" ...Con gratitudine conserva memoria di coloro che il Padre ha già chiamato nella sua Casa: alla divina misericordia affida la loro vita ed eleva suffragi..." (Cost. n.23)
Nato a Pioltello (MI), il 18 novembre 1943
Entrato ad Anzano del Parco, il 29 settembre 1957
Noviziato a Barza d’Ispra, dal 24 settembre 1961
Prima Professione a Barza d’Ispra, il 24 settembre 1963
Professione Perpetua a Barza d’Ispra, il 24 settembre 1969
Sacerdote a Milano, il 19 dicembre 1970
Morto a Como, Casa Madre, il 19 maggio 2016
Sepolo nel Cimitero Monumentale di Como
I feel compelled to remember the departure from this earth of Fr. Paul Oggioni, SdC, as an event that enters into the annals of our young Province’s history. After the death of Fr. Domenico Saginario, SdC, it is the second time that our Province is directly affected by the death of one of its members. Certainly, other deceased confreres should be remembered in our history, but their ministry (especially in the U.S.A.) preceded the founding of our Province. Fr. Paul was one of us, part of the Province, and he wrote some of the most interesting pages of our history. I think it is worth talking about him, because he was a gift we have received from above. One of the most difficult task of his future biographers will be to establish which Province of the Congregation he belonged to, because he served the Congregation everywhere: Italy, Latin America, United States of America, the Philippines and even Africa if his health have been in good shape. We know that his illness prevailed and so he was not allowed to serve in Africa. But his desire to go there was always present. One of his brothers belonged to the White Fathers as a religious Brother. He spent a quite few years in Congo, was beaten by rebels, and shipped to Italy to die afterwards for the wounds received. Fr. Paul had the missions in his family blood. He has been a missionary since birth, a man of a mission and of the missions. He was open and ready to go until the end of the earth, as the Gospel says, following the desire of the Founder, “All the world is your homeland.”
His earthly journey
His homeland was Lombardy, the same Northern-Italy region where the Founder was born. He was born in Pioltello, close to Milan, on November 17, 1943. The patron saint of his parish church is St. Andrew, one of the first disciples called by Jesus to become a fisher of men. He left the fishing nets and gave his whole life for the Gospel. Still young, he entered among the spiritual sons of Father Guanella. In September 1961 he began his novitiate at Barzad’Ispra and on September 24, 1963 he made his first profession among the Servants of Charity. In Barza he spent the following three years attending Liceo, the Italian secondary school. They were exceptional years because he had the opportunity to participate to the Beatification of the Founder (1964) and to the glorious pilgrimage of the body of the Founder in Northern Italy (1965). Those same years were also exceptional for two major reasons: the event of the Vatican II Council with its renewal, and the presence at the seminary of special teachers that accompanied his spiritual and cultural formation. He fondly remembered Fr. Luciano Botta, superior and master of novices, Fr. Giuseppe Cantoni, Fr. Carlo Bernareggi, Fr. Luigi Ragazzoni, Fr. Luigi Monti and other extraordinary Servants of Charity. He spent his two years of Regency (Practicum) in our boarding school at Vellai di Feltre (Belluno County) in the Northern part of Veneto Region, next to Austria, surrounded by the splendid and superb and unique Dolomite Mountains he loved so much, under the brilliant guidance of Fr. Angelo Rollino. The last formative stage was spent in Chiavenna under the good direction of Fr. Pietro Pellegrini, his mentor. There, he spent his four years of theology during the time when our Constitutions were totally re-written and approved during the memorable 1969-1970 General Chapter. During that same Chapter Fr. Olimpio Giampedraglia was elected Superior General. Fr. Paul witnessed the birth of the Provinces, too. His class was the last one studying theology in Chiavenna, because on the following year teachers and seminarians moved to Rome in the newly built seminary in Via Aurelia Antica. On December 19, 1970, on the birthday of the Founder, Fr. Paul was ordained a priest in Milan by Cardinal Giovanni Colombo, Archbishop of Milan.
He received his first obedience as a priest and sent to Milan, at San Gaetano House. After only three years, in 1973, he was moved to Chiavenna to replace Fr. Pellegrini and be the new local superior of that community. He spent there nine years. New obediences brought him to other continents among the poorest of the por. His long journey as a missionary brought him to South America, to North America, until he reached Asia: many countries, many climates, and many languages. And yet, he was all the time available, open, enthusiast, and a hard worker. His great help was his strong personality and his extraordinary willpower until the end. When his body said, “It’s enough”, he asked to go back to his original Province and die in Como, near the Founder he loved so much.
The mission
Evangelization. It is the word that accompanied Fr. Paul in all his life. Evangelization comes from listening. Many of us remember him as a man of prayer and study, a man of listening and close examining. He was never a lazy and dull evangelizer, a tiring and repetitive announcer. His life invites us to be men of good and constant listening, a listening forever refreshed so that the way the Gospel is preached is always anew and amazing, always able to attract and wake up people. We know that when we announce something in a mechanical way, repeated over and over in the same tired and boring way, we don’t go anywhere. People will not listen, even though what we say is important and true. Even the way we preach is important for a good proclamation of the Gospel. Another characteristic of his priesthood: the first way of evangelizing people is to establish a personal contact with the listeners. It is a simple and humble way that doesn’t require many fancy technological means. It is always very effective. And yet it is not an easy way because, today, everything seems to be automatic and computerized while human relations are simple and intimate. No one can proclaim the Gospel if he is unable to relate with people, if he tends to close himself to them and refuses to communicate with people. There is another thing that we should highlight in the Guanellianity of Fr. Paul. It is his evangelization starting from the least ones. Of course, we must proclaim the gospel to everyone, for God doesn’t divide people into different groups. He loves the first ones and the least ones as well. For the latter, He shows preference and his preference removes, not makes differences. Fr. Paul learned from the Founder the fact that God prefers the least ones because they are marginalized. It is unjust to them to be stuck there for ever and ever, but not because they cannot one day be famous or rich. No, we have to love the least ones like Jesus loved them. He was one of them living like them, being himself a least one. Fr. Paul too, after spending his life among the children of God struck in body and soul, was tested in his body and his mind. He has to face an illness that wears down, an illness that reveals whom you are, what you are, and of what material you are made of. He gave his answer as a believer and consecrated as well. I think about our provincial community that sends its missionary priests to every corner of the Congregation and opens up new charitable works, soon even in the fifth continent. We Servants of Charity are very small, almost the least ones, and during this centennial we will have the privilege to light the flame of charity in one of the poorest nations of the world, the Solomon Islands. We somehow accomplish the vocation of our Founder who since ever felt the passion to go and proclaim the Gospel to the end of the world. He never did it. Fortunately, today, we his spiritual children can concretely accomplish what he only desired. Our Divine Providence Province joins the Mother Province of the Congregation in honoring Father Paul. With pride, we consider Father Paul one of the best members of our Province and we would like to give thanks to God for his inspiring witness. Pray for us, Padre Paolo.
Your most humble and obedient servant!
Fr. A. SOOSAI RATHINAM