Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Milan (Fides Service) - About 8,000 faithful crowded Duomo Square in Milan yesterday, June 26, to attend the Mass of beatification of Fr Serafino Morazzone, Father Clemente Vismara, PIME missionary, and Sister Enrichetta Alfieri, of the Sisters of Charity of St. Jeanne Antide Thouret. The Holy Mass was presided by the Archbishop of Milan, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, concelebrated by more than 300 bishops and priests, while the rite of beatification was presided by the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Amato.
On the day when the Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, Cardinal Tettamanzi emphasized in his homily the deep relationship that links the three Blessed to the Eucharist: "loved, cherished and lived every day, shines full force in their path to holiness. Nourishing themselves on the Body of Christ, they found the energy to overcome any adversity". In particular, on citing the Blessed Clemente Vismara, Cardinal Tettamanzi said: "Nourished by Christ, the fervent missionary did not spare himself, but he gave himself with joy". "Our three blessed deeply sensed the mystery that is placed on the altar of the Body of Christ, whose members are all of us", continued the Archbishop of Milan. "Father Clemente felt like his own family members who asked him the gift of Baptism to share faith in the only God and then the many children that were entrusted to him in order to be saved. These orphans themselves saw the blessed who was the last to leave the church and stayed there for a long time to contemplate the Divine Presence in the Tabernacle, the Blessed Sacrament so precious to him because 'the life of his life'. Here is the message that is always present from the three saints: we are made to form the only Body of Christ, we are nourished and sanctified by the Eucharist, because 'one faith enlightens and one love gathers humanity spread across the land '. "
Speaking at the end of the ceremony, Cardinal Angelo Amato pointed out that the three new saints - "champions of holiness", "models of good life according to the Gospel" - are certainly not "still lives to contemplate, but living presences to admire and emulate". "Father Clemente Vismara was an enthusiastic missionary, resourceful and holy - highlighted Cardinal Amato -. His love was enormous. A testimony of many. It is a Muslim, who had come to the mission in 1971 to study. He often saw people who came to bring the children to Father Vismara, who entrusted them to Sister Clementine. To the sister who complained for lack of food and money, Father Vismara replied: 'I am not the one who looked for them. It is God who sends them and God will provide for them '. The next day - concludes the witness – a sack of rice came from some donor".
The Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints concluded his speech by emphasizing that "on their lips the word 'love' has authentic resonance for one who spends his life building day after day a more humane and good society. Our three Blessed do not exhibit their goodness, but they exercise it in humility and obscurity. It is a lesson of life to be rediscovered by all of us".
The Holy Father Benedict XVI, after saying the Angelus prayer from the window of his study with the faithful gathered in St. Peter's Square, recalled the new blessed with these words: "Even today I am happy to announce the proclamation of some new Blessed ... Don Serafino Morazzone, pastor from Lecco between the eighteenth and nineteenth century, Father Clemente Vismara, heroic PIME missionary in Burma, and Enrichetta Alfieri, a Sister of Charity, known as "angel" of Milan's San Vittore prison. We praise the Lord for these shining witnesses of the Gospel"(SL) (Agenzia Fides 06/27/2011)
