HONG KONG (SE): Father Filippo Comissari of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions [PIME], died on October 15, returning home to the house of the Lord. He was 91-years-old.
Born on 6 February 1931 to a deeply faithful Christian family in Crevalcore, Bologna, Father Comissari entered the diocesan seminary in Imola where he completed his studies of philosophy and theology. He was ordained a priest on 26 May 1954 and worked for two years as an assistant parish priest in Borgo Tossignano [Imola].
In October 1955 he joined the PIME Institute and made his final vow on 24 August 1956 before leaving for Hong Kong where he arrived on December 3.
After two years of language studies, he began his missionary duties. However in March 1959 he fell ill and had to return to Italy to recover. In 1961, he was back in Hong Kong. He was rector of the Caritas Centre in Tsuen Wan from 1962 to 1967 and committed himself to the apostolate with young Catholic workers.
In 1967, he attended a year-long course on spirituality at the Gregorian University in Rome, then in 1968, he was appointed spiritual director at the Holy Spirit Seminary, in Hong Kong. In 1970 he was called back to Italy as to be rector of adult vocations, in San Ilario, Genoa, until 1973, when he returned to Hong Kong after he was elected regional superior of local PIME community.
In 1977 Father Comissari attended the PIME General Assembly, where he was elected one of the assistants general, serving until 1983. He was than appointed rector of the missionary nursing home in Rancio, Lecco. In 1987, during some vocational ministry, he fell sick and needed some cure and rest.
In June 1990, he returned to Hong Kong and, after refreshing his Cantonese, worked as assistant parish priest in St. Margaret Parish, from 1991 to 1997, when he was appointed rector of PIME House.
He remained at PIME House, with temporary periods of ministry in other places, until 2017, when due to serious health issues [bladder cancer], he returned to Rancio, in Italy. His health gradually deteriorated but without serious danger. Unfortunately, however, after recently recovering from Covid-19, he suffered a sudden collapse that led him to his eternal reward on October 15.
Father Comissari had a very kind and friendly personality, always ready to serve others. He was connected to the Focolare Movement, which he knew since 1956. He joined it in 1967 and helped found its first men’s centre in Hong Kong in 1970. His spirit of love and service was manifested, first, towards his family, when he donated a kidney to his ailing brother Giorgio, and then this extended to the community and to society, he lived in. Another brother, Leo, was a missionary to Brazil, where he was killed trying to get young people out of criminal gangs.
