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Newsletter for Salesian Missionary Animation
A Publication of the Mission Department for the Salesian Communities and Friends of the Salesian Mission
D
ear friends of the Salesians and
Salesian mission,
the witness
and the dream
of a great missionary
This time I want to remember the life and memory
of a great missionary and Provincial of Brazil-
Manaus, Fr. Benjamin Morando, SDB (1943-2012)
born in Italy, who has spent 48 years in the Ama-
zon region of Brazil. During my visit of animation
to the Province of Manaus, after having accompa-
nied me for two weeks to the five missionary pres-
ences in the Amazon jungle of Rio Negro, he unex-
pectedly passed away on May 5, 2012 due to an
embolism.
Meditating on the message of the life of Fr. Benja-
min a few weeks after his death, it dawned on me
that his death gives us. I found a keyword to sum-
marise his life: “Inculturation”.
In fact the mission of Yaurete was nearest to his
heart. In 1994 he founded an aspirantate for in-
digenous vocation. Now we have four native
priests in the area and quite a number of young
Salesians in formation.
A dear friend of Fr. Benjamin, Dom Edson Damian,
Bishop of São Gabriel da Cachoeira, Brazil - Ama-
zonas, has shared during the funeral Mass in
Manaus May 7, 2012 this testimony:
“Out of his 69 years, Fr. Benjamin has given 48 of
it to the mission in the Amazon. He gave all of
himself into each of the tasks assigned to him in
the missionary Province of the Amazon.
But I think it was the Church of Rio Negro, in par-
ticular in Yauaretê, where he faced the greatest
challenges, where he experienced the happiest and
most intense years of his life. Since Sister Death
visited him by surprise, he had no time to write his
memoirs, although he left a will written with his
heart and feet. St. Augustine tells us that “it is our
feelings that move our feet.”
“His last work was in accompanying Fr. Václav Kle-
ment, Councillor for the Salesian Missions. Together
they visited the five presences scattered through-
out the vast Amazon of Rio Negro. The mission of
Yuaretê is the furthest of all. I intentionally made
my visit to coincide with the celebrations and fes-
tivities of the Week of Indigenous Peoples. Here Fr.
Benjamin also presided in what would be his last
Eucharist.
“I spoke with Fr. Benjamin when he went to São
Gabriel, one day before returning to Manaus with
Fr. Václav, just four days later we would leave us.
He described with enthusiasm the vitality of indige-
nous peoples of Yauaretê: the organization of com-
munities, the beauty of the dances, the work of lay
leaders, the Salesian vocations for the next ordina-
tion. He whispered to me that he planned to in-
crease the mission in Rio Negro. Finally he told me:
“An inculturated evangelization will be realized
only when we have more vocations and when in-
digenous missionaries in this region will remain
here.”
We have lost a Salesian but we have gained an in-
tercessor in heaven.
The holiness of Salesian missionaries is passed on
through the path of inculturation!
Fr. Václav Klement, SDB
Councillor for the Missions
Fr. Benjamin Morando with Fr. Václav Klement
