Nairobi, 23 April, 2024 / 7:48 pm (ACI Africa).
Fr. Antonio Bianchi, reportedly the oldest member of the Institute of Consolata Missionaries (IMC), who “passed away in his sleep” at the Consolata Regional House in Westlands in the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN) has been remembered as a Priest with passion for the Eucharist and love for “people without segregation”.
In his homily during the Funeral Mass for the late Italian-born Priest, who was to turn 102 years on June 13, Bishop Hieronymus Emusugut Joya of Kenya’s Maralal Diocese said Fr. Bianchi showed the “secrets of fighting the battle of faith and remaining faithful to the end in our vocation and ministry.”
“In consecrated life and missionary work, Fr. Bianchi has had a good struggle, efforts and contention without quitting or giving up and that is why he had died faithfully,” Bishop Joya said Tuesday, April 23 at the chapel of the Consolata Cemetery Mathari in the Catholic Archdiocese of Nyeri in Kenya.
The Kenyan-born IMC member said that in the 78 years that his late confrere served as a Priest, he “faithfully preached the word of God and administered the Sacraments that sanctified many.”
“The secret of this man was the love of the people without segregation. His second secret was the love of the Eucharist. (Fr.) Bianchi, even in hospital, could not go without the blessed Sacrament. He built his life in the Eucharist,” Bishop Joya said.
