Bondolfi, Pietro

BONDOLFI, PIETRO. - Founder of the Swiss Institute of Foreign Missions, commonly called of Bethlehem (v.). Born in Rome on 10 April 1872 to Swiss parents from Poschiavo; he did his classical studies in Venice and then at Einsiedeln, his theological studies at the seminary of Chur; a priest in 1896, he continued his studies at the University of Innsbruck and in Rome, earning a doctorate in canon law, then at Louvain, earning a licentiate in economic sciences. Having returned to his diocese, he was archivist of the Curia and in 1900 took up the care of souls at St-Moritz Bad. In 1907 he was sent by his bishop, Msgr. Battaglia, as visitor of the Apostolic School that had been opened at Immensee by the Savoyard priest Pietro Barral for the ecclesiastical and missionary formation of young people, and which was then going through a period of crisis. B. succeeded in saving the school and placing it on solid financial and moral foundations, developing the work, at first rather vague, into a true missionary society for the recruitment of Swiss vocations. For this purpose he traveled abroad, addressed appeals to the Swiss episcopate, created a nucleus of adherents and friends, and organized the internal life of the institution. In 1924 he was able to send the first three missionaries to China, and in 1929 he himself made the visit to the new mission entrusted to the society. Struck in 1931 by a serious illness, from which he was never to recover, he worked with faith and sacrifice for the development of his work until his last day, 27 June 1943.

Giovanni B. Tragella