By Gianni Criveller
On 5 December 2020, the Diocese of Hong Kong will celebrate the jubilees of priests and religious. Among them, 92-year-old Father Mario Marazzi of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) is celebrating the 60th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. It is also marks the 60th anniversary of his arrival in Hong Kong (October 1960). An entire life dedicated to mission in Hong Kong, China and in Italy.
The beloved PIME missionary is still in great shape. He continues, with his signature-simplicity and generosity, his precious service to the mission. It is simply impossible for anyone who has come across Father Marazzi not to love and admire him.
Born in the splendid lake village of Mandello del Lario, Como, north Italy. He joined the PIME at the age of 24 and was ordained in 1960, when he was 32. Assigned to the then-British colony of Hong Kong, he learned spoken Cantonese and written Chinese very well.
Hong Kong was a destination for more than a million refugees from China. The Catholic Church was engaged in a titanic effort of assistance and evangelization. Father Marazzi, along with other PIME missionaries, was on the front line. “Charity,” he wrote, “is the best way to make the gospel known. Many people came to faith because they were touched by the love of the missionaries and Christians in Hong Kong.”
Bishop Francis Xavier Hsu assigned Father Marazzi to the Catholic Centre, founded years earlier by PIME Father Nicola Maestrini, from where he was able to reach out to a large number of people.
In 1978, Father Marazzi was elected superior of the PIME missionaries in Hong Kong. However in 1980, he had to return to Italy and remained there for nearly 20 years, with a brief interlude in Hong Kong in 1984, shortened by illness.
In Milan, he was in charge of the Peoples and Cultures Museum at the PIME Missionary Centre. He put his heart and soul into the work of reorganising the museum and today ir the flagship of PIME, a place of great prestige in the heart of Milan, committed to education and to the promotion of dialogue with religions and cultures. Hundreds of visitors, especially students accompanied by their teachers, visit the every day. The process initiated by Father Marazzi resulted in a splendid outcome.
Even when busy in Milan, Father Marazzi’s heart remained in Hong Kong and China. “My wish was to return to my mission. Chinese people are my family. I insisted with my superiors to return to China.” Finally in 1999, at the age of 71, he returned to Hong Kong and he still could communicate fluently in Cantonese.
“I resumed activity in St. Francis parish in Tsuen Mun. I was very happy, especially since I was among people. Then I realised that I could and should change something.” He recognised that it became possible to live in mainland China, albeit without exercising any missionary activity. He felt called to a life of silent and hard-working witness, living in simplicity among the people.
He moved to Guangzhou in 2003: “I lived in Guangzhou for 10 years at Huiling, a foster home, a non-government organisation that assists people with mental disabilities. Huiling had six boys and girls from 25 to 45 with a woman as the person-in-charge who acted as guide and mother. I was as a volunteer at Huiling. The woman, together with other Huiling operators, will decide to embrace the Catholic faith,” Father Marazzi wrote in his diary.
“Living with persons with disabilities has changed me profoundly. I went to Guangzhou with the intention of helping, and sure, I did help. Nevertheless, I have received much more. People with disabilities know how to love and to relate to others. That helps the rest of us understand how fundamental relationships are for us, human beings. I also learned from them the importance of ‘wasting time,’ i.e. to appreciate spending time with people just for the sake of being close to them, without looking for anything in return… doing what they do, even things that I considered a waste of time: watching television, walking, playing, listening to others even when you don’t feel like doing it. And this is, pretty much, the most beautiful thing I have learned in 10 years of life in a family home in Guangzhou.”
In 2013, at the age of 85, Father Marazzi moved back to the PIME House in Hong Kong.
I conclude with the words of gratitude from Father Marazzi: “My life and everyone’s life is worth as much as we live for others. I am happy offering myself in the service of people. From the windows of my room, I can look at the sea. And my mind goes back to the ship that 60 years ago took me to this strip of beautiful land. How many good things have happened in all these years! How many reasons to be grateful to so many people and to God!”
