My family's photo, taken in early 1968, has written on the back: "This is the Catholic priest who we recently drove to".
Father Ambrogio Poletti looks like a lovable rogue with his beard and garb.
He was a bit of a character, but a rogue, he was not. He was a hard-working priest who never went back to live in his homeland, Italy; instead, he stayed in Hong Kong and spent years helping his flock. Plus, he was a saviour for expelled Christian missionaries who arrived at the Bamboo Curtain train station border at Lowu in the 1950s and 1960s. He never retired from his Catholic Church clergy duties; he worked until he met his maker in 1973.
He is standing in front of the Mother Mary grotto in the grounds of St. Joseph's Church in Fanling where he was the rector and where he lived. Standing with him are my parents and I.
I assume Father Poletti was proud of his moustache and beard, a sign of ecclesiastical manliness. The open toe slippers that he was wearing probably made a slapping sound when he walked on those stone pavers.
The current Italian priest at St. Joseph's Church in Fanling, Father Dossi, wrote to me that with the recent changes at the church grounds, both the AVE pillar and MARIA pillar had to be removed because there was no space for them anymore, but the grotto is still there.
Other photos of the same Mother Mary grotto with the AVE pillar and MARIA pillar at St. Joseph's Church, Fanling are:
St Joseph's Church, Fanling 粉嶺聖若瑟堂 | asianfiercetiger | Flickr
File:St. Joseph's Church, Fanling 26.jpg - Wikimedia Commons
My family's photo was restored by a photo restoration studio using AI tools, or what the studio calls "face-fixing software".