In Pace Christi

Fr. Giacomo Ambrogio was born at Lusernetta, a village in the province of Turin, on 18 February, 1924. After he finished primary school he wanted to enter the diocesan seminary at Pinerolo but the fees were too high and so he went to that of Cottolengo where missionaries often visited. After eight years he applied for admittance to the Comboni Missionaries and was welcomed into the novitiate in Florence by Fr. Stefano Patroni. The war was the cause of great hardship. When the battlefront from the south was moved more towards the north, the Comboni house, then halfway on the road towards the hill of Fiesole, found itself very exposed and the novices had to take refuge with the Barnabites in the city. Fr. Giacomo used to remember those years and afterwards wrote laconically: “Let us not mention the hunger and visiting the farms for the collection of oil!” Once he had finished his novitiate he went to Verona to continue his theological studies. He was ordained on 6 June, 1948 and was sent to Sunningdale in England to teach the novices and scholastics. He stayed there until 1954. He also spent a second period in England (1962-1967) at Mirfield where he was Rector of the seminary. With the exception of two years spent in Rome (1967-1969), Fr. Giacomo spent the rest of his life in Uganda during a historical period that was marked by confusion and suffering where the determination and courage of the missionaries came to the fore as they shared in the situation of the people.

We mention briefly a few events. During the time of Milton Obote (1962-1971), for example, which favoured the Protestants, Fr. Giacomo, together with other missionaries, had to wait a long time for the renewal of their residence permits so as to be able to continue their missionary work, all the time fearing they would be refused.

With Idi Amin (1971-1979), Uganda saw eight years of terror and disintegration: everything was affected, the economy, the education system and security. To this turbulent period we must add the name of Joseph Kony, the leader of the so-called Lord’s resistance Army (LRA) which kidnapped boys and girls in the north of Uganda, forcing them, under threat of death, to commit all sorts of atrocities.

When he arrived in Uganda in 1954, Fr. Giacomo was sent to teach English at the seminary of Lacor. He spent seven years teaching and doing pastoral work around Lacor, which was not yet a parish it was assisted by the Fathers of the seminary. He then went to Rome for the renewal Course while waiting for permission to return to Uganda. In 1969 Pope Paul VI visited Uganda and, thanks to this, permits were granted to the missionaries. Fr Giacomo returned to Lacor no longer as a teacher but as Parish Priest of the new parish: “Seven years of work blessed by the Lord – he wrote – when the Sisters of Mary Immaculate arrived.”

In 1976 he was asked to go to Morulem for a short period; he was afterwards appointed parish priest of Kalongo, a vast parish with a hospital run by Fr. Giuseppe Ambrosoli. Five years later Fr. Giacomo returned to Italy for the removal of a tumour. He then convalesced in Verona. Once back in Uganda, in consideration of his poor health, he was sent to Holy Rosary, Gulu, for a year and a half and then, in 1985, to Lira, among the Lango. He used to visit the mission of Kalongo whenever he could. This had been evacuated because of the rebel attacks. In 1989, seeing that the government had nothing against it, Fr. Giacomo moved for good to Kalongo where he got along very well with Fr. Raffaele Di Bari. This priest died in an ambush in the year 2000 just a few kilometres from the mission of Pajule when a bazooka round struck his vehicle.

Fr. Giacomo was encouraged by what he saw at Kalongo. During the forced absence of the missionaries – for almost two years – the people of the place had looked after the mission very well. The hospital, left without any doctors, had continued to function thanks to the good will of some of the nurses. After the missionaries returned they were followed, little by little, by the doctors. Fr. Egidio Tocalli was sent there as the new director of the hospital.

In December, 1994, at the age of sixty, Fr. Giacomo asked to be transferred to Gulu as chaplain to the Sisters of Mary Immaculate. The following year he was transferred to Gulu cathedral where he stayed for eleven years. He then joined the Comboni community at Lacor hospital and stayed seven years there. During these last eighteen years he took upon himself the care of the Sisters at Gulu and Lacor.

Fr. Giacomo died at Lacor on 17 October, 2012. Bro. Elio Croce described the last day of his life in a letter he sent to the family members. “During the night he had suffered paralysis in his left leg. However, he could still speak perfectly. He was taken straight to hospital where the doctors applied the best therapy possible. At around five in the evening they called to tell me he was not well. When I arrived I found the doctors massaging his heart but to no avail. His funeral took place at the convent of the Sisters whom he served so well for eighteen years.”
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 254 suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2013, pp. 55-60.