Father Giuseppe was born at Caprie on November 14, 1910, the son of Elia Bonaudo and Marianna Massola. He entered the Institute at the age of twelve in 1922 and was received by our Founder who affectionately called him "Pinot." He made his novitiate at Sanfré and then made his religious profession at Rosignano in 1929. He was ordained to the priesthood in 1933 and spent three years teaching at the minor seminary in Favria Canavese. On January 12, 1937 he arrived in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and was put in charge of native schools in the capital.
On his sixtieth anniversary of ordination (1993), Father Bonaudo spoke about his early life.
"I remember as if it were yesterday the first baptisms I performed - ten orphans in the mission at Gore. A confrere and I had begun building a leprosarium; there were many lepers in the area who had been cast out of the community and no one was taking care of them. All the advice our Father Founder gave us during formation came to mind as day by day we faced the countless, serious problems that came up in the missions.
In the evenings we wrote by candlelight to our friends and benefactors; we saw Providence in a thousand different ways. The weekly airplane that flew over the mission would drop food packages, medicines and tools. Hundreds of hands would be raised to thank the Italian pilots in the "sky horses" passing over us.
Twice a year the Vicar Apostolic, Msgr. Luigi Santa, came to visit us. These were days of great festivity for the mission. It was during one of these visits that we decided to build a church. There were no bureaucratic bottlenecks, no red tape. Work began immediately. We two priests shared the work - I was responsible for the school and the leprosarium and the other Father oversaw the work.
The majority of our workers were heathen or Muslim but the work went forward harmoniously. I was deeply involved in teaching catechism at the time - I taught the children in the morning and the adults later in the day. We had no books and everything was done orally. The catechumens who never missed a lesson were my main concern. Work on the church was completed in two years and bells arrived from Italy. It was a source of great pleasure to hear the bells ring out through all the surrounding valleys. They were the voice of God calling us to salvation."
At the outbreak of the war the Chief Chaplain made an urgent request for a priest at the Massaua Base on the Red Sea. Father Bonaudo was enrolled as a naval chaplain. On April 6, 1941 the base was captured by the British and Father Bonaudo was taken prisoner and sent to a concentration camp in the Sudan. He worked tirelessly to minister to the 8,000 Italian prisoners. Dysentery and typhus massacred the prisoners - Father Bonaudo heard confessions, comforted and administered the sacraments to the dying and buried the dead. He persuaded camp authorities to erect a monument in the cemetery where prisoners were buried. "On November 2, 1941, I blessed a memorial to all our compatriots who died in captivity. British, Italian and Sanitary officials were present and took part in the ceremony. We celebrated Mass for all who died and blessed a pyramid erected in their memory ...
I too was struck with dysentery. This was inevitable - I was spending entire days next to the poor, infected cots of those who suffered from the disease. I remember a group of tents where those who could not be cured would be segregated - for the purpose of keeping them from the sight of the other prisoners, lest they be badly impressed seeing their comrades dying.
The doctors no longer went into those tents housing the incurable but in that suffocating smell, surrounded by the pitiful cries of the dying and the fear of those who were soon to follow them but who were still conscious and aware of what was happening - I spent hours going from cot to cot administering the sacraments and preparing those poor unfortunates for their final departure. I spent hours talking to them and hearing the last messages for their distant families. They were well aware of what was happening and that they would die in days, hours or minutes. They were resigned to their fate - they died comforted by the sacraments.
It is impossible to write down everything or describe what took place in these final conversations. It was death in exile, death in the horrid squalor of the desert, in the dark solitude of prison - I gave them a final kiss from their children who were about to be orphaned, whom they would never again see or embrace. When I would leave those cots my heart was in turmoil and I was filled with sadness. The taste of death was on my lips. I prayed that God would accept the sacrifice of their lives and receive them into paradise immediately. I know I have genuine friends in heaven from those days."
Exhausted and infected by the virus Father Bonaudo was carried on a stretcher to those who were dying. One of his assistants asked him where he would like to be buried when his time came. "Dig a grave in the middle of all the others." When the grave was dug they made a cross and wanted me to bless it and I told them "Wait before you put it in place." The Lord spared me and as if by a miracle my grave remained empty. My cross was used for someone else."
Chaplain Giovanni Anfosso wrote a beautiful testimonial about Father Bonaudo to Father Prina (January 11, 1945). "Some months ago I was released from detention and I have the happy task of bringing to your paternal attention the genuinely praiseworthy conduct and work of Reverend Father Giuseppe Bonaudo (Consolata) with whom I had the good fortune of living in the Sudan from July 1941 to January 1942. In extremely difficult living conditions and climate Father Bonaudo gave his all to assist spiritually and materially the more than 1,000 sick prisoners during a serious dysentery and typhoid epidemic. His tireless efforts won the admiration of the British authorities and our grateful affection. He comforted and attended the fifty-three prisoners who died in the Zeidab camp in Sudan. He cared lovingly for the cemetery that contains their remains. Since Father Bonaudo is a former chaplain in the Royal Navy in Eritrea I have brought his work to the attention of the Ministry of the Navy and recommended that it be recognized."
Even in the midst of the tragic situation that surrounded him in the prison camp Father Bonaudo's thoughts never strayed far from the missions. "Each night before closing my eyes I think of our beautiful missions in Gimma. Surely Our Lady, the Consolata, will not allow so promising a beginning to come to nothing. Storm winds bend the tops of trees but cannot uproot them - those trees were nourished by the tears and blood of our beloved confreres." (Letter to Father G. Barlassina, Superior General, March 6, 1943).
In another letter to Father Barlassina from the concentration camp in the Sudan (June 6, 1943) "We learned that the Motherhouse was hit and the Institute was transferred to other houses. We pray God daily, confident that Our Lady will keep watch over our missions and will be a mother to her scattered children. We prisoners endure moments of great sadness but find consolation in speaking to God. He alone knows the value of our sacrifice and our suffering being kept from the apostolic service to which we were called … our most fruitful years are spent behind barbed wire … our personal abilities going for nothing."
In the middle of 1943 there was a prisoner exchange - military chaplains were allowed to go home. Authorities asked some of the chaplains to remain with the Italian prisoners to care for them. Father Bonaudo and other Consolata missionaries volunteered for this work. In October he was moved to Britain where he continued his service to Italian prisoners in camps throughout Scotland.
In the first half of 1946 before coming home Father Bonaudo received the following testimonial from the Parish Priest of Swadlincote (Burton-on-Trent):
"Dear Father Bonaudo,
That joyful day you have waited for is fast approaching … I know that you have carried out your duties towards the prisoners of war faithfully, prudently and with great charity. Many of your men have voiced their esteem for what you have done for their morale, comforting and strengthening them.
Because of our climate the land here is not so fertile as it is in your country but your men have been splendid workers as so many of our local farmers can attest. I hope that you will sometimes write to me when you are back in your own country. I will always treasure your friendship and think of you as a good, faithful, conscientious priest of God who held the lamp of faith high in the midst of the many difficulties and restrictions of your years of imprisonment.
Many hearts were touched, moved and inspired by your personal good example. I don't say these things to flatter you - I believe you deserve this humble tribute now that your stay in Great Britain is coming to an end. Poor mortals that we all are, we need words of encouragement and gratitude if only to move us to greater efforts for the glory of God and the salvation of souls … Recommending myself to your prayers, I remain with every good wish and blessing your devoted friend in Christ, Father Joseph Degen."
In 1947 Father Bonaudo was sent to Canada. "Cardinal Paul Emile Léger welcomed us into his diocese, Montreal, and gave us two parishes for Italian immigrants. We established a mission center and received our first Canadian mission vocations. We dedicated ourselves to vocation promotion in the province of Quebec."
In 1969 after twenty-two years in Canada, Father Bonaudo was asked to work for Propaganda Fide's Opera S. Pietro Apostolo. He worked for its seminaries scattered throughout the missionary world. These were "two years of intense activity. I had contact with English and French language seminaries and with seminarians and benefactors in Europe. This was a time of valuable experience for me - I learned so much about the training of indigenous clergy."
Father Bonaudo wanted so very much to go back to the missions but the Institute was making an effort to strengthen its mission centers in Europe and he was sent to Ireland in 1971, to a newly opened house in Dublin. "We were welcomed warmly by the Irish parish priests. We were allowed to speak in their colleges and tell them about our missions, needs and plans for evangelization. At this time we began publishing "Consolata Missions" as a tool for promoting vocations and disseminating information about our missions. After a few years in charming Ireland I went to England to help our confreres there (1976). I was in charge of fund-raising and distribution of our magazine. I came into first-hand contact with the generosity of fervent English Catholics. They were especially generous in supporting our international seminary in London."
As time passed he began to experience the effects of old age. In 1988 he returned to Italy and lived in Turin until he moved to Alpignano in 1992. On June 7, 1993 he celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of his ordination and said: "I pray the Father that he will send workers into his vineyard and I thank him humbly for my sixty years of priesthood." The most important memory of his long life is of February 16, 1926 - the day our Father Founder died at the Consolata Sanctuary. "We all passed before our dying Father one by one and kissed his hand. He blessed each of us and repeated over and over "take care of people, take care of people." This memory can never be erased; it has been the guiding light of all the missionary work of my life."
On April 12, 2002, at 5 A.M., assisted by Father Giovanni Genta, he passed away returning to the Father's House. The funeral was celebrated at Alpignano on April 13. In his homily Msgr. Aldo Mongiano spoke of Father Bonaudo's enthusiasm as an educator, his exuberance in the apostolate and his great generosity.
That afternoon Fathers Genta and Garrone accompanied his body to Caprie where the Bishop of Susa, Msgr. Alfonso Badini Gonfalonieri presided at a Funeral Mass.
During the celebration a representative group of the Navy and the local band paid homage to his body. The Sailors' Prayer was read at the end of the ceremony and Father Genta gave a testimonial on our dear brother's missionary and apostolic efforts. His remains were interred in the cemetery at Caprie.
Editors of Da Casa Madre