Ten years after his death, the family and PIME remember Father Giovanni De Franceschi, who died suddenly on May 1, 2014, in the Ivory Coast. A collection of over 1,700 proverbs of the Baulé people by him
His memory is always alive in the hearts of those who knew him: from 1975 to 2014 Father Giovanni was a missionary in Ivory Coast, with brief intervals spent in Italy. A book was also published in memory of him which collects a selection of one hundred baulé proverbs of the over 1,700 he had patiently collected.
«For me, inculturation is a question of love – wrote Father Giovanni – because “one sees well only with the heart”, as the Little Prince said. It means loving one’s native culture first and foremost, and loving the culture of the people to whom one is sent who, for me, were the people bowler. Love led me to have new eyes with which to approach their culture. I tried to “make myself one” with i bowler, and “to make myself everything to everyone”, as Saint Paul suggests. And the first step was to become their disciple to enter their soul, first of all learning their language.”
Here is the memory of her sister, Sister Valentina:
«Humble, simple, reserved, patient person. Ten years after his sudden death, Father Giovanni’s words come to mind, his homilies, his recommendations in the various circumstances of holidays or anniversaries that were never missing.
Great was his desire that love and unity be lived in harmony with the words of Jesus: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (Gv 15,12). “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you” (Gv 15,9). He knew how to build relationships with everyone: with Christians, Muslims, the poor and people of culture.
Among his many writings we remember the collection of almost 1,700 proverbs in the Baulè language (100 of which were also posthumously translated into Italian in his memory) and the biblical passages used in the liturgy to make the Word of God easier and more understandable. He identified with the spirit and in the body of the baulé people whom he loved so much but, above all, blessed by God. All this can be understood by reading the last book he wrote: “The Africa I love”.
He built a church dedicated to Saint Anthony of Padua and other reception and meeting facilities for Christians, he gave his life for his African brothers and is now buried on Ivorian soil. From Heaven he certainly continues to love us and protect us. May God the Father, in his goodness, reward him for all the good he has done among us.