Martyr in Congo

Chapter 1. “Thanks, from the bottom of my Heart”

 |   | 

Br. Victor Faccin, Xaverian Brother, here before his departure for Congo

My dear parents, you cannot imagine how happy I am to be here, to be able to share my faith with those who do not know Christ. What a great gift faith is! I thank you from the bottom of my heart for having helped me during my formation and, above all, for allowing me to follow my vocation”.

This was the first message that Victor Faccin sent from his mission in Congo to his parents in Italy. Brother Victor Faccin was born in Villaverla (Vicenza, Northern Italy), on January 7, 1934, though he spent his childhood years in the countryside of the Modena region. He joined the Xaverian Institute in Cremona when he was 16 years old, and later moved to Desio (Milan), where he made his First Profession in 1952. He made his Final Profession on the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1962, in Uvira, Congo. In fact, he had already spent three years working in the diocese of Uvira (Belgian Congo, today’s Democratic Republic of Congo).

In fact, he had arrived there in the month of December 1959. Victor Faccin would have liked to become a priest, but he had been advised to pursue the missionary brother vocation on account of the fact that he had abandoned study too early. He accepted this advice, though he never lost his nostalgic desire of the priestly vocation. On the eve of his Final Profession, he confided to the Superior General that prayer had helped him accept the fact that he would never become a priest. He understood and accepted the profound meaning of the charism of the Congregation that had been founded by Guido Maria Conforti: the Xaverian is first a religious and then, in some cases, a priest. Even more important, the Xaverian is a missionary first and foremost: he pledges himself by vow to chastity, poverty and obedience, but the essence of his vocation is the consecration to God for the mission to non-Christians. 

A mission diary

This account of Victor Faccin’s life and mission has been reconstructed from his many letters to relatives and friends which are almost a diary of his missionary experience. His story begins with his arrival in the Congo on Monday December 14, 1959.

Every evening we chat and laugh together. I still do not speak the local language but we understand each other by speaking French. 
Br. Victor Faccin

“I arrived in Baraka a few weeks ago. The nearest confreres are in a mission 50 miles from here, the furthest are 200 miles away. I received a great welcome from the school children who had long awaited my arrival. Every evening we chat and laugh together. I still do not speak the local language but we understand each other by speaking French. A few days ago, I went to visit a sick man with Father Knittel, the Superior (a French Missionary of Africa), but when we arrived the man was already dead. He was about 40 years old and had been baptized by a friend two days previously. The funeral was celebrated in the mission and the corpse was wrapped in a simple sheet.

This morning I supervised the beginning of the construction of a small house in the mission. The climate is not bad. It is now the rainy season and there is abundant rainfall every night. The food is poor but sufficient and, above all, healthy. Thanks to the nearby lake Tanganika, there is an abundance of fish. We have powdered milk and locally produced coffee, but few vegetables and even those come from 200 miles away.

We cannot grow vegetables here since the mission has no steady water supply. On the occasions that we have meat, we eat rabbit or goat which we buy from the shepherds who come down from the mountain. We drink the water from lake Tanganika after filtering it. The water we use for cooking comes down from the mountains, though when it rains you would not even use it to wash your feet! We are lucky to have an abundant supply of wood for the fire which purifies everything.

Being here is like a dream for me. The place is stupendous and the natural surroundings speak clearly of the power of God”. 

Br. Victor Faccin - Africa needs Love

Africa needs love

The Africans are searching for love, something that is difficult for them to find and understand. I believe that they do not know the meaning of love. Their justice is based on ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’. Our work consists in encouraging them to love and forgive as Jesus commands us to do.

Only in the midst of them can one understand how much God has loved us by allowing us to be born in a Christian country, where the very air we breathe is pervaded by Christianity, yet we do not appreciate the value of this great gift.

The day after tomorrow I shall travel with my superior to the villages where I shall meet the young people of the “Xaverian Youth Association”. I will have to speak Kishwahili, and I have no idea what will come out of my mouth! This will not be a long trip since the most distant village is 30 miles away. My constant concern and preoccupation is the formation of good young people. Since we are so far away from them, there is not a lot that I can do. I just do my best and then leave the rest in the hands of Saint Francis Xavier and Our Lady.

I have planned two more trips after Easter. I try to cultivate the young people as much as possible in order to prepare them for their promise of fidelity to the Association. Last week I visited a school – which is literally collapsing –on the peninsula of lake Tanganika. To reach it I spent two hours on a little boat. The teacher complained that the parents, who are Muslim fishermen, do not appreciate the work he does, with so much commitment, to educate their children. The building, if we can call it that, was built with mud and poles. It is in such a bad state that we will have to abandon it. The absurd thing is that just a few days work would be sufficient to build a more decent and secure school”.

» more