Salesians in the Middle East
Two Salesians, originally from the town of Lizzano in Belvedere in our Apennines, in the Middle East.
In the Middle East, a priest, a native of Lizzano in Belvedere, Fr. Celso Farneti lived in the Salesian community (S.D.B.) from 1933 until his death in 1977.
Currently, another Salesian, a native of Gabba, Fr Alfredo Picchioni, is in the Middle East. Fr. Alfredo lived for long years in Iran during the time of the Shah and the early years of Khomeini's Islamic revolution . From 1966 to 1984 he was Inspector of the Middle East Province (MOR) “Adolescent Jesus.”
He is now in Lebanon (El Houssoun) where he resides and works and where he carried on the work for the new house in Al Fidar. He was previously in Adigrat (Ethiopia) and Zeitun (Egypt) in 1985, and in the Kamishly Youth Center (Syria) in 1986, in Addis Ababa and Istanbul Cathedral in 1989, in Kafroun (Syria) in 1991; he is currently in Bethlehem.
The Salesian presence in the Middle East dates back to 1891. It is now active in eight nations, with 16 Works of the Salesians of Don Bosco and 12 Works of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (Salesian Sisters).
Thousands upon thousands of young people have passed through those schools, oratories and youth centers over a century.
From the beginning the Salesians had to face enormous difficulties : general poverty and underdevelopment of the territories; severe government restrictions on building schools and churches.
Then in 1911 the Italo-Turkish war hampered the activities of the priests, the majority of whom were Italian.
During World War I 1915/1918 the Salesians had to endure frequent searches, seizures and restrictions of all kinds.
In 1917 the situation was aggravated to the fullest by sending boys to orphanages run by Turks; some priests were deported into exile where some died. At the end of World War I, the Salesians had to start from scratch as the buildings were severely damaged.
In the period 1920/1940 there was a strong Jewish immigration, after the famous “Arthur J.Balfour Declaration” of 2/11/1917, favored by England during its Protectorate (1917/1948) and intensified at the time of Nazism, all of which increasingly irritated the Arab population.
A rebel group was formed-which erupted into guerrilla warfare and conditioned any activity. The struggle escalated in the 1930s and also experienced dramatic peaks in the area where the Beit Gemal house was located.
During World War II (1940/1945) Salesian activity came to a standstill. All Italian and German Salesians were interned in Palestine. Only the schools in Beit Gemal run by non-Italian Salesians and the one in Haifa run by a single Salesian remained open.
The activity of the Salesian Works in the Holy Land practically resumed in 1946 but, in 1948 because of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the school in Haifa was forced to close.
On 11/29/1947 the U.N. voted on the partition of Palestine, between Arabs and Jews. With the formation of the State of Israel (1948), the Holy Land was divided into two distinct areas separated by military borders.
The Salesian Work in Nazareth continued as a vocational school, while in Beit Gemal Salesian activity was reduced due to the lack of Arab pupils and the lack of access to the Jewish environment.
In the West Bank, the Bethlehem school became a Vocational Technical Institute; Cremisan housed the Philosophical Studentate until 1956, then replaced by the Theological Studentate in 1957.
In 1967 the West Bank became the “Occupied Zone.” The continued emigration of Christian families changed the physiognomy of Bethlehem, which, from almost entirely Christian, became predominantly Muslim. Over 60 percent of the pupils were Muslim, which still ensured the validity of the Salesian presence in Bethlehem.
But, long before the Salesians arrived in the Middle East, it happened that one day in Beit Giala near Bethlehem, a young priest professor and spiritual director of the Patriarchal Seminary was approached by a 12-year-old boy, Issa Safadi, who showed the obvious signs of poverty on the threshold of destitution.
The boy was hungry , but not daring to beg for a bite, he offered the priest his help.
It was New Year's Eve 1863. Issa Safadi no longer had a mother, his father was blind and unable to work, his home reduced to a hovel.
The priest was 31-year-old Don Antonio Belloni, a native of Borgo S.Agata near Oneglia. A priest since 1857 and a missionary in the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Don Belloni did not delay : he welcomed Issa, secured bread for him and dressed him in new clothes. He cared for him spiritually by preparing him for his First Communion, then found him a suitable little job at a souvenir workshop.
News of the generous gesture spread quickly, and there was no shortage of those who thought the priest possessed funds to help the country's poorest. And lo and behold, a father came to introduce his two sons : Daùd and Hanna Sus. The rags they were wearing were not enough to cover them decently. Don Belloni, with the help of Don Vincenzo Bracco (future Patriarch of Jerusalem at only 38 years old) , adapted a cassock and an overcoat and dressed the two boys.
Pitiful cases came up again and again, and the orphans became a handful. The idea of opening a Catholic orphanage soon dawned on Don Belloni (referred to as : Abulyatama, i.e., father of the orphans) who in 1864 found a house in Bethlehem along Main Street (today's Star Street) and began his humanitarian and Christian work.
Before long the youth reached the number of twenty-five. But thought had to be given to food, shelter, clothing and also to training, discipline and work.
Two valuable friendships date from that time.
One is that with the Belgian canon A.J. Verdure of Tournai (died 1898) who ensured since 1868 the daily bread and a channel through which the means of subsistence arrived.
The other is the one with Marquis De Bute, an Englishman, who in 1869 offered the money to purchase an estate of some 600 hectares on which the Beit Gemal agricultural school was later built, the completion of which took about ten years. The two “fathers of the poor” : Don John Bosco and Canon Don Antonio Belloni, thus presented themselves with striking similarities and affinities in their approach and methods of educating the youth, albeit in the marvelous unrepeatability of “personalities,” environment and events in which they carried out their apostolate among the young.
Fr. Belloni was from Liguria and in Liguria Don Bosco had started institutions as early as 1870 and two years later there were at least three. The works in favor of poor youth, aroused the admiring attention of Fr. Belloni. It was natural that he would set up his own institutions on Don Bosco's model. Don Bosco's work now presented an example on which to model themselves. The two founders had talked about it together around 1874.
In 1890 it took just over two months for the paperwork and documentation required for the merger of the two Congregations to come to fruition : The Holy Family of diocesan right (Don Belloni) and the Salesian Society of pontifical right (Don Bosco).
In January 1891 Canon Don Belloni, while on a trip to Europe in search of subsidies, asked Blessed Don Michele Rua - Don Bosco's first successor - to send two Salesians (Don Giovanni Battista Useo and Don Ruggero Corradini) to Bethlehem so that they could prepare for the arrival of the main group of seven Salesians and five Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (Salesian Sisters). About three months later another sixteen Salesians left for the Middle East.
Warm welcomes were reserved for the Salesians, as their ability to help young people was well known. The Houses founded by Fr. Belloni, became Salesian in the Holy Land.
But in addition to the various daily difficulties that arose with a certain frequency, a serious underlying problem had to be solved, and that was that of the new relations between Don Belloni's Work and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem on the one hand and with Propaganda Fide and the Salesian Congregation on the other. There were long and laborious negotiations.
In 1895 Blessed Fr. Michael Rua, Rector Major of the Salesians, arrived in Jerusalem to visit the three Salesian Houses to each of which he gave a title: he called the one in Bethlehem, House of Faith; the one in Cremisan, House of Hope; and the one in Beit Gemal , House of Charity.
In 1902 the group of Salesian Houses in the Middle East formed an autonomous province and could count on the presence of seventy-five Brothers. Since that year there have been as many as 15 Salesian Inspectors in the Middle East.( The Rev. Fr Nai, Fr Cardano, Fr Sutera, Fr Puddu, Fr Gatti, Fr Nigra, Fr Canale, Fr Garelli, Fr Laconi, Fr Morazzani, Fr Ottone, Fr Pozzo, Fr Picchioni, Fr Murru, and Fr Gianazza).
This is the reality where Fr Farneti carried out his apostolate and where now Fr Picchioni continues the Salesian presence.
From the volume: “Don Bosco in the Holy Land 1891/1991”
Published by:Franciscan Printing Press - Jerusalem