Fr John Dickson has sent this fascinating account of an unexpected meeting with two Salesian Past Pupils from Iran.

November, with the return of winter, reminds us traditionally of the Holy Souls and invites us to think of our memories of those who have gone before us. This November has been particularly vivid for me as you will see.

A couple of weeks ago the telephone rang one morning and a voice said: 'I am a Salesian Past Pupil from Iran', but what caught my interest particularly was what followed, 'I am from the Salesian College, in Teheran'. This certainly set me thinking and I replied that I was very interested because I was myself born in Iran. What followed was in invitation to come to lunch and so Mohammad Nafissi and another friend of his Cyrus Sassanpur came along to meet me and try to rebuild a relationship with the Salesians which had lain dormant for nearly 40 years.

Salesian Students Cyrus and Mohammed in the basketball team 1968

As their story unfolded it was fascinating. The Salesians had moved into Iran in 1937 to look after the pastoral needs of Italian workers as they were involved in railway development. After the War the Salesians began a primary and secondary school which eventually received Government recognition in 1959 and was established in a purpose-built new College in Teheran in an area called Andisheh, hence the name Don Bosco Andisheh. The school specialized in teaching English and became one of the three biggest schools in Iran.

This was the College that the two past pupils entered in 1962 and it was there that they encountered Fr Kevin Byrne, a young Irish priest who was their deputy Headmaster. Kevin had been born in Ireland in 1920 while his father was in prison as an IRA man awaiting execution and was named after Kevin Barry, a famous young IRA man who was executed by the British Government. Kevin's father was spared due to the Treaty which was signed establishing the Irish Free State in 1921 and went on to become one of the driving forces behind Shamrock Rovers football team and the Irish FA. Kevin followed in his father's footsteps in being passionate about his soccer and later used to say that he struggled in discerning his way in life between becoming an Irish international soccer player, an Irish revolutionary or a Catholic priest.

Kevin entered the new Salesian Missionary College at Shrigley Park near Macclesfield Cheshire in 1934 and after his novitiate and first profession in 1940 volunteered for the Missions and went to Palestine where he was ordained in 1946. His brother Larry also joined the Salesians and taught for many years here at Battersea before going to the Western province of the United States where he is now retired in San Francisco.

Fr Kevin took over the Andisheh College as Headmaster and made an incredible impression on his pupils. His enthusiasm, his smile, his hard work and sense of responsibility certainly inspired a generation of young Iranians who really grew to appreciate and understand the Salesians, as Christians and foreigners almost from the inside.

Fr Kevin in the Playground with students

Fr Kevin seems to have brought the whole Salesian educational outlook, Don Bosco's Preventive System, to life for many of the staff and pupils of the school. He seems to have been as evidently present in recreation and voluntary activities such as soccer, scouting and swimming as in the more scholastic roles. As such he was clearly extremely popular. Tragically at the end of the summer term in 1969 he played in the staff versus students' football match and then when he went up to take a shower had a massive heart attack and died in his room.

His funeral was an extraordinary manifestation of his impact. It was presided over by the Papal Nuncio and three Bishops and all the clergy and religious in Teheran. The cortege was accompanied by a huge throng and motorcycle policemen had to clear a way for the procession.

Two past pupils laid a wreath as a tribute at Fr Kevin's grave Nov 2010

What is more touching is that after 40 years those students still remember him with a deep affection and recall him to mind very easily. As you can see they still visit his grave after all these years. The photographs they have shared here are a real tribute to a great Salesian and to the possibilities of Salesians working to build up a human understanding and overcome the divisions and barriers that nationality, religion and culture can sometimes impose.

The students at the College in Teheran were clearly on their own admission from the new middle class strata of society that the Shah's government was building up as part of his programme of Westernisation. This clearly provoked a very strong reaction under the Ayatolah Khomeni and the Islamic Revolution. Many of them have since made their homes abroad and it is interesting that their Past Pupils' web page has a very lively and effective role in supporting and encouraging them to develop their insights of their Salesian education. As Mohammad who still lives in Tehran wrote:

"We always had father Byrne and all the dear fathers in Andisheh who were symbolizing kindness, responsibility and correctness and all the good behaviour we could copy and learn. To be honest because of them the Don Bosco school students were always different from the rest of the pupils in other schools."

An old saying is that 'In remembering lies redemption'. Let's pray as we do in the first Eucharistic prayer:

Remember O Lord those who have died and gone before us marked with the sign of Faith especially those for whom we now pray... May these and all who sleep in Christ find in your presence light happiness and peace.

The last picture taken of Fr Byrne just before the staff versus boys football match

For the Iranian Salesian Past Pupils' website see: The Andisheh - Don Bosco Students and Alumni Facebook Page