Monsignor Lionello Berti was born in Sant'Agata di Reggello, Tuscany, Italy, on September 10, 1925, and was ordained to the priesthood at the young age of 22 through the Missionary Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, on June 20, 1948. He was successively named assistant of the Acli and of the Società Operaia following his ministry next to numerous workers within several industrial estates across Naples.
In obedience, in 1957, together with other five Oblates, Berti left Italy to work as a missionary in Laos, a peninsula with over three million inhabitants, which two years earlier had obtained its independence from Indo China.
The Oblates of Mary Immaculate were present in Laos since 1935, but their mission proved difficult. However, the named six Italian Oblates managed to develop a rapid change, such that in 1963, was erected the Vicariate of Luang-Prabang, of which Berti was appointed as the First Apostolic Vicar on March 1, 1963. Msgr. Berti had already received his episcopal consecration with the Titular See of Germanicopolis on August 26, 1962, shortly after his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Vientiane at the early age of 36.
The missionaries in Laos, which counted only to fifteen presbyters, faced a hard apostolate, mainly due the Communist influences in the country. When Luang-Prabang was left under the care of Bishop Berti, it counted only 80 Catholics. During his short episcopate, the number rose to a thousand, during a most difficult period, on the eve of revolution, through ethnic differences between the Vietnamese and the Thailandese. The Inter–Religious Dialogue between the Catholics and Buddhists in Laos was ultimately interrupted in 1975 during the revolution. The named dialogue was introduced in Laos by Monsignor Marcello Zago OMI., at the time during which he served as Superior General of his Order and later as Bishop within the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Founder of the Ausiliarie di Maria Madre della Chiesa, Msgr. Berti managed to introduce several humanitarian activities among his people. On February 24, 1968, a small group of Catholics prepared to moved to Sayaboury, in order to seek refuge among the guerrillas, present across the mountains. Berti helped as hard as he could these families, seeking to move the refugee children from the Vietnam border to a more secure place and decided to accompany them on the plane which was going to lead them to their destination. However, somewhat mysteriously, the plane vanished during its route, somewhere over Mekong. The remains of the plane, where found some days later. From the 35 people of board, only 13 bodies where found identifiable. The others were severely burnt or eaten by wild animals. Eleven days later, the bishop's body was found floating on a nearby river without any sign of decomposition. He was only 42 years of age.
Monsignor Berti was buried in the chapel of the Seminary that he had built in Luang-Prabang. Around forty years later, it was believed that his tomb had been moved or destroyed after the Communists took power in 1975. The seminary had since become a provincial government building. During a visit to Luang-Prabang, two Priests, Angelo Pelis and Nicola Ferrara discovered the tomb intact in the former chapel which had been converted to a storage room for school supplies.
A delegation from Bishop Berti's home town of Reggello began negotiations to move the Bishop's tomb to a more fitting place with government officials in Luang-Prabang. They also launched a series of initiatives in memory of Bishop Berti to help needy people in Laos. An agreement in principle to move the tomb was reached at that time. However, when a high level delegation from the Diocese of Fiesole and the town of Reggello returned to Laos to move the bishop's remains, embarrassed local authorities told them that although all necessary permissions had been obtained the people in the villages around the site chosen for the bishop's new tomb were opposed. The local people are animists and believe that if the spirit of a non-cremated person passes through their land or is buried there it will cause a major catastrophe. This, in order to save the face of all concerned it was agreed to leave the tomb where it is and to turn the storage room into a fitting chapel and area where pilgrims can be received. So the bishop rests to this day in his seminary.
In obedience, in 1957, together with other five Oblates, Berti left Italy to work as a missionary in Laos, a peninsula with over three million inhabitants, which two years earlier had obtained its independence from Indo China.
The Oblates of Mary Immaculate were present in Laos since 1935, but their mission proved difficult. However, the named six Italian Oblates managed to develop a rapid change, such that in 1963, was erected the Vicariate of Luang-Prabang, of which Berti was appointed as the First Apostolic Vicar on March 1, 1963. Msgr. Berti had already received his episcopal consecration with the Titular See of Germanicopolis on August 26, 1962, shortly after his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Vientiane at the early age of 36.
The missionaries in Laos, which counted only to fifteen presbyters, faced a hard apostolate, mainly due the Communist influences in the country. When Luang-Prabang was left under the care of Bishop Berti, it counted only 80 Catholics. During his short episcopate, the number rose to a thousand, during a most difficult period, on the eve of revolution, through ethnic differences between the Vietnamese and the Thailandese. The Inter–Religious Dialogue between the Catholics and Buddhists in Laos was ultimately interrupted in 1975 during the revolution. The named dialogue was introduced in Laos by Monsignor Marcello Zago OMI., at the time during which he served as Superior General of his Order and later as Bishop within the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Founder of the Ausiliarie di Maria Madre della Chiesa, Msgr. Berti managed to introduce several humanitarian activities among his people. On February 24, 1968, a small group of Catholics prepared to moved to Sayaboury, in order to seek refuge among the guerrillas, present across the mountains. Berti helped as hard as he could these families, seeking to move the refugee children from the Vietnam border to a more secure place and decided to accompany them on the plane which was going to lead them to their destination. However, somewhat mysteriously, the plane vanished during its route, somewhere over Mekong. The remains of the plane, where found some days later. From the 35 people of board, only 13 bodies where found identifiable. The others were severely burnt or eaten by wild animals. Eleven days later, the bishop's body was found floating on a nearby river without any sign of decomposition. He was only 42 years of age.
Monsignor Berti was buried in the chapel of the Seminary that he had built in Luang-Prabang. Around forty years later, it was believed that his tomb had been moved or destroyed after the Communists took power in 1975. The seminary had since become a provincial government building. During a visit to Luang-Prabang, two Priests, Angelo Pelis and Nicola Ferrara discovered the tomb intact in the former chapel which had been converted to a storage room for school supplies.
A delegation from Bishop Berti's home town of Reggello began negotiations to move the Bishop's tomb to a more fitting place with government officials in Luang-Prabang. They also launched a series of initiatives in memory of Bishop Berti to help needy people in Laos. An agreement in principle to move the tomb was reached at that time. However, when a high level delegation from the Diocese of Fiesole and the town of Reggello returned to Laos to move the bishop's remains, embarrassed local authorities told them that although all necessary permissions had been obtained the people in the villages around the site chosen for the bishop's new tomb were opposed. The local people are animists and believe that if the spirit of a non-cremated person passes through their land or is buried there it will cause a major catastrophe. This, in order to save the face of all concerned it was agreed to leave the tomb where it is and to turn the storage room into a fitting chapel and area where pilgrims can be received. So the bishop rests to this day in his seminary.
Monsignor Lionello Berti was born in Sant'Agata di Reggello, Tuscany, Italy, on September 10, 1925, and was ordained to the priesthood at the young age of 22 through the Missionary Congregation of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, on June 20, 1948. He was successively named assistant of the Acli and of the Società Operaia following his ministry next to numerous workers within several industrial estates across Naples.
In obedience, in 1957, together with other five Oblates, Berti left Italy to work as a missionary in Laos, a peninsula with over three million inhabitants, which two years earlier had obtained its independence from Indo China.
The Oblates of Mary Immaculate were present in Laos since 1935, but their mission proved difficult. However, the named six Italian Oblates managed to develop a rapid change, such that in 1963, was erected the Vicariate of Luang-Prabang, of which Berti was appointed as the First Apostolic Vicar on March 1, 1963. Msgr. Berti had already received his episcopal consecration with the Titular See of Germanicopolis on August 26, 1962, shortly after his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Vientiane at the early age of 36.
The missionaries in Laos, which counted only to fifteen presbyters, faced a hard apostolate, mainly due the Communist influences in the country. When Luang-Prabang was left under the care of Bishop Berti, it counted only 80 Catholics. During his short episcopate, the number rose to a thousand, during a most difficult period, on the eve of revolution, through ethnic differences between the Vietnamese and the Thailandese. The Inter–Religious Dialogue between the Catholics and Buddhists in Laos was ultimately interrupted in 1975 during the revolution. The named dialogue was introduced in Laos by Monsignor Marcello Zago OMI., at the time during which he served as Superior General of his Order and later as Bishop within the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Founder of the Ausiliarie di Maria Madre della Chiesa, Msgr. Berti managed to introduce several humanitarian activities among his people. On February 24, 1968, a small group of Catholics prepared to moved to Sayaboury, in order to seek refuge among the guerrillas, present across the mountains. Berti helped as hard as he could these families, seeking to move the refugee children from the Vietnam border to a more secure place and decided to accompany them on the plane which was going to lead them to their destination. However, somewhat mysteriously, the plane vanished during its route, somewhere over Mekong. The remains of the plane, where found some days later. From the 35 people of board, only 13 bodies where found identifiable. The others were severely burnt or eaten by wild animals. Eleven days later, the bishop's body was found floating on a nearby river without any sign of decomposition. He was only 42 years of age.
Monsignor Berti was buried in the chapel of the Seminary that he had built in Luang-Prabang. Around forty years later, it was believed that his tomb had been moved or destroyed after the Communists took power in 1975. The seminary had since become a provincial government building. During a visit to Luang-Prabang, two Priests, Angelo Pelis and Nicola Ferrara discovered the tomb intact in the former chapel which had been converted to a storage room for school supplies.
A delegation from Bishop Berti's home town of Reggello began negotiations to move the Bishop's tomb to a more fitting place with government officials in Luang-Prabang. They also launched a series of initiatives in memory of Bishop Berti to help needy people in Laos. An agreement in principle to move the tomb was reached at that time. However, when a high level delegation from the Diocese of Fiesole and the town of Reggello returned to Laos to move the bishop's remains, embarrassed local authorities told them that although all necessary permissions had been obtained the people in the villages around the site chosen for the bishop's new tomb were opposed. The local people are animists and believe that if the spirit of a non-cremated person passes through their land or is buried there it will cause a major catastrophe. This, in order to save the face of all concerned it was agreed to leave the tomb where it is and to turn the storage room into a fitting chapel and area where pilgrims can be received. So the bishop rests to this day in his seminary.
In obedience, in 1957, together with other five Oblates, Berti left Italy to work as a missionary in Laos, a peninsula with over three million inhabitants, which two years earlier had obtained its independence from Indo China.
The Oblates of Mary Immaculate were present in Laos since 1935, but their mission proved difficult. However, the named six Italian Oblates managed to develop a rapid change, such that in 1963, was erected the Vicariate of Luang-Prabang, of which Berti was appointed as the First Apostolic Vicar on March 1, 1963. Msgr. Berti had already received his episcopal consecration with the Titular See of Germanicopolis on August 26, 1962, shortly after his appointment as Auxiliary Bishop of Vientiane at the early age of 36.
The missionaries in Laos, which counted only to fifteen presbyters, faced a hard apostolate, mainly due the Communist influences in the country. When Luang-Prabang was left under the care of Bishop Berti, it counted only 80 Catholics. During his short episcopate, the number rose to a thousand, during a most difficult period, on the eve of revolution, through ethnic differences between the Vietnamese and the Thailandese. The Inter–Religious Dialogue between the Catholics and Buddhists in Laos was ultimately interrupted in 1975 during the revolution. The named dialogue was introduced in Laos by Monsignor Marcello Zago OMI., at the time during which he served as Superior General of his Order and later as Bishop within the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
Founder of the Ausiliarie di Maria Madre della Chiesa, Msgr. Berti managed to introduce several humanitarian activities among his people. On February 24, 1968, a small group of Catholics prepared to moved to Sayaboury, in order to seek refuge among the guerrillas, present across the mountains. Berti helped as hard as he could these families, seeking to move the refugee children from the Vietnam border to a more secure place and decided to accompany them on the plane which was going to lead them to their destination. However, somewhat mysteriously, the plane vanished during its route, somewhere over Mekong. The remains of the plane, where found some days later. From the 35 people of board, only 13 bodies where found identifiable. The others were severely burnt or eaten by wild animals. Eleven days later, the bishop's body was found floating on a nearby river without any sign of decomposition. He was only 42 years of age.
Monsignor Berti was buried in the chapel of the Seminary that he had built in Luang-Prabang. Around forty years later, it was believed that his tomb had been moved or destroyed after the Communists took power in 1975. The seminary had since become a provincial government building. During a visit to Luang-Prabang, two Priests, Angelo Pelis and Nicola Ferrara discovered the tomb intact in the former chapel which had been converted to a storage room for school supplies.
A delegation from Bishop Berti's home town of Reggello began negotiations to move the Bishop's tomb to a more fitting place with government officials in Luang-Prabang. They also launched a series of initiatives in memory of Bishop Berti to help needy people in Laos. An agreement in principle to move the tomb was reached at that time. However, when a high level delegation from the Diocese of Fiesole and the town of Reggello returned to Laos to move the bishop's remains, embarrassed local authorities told them that although all necessary permissions had been obtained the people in the villages around the site chosen for the bishop's new tomb were opposed. The local people are animists and believe that if the spirit of a non-cremated person passes through their land or is buried there it will cause a major catastrophe. This, in order to save the face of all concerned it was agreed to leave the tomb where it is and to turn the storage room into a fitting chapel and area where pilgrims can be received. So the bishop rests to this day in his seminary.
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