In Pace Christi

Fr. Angelo D’Apice was born at Troia, in the Province of Foggia, on 21 March, 1933. He attended middle school in Troia and secondary school at Sulmona, in the Province of Aquila, both schools being Comboni seminaries. He entered the novitiate at Gozzano in 1950 and there he took first vows on 9 September, 1952. He studied philosophy at Verona and Venegono and was ordained priest on 22 March, 1959.

After his ordination he worked for three years as a formator in Troia seminary and also in mission promotion.

In 1963 he was assigned to Mexico. After the Second World War vocations were numerous but the victorious colonial powers placed obstacles in the way of Italians wishing to work in Africa. The missions in Mexico were opened, starting from Lower California, a vast territory almost completely deprived of religious assistance due to the shortage of priests. Fr. Angelo was sent to that area, first to the mission of Sant’Antonio. Then he moved to the parish of Santa Rosalia which was much larger, 500 Km north of La Paz. After about a year, he was sent to the seminary of Sahuayo and later to the junior seminary of San Francisco del Rincón. There the seminary was not yet completed but was already full of seminarians. So it was that, until 1975, Fr. Angelo alternated between Sahuayo and San Francisco del Rincón.

In 1975, while back in Italy on holiday, he was assigned to the community of Troia as superior. At that time the seminarians frequented the government school. For various reasons, Fr. Angelo began to send them to the diocesan seminary of Foggia where they got on better both in terms of discipline and in studies. In 1978 the celebrations for the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of the seminary of Troia took place. On that occasion, the organisers succeed in bringing to the ceremony the founder of the seminary, Fr. Bernardo Sartori, who arrived at Bari airport in his white cassock with his Rosary in his hand. He was received by the people with joy, affection and veneration.

When his mandate was finished in Troia, Fr. Angelo – as he did in 1975 – requested to be sent to Africa, to an English-speaking mission. He then was granted permission to go to England to study English and afterwards was appointed to Kenya, where he arrived in 1981, staying there until 2001, first in the parish of Mogotio (12 years), situated in the centre of Kenya and inhabited by various ethnic groups, and later to the parish of Sololo (5 years), among the Borana, a pastoral people who live in the area along the Kenya and Ethiopia border.

In his book Fire on the Equator, Fr. Angelo tells the story of how Mogotio included various villages and towns in an area of 3,600 square Km., almost twice the size of the Province of Milan but scarcely populated and roads “that would not qualify as mule tracks”. There were about 1,600 baptised persons.

In the early days at Mogotio, during a walk to Lake Bogoria – “a jewel of a lake”, in the mouth of a volcano, home to numerous dragon flies with pink wings but also a number of geysers and boiling hot water springs – Fr. Angelo fell into the water, scalding his legs up to the knees. He was taken to the Mater Hospital in Nairobi where he had to undergo skin transplants.

In his twelve years spent at Mogotio, Fr. Angelo had to work hard, often obstructed by Moslems and Protestants, in order to carry on his apostolate. However, again in his book, he speaks of those years as a flowering of works: churches (many prayer centres and the church and sanctuary of Mogotio itself), kindergartens, lessons in tailoring and sewing, alphabetisation courses, conversions, baptisms, marriages, and the Small Christian Communities always on the increase. There were also two ordinations to the priesthood.

At Mogotio he celebrated his twenty-fifth anniversary of his priestly ordination. On that occasion he said: “My priesthood is still that of 25 years ago: it is fresh, young, strong and divine because the grace of God does not grow old, it has no age; it is like God. For this reason the priest does not retire but works more every day.”

In 1995, after the renewal Course in Rome, he was sent to the mission of Sololo, “a place scorched by the sun and ‘gunpowder’ due to the lack of security (in some areas an escort was necessary)”, and he stayed there for five years.

In 2001, he returned to Italy and the community of Casavatore, involved in mission promotion and with the immigrants. He then moved to Troia for two years, still doing mission promotion.

Appointed again to Mexico, he arrived there in 2009. Unfortunately, however, he had to return to Italy in July, 2011, suffering from serious cirrhosis of the liver and was admitted to Niguarda Hospital in Milan. Fr. Angelo died in Milan on 26 February, 2012.

These are some of his books: Fr. Pietro Villani (a biography translated into English, 1997); Quasi un diario (his missionary experiences in Mexico, 2001); the above-mentioned Fuoco all’Equatore (his missionary experiences in Kenya, 2004); Storie d’Africa, 2004; Un uomo dal cuore grande: Padre Mattia Bizzarro, 2004.