Martyr in Burundi

Chapter 1. Sharing the fate of the people of Burundi

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Fr. Ottorino Maule - Sharing the fate of the people of Burundi

When you hear that I have been killed, please say a Mass for the repose of my soul”. These were the words that Father Ottorino Maule said to his friend Father Corrado Marangone who had warned him to be careful because his life was in danger in Burundi.

It was July 1995, and Father Maule was about to return to the strife-torn African country, where there was unending bloodshed and a civil war. He had just taken part in the Xaverian General Chapter and had said goodbye to his 89 year old mother Assunta for the last time. Just two months later, he would be killed with his confrere Father Aldo Marchiol and the lay volunteer missionary Catina Gubert, victims of the hatred of soldiers who forced them to kneel down before killing them in cold blood.

We are also inconvenient witnesses to the injustices perpetrated against the people and we have all been threatened as a result. At least our presence and protests against oppression and lies have somewhat hindered, or limited, the damage inflicted on the population. The people are grateful for this. We feel that it is important for us to remain here in this dramatic moment, to stand by the victims of violence, to at least try and help people materially and spiritually in whatever way we can. We believe that this is how the Lord wants us to carry out our mission at this particular time.
Fr. Ottorino Maule

Father Maule was prepared for martyrdom. On July 30, 1995, exactly two months before his death, his local diocesan newspaper published an article in which he said, among other things: “Last March, during a particularly tense period, the Italian government advised us to come home. Burundian radio had already broadcast this news and one can easily imagine the alarm this caused among the ordinary people! A boy asked me if the reports were true, and I immediately reassured him that we would be staying.

I still remember his happy face when he heard my reply! It is not easy to explain the reasons that lead the many missionaries to remain in the country in spite of the dangers they face. We live on a day to day basis, sharing the life and the destiny of the people we were sent to serve, to relieve their suffering, distribute help, give them some hope and help them believe that reconciliation is possible. At the same time, however, we are also inconvenient witnesses to the injustices perpetrated against the people and we have all been threatened as a result. At least our presence and protests against oppression and lies have somewhat hindered, or limited, the damage inflicted on the population.

The people are grateful for this. We feel that it is important for us to remain here in this dramatic moment, to stand by the victims of violence, to at least try and help people materially and spiritually in whatever way we can. We believe that this is how the Lord wants us to carry out our mission at this particular time”.

His priest friend had told him that he would die a martyr in Burundi, but Father Ottorino Maule was not the kind of man who shirked from danger. He was courageous and tenacious when standing up for the Gospel and the poor. His goodness and generosity would not allow him to abandon the people of Burundi to their fate; he was prepared to share that fate, even if it cost him his life.

October 22, 1967: The Maule family on the day of Fr. Ottorino's First Mass at his parish church

A Christian family

Ottorino Maule was born in Gambellara, Vicenza (Northern Italy), on April 7, 1942, during the Second World War. His was a very Christian family: four of his sisters became religious sisters and another brother became a missionary. On September 3, 1959, when he was 17 years old; Ottorino left the diocesan seminary in Vicenza where he had been studying and knocked on the door of the Xaverians in San Pietro in Vincoli, near Ravenna.

He made his first religious profession on 3 October 1960 and was finally ordained priest at the age of 25, on October 15, 1967. When he finished his basic theology courses one year later, he was sent to Rome where he obtained a degree in Liturgy. The Second Vatican Council had just ended and the young missionary was caught up in the climate of renewal and enthusiasm that had followed the Council.

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