Agenzia Fides

Maputo (Agenzia Fides) - The 20th anniversary of Brother Alfred Fiorini’s assassination, a Comboni missionary doctor, which will be celebrated on August 24, 2012, has provided the inspiration for the Comboni missionaries present in Mozambique, to hold a particular year of prayer and reflection, which began last August 24, as reported by the Comboni Press. In his letter entitled "The Year of our memory: the Comboni Mission in Mozambique", the Provincial Superior, Fr. Jose Luis Rodriguez Lopez writes: "We want this event to consolidate our missionary spirit and give continuity to the historical and charismatic memory of our province, and proposing it as a means of entertainment and education ... For this reason, we want to start a year of prayer and provincial communion, by commemorating the historic events of our missionary presence in Mozambique". The Superior also stresses: "Every moment we spend on mission, means we are walking and tracing history. Of course, these experiences remain imprinted in our minds and, in particular, in our hearts ... We need to strengthen our provincial community through events that have outlined the work of our missionary presence in this Church of Mozambique since the beginning".
Suggesting some steps to live this particular year of memory (monthly Eucharistic adoration, the recitation of the prayer composed for the occasion, publication of a book on the historical Comboni presence in the country, the celebration of the provincial assembly for the analysis of the current reality of Mozambique ...), Fr. Jose Luis Rodriguez Lopez recalls that "Mozambique was marked by the shedding of blood of many martyrs, priests, religious men and women and lay people" this is why the year of the memory will end with a celebration on the spot of Brother Alfred Fiorini’s martyrdom.
On August 29, 1992 Fides wrote, "the Comboni missionary doctor Brother Alfred Fiorini was killed around noon on August 24, by rounds of machine-gun fire. He was returning to the mission in Namapa, where he directed the hospital. While he was driving down the road between Nacala and Carapira in Miraval area, Monapo district, province of Nampula, he was shot, by unknown people. Brother Alfredo worked in Mozambique for two years, not only as a missionary doctor, but as an all-rounder missionary, sharing the fate and suffering of the hungry and the sick, committed to supporting and promoting the people ". (SL) (Agenzia Fides 27/08/2011)