Celebrating Missionary Fr. Luis Bolla

10 years after Fr. Bolla’s death, Salesians gather around his presence and mission

(ANS – Lima – February 9, 2023) – Ten years have passed since the death of Fr. Luis (Luigi) Bolla, an Italian Salesian, missionary among the indigenous people of Ecuador and Peru, now a Servant of God. Those who knew him still remain fascinated by his figure, bewitched by his style, his presence, his words, his narratives, his songs, and even more, captivated by his way of being with God.

On Feb. 6, on the 10th anniversary of his birth to Heaven, Fr. Manuelo Cayo, current provincial of Peru, Fr. Juan Pablo Alcas, appointed next provincial, and many concelebrants, members of the Salesian Family, and many faithful celebrated the anniversary in the basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Lima and in various places throughout Peru.

In the basilica of Mary Help of Christians, during his homily, Fr. Cayo referred to Fr. Bolla’s missionary work. He recalled his personal journey of conversion and his total dedication to missionary work, seeking to respond to God’s call in the oratory formed by his people.

During the Mass, some of Fr. Bolla’s most cherished objects were also presented, such as his tabernacle, the Chankín – the feather crown he wore on his head for celebrations – one of his journals, and boots still soiled with mud.

Fr. Jesus Jurado, vice postulator of Fr. Bolla’s cause of beatification, thanked the faithful for their presence in the basilica and asked them to share and disseminate his life as a model of missionary sanctity. “We’ve asked ourselves,” Fr. Jurado began in his brief speech, “where did he draw so much strength to be in the solitude of the woods with his Shuar and Achuar sons? An entire life in the forest! We were impressed by his stories, vivid and powerful as only he could describe them. We have no doubt, but rather the certainty that it was a Voice, and a Voice with a capital ‘V,’ which he heard and listened to. In the oratory chapel, he heard the voice of God. ‘I was entering the chapel of the oratory in Schio,’ Fr. Bolla himself narrated, ‘when I heard the Lord saying to me, “You too will be a priest and a missionary.”’”

In 2019, the Church began the process of beatification and canonization of Fr. Bolla, which is why he now qualifies as a Servant of God. “Surely, if he were alive, he would be angry: ‘Saint on the altars? Please, no!” Fr. Jurado comments further. “But holiness on the altars is not the work of human beings; it is a gift of God’s love to humanity.”

Ten years after his departure for Heaven, “Yankuam’ Jintia,” (The light of twilight, as his beloved Achuar natives called him), still continues to shine.