A moment without a specific role?
At the age of 70, Fr Cimatti retired from his provincial position and began living the ordinary religious life of a Salesian.
The Turin superiors and his successor decided to reward Fr Cimatti for his 25 years of hard work by allowing him to spend some time without any special duties.
At that time, one of the members wrote the following in a letter to Father Cimatti:
"Father, you have worked hard for the Japanese members and grown older. It is only natural that you should take some time off now."
However, this was not what Father Cimatti wanted. He lived with the seminarians in Nerima until the end of 1949, and the following year,
in 1950, the seminary moved to Chofu, where Father Cimatti also lived.
His life as a priest involved timetables, study, prayer, work, all the priestly apostolic duties, and working with and for the seminarians.
Furthermore, since Chofu Theological Seminary was also a junior college, he was also tasked with organizing and cataloging the books in the library.
The seminary also had a novitiate. When the novitiate director suddenly disappeared, Father Cimatti ended up taking on that role as well.
He also took on the responsibility of leading the annual retreat for the Salesian Sisters.
With all that work under his belt, can it really be said that Father Cimatti is "taking a break"?
Let us examine Father Cimatti's feelings at the time. He expressed these thoughts in a letter he sent to his foreign superiors.
"I want to be forgotten by everyone. Here I await in silence and hope a decisive encounter with God.
My desire is to learn to pray and to obtain the graces of humility and purity of heart."
Let's hear from members who shared this time together.
A teacher at Chofu Theological Seminary shared his memories of Father Cimatti in these words:
"I remember Father Cimatti taking down dusty books from the shelves and writing the titles and authors' names on identification cards.
He was a man of great seriousness who had led the Japan Province for 25 years."
There are also words from a Chinese person who heard Father Cimatti speak at a retreat.
"I met a real Salesian. The story was a pure Salesian story."
One seminary student in Chofu wrote:
"Father Cimatti was the oldest member of the congregation, but he was never exempt from the activities of the community.
He would sit in the refectory opposite the monks who were working in the fields, and he would always chat with them naturally and joyfully."
Here are some words from other seminarians.
"After dinner, we had a habit of walking outside the building for about 20 minutes.
We seminarians would always gather around Father Cimatti and walk while chatting with him.
However, sometimes we would meet the Rector walking alone. In those cases, Father Cimatti would say,
'I haven't said the rosary yet,' and we would all gather around the Rector."
There are also words from one practitioner:
"One of our roles was to wash the dishes after meals. Father Cimatti was not only always with us, but he also washed the dishes with us. We were very happy when he was with us."
Cimatti Museum Father Marsilio
August 6, 2023
Go to the index page of Father Cimatti's life
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