By Arnold Neliba

Born on June 13, 1922 in Verbania, the Feast Day of St Anthony of Padua, on the shore of Lake Maggiore, north-west of Milan, Italy, and about 40 km from Locarno in Switzerland, Fr Antonio Bianchi is the oldest Consolata Missionary in the world having clocked 100 years in 2022.

Fr Bianchi joined the Consolata Missionaries 83 years ago at the age of 17.

“I didn’t know 83 years ago that I would meet so many people around me celebrating with me a life which I chose to live.  I was 17 years old when I entered Consolata 83 years ago.  Well I got sicknesses in every bone but I have always been happy.  I found superiors who are very understanding and very cooperative, supplying for my weaknesses.”

He was ordained a priest for the Consolata Missionaries on August 15, 1945, after the end of World War II in Europe.  He has worked in different countries notably Portugal and Kenya, and currently resides at Consolata Kenya/Uganda Regional house in Westlands, Nairobi.

Fr Bianchi arrived in Kenya in 1955 aged 33, during the country’s struggle for independence. He had initially been posted to Ngandu, Murang’a, at the time a volatile << Read More >>