Today, November 5, marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of clergyman, theologian and cultural figure Vello Salo.
Endel Vaher (later Vello Salo) was born on November 5, 1925 in the borough of Lalsi in Viljandi County and departed from us on April 21, 2019 as a cleric of Pirita Convent. His astonishing life path led him as a volunteer to the Finnish armed forces and, with retreating German troops, through war-ravaged Europe ultimately to Italy, where he found a spiritual home in the Catholic convent Casa di Santa Brigida.
After studies in the natural sciences, he devoted himself to theology, studying and teaching in Rome, Münster, Jerusalem, Mosul, Toronto, Tartu and Tallinn. He was ordained a priest in 1957 in Münster and defended his doctoral thesis in 1976 at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome.
Vello Salo was a prolific cleric and cultural figure: editor of Estonian-language programmes at Vatican Radio, founder and editor of the magazines Estonia and Aja Kiri, founder of the publishing house Estonia and a guardian of Estonian culture in exile. After returning to his homeland in the 1990s, he served as chair of the State Commission for the Investigation of Repressive Policies of Occupations from 1992 to 2005 and continued decades-long Bible translation work.
The first stage of organizing his extensive personal archive at the National Archives has been completed – 807 archival units contain his paper-based textual documents related to his life and work: scholarly and teaching works, manuscripts of articles and radio programmes, documents reflecting social activity, correspondence, diaries and much more. Some of Vello Salo’s biographical documents and private correspondence are subject to access restrictions under the Public Information Act.
In the next stage, the photographs and audio materials belonging to Vello Salo’s personal archive, and the contents stored on diskettes, are being organized — an important part of documenting an extraordinary life’s work.
Vello Salo began transferring his personal archive to the National Archives in 2016. After his passing in 2019, the transfer of documents continued until the autumn of 2024 with the invaluable assistance of the superior of the Pirita Convent, Mother Vimala, and Marge-Marie Paas, press representative of the Roman Catholic Church in Estonia.
Notice prepared by Peeter Väljas: National Archives
Photo: Olev Mihkelmaa, Father Vello at the end of Pope Francis’s Mass at Freedom Square.