Everyone’s life is unique, a puzzle, a story that can never be repeated,” says the nearly 94-year-old priest born in Italy in 1929.
Father Vincenzo Carbone entered the seminary when he was 12 years old. “We were more than 400 seminarians. We used to attend class in a big hall, in silence. There was a classmate behind me who, every day, whispered jokes. Sometimes I could not contain my laughter, so the teacher would get angry and ask me to leave.”
While studying theology, Carbone came across the writings of a few missionaries and was influenced by their spirit, but the bishop refused to permit him to “betray” the diocesan seminary.
Father Carbone was ordained a priest on 29 June 1952, when he was only 23 years old. In the same year, surprisingly, the then-new bishop spoke with him and encouraged him to become a PIME missionary. On 27 November 1955, Father Carbone arrived in Hong Kong.
“On December 3, the feast day of Saint Francis Xavier, patron of the Missions, I began to study Cantonese with other PIME fathers, and Father Caruso was our teacher,” he recalls.
The Italian missionaries used to say that the Devil invented Cantonese to prevent them from spreading the Gospel among the Chinese, and Father Carbone soon realised there was no way to outsmart the Devil. “I remember myself sitting on the sidewalk next to a “cha cha building” and crying.”
You must be able to adapt to the new situation, to work with new people. It takes courage to leave and to start over every time. You need to accept humiliation, even be scolded by your secretary. I never wanted to impose my point of view. It is important to stay united and listen to each other
“Another day, I was in the chapel and seriously thought it was time to return to Italy. Suddenly I thought: I will not be a fluent Cantonese speaker, but I can be closer to the many simple people I see daily in the streets”. This thought gave him new motivation. His service in society and the Church in Hong Kong began after a year.
“You feel as if you were a kindergarten student, but you have the responsibility to be a parish priest and a school supervisor. It is a very strange situation that even the Holy Spirit cannot explain!”.
After nine years, in 1964, Father Carbone was called back to Italy to work in the PIME major seminaries until 1969. He served at the PIME’s General Directorate between 1972 and 1978, first as a regional superior and then as an assistant.
He returned to Hong Kong in 1978 after 14 years away. “Bishop Wu gave me less than two months to pick up my Cantonese again, then he sent me to Stanley.” Father Carbone received different appointments in many parishes in the past 40 years. He worked with different people, and thousands of people knew him.
In conclusion, he says, “You must be able to adapt to the new situation, to work with new people. It takes courage to leave and to start over every time. You need to accept humiliation, even be scolded by your secretary. I never wanted to impose my point of view. It is important to stay united and listen to each other.”
Father Carbone, sitting in the small room in St. Mary Home for the Aged, smiles with peace and gratitude! “I thank God because I have always been able to laugh and keep good humour!”
By Father Franco Bellati, PIME
