Rome (AsiaNews) – Fr Nicola Maestrini, dean of the Pontifical Foreign Mission Institute (PIME) who died in Lecco on 15 July, "was fully convinced of the importance of the media as an instrument to spread the concept and spirit of mission, as he was sure of the fundamental role of missionary animation and fund-raising." This is how Fr Guilio Mariani, secretary-general of the Institute, remembered this innovator missionary; he shared some reflections with AsiaNews about Fr Maestrini's extraordinary life.

Fr Nicola Maestrini, 98 years, was the dean of the Institute. He was born on 9 January 1908, in Cagli, Pesaro province, and he studied at the Roman Seminary. He entered PIME on 1 October 1925. Fr Maestrini was ordained by Cardinal Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster, who was later proclaimed a blessed, on 20 September 1930 in Milan, which he then left to go to his first destination: Hong Kong. He stayed there for 20 years, as parish priest of St Teresa's parish in Kowloon, founding the Catholic Centre and the Sunday Examiner, a diocesan newspaper that has been published weekly since its launch on 10 March 1946.

In 1950 he went to Japan, where he started two new PIME foundations, but he was soon assigned to the United States, appointed superior of what was then a quasi-region of the Institute. There, he opened a missionary centre together with two brothers: within a short time, there would be 40 members, with a seminary of 120 American students. He also set up Catholic Life, a magazine still published today under the title PIME World, which seeks to counter the famous magazine Life. 

In 1973, he moved to Tequesta, Florida, where he opened a new house, pressing ahead at the same time with his work of mission animation and fund-raising, which PIME missions around the world benefited from. During this time, he also wrote to AsiaNews, expressing his support and approval for the launch of the online edition. In February last year, he asked for and was granted a transfer to the house in Rancio di Leccio, where he died. 

"Fr Maestrini was fully convinced of his ideas and he always struggled to make them work," said Fr Mariani. "He was so convinced and so much in love with the missions, that despite the phenomenal results he obtained at the Roman Seminary [a classic Vatican "school of diplomacy"], he opted not to take up such a career. He always sought to educate youth to disseminate news, first of all by his example, so much so that he constantly encouraged his brothers to write and to spread the Catholic concept of mission through the media. He always stimulated us not to have any inferiority complexes, of whatever kind."

Fr Mariani himself, who worked with Fr Maestrini for about 20 years, was sent to the School of Journalism in Detriot, which he had to leave after six months because of needs that arose within the Institute, where he was needed to run the new houses that emerged in the USA.

He continued: "Naturally, he urged us to spread the Christian message through oral preaching too; he turned this into a cyclical and vital service. In fact, thanks to the Mission Cooperation Plan, to which he enthusiastically adhered together with the Institution, we traveled across the length and width of the country, preaching wherever we could."

"Besides information, he was convinced of the extraordinary importance of missionary animation and fund-raising: he often quoted St Teresa of Avila, who used to say: "Jesus and I can do many things, but Jesus, I and money can do everything." He became the friend and spiritual director of tycoons and important businessmen in Detriot [there was a joke about him that he was always about to take up the management of General Motors] but his priestly ministry and mission did not stop here: without fanfare, he was a man of charity with vulnerable and weak people, who he knew how to listen to, help and console."

A man of prayer, he had introduced the devotion of Our Lady of Confidence in the United States.

With the introduction of the Knights of Charity award, he proved to a pioneer because he foresaw one award for Catholics, another for Protestants and one for Jews too, anticipating the concept of inter-religious dialogue that would emerge years later in the Church.

Fr Mariani continued: "Another aspect of his work that should not be forgotten is the opening of seminaries of Oakland (New Jersey), Newark (Ohio) and Maryglade of Memphis (Michigan), where hundreds of youth have been educated since the early fifties. His writing work is also important: his books include 'Forever Love' and 'China: Lost Mission'."

The secretary-general of the Institute added: "He was aware that his ideas and the conviction with which he expressed them could give the impression that he was arrogant, but in reality they simply caught unawares those who listened to him because of the power with which they were expressed."