(ANS – Tirano) – A Saturday evening 15 October, at the Church of the Madonna in Tirano, Sondrio, religious and civic leaders and many of the faithful remembered some significant individuals in Salesian history, examples of holiness from the Valtellina, a small valley in the north of Italy.

Fr Pierluigi Cameroni, Postulator General of the Salesian Family, spoke about the situation regarding the causes for canonisation and beatification of Blessed Luigi Guanella, who will be declared a saint next Sunday, 23 October; of the Salesian Venerables Fr Giuseppe Quadrio SDB and Sr Maria Troncatti FMA; and of Fr Carlo Braga, a Salesian missionary.

The guest of honour was Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, a Chinese Salesian, Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, who recalling the figure of Fr Carlo Braga gave in interesting talk on “Memory and prophecy of the Salesian presence in China”.

Regarding Fr Braga, for 32 years a missionary in Chine and then the founder of the presence of the Salesians in the Philippines, whose cause has been introduced, an album “Don Braga, a father with the heart of Don Bosco”, prepared by the Past Pupils’ Sondrio Union was presented. It is a reproduction of the work of a Salesian Fr Albino Antonio Pacheco Borges, produced to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the presence and missionary work of Fr Braga in China (1919-1944). In a series of small water colours, it traces the life of Fr Braga and expresses the feelings of gratitude and  devotion many Salesians and young people had for this superior.

Sr. Penna Maria Vanda FMA, then spoke about Sr Maria Troncatti, who from a village in Aprica left for the missions in Ecuador, where she worked with great apostolic zeal among the Shuar of Amazonia.

Then on Sunday 16 October, in the parish church of Vervio, the 48th anniversary was celebrated of the death of Fr Giuseppe Quadrio, an extraordinary teacher and theologian.

This was attended by many local people from Valtellina, by members of the Salesian Family, by relatives of those being commemorated and by  the “Friends of Fr Quadrio” Group. The events highlighted the witness of those who had made their lives a gift to God and to their brothers and sisters.

Published 18/10/2011