PIME: Death of Fr. Luigi Pezzoni, founder of the historic leprosy colony in Nalgonda
Nalgonda (AsiaNews) - Fr. Luigi
Pezzoni , a missionary of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME),
in India for over 50 years, died this morning in Hyderabad (Andhra Pradesh ). The
priest was 82 years old and was hospitalized a few days ago in a serious
condition. The
funeral will be held on November 15 in Nalgonda , where in 1973 he founded the Leprosy
Health Centre , a nursing home, healing and rehabilitation centre for leprosy
patients .
Born
in 1931 in Palosco , in the province of Bergamo, Fr. Pezzoni
entered the PIME seminary in Monza in 1950 and was ordained a priest in 1958. After
a first missionary service in Italy, in 1966 he was sent to India, where he
remained for the rest of his life.
The Leprosy Health Centre in Nalgonda was
established on his initiative in 1973. Over
the years, it has grown, with the help of the Franciscan Sisters of the
Immaculate Conception of Valencia. Today,
the center includes a school and a boarding school for 500 children, a
hospital, where 200 leprosy sufferers are in care, a textile laboratory and the
colony of Shanti Nagar , where - in houses with two rooms - about 100 leprosy
sufferers live.
In addition to the little children
living in the colony, Fr. Pezzoni
has extended its service to other villages in Andhra Pradesh, helping 3,500
children and 5 thousand leprosy patients. This
year, nearly 5 thousand poor children and children of patients received a
scholarship from the missionary.
Much
of the work at Leprosy Health Centre is possible thanks to the support of the Missions
Aid Office ( Uam ) in the PIME center in Milan. One of the latest projects
launched by Fr. Pezzoni
is the construction of a new hospital for the treatment of AIDS patients. It
will house 100 beds and have a day-hospital with assistance and distribution of
drugs to the sick. It will also include
a hostel for visiting students or internship. Initiated in
2012, the facility should be completed in 2015.
In
one of his last letters, dated August 2013, Fr. Pezzoni
writes: "We continue with our service of joy and love to all those who need
our help. And that's not all: every evening we recite the Rosary for everyone,
so that God may give His help to those who need it most".
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