Sisters of Our Lady Help of Christians (Salesian Sisters)
Father Cimatti came to Japan in 1926 and began evangelizing in Miyazaki. He soon realized that the Church's missionary activities needed
the help of religious sisters, so he asked the Sisters of Our Lady Help of Christians,
which Don Bosco had founded in Italy, to send sisters to evangelize Japan.
Towards the end of 1929, six sisters arrived in Miyazaki, led by Sister Letitia Belliatti.
Their duties included caring for the girls at the church, performing in the oratorio, and after they had mastered a little Japanese,
gradually taking on roles such as working at a kindergarten.
Father Cimatti prepared a place to welcome the sisters, visited them many times, encouraged them,
and made many sacrifices to ensure that they had everything they needed, both materially and spiritually.
In a letter to the General Superior of the Society of Our Lady Help of Christians, Father Cimatti wrote:
"I want to work for the sisters sent to Japan like Father Rinaldi. Please rest assured.
I have that feeling in my heart, but I wonder if I can really do it?" (Father Rinaldi was a man who showed a very generous heart to the Society of Our Lady Help of Christians).
The Sisters of Our Lady Help of Christians carried out various activities in Miyazaki and eight years later went to Beppu,
and Father Cimatti wrote about his feelings at the time in his personal diary.
"Today marks the day when the Sisters of Our Lady of Help of Christians truly leave Miyazaki, a place that has been so fruitful for them,
after all, they devoted themselves so devotedly to evangelizing! It pains me, but I can only be grateful. May God's will be fulfilled."
Caritas Sisters of Miyazaki
At that time, the Miyazaki Church took care of the city's elderly and orphaned children, and opened a relief center.
Young women working under the head priest of Miyazaki Church, Father Antonio Cavoli, had come to help at the workhouse.
The group of women belonged to the religious community of Vincentio a Pauli.
They went to nursing homes and cared for the elderly and babies, but they never dreamed of becoming religious or sisters.
On July 19, 1933 (the feast day of Vincentio a Pauli),
Salesian Miyazaki wrote these words in it's diary:
"On this day, Father Cimatti gathered women working at the nursing home and, during a three-day retreat,
he spoke about the need for a new religious order in Miyazaki."
Father Cavoli was in Italy at the time (1933-34), and when he returned in 1934, Father Cimatti, as parish priest of Miyazaki, confided his plan to him.
Father Cavoli was given the task and encouraged to carry it out.
On August 28, 1937, at Miyazaki Church, with Father Cavoli in attendance,
a ceremony was held for five women from the group to become religious sisters, presided over by the parish priest, Father Cimatti.
These five ladies became the foundation of the Miyazaki Caritas Sisters, now the Caritas of Jesus.
Cimatti Museum
Father Marsiglio
August 6, 2025
Go to the index page of Father Cimatti's life
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