I became a missionary
to live my Salesian vocation to the full
I do not know when my
Salesian vocation was
exactly born. One
thing I know well though is
how it has developed over
the years. Since childhood,
and then in the Salesian novitiate, I was always
impressed by the stories of missionaries from dis-
tant lands who came to speak to us of their lives
among the poorest. Through the years my concern
for the poor has always been present, but perhaps,
like the fire in a fireplace, it was a little hidden
under the embers of the many activities and my
studies. In the Salesian house in Mezzano I had the
opportunity to get in touch with Brazil, through
twinning and visits in that country. It was there
that the fire was decisively rekindled. I was then
assigned as Province Delegate for Missionary Ani-
mation of the INE Province. The trips with the
young people of School of Awareness of Global Re-
alities and the summer experiences in Madagascar
have confirmed my desire to spend
my life among the poorest.
Some say “we also need the
Salesians here in Italy, so why do
you have to go to the missions?" This
is an objection which might sound
reasonable if the choice to leave
one’s country to be a missionary ad
gentes would be seen only from the
material, numerical and statistical
point of view. But whoever leaves
for the mission does not run away from something.
He goes in order to live fully one’s own vocation,
in my case to my Salesian vocation. By placing my
application be a missionary ad gentes directly on
the hands the Rector Major I wanted to state that
my life belongs to God and not to me, and I would
like to live it for the poorest and farthest. It will
not be so much what I can give, but I'm sure the
feeling of happiness inside me for what I do with
the poor is the best answer to many initial doubts.
Now I am in Itajai, a port city in southern
Brazil; a city that, for the most part, is made up of
people who are doing well, who work to earn their
living. But even in a city like this, there are hun-
dreds of people and children who live on the mar-
gins, in dilapidated houses, in situations of vio-
lence, marginalisation and drugs. At this time I am
here especially for them, to give them a hope and
a future through education, personal develop-
ment, accompaniment and the witness which I en-
deavour to give together with the educative pas-
toral community of Parque Dom Bosco, the social
service where I'm working. Surely, I too sometimes
wonder if I am in the right place, in a city where
most of the inhabitants live a European style of
life, without too many problems. But
for now I'm here, with the dream
that perhaps, one day, I will be able
to give my life in a more radical and
poorer missionary context than
where I am now. This has always
been my dream. But where I am and
wherever I'll be sent or where I will
ask to be sent, I will always try my
best to live my Salesian missionary
vocation, giving my every breath to
the least and the poor!
Fr. Roberto Cappelletti
Italian, missionary in Brazil
Salesian Missionary Intention
For the growth and consolidation of the missionary volunteer service
in all Salesian Provinces.
May young people in Salesian settings gain a taste for missionary activity
thanks to mission groups or an experience of mission volunteer work (at
home or abroad).
In Fr Rinaldi’s time (1920) mission groups existed in almost all Salesian communities around
the world. In the 1960s (following Vatican II) the mission volunteer movement came into
being, and is now recognised throughout the world. For a growth in a culture of the mission-
ary vocation in Provinces, the mission group is a strategic tool for reawakening young peo-
ple and the Salesians themselves. “We should recognise that … many young people are mak-
ing common cause before the problems of our world and are taking up various forms of activism and volunteer work.
Some take part in the life of the Church as members of service groups and various missionary initiatives in their own
dioceses and in other places. How beautiful it is to see that young people are “street preachers”, joyfully bringing Jesus
to every street, every town square and every corner of the earth” (Evangelii Gaudium, 106)!
