FR SECUNDUS ZANETTI , SJ (1839-1930)

Fr Secundus Zanetti, SJ

Fr Secundus Zanetti had what is perhaps the unequalled record of celebrating the Diamond Jubilee both of the priesthood and of his life as a Jesuit- 68 years of the first, and 66 years of the second!

This is certainly extraordinary. But then, Fr Zanetti was an extraordinary person. Even in the dead pages of his biographical sketches, he rises like a colossus! His life spanned 91 years- full, fervent and fruitful years were they all- forty-eight of which he spent in the Mangalore Mission. What we the Jesuits of the present Karnataka Vice province owe to him cannot be easily written down in a few pages. Part of the debt goes also to Fr General Beck, who sent him to India expressly to open a novitiate at Mangalore and to be its first novice master. He had a rich, dynamic personality and seemingly limitless vitality. He used his many and varied talents to the full, in a variety of offices, to the glory of God and in the service of the people.

Secundus Zanetti was born on 8th December 1839, in Brescia, Italy. He did his studies in the local seminary, and was ordained priest in June 1862. Two years later he joined the Society of Jesus in the temporary novitiate of Verona, but owing to political troubles he had to go into exile to Tyrol, where he pronounced his First Vows and where, together with other Fathers, Scholastics and Brothers, he had to endure many privations and inconveniences. From here too they were driven out in 1873, and they settled in France where they were left undisturbed for seven years.

But in 1880, the notorious Jules Ferry Law forced the community to leave France and to pass over to Spain. Fr Zanetti made his Final Profession in the new Spanish House. Just over a year later he sailed for India and arrived in Mangalore together with two Brothers. He was Novice Master and Superior of the Seminary, and later also Rector until 1896. It was during his rectorship that Fr Diamanti undertook and completed the construction of the main building of the Seminary and its Church. And it was during this time too that the Catechumenate was remodeled; new sheds erected for the orphans, and the arts and crafts introduced for their support.

He began the novitiate with fifteen novices, all of whom persevered in the Society until death. He held this responsible post for thirteen years.

This was only a small part of his great achievements. We have but to go through the list of offices he held, to have an idea of the many talents and the consuming zeal that Fr Zanetti possessed.

In Mangalore he functioned as novice master for thirteen years and for eight of them also as Rector of the Seminary. He was spiritual director in Valencia, Spain, in Laval, France, and in Mangalore, first in the Seminary and then at St Aloysius College. He was Parish Priest in Tellicherry, Cannanore and Calicut, in all for a period of about seventeen years. For seven years he was Director of the Association for the Propagation of Faith. He has the credit of being the first Director of both the Apostleship of Prayer and of the Marian Sodality. At the Provincial Council of Bombay, he was the Theologian of Mgr. Pagani.

This is undoubtedly a staggering array of offices! And all of them he performed with characteristic thoroughness, efficiency and zeal. An extract from a biographical sketch in the “Unitas" of 1930 gives us some glimpse of the heart of this great man:

When giving retreats, both to religious and to the diocesan clergy, Fr Zanetti instilled into his hearers an ardent love for their vocation, great reverence towards superiors, exact observance of their rules, and most of all of obedience. He tenderly loved all those, and they were many, who were entrusted to his care. In his breviary and other books of devotion, written lists have been found of those who were for some time his penitents, a fact which shows that he was accustomed to pray daily for them.

He used to spend before the Blessed Sacrament all the time which was not devoted to the occupations given to him by holy obedience or undertaken by his zeal.

In his work, Fr Zanetti had acquired a high degree of regularity and method. His exhortations, sermons and instructions, delivered in about forty years of sacred ministry, were all tied together in separate packets, each bearing title and date. He had even kept the record of the letters and postcards which he wrote, bearing a serial number, till the last weeks of his life down to 19th January 1930".

He died on 20th February, after an illness that was short but borne with Christian fortitude. He has been called by an observer, one of the Silent Builders of the Mission."

This above material is taken from the book "Restless for Christ - Lives of Select Jesuits who toiled in the Karnataka Province" Series - III