(ANS – Rome) –18 February 2012 was the first anniversary of the tragic death of the Salesian Fr Marek Rybinski, Polish missionary in Tunisia. His assassination at the beginning of the “Arab spring” was reported by the media throughout the world, and thousands, also of other religions,  took part in his funeral. On the first anniversary of his death a Mass in suffrage was offered in Warsaw and in Manouba.

Fr Marek Rybinski, born in 1977 at Koszalin, Poland, was a missionary in Tunisia, at Manouba, between 2007 and 2011. He was bursar of the Salesian school and had an excellent relationship with the boys spending a lot of time with them He was also chaplain to the Polish community in Tunisia and his commitment to them and his life in a Muslim country has been described in a book.

On 18 February 2011, when in Tunisia the wind of change began which was to spread to other countries of North Africa, Fr Rybinski who was 34 years of age and had been professed for 15  years and a priest for 6 years was killed.

On 21 February 2011 the Tunisian authorities announced the arrest of the presumed killer: Szorki Ben Mustapha Bel-Sadek El Mestiri who was working as a carpenter in the Salesian school in Manouba and had been unable to repay a loan he had received from Fr Rybinski. The trial is still in progress.

Two funeral Masses were celebrated. The first on 28 February in Manouba at which Archbishop Elias Marun Lahham of Tunis presided attended by a large congregation of different  nationalities and religions. The second on 2 March  in the Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Warsaw attended by about 1,500 people including  many Salesians, diocesan priests, Sisters from various Congregations, family members, friends and the faithful. The body of Fr Rybinski today lies at rest in the Warsaw Cemetery.

Published 20/02/2012