Father Silvano Garello, S.X.: A Relentless Advocate and Producer of Christian Literature in Bangladesh - 2

Father Silvano Garello, S.X., looking at a photo of Father Mario Veronesi, S.X., who had been killed in 1971 by West Pakistani soldiers at Jessore, Bangladesh. He wrote about Father Veronesi in several of his books.

Father Garello in front of some of his published items in Dhaka

Effort for Setting Up Small Religious Libraries Among the Catholics

Father Silvano Garello, with Father Pio Mattevi, S.X., Director of the National Social and Catechetical Training Centre in Jessore, Bangladesh, has been striving for the last few years and have been successful in getting small religious libraries established in some Catholic parish houses, Religious Communities houses, youth hostels, Catholic NGOs, Religious Formation houses as well as in private homes. So far, about 100 such libraries exist. These libraries buy and collect books on the Bible, catechesis (teaching of religion), liturgy and prayers, spirituality and meditation, Mariology, Papal documents, Lives of Saints, Catholic faith, and the like.

Since 1973, Father Garello has been writing articles and books in Italian, too. His articles appeared in Fede e Civilta (Faith and Civilization, which later got renamed Missionari Saveriani (Xaverian Missionaries), Populi e Missione (People and Mission), and Mondo e Missione (World and Mission) -- all published from Italy.

He also contributed for some photography books on Bangladesh (published in Italy), provided commentary in some Italian documentary films, and produced some colour slide programmes for Italian schools. 

Father Silvano Garello’s Italian-language books, published in Italy 

1.       Morire tra gli oppressi: testimonianza evangelica di Mario Veronesi missionario in Bangladesh (Dying Among the Oppressed: an evangelical witness of Mario Veronesi, a missionary in Bangladesh), Bologna: EMI (Editrice Missionaria Italiana), 1973.

2.       Morte e vita in Bangladesh: diario liberazione (Death and Life in Bangladesh: a diary on the liberation [of Bangladesh in 1971]), Bologna: EMI, 1974.

3.       Il Pozzo Profondo (The Deep Well) (a biography of Father Valeriano Cobbe, S.X. killed in Bangladesh in 1974), EMI, 1975.

4.       Cento villaggi per Serafino: Serafino Dalla Vecchia  (Hundred Villages for Serafino: Serafino Dalla Vecchia) (work of Father Serafino Dalla Vecchia, an apostle to the muchis or Rishis – leather workers – in Bangladesh), Parma: Missionari Saveriani, 1978.

5.       Alla ricerca dei Cristiani in Cina (In Search of Christians in China), (a travelogue), EMI: 1978.

6.       Sotto il sole, sotto la pioggia: vita missionaria in Sierra Leone (Under the Sun, In the Rain: missionary life in Sierra Leone), EMI, 1979.

7.       La strada di Titute: P. Giambattista Collini, missionario in Cina e Sierra Leone (The Road to Titute: Father Giambattista Collini, a missionary in China and Sierra Leone), EMI: 1979.

8.       Dalla foce alle sorgenti del Gange (From the Mouth to the Source of the Ganges River) (missionary experience in Bangladesh and Nepal), EMI, 1984.

9.       La tigre ingrate e alter favole del Bengala (The Ungrateful Tiger and Other Tales of Bengal), (a selection of Bengali tales for the Italian children), EMI, 1988.

1.      La campana ferita (The Wound Bell), (travel in Tibet and discovery of the ‘Bell of Lhasa’), Vicenza: Esca, 1987.

1.     Breve viaggio nella Perestroika (A Short Trip to Perestroika), (travel to new Russia), Vicenza: Lief, 1988.

1.     Bangladesh terra del Servo sofferente (Bangladesh: The Land of the Suffering Servant), Vicenza: Lief, 1988 and 1992.

1.     Sapore di Vangelo Bengalese (The Taste of the Bengalee Gospel), (the transforming power of the Gospel in Bangladesh), Vicenza: Lief, 1992.

1.       Braccia spalancate e cuore trafitto: la testimonianza evangelica di P. Mario Veronesi missionario in Bangladesh (The Open Arms and Pierced Heart: the evangelical testimony of Father Mario Veronesi, a missionary in Bangladesh ), Vicenza: EMI, 1996.

1.      Una pagina del prodigi di Dio (One Page of the Wonders of God), (life of Blessed Guido Maria Conforti, founder of the Xaverian Missionaries), Parma: Missionari Saveriani.

1.     Il pozzo Profondo: L’Avventura bengalese di p. Valeriano Cobbe (The Deep Well: Father Valeriano Cobbe’s Adventure Among the Bengalees), (he was killed in Bangladesh in    for his interreligious farmers’ cooperative work), EMI: New Edition, 1997)

1.     Dietro a lui correndo, zoppicando. Sentieri di Missione in Asia (Behind Him Running, Limping: Paths of Mission in Asia), (ways of missionary activities in Asia), Brescia: CSAM, 2001.

1.     La storia di natale (The Christmas Story), Padua: Imprimedia Edizioni, 2004. (This book has been translated and published in Bengali, too).

Father Silvano Garello’s achievement is the production of the sheer volume of Christian religious and spiritual books and publications in varied categories. He is an example of an ardent publisher in face of many constraints – irregular flow of finance, paucity of properly-groomed local manpower for the print media, lack of required support from Church personnel -- in Bangladesh. His books have creative designs in production and a high quality of printing and binding. He will go down in local Church history as a person who wanted to zealously evangelize in all corners of the country using locally-produced Christian literature, when there’s still a dearth of such literature in Bangladesh.

(The End)