The Funeral of the Ragazzi of Monreale
And what this tells us about Sicily
Funerals are very much community events in Italy, which is a good thing. Moreover, unlike in contemporary England, you do not have to wait weeks to bury the dead. So the funeral of the three young men, Salvatore Turdo, Andrea Miceli and Massimo Pirozzo, murdered in Monreale, has taken place, and was attended by most of the town, all wanting to express solidarity with the grieving families, as is only right and proper. The funeral was in the famous Cathedral of Monreale, and was celebrated by the Archbishop of Monreale, Monsignor Gualtiero Isacchi. The sermon was very good indeed, and I provide you with edited highlights, translated into English:
““Welcome me, Lord: in you I have placed my hope.” The words of the Responsorial Psalm are the prayer that today we raise to the Lord together with our Andrea, Salvatore and Massimo: Lord, we ask you to welcome these children of yours and to console the hearts of their families and of all of us because only in you do we find hope.
“Being here, in front of the lifeless bodies of Andrea, Salvatore and Massimo, brutally confronts us with the gravity of the social situation around us, characterized too often by violence: we no longer know how to speak, we have to shout; we no longer know how to dialogue, we have to quarrel; we do not know how to listen, we have to impose ourselves. From here, to acts of physical violence and death, the step is really short, as the daily news shows us. It seems that no place or community is immune from such a contagion of violence! We must make a decisive and radical U-turn. But where to start? The Gospel that we have just heard placed us at the foot of the Holy Crucifix to which, for 400 years, Monreale has faithfully turned for grace…..”
Well, the Archbishop is right. Particularly touching and well judged were these words too:
“Dear mothers, Antonella, Giusi and Debora; dear fathers, Mario, Giacomo and Enzo; dear Claudia, Marco, Giusi, Giuseppe, Ignazio, Sabrina, Marika and Gabriel Ignazio; dear grandparents, all family members, together with you, all of Monreale is crying. Many men and women are crying too – parents, children, educators – who from all over Italy have sent their condolences and their participation in our pain and our prayers.”
But do read the whole thing. I quote the above to underline that Italians are very good at expressing what the Church calls ‘solidarity’, and not just talking about it, either. Community bonds in Italy are very strong indeed. It is one of the country’s great strengths. I am confident that the families of the young men will receive support from their friends and neighbours, and people they hardly know, for many a year to come.
And the weakness of Italy, of which I have written many times? That too was in evidence. The brother of one of the murdered men had this to say:
“How can you forgive something like this? I want to remember my brother full of energy, bursting with life, he had so many projects. I ask the institutions to take action. We have not felt the closeness of those who command us from above. As if this were normal. With regard to justice, I have no faith in the state and I don't know how we will move forward.”
The ‘institutions’ are what Italians call anyone who is an office holder: the police, the politicians, the magistrates, and sometimes the Church. The institutions are what Italians recognise as weak and ineffective, and lament as such. It is noticeable that the young man speaks of ‘those who command us from above,’ a phrase that reflects the almost universal perception that those in power do not care about those they are meant to govern. And then he says it: ‘I have no faith in the state.’ There you have the Italian situation in a nutshell: strong families, weak state.
The sister-in-law of one of the murdered men had this to say:
“I am addressing young people. Think about the importance of life and if people are trying to take that away from you, run away. To the institutions I say that it is incredible that there was not a single police patrol on the street that night.”
Her words imply that criminality is a form of death, and so it is. And she wonders where the police were, a common question for all the victims of crime, and an especially bitter one in Italy, where you see so many men and women in uniform but never where and when they are needed.
Near the Cathedral someone had hung out a banner with the words “Basta con Gomorra e Mare Fuori, Qui si muore davvero.” Gomorra and Mare Fuori are two television shows about the Mafia and Camorra. The point it is making is that the fictions of television are not important while people are dying for real in Monreale.
Here are two short films culled from YouTube, showing the funeral. The people in white are members of the Confraternity of the Holy Crucifix, which is is the patron ‘saint’ of Monreale, and to which two of the ragazzi belonged.
Meanwhile the father of one of the murdered men has given an interview, where he says that he only wants justice to be done, and if it is not done, he will do it himself. Alas. Poor father, poor families, poor Monreale and poor Sicily.