(from the superior general Giuseppe Armanasco) before receiving the mission crucifix on 15 August (received alongside ten others with Vincenzo Marcuzzi and Sandro Perico going with him to the missions). Ten months after having entered PIME he was sent to the Burmese missions as a religious brother. He departed from Venice on 2 September 1922 and after two weeks of travelling spent time in Bombay in India. From there he went to Calcutta, Rangoon, and then to Toungoo by train. Burmese missions This began what would be seven decades working in the Burmese missions. Tantardini was enthusiastic about being able to contribute to the local communities and also being able to contribute to proclaiming the Gospel. He sometimes was asked to do catechesis for children and older people, though he was better known for working with anvil and hammer as a blacksmith, and became known as the "Blacksmith of God". He also did work from time to time with lepers. Clement Vismara – whom Tantardini knew – once said that "Brother Felice's weakness is the pipe", for he was known to smoke with the pipe more often than not. In Leikthò, Burma, in 1924 he was struck with severe abdominal pains but the nearest hospital in Toungoo was over 30 miles from where he was. The single possible method for taking him there was on a shoulder stretcher and as he was loaded on it he insisted on going to the chapel to the altar dedicated to the Blessed Mother to ask for her intercession. He ended up getting out of the stretcher with his pain gone and threw his cane down exclaiming that she had healed him. The people called this event a miracle. During the Japanese bombings after their invasion during World War II, he almost died several times but would tend to the people affected during this time despite his own fear at the bombings. He returned to his homeland only once, April 1956 to January 1957, in order to rest and regain his strength. While there he learnt the girl his old boss wanted him to marry had died without having ever married. He visited Rome where he first met his niece, then a novice in a convent. On 1 May 1956 he travelled to Saint Peter's Basilica to see Pope Pius XII at a public event alongside two priest companions, and also visited several Roman