Father Beppino Puttinato among schoolchildren in Khartoum in the past | Credit | Courtesy

Father Beppino Puttinato, a renowned Italian priest, who is said to be responsible for educating several South Sudanese students in Khartoum during the civil war has died.

He passed on on Sunday in Verona town of Italy at the age of 88. The priest died of coronavirus.

Father Beppino began his teaching career at Comboni schools in Sudan in 1959.

He is the founder of the Comboni College -Khartoum student fund, which supported thousands of underprivileged South Sudanese and Nuba students to enrol in schools.

As the principal of the Comboni College, the priest taught the English language, history and religion.

He later founded the university college in Khartoum.

The school was affiliated with Cambridge and Oxford colleges in England and students would receive diplomas from those institutions as well upon graduation.

Father Beppino recently contracted the coronavirus while in Italy.

“he was a benefactor and father figure to most of us CCK students especially those students from South Sudan, the Nuba mountain and the Blue Nile,” Ladu Sawala, one of his students, told Eye Radio on Monday.

The Comboni College-Khartoum has announced that the funeral mass will take place at the Cathedral of Khartoum on Tuesday 24 November at 4:30 pm.

Another event will take place on the same day at the Comboni Chapel, Holy Family Chapel-Secondary School Courtyard.

The funeral services in Italy will be streamed online on Tuesday 24 at 9:30 AM –Sudanese Time –through the Casa Madre di Verona YouTube Channel.