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June 9, 2018
Sr. Giacinta Vanotti CMS was born on 26 August 1927 in Berbenno, Diocese of Bergamo; she passed away on 5 June 2018 in Bergamo.
Sr. Giacinta Vanotti served in the Vicariate for 53 years (1950-2003). Right after her novitiate, she was in the first group of 8 Comboni sisters sent to Aden in 1950 to take over the schools formerly run by a French congregation. She remained there for 23 years and had to leave with all the others at short notice when the priests and sisters were expelled and the schools nationalised.
The remaining 30 years of her missionary life were spent in Bahrain and Dubai; for several terms she served as superior of the community. In Bahrain she divided her time between Sacred Heart School - for many years she was the principal - and catechetical work in the parish. In St. Mary's Dubai she was the first catechism coordinator for the parish and St. Mary's Catholic High School. In 1993, Bishop Gremoli appointed Sr. Giacinta as the Director of Catechetical Formation for the whole Vicariate.
At the end of 2003, Sr. Giacinta and Sr. Idangela were transferred to Italy. Sr. Giacinta did not sit idle but wrote her notes on the development of the Church in the Arabian Peninsula and the activities of the Comboni Missionary Sisters in the Vicariate since 1950.
Her personal chronicle did not end up in the archives but was published in an attractive 64-page booklet with many photos (Le Suore Missionarie Comboniane nel Vicariato Apostolico d'Arabia, a cura di Flavia Salvi, Bergamo 2004).
Testimony:
"Sr. Giacinta was among the first to arrive in the Vicariate and had a special gift for children and teaching, was dedicated to faith formation at all levels, attended courses and congresses, developed catechetical programmes and instructions for catechists. She was a quiet person, passionately dedicated and highly competent; I asked her to speak to the priests in the annual meeting. She understood more about pastoral theology and post-Vatican II developments than most priests."
(Bishop Gremoli, Farewell of Srs. Idangela and Giacinta, December 2003)