Father Giuseppe Lafavia, CPPS,  died on April 12, 2014. Father Giuseppe was born in Gavignano, Roma, on November 15, 1926. He entered the seminary of Albano in 1940 and was ordained a priest on July 15, 1951. His first assignment was in Santeramo in Colle. In September 1954, he was appointed the Formator of the Novitiate (Special Formation Year), in Giano. Other communities where he has served the Congregation have been in Bari; in Rome, Saint Gaspar Parish and Body and Blood Parish, in which in 1991 he welcomed Pope John Paul II who was there for the Pastoral Visit. After being Pastor in Ancona, in 1998 he was asked to go to Albano where on October 21, 2000 he became the first rector of the newly erected Diocesan Shrine of Saint Gaspar. He was the rector of the Shrine until his death.

We give thanks to God for the gift of Father Giuseppe’s life and priesthood given to the Congregation. Let us pray for his soul, confident that God has already welcomed him into his Kingdom. The funeral mass was been presided by the bishop of Albano, on 14 April. He has been buried in Gavignano, in the tomb of his family, close to his brother Father Luigi Lafavia, CPPS, and his uncle Father Giuseppe Volpicelli, CPPS.

Text and photo by Fr. Oliviero Magnone, CPPS, Provincial Director of the Italian Province