mardi 4 août 2020

Bienheureux ENRIQUE ÁNGEL ANGELELLI CARLETTI, évêque et martyr

Bienheureux Enrique Ángel Angelelli Carletti

Évêque argentin martyr (+1976)

né le 17 juin 1923 à Córdoba et mort assassiné le 4 août 1976 à Sañogasta

Il a participé au concile Vatican II, nommé évêque de La Rioja en 1968, il avait un fort engagement social s'opposant à la dictature militaire. Sa mort dans un accident de voiture était un attentat.
- Quatre martyrs béatifiés en Argentine, 27 avril 2019.

- La joie des évêques argentins à l’approche de la béatification de quatre martyrs : le prêtre français Gabriel Longueville, l’évêque argentin Enrique Ángel Angelelli, frère Carlos de Dios Murias et Wenceslao Pedernera, assassinés sous la dictature militaire, seront béatifiés à La Rioja, ville du nord-ouest de l'Argentine, le 27 avril 2019.

- décret du 8 juin 2018, victimes de la dictature argentine (décret en espagnol,  en anglais, en italien):

Martyre de Enrico Angelo Angelelli Carletti, évêque de La Rioja, Gabriel Joseph Roger Longueville, prêtre diocésain, Carlos de Dios Murias, prêtre franciscain, et Wenceslao Pedernera, laïc et père de famille, tués en haine de la Foi en Argentine en 1976.

En espagnol:


 - "Mgr Enrique Angelelli (1923-1976) fut une figure particulièrement marquante de l'Église argentine. Après avoir été évêque de Cordoba, et avoir participé au Concile Vatican II, il fut nommé par le Bienheureux Paul VI évêque de La Rioja, où il se distingua par un fort engagement social. 'Toujours avoir une oreille tournée vers le peuple, et l'autre vers l'Evangile', aimait à répéter celui que beaucoup surnomment le 'Romero argentin'. Il ne prit jamais la peine de cacher son hostilité envers la 'guerre sale' et la dictature du général Videla, s'attirant l'ire des autorités." Béatification prochaine de Mgr Angelelli, le "Romero argentin"


 Monumento al extinto obispo de La Rioja Enrique Angelelli, 
quien fuera asesinado en la decada de 1970 por el dictador Videla.

Argentine : béatification de quatre martyrs qui "ont vécu et sont morts par amour"

Homélie du cardinal Becciu (Traduction intégrale)
AVRIL 29, 2019 20:00CAUSES DES SAINTS, EGLISES LOCALES

« Ils ont vécu et ils sont morts par amour… nous pourrions les définir, en un certain sens, comme des ‘martyrs des décrets conciliaires’. Ils furent tués en raison de leur activité zélée de promotion de la justice chrétienne. » C’est ce qu’a affirmé le préfet de la Congrégation pour les Causes des Saints, en béatifiant quatre martyrs tués lors de la dictature argentine, à La Rioja, le 27 avril 2019.

Les quatre martyrs sont un prêtre français, le p. Gabriel Longueville (1931-1976), Mgr Enrique Angel Angelleli Carletti (1923–1976), le p. Carlos Murias (1945-1976) et le laïc Wenceslao Pedernera, catéchiste et père de famille, tués “en haine de la foi” par des militaires.

« Les nouveaux Bienheureux s’efforcèrent d’œuvrer pour une foi qui influençait aussi la vie, afin que l’Évangile devienne ferment dans la société d’une humanité nouvelle fondée sur la justice, la solidarité et l’égalité »,a déclaré le cardinal Angelo Becciu durant la célébration.

Homélie du card. Angelo Becciu
« Voici le jour que fit le Seigneur, qu’il soit pour nous jour de fête et de joie ».
Chers frères et sœurs,
L’invitation que nous fait sans cesse la liturgie en ce temps pascal, trouve aujourd’hui en nous, rassemblés pour le rite solennel de la béatification de quatre martyrs, une réponse particulièrement rapide et joyeuse. Nous nous réjouissons et nous exultons dans le Seigneur pour le don des nouveaux Bienheureux. Ce sont des hommes qui ont courageusement rendu témoignage au Christ, méritant d’être proposés par l’Église à l’admiration et à l’imitation de tous les fidèles. Chacun d’eux peut redire les paroles du Livre de l’Apocalypse, proclamées dans la première Lecture : « Maintenant voici le salut, la puissance et le règne de notre Dieu, voici le pouvoir de son Christ ! » (Ap 12,10) : le pouvoir du Christ ressuscité qui, au long des siècles, par le biais de son Esprit, continue de vivre et d’agir dans les croyants, pour les pousser vers la réalisation complète du message évangélique.
Conscients de cela, les nouveaux Bienheureux ont toujours compté sur l’aide de Dieu, y compris quand ils ont dû « souffrir pour la justice » (1 P 3,14), au point de se trouver toujours prêts à répondre à quiconque leur demandait raison de l’espérance qui était en eux (cf. 1 P 3,15). Ils se sont offerts à Dieu et à leur prochain, dans un héroïque témoignage chrétien dont le couronnement fut le martyre. Aujourd’hui, l’Église est heureuse de reconnaître qu’Enrique Angel Angelelli, évêque de La Rioja, Carlos de Dios Murias, franciscain conventuel, Gabriel Longueville, prêtre missionnaire fidei donum et le catéchiste Wenceslao Pedernera, père de famille, ont été insultés et persécutés pour la cause de Jésus et de la justice évangélique (cf. Mt 5,10-11) et ont obtenu une « grande récompense dans les cieux » (Mt 5,12).
« Heureux êtes-vous ! » (Mt 5,11 ; 1 P 3,13). Comment pourrions-nous ne pas entendre adressé à nos quatre Bienheureux cet éloge éloquent ? Ils furent de fidèles témoins de l’Évangile et restèrent fermes dans leur amour du Christ et de son Église au prix de souffrances et du sacrifice extrême de leur vie. Ils furent tués en 1976, pendant la période de la dictature militaire, marquée par un climat politique et social fanatique qui connut des conséquences évidentes de persécution religieuse. Le régime dictatorial, en vigueur depuis quelques mois en Argentine, regardait avec soupçon toute forme de défense de la justice sociale. Les quatre Bienheureux menaient une pastorale ouverte aux nouveaux défis pastoraux ; attentive à la promotion des couches sociales les plus faibles, à la défense de leur dignité et à la formation des consciences, dans le cadre de la Doctrine sociale de l’Église. Tout cela dans l’intention de proposer des remèdes aux multiples problématiques sociales.
Il s’agit d’une œuvre de formation dans la foi, d’un engagement religieux et social fort, ancré dans l’Évangile, en faveur des plus pauvres et des exploités, et mis en œuvre à la lumière du tournant du Concile œcuménique Vatican II, avec le vif désir d’appliquer les préceptes conciliaires. Nous pourrions les définir, en un certain sens, comme des « martyrs des décrets conciliaires ». Ils furent tués en raison de leur activité zélée de promotion de la justice chrétienne. En effet, à cette époque, l’engagement en faveur de la justice sociale et pour promouvoir la dignité de la personne humaine était entravé par toutes les forces des autorités civiles. Officiellement, le pouvoir politique se disait respectueux, et même carrément défenseur de la religion chrétienne et il cherchait à l’instrumentaliser, exigeant un comportement soumis de la part des clercs et passif de la part des fidèles, invités par la force à n’extérioriser leur foi que lors de manifestations liturgiques et de culte. Mais les nouveaux Bienheureux s’efforcèrent d’œuvrer pour une foi qui influençait aussi la vie, afin que l’Évangile devienne ferment dans la société d’une humanité nouvelle fondée sur la justice, la solidarité et l’égalité.
Le bienheureux Enrique Angel Angelelli fut un pasteur courageux et zélé qui, à peine arrivé à La Rioja, s’employa avec un grand zèle à secourir la population très pauvre et victime d’injustices. Le cœur de son service épiscopal réside dans son action sociale en faveur des plus démunis et exploités et dans la mise en valeur de la piété populaire, comme antidote à l’oppression. Image du Bon Pasteur, il était amoureux du Christ et de son prochain, prêt à donner sa vie pour ses frères.
Les prêtres Carlos de Dio Murias et Gabriel Longueville ont été capables de saisir les défis de l’évangélisation et d’y répondre à travers leur proximité à l’égard des couches les plus démunies de la population. Le premier, religieux franciscain, se distingua par son esprit de prière et son détachement réel des biens matériels ; le second fut un homme de l’Eucharistie. Wenceslao Pedernera, catéchiste et membre actif du mouvement catholique rural, se consacra avec passion à une généreuse activité sociale alimentée par sa foi. Il était humble et charitable avec tous.
Ces quatre Bienheureux sont des modèles de vie chrétienne. L’exemple de l’évêque enseigne aux pasteurs d’aujourd’hui à exercer leur ministère avec une charité ardente, en étant forts dans la foi devant les difficultés. Les deux prêtres exhortent les prêtres d’aujourd’hui à être assidus à la prière et à trouver dans la rencontre avec Jésus et dans leur amour pour lui la force pour ne jamais se ménager dans leur ministère sacerdotal : ne pas s’abaisser à des compromis, rester fidèles à tout prix à la missions, prêts à embrasser la croix. Le père de famille enseigne aux laïcs à se distinguer par la transparence de leur foi, se laissant guider par celle-ci dans les décisions plus importantes de la vie. Ils ont vécu et ils sont morts par amour. La signification des martyrs aujourd’hui réside dans le fait que leur témoignage rend vaine la prétention à vivre égoïstement ou à construire un modèle de société fermée et sans référence aux valeurs morales et spirituelles. Les martyrs nous exhortent, ainsi que les générations futures, à ouvrir notre cœur à Dieu et à nos frères, à être des hérauts de la paix, des artisans de la justice, des témoins de la solidarité, malgré les incompréhensions, les épreuves et les fatigues. Les quatre martyrs de ce diocèse, que nous contemplons aujourd’hui dans leur béatitude, nous rappellent que « mieux vaudrait souffrir en faisant le bien, si c’était la volonté de Dieu, plutôt qu’en faisant le mal » (1 P 3,17), comme nous l’a rappelé l’apôtre Pierre dans la seconde Lecture.
 Nous les admirons pour leur courage. Nous les remercions pour leur fidélité dans des circonstances difficiles, une fidélité qui est plus qu’un exemple : c’est un héritage pour ce diocèse et pour tout le peuple argentin et une responsabilité qui doit être vécue à toutes les époques. Que l’exemple et la prière de ces quatre Bienheureux nous aident à être toujours davantage des hommes de foi, des témoins de l’Évangile, des constructeurs de communauté, les promoteurs d’une Église engagée à témoigner de l’Évangile dans tous les secteurs de la société, élevant des ponts et abattant les murs de l’indifférence. Nous confions à leur intercession cette ville et toute la nation : ses espérances et ses joies, ses besoins et ses difficultés. Que chacun puisse se réjouir de l’honneur rendu à ces témoins de la foi. Dieu les a soutenus dans leurs souffrances, leur a donné le réconfort et la couronne de la victoire. Puisse le Seigneur soutenir, par la force de l’Esprit Saint, ceux qui œuvrent aujourd’hui pour le progrès authentique et pour la construction de la civilisation de l’amour.
Bienheureux Enrique Angel Angelelli et ses trois compagnons martyrs, priez pour nous !
© Traduction de Zenit, Hélène Ginabat
AVRIL 29, 2019 20:00CAUSES DES SAINTS, EGLISES LOCALES


Mgr Enrique Angelelli, évêque argentin, martyr, bientôt béatifié

Et ses trois compagnons – deux prêtres, un laïc -, également martyrs
JUIN 09, 2018 19:03ANITA BOURDINCAUSES DES SAINTS

Le pape François a reconnu le « martyre » de quatre Argentins – un évêque, Mgr Enrique Angelelli, deux prêtres, un laïc – qui seront donc bientôt béatifiés: le pape vient d’autoriser, le 8 juin 2018 la publication du décret reconnaissance leur martyre, ce qui dispense du miracle habituellement requis pour une béatification. Il ne faudra un pour leur canonisation.

Le pape a reconnu en tout trois miracles dus à l’intercession de trois laïcs : deux femmes – une laïque espagnole et une mère de famille mexicaine -, « vénérables » qui seront donc bientôt béatifiées, et d’un jeune bienheureux italien, qui sera donc canonisé.

Mgr Enrique Angelelli (1923-1976) fut une figure particulièrement marquante de l’Eglise argentine, explique Vatican News, ce 9 juin 2018. : « Après avoir été évêque de Cordoba, et avoir participé au Concile Vatican II, il fut nommé par le Bienheureux Paul VI évêque de La Rioja, où il se distingua par un fort engagement social. «Toujours avoir une oreille tournée vers le peuple, et l’autre vers l’Evangile», aimait à répéter celui que beaucoup surnomment le «Romero argentin». Il ne prit jamais la peine de cacher son hostilité envers la «guerre sale» et la dictature du général Videla, s’attirant l’ire des autorités. »

La même source ajoute : « Il mourut dans un accident de voiture maquillé le 4 août 1976. Pendant des années, les autorités soutinrent que cette mort était accidentelle, en dépit des signes qui attestèrent de sa nature criminelle.  En 2014, deux officiers de l’armée, -qui avaient, selon un témoin, achevé par balles Mgr Angelelli après le simulacre d’accident-, furent condamnés à la prison à perpétuité. »

Avec Mgr Angelelli seront béatifiés trois autres baptisés morts «en haine de la foi», durant la même période.

Vaticna News précise : « Le père Carlos Murias, jeune franciscain, avait été envoyé par Mgr Angelelli au service des pauvres de Chamical. Son engagement en faveur des paysans lui avait valu une étroite surveillance des militaires. Le 18 juillet 1976, des hommes se présentant comme des policiers l’arrêtèrent alors qu’il se trouvait dans un monastère.

Le curé de la paroisse de Chamical, le père Gabriel Longueville, prêtre français Fidei Donum, refusa de le laisser partir seul et choisit de l’accompagner. Leurs corps furent retrouvés deux jours plus tard dans un champ, atrocement mutilés.

Wenceslao Pedernera, paysan, organisateur du Mouvement rural catholique, fut assassiné chez lui, devant sa femme et ses filles, par des hommes masqués, le 25 juillet 1976. Avant d’expirer, à l’hôpital où on l’avait transporté, il pardonna à ses meurtriers. »

JUIN 09, 2018 19:03CAUSES DES SAINTS

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Anita Bourdin
Journaliste accréditée au Vatican depuis 1995. A lancé Zenit en français en janvier 1999. Correspondante à Rome de Radio Espérance. Formation: journalisme (Bruxelles), théologie biblique (Rome), lettres classiques (Paris).

Béatification prochaine de Mgr Angelelli, le "Romero argentin"
L’Argentine comptera quatre nouveaux bienheureux, parmi lesquels Mgr Enrique Angelelli. Le Pape François a signé ce vendredi le décret reconnaissant le martyre de l’ancien évêque de la Rioja et de ses compagnons.
Manuella Affejee- Cité du Vatican
C’est le Pape lui-même qui a communiqué par téléphone la nouvelle à l’actuel évêque de La Rioja, Mgr Marcello Colombo, après avoir reçu en audience le cardinal Angelo Amato, préfet de la Congrégation pour les causes des saints, actuellement sur le départ.
Mgr Angelelli, un évêque contre la dictature
Mgr Enrique Angelelli (1923-1976) fut une figure particulièrement marquante de l’Eglise argentine. Après avoir été évêque de Cordoba, et avoir participé au Concile Vatican II, il fut nommé par le Bienheureux Paul VI évêque de La Rioja, où il se distingua par un fort engagement social. «Toujours avoir une oreille tournée vers le peuple, et l’autre vers l’Evangile», aimait à répéter celui que beaucoup surnomment le «Romero argentin». Il ne prit jamais la peine de cacher son hostilité envers la «guerre sale» et la dictature du général Videla, s’attirant l’ire des autorités.
Il mourut dans un accident de voiture déguisé le 4 août 1976. Pendant des années, les autorités soutinrent que cette mort était accidentelle, en dépit des signes qui attestèrent de sa nature criminelle.  En 2014, deux officiers de l’armée, -qui avaient, selon un témoin, achevé par balles Mgr Angelelli après le simulacre d’accident-, furent condamnés à la prison à perpétuité.
Deux autres Argentins et un Français tués en haine de la foi
Avec Mgr Angelelli seront béatifiés trois autres personnes, tous morts «en haine de la foi», durant la même période. Le père Carlos Murias, jeune franciscain, avait été envoyé par Mgr Angelelli au service des pauvres de Chamical. Son engagement en faveur des paysans lui avait valu une étroite surveillance des militaires. Le 18 juillet 1976, des hommes se présentant comme des policiers l’arrêtèrent alors qu’il se trouvait dans un monastère. Le curé de la paroisse de Chamical, le père Gabriel Longueville, prêtre français Fidei Donum, refusa de le laisser partir seul et choisit de l’accompagner. Leurs corps furent retrouvés deux jours plus tard dans un champ, atrocement mutilés.
Wenceslao Pedernera, paysan, organisateur du Mouvement rural catholique, fut assassiné chez lui, devant sa femme et ses filles, par des hommes masqués, le 25 juillet 1976. Avant d’expirer, à l’hôpital où on l’avait transporté, il pardonna à ses meurtriers.
Signature de trois autres décrêts
D’autres décrêts ont été signés à la même occasion. Celui reconnaissant le miracle attribué à l’intercession du Bienheureux Nunzio Sulprizio (1817-1836), laïc italien. Une Mexicaine et une Espagnole seront également prochainement béatifiées: la vénérable Maria Cabrera Arias (1862-1937), laïque et mère de famille, et la vénérable Maria Guadalupe Ortiz de Landazuri (1916-1975), laïque et membre de l’Opus Dei.
SOURCE : https://www.vaticannews.va/fr/pape/news/2018-06/beatification-mgr-angelelli-argentine.html
Son of Italian immigrants. He entered the seminary of Our Lady of Loreto at age 15, studied in Rome, Italy, and then was ordained a priest on 9 October 1949 at Rome for the diocese of Córdoba, Argentina. He served as a parish priest in Córdoba, founded youth groups, and ministering to the poor in their own neighborhoods.

Chosen Auxiliary Bishop of Córdoba and Titular Bishop of Lystra by Pope John XXIII on 12 December 1960. He became involved in renewal of the faith and parish life, and in labor union conflicts; this led to his arrest. Part in the first, third, and fourth sessions of the Second Vatican Council in 1962, 1964, and 1965. In 1965, to get him away from conflict with the civil authorities, he was relieved of part of his duties and exiled to serve as chaplain to a convent of Adoratrices at the Colegio Villa Eucharistica.

Chosen bishop of La Rioja, Argentina on 3 July 1968 by Pope Paul VI. There he encouraged the working classes to unionize, form co-operatives, farm idle lands, and generally join together to improve their lot, even against the prerogatives of the ruling class.

On 13 June 1973 Bishop Enrico was forced to abandon a church and flee when a mob broke in during services and began to stone him in retaliation for his work. He declared an interdict against the leaders and their supporters; he received the full support of his priests, but not his national conference of bishops, and the papal nuncio openly sided with those under interdict. Angelelli knew he was being targeted for assassination by the military for his opposition to the government, and he was right. On 4 August 1976 while driving a truck home with Father Arturo Pinto, coming from a Mass in El Chamical that had been celebrated for two murdered priests, Blessed Carlos de Dios Murias and Blessed Gabriel Longueville, Angelelli was intentionally wrecked by other vehicles, and then beaten to death in the road. His was one of many murders committed during the Argentinian Dirty War, was listed as a traffic accident, and it wasn’t until a decade later, on 19 June 1986, when a new, more democratic government was in power, that the death was officially declared a murder. The investigation and court battles continued for decades more before finally, on 5 July 2014, Commander Menéndez and Luis Estrella, who had headed the Air Force base and torture center at El Chamical, were sentenced to life for Angelelli’s murder.

Born



FAITH

Argentine martyrs' road to beatification recalls period of military rule

David Agren | Catholic News Service


Apr 08, 2019 



Bishop Enrique Angelelli Carletti traveled to a rural corner of his diocese in July 1973 to celebrate the feast of San Antonio. He was run out of town instead.
A mob organized by wealthy landowners pelted him with stones. It was their response to his promotion of worker cooperatives at a time when such concepts were criticized as communist, and anything emphasizing the "social" was seen as subversive.
Bishop Angelelli's pastoral approach was inspired by the Second Vatican Council and Young Christian Workers Movement, but the resistance became more brazen in the ensuing years. He was murdered in a mysterious car crash in July 1976 -- a crime carried out by the then-ruling military dictatorship.
The bishop's murder followed the slayings of two priests -- Conventual Franciscan Father Gabriel Longueville and Father Carlos de Dios Murias -- and Wenceslao Pedernera, a pastoral worker.
The four churchmen are collectively known as the Martyrs of La Rioja. They will be beatified April 27 at a ceremony in La Rioja, 700 miles northwest of Buenos Aires in the arid Andean foothills.
Their road to beatification recalls the troubled period of military rule and church acquiescence as abuses occurred. But it also vindicates a pastoral approach since championed by Pope Francis, who, while Jesuit provincial, befriended Bishop Angelelli.
The La Rioja martyrs "are the first victims of the military dictatorship to be declared martyrs by the church," said Mariano de Vedia, author of a biography on Bishop Angelelli. "It's a gesture showing Francis' commitment to the church that's close to the poor."
The beatifications have been greeted with muted enthusiasm in La Rioja and Argentina, however. Many locals in La Rioja still know little of the martyrs' legacy, let alone their names.
Such is the controversy still clinging to Bishop Angelelli's legacy and the country's difficulties confronting the atrocities of the 1976-1983 military dictatorship, which some in the church hierarchy supported and many more did not actively oppose.
"Argentina is a country looking more at the past than to the future and more open to controversies than agreements," said Jose Maria Poirier, publisher of the Catholic magazine Criterio.
"He is considered a socially minded bishop, very concerned with people's issues, very critical of the military dictatorship and, with few exceptions, the Argentina episcopate didn't defend him," said Poirier.
Bishop Angelelli was born in Cordoba, 250 miles southeast of La Rioja, in 1923. He entered the minor seminary at age 15, studied in Rome and was elevated to bishop by St. John XXIII in 1960.
He participated in the sessions of the Second Vatican Council and the 1968 Latin American bishops' council meeting in Medellin, Colombia, where the bishops proposed "a preferential option for the poor," a principle unpopular with Argentina's hierarchy, according to observers.
After Vatican II, the bishop returned to Cordoba, where he was an auxiliary, to implement new pastoral approaches, though his archbishop was not on board.
Bishop Angelelli "understood the Vatican II and its challenges," said Delfor Brizuela, a former priest and current human rights director in La Rioja's provincial government. "But he didn't really fulfill a bishop's role" in Cordoba, where "they sent him to a parish like any other priest, but (as) a bishop."
The bishop was appointed to La Rioja in 1968. He was sent there "as if it were the end of the world," Brizuela said, as the province was one of the poorest and least influential in Argentina, while social conditions were "semi-feudal." But he embraced the appointment and saw it as an opportunity to put the preferential option for the poor into practice.
Some of the changes were symbolic: He removed the names of the wealthy from the pews they reserved for themselves in the cathedral, where many poor Catholics preferred not to attend. He embraced popular piety, celebrated Christmas Eve Mass in poor pueblos and did not mind churchgoers not wearing their Sunday best.
Bishop Angelelli criticized injustices, but also promoted ministries for young people and for improving women's equality in a bastion of machismo, said Sister Maricarmen Paruas, who worked with the late bishop.
"He valued women and valued women religious," Sister Maricarmen said. "As women, as religious, he gave us opportunities to work in his pastoral projects as equals."
His pastoral approach attracted priests and religious wanting to put Vatican II into practice. Sister Maricarmen, 87, arrived in La Rioja from Spain in 1970 with the Religious of the Assumption congregation.
"When we came here, we saw the possibility of living a different church with a different bishop. We saw the prospect of working in barrios, in the midst of the people, and we stayed," she said.
"We established a presence of walking together, of listening and learning," she added. "We learned a lot from the people. He learned a lot from the people. He told us, 'Listen a lot before speaking. Drink lots of mate,'" an infusion popular in Argentina.
Though denounced as communist by the gentry and attacked mercilessly in the press, Bishop Angelelli "received the rich, the same as the poor," and "was able to forgive his worst enemy," Sister Maricarmen said.
Many of the bishop's conflicts with the wealthy stemmed from his promotion of worker-run co-ops.
Rafael Sifre, a collaborator in the rural movement supported by Bishop Angelelli, recalls an attempt to form a co-op to work the land of a vineyard owner, who had died. But resistance from local landowners was ferocious, to the point Sifre was kidnapped three times and the bishop was pelted with stones and accused of storing explosives in the local parish, he said.
Pedernera worked in the cellar of winery in Mendoza province, but moved to La Rioja to join Bishop Angelelli's rural movement. He also tried to form a co-op -- The Lucky Star to grow crops such as melons, tomatoes and peppers -- but also encountered resistance from landowners and the military dictatorship.
Susana Pedernera, one of his three daughters, recalls constant harassment and espionage -- to the point vehicles, driven by spies dressed as women, would pass by the family's farm. Wenceslao Pedernera was a catechist in the local parish and would "read a page from the Gospel after work," his daughter recalled.
But when he read the Bible, "People distanced themselves" and called him "communist" and "extremist," she said. "That's when problems started."
On the night of July 24, 1976, gendarmes pulled Wenceslao Pedernera from his home, at gunpoint, and beat him badly. He died of his injuries.
Six days earlier, Fathers Longueville and Dios Murias also were taken violently as they ate supper with a congregation of women religious. Their bodies were found beaten by railway workers.
"They tried to silence the bishop by killing those close to him," said Sifre, who was sent to Europe for his own safety. "He was persecuted for a church that tried to live the Gospel."
Few in the Argentine bishops' conference backed Bishop Angelelli. The Jesuits -- whose Argentine provincial was then-Father Jorge Mario Bergoglio -- held a retreat in La Rioja and, when the seminarians were sent away to study for their safety, the Jesuits welcomed them at their school in suburban Buenos Aires.
On Aug. 4, 1976, Bishop Angelelli was returning to La Rioja after celebrating a novena as part of the funerals for Pedernera and the two priests. His vehicle was run off the road by assassins in what was supposed to look like an accident. In 2014, two military commanders were found criminally responsible for his death.
Sister Maricarmen recalls Bishop Angelelli telling her on the eve of his murder, "They're closing in." She urged him to leave, but he refused.
"My place is here alongside my people," he said. "How can I leave my flock without a shepherd?"

DAVID AGREN
Catholic News Service
David Agren writes for Catholic News Service.
SOURCE : https://angelusnews.com/faith/argentine-martyrs-road-to-beatification-recalls-period-of-military-rule/

Pope applauds beatification of Argentine martyrs


BY  JUNNO AROCHO ESTEVES, CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE

·       April 29, 2019

VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis applauded the beatification of four Argentine martyrs -- a bishop, two priests and a layman -- who were murdered early in the country's seven-year long "Dirty War."
After praying the "Regina Coeli" prayer with pilgrims in St. Peter's Square April 28, the pope said the lives of Blesseds Enrique Angelelli Carletti, Carlos de Dios Murias, Gabriel Longueville and Wenceslao Pedernera are models for those "who work for a society that is more just and based on solidarity."
"These martyrs of the faith were persecuted for the cause of justice and evangelical charity," the pope said. "Let's applaud the newly beatified!"
The four martyrs were beatified during an outdoor Mass in La Rioja, Argentina, April 27 celebrated by Cardinal Angelo Becciu, prefect of the Congregation for Saints' Causes.
In his homily, Cardinal Becciu said the four men were "faithful witnesses of the Gospel" who stood firm "in their love for Christ and his church at the cost of suffering and the extreme sacrifice of life."
Upon seizing power in Argentina in 1976, the military dictatorship began a swift campaign of brutal repression, including by executing political dissidents or those perceived to be left-wing sympathizers; in all, an estimated 30,000 people were killed or disappeared.
Among the first casualties in the military's campaign were Blessed Murias, a Franciscan priest, and Blessed Longueville, a French missionary. Both men served in the Diocese of La Rioja.
According to the Argentine website "Nunca Mas" ("Never Again"), a site cataloging the casualties of the "Dirty War," several men who identified themselves as federal policemen arrested the two priests on July 18, 1976, subsequently torturing and murdering them.
A week later, Blessed Pedernera, a catechist who also spoke out in defense of poor workers, was targeted by the dictatorship's death squad. Several men stormed his house and shot him repeatedly in front of his wife and three daughters.
As bishop of La Rioja, Blessed Angelelli, who publicly denounced the executions occurring in his diocese, met the same fate as those of his flock. After celebrating a Mass in memory of Blesseds Murias and Longueville on Aug. 4, 1976, the bishop and a priest accompanying him were forced off road by several cars following them, causing their truck to overturn.
Upon regaining consciousness, the priest, Father Arturo Pinto, found Blessed Angelelli dead, bearing injuries consistent with blows delivered after the accident.  
Cardinal Becciu praised all four men for carrying out ministries that were rooted in defending the rights and dignity of the poor within the framework of the church's social doctrine.
"It was a work of faith formation, of a strong religious and social commitment, anchored in the Gospel, in favor of the poorest and most exploited and carried out in the light of the newness of the Second Vatican Council," he said. "We could define them, in a certain sense, as 'martyrs of the conciliar decrees.'"
Each martyr, he added, offers a distinct model for Christian living. Blessed Angelelli teaches today's bishops to fulfill their ministry with "ardent charity" and "being strong in faith in the face of difficulties."
Blesseds Murias and Longueville, Cardinal Becciu continued, teach priests to lead prayerful lives by "not entering into compromises with faith," while Blessed Pedernera is an example for lay men and women to be transparent in the faith and allow "themselves to be guided by it in life's most important decisions."
"We admire them for their courage. We thank them for their fidelity in difficult circumstances, a fidelity that is more than an example," the cardinal said. "It is a legacy for this diocese and for all the Argentine people and a responsibility that must be lived in all times."
SOURCE : https://www.catholicregister.org/faith/item/29412-pope-applauds-beatification-of-argentine-martyrs

Beatification of four modern martyrs to the faith in Argentina
The Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, presides over the beatification in Argentina of Bishop Enrique Angelelli, Fr Carlos Murias, Fr Gabriel Longueville, and lay catechist Wenceslao Pedernera. All were assassinated in 1976 during Argentina’s “dirty war”.

By Seàn-Patrick Lovett

The first person to call them “martyrs” was the then Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Jorge Bergoglio, when he celebrated a memorial Mass for them in the Cathedral of La Rioja. Bishop Angelelli “shed his blood” for preaching the Gospel, said the future Pope Francis in his homily, and “the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church”.

The meaning of martyrdom

On Saturday morning, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, returned to the meaning of martyrdom when he celebrated their Beatification Mass in La Rioja City Park. “Their witness frustrates the claim to live selfishly or to build a model of society that is closed and without reference to moral and spiritual values”, he said. “The Martyrs exhort us…to be heralds of peace, agents of justice, and witnesses of solidarity”.

Who are these modern martyrs?

Bishop Enrique Angelelli was the son of Italian immigrants. His pastoral work, first in Córdoba and later in La Rioja, always focused on the poor and the oppressed.

This was Argentina in the mid-1970’s, the start of what came to be known as the “dirty war”, when right-wing death squads kidnapped, tortured and assassinated anyone suspected of being a political or ideological threat. 30,000 people disappeared, mostly students, trade unionists, journalists, artists, and sometimes priests.

Conventual Franciscan, Fr Carlos de Dios Murias, and French missionary, Fr Gabriel Longueville, worked together in the same rural parish, championing issues of social justice. In July 1976, they were tortured to death and their bodies left mutilated. A week later, a lay catechist, Wenceslao Pedernera, was shot to death in front of his wife and three daughters.

“It’s my turn next”

Bishop Angelelli understood he was on a death squad list and would often say: “It’s my turn next”. On 4 August 1976, he was driving back home after celebrating Mass for the two murdered priests, when his truck was overturned and he was murdered at the side of the road. In 2014 an Argentine Court confirmed that his assassination was a “premeditated act” and the result of “State-sponsored terrorism”.  

In his homily at the Beatification Mass, Cardinal Becciu added that all four men were killed “because of their active efforts to promote Christian justice”. At the time of their murder, he continued, civil authorities did all they could to obstruct “commitment to social justice and to promoting the dignity of the human person”.

Models of Christian life

The Cardinal called these four Blesseds “models of Christian life”. The example of Bishop Angelelli, he said, “teaches today's pastors to exercise their ministry with burning charity, remaining strong in faith”. The example of the two priests, he added, “exhorts today's priests not to compromise, to remain faithful at all costs”. The father of the family, he concluded, “teaches the laity to distinguish themselves by the transparency of their faith, letting themselves be guided by it”.


Catholic-on-Catholic martyrdom: a new reality in the Church today

Sebastian Gomes

May 2, 2019

One of the most interesting books we’ve featured on Subject Matters is a work of sociology. The Catholic Church and Argentina’s Dirty War by Boston College’s Gustavo Morello, SJ, is a vivid and unsettling study of the kidnapping and torture of an American priest, Fr. James Weeks, and five seminarians by a right-wing (and “Catholic”) military dictatorship in 1976.

Through the brutal experience of these men—some of whom he interviewed for the book—Morello raises key questions about “catholicity” during Argentina’s Dirty War period: namely, why was the hierarchy silent in the face of such wide-spread atrocities? And how did the victims, perpetrators, and bystanders each understand their own “Catholicism”? (Remember that Argentina was about 90% Catholic in the late 1970s).

This excellent book came to mind this past Saturday, April 27, as Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, presided over a beatification ceremony of four martyrs of Argentina’s Dirty War: Bishop Enrique Angelelli, Fr. Carlos Murias, Fr. Gabriel Longueville, and lay catechist Wenceslao Pedernera.

In his homily during the ceremony, Cardinal Becciu said the four men were killed “because of their active efforts to promote Christian justice”—an increasingly common quality of contemporary martyrdom. But it is especially significant as an official declaration that deviates from the traditional definition of a martyr as someone killed in odium fidei, meaning “in hatred of the faith”.

This expanded definition of martyrdom is an important step forward in our collective Catholic consciousness. In the last fifty years, people have been killed for their Christian witness to solidarity, justice, peace, and charity—themes and virtues that spring directly from the Gospel.

The beatification and canonization of Archbishop Oscar Romero in recent years is the archetype for this development. His postulator, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia went so far as to call Romero “a martyr of the church of the Second Vatican Council,” an historic event in which the hierarchy of the Catholic Church recognized and emphasized the Gospel demand of working for liberation from all forms of injustice.

Certainly, there are contemporary martyrs who are killed for being Christian. But more and more, contemporary martyrs are being killed for living out their Christianity.

Perhaps most bewildering about the violence committed against Fr. James Weeks and the seminarians, Bishop Angelelli, Fr. Carlos Murias, Fr. Gabriel Longueville, Wenceslao Pedernera, and Archbishop Romero, is the lingering question raised in Fr. Morello’s book: How can we make sense of such Catholic-on-Catholic violence?

The death squads of General Jorge Videla in Argentina, who kidnapped and tortured the subjects of Fr. Morello’s book and the four men beatified on Saturday, were professed “Catholics,” and in their own minds were defending Christian civilization from the communist ideology. They rejected the idea that the work of people like Fr. Carlos Murias and Fr. Gabriel Longueville in promoting integral human development among the poor in La Rioja, was based on fundamental Gospel principles.

We cannot say a murderer and his victim both confessed the same faith and that that faith motivated their actions. Clearly there were deeper, ulterior motives. These modern martyrs teach us an important contemporary lesson: it is very possible to misrepresent the Catholic faith we profess when social, political, cultural, or economic interests are prioritized over fundamental Gospel values.

Finally, by broadening our conception of martyrdom we also see how “death” manifests itself beyond the physical. When Pope Francis greeted Salvadoran pilgrims at the Vatican after Romero’s beatification in October 2015, he said:

“Archbishop Romero’s martyrdom did not occur precisely at the moment of his death; it was a martyrdom of witness, of previous suffering, of previous persecution, until his death. But also afterwards because, after he died — I was a young priest and I witnessed this — he was defamed, slandered, soiled, that is, his martyrdom continued even by his brothers in the priesthood and in the episcopate… Only God knows the history of people and how many times people who have already given their life, or who have died, continue to be scourged with the hardest stone that exists in the world: the tongue.”

 We live in a new age of martyrs, replete with various forms of Catholic-on-Catholic violence. That violence can range from brutal physical torture to gossip and slander. The real, and profoundly unsettling, question to ponder is: what are the deeper, ulterior motives of those Catholics who destroy other Catholics in one way, shape, or form, in the name of Catholicism?

AMERICA/ARGENTINA - The first liturgical feast of the blessed martyrs of La Rioja: an opportunity to learn and imitate their testimony of faith

Thursday, 11 July 2019

La Rioja (Agenzia Fides) - "The joy of the beatification of our martyrs Enrique, Carlos, Gabriel and Wenceslao continues to beat in our hearts and encourages us to continue walking as a community in the "state of beatification".

As we all know, July 17 is the day when we will celebrate the liturgical feast of the new Blesseds. Listening to the diocesan pastoral council and the presbyteral Council, it seemed appropriate to celebrate this date at a parish level". Thus writes the Bishop of the Diocese of La Rioja, Mgr. Dante Gustavo Braida, in a letter to the communities of his diocese in view of the first liturgical feast of the Blessed Martyrs Enrique Ángel Angelelli, Bishop of La Rioja, Carlos de Dios Murias, conventual Franciscan, Gabriel Longueville, fidei donum missionary priest, and Wenceslao Pedernera, catechist, family man, whose beatification rite was celebrated on 27 April (see Fides, 29/4/2019).

The material prepared consists of a novena, a triduum and the Holy Mass: each community can use them in the way most suited to its own reality. The Bishop hopes that they will serve "to encourage prayer and meditation around the lives of our martyrs, a propitious moment to continue to encourage the community to know and imitate the witness of faith and dedication of our brothers that the Church proposes as an example of holiness".

The relics of Mgr. Angelelli are already available for the parishes that desire them, while those of the other three Blessed Martyrs are being prepared. The Bishop concludes with the hope that "our beloved martyrs can accompany us and strengthen us in our daily mission". (SL) (Agenzia Fides, 11/7/2019)

SOURCE : http://www.fides.org/en/news/66346-AMERICA_ARGENTINA_The_first_liturgical_feast_of_the_blessed_martyrs_of_La_Rioja_an_opportunity_to_learn_and_imitate_their_testimony_of_faith


Beato Enrique Angelo Angelelli Carletti Vescovo e martire



Córdoba, Argentina, 17 giugno 1923 – Punta de Los Llanos, Argentina, 4 agosto 1976

Enrique Angelo Angelelli Carletti nacque a Córdoba in Argentina il 17 luglio 1923. Entrò in Seminario quindicenne e fu ordinato sacerdote nel 1949 a Roma. Prese da subito coscienza della situazione dei quartieri poveri di Córdoba, le “villas miserias”, e divenne anche assistente spirituale della Gioventù Operaia Cattolica e della Gioventù Universitaria Cattolica. Il 12 dicembre 1960, il Papa san Giovanni XXIII lo nominò vescovo ausiliare di Córdoba; fu ordinato il 12 marzo 1961. Partecipò alle ultime tre sessioni del Concilio Vaticano II. Nel 1968, il 3 luglio, ebbe la nomina a vescovo della diocesi di La Rioja. Se da una parte il suo popolo lo ammirava, dall’altra politici e proprietari terrieri lo osteggiavano. Il 4 agosto 1976 stava tornando in automobile da El Chamical, dove aveva celebrato una Messa in suffragio di don Gabriel Longueville (sacerdote “fidei donum”), padre Carlos de Dios Murias (dei Frati Minori Conventuali) e Wenceslao Pedernera (padre di famiglia), uccisi meno di dieci giorni prima. La vettura, guidata da padre Arturo Pinto, fu raggiunta da un veicolo con a bordo tre militari, poi fu spinta e gettata in un burrone. La versione ufficiale dei fatti era che fosse stato un incidente stradale, ma nel 2010 furono riaperte le indagini, che portarono a una nuova ricostruzione: era avvenuto un omicidio vero e proprio, motivato dalle scelte per i poveri di monsignor Angelelli. La sua causa di beatificazione si è svolta, nella parte iniziale, presso la diocesi di La Rioja dal 13 ottobre 2015 al 15 settembre 2016. È stata successivamente unita a quella dei due sacerdoti e del laico già citati. La beatificazione di tutti e quattro si è svolta il 27 aprile 2019 presso il Parco Cittadino di La Rioja, mentre la loro memoria liturgica cade il 17 luglio, il giorno prima di quello della nascita al Cielo di don Longueville e di padre Murias. Le spoglie mortali di monsignor Angelelli sono venerate nella cattedrale di La Rioja.

Con disprezzo lo chiamano il “vescovo rosso, comunista, estremista, terzomondista” oppure “Satanelli”, ironizzando sul suo cognome, Angelelli, da cui si deduce la sua origine italiana, perché è figlio di nostri emigranti in Argentina, che campano coltivando ortaggi.

Nato nel 1923 ed entrato in seminario a 15 anni, lo mandano poi a Roma, dove viene ordinato prete nel 1949. Gli fanno prendere la licenza in diritto canonico alla Gregoriana e nel 1951 ritorna a Córdoba; qui matura una spiccata predilezione per i poveri, cominciando a visitare le “villas miserias”, le baraccopoli argentine della zona. Fonda un movimento giovanile, diventa assistente della JOC (Gioventù Operaia Cattolica) e della JUC (Gioventù Universitaria Cattolica), insegna in seminario.


Il 12 dicembre 1960, a sorpresa, il Papa san Giovanni XXIII lo designa vescovo ausiliare di Córdoba. Per la sua ordinazione episcopale la cattedrale si riempie di operai e povera gente come mai si è visto prima, e non certo per caso.

Partecipa alle ultime tre sessioni del Concilio e respira a pieni polmoni l’aria di rinnovamento che soffia nella Chiesa: forse troppa, a giudizio degli ambienti più conservatori, che lo guardano con sospetto, soprattutto da quando nel 1964 ha iniziato ad appoggiare le istanze di alcuni preti su una nuova concezione di Chiesa e di missione, ossia il Movimento dei Sacerdoti per il Terzo Mondo.

Tanto basta per determinare un suo allontanamento dal governo della diocesi e la sua “destituzione” a cappellano di una congregazione religiosa e bisogna aspettare parecchi mesi e, soprattutto, un nuovo vescovo a Córdoba per assistere ad una sua reintegrazione.

Nel 1968 Paolo VI lo nomina vescovo titolare di La Rioja, nel nord-ovest dell’Argentina, dove inizia, con il suo inconfondibile stile, un servizio pastorale improntato ad un’autentica liberazione dei “riojanos”.

Si distingue per la sua vicinanza ai lavoratori ed ai contadini, di cui promuove l’organizzazione in cooperative; denuncia l’usura, la droga, le case da gioco e la gestione della prostituzione in mano ai più ricchi e potenti della società “riojana”.

Visita le varie comunità, anche le più sperdute, accompagnato e spesso preceduto dalle diffamazioni e dalle contestazioni dei gruppi conservatori per i quali rappresenta un vero incubo, per la sua franchezza nel parlare e nel denunciare gli abusi. Arrivano addirittura, il 13 giugno 1973, ad interrompere con un lancio di pietre la celebrazione della messa, fomentando contro di lui commercianti e proprietari terrieri, a causa del suo sostegno ai minatori e ai manovali agricoli.

La radio boicotta la trasmissione delle sue messe in cattedrale ed il vescovo reagisce denunciando che «Anche se ci obbligano al silenzio, Cristo parla», mentre dall’ambone tuona senza mezzi termini: «Non c’è nessuna pagina del Vangelo che comandi di essere stupidi, non abbiamo gli occhi chiusi, né le orecchie tappate…».

Mentre si fa sempre più intensa la sua attività a favore dei poveri, spiega: «Io non posso predicare la rassegnazione. Dio non vuole uomini e donne rassegnati. Quello che vuole Dio sono uomini e donne che lottano pacificamente per la vita, per la libertà, non per finire in una nuova schiavitù».

Durante la visita “ad limina” del 1974 alcuni ambienti vaticani gli consigliano di non tornare in Argentina perché è a rischio la sua incolumità fisica, ma è una proposta che neppure prende in considerazione.

Il 20 luglio 1976, come macabro omaggio per il suo compleanno, gli fanno ritrovare, orrendamente massacrati e mutilati, i corpi di due dei suoi preti, il “fidei donum” francese don Gabriel Longueville e padre Carlos de Dios Murias, dei Frati Minori. Il successivo 4 agosto tocca a lui, anche se gli assassini cercano di camuffare il suo omicidio come incidente stradale.

Dalla sua automobile, spinta in un burrone, sparisce una cartellina con carte compromettenti, frutto delle sue indagini sull’assassinio dei due preti. Precedentemente, il vescovo, per ragioni di prudenza, ne aveva spedito una copia in Vaticano: qui papa Francesco le ha fatte cercare e pervenire all’attuale vescovo di La Rioja, monsignor Marcelo Daniel Colombo, costituitosi parte civile contro i presunti assassini.

I documenti sono risultati determinanti per condannare all’ergastolo, il 4 luglio 2014, due alti ufficiali dell’esercito, gli stessi che qualcuno aveva visto sparare il colpo di grazia alla testa del vescovo dopo il simulato incidente.

Una volta che la giustizia umana ha fatto il suo corso, la diocesi di La Rioja ha avviato la causa di beatificazione per monsignor Enrique Angelelli. Ottenuto il nulla osta da parte della Santa Sede il 21 aprile 2015, l’inchiesta diocesana è stata quindi aperta il 13 ottobre dello stesso anno e si è conclusa il 15 settembre 2016.

La sua causa è stata successivamente unita a quella dei già menzionati don Gabriel Longueville e padre Carlos de Dios Murias, ai quali era stato aggiunto Wenceslao Pedernera, padre di famiglia, ucciso il 25 luglio 1976.

L’8 maggio 2018, ricevendo in udienza il cardinal Angelo Amato, allora Prefetto della Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi, papa Francesco autorizzò la promulgazione del decreto con cui monsignor Angelelli e i suoi compagni venivano dichiarati ufficialmente martiri, anche se, informalmente, erano già noti come i “martiri di El Chamical”.

Il vescovo che voleva avere «un orecchio al vangelo e un orecchio al popolo» (secondo una frase che gli è stata attribuita) e che chiedeva di «continuare ad attuare il Concilio e continuare la promozione integrale dei “riojanos”» è quindi stato beatificato con i suoi compagni il 27 aprile 2019 presso il Parco Cittadino di La Rioja, nella celebrazione presieduta dal cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, Prefetto della Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi, in qualità d’inviato del Santo Padre. La memoria liturgica di tutti e quattro cade il 17 luglio, il giorno prima di quello della nascita al Cielo di don Longueville e di padre Murias.



Autore: Gianpiero Pettiti ed Emilia Flocchini





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