On Saturday 19 February 2011 in Shillong the Diocesan Enquiry for the beatification of the Servant of God Fr Constantine Vendrame (1893-1957) was concluded.
Presiding at this occasion was the Archbishop Dominic Jala SDB. Among those present, in addition to the members of the Tribunal and the Vice Postulator Fr Mawrie Barnes Lister, were Fr Angelo Granziera, parish priest of Colle Umberto and San Martino di Colle Umberto - in the Province of Treviso, Italy – who in these years has built up a fraternal friendship and collaboration with the Salesian missions of North-East India, and Mons. Tarcisio Bolzan, parish priest of Susegana, in the Province of Treviso, who was born and baptised in the parish of San Martino di Colle Umberto, where the Servant of God Fr Constantine Vendrame grew up as a boy, who has been appointed to present the documents of the process at the Congregation for the Causes of Saints where the Roman stage of the Enquiry will be conducted.
Constantine Vendrame was born at San Martino di Colle Umberto, in the Province of Treviso, on 27 August 1893. In 1913 he entered the Salesian novitiate at Ivrea. After gaining some experience at the oratory in Chioggia, he did his compulsory military service which further tempered his character. In March 1929 he was ordained priest, and in October received the missionary crucifix in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians. At 31 years of age he left for India. In the space of five years the parishes entrusted ministry grew in an extraordinary manner the number of baptisms increasing from 400 to 1449.
He worked especially in the North-East of India. He constantly visited the villages, meeting the people and the children: he made himself one of them building up human contacts. He went into the houses of the poor and the sick helping them, listening to them, and after he had become their friend he spoke to them about Jesus and his life. He appreciated the importance of women in the culture of the Khasi. Like Don Bosco, always in the vanguard of progress ha made use of the mass-media to evangelise the villages, showing the film of the life of Jesus. Many people attended these shows and immediately afterwards asked to be baptised.
Fr Vendrame concentrated on the formation of lay catechists who would evangelise the communities and accompany him on his travels. As a good Salesian he cultivated the festive oratories and taught hundreds of children. He also took Christianity to the Hindus, the Muslims and others so that he was compared to Saint Francs Xavier or Saint Paul. He was extremely humble and very prayerful: he always seemed to be in union with God. Very devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, he built two churches, one at Malawai and another at Wahiajer. He died on 30 January 1957 in the Dibrugarh hospital.
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