Martyr in Burundi

Chapter 2. Full of Enthusiasm

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"Catina would have liked to join a religious missionary community, for their witness of joy is visible"

Don Ruggero Fattor was the pastor of Catina, and then spent some 17 years working in Africa as a missionary.  He writes: “I met Catina in 1971, and she was ever present in the parish, in the parish council, in CCD classes and liturgy preparation. But she also had her say in the fields of politics and social topics of our small town.”

Catina was catechist and director of the Women Catholic Action movement in the parish. Members would attend the 6:00 morning mass, organize drives for the poor, have discussions once a week with the pastor on various topics. Catina would invite the members to gather sugar, coffee, and other groceries for the poor of the town. They would also distribute these resources through personal visits.

She would organized retreats for the members, and be the first one to clean wood floors, arrange the chapel, set the rooms, and in this way, be hospitable to the many girls and young women from different towns who would attend the retreats. 

The Book of Proverbs says: “The woman who honors the Lord is worth far beyond pearls. Her husband, entrusting his heart to her, has an unfailing prize.  She does good, and not evil, all the days of her life. She obtains wool and flax and makes cloth with skillful hands. She rises while it is still night, and distributes food to her household. She picks out a field to purchase; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard. She is girt about with strength, and sturdy are her arms. She enjoys the success of her dealings; at night her lamp is undimmed. She puts her hands to the distaff, and her fingers ply the spindle. She reaches out her hands to the poor, and extends her arms to the needy. She fears not the snow for her household; all in her family wear warm clothing. She makes her own coverlets; fine linen and purple are her clothing. She makes garments and sells them, and stocks the merchants with belts. She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs at the days to come. She opens her mouth in wisdom, and on her tongue is kindly counsel. She watches the conduct of her household, and eats not her food in idleness. Her children rise up and praise her; her husband, too, extols her: ‘Many are the women of proven worth, but you have excelled them all.’ Charm is deceptive and beauty fleeting; the woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her a reward of her labors, and let her works praise her at the city gates.” (Prov. 31:10-31)

Very often, some said, Catina would invite everyone to pray for missionaries, and she spent hours in delivering second collection envelops for World Mission Sunday. She even organized a town lottery for the missions.

And she lived this, by showing attention to the elderly and immigrants present in town. The trips to the local nursing home brought a smile and a word of comfort to the residents. “From her, we learned how to approach and love even the most unfortunate souls and the lonely person” a friend recalls.

I always thought of having a vocation to missionary life, and for this reason I prepared myself through penance, hunger, thirst, charity and sacrifices.
Ms. Catina Gubert

Fr. Fattor continues with his witness: “She never gave up, for the Word of God and the person of Jesus Christ were the foundation of her life, the constant refrain of her faith, the passionate searching in her reflection pauses, the hidden secret of her prayer. I found in this 50+ woman a faithful Christian, full of enthusiasm, youthful, open to the new, interested in many things, and available to help things move on.

Catina was part of pastoral and spiritual meetings among parishes, formation sessions in individual houses, young couples retreats and counseling, catechists days, and fun times. I remember our ‘Peace March’ which we attended together in 1972, and how impressed she was in having listening to Dom Helder Camara on the topic of ‘General Strike of Selfishness.’

And the time we celebrated the Jubilee year of 1973 with a bus of youth in the cathedral of Trento, sharing the fruit of their work (a child wheelchair). All fruit of Catina’s guiding hand and encouragement!”

Dreaming of Distant Shores

We did not know what the future would bring – continues Fr. Fattor –. At one time I asked her, almost jokingly, to look beyond her beautiful mountains, to discover the true needs of the world.” Her heart was open to this mission, and Catina started considering how to do missionary work. Sr. Antonietta Broch, a friend since childhood, clarifies this thought through these words.

“When I went to tell her that I was going to enter the Sisters of Maria Bambina, Catina started crying. She confided that she always thought she had a vocation to missionary life, and for this reason she prepared herself through penance, hunger, thirst, charity and sacrifices. She would have liked to join a religious community, for their witness of joy is visible. Then she said how her uncle, a missionary priest in Africa, discouraged her from taking such a step.” We might never know the reasons of her uncle, but now we know that God had much better plans for Catina: to guide her through the ‘glorious way’ of martyrdom.

Women of Africa express their joy

Volunteer with LVIA

Catina managed the family grocery store, while she kept up with the various commitments at the parish and in the diocese. The Lord was slowly opening a new chapter of the book of her life, and she responded with generosity. She was part of the Lay Mission Group for Latin America, an organization interested in helping missions in Brazil and Bolivia.

When Fr. Ruggero Fattor arrived in her town of Fiera, he introduced her to the Lay Volunteer International Association (LVIA), a group of young volunteers established in 1966 that helped immigrants in Germany and France. The guiding principles of this association were the sharing of our faith through love; the person of Jesus as Messiah and Good News for humanity; the generous self-giving and charity work among the unfortunate of society; and the willingness to discover attitudes and cultural situations of people of the earth, trying to respond to their needs through personal involvement and projects.

She was enthused by this mission group, for it gave her the chance to be a missionary in a particular way. She took part at the introductory course of LVIA during the Summer of 1974, and lived with people much younger that she was.

She was chosen to be part of the “Group Rumeza,” which consisted of six volunteers who would spent sometime in Burundi. Catina was 53 years old at that time, and she finally reach Burundi one year later, on March 1975, welcomed by the Xaverian Missionaries and Fr. Fattor, her mentor.

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