LINO DAMIANO POFFE (priest)
Born: Grezzana, VR - January 11, 1935
First profession: September 25, 1954
Perpetual profession: September 25, 1957
Priestly Ordination: June 21, 1964
Death: Negrar - October 14, 2025
Age: 90
Testimony of Father Rubens Miranda:
I met with Father Lino Poffe only a few times, but they were intense and profoundly significant encounters.
I keep in my heart the memory of that interior serenity that shone in his face, as if his soul lived in peace with time and with God. He was a man with a calm gaze and measured words; he didn't speak much, but every silence of him was eloquent. His presence, simple and discreet, brought with it a silent goodness that was felt even before every gesture.
In every conversation, you could perceive a heart shaped by mission and life.
Father Lino had the rare gift of making what is essential simple, and of illuminating every day of his life with a calm and profound faith. He listened more than he spoke, and, when he spoke, his sentences emerged from a prayerful silence. Everything about him was welcoming: the mild tone of his voice, the discreet smile, the delicacy in his relationships. He seemed animated by the certainty that serving is the most authentic form of love.
The Stigmatine brothers of the Ivory Coast, with whom I maintained a constant dialogue and shared moments of brotherhood in the General Curia, in Rome, spoke of him with great tenderness and profound gratitude. They always remembered his closeness to the people, the naturalness of his gestures, his ability to understand and welcome. In their stories a common feeling of admiration emerged: that of an attentive man, respectful to the local culture, open to dialogue and sensitive to people.
His mission was not just a service, but a way of living the Gospel in every day of his life, with simplicity and depth.
Father Lino was one of those men who live in no hurry, who do not compete, who do not impose. Everything in him followed the rhythm of the heart and the patience of faith. He lived with humility and departed in the same way: silently, leaving behind him the discreet scent of hope. His memory remains alive in the hearts of those who knew him - like a serene and faithful light, which continues to teach, without words, the beauty of a life entirely given to God.
Father Rubens