Farewell, Fr. Nicola!

Farewell, Fr. Nicola! 

In these days another of the founders of our Mission has gone, Fr. Nicola. 

I prefer to leave the biographical note Fr.Saverio, Provincial, wrote: 

"Yesterday, Monday 18 November 2019, the Lord called to himself the soul of Fr. Nicolò. He had been hospitalized only the day before in the Voltri Hospital, and his condition had immediately become very serious, due to renal insufficiency and heart problems.

Fr. Nicola di Gesù Maria (Francesco Ellena) was born in the province of Cuneo, in Rossana near Saluzzo, on 3 November 1923, and had therefore recently celebrated 96 years with the community of Arenzano, where he resided. 

He had entered the novitiate at Mount Carmel of Loano, and had made his first profession on 8 September 1941. After completing studies in Genoa he completed his theological studies in Rome, where he had been ordained a priest on 22 May 1948, along with 5 others of our Province: Fr. Angelico, Fr. Camillo, Fr. Ignazio, Fr. Leopoldo and Fr. Girolamo, who preceded him on entering the heavenly Jerusalem. 

Fr. Nicola was a true Teresian missionary, enthusiastic about announcing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who still did not know him. For this reason, when our Province still did not have a mission of its own, at a very young age he was available to leave and participate in the mission in Japan, to which he had dedicated his young forces for seven years, from 1951 to 1958. 

Once back in the Province, he was situated for some time in Loano, then he was transferred to the Desert of Varazze, and finally to the parish of S. Pietro in Savona. 

But the call of the mission was always very much alive in his heart, making him immediately ready and willing to leave to found the mission that our Province had decided to open in the Central African Republic, in 1971. From that date forward Fr. Nicola remained in Africa for more than 40 years, tying his name above all to the foundation and consolidation of the parish of Bossentelé. Long years of simple, humble but constant pastoral activity, in collaboration with the Carmelite Sisters of St. Teresa of Turin.

At the threshold of ninety years he returned to Italy, to Arenzano, not to rest, but to devote himself with the same enthusiasm as always to the Ministry of Confession, never tired despite his age. And just as he was in the confessional, in March of last year, he was struck by an ischemia, which marked the beginning of a slow but inexorable physical decline, cared for with love by the confreres of the community, until the last moment. The most vivid memory I have of recent times was his attitude during the Eucharistic celebration, in which he participated with true and profound devotion. 

The funeral will be celebrated on Thursday 21 November, at 2.00 pm, in the Sanctuary of Arenzano. 

In the Central African Republic, where I am visiting, we have accompanied these last days with prayer, and Fr. Aurelio is trying to organize a memorial Mass in Bossentelé, on December 6th ”.   

Goodbye Fr. Nicola! Go in peace, after so many years of work!