EUROPE/ITALY - 14 Xaverian Missionaries have died in a month

Parma (Agenzia Fides) - The 11 priests and the 3 religious of the Xaverian Missionaries who died in less than a month spent many years of their lives in mission land, announcing the Gospel of Jesus Christ in four continents. Twelve of them lived in the mother house, in Parma, for medical treatment or only for compulsory rest, given the age and life spent for the most part between the privations and difficulties of the missions.
Parma is located in the northern area of Italy where the coronavirus has spread rapidly. The diocese has lost 6 priests. Although there is no certain evidence that the Xaverians who died had contracted the coronavirus, Father Rosario Giannattasio, superior of the Xaverians of Italy, stressed that this is certainly a much higher mortality (compared to the four or five missionaries who usually die in the mother house during the year), it is therefore inevitable to think of a connection with the coronavirus, also because an employee of the residence was tested positive for the virus.
In the various fields of the missionary apostolate, the Xaverians who died in these weeks were not spared, as can be seen by scrolling through their biographical notes. From the teaching and formation of young people to the management of the economy, from the parish pastoral care to the assistance of migrants, from the design of buildings to tailoring and cooking, passing through a thousand other tasks and duties that are part of the daily life of a community, small or large. Once back in Italy, often emptied of physical strength and tried by disease, they continued to give their passionate witness in missionary animation, in the priestly pastoral care and in reception. Some of them have even resumed the mission path, even in old age. Without a doubt they embodied the desire of their founder, San Guido Maria Conforti, who thus wrote: "The Missionary is the most beautiful and sublime personification of the ideal life. He contemplated in spirit Jesus Christ who points out to the Apostles the world to be conquered by the Gospel, not with the force of arms, but with persuasion and love and he was enraptured". We remember them by citing their period of missionary service.
Fr. Piergiorgio Betti, 83 years old, was a missionary in Congo from 1973 to 1983. Died in the mother house on March 23.
Fr. Gerardo Caglioni, 73, was a missionary in Mexico (1980-1983) and Sierra Leone (from 1984 to 1993 and from 2002 to 2006). Died in the mother house on March 22nd.
Fr. Stefano Coronose, 88 years old, was a missionary in Indonesia from the late 60s to the mid 80s. Died in the mother house on March 21.
Fr. Pilade Giuseppe Rossini, 84, missionary in Sierra Leone from the sixties to 1998, with three intervals in Italy. Died in the hospital Seriate on March 19.
Brother Giuseppe Scintu, 85 years old, missionary in Congo from 1968 to 1975. Died in the mother house on March 19th.
Brother Luigi Isaia Masseroni, 90 years old, missionary in Brazil from 1956 to 1967. Died in the mother house on March 18th.
Brother Guglielmo Saderi, 88 years old, missionary in Congo from 1961 to 2010, alternating periods of service in Italy. Died in the mother house on March 18.
Father Giuseppe Rizzi, 77 years old, missionary in Burundi and Congo from 1977 to 2010. Died in the mother house on March 15th.
Father Piermario Tassi, 90 years old, missionary in Congo from 1962 to 1996. Died on March 15 in the mother house.
Fr. Vittorio Ferrari, 88 years old, missionary in Japan from 1961 to 1974, died in the mother house on March 14th.
Fr. Nicola Adriano Masi, 92 years old, missionary in Brazil from 1976 to 2010. Died in the mother house on March 12th.
Fr. Enrico di Nicolò, 80 years old, dedicated his life to teaching and the priestly ministry. Died while visiting family members on March 11.
Fr. Corrado Stradiotto, 86 years old, missionary in Indonesia from 1967 to 1975. Died in the mother house on March 7th.
Fr. Pietro Zoni, 85 years old, from 1970 to 2013 was a missionary in Burundi, the United States and Cameroon. Died in the mother house on February 29.
The Xaverian Missionaries, born with the sole purpose of announcing the Gospel to those who still do not know it, are 819 (2015 data) present in over 150 communities in Europe, Africa, Asia and America. Their founder, San Guido Maria Conforti (1865-1931), born in Ravadese (Parma-Italy), entered the seminary at the age of 11, but an illness delayed his priestly ordination until 1888. A very young priest, he was conferred the assignment of "Director of the Pious Work of the Propagation of the Faith". Not being able to follow, for health reasons, the missionary vocation to which he felt called, in 1895 he founded the Pious Society of St. Francis Xavier for Foreign Missions (Xaverian Missionaries) with the sole and exclusive purpose of evangelization of non-Christians. In 1899 he sent the first two missionaries to China, followed over the years by many others.
In 1902, at 37 years of age, he was called by Pope Leo XIII at the head of the Archdiocese of Ravenna. After two years in which he spent all his energy for the good of the diocese, he was forced to resign for health reasons. He then returned to his Institute where he devoted himself to the formation of his missionary students. Pope Pius X entrusted him the Diocese of Parma. For over 24 years he was a tireless good shepherd, also doing his utmost for the proclamation of the Gospel to non-Christians. In 1916 he collaborated in the foundation of the Missionary Union of the Clergy, the current Pontifical Missionary Union, of which he was the first president for ten years. In 1928 he went to China, visiting the Christian communities and the territories entrusted to his missionary family. On November 5, 1931 he died in Parma. He was beatified by Pope John Paul II on March 17, 1996 and canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on October 23, 2011. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides, 26/3/2020)

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