Daniel Comboni
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The Hero of the Mission in Sudan has fallen: Fr. Beppino Puttinato
Saturday, November 28, 2020
In the early hours of this morning [November 22], Fr. Beppino Puttinato was called to the Father. Fr. Beppino had fallen sick at the beginning of September with a kind of infection. The checks in the hospital revealed that he had stones in the kidney. he received treatment then that was supposed to facilitate the removal of these stones.
As time went by, his situation began to steadily deteriorate and we could not find something else other than the infection caused by the same stones. Towards the end of September, the situation was getting worse. The treatment in Sudan was not giving the expected results. A painful decision had to be made to take Fr. Beppino to Italy. When we communicated this to him, he wasn't happy and although not resisting, he made us understand that if he were to be given a choice, he wasn't ready to travel to Italy. As days passed on, he himself began to realize the gravity of his situation. Twice he fell off his bed in the night. We had to hire a nurse to stay with him 24/24 hours. In the face of such a situation, he himself eventually asked to go to Italy for a better diagnosis of his ailment.
The first attempt flopped when he was stopped at the airport because his companion of the journey had some problems with his travel documents. We had to wait for a few more days. Eventually Fr. travelled and arrived in Italy. He was subjected to the routine 14 days of quarantine in Castel d'Azzano. When he emerged from this, he was no longer the Beppino we knew. Fr. Norberto Stonfer who had accompanied him to Italy expressed his fears just before he left him to return to Sudan. He was getting weaker.
Then came the news that he had contracted the Corona Virus. He had already been weakened by his earlier sickness (which until now we do not know exactly what was weakening him). The Covid-19 only deteriorated his situation.
Fr. Beppino has been a hero in our mission in the Sudan. His greatest contribution has been in Education. He spent nearly all his 60 years of priesthood in Sudan working in the education field. He was a man of immense charity. He loved without distinction. Everyone found a place in his heart. We will greatly miss him!
Our condolences to his family, the community of Comboni College in Khartoum, the Entire Comboni Family and the Church in Sudan.
May his soul rest in peace.
Fr. John Richard Kyankaaga, mccj