Report on the Virtues of Fr. Constantine Vendrame

Delivery of the Report on the virtues
of the Servant of God Fr. Costantine Vendrame, SDB

(ANS – Vatican City – Sept. 25, 2023) – The Report on the Life, Virtues, and Reputation for Holiness of the Servant of God Constantine Vendrame, professed priest of the Society of St. Francis de Sales, was delivered to the Congregation of the Causes of Saints in the Vatican on September 19, 2023.

The relator (reporter) Report (“Positio”) was Fr. Szczepan Tadeusz Praskiewicz, OCD, the postulator Fr. Pierluigi Cameroni, postulator general of the Causes of Saints of the Salesian Family, and Dr. Lodovica Maria Zanet from the general postulation office was collaborator. Structural elements of the Report – which presents  the entire documentary and witness evidence concerning the virtuous life of the Servant of God in a developed and detailed way – are a brief presentation by the relator; the Informatio super virtutibus, that is, the theological part in which the virtuous life of the Servant of God is demonstrated; the two Summariums with the witness and documentary evidence; the biography based on the documents; the final sessions and the iconographic apparatus.

After delivery, the Report will be examined by the theological consultants of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. It will be studied by the cardinals and bishops of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints: these developed stages of study and evaluation will allow the Supreme Pontiff, in the event of a positive outcome, to declare Fr. Constantine Vendrame “Venerable Servant of God.” It will then take a miracle attributed to his intercession to open the way to beatification.

This news has given rise to great joy, both in India, in particular in Shillong, where the great missionary distinguished himself for his apostolic and evangelizing work, and in Colle Umberto (Treviso), his birthplace, where for some years a group of people has been dedicated to promoting the cause of the Servant of God, who distinguished himself for his apostolic zeal as a “conqueror of souls,” so much so that he was called St. Francis Xavier of Northeast India.

Fr. Vendrame was born in San Martino di Colle Umberto (Treviso) on August 27, 1893, in a poor family with solid Christian values, tried by illness and a number of deaths. Constantine felt his vocation to the priesthood very young and entered the seminary belonging to the diocese of Ceneda (Vittorio Veneto) in 1908, then – in 1912 – joined the Salesians because of his love for the missions. A novice in 1913, temporary professed in 1914, and perpetually professed in 1920, he was formed to religious life through practical training. World War I saw him as an exemplary soldier faithful to his vocation. Ordained on March 15, 1924, in Milan, on October 5 he received the missionary crucifix in the basilica of Mary Help of Christians at Turin. He then left for Northeast India (Assam) and reached Shillong on December 24, 1924.

A missionary (and almost always a parish priest) in Laitumkhrah Shillong, Jowai, Wandi-wash in Tamil Nadu (South India), and finally Mawkhar Shillong (from 1951 to his death), he walked immense distances to reach the most distant souls: he became poor among the poor and touched the most hardened hearts, accepting with a smile the wear and tear of toil and the dangers of the apostolic life. He attracted thousands of souls to Christ and to the Church; Muslims and Hindus respected him as a true man of God. A forced interruption during World War II – an Italian citizen on the soil of the British Empire, he was confined with many others first in the custody of the Gurkhas, then in Deoli, finally in Dehra Dun – and in that apparent immobility demonstrated a strength that consoled and supported others.

Affected by osteoarthritis including in the spine and suffering from excruciating pain that would cause him to faint, he spent the last months in total offering of self, hospitalized in Dibrugarh, where he died on the eve of the feast of St. John Bosco, January 30, 1957. The funeral was a triumph of faith and gratitude. His was a widespread reputation for holiness and signs, and he was compared to St. Paul, St. Francis Xavier, and St. Vincent de Paul.

It was said of him, “Let us remember Fr. Vendrame as a priest, who loved us with the heart of Christ, warm and human, strong and faithful, ready to give his life for us.”