Fr Compri, a former pupil of Fr Cimatti and now the Director of the “Cimatti Museum” in Tokyo, has identified and brought together various elements which reflect the desire for holiness of the Venerable Servant of God. A holiness never a burden for others, witnessed and presented with a smile, kindness and friendliness, virtues acquired through a constant and continuous effort of working on himself.
Fr Cimatti’s apostolate in Japan lasted 40 years and coincided with some of the difficult times for the country. Having arrived as Superior in 1926 he experienced the effects of the great economic crisis of ’29, which had a profound impact on Japanese society, and during the Second World War he was subjected to the exaggerated dominant nationalism of the time without any contacts abroad.
The text also illustrates the outstanding cultural and artistic output of Fr Cimatti. A Doctor in National Sciences he was an exceptional teacher as is witnessed by the more than 6000 letters in the correspondence with past pupils he had known while in Italy. His musical contribution is also very important of which he made use in his Christian and Salesian mission. He wrote over 950 compositions including 50 operettas and the first grand opera written in Japanese, entitled “Hosokawa Grazia”; he gave over 2000 concerts also in Manchuria, in China and in North and South Korea.
The text is outstanding for the clarity of its exposition and the choice and presentation of the documentation. The autobiographical material carefully selected from over 10,000 documents in the museum is subdivided on the basis of the most significant stage in Fr Cimatti’s life; footnotes provide the context and clarify the narrative.
In his Preface Fr Chávez writes: “This ‘autobiography’ is a veritable ‘vademecum’ of Christian life, of religious and priestly life, and especially of Salesian life. It is much more valuable than a simple even prestigious, biography in which others could speak about him in a wonderful way, but without the direct support of his own words enlivened by a great faith and a limitless charity. One is left enthralled by the spontaneity and the sincerity with which he communicates the depths of his own soul.”
Published 13/05/2010
