Deceased Salesian Missionaries In Vietnam

 

Fr. Guerrino Luvisotto (Cha Lương)
(birth) b. Castions di Zoppola (Italy) 13.7.1912
(professed) p. Hong Kong 8.12.1937
(ordained) o. Shanghai 8.6.1946
(died) d. Pordenone (Italy) 6.2.1986

Fr. Luvisotto was born on July 13th 1912 at Castions di Zoppola (Italy). On  completing his primary education young Guerrino undertook the hard life of a  peasant while helping out also at his parish church as sacristan. Feeling the  desire to be a priest, Guerrino joined our school in Pordenone in 1932 as an  aspirant. The very first day he was in the place, he happened to meet a  Sister who asked him "Are you a son of Mary?" "No, I am a son of Theresa!" he replied, yet unaware that late vocations used to be called "Sons of Mary." The Sister enjoyed his sense of ready humor. Having spent two years in Pordenone, Guerrino moved to the house for  aspirants to our missions at Ivrea in 1934. Here he pursued his studies earnestly while making himself useful around the house with his various skills.

In 1936 he received the cassock from the hands of Mons. Coppo and left for Hong Kong where he started his novitiate on December 7th 1936. His Master was Fr. Almazan who appreciated the mature virtue of his novice, his hard work and openness. The late Fr. Luvisotto used to recall  with evident pleasure his experiences as a novice.

One day he was perspiring  profusely in the yard digging a hole in which he was planning to bury a big  boulder which he foresaw would be hard to shift elsewhere. There came on the  scene the Master who half in earnest and half in zest gave him some friendly advice how to do the job. "Dear Fr. Master! You better go and prepare your lectures. I have known  how to do this job for a long time!" he replied. "I see, I see" replied the Master with a mysterious smile. Bro. Guerrino was thoroughly scared and said to himself, "How silly I have  been. He'll certainly sent me packing!" Eventually on completing his novitiate Brother professed on December 8th 1937. He then studied his philosophy and was sent for his practical training  to Shanghai "Don Bosco Middle School." His mature age shortened the period  from three to two years. The study of theology that followed was quite an ordeal for Bro. Guerrino who was already 30 years of age, but he worked hard  in view of his future apostolate as a priest. He was truly jubilant on that  June 8th 1946 when at last he reached the priesthood he had worked so hard  for so long.

Fr. Luvisotto began his service as a priest at the St. Joseph's School in Nantao (Shanghai) with great zeal. The following year we find him serving in  the boarding school at Ne Ziang in the countryside at the outskirts of the  city. Father was happy to be back in the country, which he loved so dearly.  It was indeed quite painful for him to leave when the authorities of the new  regime took over the place and he had to move south. Next we find him in Macau (Colegio Don Bosco) where he served for three years as teacher and  prefect of religious education.

In 1957 he was asked to move to Vietnam and gladly complied in spite of  his age and the new language he would have to learn. Such is an edifying  example of generosity and spirit of sacrifice. In fact languages never were  his cup of tea, but they were no stumbling block to his missionary zeal either. Whether it was Cantonese or Shanghainese, Portuguese or Vietnamese, Fr.  Luvisotto never foundered and with his amazing optimism, courage and sense of  humor he always managed to come up on top of things. He became very popular with the American GIs when he served as administrator in the house of Thu  Duc. He used to turn up at their bases wearing his usual smile and asking for  "scrap" material for the school. It was natural that he eventually came to be  known as "Fr. Scrap." His winning manners enabled him to obtain even four  "scrap" cars which came in very handy to keep the school going. From Thu Duc Fr. Luvisotto moved to Dalat where a Benedictine monastery had  been purchased with a view to making it our novitiate house. The project was  later abandoned because the location was not suitable for the purpose intended. After leaving Dalat Fr. Luvisotto for a number of years was in  Saigon either Go vap or Thu Duc in various capacities, always working hard in  spite of age and poor health. In 1975 he left Vietnam and made his way back to the old house of Pordenone  which had received him as youthful aspirant many years before. Always welcome wherever he went, he was particularly at home in Pordenone where confreres, boys and local folk loved him for his charming personality.  Even as an old man now, he remained a farmer whom he had always been proud to be. He enjoyed cultivating souls in the sacrament of reconciliation as well  as vegetables and fruit in the school garden. His leaving from Vietnam always kept the flame of love for his mission country burning in his heart. He  would often send remittances to the economer general's office in Rome credit of the suffering confreres of Vietnam. The good old Fr. Luvisotto went on as "a good and faithful servant" to the very end. The Lord eventually noticed that Fr. Luvisotto was indeed old and tired (he used to say, "It is pleasant to grow old but not to be old!") and call him to his reward on February 6th 1986 at 74 years of age.

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Fr. Raymond Petit

b. Oyannax (France) 21.8.1902

p. Chateau d'Aix (France) 14.9.1929

o. Bangxang (Thailand) 3.6.1939

d. La Navarre (France) 16.2.1975

Fr. Raymond was born at Oyannax (France) in 1902 and on completing his basic  education attended a course on navigation. After his military service he  worked for a year in Africa and for one in Marseilles in two navigation  campanies. He finally landed in our Society where he took his first vows in 1929.

Later he was sent to work in Thailand where he received holy priesthood  in 1939. During the Second World War and after it Father worked in Hanoi  (Vietnam) helping Fr. Francis Dupont to run an orphanage for Eurasian  children. Following the tragic death of Fr. Dupont, the activities of the  orphanage were wound down and Fr Raymond accompanied some twenty orphans to  France where he managed to find a home for them. From 1948 to 1951 Fr. Petit served in China (Kunming) with a brief limitation also at the house of formation in Shanghai. Then he moved back to France, where he exerted himself tirelessly as an intelligent and responsible  educator as well as exemplary religious. He passed away at 73 at La Navarre  in 1975.

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Fr. Matthew Tchong (Cha Chung)

b. Hsienhsien (Ho Pei Province, China) 15.8.1923

p. Hong Kong 16.8.1949 o. Bollengo (Italy) 1.7.1957

d. Macau 13.4.1982

 

 

Fr. Mario Acquistapace welcomed the young man to our house in Peking as an  apprentice aspirant. Matthew was keen on hard work and on service on behalf  of youth so that he easily adapted to the type of dire poverty in the house. Hardly a year had elapsed when his eye-sight improve so much through the intercession of Our Lady that he asked and was granted permission to start  his studies again. After his first profession in Hong Kong in 1949, he went  on and left for Bollengo in northern Italy to start his theology.

Newly ordained Fr. Matthew made his way back to the province and was  assigned to serve in Vietnam. Here he exerted himself zealously at Go-vap and Tram-Hanh near Dalat to assist the novice and to look after the aspirants. The  times were difficult because of the raging civil war. He was  director of the house of Tram Hanh during late 60s and early 70s. Later on, he  was put in charge of a parish near Danang.

After 1975, he left Vietnam for Hong Kong, and was in charge of a small reformatory entrusted by  the Portuguese government of Macau to the Salesians in Coloane Island. In the  latter place he continued his ministry until 1980 when his health started  showing signs of strain. He had to undergo a serious liver operation and was given only one year to live. Yet he lived on for two more years during which he managed to pay farewell visits to our confreres in Taiwan and to some of his relatives in northern China. Back in Macau, he felt that his condition was fast deteriorating.  Admitted to the local government hospital of St. Januarius, he piously concluded his earthly pilgrimage on April 13th 1982 at the age of 59.

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Fr. Francis Dupont

b. Paris (France) 14.7.1908

p. Port-a-Binson (France) 22.9.1935

o. Tokyo (Japan) 29.6.1939

d. Hanoi (Vietnam) 10.8.1945

Fr. Dupont possessed the gift for communication and organization, which he  put to good use when he was in charge of the parish at Mikavajima until 1940.  Then he was called to arms and served in Hanoi as an interpreter between the  French command and the Japanese occupation authorities. Besides fulfilling  his normal duties, Father found time to do pastoral and educational work on  behalf of youth. After his discharge from the army in 1941, Fr. Francis took charge of an  orphanage for Eurasian children in Hanoi at the death of its founder. Fr. Carlos Braga, the provincial, was unable to send personnel to help him. He  managed to get only one confrere to travel over to assist him. He was Fr. Raymond Petit, who had come to China from Thailand the previous year. Fr. Dupont had to put up with much suffering caused by the war, particularly  isolation and lack of financial support. As air raids kept increasing in  violence, he left Hanoi with a number of boys and settled in Ke So (about  60kms from Hanoi), while Fr. Petit stayed behind with another group. Fr. Dupont spared no effort to look after his charges.

On the night of August 8th 1945 he was killed at the age of 37. He  was a zealous and generous priestly Salesian.

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Fr. Frans De Meulenaire SDB.

Ngài là người Bỉ.

Ngài sinh ngày 29/5/1936. Khấn ḍng 25/8/1956.

Ngài sang truyền giáo tại Việt Nam năm 1958 và lấy tên Việt là NGỌC.

Năm 1961 ngài trở về Bỉ để học thần học. Thụ phong linh mục 7/2/1965. Sau đó một năm, ngài quay trở lại làm việc tại Việt Nam với trách nhiệm giám linh, phụ trách trợ sinh, cha xứ giáo xứ Bến Cát, G̣ Vấp ( khu Miếu Nổi ).

Đầu năm 1975, v́ thời cuộc,  ngài phải rời khỏi Việt nam, nhưng tâm hồn ngài đă ở lại Việt nam. Ngài là vị truyền giáo đă làm việc tại Việt nam được 13 năm.

 

Sau đó , ngài được chỉ định tạm thời đến làm việc tại Philippines.

Suốt thời gian 26 năm tại Phi, trong tư cách giám đốc, ngài đă làm việc nhiều năm cho người nghèo, đặc biệt trẻ em nghèo, mồ côi, hè phố ở cộng thể Basil và sau đó là ở Boys’ Home thuộc  miền Nam Philippines. Tuy phải xa Việt nam, nhưng ḷng ngài vẫn nhớ Việt nam và vẫn c̣n nói tiếng Việt rất rơ ràng. Trong thời gian này, ngài đă hai lần thăm lại Việt Nam trong những thời gian c̣n rất khó khăn.

 

Nhân dịp Lễ Mừng 50 năm Don Bosco Hiện Diện tại Việt Nam. Ngài sang thăm và dự lễ. Ngài đến VN vào ngày 1/10 . Đây là lần thứ ba ngài trờ lại Việt nam kể từ sau năm 75. Ngài dự tính sẽ lưu lại Việtnam khoảng vài tháng. Trong thời gian mừng lễ từ 1-5/10, ngài cảm thấy rất phấn khởi và tham dự tất cả các chương tŕnh. Các anh em SDB và các cựu học viên thật vui nhờ sự hiện diện của ngài. Ngài đă có một số chương tŕnh để thăm nhiều nơi và nhiều người tại Việtnam.

 

Sau lễ ngày 10/10, để được nh́n lại cảnh xưa, ngài đă đi Vũng Tàu cùng với cha Huỳnh và cha Lạc ( Lagger ). Ngài cảm thấy khỏe và trưa hôm đó sau khi thăm núi Tao Phùng nơi có tượng lớn Chúa Giêsu Vua, Đức Mẹ tại Trung Tâm Hành hương Băi Dâu. Ngài xuống tắm, và khoảng hơn nửa giờ sau th́ ngài được phát hiện là bị chết đuối khi xác ngài giạt vào bờ.

 

Ngày 16/10 ngài được an táng tại nghĩa trang Hóc môn, nơi có một cộng thể Salêsiêng làm việc tại đó. Rất đông anh chị em trong đại gia đ́nh Salêsiêng Don Bosco và giáo dân tham dự lễ an táng này và cũng có sự tham dự của vị lănh sự Bỉ tại VN. Những giây phút cuối này, những người tham dự cảm thấy sốt sắng và cảm động. 

 

Ngài thọ 66 tuổi. Chúa cho ngài toại nguyện khi ngài muốn trở lại và ở măi tại VN. Tỉnh ḍng Salêdiêng Việt Nam, giới trẻ và những người nghèo khổ Việt nam cám ơn ngài.

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Fr. Richard Musso

b. San Maurizio Conzano (Italy) 1.5.1906

p. Foglizzo (Italy) 18.11.1924

o. Hong Kong 30.5.1931

d. Hong Kong 12.10.1978

In 1924, Br. Musso left Italy for China and made his perpetual profession  at Shiu Chow. He suffered meningitis since his infancy; he hardly enjoyed his  good health. Yet he served for several years in the mission of Shiu Chow at  Nam Yung, Chi Hing and Ho Sai. While on leave back to Italy, he was prevented from returning to the  mission by the war. So he spent this period serving as spiritual director at  Novi Ligure and at Ulzio. Back in the East, he worked as administrator at Macau.

Subsequently he  was sent to Vietnam where he was spiritual director for eleven years,  although in the last few years he suffered from semi-blindness and  Parkinson's disease. After spending some time recuperating in Macau, Fr. Musso returned to  Hong Kong, where he would be taken better care of. He spent the last period  of his time, just over a year, at the Little Sisters of the Poor's Home for  the Aged in Hong Kong. There he found himself very much at home. His  blindness prevented him from reading books, which had always been his hobby;  unable to pray his breviary, he made up by praying the rosary with devotion  using a set of strong and heavy rosary beads. Since he knew the prayers of  the mass of Our Lady and of the dead by heart, he had the great consolation  of celebrating every day until he went to his reward well prepared, after so  long suffering, on October 12th 1978 at 72 years of age.

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