to be a Priest. After the II Vatican Council, he askedthe Superior General of the Comboni Institute for permission to study for Priesthood and,to his great joy, he was ordained a Priest in Milan on 6th April 1974. Egidio returned toUganda which was in turmoil, during and after Amin’s regime. The North was particularlyunsafe because the LRA was terrorizing the entire population by looting homes and theMissions, kidnapping boys and girls and shooting at people. Father Egidio was shot deadon the road to the hospital where he was taking a sick woman, though he was aware ofthe danger of meeting LRA soldiers. He died, a martyr of charity, invoking Our Lady andforgiving his murderers.

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Fr. Egidio Ferracin+ Uganda, 04.08.1987 (Aged 50)

The Mission of ALENGA, among the Lango in Northern Uganda, had been visited quitea few times by local thieves and robbers. In order to shake the local Christian Communityas to their responsibilities in looking after and defending the Mission and its churchproperty, the Bishop of Lira closed down the Mission temporarily and withdrew theFathers. This shocked the Christians of Alenga and some people started returning churchproperty that that had been stolen from the Mission. After some months without a Priestoffering Holy Mass and administering the sacraments, the people started asking theBishop for forgiveness and for their Mission to be re-opened. At the insistent prayers ofthe local Catholics and some of the Missionaries, the Bishop gave permission to re-openthe Mission of Alenga and Fr Egidio Ferracin was sent to that difficult Parish. The Bishopand the Comboni Missionaries hoped that through his jovial and cheerful personality, FrEgidio would have injected some serenity and spirit of reconciliation in those people whohad been tried by the recent unpleasant events at the Mission. Unfortunately, after somany years of war and chaos in Uganda, there were many firearms around in the villagesand many thugs willing to use them for their sinister purposes.

On 4th August, just three months after he had arrived at Alenga, Fr Egidio left for Alwala,one of the outstations in the Parish. There he said Mass, chatted with the local communityand then back on a motorbike to visit some other places in the area where there werecatechumens preparing for Baptism and 1st Communion. At about 5 kilometers fromKwibale where he was going, Fr Egidio met a group of thugs who were detaining somelocal people, had stripped them of their few possessions and were trying to take away withthem the three girls of the group. The girls started resisting fiercely. At that scene, FrEgidio intervened trying to convince the three young men to let the girls go

In response to the Father’s peaceful mediation the thugs caught hold of him violently, tiedhis hands and feet with a rope, dragged him away from the road among insults andbeatings. Fr Egidio kept saying: “Beat me up, if you wish, but let those people go”. After along and severe beating, the three thugs tied Fr Egidio to a tree and finished him off witha burst of machine gun bullets. This account of Fr Egidio’s murder was given by a manfrom that group of people, who was kept by the thugs as prisoner for three days after theFather’s murder and then managed to escape. Due to lack of witnesses who could alert theother Fathers of the Missions, Fr Egidio’s body remained in the thick forest for several daysuntil it was found on 11th August. Fr Egidio had been left on his knees, bent sideways,with his hands tied and his head drooping, like a man in deep prayer or like Christ on theCross. Jesus too in the garden of Gethsemani has said to the brigands who had come outto arrest him: “If it is me you are looking for, here I am, but let these others go” (John:18:9)

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Fr. Ezekiel Ramin+ Brazil, 24.07.1985 (Aged 32)

A few days after Fr Ezekiel’s murder, Pope John Paul II called him “a martyr of charity”.His murder in fact was the consequence of his help in favour of the Surui Indios’

and the poor peasants who were being made landless by the large landownersof the multi-nationals in the State of Rondonia (Brazil).

Ezekiel came from a deeply Catholic family in Padua. His parents had given their sevensons a solid religious grounding and good education, by attending their local Parish andcatholic schools. All Ezekiel’s six brothers had a University degree. Ezekiel too was a sortof intellectual man, always thorough and profound in his reflections and decisions. Hisvocation to the priesthood, says his brother Paolo, a doctor, came from “our mother’sheart”. Ezekiel was a very intelligent, attractive young man, always surrounded by girlswho would have “kidnapped” him for themselves. Instead Ezekiel was kidnapped by theLord. When the time came for him to choose his University Faculty, he drove with hisfather up to the front door of the Comboni House in Padua and told him,” Here is myFaculty”. His Priestly formation took place during the difficult period of the so-called“students’ revolution” in France, Italy and other European countries in the 70s’. Ezekielwould have studied medicine to become a doctor-Priest, but his Superiors told him thatpriesthood and medicine are two full-time vocations difficult to reconcile in one man’slifetime. Ezekiel’s formation and training for Priesthood took him to England for one yearto study the language, then to Chicago for two years of Theology and then Mexico forthe rest of his Theological studies and initial pastoral experience. He was ordained a Priestin September 1980. For a few years he worked in Italy as vocation promoter. During thatperiod, Ezekiel gave the best of himself to assist the survivors of the earthquake that hitthe Irpinia region of Southern Italy. When the time came to go the Missions he, whobesides Italian knew French, English and Spanish, chose Brazil, as he felt attracted by theSouth American culture that he had tasted in Mexico.

His blood for the poorIn Brazil he soon came into contact with the dire condition of the Amazon Indios whowere being driven out of their land by big landowners, to make room for the large“fazendas” that were being created where hundreds of families had had their livelihood.Ezekiel, together with the other members of his Community among whom there was FrJohn Clark from Sunderland, were helping the poor peasants with advice about theirrights. In fact on 24th July 1985, Ezekiel had gone to a meeting of peasants on a missionof peace, to advise them to withdraw from their land, in order to avoid worseconsequences on the part of jaguncos (armed men employed by the owners of thefazendas). On his return from the meeting, Ezekiel was ambushed by armed jacungos andhis body was riddled with around seventy bullets. His grave, in his native Padua, is thefocus of many reflections by young people who find the life and the supreme sacrifice ofEzekiel very inspiring.

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Fr. Osmundo Bilbao+ Uganda, 20.04.1982 (Aged 37)

Fr. Osmundo was a victim of the lawlessness that reigned in Uganda towards the end ofAmin’s regime in the early 80s. Soldiers were being recruited from among village thugswith no proper military training or discipline. Their salaries were meager and at timesdifficult to obtain from the Government: so they resorted to harassing poor village people.

It was precisely in one such circumstance, that Osmundo met his death.

He was returning to Kampala from Kisubi, near Entebbe, where he had gone with FrTorquato and a girl student to collect some books from the St Peter Claver Sisters’ PrintingPress. At a certain point in the journey, another car drew close to Osmundo’s vehicle andthree armed men shouted to Osmundo to stop. Foreseeing trouble, Osmundo tried toaccelerate his Volkswagen van, but was riddled with a hail of machine gun bullets, one ofwhich killed him instantly. Father Torquato, who was sitting next to him, lay down quietlyfaking death. The girl remained buried under the books in the van and both escapedunscathed. The three armed assailants approached the missionaries’ vehicle, stole whatthey could, including the watch from Fr Torquato’s wrist and made off.

Osmundo was born near Bilbao in Spain in 1944. Ordained in 1969, he left for Ugandaafter spending a few months in London to learn English. His Mission was METU amongthe Madi, a semi-nomadic people, intelligent and very proud of their culture. Osmundogave his all to the formation of local Christian communities and the training of Catechistsand lay leaders, especially in view of the real danger that missionaries might be expelleden masse from Uganda.

After a short leave at home in Spain in 1977, Osmundo returned to Uganda, very muchaware of the risks he was returning to in the chaotic Uganda of those years. In the chaosand insecurity that reigned in Uganda, the presence of a missionary was a ray of hope forthe poor people who were being harassed by soldiers and bandits roaming on the roadsand through villages.

A good shepherd does not leave his sheep in the hour of danger.

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Fr. Silvio Serri+ Uganda, 11.09.79 (Aged 46)

Since the beginning of the war that was to overthrow Uganda’s dictator IDI AMIN, theCatholic Missions in Uganda became very much exposed to looting and serious dangerfor the very lives of Missionaries. Fr SILVIO knew that very well as his difficult and newMission of Obongi was rather isolated and distant from Arua, the capital town of theWest Nile Region where the Comboni Missionaries had many Missions. Obongi lay in amarshland, near the river Nile and was infested by mosquitoes and malaria. Fr Silviooffered himself for this difficult Mission and, in spite of the warnings and advice from hisSuperiors and confreres about the danger of living alone in such an isolated Mission, Silviodid not have the heart to leave his parishioners without a Priest.

On Holy Thursday of that year, 1979, his life had already been threatened by a soldierbrandishing a gun. After that incident, for a few weeks he was ordered by his Superiors toleave the Mission and stay at the Bishop’s House in Arua. He himself said that every timehe went back to Obongi he feared an ambush from soldiers. A week before his death, hiscar had been stolen and then found again abandoned in the fields as it had run out of fuel.

On the evening of 11th September 1979, he had just returned to the Mission by Land-Rover from the nearby river with a group of boys, where he had gone to fetch water forthe house and the vegetable garden. The car was still in the Mission compound, whensuddenly and from nowhere an armed soldier came up to Fr Silvio and with an imperioustone of voice, typical of soldiers in Uganda in those days, started demanding the car keysand fuel. Fr Silvio told him that he did not have the garage keys, where the fuel was. Thesoldier shouted even more threateningly,” Give me fuel”. Fr Silvio sent a boy for the keys.All the time the soldier remained with his gun aimed at the Father. Some boys werealready loading a barrel of fuel onto the land-rover, when somebody rang the church bells,perhaps with the intent of calling more village people to face the soldier, who sensed thatdanger and fired a burst of bullets. Everybody ran for cover. The soldier got on the Land-Rover and drove off. A single shot had penetrated Silvio’s right arm and passed throughhis body from one side to the other. Severe loss of blood was the result of a gaping wound.He was carried into the house, but died a few minutes later.

In those terrible and dangerous months Fr Silvio had told his parishioners,” I will remainwith you, no matter what”. He kept his word. “ There is no greater love than to lay downone’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:18).

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P. Silvio Dal Maso+ Uganda, 03.05. 1979 (Aged 66)

ETHIOPIA, SUDAN and UGANDA were the three fields of the “Lord’s vineyard” whereFr SILVIO DAL MASO fulfilled his missionary zeal and spent his apostolic energies.Three times involved in national tragedies, in the end, he was overcome by eventsbeyond his gentle character and was cruelly murdered. He had left his widowed motherand sister at home near Vicenza in the Veneto region of Northern Italy, to become amissionary. Soon after his Ordination he was sent to Ethiopia where he stayed for eightyears pursuing apostolic work at Gondar and enduring a term of imprisonment in Asmarawhen the British defeated Mussolini’s soldiers in Ethiopia. Of his time in Ethiopia, SisterAquilino who knew him there gave this witness: “Father Silvio was always respectful andaffable to all, very humble and always answered with a smile. For those who were lookingfor him, if he was not out on ministry, he could be found in church with a rosary in hishands. He left us here the example of his goodness and religious virtues”.

From Ethiopia he went to Sudan to work among the Denka. Those who knew himremembered his hard work in the mission and on “safaris”, crossing marshy areas, infestedby malaria, on a horse or on foot to visit people, Christians and pagans alike. After sixteenyears of hard work in Southern Sudan, he was expelled from the country, together with avery large number of Comboni Missionaries, by the Moslem Government of Khartoum inthe North that had started their program of wiping out Christianity and spreading Islamamong the populations in the South. So, at 53, Fr. Silvio went to Uganda. He worked invarious Missions of Arua Diocese, last of which was Pakwach where eventually he wouldbe barbarically murdered.

The two victims of Pakwach In the afternoon of 3rdMay 1979, soldiers came to the fathers’ house demanding petrolfor their vehicle. The Fathers told them that they too had run out of petrol. The soldierswent to the garage and took away the barrel of diesel that the Fathers used for theelectricity generator. Later that same night, the Sisters heard from their house the Fathers’dogs barking and people shouting in the Fathers’ house, but stayed put. On the followingmorning, finding the church door unusually still locked at 7.00 a.m., the Sisters went tothe Fathers’ House and found the corpses of the two Fathers who had been killed the nightbefore. Fr. Silvio was lying on the floor, wearing only his vest, with his feet tied with astring and a bullet wound that went through his neck. The house had been ransacked.That was the price the Comboni Missionaries paid for remaining with their people inUganda, at the time of IDI AMIN’s regime.

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Fr. Antonio Fiorante+ Uganda, 03.05.1979 (Aged 53)

To his friends he was “boanerge” “son of thunder” because ofhis fiery character, after the nickname Jesus gave the Apostles

James and John, sons of Zebedee (Mk.3:17)

Fr ANTONIO FIORANTE is, together with Fr SILVIO DAL MASO and Fr. JOSEPHSANTI, one of the three Comboni Missionary victims of the last chaotic days of Amin’sregime in Uganda. He was only 53 when he was murdered. He had worked very hard allhis missionary life, spurred on by a fiery character and a fervent zeal for the conversion ofAfricans to Christ. After a few years spent in Italy working in Mission Animation, in 1954he realised his missionary dream by going to Southern Sudan where he worked for eightyears among the Jur and Denka and learnt their languages quite well. In 1962 he was oneof the first Comboni Missionaries to be expelled from Southern Sudan by the IslamicGovernment of the North. After a brief respite in Italy, he went to Uganda and workedamong the Alur in West Nile, as the Alur language is similar to Denka that he had used inSudan. He started and developed the Mission of Parombo in a difficult place, near theriver Nile, very hot, humid and infested by malaria carrying mosquitoes. Always on themove getting building material for the Parish Church of Parombo, or some other Chapelor on “safari” trying to collect new catechumens, children and adults alike, for instructionand Baptism.

PAKWACHIn 1976 Fr Antonio was transferred to the large Mission of Pakwach, still by the River Nileon the main road between Arua, the capital town of West Nile and Kampala that can bereached by normal road or through the National Park. Pakwach was physically verydemanding on the Missionaries given the number and distances of its outstation Chapels:but Fr Antonio, together with Fr Silvio, did not spare their energies in their pastoral careof their Christian Communities. On his return to Pakwach, after visiting his family in Italyand Canada, he wrote,” Italy is beautiful; Canada too is beautiful, but for us Africa is stillmore beautiful”. And in another letter to his family,” I heard that you are refurbishing theParish Church for the feast of our Patron Saint, Felix. Here we have no floor and no organto renovate, as our churches are made of mud and straw. But we are carrying out a “spiritualrenewal” among our Christians. We try to sow some seeds, hoping that something willgrow”. He did not know that he was to be one of those seeds that have to perish in orderto generate life. On the evening of 3rd May 1979, he was brutally assaulted in his room,stripped of all his clothes, beaten up, tied with a rope to his own bed and shot throughhis head from one ear to the other. His only crime was to love his Christians for whomhe gave up all his life. His murderers were most probably soldiers from Amin’s dyingregime on the run, without any scruples about looting and killing in order to savethemselves.

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Fr. Giuseppe Santi+ Uganda, 14.04.1979 (Aged 59)

Murdered by Amin’s soldiers in the afternoon of HOLY SATURDAY

HOLY SATURDAY , 14th April 1979, 4.30 p.m.Fr Joseph Santi was preparing the solemn Easter Vigil liturgy in his Mission of Aloi, amongthe Lango in Northern Uganda. Two young men arrived at the Mission and asked FrJoseph to take them by car to Lira, the Provincial capital town, as their motorbike hadbroken down. Fr Joseph was uncertain what to do: how could he abandon the Christianswho were ready for the Easter Vigil ? But it was the Christians themselves who encouragedhim to help the two young men and take them to Lira, as it seemed to be a matter of lifeor death. Charity prevailed and Fr Joseph left for Lira : less than an hour later he wasalready dead, murdered by Amin’s soldiers who were scattered everywhere on the roadsto Lira, disseminating chaos and terror. The Bishop who, together with some Priests andSisters, was under siege in his house in Lira because of the soldiers on the roads, learnt ofFr Joseph’s death only on Easter Monday. But it was not before Easter Tuesday, when theyheard that the soldiers had left the area, that some Priests and local Christians could goout in search of Fr Santi’s body that they found in a pit half-a-mile from the Cathedral,together with the bodies of another six men. Fr Joseph’s body was taken to the Cathedral,and after a short funeral ceremony, was buried in the Cathedral cemetery besides thegrave of a Diocesan Priest, Fr Anania Oryang who had been killed fifteen days before.

Apart from his work in Uganda, Fr Joseph had worked in Italy in the recruitment of youngdiocesan seminarians who showed signs of missionary vocation. “He was the one whovisited me in my Regional Seminary at Molfetta during the years of my high school(Liceo) and encouraged me to pursue my wish of becoming a Comboni missionary” ( FrFranco).

In Uganda Fr Joseph was local Superior in many places and, in the 50s, became RegionalSuperior of all the Comboni Missionaries in Uganda (around 140; in the 70s the numberwent up to 260).

On his Silver Jubilee of Priesthood he wrote:” I am happy to be a missionary priest in theComboni Congregation, happy because our vocation consists in self-giving to others.There is nothing more beautiful than giving oneself for others. As for projects for thefuture, I would only like to be a Priest for another 25 years and for ever”.

UNICEF and the ITALIAN RED CROSS enlisted Fr Joseph Santi among “the personswho had distinguished themselves in the protection of children”.

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Fr. Marco Vedovato+ Brazil, 19.10. 1968 (Aged 38)

He was born to be a missionary : nothing could dissuade him from pursuing his vocation.

Fr. MARCO RUBEN VEDOVATO was one of the last missionaries to enter SouthernSudan where he arrived in November 1957 a few months after his Ordination. At thattime the Khartoum Government had nationalized all the Catholic schools in the South.That was seen as a clear signal of a long persecution that the Islamic Government of theNorth would pursue against the Christians and missionaries of the South. Many fearedthat sooner or later, all the missionaries would be expelled, the local Catholics wouldsuffer a great deal and many would also die for their Faith. In fact, on 27th February 1964all the missionaries, Bishops, Priests, Brothers and sisters were expelled en masse fromSouthern Sudan, leaving all their dear Christian Communities defenceless and voiceless.

BRAZILOn 3rd December 1965 Fr Marco arrived in Brazil, where there was no lack of problemsand difficulties, due to the extreme poverty and ignorance of local people, great distances,lack of roads and means of transport and insufficient missionary manpower. To complicatethings, a few highly fanatical protestant sects were creating opposition and obstacles tothe work of Catholic missionaries.

In 1968 Fr Marco was assigned to a vast Mission. In a letter to his own brother who wasa missionary himself, Marco wrote “to visit all the villages once every other month, weshould have six priests, whereas, here I am on my own. I have planned the building oftwelve schools/Chapels. I have asked the authorities for a health assistant. I am training agroup of women teachers and catechists. I have organized dressmaking and hygienecourses for girls and young mothers. I have set up the Catholic Mothers’ Union, in orderto help those mothers most in need. I have in mind other projects. Please be close to methrough your prayers, so that everything goes well”. In the evening of 19th October 1968,back from safari very tired, he said Mass in the Chapel, then went to bed. He was alsodepressed, having received the news that his mother had been admitted into hospital. Agroup of three young men started singing, shouting and playing a harmonica right in frontof the church very close to the room where Fr Marco was resting, At midnight he rose anddiplomatically asked the three young men to stop the noise that was preventing him fromsleeping. They agreed, but as soon as Marco turned his back, one of the three shot himthree times with a calibre 38 pistol. After a few minutes, Fr Marco died forgiving hismurderer and asking the people to forgive him too.

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Fr. Barnaba Deng+ Southern Sudan, 02.08.1965 (Aged 29)

The Denka, Barnaba’s, tribe used to confront a lion with only a lance,when it became a threat to the herd.

Barnaba defended his people with his bare hands.

Under the British colonial power, it was Arab military personnel and civil administratorsfrom the North that held all key positions of power in the partly animist and partlyChristian Southern Sudan. The people resented that, but were powerless to change thesituation.

In 1956 Sudan became independent, and without the presence of a foreign power, theArabs from the North felt free to pursue their program of Islamisation of the South. AllCatholic and Protestant schools were nationalized. Sunday ceased to be a public holiday,making it difficult for Christian workers and school children to attend Mass. TheMissionaries were practically under house arrest, with their physical movements outsidetheir Missions severely restricted and regulated by permits difficult to obtain from theDistrict authorities. They were forbidden to baptize children or dispense basicmedication. An increasing number of Christians were being continually harassed.

It was clear that the Khartoum Government wanted all missionaries out of SouthernSudan: they were uncomfortable witnesses. In fact, in 1964 all the 300 ComboniMissionaries who were in the South had to leave.

Fr BARNABAFr Barnaba Deng, was a Comboni Father who had trained in Italy for Priesthood and hadbeen Ordained by Card. Montini of Milan, the future Paul VI. When he was returning tohis homeland, Southern Sudan, the Comboni Superiors told him:” We are sending youlike a lamb among wolves. Keep close to the Bishop and follow his instructions”.

Back in Sudan, Barnaba found himself in a hostile environment created by the authoritiesopposed to the Christian Religion and consequently very dangerous. One morning, anArab guard was about to kill an innocent woman accused of feeding Southern guerrillas.“You cannot kill this woman : she is innocent”, shouted Fr Barnaba. At that reproach, theguard beat the woman very badly. Fr Barnaba felt a deep indignation at the Arab soldier’sbrutality and hit him on his chin. The soldier’s shouts attracted other soldiers and soBarnaba had to run into the savannah for his life. He hid for fifteen days, without properfood or shelter. His Bishop, Ireneo Dud, obtained a safe-conduct for him to reachKhartoum. Barnaba came to greet the Bishop and left for Khartoum: but he never made it.After a week, his body was found in the savannah, with evident signs of torture and hischest ripped open by machine-gun bullets. A month earlier, a Diocesan Priest, FrArchangel Ali’, had been killed in similar fashion. Through such sacrifices, the youngChurch of Southern Sudan was strengthening its roots in the blood of martyrs.

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Fr. Antonio Zuccali+ Rungu, Congo, 02.12.1964 (Aged 42)

He wanted to Baptize 100,000 pagans in Africa. He had vowed to build a leprosy hospital.

Leaving for Congo he said:” I shall not come back”

Fr Antonio was born into a devout Catholic family near Bergamo in Northern Italy. It tookmuch courage to leave behind at home his mother and two sisters, as the other four menin the family, his father and three brother, were in the army during the Second World War.

SUDANOrdained a Comboni Priest, after a short spell in Italy and a few months in London tostudy English, in 1959 Fr Antonio left for Southern Sudan. There he worked very hard,with great joy and zeal.

He built about thirty permanent brick Chapels. He organized a technical school to trainartisans: carpenters, masons, mechanics, electricians etc…

He often undertook pastoral safaris for months on end, visiting villages and sharing foodand shelter with his Christians. His Parish of Isoke increased by 1,500 new Christiansevery passing year. In 1963, after working tirelessly in another two Missions, Fr Antoniohad to leave Southern Sudan together with all the other missionaries. He always kept hisSudanese Christian Communities in his heart.

CONGOOn 8th December 1964, he left for Congo and was stationed at RUNGU, a vast Mission.It took him two months of continuous safaris to visit all the villages of his Mission. Hestarted his pastoral work with his usual enthusiasm and spirit of self-sacrifice. At that timehe wrote home, “I am continually on the move, visiting people. I feel healthy; long walks,together with “unplanned” fast does me good. After all, I do not think of these thingsmuch, as the salvation of souls matters much more to me. I wish all my people werehealthy in body and soul.” He was a strong believer in the power of prayer and in all hisletters he always asked for prayers or entrusted some particular cause to somebody’sprayers.

On 29th May 1964, he wrote to some friends in Italy:” I have asked the Lord for 100,000Baptisms before dying. I think I have asked for too little, judging from the number of somany pagans who are so well disposed to the Gospel and considering the generosity ofGod who wants the salvation of souls and your many prayers for the conversion ofpagans”. In a P. S. to his letter he added:” In Congo there are still martyrs now; but all ishappening 800 Kilometers away from here. Here all is tranquil”. Only God knew that sixmonths later there would be martyrs in Fr Antonio’s area too and that he himself would bethe last missionary to be killed in Congo during that war by the Simba rebels.

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Fr. Evaristo Migotti 1964+ Rungu, Congo, 01.12.1964 (Aged 42)

To be killed for the Faith is the logical conclusion of a life consecrated to God and to the people of God,

in simplicity of heart.

On entering the diocesan seminary at Udine, in North Eastern Italy, his mother took himbefore a statue of Our Lady in the boys’ dormitory and told him “Evaristo, from now onOur Lady will be your Mother”. He deeply felt leaving his mother, but offered thatsacrifice to the Lord, expecting a large reward.

ERITREAOrdained in 1948, Fr Evaristo left for Eritrea in that same year. He taught for five years atthe Comboni College in Asmara, that the enlightened Father Armido Gasparini, thefuture Bishop of Awasa in Ethiopia, had started. In Eritrea Evaristo learned Tigriña, thelocal language and Ghe’ez, the old liturgical language in which he could celebrate Massaccording to the old Catholic Coptic Rite.

SUDAN His deepest desire was to go to another country where he could do more pastoral workamong the pagans. His wish was granted by his Superiors and in 1953 Fr Evaristo reachedthe Mission of Mupoi, in Southern Sudan. There he had ten years of intense and fruitfulapostolate, until the Khartoum Government ordered all Missionaries out of the country.

CONGOIn February 1964 Fr Evaristo went to the Congo and was assigned, together with FrAntonio Zuccali, to the vast Mission of Rungu. Immediately he plunged himself intoapostolic work and in July of that year he wrote to his people in Italy: “Here we are onlytwo missionaries for seventy villages in the Mission. We cannot even keep up with theactivities we started when we arrived”. He was happy and full of enthusiasm for theintense work that was waiting for him. Nobody at that stage could have foreseen thetragedy that was to unfold later on in that year, on 1st December.

Before embracing him for the last time, his mother asked him” Evaristo, why, after leavingthe danger in Sudan do you want to go to Congo where they still kill white people?”.

“Mother”, was his answer, “if the Lord asked me to die a martyr, I would feel unworthy ofthat grace”. On the contrary, the Lord deemed him worthy of the grace of martyrdom, ashe himself had written to the Superior general before his Perpetual Profession: “ Withcomplete freedom and mental lucidity, I commit myself into your hands and yoursuccessors, that they may dispose of me as they deem fit, even for tasks that mightdemand an heroic act”.

The heroic act was asked of Fr Evaristo on 10th December 1964 and he did not hesitateto carry it out.

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Fr. Lorenzo Piazza+Rungu, Congo, 01.12.1964(Aged 49)

He fulfilled his vocation through very painful tears.He loved poetry and people afflicted with leprosy.

At the age of eleven he predicted his own martyrdom.

LORENZO’s father was the captain of a merchant ship and therefore, he was brought upmainly by his mother. That in part explains the strong bond that always existed betweenmother and son.

Lorenzo first considered becoming a missionary at the age of eleven while taking part ina Parish play “ The little missionary and his mum” where he recited a poem that endedwith the following words:” Do not weep if one day you should receive a blood stainedwreath. The Lord himself must have made you, because you are good, oh unhappy motherof a martyr”. He little knew then that the poem would be realized in his own life.

In 1936 Lorenzo lost his father and three years after his Ordination in 1943, his brotherwas drowned when the ship he was on was sunk by the Germans. When he went home toconsole his mother, she told him in tears: “Now you are the only one I have left”, to whichLorenzo replied: “Mum……..the Lord…” and he left in tears too, without being able tofinish the sentence. Due to the war, Lorenzo remained in Italy for some years, teaching invarious Comboni Junior Seminaries.

SUDANIn 1995 after embracing his sickly and tearful mother, Fr Lorenzo left for Mupoi in

Southern Sudan where he was put in charge of the local Technical School and the MissionProcure where Missionaries go for their supplies. Fr Lorenzo tried his best to satisfy themissionaries’ requests for mechanical spare parts, building material, foodstuffs, medicinesetc…..

In 1958 he was moved to Yambio Mission where he had his first encounter with a groupof lepers who from their leper camp had come for the Bishop’s Mass. Lorenzo was shockedand deeply moved at the sight of the severe bodily damage that leprosy can cause and atthe nauseating smell that emanated from the rotting flesh.

CONGOIn 1963 he was expelled from Sudan together with all the other missionaries, but after afew months stay with his mother, he was back in Africa, at Rungu, in the Congo, whereshortly he was to offer his sacrifice on behalf of his flock of Christians. On 20th August1964 the Simba rebels arrived at Rungu and after a few days, all the Mission personnel,Priests, Brothers and Sisters fled into the forest where they felt safer. They spent a fewmonths in hiding from the rebels who were bent on looting and killing. On 29thDecember Fr Lorenzo offered his last Mass in the forest for the Missionaries and somevillagers. On the following day he had to leave the forest and followed the rebels to hisdeath.

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Fr. Remo Armani+ Rungu, Congo-22.11.1964 (Aged 47)

Fr REMO was killed by the Simba rebels in CONGO, at the early age of 47 and yet in 47 years he had already

accomplished so much for the Church in Africa.

Ordained a Priest in 1941 for the Diocese of Trento in the North East of Italy, afterworking for seven years in two Parishes in that Diocese, he realized that his priestly heartyearned for a wider world and so joined the Comboni Missionaries. In 1950 he wasalready at Mupoi Mission in Southern Sudan where he worked among the Azande people.His Parish had 40 outstation Chapels, scattered in the forest with the farthest ones at adistance of fifty miles from the Mission Centre. He started a brick factory and with someof those bricks built two schools. But his favourite work was going on pastoral safarivisiting the families of the Parish, training Catechists, instructing Cathecumens preparingfor Baptism and caring for the sick and elderly. Because of his personality and manytalents, he was appointed Superior of all the Comboni Missionaries in the Diocese ofMupoi and in 1959 took part in the general Chapter of the whole Comboni Institute inRome. Unfortunately things were changing in Southern Sudan and not for the better.Sudan had become independent and the Islamic Government of Khartoum was makinglife for the missionaries in the South as difficult as possible through many restrictive laws.One of those laws was the prohibition for missionaries to baptize babies and children,even if Baptism had been expressely requested by the child’s parents. Fr Remo broke thatlaw and was made to pay through imprisonment and expulsion from the country: he wasthe first Comboni Missionary who had to leave Southern Sudan at the order of Khartoum.

CONGOAfter some months in Paris to learn French, on 13th February 1964 Fr Remo left forCongo. He was stationed at Ndedu inhabited by the same Azande tribe he had left inSudan. Congo was not independent yet, but there were ferments of unrest and groups ofrebels terrorizing white people, especially Belgian families, as Congo was still a Belgiancolony. Because of their association with European colonial powers, Christian Missionsand Missionaries too were being disturbed by the Simba (“lions”) rebels. At a major centre,Dungu, 30 miles from Ndedu, Europeans were sending their families back to Europe,though it was more difficult for the men to leave. At that time Fr Remo wrote to his family,“ We shall remain in our posts, no matter what. The Lord knows that we are here. Thelocal people love us”. At the end of October of that same year 1964, the rebels arrestedand imprisoned Fr Remo. Violence escalated when Belgian soldiers were parachuted onStanleyville, the capital town of Eastern Congo. At that news, the rebel leader gave ordersto kill all the hostages. Fr Remo was shot dead by a single bullet in the head.

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Fr. Luigi Corsini 1963+ Mexico, 07.05.1963 (Aged 34)

In his humility Fr Luigi was so convinced that he could not be a good missionaryin that land infested with so many enemies of the Church that he prayed;

” Lord, I am good for nothing: take me with you”.

Fr Luigi was Ordained in 1953 and for some years he worked in the Comboni JuniorSeminaries in Italy. All the time he dreamt of Africa. God had other plans for him, becausethe Superiors assigned him to Mexico where the Comboni Missionaries had arrived a fewyears earlier and had started opening Missions in Baja (Low) California. In 1962 Fr Luigiwas at Todos Santos, an old Mission that had been established by Spanish Jesuits in 1700.The Jesuits were followed by Franciscans and these by Dominicans. Then the local Clergytook the Mission, but they too had to withdraw and the Comboni Missionaries took over.Those many changes reveal how difficult that particular Mission was. Todos Santos was asmall town with around 3000 inhabitants. Thanks to a rich source of water in the area, theeconomy of the place was rather affluent and people could farm the land, like an oasis inthe middle of a desert. Fr Luigi once wrote:“ In this arid desert nothing grows if notirrigated. But the souls of this people are more arid than the desert. If I look at the resultsof my work so far, I would be tempted to despair. I trust in the almighty power of Godthat can produce children of Abraham even from stones”. But in effect, his methodicpriestly work, irrigated by prayer, was producing fruits. This did not please the enemiesof the Church, who still abounded in Mexico from the time when the Church in thatcountry suffered open persecution from an atheistic and anti clerical MasonicGovernment that produced many martyrs among local Christians in the years 1930-1950.

Dangerous ministry.By his uncompromising preaching and daily pastoral care, Fr Luigi was evidently goingagainst the interest of some categories of traders who were not used to being opposed bythe Church; and so had to be stopped. Fr Luigi started receiving death threats, but therewas nothing he could do, except to continue working as usual. One morning he decidedto take a day off and go fishing at the local stream. By lunch time he had not returned tohis presbytery. That evening, a peasant called at the Mission to inform that Fr Luigi’s carwas still in the same place where he had seen it in the morning. Immediately the Brotherwho was at the Mission with Fr Luigi ran where the car was. Meanwhile, several peoplearrived at the scene and with the Brother began to search for Fr Luigi. They found hisshoes and socks on a rock, but no trace of Fr Luigi. Eventually two young men dived underthe rock and there they found Fr Luigi’s dead body bruised and broken, clear evidence ofmurder, and as such it was treated by the local press and radio. The Comboni Missionariesdecided not to pursue the case further. As a result of Fr Luigi’s sacrifice, the town shookoff its spiritual lethargy and returned to the practice of the Faith.

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Fr. Angelo Arpe+ Southern Sudan, 1946 (Aged 60)

He dreamt of a Christian Africa, with its Bishops,Priests and Christian Communities. He often sang, as his heart was full of joy.

When dying he thought of saving others.

Mboro Mission, Southern Sudan, 1st November 1946: a great feast is taking place. Besidecelebrating All Saints Day, it was an important occasion. Father Archangel Ali’, the firstPriest from the Ndogo tribe, had just celebrated his first Mass. The great occasion was theculmination of years of hard work and apostolic endeavours. Fr Angelo, with some otherComboni Missionaries, had arrived in Mboro in 1912 with few personal belongings andother materials needed to start a new Mission, all on the back of a few donkeys. TheMissionaries had suffered hunger, the humid climate of swamps and the ferocity of hungrymosquitoes that every evening descended in their thousands on the huts where theMissionaries lived. Above all, the Missionaries had preached the Gospel, taughtCatechism, cared for the sick and schooled hundreds of children tirelessly. With the helpof a Brother, Fr Angelo had built a two-room multi-purpose brick house. The two roomshad various functions at different times of the day: bedrooms for the two missionariesliving at Mboro, a school for the children, office and store and…..a stable for the fewgoats the missionaries had bought from the locals to have fresh milk. If Fr Angelo had afault, it was his extreme goodness of heart. Some thieves had stolen from the Mission,“Poor chaps” he would say, “it means that they were really in need”. Christian spousesseparated? “Their Christian Faith is still in its infancy”, Fr Angelo would comment. “Wemust pray and have patience”.

MARTYRDOMTragedy struck at the end of what could have been a perfect day for rejoicing at the firstlocal Priest’s Mass. Jealousy over a woman had poisoned the relationship between Leo, thecapable and zealous head Cathechist and Raphael, the hunter who provided the Missionwith meat. Raphael was convinced that Leo was having an affair with his wife. Fr Angelohad tried to calm Raphael down by assuring him that Leo was not taking advantage of hiswife. Raphael decided to kill Leo. After fatally wounding the Catechist with his spear, hewent to the Mission. The Missionaries were in the dining room for their supper. Therewere loud bangs at the door. As soon as Fr Angelo opened the dining-room door, Raphaelrushed and thrust his spear into Fr Angelo and then disappeared into the dark forest. Thespear went through Fr Angelo’s body, although he remained alive.

A fight took place outside between Raphael, who had returned to the Missionaries’ housewith another spear, and Placido Wako, the father of the present Cardinal of Khartoum.Though wounded himself, Raphael returned and killed Fr Angelo by thrusting the speardirectly into his heart.

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Fr. Alfredo De Lai+ Ethiopia, 26.04.1941 (Aged 28)

Aged 28, with blue eyes, always wearing a soft smile and with a gentle and reservedpersonality: that was Fr Alfred De Lai who was to become another innocent victim inEthiopia during the Second World War.

The Comboni Missionaries had followed the Italian soldiers sent by Mussolini in 1935 toconquer Ethiopia. In 1939, Fr Alfred arrived at Socota’, Ethiopia, where the Fathers werestationed. The missionaries’ presence there had a twofold purpose: to give spiritualassistance to their co-national soldiers and to start Catholic Missions especially among thepopulation along the Sudanese border, who were neither Moslem nor Orthodox. All thetime, the missionaries felt uneasy at being associated with an occupying army, thoughthey were under orders to provide spiritual help to their soldiers. To make it more evidentto the local population that they had nothing to do with the occupation of their land, theMissionaries built a small house for themselves, at some distance from the military camp.Without help from the army, their life was not easy, but the Missionaries were notashamed of their poverty.

The supreme sacrificeOn 25th April 1941, the English army, assisted by mercenary Sudanese and Abyssinian(Ethiopian) soldiers, pitched their camp at three miles from the Italian front. On thefollowing morning, the Italian captain, having also consulted the Fathers, decided tosurrender to the British commander. At the same time, an order arrived to the Italianheadquarters to resist until the last man. The Italian captain came to an agreement withthe British commander that after a symbolic resistance, the Italians would raise the whiteflag and surrender. There was nothing better, the thirty poorly armed Italian soldiers coulddo. After an hour of symbolic shooting, the Italian soldiers surrendered and left their arms.Unfortunately, maybe in an act of revenge, the Abyssinian soldiers started attacking thesmall Italian fort. Italian soldiers were being stripped of their uniforms and clothes andshot dead by the Abyssinians. Fr Alfred De Lai, at seeing this, with a crucifix in his hand,rushed to the Abyssinian soldiers shouting:” For God’s sake, for love of Our Lady, stop thekilling. We have done nothing to you but good”. An Abyssinian soldier snatched thecrucifix from Fr Alfred’s hand and killed him with three shots.

Fr Alfred died by witnessing to his evangelical charity through his blood.

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WHY MARTYRS“At the end of the second millennium the Church has once again become a Church ofmartyrs” (Tertio Millennio Adveniente”); so wrote Pope John Paul II in preparation for theyear 2000. It is a reminder that keeping the memory of those who in the Church have diedfor the Faith, is helpful to our own Faith.

The redemptive work of Christ is manifested in the lives of men and women who are hisfollowers. The Church has always been careful to preserve the records of those who wereoutstanding in the service of God and their fellow human beings. As Pope John Paul IIsaid, “the martyrologium of the first centuries of the Church was the basis of theveneration of the Saints. By proclaiming and venerating the holiness of her sons anddaughters, the Church gives supreme honour to God himself: in the martyrs she veneratesChrist, who is the origin of their martyrdom and their holiness” (Tertio MillenioAdveniente).

Besides the 21 Comboni Fathers, Bro. Godfrey and Bro. Alfred Fiorini, two ComboniSisters were also killed in the course of their missionary apostolate, making a total of 25“Comboni Martyrs”.

The term “martyrs” is used here in a broad context according to the common Churchlanguage and not in a strictly theological sense. We acknowledge that only the teachingAuthority of the Church can define as “Martyr” and, therefore, “Saint”, a Christian whohas been killed for the Faith.

The 25 Comboni Martyrs constitute a precious treasure for the Comboni Family. Theycertainly are great examples of humanity, Christian spirituality and supreme witness to theChristian Faith.

Great humanityIt takes a great heart to live in a mosquito-infested area or in arid and torrid areas thatproduce nothing but thistles and thorny bushes. That is where, some of the twenty-fiveMissionaries lived for years and years, for the only purpose of bringing the people wholived in those inhospitable environments the comfort of the Christian Faith, socialdevelopment and human promotion.

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Christian spiritualityAll the twenty-five Comboni Missionaries who were killed, were men and women whobelieved in God and in the power of prayer. In their difficult situations, they all drewinspiration and moral courage from a life of daily prayer and especially the Holy Mass.

Supreme witness of loveThe twenty-five “Comboni Martyrs” were men and women who were murdered in theMissions while carrying out a service of love. Teaching people in the Faith, visiting andcaring for the sick, feeding the hungry, comforting the suffering and giving courage to theoppressed are expressions of the love taught by Christ and practiced in his name. In frontof their murderers, the twenty-five missionaries did not protest, did not fight back, did notcurse and, given the opportunity, forgave their killers. They were slaughtered in simplicityand peace, as they had lived all their priestly and missionary lives.

They were not perfect nor without sin: but “there is no greater love than to lay down one’slife for one’s friends” (John 15:13): and “LOVE COVERS MANY A SIN” (Pr 10:12; 1Pt4:8).

Fr FRANCO

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“unless a wheat grain falls on the groundand dies, it remains only a single grain; butif it dies, it yields a rich harvest” (JN 12:24)