Good ideas are useful if they are put into practice, otherwise they remain just like that – good ideas. Fr. Allamano’s intention to start and succeed in establishing his missionary Institute needed a strong person on the ground. It would have been useless to have a good idea when he did not have the appropriate persons to execute it, especially given that his poor health had made it clear that he would never be a missionary himself. To do what many would have failed, Fr. Allamano needed someone to do ‘the donkey’s work’ if the Institute had to be established in Africa and if it had to succeed in its maiden mission. Fr. Allamano found that person in Fr. Filippo Perlo.
Fr. Perlo was among the first four missionaries who went in Kenya in 1902. He was the nephew of Fr. Camisassa, since one of Fr. Camisassa’s sister was married to Antony Perlo, the man who became the father of the future Bishop Perlo. Fr. Perlo was a bright, animated and hardworking person, whom the Founder had appointed as the bursar of the first group of missionaries who went to Kenya. It seems that from a young age he, Fr. Perlo, developed a vibrant character, which was accompanied by a special meticulousness that saw him bring things into fruition whenever he set his mind and effort in them. That spirited character of his became evident soon after they arrived in Kenya. While Fr. Tommaso Gays was supposed to be the superior of the group, within no time he was taking orders from Fr. Perlo. The serene and reserved Gays gave in, and before long he handed in his resignation to the Founder. There was no need of being called superior just by name when in fact someone else was calling the shots. The Founder reluctantly accepted the unilateral decision of Gays saying, “I would like to reiterate my sorrow over this decision”. He went on to say that he hoped that Tommaso Gays would continue “helping Fr. Perlo with his advice and cooperation.” (Cf G Tebaldi, Consolata Missionaries in the World, pg 66). At the beginning of 1904, Fr. Allamano appointed Fr. Perlo as the superior of the group saying, “Do not seek any excuses because I have no intention of accepting any.” (Letter of Giuseppe Allamano to Filippo Perlo, 30th October 1903, pg 668). With that position, Fr. Perlo became the superior of the group.
As a person, Fr. Perlo was a nice person, who was animated by the spirit of conquest in simplicity and urgency. He was very strict on the use of temporal goods and therefore an excellent administrator. In all truth he was God sent in the Institute, as through him the institute expanded within a short time like bushfire. As soon as they arrived in Kenya, he led the rest in learning the Kikuyu language, writing the first Kikuyu- Italian ‘dictionaries’, to construct schools and health centres. That spirit of accountability saved the Institutes a lot of avoidable expenses, and ensured that every single coin went to its appropriate use. Fr. Perlo’s austerity could however sometimes go overboard. On 23rd July 1903 after the Murang’a conference, Fr. Allamano had to tell him to allow the missionaries to have a bit more food, and at least a glass of wine at meals. Fr. Allamano’s request was as a result of constant complains that he was getting from the missionaries through the letters and diaries they were sending to him every now and then to inform him the state of the mission. In truth, Fr. Perlo was not just strict with others. He was first of all strict with himself. His life was more of a soldier than a priest, no wonder we refer him as the first foot soldier of the Institute.
Personality incompatibility is a reality. As the missionaries went on working in Kenya, Fr. Allamano’s way of thinking and doing things proved to be very different from Fr. Perlo’s. The Founder believed in slow but sure approach of doing things, an approach which allowed growth gradually. He would never do things in hurry. Fr. Allamano seemed to believe that it is not possible to convert the whole world in a day. Fr. Perlo on the contrary wanted to accomplish everything immediately and with whatever means that were available. In 1902 for example, while Fr. Allamano was agonizing over the departure of the seven missionaries who had remained in Turin after the first missionary expedition, Fr. Perlo in Kenya was already demanding that the Founder send 100 to 200 missionaries. His position was that the Founder was supposed to send whoever he had – trained or not. Even those untrained persons would learn everything on the ground. In fact, Fr. Perlo did not mind even if the Founder sent people who had no language preparation. They would learn through conversation in the missions. Fr. Perlo went on to say that even if the Founder did not have priests to send to the mission, he could have as well sent sisters because they (Perlo and his team) were ready to convert the Kikuyu using the sisters. That was Fr. Perlo: a hyper-active man who believed no obstacle was unconquerable.
Fr. Perlo’s speed of action transformed what was originally collaborative mission with the French Missionaries of Bishop Allgeyer into an independent recognized missionary territory by Propaganda Fide. In 1905, Propaganda Fide cut Bishop Allgeyer’s Vicariate and gave it to the Consolata Missionaries, appointing Fr. Perlo as its superior. Of course, the action brought conflict between the Institute and Bishop Allgeyer. In 1909, four years after the independent mission was set up, Propaganda Fide elevated it to a vicariate. Fr. Perlo who had been the superior was to be the bishop. In September 1909 the new bishop elect was received by Fr. Allamano in Turin where they shared about the progress of the missions. Fr. Allamano was happy to know that the schools were doing well, the hospital were attending many people and the African gradually were learning to wear clothes. Fr. Allamano insisted that the missionaries had to ensure that the African developed humanly as that would prepare them to be good Christians.
On 23rd October 1909 the same day that the new huge and spacious Mother House was being inaugurated, in the Consolata Shrine, the bishop elect, Fr. Perlo, was consecrated a bishop. After that Bishop Perlo returned to Kenya where he went on with his missionary work while he was waiting for Fr. Camisassa his uncle who was to visit the missions. During the ‘canonical visit’ of Fr. Camisassa between February 1911 and April 1912, Bishop Perlo was very instrumental in ensuring that the Vice-Rector experienced all that the Institute had done over the ten years. Fr. Camisassa noted also the acidic temperament of Bishop Perlo, which made it difficult for him to cooperate with others. After Fr. Camisassa returned to Turin, Fr. Allamano continued receiving letters and diaries of missionaries complaining that Bishop Perlo was not fatherly and that he was more a military general than a Bishop. Even with those complains threatening to taint his name, Bishop Perlo demonstrated his missionary zeal on 24th October 1918 when he founded a female religious Institute: The Sisters of Mary Immaculate of Nyeri (SMI). It was the first local Congregation in Kenya, and the second in Africa, after the Banabikira of Uganda. Originally, the Immaculate Sisters of Fr. Perlo were meant “to be lay assistants to the white sisters, helping them in housework and in the fields.” (Cf G Tebaldi, Consolata Missionaries in the World, pg 73). The First World War was on its last year, and Bishop Perlo having seen how important women had been in evangelization could not close his eyes in front of the need that was evident. The war had caused a lot of pain and destruction, and therefore after the war there was the huge work of rebuilding people’s lives and livelihoods. That is what made Bishop Perlo to found a congregation whose Charism was “Sharing the love of God in purity of heart through ministries with passion and compassion”. It is important to note that although Giovanni Tebaldi says that the congregation was “officially founded” by Monsignor Giuseppe Perrachon the successor of Msg. Filippo Perlo after the decree of Propaganda Fide in December 1926, Msg. Perlo still gets the credit because first of all he started it, and second, Msg. Perrachon found a community that was already alive and functioning. As such we still maintain that the religious Institute was founded by Msg. Filippo Perlo, who was instrumental enough in seeing the need of African women as collaborators in evangelization, in spite of the “underdevelopment of women in Kikuyu society that time.” (Cf G Tebaldi, Consolata Missionaries in the World, pg 73). Like himself, the Sisters of his Institute were moved by apostolic enthusiasm and zeal. Like their Founder they got involved in activities of human promotion that changed greatly the lives of people wherever they were working.
Bishop Perlo’s courage and determination was unrivalled. After the Vatican assigned the Prefecture of Kaffa to the Consolata Institute, while Fr. Barlassina was still held in Italy and prevented from entering Ethiopia by the chaos that resulted from the death of Menelik II, Bishop Perlo sent a group of missionaries to Ethiopia on 22nd November 1914. The group was headed by Fr. Angelo Dal Canton and included Br. Anselmo Jeantet, Br. Aquilino Caneparo and 7 Kenya porters. Even after the group failed to reach its destination due to bureaucratic issues (in spite of having entered Ethiopia), Bishop Perlo never stopped trying new ways of achieving his objective of seeing Consolata Missionaries in Ethiopia. At some point, he even planned to register a fake commercial company so as
to use it to take missionaries in Ethiopia in the guise of being employees of the company. Of course, you can be sure that Fr. Allamano did not support such kind of tricks. Propaganda Fide also categorically prohibited such schemes. Although Bishop Perlo did not manage to send missionaries in Ethiopia, the courage with which he planned and executed his decisions was unmatched. True, even though finally Fr. Barlassina decided to take charge of his journey into Ethiopia as a way of avoiding turning evangelization effort into political-commercial activity, Bishop Perlo had done a lot behind the scenes. At the end, as if to sanitize the scheming that Bishop Perlo had planned, when Fr. Barlassina finally found his way (also illegally) into Ethiopia on the night of Christmas 1916, he ended up using similar schemes to survive until he was able to legitimize his presence.
Bishop Perlo was whirlwind in the mission: powerful and effective. Complains against him went on for some time and sometimes they appeared exaggerated. The truth of the matter however came out between April and November 1921 when the Bishop went to Turin. In those few months, Fr. Allamano realized that what the missionaries had been saying all the years was actually true. It was difficult to live with Bishop Perlo. At some point, the two were not in talking terms. The result was talking through small notes even though their rooms were opposite to each other. At the end of Bishop Perlo’s stay, he left Turin without even saying a word to the Founder. Their communication had degenerated that low. Fr. Allamano was however always open and loving to Bishop Perlo. In fact, the Founder considered Bishop Perlo the best fruit of the Institute. That was the reason he did not hesitate to vote for Bishop Perlo during the general chapter which gave the Institute its constitutions in November 1922. With the advice of Propaganda Fide, Bishop Perlo was not only elected a councilor but also the Vicar General of the Institute with the right of succession. As usual, the unpredictable Perlo refused to accept the position. It was clear: he did not want to leave Africa. Accepting the position meant he was to return to Italy. A bitter exchange of correspondence between the bishop and the Founder ensued through letters to a point that Cardinal van Rossum the Prefect of Propaganda Fide had to intervene. Bishop Perlo was ordered to lay down his position as the Vicar Apostolic in Kenya and return to Italy after submitting a list of names of possible successors. Unhappy with the decision, Bishop Perlo only appeared in Turin in 1924 to take his role as the Vicar General of the Institute. Having returned in Italy, he immediately took the role that he had been assigned: Vicar General of the Institute.
For two years he worked as the assistant of Fr. Allamano. Certainly, we do not need to be told how their relationship was, having seen what had happened previously. In any case, the Bishop remained with the Founder until 16th February 1926, when Fr. Allamano died. With the death of the Founder, Bishop Perlo became the Superior General of the Institute. He however remained in the office only for three years, that is up to 2nd January 1929, when he was removed from office amid a myriad accusations ranging from authoritarianism, immersion in commerce, negligence of theological formation, to other accusations touching on financial impropriety and administrative issues. His effort to return in Africa did not materialize. Instead, he was obliged to leave the Institute for sometime, choosing to retire into private life in a house he had acquired in Rome, where he lived with his brother Monsignor Gabriel Perlo and his sister Agnesina. With his departure, the Institute fell in the hands of Monsignor Luka Pasetto, a Franciscan Capuchin, who had been sent by Rome as an Apostolic Adminstrator. Monsignor Pasetto would remain at the helm of the Institute until 28th June 1933, when Fr. Barlassina Gaudenzio who had been in Ethiopia was elected as the Superior General. Bishop Perlo died on 4th November 1948 in Rome, a month or so after the death of his brother Monsignor Gabriel, having been re-admitted into the Institute for sometime. After many years, his remains were later transfer to Nyeri, in the house of the Immaculate Sisters, the congregation that he had founded while in Kenya.
Although the ending of Bishop Perlo’s narrative is not very appetizing, one thing should be clear: except for his queer personality, Bishop Perlo proved to have been a real foot soldier of the Institute, since he did not spare himself and others in ensuring that the Institute achieved its apostolic mandate even with the crudest means possible. In his position, many people would have lamented daily on arrival in Africa. Anyone can tell how difficult it is to establish any enterprise from zero. Yet Bishop Perlo with his amazing energy struggled to see a group of only four people create the foundations of what is the Consolata Missionary Institute. Through his ever-burning passion for missionary activities, the Institute’s patrimony grew as more and more people came on board to assist the Missionary Institute that had caused ripples in Africa soon after its foundation. This is why we cannot lose sight of the fact that Bishop Perlo was the first and probably the best thing that happened to the Institute. His story is not different from Prophet Elijah whom after all the great things he had done ended up running away from a woman (Jezebel) (1 Kings 19:1-8). And yet God did not disqualify him after his acknowledgement of having failed. Instead, God took him to heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11,12).
Similarly, we see the same thing in Peter the apostle. Even with all his love for Christ, he ended up denying him in the most crucial moment. Many of us would have easily denounced Peter as a person who could not be depended on. Yet Jesus did not take it to heart. He still installed him as the head of the Church at the sea of Tiberias (Jn. 21:1-25). We have not forgotten also about St. Paul. The damage that he had done in the Church before his conversion was so enormous that many of us would have easily associated him with the Devil himself. How Christ ended up choosing a man whose name caused fear and panic among the Christians is still a mystery to me. These examples tell us that God uses whoever he chooses and whenever he wants. They also tell us that no one is beyond salvation and that it is not our business to judge anyone. The much we should do is learn from each other, and let God do his will. The experience of Bishop Perlo is an important lesson for us: no matter how much good we do, we still remain human and should therefore guard ourselves from ourselves by entrusting ourselves more to God. That is the only way we can ensure that our achievements do not take over our heads and our failures do not take over our hearts.