Chisinau, Moldova - November 2023 - The 50th anniversary of the death of Fr Bronislaw Chodanionek was celebrated on Saturday 25 November in the parish of the Salesians in Chisinau. He was a Salesian of Polish origin who carried out his ministry in the then Soviet republic of Moldova from 1949 to 1973. He died on 25 November 1973 at the age of 63. Fr Chodanionek is buried in the cemetery in Chisinau, next to his mother, who had died two years earlier. The celebration, presided over by the Bishop of Chisinau, was also attended by all the religious men and women present in Moldova and numerous faithful. Among the participants were also a niece and other people, now elderly, who knew Father Chodanionek and who, after the presentation of his life and work by Deacon Andrei Bolocan, shared their memories of childhood and youth. The only Catholic priest to live in Moldova from 1949 to 1973, Fr Bronislaw Chodanionek was lucky enough not to be arrested by the Soviet authorities, who nevertheless controlled all his activities and movements. Movements that had to be authorised from time to time, based on a motivated request. Moves that he made on a motorbike: a motorbike that everyone remembers as being very noisy and heralding his arrival from afar.