In Pace Christi

Bro. Pietro was born at Mizzole (Verona) on 20 February, 1933, to Carlo Dusi and Giuseppina Avesani. In 1947, he joined the minor seminary in Trent (Fai) as a student for the priesthood and left in 1949 after the second year of middle school. In 1950, he asked to enter the Institute as a Brother “to sacrifice and spend all my life for the salvation of souls, to enlarge, through my work, the reign of Christ where he is as yet unknown”, as he wrote in his letter that year to Father General.

He took first vows on 8 December, 1952, and perpetual vows in 1958, in Sudan where he had already been sent two years previously at the age of 23. He worked there until the expulsion of the missionaries in 1964.

Bro. Pietro spent three years in Spain and was then assigned to Uganda as community administrator at Nyapea and Paidha. In 1978, he was assigned to the community of Messina (Italy), to work in vocations promotion for Brother aspirants. Appointing him to the Italian Province, the then Superior General, Fr. Tarcisio Agostoni, wrote to him: “I thank you for the good work you did in the mission in the various places you have been ... I am certain that the enthusiasm and generosity you showed will be just as evident in Italy. I know you find this difficult to accept because you feel you are not sufficiently trained for the task the Province requires of you. However, I am convinced that, rather than technicians, we need witnesses, genuine people who speak from the heart, from experience and who are able to instil a love for consecrating one’s life to the missions”.

In 1983, he returned to Uganda where he stayed for all the remaining years of his missionary life.

He worked for many years in West Nile, mostly among the Alur, almost always in construction work. He also served at Kalongo among the Acholi, where he built the church of Paimol in honour of the young catechist martyrs Blessed David Okello and Gildo Irwa. In this connection we have an extract from an interview by Fr. Lorenzo Gaiga with Bro. Pietro, on the occasion of their beatification, on 20 October, 2002. “A few metres from the spot where the blood of David and Gildo was poured out – Bro. Dusi says – we built a shrine dedicated to them. I say ‘we’ because all the Christians of the place worked with me. The church measures 20m x 10m and is almost 12m high. It is built of granite stones. Now, however, we realise we must build on two wings, as it is too small to hold all the Christians ... The young Africans are very courageous in witnessing to the Gospel and giving their lives for the Lord and the true good of their brothers and sisters”.

Soon after he went to work in Karamoja, at Naoi, to repair the house of the fathers and at Matany, doing a variety of tasks. He also worked in other missions of Northern Uganda: Angal, Parombo, Pakwach, Kiryandongo, Namalu, Bala, Alenga and Aliwang. Among the Acholi he was called Oriba and he himself explains why: “In order to put into practice the teaching of Comboni to save Africa with Africa, I always made an effort to work, not for them but with them; this is why they called me Oriba which means unity. The name was given to me by the chief in a sort of ceremony vaguely reminiscent of Baptism. I am very proud of it and I hope that this name may be a way of life for me. Many mothers at Paimol call their children Oriba, in the hope that they may be people of peace, unity and concord. Such people are sorely needed in the Uganda of today”.

According to Fr. Guido Oliana, who knew him well when he was Provincial of Uganda, two characteristics of Bro. Pietro emerge: he was a great worker and had a great pastoral passion. He was a man of faith and wished at all costs to communicate it, even when he did not know the language well, as was the case in Karamoja.

In 2010, Bro. Pietro had to return to Italy for treatment and went to Verona where he stayed until his death on 12 September, 2014. In December 2014 he wrote: “I lived the missionary life for more than forty years with my African brothers. I always tried to be a witness of the Gospel to the Africans through prayer, charity and work, side by side, in building churches and schools and doing maintenance work in the missions … Each time I left for Africa, I remember the tears of my mother and the parting with the many beautiful things of my home. Mamma always told me: ‘Piero, remember to be faithful to your prayers and do nothing bad! If so, the Lord will bless and reward you’”.
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 262 suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2015, pp. 91-95.