Martyr in Brazil

Chapter 1. The Fruits of our Labors

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Gathering of the Deiana family: Fr. Salvatore is second from the left

They said of him that he was a missionary who lived with his foot on the accelerator. The short life of Salvatore Deiana was abruptly ended by a fatal car accident in Brazil when he was just 31 years old, after four years of missionary work among the poor. He died in what may have been a deliberate attempt on the life of the bishop who was traveling with him, a bishop who defended the rights of the poor.

As she stood beside his coffin, his mother expressed her incredulity and puzzlement at his death; nevertheless, she blessed the name of the Lord and exhorted those present to do the same.

Four years earlier, before leaving for Brazil, Salvatore had said to his friends: “The priestly-missionary vocation is not born in a vacuum; it is the fruit of community, of the commitment of many people. We who own and work in fields know how things happen there: the earth must be prepared and tilled if things are to grow; only at the end of the long process do we see the fruits of our labors. The same can be said of a priest. I wish to thank all the many people who contributed to my vocation. I hope that this community continues to bear fruit. May you never place obstacles in the path of the Lord as God chooses new workers for his vineyard. To parents, I say: listen to Jesus if He knocks at your door; to the young people I say: make yourselves available for service to the Gospel; be prepared to leave your homeland, if this is asked of you”.

Salvatore Deiana was born in Ardauli, a small village in the heart of Sardinia, on July 17, 1956. Like so many others, his father had emigrated to Belgium where he worked as a miner, his mother stayed at home to look after the family: besides Salvatore there were three sisters, a brother had died of anemia shortly before Salvatore himself was born. 

A Promise to Keep

Salvatore was baptized on August 12, 1956 and brought up by his mother. He went to kindergarten, then to primary school: he was a good student, though he did not have much time for study since he had to help at home with the chores. In his third year of primary school, a priest, Fr. Riva, visited the school and asked the children if any of them wanted to become missionaries. Salvatore said yes, even though he did not quite know what it meant.

The priestly- missionary vocation is not born in a vacuum; it is the fruit of community, of the commitment of many people. We who own and work in fields know how things happen there: the earth must be prepared and tilled if things are to grow; only at the end of the long process do we see the fruits of our labors. The same can be said of a priest. I hope that this community continues to bear fruit.
Fr. Salvatore Deiana

One day, Salvatore told his mother that he had made a promise to become a missionary priest. His mother was puzzled and asked him how he could possibly wish for something like that when he was only a primary school child. His father, who was then working in Cagliari, agreed with his wife, and told his son he would have plenty of time to think about his future when he had grown up and completed his studies.

During that period, Salvatore kept in contact with the Xaverian Father Giuseppe Marzarotto and, in September 1967, he entered the Xaverian junior seminary in Macomer. He confessed that he felt quite distressed at the initial separation from his family and village. His spirits were given a boost soon after by the arrival of six young students from the same village. He spent three years in the junior seminary where, besides study, prayer and recreation, he also learned to play the guitar. This brought him to the year 1968. 

Fr. Salvatore always managed to pick up the guitar and animate community gatherings

The Experience of Community

From Macomer, Salvatore was sent for one year to Cagliari, where the Xaverians were experimenting with their own inner school but, when this did not work out, he was sent back to Macomer for his high school studies.

Salvatore spoke enthusiastically about his experience in the family-community set-up: “It was a wonderful time for me: the family style relationship with the fathers helped me to overcome the difficulties I had experienced in working towards openness and dialogue. The ever increasing responsibility that we were given undoubtedly helped us become more mature and aware of the importance of our lives. Each one of us looked after some students from lower classes and this introduced us to the problems of education and relationships with others.

The most important memories I have of my formation consist of the school outside the seminary, classes of girls and boys, the discussion of our scholastic problems with the rector and the openness towards mission education. We often went out to do mission animation and I was sometimes asked by the young people of the organization “Mani Tese” to project films on the problems of the Third World. I was 15 years old at the time and acquiring an appetite for working for others, and the missionary vocation was becoming clearer in my mind”.

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