Martyr in Burundi

Chapter 6. Sharing the Good News

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Fr. Todeschi, Msgr. Bududira and Fr. Ottorino Maule during an outdoor entrance procession with the people they loved

Father Marangone once more recalls his friend: “In 1991, I saw him arrive in Buyengero, the new mission next to mine, which had been built thanks to the efforts of Father De Cillia. He was rather worn out after his six years as superior in Italy, yet he set about visiting one by one the many hills in his parish with Father Modesto. They formed prayer groups, volunteer catechists, and preached the Word of God. Calmly, without any fuss, but with a clear and coherent plan, the two priests cultivated their people’s spiritual welfare. In their commitment to the people, they reached a deadly conclusion: they had to take a stand against injustice in order to limit the damage it caused.

The forbidden phrase was spoken: Christians had to get involved in politics. When I heard Father Ottorino speak like this during a meeting of priests in Bururi, I felt afraid”.

Father Maule, instead, was not afraid to speak of politics. He dreamed of a party that would represent and defend the persecuted majority. “If in a country one group makes up 85% of the population, that country surely belongs to this majority”, he once said.

These were revolutionary ideas. Even for a frightened Church like the one in Burundi. Father Maule placed his hope in the first democratic elections held in June 1993; he was present at them as an observer. Naturally, the Hutu majority won. However, three months later, chaos returned: the President was assassinated and the civil war started again in which 100,000 people died, and hundreds of thousands became refugees.

In 1994, another Hutu President was elected and he, too, was killed shortly afterwards. The blood of priests, sisters, and catechists was also shed; the ex-dictator Bagaza returned from exile and began his persecution campaign once again.

Fr. Maule and Fr. Todeschi in front of the church of Buyengero, Burundi

A Church built on Faith

Father Maule built the parish church of Buyengero. In the words of Father Marangone: “The project was entirely his, from the planning to the execution stage everything was the fruit of his love and his faith. He took ill with hepatitis A and it seemed his strength would abandon him. He never let it defeat him, and would wait for an episode of tiredness to pass before getting back to work with his usual methodical approach”.

However, there was another church that he wanted to build, this time in the consciences and in the hearts of the people of Burundi. That was the reason that had brought him to Africa, a missionary and a prophet, and that was why he told the young boy, who asked if the missionaries would be leaving, that they had decided to remain with the people, even if it cost them their lives. Staying in Burundi meant siding with the weak against powerful and violent people. They stood up for justice and peace against injustice and war.

Father Todeschi comments: “When the soldiers committed some injustice, we refused to pretend that nothing had happened; instead, we demanded explanations from them and this annoyed them. Various military authorities, knowing that we were outspoken in our criticism, kept a close watch on us and tried to get us on their side. They were particularly irritated by something that Father Ottorino was in the habit of saying: that, if the soldiers really wanted peace, they should withdraw because they, and not the people, were the only ones responsible for the deaths that had occurred in the area”.

If the soldiers really want peace, they should withdraw because they, and not the people, are the only ones responsible for the deaths that had occurred in this area.
Fr. Ottorino Maule

In November 1994, a public peace meeting was held. Father Maule was present and he repeated his accusations against the army. The meeting decided to ask the President to pull the army out of their territory. Just 48 hours later, Fathers Maule and Todeschi were stopped at a road block. They were forced to get out of the car, which was searched. Some days later, Father Maule was taking a sick young man to the mission. The soldiers stopped him, detained the boy and beat him until he went mad. During the night of November 14-15, the soldiers killed five herdsmen, among whom were two young sons of a Tutsi soldier.

To cover up what they had done, the soldiers rounded up and killed about fifteen men. The radio then broadcast the news that they were terrorists who had been killed as they attacked the soldiers and that the two Tutsi boys had been killed accidentally in the crossfire. Father Maule and Father Todeschi did not stand by this: “We knew that there had been no attack or any fighting and that innocent people had been killed”.

Too Good, too Generous

Another 48 hours passed and the soldiers held a kind of trial against the Xaverians who had not been invited to the meeting. The soldiers were especially annoyed with Father Maule. They asked the governor of Bururi to expel him and no one said anything in his defense. However, nothing came of this meeting and calm returned.

Father Todeschi remembers those days: “Father Ottorino often spoke of the possibility of a vendetta. We even joked about it and then agreed that, should anything happen, we preferred to be buried as poor people among the poor. Why was so much hatred directed at Father Maule? Why did they viciously attack a prophet of peace? The answer is that this is the natural outcome whenever a servant of the Gospel took his commitment seriously in a country such as Burundi. Jesus himself had warned his disciples that he was sending them out as sheep among the wolves”.

Father Todeschi continues: “Perhaps the impact of his social activity annoyed someone local. His extraordinary work in building schools, churches, the dispensary in Muzenga, the bridges, the road to Zingati, the sale of metal sheets for the roofs was praiseworthy on the one hand but, on the other, some people accused him of taking away from them the opportunity to do good business”. In short, Father Maule was too good, too active and too generous. He was a courageous man, and a nuisance that had to be killed, sooner or later.

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