In Pace Christi

Fr. Natale Mandelli. The funeral of Fr. Natale Mandelli was held on Saturday, 22 December, at 9.00 a.m. with the participation of the Auxiliary Bishop of Bangui, Mgr. Edouard Mathos, Bishop Rino Perin of M’baïki, almost all the Comboni Missionaries of the Central Africa province, a large number of Comboni Sisters, many priests and religious of the dioceses of Bangui and  M’baïki, and many lay people. Fr. Natale died of a heart attack in Bangui on Thursday morning, 20 December at the age of 63. The body was translated to Italy and buried in his hometown.

Fr. Natale was born in Verano Brianza, in the province of Milan, on 25 December 1938, the son of Modesto and Maria Motta. He began his missionary formation in the Comboni seminary of Crema. He was ordained priest on 28 June 1964. At first he was vice-rector at the seminary of Crema, then he was stationed at Gozzano and Florence. He was formator of the postulants from 1971 to 1974.

In January 1974 he reached the Central Africa Republic. After a few months spent studying the language in the mission of Kembe, he was assigned to the Catholic mission of Zemio, in the Eastern part of the country, in the diocese of Bangassou. There he remained for five years. In 1979 he moved to the mission of Tokoyo, still in the diocese of Bangassou. At that time many young men from the Central Africa Republic  and from Tchad were beginning to feel the call to the missionary life and were knocking at the door of the Comboni Missionaries. The superiors asked Fr. Natale to be the first formator and guide in the Comboni postulancy of Bimbo, at Bangui. In 1994 he left formation to return to pastoral activities in the parish of St. Peter, in Mbata, diocese of M’baïki. There he remained till his death.

During the last months of 2001 Fr. Natale was preparing to leave Mbata for a new assignment: to run a technical school, sponsored by the Central Africa Republic’s Bishops Conference. This new project, however, was slow in getting into gear and it caused some wavering in Fr. Natale’s hope to get the project started soon.

Fr. Natale put up with this situation in silence and with great trust in the Lord. One day he wrote: “I don’t know what the future holds for me, but I believe it is right to trust in God’s will who gives the deepest meaning to our existence…”. Later he wrote: “I am learning humility, but I am not losing my peace of  heart… I try to surrender to God’s will, placing all my trust in him… (Fr. Giovanni Zaffanelli)”.