Mali - "Vincent whispered in my ear: 'This Salesian is like Don Bosco'": a testimony on Fr Antonio César Fernández
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28 February 2019

(ANS - Sikasso) - "I met Father César in August 1992, when he had just arrived at the Salesian novitiate in Lomé, in Togo. He himself, as a Novice Master, came to see me at the airport. I was struck by his physical appearance: thin, athletic, he had a very simple suit and was always wearing sandals. His first words of welcome were sweet and warm, accompanied by a beautiful smile and an attentive gaze."

by Fr Denis Soro, SDB

We were two young Ivorians from Abidjan: me and Vincent. Spontaneously, Fr Cesar became interested in us, as if he had been waiting for us for a long time: the details of our journey, the conditions in which we had traveled, if we were tired ... Vincent then whispered in my ear: "This Salesian is like Don Bosco." As a result, we immediately felt wel received and welcome to that foreign city, where we had gone for the first time.

The family character and his sincere concern in discovering the best of the lives of others gave meaning to the rigor and the need of life that he animated. He sought perfection, both for himself and for his recipients. His great heart led him to live his life and responsibilities with passion.

His many years as a formator, as Master of Novices (10 years), forged a heart in him attentive to the pastoral care of vocations. He awakened and accompanied many vocations, both in society and in the Church: married couples, seminarians, religious and priests.

I keep the memory of a person who was passionate about the Gospel of Christ: not only a faithful messenger-announcer, but precisely he who burned with the desire to put it into practice in his personal life. We knew him with his personal "great Bible" that he took on his trips and that he filled with his many personal notes, fruit of his daily meditations.

Father César cultivated and witnessed in his personal life the value of evangelical poverty. Always humble, he devoted himself to manual work on the farm, in the vegetable garden, in construction, painting and cleaning.

He had a great concern for contextualized inculturation. I hold in my heart the beautiful testimony of these "rare missionaries" who fully embrace the culture and the soul of the people whom they evangelize. Fr César made his their language, their piety, culinary art and the wisdom of the Togolese people.

Father César is not dead! He was violently torn from us!

His pastoral passion for the youth of Ouagadougou, especially those of the Vocational Training Center, and the pastoral projects he led, are still alive.

Blessed are you, Lord, for the beautiful and exemplary life of Father César. May the blood of Father César, poured into African soil, be the seed of Christians and of vocations at the service of the Kingdom of Love.

InfoANS

ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication, the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007.

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