26 June: Beatification of Fr Clemente Vismara, PIME missionary, “Patriarch of Burma”

EUROPE/ITALY -

Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi Image via Wikipedia

Milan (Agenzia Fides) – The Beatification of Father Clemente Vismara, PIME (Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions), will be celebrated in Piazza del Duomo in Milan, Sunday, 26 June. He is known as the “Patriarch of Burma” for having been there 65 years and contributing decisively to the evangelisation of the Nation. Also to be beatified are two other sons of the Ambrosian region: Don Serafino Morazzone and Sister Enrichetta Alfieri. The announcement was made by the Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, with a letter to the diocese, in which he writes: “The next three Blesseds are a wonderful confirmation that God never tires of loving man, who created us with love and from love. They are unshakable proof that God never ceases to inspire men and women - lay faithful and consecrated persons, priests and missionaries - who respond promptly and enthusiastically to his thirst for love: 'Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?', asks the prophet and Isaiah answers, 'Here I am. Send me' (Isaiah 6:8). With the same ardour as the prophet, Don Serafino, Fr Clemente and Sister Enrichetta responded to God.” 

  

Chapel

Clemente Vismara was born in Agrate Brianza on 6 September, 1897. He was orphaned and in 1913 he entered the Seminary of St Peter in Seveso, where he decided to become a missionary, entering the Institute of Foreign Missions of Milan, now the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME). He was ordained a priest in the Cathedral of Milan on 26 May 1923. After a few months Fr Clement departed for Burma (now Myanmar), where he sprouted the Gospel for the rest of his long life and was finally buried. The founder of five missionary districts, he brought the faith to many villages, building chapels, churches, schools, hospitals, etc.. raising orphaned children from families torn apart by famine, epidemics and war or those rejected because they were seen as 'invalid' (at his death there were more than 200).

He welcomed all those who knocked at the mission: widows, lepers, thieves, the handicapped ... He wrote numerous letters, reports and articles for missionary magazines not just in Italian, in which he describes the life of mission. For the cause of canonisation which began in 1996, the postulation collected 2,200 letters and 700 articles. At his death in Mongping on 15 June, 1988, the fame of his sanctity spread quickly and he was called the “Patriarch of Burma”. Buddhists and Muslims also attended his funeral. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 5/04/2011)

 

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