Passed over to the Father

Br. Sisto Zarpellon

Br. Sisto Zarpellon, OFM Cap. died on January 2, 2017. After studying education at the University of Padua, he was an enthusiastic formator, teacher, and president of seminaries in Rovigo, Thiene, and Verona. For twenty years (1995-2014) he was spiritual father at our International College ‘San Lorenzo da Brindisi’ in Rome and a minister of the limitless mercy of God. Many young friars appreciated him as a guide on their journey of faith because he assisted them in a particular way by his useful advice. He was a tireless preacher and animator of retreats for men and women religious, priests. He even served as the announcer of the Sunday gospel on the television program, ‘Friar Sisto’s Counsels.’ He returned to his Province in 2014, to the fraternity of the inter-provincial postulancy in Lendinara, with the mission of confessor.

Br. Benitius Brevoort

On January 16 we lost Br. Benitius Brevoort, OFM Cap., who was 78 years old.  Ethnically Dutch, but born and raised in Indonesia, Br. Ben, as we was affectionately known. He made perpetual profession in the Capuchin Order in Indonesia in 1960 and was General Assistant to the Secular Franciscan Order and Franciscan Youth for twelve years (1990-2002). Following this he served as guardian in the General Curia and of the friary in Garbatella, Rome. For some years he had been back in Indonesia, in his Province of Medan, where he was busy with Christian-Islamic dialogue, translations, interpreting, and many other things. He was very knowledgeable in informational technology and in the study of languages, and had spent time at the Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies from 2006 to 2008, where he earned a licentiate in Arabic and Islamic Studies with a thesis on Al-Ghazali.