The news was announced by the Salesian Institute shortly before 10 am: “Dear brothers and sisters of the Salesian Family,” reads the statement, “it is with deep sadness that we announce the death of Fr Eugenio Riva, Rector of the San Bernardino Salesian Institute in Chiari. We celebrate in faith his return to the Father’s House, where he can finally enjoy eternal peace. With awareness and serenity, Fr Eugenio thus completes his earthly pilgrimage and we entrust him to the Lord’s mercy”.
Fr Riva, who turned 75 on 29 December last year, had been ill for some time. His farewell to his final community comes precisely on the 100th anniversary of the Salesian presence in Chiari, celebrated last Sunday with Mass at Chiari Cathedral and broadcast for the occasion on Rai 1 – the first national channel.
The chapel of rest has been set up in the church of San Bernardino at the Salesian Institute (Via Palazzolo, 1) from 4.00 pm (UTC+1) on Sunday 22 March. On the evening of Monday 23 March, from 8.00 pm, a wake will take place in the same church.
The funeral will be celebrated by the Rector Major of the Salesians, Fr Fabio Attard, on Tuesday 24 March at 2.00 pm, in the Don Elia Comini Hall of the Salesian Institute.
A life entirely devoted to the Salesian mission
Fr Eugenio Riva was born on 29 December 1950 in Treviglio, into a family of farming origins, the eldest of four siblings – the others being Mario, Gianluigi and Luisa. From childhood he knew Don Bosco thanks to his attendance at the town’s Salesian oratory and his father’s teachings, who would project short films about Don Bosco’s dreams onto the walls of their home. Whilst his brothers Mario and Gianluigi attended secondary school at the Salesian school in Treviglio and his sister Luisa at the Canossian Sisters’ school, little Eugenio was taken by his mother to the aspirantate in Chiari. “For me there was only Don Bosco,” he would say in a public testimony on 31 January 2026.
Once he had decided to become a Salesian, he did his novitiate in Missaglia and on 16 August 1968 he made his religious profession.
After completing his classical studies in Nave and undertaking his internship first in Varese (1971–1972) and then in Chiari (1972–1974), he graduated in Philosophy from the Catholic University of Milan in 1975; he then undertook theological studies at the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy, whilst serving as an assistant in the Salesian houses in Milan. On 27 May 1978, he was ordained a priest in Treviglio and subsequently sent to work as a teacher and youth leader at the Social Works in Sesto San Giovanni.
Endowed with a rare critical and speculative intellect, cultivated through a systematic and profound study of art history, philosophy and theology, Fr Riva was appointed in 1981 to head the newly established Paul VI Study Centre in Nave. He remained there until 1994, when he was appointed Rector of the Don Bosco Centre”in Treviglio.
In the exercise of his leadership, Fr Riva was able to demonstrate his most notable qualities: a life of profound piety, an extraordinary sensitivity towards the care of children and young people, and an openness of heart and mind towards his confreres, especially those most in need of encouragement and protection. From that point onwards, the service of authority would be what the Congregation would continually call upon him to provide.
From 1999 to 2005, he served as Superior of the Italy-Lombardy-Emilia Province (ILE); then, following a one-year stint as Rector of Nave, he served as Superior of the Italy-North East Province (INE) from 2006 to 2012. Then, following the two-year period from 2012 to 2014, once again as Director of Nave, from 2014 to 2020 he served as Superior of the UPS Vice-Province, where he personally took charge of the complex and delicate healthcare situation that arose during the pandemic.
Upon returning to his home province, he first oversaw the closure of the house in Pavia (2020–2021) and then that of the reborn – thanks largely to him – house in Chiari, which he leaves in the centenary year, an event of which he was the driving force.
