missionary animation fin
another in Hanoi respectively. Pretty well advanced in years,
he was 62, the Superiors from Turin thought it best to allow Fr.
Braga a little rest. A few months later, however, he appeared in the
Philippines like a simple confrere.
The numerous testimonies received by way of condolences
on the occasion of his death help to complete the picture of this
genuine son of Don Bosco and intrepid missionary. Just to mention
a few of the most notable ones:
He was appointed as first Rector of Don Bosco Victorias and
later of Don Bosco Makati. In 1955 he was designated as Superior
of the new Philippine Province. Despite his advanced age he was
able to give such an impetus to our works in the Philippines as
to arouse the admiration of many who had witnessed the humble
beginnings of Don Bosco in Manila, Bacolor, Tarlac, Cebu,
Victorias and Canlubang.
In 1963, he celebrated the Golden Jubilee of his priestly
ordination amidst the rejoicing of so many spiritual sons in China
and in the Philippines. In 1965 he took part in the General Chapter
of the Salesian Congregation for the seventh time- a rare privilege
of any Salesian.
One would not understand how Fr. Braga was able to accomplish
so much in all his apostolic missionary enterprises and with such a
tremendous success unless one were to grasp his profound Salesian
spirituality. A missionary, fired with apostolic zeal and animated
like Christ by a deep spirit of love and compassion towards the
countless youthful souls lost in the darkness of paganism, Fr.
Braga spent his long life working for all his undertakings in the
spirit of our Father, St. John Bosco-always paternal and full of
sympathy for his confreres. He fostered cheerfulness and human
goodness wherever he went. He cherished a holy friendship for all
the families of his confreres, the families of his benefactors and
his pupils.
Throughout his long apostolate bringing into existence so many
institutions, he always remained poor, but was gifted by God in
surrounding himself with a circle of friends and benefactors both in
China as well as in the Philippines, who willingly and generously
disposed of what the Lord had blessed them with. He enchanted
everybody with his large-hearted goodness and super-abounding
gratitude; overflowing with charity and magnanimity, he found his
way into the intimacy of homes and families turning them into
providential instruments and means where with to provide the
necessary education for many poor and abandoned youths. With
these good benefactors he was extremely delicate, a perfect gentle
man and a faithful imitator of Don Bosco.
At the foot of all these extraordinary qualities and the numerous
undertakings of his multi-faceted life, there was one side, unseen,
perhaps hidden from our eyes but undoubtedly the unique force
that made him the good Father we all have known; his intimate
union with God, his love for Jesus, a secret longing to give himself
to the Lord as a holocaust of an unconditional surrender.
His childlike love for Mary Help of Christians and Don bosco
assuming so many forms, was manifested so enthusiastically and
youthfully in every environment of our Salesian schools both
in China and in the Philippines, as a testimony of his being the
humble instrument of their salvific love for the immense mass of
boys in this enchanting extremity of Asia.
The Rector Major (Aloysius Ricceri) cabling fraternal
participation through sorrowful prayer at our loss, remembers “Fr.
Braga as a model of generous missionary dedication burning with
a jovial Salesian spirit.”
Fr. Alvin Fedrigotti “exhorts Fr. Braga’s survivors to cull from
the garden of such a resourceful life the splendid example of total
surrender to Don Bosco and the Congregation which only a few
loved more than he.”
Fr. Modesto Bellido, one-time Counsellor for the Missions,
has this to say: “He was, in truth, the Patriarch of the Far Eastern
Provinces. The Lord has certainly granted him the reward reserved
for our great missionaries.”
One of our missionary bishops of Thailand, Msgr. Peter Carretto
attests: “Indeed, the Salesian Family of the Far East has lost a
confrere that was simply marvellous. China, Japan, Thailand and
Vietnam, to say nothing of the Philippines where he spent h is last
years, have been enriched in one way or another by his profound
Salesian and missionary spirit, by his paternal goodness and his
contagious enthusiasm.”
Fr. Luigi Fiora was shocked at the news of Fr. Braga’s sudden
death “since he was such a popular figure with an unmistakable
optimism all his own. These are the dynamic celebrities that have
really kept the Salesian Congregation going.”
To wind up, Fr. Fancis Laconi, who had preached three courses
of Retreats in the Philippines with Fr. Braga close to him as
Retreat-Director, describes him these words: “Living a life of
unique generosity and dedication without reserve and possessing a
soul so simple and crystal clear, his whole being was one unbroken
visualization of a magnificent landscape. A man of goodness, a
kind-hearted man of unsurpassable optimism, he remained till the
very last in the forefront, fighting the good fight. For me, Fr. Braga
is one of those Salesians who can never be forgotten. Like a might
one hat has fallen in the heat of the day’s labor, he is one of those
Salesians before whom we ought to bow in reverence filled with
admiration.”
Our beloved Fr. Braga did not expect to end so soon, but the
Lord willed that his death should leave upon our minds the same
impression that he had always reflected in our midst-ever cheerful,
every ready for anything, observant in his religious life and always
punctual on the spot where duty called. So it was, when at 5:30
a.m., on the 3rd of January, Feast of the Epiphany, commemorating
the missionary to the Nations, this dynamic missionary most
peacefully lay down and gave up his soul to God.
By Fr. Luigi Ferrari, SDB
March 30, 1971
