1915-2005

Father Adriano was the son of Luigi and Adelaide Severin. He was born on May 30, 1915 in Paese (Treviso) and entered our congregation in 1933. He made his religious profession on October 2, 1936 and was ordained to the priesthood on June 23, 1940. He spent the war years working in Italy as the economic assistant at Certosa di Pesio and Varallo Sesia. He then became an assistant in Turin. In 1946 he left for Mozambique where he worked in the Nyasa region for forty years.
It was not an easy mission. Initially he substituted for sick or vacationing missionaries here and there. Father Adriano would no sooner begin a project when he had to abandon it and move on to something else. Gradually things stabilized and he found serenity. On December 14, 1953 he wrote to Father Domenico Fiorina, the Superior General: “Currently here at Maúa there are only two of us. But this doesn’t worry us because, thanks be to God, we are both eager to work. We don’t have a great deal of experience or practice but we will manage to do something. We have already learned how to drive the van and have already clocked about 2,000 km visiting schools and chapels and getting supplies …It is a genuine pleasure to arrive at a school and be greeted by 80 or more boys and girls. We only hope it lasts. The enrollment in almost all these schools is Muslim so we work for the future. My health, thank God, is good, but I am beginning to realize that I am not always up to the tasks that confront me. I can only be patient! A little sacrifice is good for me and for those with whom I work.”
Father Adriano was enthusiastic about his work. He had the soul of an apostle – and dreamed about the future. This was evident in the chapel he built at Curea, a village in the mission of Mitúcue. He calculated on the number of Christians and school chapels in the area and foresaw the possibility of a new mission. “Very Reverend Father Superior I wanted to give you these statistics about Curea because there is much talk about a future ‘Curea Mission’ … I don’t believe my motives were disingenuous or self-serving, I wanted only to inform you, Father, of what our situation was. In view of the need I felt I was obliged to do this.” (Letter to Father Fiorina, December 10, 1954).
In his letters to the General we discern a life full of ferment and activity requiring the utmost availability, openness and sacrifice but full of joy at the happy results of his work. “Intense work will begin again after the retreat: the boarders are about to return to the mission; I will begin again visiting the chapel schools and enrolling students … Last year we had over 800 children in our various village chapel schools; next year we thing there will be more than 1,000.” (Letter to Father Fiorina, September 5, 1956).
Work did not bother him – quite the contrary. The absence of brothers meant that he was responsible for all the missionary work and for a good part of the manual labor as well. “I thank the Lord for the good health I enjoy and for the energy and chance to work. Work doesn’t bother me – on the contrary I would feel uneasy if I spent the whole day idle.” (Letter to Father Fiorina, March 27, 1957).
Father Severin continued to work for many more years. The excessive work and demands of the mission did not affect him so much as the Marxist-Leninist revolution. In 1986 broken in mind and body he returned to Italy to recover and was assigned to Vittorio Veneto. In 1997 he retired to Alpignano where he was found dead in his room on January 26, 2005.
His funeral was celebrated on January 27. In his homily, Father Franco Gioda, the Regional Superior, described Father Adriano’s earthly journey: Mitúcue, Maúa, Correia and Mepanhira. He highlighted three aspects of Father Severin’s life as a missionary: his great poverty – a church and two tiny rooms; his apostolate: forming small Christian communities, continually visiting villages and training catechists, profound grasp of the local language and culture; and finally his martyrdom: during the Marxist revolution he suffered in his own flesh – insults and physical humiliations of all sorts. He not only did not run away but in the most difficult moments when he was being criticized, insulted and physically manhandled – he was forced to walk through the village barefoot and covered in ashes – he gave everyone and especially the young missionaries an extraordinary example of fidelity to the Gospel and to the Church.
After so much affliction he suffered a stroke and after much delay he was forced to return to Italy. Father Gioda urged us to see Father Adriano as one of God’s silent ones, a contemplative, someone sharing in the passion of Christ, someone with Africa in his heart.
On January 28, Father Antonio Merigo, his superior, accompanied his body to Paese (Treviso) where Mass was celebrated and Father Adriano was laid to rest.
Father Giuseppe Villa
And the editors of Da Casa Madre

An Example and a Mentor
I knew Father Adriano Severin from 1971 until his return to Italy in 1986 when serious illness imposed a silence that lasted until his death.
For me Father Adriano was a mentor in missionary work and I learned a great deal from him. He was part of that great generation of pioneer missionaries in Mozambique. He was simple, taciturn, studious, close to people, respectful, a man of prayer, a great builder. He lived in poverty and was totally devoted to the missions. He spoke little and did much.
He was a profound grasp of the Emakhwa language and spoke it correctly. He always used it when talking to people. He used it in catechism and the liturgy. In 1971 he translated the three-cycle (A-B-C) liturgical lectionary into this language and as Director of the Diocesan Pastoral Secretariat he revised the second edition of the diocesan book of devotions, “Mavekelo” by Father Mario Casanova. He knew not just the language but the culture as well – he understood its values and expressions. For this reason he established easy relations with people – he understood them and they understood him. It was the closeness to people that caused his love of the Congregation of the Immaculate Conception founded by our confrère, Father Oberto Abondio.
His apostolic zeal was apparent in all his pastoral work: he visited villages, organized small communities; and oversaw the training of catechism teachers through monthly formation meetings.When we set up the Diocesan Catechetical Center at the Etatara mission which he had founded and where he was pastor, he was an enormous help to me both as a confrère and a member of the formation team. He acted as our right hand man in instances: building the catechists’ village, financial administration. He made sure we lacked nothing. He also helped us train the catechists.
He demonstrated great concern for the sick. He built a small hospital in his mission which became the first nursing school for the Immaculate Conception Sisters in the 1960s. Father Severin was always available for the sick. The sisters could count on him for assistance to or transport of the sick at any hour of the night or day.
His love for the Macuan people translated into welfare and social work. First of all there was the school: he was responsible for the large school at mission headquarters for the last year of elementary school. He also set up little schools in different villages that provided primary grade education.
He was also engaged in vocation promotion. Father Severin’s enthusiasm produced many vocations from Etatara for the diocesan seminary and the religious life. One of our Mozambican Consolata Missionaries, Father Manuel Mussirica, comes from his mission as do many of the Immaculate Conception Sisters.
Father Severin taught us not to abandon our flock in times of trouble. He remained in Mozambique in peace and in wartime. He was there before and during the Marxist-Leninist revolution. He suffered personally along with the many men and women of good will who suffered simply because they were believers.
At the Mecanhelas Mission, the last place he worked, he suffered arrest, insult and physical humiliation of all sorts. He did not run away but remained faithful to the flock the Lord had entrusted to his care. At the most difficult moments, when he was criticized, insulted and physically punished by the revolutionaries he was an example to all of us – especially the young missionaries – of fidelity to the Gospel and to the Church. He suffered in silence without criticizing, pardoning those who persecuted him and praying and loving ever more the people to whom he had devoted his life. He was a genuine martyr and has now received the crown of the good and faithful servant. For these and so many other reasons Father Adriano is an example and a mentor for missionaries.
Father Francisco Lerma