Born on 13 May 1936 in Cherasco, in the province of Cuneo, in the same Piedmont as Don Bosco, Fr Stra had entered the novitiate of Chieri in 1952, and there he made his first profession on 16 August 1953, but like many great Salesians of that time, he already professed perpetual vows on mission, in his case in Vietnam, in Tram Hanh, on 24 July 1959, returning home only for his priestly ordination, which took place on 25 March 1963 in Turin.
His missionary vocation materialised for him between two countries and two continents, Vietnam and Haiti, Southeast Asia and the poor heart of America: it was to the marginalised young people and those at risk in these places that Fr Stra dedicated his 88 years of life, and for this reason the news of his death was also received with deep sorrow in Vietnam, despite the fact that Fr Stra stopped working in that country fifty years ago. He was among those who laid the foundations of the Salesian mission and among his most significant works was founding the Don Rua Institute in Dalat. Loved by all as a good father, Fr Stra was known for his deep attachment to youth and the Vietnamese people, so much so that in his years in Haiti he said: "I do not want to remember Vietnam, I want to forget Vietnam" because every time he remembered, his heart suffered.
However, he managed to overcome this detachment, and after leaving Vietnam, he dedicated his missionary life to the poor children of Haiti, where he worked with dedication for almost 50 years. Here he served as Rector, and Vice-rector in different communities, and was also Vice-Province Councillor for a short period. His service contributed decisively to the Salesian mission on behalf of poor children and among the most tangible results of his work that have survived is the Salesian Lakay work for children and young people in difficulty, a project begun in 1988 and which includes several facilities in Port-au-Prince and Cap-Haïtien.
Remembered as a man of great discipline, resilience and faith, Fr Stra courageously faced the difficulties of missionary life, among diseases and accidents – he survived the collapse of ENAM (National School of Arts and Crafts, in French), which occurred during the terrible earthquake of 12 January 2010.
“Fr Attilio Stra was a Eucharistic soul. He made the Eucharist his true nourishment. He was a very orderly person, very disciplined, very responsible; a man of openness and principles" Fr Bonhomme said of him in the Mass on 11 January. "Actually, Father Stra was a great fighter, very resilient. (...) Since his goal was clear: ‘to change the lives of many unloved children in the country’ by becoming a Eucharist for them".
To his last breath he embodied the spirit of Don Bosco, feeding the little ones not only with material food, but also with education, love, witness and hope. For this reason, in concluding the funeral Eucharist, Fr Morachel quoted the passage from the Gospel in which Jesus states "Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them" (Lk 12:37); and he concluded: "This sentence corresponds well to our brother,who took care to do a good job in everything, especially for the most disadvantaged".
