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R_C
Guest
After reading this news, I just wish everyone who thinks the clergy should wear plain layman clothes would read the story of this martyr that has just been officially declared a martyr by Pope Francis - something that will lead to beatification.
Rolando Rivi was a boy of 14 during World War II in Italy. At the time in Italy the pasticcio (“mess”) had taken place (as the 1943 armistice between Italy and the Allies was known, given the monstrous chaos that ensued). We had in the mountains something that now is known as the “resistenza”, that some historians exhalt as the liberators of Italy, others as Communist bandits that did more damage than good.
Anyways, Rivi was a young seminarian when the Germans occupied his city. Forced to stay home, he never ceased to wear the cassock, even though he knew that the hatred against religion had lead to the murder of some priests in the region. He would always go to Mass and then, in Spring, he’d go to a nearby place to study.
On April 10, 1945, he was in Church for the Missa Cantata, and afterwards went to study as usual, wearing his cassock. At noon his parents went to look for him and found instead the books and a note: “Don’t look for him, he came for some time with us partisans.”
He hadn’t, however, joined the “resistance” to “liberate” Italy. He had been sequestrated by these communists, for no reason at all. They commanded him to get rid of the black habit. He replied: “I can’t do that. This reminds that I belong to Jesus.” So, out of rage, they tear it from him in pieces, keep him prisoner for three days, subject to beatings, and finally the 14-year old seminarian was brutally murdered with the following reason: “one less priest in the future!” It was Friday, April 13, 1945. After a grave was dug, the young boy was shot in the heart and in the forehead and dumped in the grave.
Whatever was left of his cassock was wrapped like a trophy and exposed at the door of a house nearby.
On January 7, 2006, Archbishop Cocchi initiated the process of beatification of the innocent martyr, fallen under the antichristian and anticlerical hatred of the time, for having witnessed, wearing the cassock until the end, his belonging to Christ.
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
Rolando Rivi was a boy of 14 during World War II in Italy. At the time in Italy the pasticcio (“mess”) had taken place (as the 1943 armistice between Italy and the Allies was known, given the monstrous chaos that ensued). We had in the mountains something that now is known as the “resistenza”, that some historians exhalt as the liberators of Italy, others as Communist bandits that did more damage than good.
Anyways, Rivi was a young seminarian when the Germans occupied his city. Forced to stay home, he never ceased to wear the cassock, even though he knew that the hatred against religion had lead to the murder of some priests in the region. He would always go to Mass and then, in Spring, he’d go to a nearby place to study.
On April 10, 1945, he was in Church for the Missa Cantata, and afterwards went to study as usual, wearing his cassock. At noon his parents went to look for him and found instead the books and a note: “Don’t look for him, he came for some time with us partisans.”
He hadn’t, however, joined the “resistance” to “liberate” Italy. He had been sequestrated by these communists, for no reason at all. They commanded him to get rid of the black habit. He replied: “I can’t do that. This reminds that I belong to Jesus.” So, out of rage, they tear it from him in pieces, keep him prisoner for three days, subject to beatings, and finally the 14-year old seminarian was brutally murdered with the following reason: “one less priest in the future!” It was Friday, April 13, 1945. After a grave was dug, the young boy was shot in the heart and in the forehead and dumped in the grave.
Whatever was left of his cassock was wrapped like a trophy and exposed at the door of a house nearby.
On January 7, 2006, Archbishop Cocchi initiated the process of beatification of the innocent martyr, fallen under the antichristian and anticlerical hatred of the time, for having witnessed, wearing the cassock until the end, his belonging to Christ.
(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)
I enjoy hearing about martyrs (and especially young ones). 