Fr Giuseppe (Joe) Casti Tocco died at 0400 hrs this morning, Saturday, 29 January 2022, at the Beato Artemide Zatti infirmary of the ICC province, Rome. He was 90.
Fr Joe was born to Salvatore Casti and Concetta Tocco at Borbona (Rieti), Italy, on 28 September 1931. His family originated in Sardinia. His twin brother Francesco is also a Salesian belonging to the ICC province. He had another brother who lived in Como.
Joe did his novitiate in Varazze and made his first profession in the Salesian Congregation on 16 August 1948 at Varazze (in the Italia - Ligure Toscana province) and his perpetual profession on 16 August 1954. He did his postnovitiate at San Callisto, Rome (1948-1951) and theological studies in Turin, at the Crocetta (1954-1958). He was ordained in Turin on 1 January 1958.
In 1958 we find him as catechist and prefect of studies in Panjim, in Portuguese Goa. In 1965-1966 he was assistant parish priest in Valpoi, Goa, in 1966-1968 catechist in Yercaud.
From 1968 to 1974 he was Rector of the house of Panjim, Goa. From 1973 to 1979 he was vice provincial of the INB province in 1973-1974 and again in 1976-1978. He was Rector of the aspirantate at Lonavla from 1975 to 1978. The boys used to talk about the judo-karate skills of their new Rector - this very gentle man had, in fact, a black belt, if I am not mistaken, in judo. I believe he set up judo mats for the boys as soon as he arrived.
It was probably in Lonavla that Joe made the acquaintance of Tony De Mello, SJ, whose Sadhana Institute was just across the railway lines, where it still is.
Joe was province delegate to the Special General Chapter 20 (1971) and GC21 (1977).
In the years 1974-1975, between vice provincialship and rectorate in Lonavla, in the unbelievable space of a year, Joe did a PhD in theology (missiology) at the Urbaniana University in Rome, while residing at San Tarcisio, Rome. He worked on a topic concerning the Salesian missions in North-East India. (During his years in Florence, he had given me a copy of his thesis, which I gave for safe-keeping to the ISS library or to the Biblioteca Centrale Salesiana of the Pisana.)
From 1978 to 1991 he was novice director, first in what is now the postnovitiate house of Divyadaan, Nashik, and then next door in the same campus, in the new novitiate house of Salesian Training Institute, Nashik.
In 1991 he moved to Provincial House, Matunga, Mumbai. He served as Rector from 1991-1996, but most importantly, he took his place beside the aging Fr Aurelio Maschio, procurator and patriarch of the Mumbai province, ensuring a smooth transition when Fr Maschio died in September 1996.
Fr Joe Casti took over as procurator and rector of the Shrine of Don Bosco’s Madonna, Matunga - Mumbai, in 1996 and remained in that post till 2002, when he opted to return to his home province of Italy - Ligure Toscana (ILT), also at the request of the then provincial, Giorgio Colajacomo. I had just taken over as provincial of INB in 2022, and I remember asking Fr Joe to stay on. But he had given his word already to don Colajacomo, and he had also somehow picked up the impression that there was someone in INB who did not want him to stay on, so he (somewhat reluctantly, I thought) held on to his decision to leave India and return home. We must remember that during his service as procurator he had suffered from a major brain stroke (or was it a blood clot in the brain) that had left him shaken up and half his former self.
Upon his return to the ILT province, Joe was appointed Rector of La Spezia - Canaletto, a post he held only for a year (2002-2003). From 2003 to 2011 he was in Firenze - Scandicci, and from 2011 to 2013 in Varazze. From there he went to Genova - Sampierdarena for a year (2013-2014), then to Firenze - Istituto Immacolata (2014-2017), and finally to the Beato Artemide Zatti infirmary at Rome.
I remember visiting Joe in Florence, along with Joaquim D’Souza. For some reason, he would never ask us to visit his community of Scandicci. Instead, he would be there at the Santa Maria Novella station to receive us, and then we would go round the beautiful city of Florence and have lunch somewhere till it was time for us to return to Rome.
When he was in the Immacolata community in the centre of Florence, instead (2014-2017), we visited him several times, and he and the community were always happy to welcome us - Adriano Bregolin was, in fact, the Rector there, just after he had finished his service as vicar of the Rector Major. Sometimes, especially in the earlier years, Joe was very talkative, and would regale us with his famous stories.
I remember two particularly well. The first one was from the Sulcorna days. Joe and another confrere decided to go hunting in the Sulcorna forests. They were not far from the house, near the large well, and were both stealthily stepping forward with their guns on the trail of some animal. Suddenly Joe noticed that the other confrere was making frantic signs to him, but he did not understand, and kept up his stealthy pace. Finally the confrere stopped and mopped his brow. “What happened,” Joe asked. “Nothing,” said the confrere. “Only, there was a tigress following you from behind, and now she’s gone.” It turned out that the tigress had her cubs nearby, and our two confreres had been getting too close for (her) comfort. But when their path led away from the cubs, the tigress stopped following them.
The other was from the Panjim days, in the midst of the Liberation of Goa (or invasion, if you were pro-Portuguese) in December 1961. The redoubtable Giuseppe Moja had sent away all the confreres and boys to a safe place, and there remained only the two of them, Moja and Casti. They armed themselves to the teeth, Moja with a respectable weapon, and Casti with something flimsier, barred the main doors, and waited. “Let’s see what happens if these soldiers dare to enter,” said Moja. “We’ll go down fighting, but not before having given them something.” Soon enough there was a knock at the door. “You try to come in and see what happens to you,” shouted Moja from the inside. “Father, please open the door,” came the reply from the outside. “I am a past pupil from Mumbai, and I have permission from my commander to protect you and your house.” And that was how it was: the commander of the Indian army had deputed some soldiers to protect Don Bosco Panjim. Thanks to the past pupils of Don Bosco.
In 2017 Joe’s health declined, and it was not possible for him to continue at Firenze. He was sent to the province infirmary in Rome, where we would visit him from time to time. Here the problem was that he had lost his memory. It revived a little when Francesco Pampinella came in as director of the infirmary. I remember he even accompanied us in the car when Pampinella was kind enough to bring me back home to the Sede Centrale, Rome. Then he lost his memory again. He would sometimes brighten up when someone mentioned India and Mumbai, and for some reason he would speak about Mother Teresa and how he had worked with her. In the final years - they were also the Covid years, during which we saw him very rarely - he was not able to connect even to Mumbai.
Fr Joe Casti will be remembered as a wonderful human being and a great Salesian. He was always kind and caring, that was perhaps his greatest contribution to our Mumbai province: he was all that a Salesian of Don Bosco ought to be. The quip was that he was so kind as novice director, that if 20 novices began the year, 21 would make their profession. He touched the hearts of his novices. Many Goa boys who joined the Salesians were under his tutelage as Novice Master in Nashik.
Any time any of them came to Rome, they would always insist on visiting him. The last visit happened to be that of the provincial, Savio Silveira, in December 2021. Joe was now in bed most of the time, and was barely able to register our presence.
Joe had come under the influence of the famous Jesuit Tony De Mello, having done a long Sadhana course with the great master. He said Tony had liberated him: he was not Fr Casti anymore, he was simply Joe.
Tony De Mello was undoubtedly one of the topics of endless discussion with his friend and long time neighbour, Joaquim D’Souza. But Joe was, indeed, free: he took what he needed from Tony, and remained deeply Catholic and Salesian.
Fr. Joe Casti visited Goa in 2002 and met confreres, past pupils and cooperators.
INB remembers Joe’s great service as formator and novice director of so many confreres. He was probably also confessor and spiritual guide for many. And we cannot forget another tremendous contribution: he assisted Fr Maschio in his last years, and took over from him when he died, ensuring a smooth transition. Thank you Joe. We remember you with love.