Book in Memory of Slain Salesian Missionary Tribute to Fraternity of Tunisians: Officials

The Eucharistic celebration in memory of the Polish-born Salesian was presided over by the Archbishop of Tunis, Ilario Antoniazzi, with officials of the Polish embassy in the country in attendance.

More memorial activities were held on February 17 at the Salesian-run school of Our Lady in Manouba of the Catholic Archdiocese of Tunis where the Polish missionary ministered for four years and “where he left works and indelible memories in many people.”

The 34-year-old Polish missionary was murdered on 17 February 2011 during the Tunisian ‘Jasmine Revolution,’ an intensive 28-day civil resistance movement that led to the ousting of the then President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and subsequent democratization of the country.

The body of the missionary who had arrived in the country in 2007 was found in a storage room within the school the next day, 18 February 2011.

“The crime, committed by a person who knew Fr. Rybinski and who is currently serving a life sentence, took place for economic reasons, without the slightest religious or political motive,” officials of the 161-year-old Religious Institute say in their February 17 report.

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An account by Agenzia Fides, the information service of Propaganda Fide, indicates that the Salesian Cleric was hacked to death by a 45-year-old carpenter identified as Chokri Ben Mustapha Bel Sadek Mesteri after a misunderstanding over money.

The suspect had reportedly asked Fr. Rybinski for a loan of 2,000 Tunisian dinars (about US$737.00) to buy some equipment for some work he had been assigned to undertake.

The carpenter is said to have used the money for other purposes other than the intended one and upon the Salesian missionary asking him for a refund, he attacked him “repeatedly hitting him hard with a blunt object on the head and neck.”

“That tragic episode greatly shocked Tunisian and international public opinion and certainly the sacrifice of this missionary of Don Bosco (who) fertilized the Tunisian Church in its journey lived together with the Muslim people, who have always expressed much solidarity and gratitude for the gift of life made by the Polish missionary to the land of Tunisia,” SDB officials say in the February 17 report.

In the weekend following the Cleric’s death, an estimated 15,000 people took to the streets in Tunis to protest the murder. Among them were parents and students from the school who brought flowers, cards and photographs as they mourned Fr. Rybinski.

For the leadership of SDB, the solidarity and fraternity of Tunisians is “a gesture that has not been forgotten.”

Marking the tenth anniversary of the death of Fr. Rybinski, SDB members in Tunisia have made the commitment to, through education, “contribute to the growth and maturation of a people who have embarked on a tiring but necessary path towards democracy and the common good.”