Italian Xaverian missionary Father Marino Rigon, labouring in the Catholic Diocese of Khulna, Bangladesh, since 1953, received World Vision International's Dr. Robert W. Pierce Award for 1995 for his service to the poor and disadvantaged -- especially children -- in their physical, mental, and spiritual development.
Besides his missionary work, Father Rigon also translated into Italian dozens of books of eminent Bengali-language writers -- 1913 Nobel Prize-winning poet Rabindranath Tagore; poets Nazrul Islam, Jasimuddin, and Sukanta; novelist Sarat Chandra Chatterjee; and folk singer Lalon Shah -- with the intention of introducing his Italian readers with the spirituality of these third-world non-Christian writers.
