Société des Missions Africaines –Province d'Irlande

né le 25 novembre 1924 à Julich dans le diocèse d'Aachen, Allemagne serment permanent le 12 juin 1949 prêtre le 14 juin 1950 décédé le 15 août 1996

1950-1954 Cambridge et UCC, études supérieures 1954-1959 collège de Ballinafad 1959-1968 missionnaire au Nigeria 1968-1972 Ballinafad et Wilton 1973-1975 missionnaire en Zambie, diocèse de N'Dola 1976-1978 Blackrock Road, Cork, 1978-1980 Rome, maison générale 1981-1988 Blackrock Road, Cork 1988-1995 diocèse de Plymouth, Angleterre 1995-1996 Blackrock Road, Cork décédé à Cork, Irlande, le 15 août 1996, à l'âge de 71 ans

Benvenuto Wolff was born in Julich, Rhild, Germany, in the diocese of Aachen, on 25 November 1924. He died at Marymount Hospice, Wellington Road, Cork, on 15 August 1996.

Benvenuto (Benno) was the eldest of eight children born to Dorothea Maria Engelbrecht and Karl Matthias Wolff. His father, born near Cologne, was one of a small group of musicians brought to Ireland from the continent in the early decades of the 20th century as part of a policy to improve the quality of liturgical music. Benno's mother came from East Berlin. Herr Wolff was appointed organist and choirmaster at Loughrea cathedral, in the diocese of Galway, in the year 1927, taking up residence first at Moore Street, Loughrea, and later on the Athenry Road. Benno was sent back to his native Germany for his secondary education, studying with the Salesians at Overbach (near Julich), in the Rhineland, between 1936 1939. The outbreak of the World War found Benno in Ireland on holidays and there could be no question of his returning to Germany. Instead Benno went to the Sacred Heart college, Ballinafad (1939 1941), completing his secondary education at St. Joseph's college, Wilton, in 1943. Benno's contact with the S.M.A. came through his father. In those days cathedral organists in Ireland were poorly paid and Herr Wolff supported his growing family by taking on pupils. He was retained by the S.M.A. to teach liturgical music at the Society's novitiate and house of philosophy, at Kilcolgan (Cloughballymore), not far from Galway, to which he cycled weekly from Loughrea.

In September 1944, having completed his leaving certificate, Benno entered the Society's novitiate and house of philosophy. He received his theological formation in the major seminary at Dromantine, Co Down, between 1946 1950. Benno was received as a member of the Society on 12 June 1949. He was ordained a priest by Bishop Eugene O'Doherty of Dromore diocese, in St. Colman's cathedral, Newry, on 14 June 1950. He was one of a group of eleven ordained on that day.

During his last year in Wilton (1943 1944) Benno attended U.C.C. and while in Kilcolgan he continued his academic studies in U.C.G. He was awarded an honours B.A. degree (Philosophy and Education) in 1946. After ordination Benno was assigned for further studies, spending the next three years at Cambridge University where he acquired a degree in Latin (1953). He spent the following year at U.C.C. (residing at Wilton) receiving his higher diploma in Education in June 1954. Now fully equipped for a teaching ministry, Benno was appointed to his old Alma Mater, Ballinafad, where he taught for the next four years.

On 17 October 1959 Benno took up a new appointment, becoming a staff member of St. John's secondary college, in the newly erected archdiocese of Kaduna in northern Nigeria. This school for boys, had opened in 1949 under the principalship of Jack O'Hara and had been built by Jimmy Holland. It had a student enrolment of over 200, and prepared students for the West African School Certificate (equivalent to the Leaving Certificate in Ireland). Benno joined a staff led by Patrick Mackle, and which included John O'Brien, Sean Rafferty and David Hughes. After eleven months in St. John's he was transferred to the staff of St. Malachy's teacher training college, which supplied almost all the teachers for the jurisdiction's large and growing network of elementary schools. Here the principal was Sean Canty and Benno served as his vice principal. Benno was to work in Kaduna archdiocese until November 1967 until he retired in poor health.

In January 1968 Benno resumed his duties at Ballinafad and during the following July served as interpreter for the Society's General Assembly held in Rome (he had excellent French, good Italian and, of course, German). In October 1969 Benno took up a new post, teaching students in the Society's house of initial formation, at Wilton. His classes introducing the students to the French language were particularly noteworthy. While enjoying his teaching in Cork, Benno was still anxious to return to Africa. Clearly his health would not withstand the rigors of tropical West Africa; however the Society had recently opened a mission the more temperate East, and it was to this mission the diocese of Ndola, in Zambia that Benno was appointed in January 1973. However after settling in well his health deteriorated and he was invalided home in August 1974.

After this disappointment Benno went through a lengthy period of ill health, during which there were few periods of relief. However, when well, he was anxious to get back to work and spent short periods attached to the promotion offices in Dromantine and Blackrock Road, and for a year (1977 1978) taught in a secondary school (Trinity School) in Cork. In October 1978, feeling stronger, Benno was assigned to the Society's Secretariat in Rome. He served here for a period of two years, after which he took a well earned sabbatical leave (spent with the Redemptorists at Marianella, Dublin). Next, in May 1981 he took up work in the Treasury at Blackrock Road, spending the summer of the next year in a parish in England. Benno remained attached to the Blackrock Road house until January 1988. During this time, as well as the activities mentioned, he served as Librarian, assisted in the public church, played the church organ, and taught French to the students in Wilton. He also did much translation work, rendering a most valuable service in translating from German into English a biography of Fr. Joseph Zimmermann, founder of the Irish Province (written by Fr. Joseph Schilliger, a relative of Fr. Zimmermann).

Benno spent the last years of his life as a pastor in the diocese of Plymouth. These were years of especial fruitfulness and happiness for him. He served briefly in St. John the Baptist Church, Newcomen Road, Dartmouth, then for a longer period at Redruth and, for the final four years, at Christ the King Church, Perranporth, Cornwall. In the summer of 1995, knowing that he was seriously ill, and no longer able to continue his ministry in his beloved Perranporth, Benno returned to Blackrock Road for treatment. He was always hopeful that he would be able to return to the active ministry. However his condition gradually grew worse and after frequent hospitalisation in the Bon Secours hospital, he was admitted to Marymount Hospice where he died peacefully.

Benno's death brought to an end the life of a talented and conscientious missionary who served the Society with great generosity in many different capacities. His Requiem Mass was attended by a large gathering of his S.M.A. colleagues and by six members of his family, including his brother, Dom Sebastian (Francis), a Benedictine at Buckfast Abbey and noted organist and composer. His brother, Karl, a member of the De La Salle order, and a missionary in Malaysia, was unable to be there; but later, when home in Ireland, he made a poignant visit to the community in Blackrock before making his pilgrimage to Benno's resting place.

He is buried in Wilton cemetery.