American missionary couple was murdered in the troubled East African nation. Comboni missionary Father Luciano Fulvi was found dead in his room in the Layibi mission, outside Gulu, 360 kilometers (225 miles) north of the capital Kampala, the Missionary News Service Agency (Misna) reported Wednesday, March 31.
Misna said the killing may have been carried out by bandits who apparently climbed over the walls surrounding the missionary compound, where people often seek refuge to escape attacks by rebels of the feared Lord’s Resistance Army.
On March 18 American missionary workers Warren and Donna Pett and student Isaac were also killed by money seeking gunmen who raided their Esther Evangelical School of Technology in the village of Aringa, about 496 kilometers (310 miles) northwest of Kampala, Africa Inland Mission said.
Father Fulvi was originally from the Italian diocese of Pescia, in the province of Lucca. Misna said that a fellow priest at the mission noticed the Father Fulvi’s door was open after he went to bed on Tuesday night. The colleague called out to him, but getting no response thought he was asleep and shut the door.
POOL OF BLOOD
It was only the next day after Father Fulvi did not show up for mass and that neither his bicycle nor car had been touched, that this colleagues went to his room and found him lying in a pool of blood, Misna said.
Father Fulvi first arrived Uganda in 1956 and stayed until 1964 before continuing his work in England and Scotland. He returned to Uganda 1990 and stayed there to carry out pastoral services and teach young people, Misna said.
The priest lived through difficult times, including the outbreak in his region of the deadly Ebola virus in 2000 which killed scores of people.
"OPEN FOR EVERYONE"
However "he was extremely open and had a smile for everyone. He never feared the difficulties presented by missionary life, particularly in the dramatic context of North Uganda’s, said MISNA editor-in-chief Father Giulio Albanese, who met him in the Layibi mission around three weeks ago, along with a journalist.
With the death of Father Fulvi, 14 Comboni missionary Fathers and one Sister have been killed in the past twenty years in various circumstances in Uganda, Misna reported. Up to 4,000 priests and lay people are active for the Comboni Missionaries, an international Catholic group dedicated to spread the Gospel "and serving the poor, and working for the Reign of God."
The Comboni Missionaries were founded in 1867, by missionary priest Daniel Comboni (1831-1881), who was born in the small town of Limone sul Garda (Brescia, Italy). He struggled against the slave trade in Central Africa, set up centers for the education and training of Africans, and became the first bishop of Khartoum (Sudan), the organization said.
martyrs are not the only who were killed in namugongo but also an italian priest like this.
lets pray for their reward in heaven.
may his soul rest in eternal peace