Bishop Luna topic of biographer

Bishop Constantino Luna, OFM, died last year, but a local man is making sure his memory lives on in the form of a biography.

"Memoirs of Bishop Luna," published by the Apostolate of the Suffering, was compiled by Dr. Joseph E. Riley of Saratoga Springs. Dr. Riley was a friend of the bishop's who opened his home to the prelate during his visits to the U.S.

Bishop Luna was born in Italy but left his home to become a Franciscan friar. He was stationed in China in the 1930s, serving as a missionary until his arrest and imprisonment by Chinese Communist soldiers for six months.

Traveling man

When Catholic missionaries were no longer permitted in China, Bishop Luna went to Guatemala, where he became first a chaplain to workers at a fruit company, then pastor of a parish in Retalhleu and finally bishop of the Diocese of Zacapa.

In his travels throughout the U.S. and Canada to solicit funds for his missionary work, the bishop became interested in the Apostolate of the Suffering, a movement that explores the needs of persons with disabilities.

Through his friendships with residents of the Albany Diocese, he eventually introduced the Apostolate movement here and spent a great deal of time with the Riley family.

"I joking referred to the Riley home as the Motherhouse," his biography states. "Their home became a haven where I could be myself."

Living on

In an interview with The Evangelist, Dr. Riley recalled the day Bishop Luna asked him about writing his biography. The bishop had written his memoirs; but since English was his second language, the manuscript needed polishing to make it more readable.

"I changed it to American English and added to it," said Dr. Riley, who kept the manuscript's original first-person narrative in expanding the book. Bishop Luna "was a good friend, a gentle, kind man. It was nice to do something for him."

Dr. Riley, the author of five unpublished suspense novels and a published biography of a former Siena College professor, also said Bishop Luna's biography was "a fun thing. I like to write."

At the moment, the author is working on a book about the survivors of a ship that sank during World War II, to be titled "The Last Convoy."

Sainthood?

Before his death in September 1997, Bishop Luna had the chance to read Dr. Riley's finished manuscript. "He was very appreciative of it," said the author.

Dr. Riley believes that Bishop Luna may someday be canonized. In the meantime, the author is helping a cause the Bishop believed in by donating all funds raised by his book to the Apostolate of the Suffering.

("Memoirs of Bishop Luna" is available for $12.95 plus shipping from the Apostolate of the Suffering, PO Box 535, Chicopee, MA 01021-0535.)

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