(1921-2004)

Don Soldati, a champion of the missions, is dead. These are the words of “Il Cittadino” in its January 6, 2004, obituary of Father Franco Soldati. The last of the four Soldati siblings, he was 82 years old and had been suffering for some time.  The story of the four brothers and one sister – Franco, Gabriele, Pierino and Aldina – reads like a folk tale.  They were born into a humble family in Corno Giovine.  The four of them made vows in their early youth and went to different areas of the world as missionaries. Between 1950 and 1954 Father Pierino, a Jesuit, went to the Philippines,  Fathers Gabriele and Franco as well as Sister Luisa Piera were Consolata missionaries in Tanzania and Kenya.

Father Franco was born on October 31, 1921, in Corno Giovine, diocese of Lodi, province of Milan, the son of Luigi Soldati and Luigina Lucchini. He went to elementary school at Ronco Canavese (1927-1933), high school at Benevagienna and Varallo Sesia (1934-1942);  because of the war he studied theology at seminaries in Ivrea and Uviglie Monferrato (1942-1946).  He was ordained to the priesthood on May 30, 1946 in Uviglie.

After a few years working in Consolata seminaries Father Franco went to Kenya. A whole new world opened up before him. It was a brilliant, attractive world that captured his life-long devotion;  it transformed his way of thinking, living and working.  He went through a process of inculturation different from other people. The result was not a combination of two ways of thinking – but the taking on of a whole new mentality. Father Franco became an African through and through. He was able to transmit the Gospel message in terms that were accessible and intelligible. His method of evangelization was praiseworthy and deserves our admiration even if it would be impossible to imitate his very original and unrepeatable style.

Memories

Father Ermanno Montini who met him in Italy and Kenya wrote these notes. “My acquaintance with the Soldati family dates back many years – fifty to be exact.  I was ten years old and had just finished fourth grade and had told a missionary priest that too wanted to be a missionary like him. He was a young priest, full of enthusiasm and I had met him the previous month with my mother at the Consolata Missionaries’ house in Bevera. It was Father Gabriele Soldati – Father Franco’s brother. I soon came to know the whole Soldati family – three brothers and a sister whose father died while they were still young. They were supported by a mother who worked at her sewing machine day and night to feed them.  Tuberculosis took her from them too soon. Their aunt Giacomina came to the rescue and took them into her home – she treated them like her own children. In spite of hardship the family grew in affection and Franco felt responsible for his siblings – all of whom became missionaries. Pietro became a Jesuit missionary and worked in the Far East for many years. Franco and Gabriele became Consolata missionaries. Their younger sister, Aldina, became a Consolata missionary sister – Sister Luisa Piera.

On my arrival in Kenya I was assigned to the mission of Kyeni in the diocese of Meru – it is now in the diocese of Embu. Our missionary predecessors looked like giants to those of us who were young at that time. Father Franco was one of these giants. He did not travel much – once a year he came to headquarters to make his retreat and every seven (later five) years he went to Nairobi to take a plane for Italy. He was the Mwereria, a Kimeru word I only began to understand after several years in the missions. He established a center for handicapped children in Tuuru. He worked as a missionary in all of Nyambene but especially in Igembe. He was strong and steadfast; his love, dedication and poverty knew no limits. He spoke, thought, ate and did all things in Kimeru. He had one weakness – the children in Tuuru. I had the good fortune to meet and offer him a day’s hospitality in Kyeni whenever he traveled.

In those years I really did not know Father Franco very well although I had heard a good deal about him.  Seventeen years later I was assigned to Kangeta in Igembe – the mission next to Father Soldati’s mission. I came to know him and Brother Argese (the people called him Mukiri – the silent one) better. Father  Canova was with me then and for a short time we made up a community of four missionaries with three residences.  We supported and helped each other even if we seldom met. Our rare meetings usually took place at Brother Argese’s chalet. Father Franco and Brother Giuseppe launched the “Tuuru Water Scheme.” It was the largest non-government aqueduct in Kenya.  Misereor called it the gem of all their charity projects throughout the world. 

To support his many works  Father Franco wrote articles for newspapers and magazines and went from door to door begging the children in his care. The mission in Tuuru became a clean and attractive little village with numerous handicapped children;  the aqueduct served not only the children but some 200,000 others as well.

Father Franco worked in the missions in Egoji, Tigania and Tuuru. He knew the local language and culture thoroughly and succeeded in the inculturation of the Christian message – he made it intelligible to people of all classes. He became a mwariki and part of the njuri ncheke. He spent much time meditating, studying and seeking to understand. He sought new ways of evangelizing and rejected those methods that were better at conveying western cultural ideas than proclaiming the Gospel message. He often asked if a particular action was the right one without ever trying to impose his own ideas. The Africans called him mwereria – that is he was one who showed the way in silence, without imposing his own opinion. He taught by example.  He knew where one ought to go and how one ought to get there. He was thoughtful and reflective.

His shelter was often make-shift, his food was always frugal.  He seldom left the mission. He attended meetings and retreats but seldom went to celebrations or feasts.  He rarely visited people outside his own mission. He bought a horse not because he liked horseback riding but to save money on transport. All the money that came to him was devoted to aqueducts, housing, feeding poor children, providing churches, schools and buildings for others – usually the least fortunate.

I remember the celebration we organized in Meru on October 7, 1990 to mark the beatification of our founder, Blessed Giuseppe Allamano. Brother Mukiri at the Consolata Sanctuary in Mukululu was in charge of arrangements. The whole Consolata family – all the religious in the area – attended and Father Franco was chosen to celebrate the Mass and preach.

A hermitage in the bush

Father Franco Soldati was a taciturn man but he knew how to communicate with his pen.  The many articles in Consolata magazines and his letters are evidence of this ability to communicate. He writes on a variety of subjects in different places and times: in Meru he discussed a translation of the phrase in the Our Father – “who art in the clouds,” or “who art on high;”  work among the Borana in the north is progressing but we need money to build a school;  we are having problems with Protestants;  Kenya will soon be independent.  Something he writes about constantly is his own vocation. In 1972 he wrote to the Superior General: “I have decided to leave Meru – I have no intention of joining the crazy Europeans.  My salvation has been the people of Tuuru … Possibly I have become so African that I can no longer talk to Europeans.”  After 26 years of priesthood he wrote to the Superior General and the Bishop:  “Uncertainty about one’s own life is the worst thing for a missionary.  After three years of crisis, reflection and anxiety I have made an irreversible decision about my future. You are already aware of my intention of changing my life style.” He worries that his decision might harm the mission and is willing to make a compromise.  He goes to Mutuati to a sort of hermitage surrounded by a hedge.  He will spend his time reading, praying and working among the aged.  “The Tuuru Community does not approve of my decision – but I have managed to convince them.”  On July 25, 1997 he celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his religious profession.  He told the Superior General that he was in good company: the Eucharist. He writes, “If I no longer have the strength to remain here, I would ask you to send me to Alpignano.” He was a realist. In 2003 sores appeared on his foot. He cleaned and medicated them but did not go to a doctor.  The superior who visited him in Nthambiro noticed he was limping and he said he had stubbed his toe.  Only in mid 2003 did people in Nthambiro inform the superior of just how sick Father Franco was.  A doctor examined him and told him he was gravely ill. On July 26, 2003 he entered the Cottolengo Hospital in Turin and had his legs amputated. Physical and mental suffering overwhelmed him and he died on January 4, 2004 in Alpignano. He was 82 years old and had been a religious for 56 years and a priest for 57.

Giovanni Tebaldi