Fr David Strong SJ, The Australian dictionary of Jesuit biography 1848-2015, Second Edition, 2017:
Modotti, Ugo

Missionary, Italian chaplain; born Italy, 2 May 1897; died December 1971, aged 74.

Ugo Modotti entered the Society, 27 September 1913, studied philosophy at the Gregorian University, and theology at Kurseong, India. He was ordained at the age of 26, and took final vows, 2 February 1930.

In 1920 he went to Malabar, India, for 16 years, his last six as director of St Aloysius' College house and hostel, Mangalore. Later, he was rector of St Joseph's College, Calicut. Then he was appointed procurator in Italy of the Italian mission in India.

It was in 1938 that Modotti was sent to Melbourne, and the Richmond parish, in response to a request to the Society from the archbishop, Dr. Mannix, who wanted another Italian chaplain to minister to the increasing number of Italians in Melbourne to replace De Francesco. As more than 90% of Italians did not attend Mass, the first task of Modotti was to publish a religious periodical, L’Angelo della Famiglia. He visited the Italians in their parishes and recommenced a monthly sodality meeting for Italians at Richmond. He ministered the sacraments and helped the Italian people become more settled in their new land. In the years preceding the outbreak of the Second World War, there were incidents in the Italian community between groups aligned with Fascism and those with left-wing sympathies. During the war, Modotti arranged Christmas hampers to be sent to those Italians in internment camps.

In 1940 he proposed a plan called the Opera Religiosa Italiana, which would involve establishing a house where several Jesuits from Italy would care for the social and spiritual welfare of the Italian Catholic immigrants in Melbourne. B.A. and G. Santamaria were part of the committee to establish this enterprise. Late in 1944 the committee purchased the property 182 Power St, Hawthorn, with the approval of Dr. Mannix and other Australian bishops. There was one major obstacle to this plan: it did not please the Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Panico, who had poor relations with Mannix and wanted to reduce his influence. He persuaded the Roman authorities to invite the Capuchins to work among the Italians in Australia. Meanwhile, Mannix had asked the Jesuit provincial, John Meagher, to send Modotti to Italy to find three or four Jesuits who would work among the Italians in Melbourne. The apostolic delegate, through political connections, stopped these plans. Despite this, Modotti made many influential contacts and did valuable work among his people until he was recalled to the staff of Vatican Radio in 1946. Before he left Australia, he placed the house, 182 Power St, Hawthorn, in the hands of Giuseppe Romanin and his family. The Romanins like Modotti were Friuliani, and Modotti trusted them. The house was blessed and named ‘Villa Gonzaga’, only to be changed by the Capuchins in 1949 to ‘Rivo Torto’.

Modotti's future work was unusual for a Jesuit. In 1948 he became spiritual director in the major seminary in Buenos Aires, but in 1949 retired to the contemplative life, first, at an American hermitage at Big Sur, and later with the Camaldolese contemplatives at the Santa Lucia Mountains, Monterey County, USA. While in the USA he lectured in scripture. In 1960 he returned to Italy, and then was sent to Puerto Rico, founding the Catholic Weekly, 'El Debate', and the new major interdiocesan seminary 'Regina cleri', at Ponce. In 1966 he attended the Vatican Council as a representative of the Catholic bishops of Puerto Rico.

(Reproduced by permission of Fr David Strong SJ.)