In Pace Christi

Gino was born in San Vito al Tagliamento (PN) on 1 February 1927. He completed classical school in the diocesan seminary of Pordenone where he had also done the gymnasium course. With the consent of the bishop, on 15 August 1946 he applied to join the Sons of the Sacred Heart, pointing out that he already had a brother, Felice, who was a Comboni Missionary in the London Province.

Gino did both the Novitiate and Scholasticate in Venegono where he took first vows on 9 September 1948 and perpetual vows on 22 September 1950. On 19 May 1951 he was ordained priest.

Immediately afterwards he was sent to Viseu, in Portugal, to prepare for the mission. In 1953, now appointed to Mozambique, he worked as assistant priest at Nacaroa (1953-1954), parish priest at Cabaceira (1954-1955) and curate at Carapira. In 1956 he was assigned to Portugal and went to Faleiro as local superior. He stayed in Portugal until 1971 when, after completing the renewal Course, he was again appointed to Mozambique where he worked for many years at the Anchilo Catechetical Centre and, for the last eight years, at Nampula. He returned for good to Italy in 2015.

At Anchilo Catechetical centre – we read in Fr. Arnaldo Baritussio’s book “Mozambico, 50 anni di presenza dei Missionari Comboniani” – “alongside his work in direct formation, a complete series of editorial initiatives developed of which the real leader and animator was Fr. Gino Centis. Unlike in distant years of 1953-54, when he was constrained by ill health, he was now gifted with unlimited energy. He produced lectionaries, catechisms, hymn books and prayer books, missals and Bibles, eighteen titles altogether. By 1982, printings and reprints amounted to 149.000 copies of which 20,000 were complete Bibles, editions of the new testament and a selection of passages from the Old testament in the local language. The Bible was, in fact, presented to the communities as the book to be preferred. If we want to continue counting publications up to 1994, we will see that editions of the Bible reach the figure of 175,000 copies. Besides the lectionaries for Sunday celebrations, also worthy of note is the Malompelo (a manual or prayers and various community celebrations) with 227,000 copies”.

As also emphasised by Fr. Gianluca Contini, who shared the mission with him, Fr. Gino “was the missionary who knew the local language: how fortunate to have the complete text of the Bible in the Macua tongue as well as the lectionary for Sundays and feast days for years A, B and C, the Malompelo book of daily prayers (people always kept it, and still do, as a sign of religious and human identity). The Word given to the people of God, written and understood in their mother tongue. A wonderful instrument through which the Holy Spirit brings to completion both Proclamation and Evangelisation. The text of the Bible is the first official complete document written in the Macua language”.

“Fr. Gino spent his life for the Word, in order to make it accessible to the people of Mozambique, so that, ‘not one jot, not one flourish’ of the Law would be lost” said Fr. Renzo Piazza during his homily at the funeral Mass. “I had the impression that Fr. Gino had the gift of knowing that, the crucial moment of his life had come when ‘the veil would be torn’ and he could meet the Lord. He spoke about it to both collaborators and confreres with serenity, in a moment when words seemed to fail him … He thanked all who looked after him and, a few moments before passing away, he asked to be taken home so as not to be late for the 6 pm Mass”.

“I would like to say a big ‘thank you’ to Fr. Gino – Fr. Jeremias dos Santos Martins, Vicar General, wrote – for the way he lived the mission in Mozambique for so many years: years of great suffering during the period when the Comboni Missionaries were expelled from Mozambique and also during the difficult and violent years of war. Fr. Gino was always present in the joys and sorrows, the rough and the smooth times in the life of the people. He persevered in accompanying the journey of the people, especially during the long years of civil war (16 years).

His translation work was his great service to evangelisation. Like a true perfectionist, he happily and efficiently dedicated himself to the study of the, spoken by more than seven million people and to teaching it to new missionaries on their arrival in Mozambique.

I thank God for the gift of his life, for all he did and, above all, for what he was for the people and for me: a partner in mission, an example of dedication, a person with a passion for the Word of God, which he made accessible even to the most simple people. Great was the joy of the people when they heard the Word of God in Macua: ‘Now God speaks our language too’”.
Da Mccj Bulletin n. 282 Suppl. In Memoriam, gennaio 2020 pp. 40-41.