The Changemaker

Fr Michele D’Annucci with children. The Italian Stigmatine missionary, who was murdered in 2001, is the subject of a book of tributes titled Masusumetsa, also the honorary name the priest had been given. It means “The Changemaker”. The book is reviewed here by Peter Sadie, who knew Fr D’Annucci.
Reviewed by Peter Sadie
MASUSUMETSA: Fr Michele D’Annucci CSS – Tributes to a Martyr of Charity. 2022.
How did one diminutive Italian Stigmatine priest leave such an amazing legacy in the lives of so many people?
Masusumetsa, a book of tributes published two decades after the priest’s violent death, is a testimony to the faith and courage of Stigmatine Father Michele D’Annucci, a modern disciple on fire with the love of God for his brothers and sisters.
Fr Michael, as he was widely known in the Pretoria communities he served, was given the honorary name Masusumetsa, which means “The Changemaker”. He was murdered on December 8, 2001, in a hijacking after visiting a family in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria.
This book of loving tributes by many in Fr Michael’s community of believers shines a light on how his passionate service changed their lives in so many different ways. It was lovingly co-edited by journalist Daluxolo Moloantoa and the priest’s niece Donatella D’Annucci, with a foreword by Southern Cross editor Günther Simmermacher.
It includes tributes by, among others, Stigmatine Fathers Daniele Giacomelli,Gianni Piccolboni, and Charles Mittempegher, Chiro leader Caroline Motlhabi, and Cecilia Moloantoa, former director of the SACBC health department, as well as a homage by Nelson Mandela.
Fr Michael focused on building our youth in the spirit of Jesus through the Chiro movement. He touched the lives of countless young people who now play leadership roles in their parishes and communities. The priest recognised that education is a fundamental human right but refused to accept apartheid’s inferior standards. So, together with the Sisters of Mercy, he built Tsogo High into the leading high school in the region.
He was a chaplain to the medical students at Sefako Makgatho Health Science University (SMU) in Pretoria; they today serve the sick in public and private health services around South Africa.
I remember as a 19-year-young student looking into Fr Michael’s gentle brown eyes as he explained that we could change our world. Often he would say, “Buhle, buhle”, which he translated, in his thick Italian accent, as “zloowly, zloowly” — though, fortunately, Fr Michael never went slowly himself.
Fr Michael focused on marriage preparation in Garankuwa and built a solid foundation for a stable family-life through Marriage Encounter. He also saw mentally disabled children stagnating, hidden from the public in their homes, and recognised the need to build a special school for them at Bethesda House.
Whenever the trade unions and civic activists needed a place to meet for organising opposition to apartheid, they knew they were welcome in Christ the New Man Centre in Garankuwa.
Fr Michael had a special passion for the Small Christian Communities (SSCs) which, when ignited with the Gospel, had a transforming impact on their parish life. We discovered that when we evaluated the impact of the 1989 Pastoral Plan after the first three years. By then there were over 5000 SCCs in the Southern Africa pastoral region. He was a servant leader who challenged the laity to take seriously our vocation to the universal priesthood, to bless the lives of those we live and work alongside.
He recruited the youth to build homes for the destitute during their school holidays, equipping them with skills and, perhaps more importantly, a sense of compassion with which to direct these skills.
Yet he was a mindful project manager, watching over how the resources of time and materials were utilised to achieve quality for the poor, through his building company, Ka Bonako Construction. He was strict and would send home any youth who didn’t take their service seriously.
Fr Michael made his home in South Africa for 34 years, building the local Church with haste before his untimely murder. But, as this commendable book shows so clearly, two decades after his death, Fr Michael’s spirit lives on in the hearts of so many who knew and grew to love this brave missionary.
Who is lifting the baton that this faithful martyr carried, right up to his last breath?
Masususmetsa can be ordered from Daluxolo Moloantoa at or WhatsApp 067 057-0991
Published in the August 2023 issue of The Southern Cross magazine
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