P.Celestino

Thirteen years have passed since the dramatic death of the Camillian Fr. Celestino Di Giovambattista who was murdered on 13 October 2001 while visiting the prisons of the capital of Burkina Faso by a ‘deranged’ man, they said – and that he was undoubtedly – but who had filled that man with strange ideas?

A great deal has been said, written and celebrated about him; places have been inaugurated which commemorate the spirit of this ‘Camillian missionary’, that is to say a man who was an authentic witness to the love of Christ for the sick and the last of the earth.

In all of me the morning of the day afterwards, 14 October 2001, is deeply etched. It was a Sunday and his religious brothers of the community of the ‘Mission of St. Camillus’ of Ouagadougou found on the ground in front of the gate of their religious house a boy aged 6-7. He had spent the while night there, sleeping on the ground, expressing all of his pain and dismay at losing his ‘daddy’, Fr. Celestino, who had adopted him after his parents had died.

If signs contain a meaning, this is of the very greatest value and perfectly expresses and reveals the scale of the pain that was experienced during those days by the people of Burkina Faso and which was widely expressed at the loss of ‘their parish priest’ during the solemn funeral service.

The ‘charity’ of Fr. Celestino never offended the dignity of the people who were helped because the people always felt that his sharing in their needs, which were rooted in impossible natural environmental conditions, was authentic and sincere. They always felt that every act of Fr. Celestino was generated by ‘Love’, that love that has its roots in the heart of Jesus Christ.

The journalist Berro wrote at that time: ‘Fr. Celestino had a great impact through the intensity of his faith and his sensitivity and the generosity of his heart which led him to share in the trials of his faithful and of those who knocked at his door. In involving his relatives and very many Italian benefactors, Fr. Celestino multiplied his charitable acts which went from simple food aid to becoming responsible for the schooling of pupils in the first class and for the students of secondary schools. In a few words one can say that Fr. Celestino Di Giovambattista in the Parish of St. Camillus was what Msgr. Joanny Thevenoud was for the Church of Burkina Faso’.

P.Celestino

In the words of a young religious brother of Burkina Faso we find a summarising picture of his spirituality: ‘One of the first realities that emerges when one remembers Fr. Celestino us that until his last journey he was a wise elder, and thus became a witness. In one of the commemorative photographs of him, a baobab tree appears in the background. In Sahel the baobab is the tallest tree and is characterised by its large size given its large number of branches in which many birds dwell and make their nests because of the safety that it offers, as is the case with the parable of the mustard seed (Luke 13:18-19).

And thus it was that Fr. Celestino in the name of his attachment to Christ and for Christ became this great tree where sinners, the poor, the sick, those in prison and people who wanted to listen to the Word of God, like the rich, found a place of refuge’.

Who was this Father Celestino who provoked so much lament and pain in a ‘foreign land’, which he thought was his ‘beloved land’ and which he experienced as such? The answer is expressed and condensed in a video made for the tenth anniversary of his death.* To those who remember Fr. Celestino with esteem and affection, with real pleasure and pride we point out that because of the dramatic end of his life, which we see as ‘almost martyrdom’, he is listed in the ‘Martyrs of the Church of 2001’ which can be found on the Vatican web site.**

Martirologio della Chiesa del 2001

From the letters that he sent to those who helped him with generosity through ‘adoptions at a distance’, we obtain a sort of ‘window into his soul’. Today, and here, we are happy to bring to our and your attention the last note that he wrote a few months before he was murdered and which was addressed to a kind lady of his Roman group: ‘Dearest Sister in Christ, recently I have take you and I continue to take you to the Altar of God every morning during the celebration of the Holy Mass. I am certain that the Lord loves you very much and that your heart has found serenity again. The important thing is to love and be loved by God. It is wonderful to see how the glory of the Lord heals and also re-establishes serenity, joy and peace. As I wrote to you, your formula of life should be: ‘suffer and smile’; Jesus will reward you. With ever more union in prayers and thoughts, I bless you, Fr. Celestino’.

Fr. Felice Ruffini

We thank Fr. Felice Ruffini for his affectionate memorial

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