Bienheureux Ludovic de
Casoria (Archange Palmentieri)
Prêtre franciscain à
Naples (+ 1885)
Prêtre franciscain à
Naples béatifié le 18 avril 1993 à Rome par Jean-Paul II, Archange Palmentieri,
nom de religion: Ludovico da Casoria, né en 1814 près de Naples, il se
préoccupe de l'ignorance spirituelle et de la pauvreté de son époque. Il crée
des revues pour y remédier et s'occupe de la misère des gens. Il influence des
religieuses de sa région comme Catherine
Volpicelli, Julie
Salzano et Marie-Christine
Brando, fondatrices de congrégations.
À Naples, en 1885, le
bienheureux Louis de Casoria (Archange Palmentieri), prêtre de l’Ordre des
Frères Mineurs. Poussé par l’ardeur de sa charité envers les pauvres, il fonda
deux Congrégations, celle des Frères de la Charité et celle des Sœurs
franciscaines de Sainte-Élisabeth.
Martyrologe romain
Bienheureux Louis de
Casoria, prêtre
Archange Palmentieri, né
en 1814 près de Naples, entra dans l’Ordre des Frères Mineurs sous le nom de
Frère Louis de Casoria. Il se préoccupe de l'ignorance spirituelle et de la
pauvreté de son époque, crée des revues pour y remédier et s'occupe de la misère
des gens. Il fonda deux Congrégations, celle des Frères de la Charité et celle
des Sœurs franciscaines de Sainte-Élisabeth et mourut à Naples en 1885.
Statua
di padre Ludovico da Casoria nel portico del santuario della Beata Vergine del
Rosario di Pompei.
Bienheureux Louis de
Casoria PALMENTIERI
Nom: PALMENTIERI
Prénom: Archange
Nom de religion: Louis de
Casoria (Ludovicoa da Casoria)
Pays: Italie
Naissance: 1814
(Prés de Naples)
Mort: 30.03.1885 à
Naples
Etat: Prêtre -
Franciscain - Fondateur
Note: Franciscain.
Fondateur des Frères de la Charité et des Sœurs dites "Elisabethines
grises". S'occupe de la misère et de la souffrance des Napolitains, de
l'indigence spirituelle de son époque, fondant plusieurs revues pour y
remédier. Il influence le parcours de la vie religieuse de trois
bienheureuses de la même région napolitaine, fondatrices de Congrégations : Catherine
Volpicelli 2 , Julie
Salzano 2 , Marie
Christine Brando 2 .
Béatification:
18.04.1993 à Rome par Jean Paul II
Canonisation:
Fête: 30 mars
Réf. dans l’Osservatore
Romano: 1993 n.16 & 17
Réf. dans la Documentation
Catholique: 1993 p.549
SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/hagiographie/fiches/f0330.htm
HOMÉLIE DU PAPE FRANÇOIS
La liturgie d’aujourd’hui
nous invite à fixer le regard sur Jésus comme Roi de l’Univers. La belle prière
de la Préface nous rappelle que son royaume est « royaume de vérité et de vie,
royaume de sainteté et de grâce, royaume de justice, d’amour et de paix ». Les
lectures que nous avons entendues nous montrent comment Jésus a réalisé son
royaume, comment il le réalise au long de l’histoire, et ce qu’il attend de
nous.
Avant tout, comment
Jésus a réalisé son royaume : il l’a fait par la proximité et la tendresse
envers nous. Il est le Pasteur, dont nous a parlé le prophète Ezéchiel dans la
première lecture (cf. 34, 11-12.15-17). Tout ce passage est tissé de verbes qui
indiquent l’attention et l’amour du Pasteur envers son troupeau: chercher,
passer en revue, rassembler de la dispersion, conduire au pâturage, faire
reposer, chercher la brebis perdue, reconduire celle qui est égarée, panser
celle qui est blessée, soigner celle qui est malade, prendre soin, paître. Toutes
ces attitudes sont devenues réalités en Jésus Christ : Il est vraiment le «
grand Pasteur des brebis et le gardien de nos âmes » (cf. He 13, 20 ;
1 P 2, 25).
Et nous qui dans l’Église
sommes appelés à être pasteurs, nous ne pouvons pas nous éloigner de ce modèle,
si nous ne voulons pas devenir des mercenaires. A cet égard, le peuple de Dieu
possède un flair infaillible pour reconnaître les bons pasteurs et les
distinguer des mercenaires.
Après sa victoire,
c’est-à-dire après sa Résurrection, comment Jésus accomplit-il son royaume
? L’apôtre Paul, dans la Première Lettre aux Corinthiens, dit : « C’est
lui en effet qui doit régner jusqu’au jour où il aura mis sous ses pieds tous
ses ennemis » (15, 25). C’est le Père qui peu à peu soumet tout au Fils, et en
même temps le Fils soumet tout au Père. Jésus n’est pas un roi à la manière de
ce monde: pour Lui régner n’est pas commander, mais obéir au Père, s’en
remettre à Lui, pour que s’accomplisse son dessein d’amour et de salut. Ainsi,
il y a pleine réciprocité entre le Père et le Fils. Le temps du royaume du
Christ est ce long temps où tout est soumis au Fils et où tout est remis au
Père. « Le dernier ennemi détruit, c’est la Mort » (1 Co 15, 26). Et
à la fin, quand tout aura été remis sous la royauté de Jésus, et quand tout, y
compris Jésus lui- même, aura été soumis au Père, Dieu sera tout en tous (cf.
1 Cor 15, 28).
L’Évangile nous dit ce
que le royaume de Jésus attend de nous : il nous rappelle que la proximité
et la tendresse doivent être aussi notre règle de vie, et que c’est sur cela
que nous serons jugés. Cela sera le protocole de notre jugement. C’est la
grande parabole du Jugement dernier de Matthieu 25. Le Roi dit : «
Venez, les bénis de mon Père, recevez en héritage le Royaume qui vous a été
préparé depuis la fondation du monde. Car j’ai eu faim et vous m’avez donné à
manger, j’ai eu soif et vous m’avez donné à boire, j’étais un étranger et vous
m’avez accueilli, nu et vous m’avez vêtu, malade et vous m’avez visité,
prisonnier et vous êtes venus me voir » (25, 34-36). Alors les justes lui
répondront : « Seigneur, quand est-ce que nous avons fait tout cela ? » Et il
répondra : « En vérité je vous le dis, dans la mesure où vous l’avez fait à
l’un de ces plus petits de mes frères, c’est à moi que vous l’avez fait » (Mt 25,
40).
Le salut ne commence pas
par la confession de la royauté du Christ, mais par l’imitation des œuvres de
miséricorde par lesquelles il a réalisé son Royaume. Celui qui les accomplit
montre qu’il a accueilli la royauté de Jésus, car il a fait place dans son cœur
à la charité de Dieu. Au soir de la vie nous serons jugés sur l’amour, sur la
proximité et sur la tendresse envers nos frères. De cela dépendra notre entrée
ou non dans le royaume de Dieu, notre position d’un côté ou de l’autre. Jésus,
par sa victoire, nous a ouvert son royaume, mais il revient à chacun de nous
d’y entrer, déjà à partir de cette vie, en nous faisant concrètement proches du
frère qui demande du pain, un vêtement, un accueil, de la solidarité…. Et si
vraiment nous aimons ce frère ou cette sœur, nous serons poussés à partager
avec lui ou avec elle ce que nous avons de plus précieux, c’est-à-dire Jésus
lui-même et son Évangile !
Aujourd’hui, l’Église
nous donne pour modèle les nouveaux saints qui, par leurs œuvres de dévouement
généreux à Dieu et à nos frères, ont servi le royaume de Dieu chacun dans leur
domaine, et en sont devenus héritiers. Chacun d’eux a répondu avec une
créativité extraordinaire au commandement de l’amour de Dieu et du prochain.
Ils se sont dédiés sans compter au service des derniers, en assistant les
indigents, les malades, les personnes âgées, les pèlerins. Leur prédilection
pour les petits et les pauvres était le reflet et la mesure de leur amour
inconditionnel pour Dieu. En effet, ils ont cherché et découvert la charité
dans la relation forte et personnelle avec Dieu, de laquelle se dégage le
véritable amour pour le prochain. C’est pourquoi, à l’heure du jugement, ils
ont entendu cette douce invitation : « Venez, les bénis de mon Père, recevez en
héritage le Royaume qui vous a été préparé depuis la fondation du monde » (Mt 25,
34).
Par le rite de
canonisation, nous avons encore une fois confessé le mystère du royaume de Dieu
et honoré le Christ Roi, Pasteur plein d’amour pour son troupeau. Que les nouveaux
saints, par leur exemple et leur intercession, fassent grandir en nous la joie
de cheminer sur la voie de l’Évangile, la décision de le prendre comme la
boussole de notre vie. Marchons sur leurs traces, imitons leur foi et leur
charité, pour que notre espérance aussi se revête d’immortalité. Ne nous
laissons pas distraire par d’autres intérêts terrestres et passagers. Et que
notre Mère, Marie, Reine de tous les Saints, nous guide vers le royaume des
Cieux.
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Also
known as
Arcangelo Palmentieri
Louis
Profile
An apprentice cabinet
maker as a youth, Arcangelo joined the Franciscan Friars
Minor on 1 July 1832,
taking the name Ludovico. Priest. Taught philosophy and mathematics to
young friars in Naples, Italy.
He began working with the poor,
founding orphanages and
dispensaries. Around 1852 he
opened a school dedicated
to educating young Africans who
had been ransomed from slavery.
Founded a school for
the deaf and
the mute.
Established centers for the care of elderly friars.
In 1859 he
founded the Frati Bigi della Carita (Gray Friars of Charity) to take
over work at the institutions he founded; they received Vatican approval
in 1877,
worked in Italy and
with Italian immigrants in
the United
States, and were disbanded in 1971 due
to a lack of members. In 1862 Ludovico
founded the female equivalent, the Suore Elisabettiane Bigie (Franciscan
Sisters of Saint Elizabeth; Gray Sisters of Saint Elizabeth), who continue
their good work today in Italy,
the United
States, Ethiopia, India, Panama and
the Philippines.
Born
11 March 1814 in Casoria, Naples, Italy as Arcangelo
Palmentieri
30 March 1885 in Naples, Italy of
natural causes
13
February 1964 by Pope Paul
VI (decree of heroic
virtues)
18 April 1993 by Pope John
Paul II
23
November 2014 by Pope Francis
Additional
Information
A
Modern Saint Francis, by the Comtesse de Courson
The
Holiness of the Church in the 19th Century
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
images
video
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
MLA
Citation
“Saint Ludovico of
Casoria“. CatholicSaints.Info. 17 October 2022. Web. 31 March 2023.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-ludovico-of-casoria/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-ludovico-of-casoria/
L'interno
della cella in cui ha vissuto Ludovico da Casoria presso il Convento San
Giovanni del Palco di Taurano, con ritratto
Blessed Ludovico of
Casoria
Arcangelo Palmentieri,
born in 1814, was a cabinet-maker before entering the Friars Minor in 1832,
taking the name Ludovico. After his ordination five years later, he taught
chemistry, physics and mathematics to younger members of his province for
several years.
In 1847 he had a mystical
experience which he later described as a cleansing. After that he dedicated his
life to the poor and the infirm, establishing a dispensary for the poor, two
schools for African children, an institute for the children of nobility, as
well as an institution for orphans, the deaf and the speechless, and other
institutes for the blind, elderly and for travelers. In addition to an
infirmary for friars of his province, he began charitable institutes in Naples,
Florence and Assisi.
He once said, “Christ’s
love has wounded my heart.” This love prompted him to great acts of charity. To
help continue these works of mercy, in 1859 he established the Gray Brothers, a
religious community composed of men who formerly belonged to the Secular Franciscan
Order. Three years later he founded the Gray Sisters of St. Elizabeth for the
same purpose. Toward the beginning of his final, nine-year illness, Ludovico
wrote a spiritual testament which described faith as “light in the darkness,
help in sickness, blessing in tribulations, paradise in the crucifixion and
life amid death.” The local work for his beatification began within five months
of Ludovico’s death. He was beatified in 1993.
SOURCE : http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/bl-ludovico-of-casoria/
Blessed Louis of Casoria
(Luigi di Casoria)
Feast Day – March 15
Louis has been called a
newly risen St Francis, especially because of his touching charity and his
invincible trust in God. Casoria, near Naples, was the place where he was born
in the year 1814. As a traveling cabinetmaker, the eighteen-year-old boy sought
admission among the Franciscans. When he had completed his studies for holy
orders, he was assigned to the task of teaching philosophy, physics, and
mathematics to the young clerics. God, however, had chosen Blessed Louis of
Casoria to be an apostle of charity.
At first Father Louis
opened a dispensary for the poor. Then he founded two colleges, for boys and
girls who were ransomed in Africa, and were to be educated as missionaries to
their countrymen. Besides these, he founded also a college for the children of
the nobility, and a half-dozen other institutions, for orphans, the deaf and
dumb, the blind, for old people and for travelers.
In order to secure
capable helpers, Blessed Louis of Casoria founded the “Grey Brothers” and the
“Grey Sisters” from among the members of the Third Order. Wherever help was
needed or any form of distress was to be alleviated, Father Louis was the first
at hand to render aid.
To celebrate the seventh
centenary of the birth of St Francis in 1882, he invited five thousand poor
persons to dine with him. Louis Pecci, a nephew of Pope Leo XIII, who was a witness
to this singular banquet, asked the generous host in astonishment how he had
obtained the means to support all his foundations and organizations. “That I am
not permitted to know,” was the remarkable yet the only correct answer Louis
could give.
So it was indeed. He
considered himself not the originator of these projects, but rather the tool
for carrying out the will of God, in the measure in which God wished it and the
manner in which God arranged it. While Louis needed enormous amounts of money, he
was generally not in possession of a cent. Then he would say: “On the appointed
day Christ will pay.”
A piece of property
adjoining a church was to be sold at public auction to the highest bidder. Some
sect was about to acquire it. Father Louis ordered his agent to buy it. “How
high a price can we pay?” asked the agent. Father Louis answered unperturbed:
“There is no limit. One
soldo is worth as much to me as a million, for I possess neither. But God is
very wealthy and you will see, He pays promptly.”
And God paid!
Finally, after a
lingering illness of nine years, this Franciscan friend of mankind went home to
his generous Lord. It was on March 30, 1885.
from The Franciscan
Book of Saints, edited by Marion Habig, OFM
SOURCE : http://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/blessed-louis-of-casoria.html
Blessed Louis of Casoria
(Beato Ludovico da Casoria)
Blessed Louis came into
this world as Arcangelo Palmentieri in Casoria a suburb of Naples, Italy on
March 11, 1814. He was the third sibling in a family of artisans. At the age of
18, he entered the Novitiate of Friars Minor at Lauro (Avellino). He was
ordained to the priesthood on June 4,1847 and began his activity as professor
of philosophy and mathematics in the various Institutes of The Franciscan
Order. Born into a world that had more of its typical share of strife and
struggle, Blessed Louis’ life was engulfed in social-cultural upheavals of
enormous dimensions: parental loss, social unrest, rampant contagious diseases,
philosophical contention, full - scale revolution, political unrest and the
abomination of slavery. This broad ranging turmoil marked what many might have
thought was the onset of apocalyptic times.
Blessed Louis took these
troublesome signs of the times at the urban, regional, national, and
international levels and found in them both a challenge and an invitation: a
challenge reflecting a world hopelessly splintered, an invitation to bring
counter challenges, if not simple solutions. Blessed Louis not only formed within
himself counter challenges, but also evoked from others unsuspecting responses.
To troublesome times, he brought his own glimmer of hope, his own counter
punch. Blessed Louis brought solutions to situations where some only seemed
feasible, encouragement when hope seemed slim. His chronology flows with
channels of generosity and courage. Institutions were born where none seemed
possible. Strategies were mounted where hope seemed to be the offspring of
desperation. His chronology tells a tale of mission impossible. His ministry
flowed with love unlimited. He was a man for the time. Chronos was a challenge
set before him; kairos was his response from a great heart, a clear mind, a
resolute will.
This change and
redirection of Blessed Louis’ life occurred one day while he was at prayer
before The Blessed Sacrament, he fell to ground, experiencing what he was to
call later his “second baptism”. This was his call to change direction and
dedicate his life to works of charity on behalf of the less fortunate. From
that time forward, his ministry to the less fortunate characterized Blessed
Louis’ lifestyle.
From this time of
reorientation, Blessed Louis began to meet with persons of differing political
and cultural orientation; he founded academies of religious culture and Homes
for the aged. With the approval of Ferdinand II, he was able to redeem numerous
young slaves from Cairo and Alexandria, with a view to giving them a life of
dignity, a Christian education, as well as a cultural preparation in such a way
to be able to send them back to Africa as missionaries themselves. Many of
these youths chose to be Baptized, Confirmed, and successively became priests,
and consecrated women religious. As his works of charity grew, Blessed Louis
saw the need to have a corps of helpers more closely aggregated to his works of
charity.
The Grey Franciscan
Friars of Charity were founded by Blessed Louis of Casoria to assist him in the
corporal and spiritual works of mercy established by him and to continue this
patrimony grafted on to the great spiritual tree of the Franciscan Family. At
the time of the original foundation of the Congregation, Blessed Louis placed
the Grey Friars under the Third Order Rule. However, the Third Order Rule at
the time was the same for those living a communal, celibate life in hermitages
or in convents as well as for those who lived at home or in their own families.
The situation has changed recently. With the rewriting of the Third Order Rules
(there is now one Rule for Seculars and one for Regulars ) all those who
profess the Third Order Regular Rule are expected to profess the three vows.
The profession of the three vows was never consonant with the intent of the
founder and the intensification and propagation of our charism.
While it is true that
organizational structures neither create nor define a religious community,
efficiency of operation would be impossible without them. It is by means of the
structures of government and lifestyle guidelines that the human resources and
spiritual impact of a religious society’s members are integrated into the
church as a single working entity. The more these structures flow from a
recognized charism by the church and are human, personal and Christian, the
more integrated and fully united to the life of the larger church
will all become. Cardinal Alphonse Capecelatro, in his biography of Blessed
Louis writes: “…He (Father Louis) wanted to gather about himself a religious,
Franciscan family which would be characterized by humility, holiness, and industriousness.
Blessed Louis wanted his Institute to be without vows of any kind but to be
comprised of clerics who would direct the Institute and care for the spiritual
needs of brothers and persons served in our corporate charities and the friars
who would be concerned with the corporal works of mercy. The only binding force
in the Institute would be charity nonetheless this community would be
grafted on to the great Franciscan family. To the members of this community he
gave the traditional Franciscan cruciform grey tunic over which we place a
pointed scapular with an attached hood. By a mysterious disposition of Divine
Providence, the life of Blessed Louis of Casoria offers his followers a twofold
gift of divine mystery. The first is the sheer gift of his chronology. The
second is the astounding impact of his great charisms.
In order to favor the
growth and propagation of our identity and purpose and remain grafted on the
great tree of Franciscan spirituality, the Friars and associates of this
Institute are incorporated into membership by commitment to St Francis’ “Letter
To The Faithful” and our particular Constitutions. Our Constitutions are
governed by Canons no. 731-755 (Clerical Societies not bound by vows).
Such a lifestyle is more appropriately suitable to the formation and mission of our membership and the original desire and intention of Bl. Louis of Casoria for his Grey Friars. In a word, one might say that St. Francis’ Letter to the Faithful is our Rule and our particular Constitutions bring our life into relief. A document dear to all Grey Friars also is a volume written by Blessed Louis entitled On The Love of Jesus Christ. This volume constitutes a spiritual testament for us and is placed before our Constitutions. It was written by Blessed Louis of Casoria himself for the Grey Friars.
SOURCE : http://www.greyfranciscanfriarsofcharity.com/proximate.html
Ven. Louis of Casoria
Friar
Minor and founder of the Frati Bigi; b. at Casoria,
near Naples,
11 March, 1814; d. at Pausilippo, 30 March, 1885. His name in the world was
Archangelo Palmentiere. On 1 July, 1832, he entered the Order
of Friars Minor, and shortly after the completion of the year's novitiate was
appointed to teach philosophy and
mathematics in the Franciscan convent of San
Pietro in Naples.
Following the advice of his superiors, he instituted a branch of the Third
Order at San Pietro from the members of which he formed
later a religious institute, commonly known as
the Frati Bigi on account of the grayish or ashen colour of
their habits. Louis instituted likewise a congregation of religious women,
known as the Suore Bigie, whom he placed under the protection of St.
Elizabeth of Hungary. About the year 1852 he opened a school for
the education of African boys
and girls redeemed from slavery.
Ten years before his death he was attacked with a serious and painful illness,
from which he never completely recovered. The numerous works
of charity in Naples, Rome, Assisi,
and Florence which owe their origin to Louis of Casoria, as well
as the fame for sanctity which
he enjoyed even during his lifetime, account for the veneration in which he was
held by all classes, high and low alike. The cause of his beatification was
introduced in Rome in
1907.
Sources
Acta Ordinis Minorum (May, 1907), 156-158; The Catholic World (November, 1895), 155-166; Voce di Sant' Antonio (July, 1907), 23-26.
Donovan, Stephen. "Ven. Louis of Casoria." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910.29
Mar. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09385a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Herman F. Holbrook. Fidelium
animae per misericordiam Dei requiescant in pace.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09385a.htm
The Holiness of the Church in the
Nineteenth Century – Louis of Casoria
An amiable character that must win all hearts shines
forth in the Servant of God Louis of Casoria, a true son of Saint Francis. He
was born on 11 March 1814, the son of a vine-dresser. His family name was
Palmentieri, but in religion he was called Louis of Casoria, from his
birthplace, Casoria, near Naples. To use all his powers in relieving the
corporal and spiritual misery of mankind was the guiding motive of his life.
Those that place their hopes in God, who bestows His grace according to the
measure of our confidence in Him, are made ingenious and enterprising by their
love. Louis at once inspired the members of the third Order with efficient love
of the neighbor. With their assistance he bought, near Naples, a fine house suited
to the sick poor.
Two negro boys were given
him to educate. The good results he had with them suggested to him the plan of
civilizing Africa through the Africans. In a few years he had gathered together
sixty negro boys, who received the benefit of a Christian training. But there
were also in Naples very many abandoned children. For these he founded two
asylums. In the “Deserto” near Sorrento, he built a hospital for old people,
sailors, and fishermen, and also a hospice where penniless strangers might be
admitted. Florence is indebted to him for an asylum for poor children and a
church of the Sacred Heart, for which he obtained 70,000 lire by begging. In
Assisi his ardent zeal obtained means for a home of the deaf, the dumb, and the
blind. As long as there was misery on earth there was no rest for him. His
confidence in God grew only the greater. Although he had only fifty centimes at
the time, he bought an orphanage at Naples in 1872 for 110,000 lire. Finally he
bought a ruined palace in Posilipo, near the sea, to serve as a house for
sea-folk and as a sanitarium for priests and students. The money for this
enterprise and for his other remarkable charities he obtained often in
miraculous ways. He also did much for the promotion of knowledge, was a great
patron of music, and founded the periodical “La Carita.” Besides, he
established many religious societies – “The Gray Brothers” (Zigi), the
“Elizabethines” (“The Servants of the Heart of Jesus”), who, under the rules of
the third Order of Saint Francis, devoted themselves to works of charity.
There has been seldom a
death so mourned as that of Louis of Casoria. He died on 30 March 1884. In his
beautiful last testament he says: “Divine love was my poverty, my obedience, my
chastity. The holy vows did not compel me to serve God, but the love of Jesus
moved my heart and made my soul, my hands and feet His servants. To enkindle my
love I asked God, not for raptures and visions, but for labor, worka of
charity, and for souls. In my prayers I implored zeal for labor, divine love in
labor and distress, in cares and contradictions and I often cried, ‘Oh Charity,
oh, to die for Charity!’ My dear brethren, I commend to you the Holy Catholic
Church. Strive for her by word and writing and by deeds, and if need be even with
your blood. Stand firm, humble, and lowly at the feet of the Holy See. Harken
to the Church as you would to the voice of God Himself. Observe her commands,
her very thoughts. The Church of Christ is the authority of all authorities.
She alone has peace and happiness in her train. All other authority which does
not work in union with her and does not listen to her is without life, since it
does not labor toward the last end of our creation and for the saving of souls
redeemed by Jesus. Live in peace and pray for me. Your poor brother, Louis of
Casoria.”
– this text is taken
from The Holiness of the Church in the Nineteenth
Century: Saintly Men and Women of Our Own Times, by Father
Constantine Kempf, SJ; translated from the German by Father Francis Breymann,
SJ; Impimatur by + Cardinal John Farley, Archbishop of New York, 25 September
1916
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/the-holiness-of-the-church-in-the-nineteenth-century-louis-of-casoria/
Tomb of Saint Ludovicus A. Casaurea, Santa Chiara, Naploli
Franciscan Herald – Louis of Casoria
Article
An amiable character that
must win all hearts shines forth in the servant of God, Louis of Casoria, so
called from his birthplace Casoria, near Naples. He was born on 11 March 1814,
the son of a vine-dresser. To use all his powers in relieving the corporal and
spiritual misery of his fellow men was the guiding motive of his life. With the
assistance of the members of the Third Order whom he inspired with efficient
love for their neighbor, Louis bought, near Naples, a fine house for the sick
poor. In Naples itself, he founded two asylums for abandoned children. Near
Sorrento, he built a hospital for old people, sailors, and fishermen, and also a
hospital for penniless strangers. Florence is indebted to him for an asylum for
poor children, and a church of the Sacred Heart, for which he obtained 70,000
Kre (about $14,000) by begging. In Assisi, his ardent zeal obtained means for a
home for the deaf, the dumb, and the blind. He also did much for the promotion
of knowledge, was a great patron of music, and founded the periodical
“LaCarita.” Besides, he established many religious societies: “The Gray
Brothers” (Zigi), the “Elizabethines,” who, under the Rule of the Third Order
of Saint Francis, devoted themselves to works of charity. There has seldom been
a death so mourned as that of Louis of Casoria. He died on 30 March 1885. In
his beautiful last testament he says, “Divine love was my poverty, my obedience,
my chastity. To enkindle my love, I asked God, not for raptures and visions,
but for labor, works of charity, and for souls.”
MLA
Citation
Franciscan
Herald 1919. CatholicSaints.Info.
17 October 2022. Web. 31 March 2023.
<https://catholicsaints.info/franciscan-herald-louis-of-casoria/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/franciscan-herald-louis-of-casoria/
Targa
presente nella cella in cui ha vissuto Ludovico da Casoria presso il Convento
San Giovanni del Palco di Taurano
A
Modern Saint Francis, by the Comtesse de Courson
An authoress popular both in the old and in the new
world, the late Mrs. Augustus Craven, thus wrote of Fra Lodovico da Casoria, a
Neapolitan Franciscan, with whom she was personally acquainted: “Those who knew
Fra Lodovico can understand what must have been the heart, the soul, and the
mind of Saint Francis himself.”
In our busy and restless
nineteenth century the history of the Neapolitan friar reads like a legend from
the “Fioretti”; yet, by a strange contrast, this simple-minded monk, so full of
blind faith and of child-like enthusiasm, was keenly alive to the needs of the
age in which he lived. If, on the one hand, he seemed to belong to the
mediaeval group of brothers who once followed Saint Francis over the fair
Umbrian hills, on the other, he appeared no less capable of filling his place
in our sceptical, matter-of-fact age, for none grasped more thoroughly than he
did its virtues and its vices, its aspirations and its needs.
The son of poor but
honest parents, Archangelo Palmentieri was born in the little town of Casoria,
in the kingdom of Naples. After an innocent boyhood, he joined the Franciscan
Order and took the name of Fra Lodovico. At first nothing seemed to distinguish
him from the other religious; he was docile and regular, but showed no signs of
extraordinary fervor. Towards 1847, however, when he was at the Franciscan
convent of San Pietro ad Aram, at Naples, a great change came over his soul.
The words of the Gospel, “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect,” words
often heard and often repeated before, suddenly struck him with a new light.
They became from that time the guiding rule of his life, the object of all his
aspirations and of all his thoughts. During the thirty-eight years that
followed he never wavered or turned back in his upward path; his naturally
loving heart and generous nature expanded as his love of God increased, and his
life from that moment is one long act of devotion to the wants of others.
The eminent sanctity to
which he attained, even more than his natural gifts, can alone explain the
influence he exercised on all who approached him. He was not an educated man,
he could not even speak Italian correctly, and he generally used only the Neapolitan
dialect with which he had been familiar from his childhood. But, although
ignorant and uncultivated as regards worldly lore, he had an innate
appreciation of all that is good, great, and beautiful, even in the realms of
art and science, where he possessed no practical knowledge.
The charitable works
undertaken and carried out by Fra Lodovico were no less varied than numerous.
He began by establishing, with his superior’s permission, an infirmary for the
sick religious of his order; for, strange to say, the convent of San Pietro ad
Aram did not possess one. He had often heard his brethren lament over this
state of things, but no one seems to have had energy enough to suggest an
improvement. It was a humble beginning enough; Fra Lodovico gave up half his
cell for the purpose, and by begging from door to door he collected sufficient
money to establish a small pharmacy. The success of this first attempt
encouraged the worker, and, with renewed zeal and confidence in God, he set
about his next undertaking – the revival of the Third Order of Saint Francis.
Here again God visibly blessed his efforts; ere long men and women of every
condition – magistrates and workmen, princesses and peasants – enrolled
themselves under the banner of the Seraphic Father, as his children lovingly
call him. In less than two years the Third Order numbered four hundred new
members of both sexes. Fra Lodovico went from town to town, generally on foot,
explaining in his simple, earnest way the advantages of an institution to which
Saint Louis, King of France, Dante, Giotto, and Columbus were proud of
belonging. To those who questioned him as to his mission, “I am a poor friar,
Lodovico da Casoria,” he used to reply; “my business is to draw Christians to
perfection and to enroll them, if they wish it, in the Third Order of Saint
Francis.”
Among his tertiaries he
selected a certain number who, though laymen, were free of their time and
willing to devote themselves to charitable works. He gave them a kind of
religious habit, of a grayish color. “I like gray,” Fra Lodovico used to say
cheerfully; “it reminds me of death and gives me thoughts of humility and
penance.”
The Bigi, as these
tertiaries were generally called, were Fra Lodovico’s trustiest helpers, both
in the prisons and hospitals of Naples, and later on the African missions.
Thus, in 1861, twenty-seven Franciscan friars set sail for the dark continent,
accompanied by five Bigi – a laborer, a shoemaker, and three carpenters; the
following year they were joined by others.
By degrees Fra Lodovico’s
sphere of action extended; by dint of begging he collected enough money to buy,
near Capodimonte, a house with a large garden in which stood a splendid
palm-tree. In this property, which was called Palma, he established a large
infirmary destined especially for priests. The house, though well situated and
healthy, was terribly poor, much to Lodovico’s delight, for he shared his
founder’s chivalrous devotion to “Our Lady Poverty.” He related triumphantly
how the father-general of the Franciscans, having once visited Palma, was
obliged to sleep on the bare floor with Fra Lodovico’s cloak as a pillow!
The object of his next
work was the salvation of black people; one day, as he was passing through the
streets of Naples, and praying God secretly to give him something more to do
for his fellow-creatures, he met two little boys, whom a holy priest from
Genoa, named Olivieri, had just bought in a slave market in Egypt. Fra Lodovico
begged to have the boys sent to Palma; he devoted himself to training and
instructing them, and was delighted with their progress. “What good soil I have
to cultivate!” he writes, alluding to the happy dispositions of his little
neophytes. His success encouraged him to extend his work; he remembered too how
his father, Saint Francis, had loved Africa and longed for its conversion, and
he determined with God’s help to do his best for the Africas. In April, 1857,
he sailed for Egypt, and, with the assistance of King Ferdinand of Naples, whom
he had interested in his mission, he was able to buy twelve boys, whom he
brought back to Palma. The good priest Olivieri, from whose hands he had
received his first pupils, lent him his cordial assistance, and in the course
of the following year, 1858, a college for Africans was founded at Naples under
the direction of the Franciscans. The course of studies of this college was
drawn up in view of the black pupils and their special needs. They were either
trained for the priesthood or taught a trade, according to their own desire and
aptitude; in any case, both as priests or as laymen, they were formed to habits
of solid piety, and all were eventually intended to return to Africa and there
to labor for the conversion of their countrymen by their teaching and their
example. “Africa will be converted by Africa,” often said Fra Lodovico.
A similar institution for
little black girls was founded soon afterwards and. placed under the care of
the Stimatine nuns. The ragged children of Naples excited our good friar’s
compassion no less than Africans; it has been said, probably with some
exaggeration, that there were at that time fifty thousand vagabond children in
the streets and suburbs of Naples. He resolved to provide them with a Christian
education and to make them useful men and women. It is characteristic of Fra
Lodovico that he began by giving his proteges a thorough washing, for this
ardent lover of poverty was scrupulously clean. Two years later schools for
boys and girls had been opened, and over one thousand little waifs had been
withdrawn from idleness and its attendant temptations. Out of these three
hundred were orphans, and were placed by their benefactor in schools and
convents; the others continued to live with their parents, but Fra Lodovico
undertook to clothe them and to have them taught carpentering, book-binding,
printing, and other trades.
Although he was unskilled
in worldly knowledge, our hero had a singular power of treating questions which
were apparently far beyond his grasp. His simplicity often recalled the monks
of mediaeval times and reminded his hearers of the companions of Saint Francis,
with whom the “Fioretti” have made us familiar; nevertheless he was well
abreast of all modern progress and improvements, keenly alive to the needs of
his time, eager for its intellectual development. The contrast between these
different aspects of his character gave him an individuality all his own.
He considered it a duty
for Catholics to be thoroughly armed against the attacks of rationalistic
science and philosophy. “At a time like ours,” he wrote, “priests and religious
must not bury their talents”; and, with this object in view, he founded at
Naples a Catholic academy, and appealed to all Italians, priests and laymen, to
help in the* work. In consequence of local difficulties the Academia was
eventually suppressed. Fra Lodovico bore the disappointment with his usual
cheerful resignation. “God has shown us that he does not wish us to do this
work,” he said; “he will send us something else to do instead and allow us to
succeed.”
The monthly review which
he established at the same time as the Academia is still flourishing. It was
called La Carita, and its object, in our hero’s own words, was to
distribute to men “the bread of science,” no less necessary in its way than the
bread that feeds the body. The writers of the Carita were men
competent to discuss all the philosophical Land scientific questions of the
day; they possessed a knowledge and a culture that were wanting in the
illiterate monk whose voice had gathered them together, yet one and all
recognized his mastermind and listened, with touching deference, to his ideas
and suggestions.
Inspired by the same
desire to promote the intellectual development of the higher classes, Fra
Lodovico bought the palace of the dukes of Atria and founded a college for boys
of good family. Its success far surpassed his hopes; but, after having placed
the institution in the hands of a body of priests well qualified to direct it,
our hero retired from the scene; only now and then he used to come to chat with
the boys, with whom his cheerful piety made him very popular, but none could
guess that the humble friar, so gentle and unassuming, was the real founder of
the college.
No kind of work seemed to
come amiss to him: he founded an order of nuns, the Elisabethines, Franciscan
tertiaries, who were to take care of the sick poor and assist the dying. Three
years later he established an orphanage at Florence. As usual he began without
a penny. “Is your house furnished?” asked the Archbishop of Florence, with whom
he was dining. “No, my lord.” “How, then, will your orphans sleep there
tonight?” “Providence has helped me to begin, Providence will help me to go
on,” was the reply.
On leaving the palace our
hero went from door to door, begging for bits of old furniture, a few pots and
pans, or even a little straw. By degrees the work developed; to an elementary
school for infants were added work-shops where printing, tailoring,
carpentering, and other trades were taught to the orphan boys. This was not Fra
Lodovico’s only work at Florence. He also built a church in honor of the Sacred
Heart, and, marvellous to relate, this church was begun and completed in the
course of one year.
At Assisi, the birthplace
of his beloved founder, our hero established an asylum for deaf and dumb
children. At first he had scanty means to carry on the work. “No one has given
me anything as yet,” he wrote; “all the better; this only shows me that our
work is the work of Providence and that we shall want for nothing.” The present
Pope, Leo XIII, was then Archbishop of Perugia; he entrusted two little mutes
belonging to his diocese to Fra Lodovico, but wondered at the founder’s extreme
poverty. “How will you provide for your children?” he inquired. “Providence is
there,” was the reply. “O man of faith!” exclaimed the archbishop; “yes,
indeed, I feel certain that Providence will assist you.”
In addition to these
different works, the unwearied apostle founded a refuge for destitute sailors
and a hospital for scrofulous children at Pausilippo, near Naples; a Franciscan
convent in his native Casoria; and a hospital for women at Monte Corvino. One
of his last works was of a different order and reveals the artistic and
patriotic side of his character. His filial love for Saint Francis had long
made him wish to raise a monument worthy of the saint. He wished this monument
to be placed at or near Naples, and to be a perpetual memorial of the influence
exercised by the Seraphic Father over the intellectual development of his
countrymen. The work was executed under his direction, at the cost of great
difficulties; it represented the saint of Assisi surrounded by three great
Italian tertiaries: Dante, who proudly boasted of the Franciscan cord that he
always wore; Giotto, the glorious painter of the sanctuaries of Assisi; and
Columbus, who was received into the third order by the Franciscan prior of
Santa Maria della Rabida.
The monument was
inaugurated at Pausilippo on the 3d day of October, 1883, amidst an immense
concourse of spectators. The Archbishop of Naples was present, with several
bishops, numberless priests and monks, besides laymen of every condition,
princes, military men, members of the government, peasants, and workmen. The
ceremony was, at Fra Lodovico’s special request, followed by a banquet, where
five thousand poor people were waited upon at table by the prelates and
noblemen present; it was fitting that the humble clients of “our dear Lady
Poverty” should be represented at this glorious festival.
The manner in which our
hero carried out his charitable works is perhaps more striking even than the
number and variety of those works themselves. As Mrs. Craven rightly observes,
he had many traits of resemblance with his father Saint Francis; his
simplicity, his kindness, his love of poverty, his artistic instincts and
poetic temperament, recalled the Saint of Assisi; certain incidents of his life
seem taken from the “Fioretti.”
Saint Francis was a
musician and a poet, and his contemporaries speak with enthusiasm of the hymns
of which he composed both the music and the” poetry; they breathe throughout a
humble, loving, joyous spirit, such as breaks forth in all Fra Lodovico’s
writings. His letter to death reminds us forcibly of the Seraphic Father’s
well-known hymn, the Alleluia of Assisi, as it is generally called: “O Death!
my dearest sister, every one flies from thee, no one loves thee; every one
fears thee, no one speaks of thee. Thy very name alarms both the great and the
humble, the young and the old. . . . Like my Seraphic Father, I venture to call
thee my dearest sister, because in reality thou art not death but life eternal,
a sweet sleep for those who believe and who long for divine light. Only through
thee, Sister Death, can we reach God.”
No translation can render
the singular charm of this letter to Death in the soft Italian tongue.
Like Saint Francis also,
our hero considered music as a means of drawing souls to God; he had never
learnt it as a science, but he was evidently a born musician. Among his
favorite disciples was a young man named Parisi, the son of Gennaro Parisi, a
well-known composer. Both father and son belonged to the Third Order of Saint
Francis and were warmly attached to Fra Lodovico. When, according to his
expression, the latter heard music in his soul, he used to sing, following only
his inspiration, while young Parisi either tried to catch the tune on the piano
or else wrote down a few notes on paper. When this was done, the artist
repeated the melody which he had thus gathered from the lips of the good monk
and written down according to the canons of art. Sometimes Fra Lodovico was
satisfied; at other times he would exclaim: “No, no, I did not mean that!” and
he began to sing again, until Parisi succeeded in rendering his impression
correctly. Thus guided and inspired by his friend, who yet possessed neither
the knowledge nor the culture of an artist, Parisi composed a number of
oratorios and hymns which were successfully executed at Naples, generally for
the benefit of one or other of Fra Lodovico’s charitable institutions.
In spite of the strain of
poetry that lent so great a charm to his character, our hero was thoroughly
practical in his undertakings; the greater part of his life was spent, not
indeed in poetical or mystical contemplations, but in a hand-to-hand struggle with
human misery. He was essentially matter-of-fact in his dealings with the poor:
“If you exhort a sick man lying on a bed of straw to go to confession, he will
be too much absorbed by his sufferings to listen to you; lay him on a good bed,
with clean sheets, change his linen, give him a cup of broth, and he will
revive. Then you may speak to him of God, of Jesus Christ; he will go to
confession and bless God.”
Another characteristic
trait of Fra Lodovico was his blind trust in Providence. Over and over again he
was asked, when he started a new work: “Where is the money to come from?” His
reply was always the same: “Providence will give it to us.” Sometimes
Providence came to his assistance in a truly marvellous manner. Once he was
travelling on foot from the town of Maddaloni to Naples; he had eaten nothing
for thirtyfour hours and at last, from sheer exhaustion, he sank down on the
road-side. No one was in sight; suddenly he perceived close at hand a large
loaf of bread and a tempting cheese, of the kind called in the country ”
provatura.” He partook of both, blessing God for his fatherly care. He often
related this incident, not indeed as a miracle but as an example of God’s
tender care for his children. Another time, in 1873, it happened that the institutions
founded at Naples by Fra Lodovico were, owing to an imprudent act on the part
of one of the brothers, about to be closed by the Italian government. In the
midst of his distress he remembered that ten years before, much to his
surprise, King Victor Emmanuel had made him a knight of the Order of Saint
Michael and Saint Lazarus. A bright idea struck him: he hunted up the document
that had been sent to him on that occasion, collected all the letters that he
had received at different times from government officials acknowledging his
services, and, having made a packet of the whole, he went to pay a round of
visits to different members of the government. To each one he exhibited his
papers. “You see,” he said, “I am not an enemy of the government, but only a
friend of the poor”; and all along the streets he kept repeating to himself:
“Good Providence, I will not go home until I have got over this difficulty and
saved my poor.” Providence did not abandon him; the Duke of San Donato, whom he
went to see, warmly pleaded his cause and finally gained it. Our hero’s loving
confidence in God was frequently put to the test, for, like all men who attempt
and execute great things, he was frequently attacked and criticised with much
acrimony and violence. The Italian government, men of the world, even priests
and religious, occasionally accused him of imprudence, exaggeration, or undue
enthusiasm. He bore these attacks with touching meekness; in 1874 some
religious of his order sent a report against him to the father-general, who
showed the paper to Fra Lodovico and requested him to refute it; his reply
breathes a spirit of humility that must have gone straight to the heart of
Saint Francis. “I do not think,” he writes, “that these accusations proceed
from malice, but rather from ignorance of the real state of the case. I love my
dear brethren more than ever.” He used often to say that “without sufferings
nothing is safe,” that “suffering is the seal that God sets upon the works he
considers his own.”
In spite, however, of the
attacks to which he was exposed occasionally, Fra Lodovico enjoyed, on the
whole, an extraordinary influence in Naples and even in Italy. Among men of
every condition and character, with his simplicity, his forgetfulness of self,
his tender love for his fellow-men, he passed through political and social
catastrophes beloved and respected by all.
When Ferdinand II lay
dangerously ill at Bari, the queen and her children were anxious to remove him
to Caserta, where the situation and arrangements of the palace gave him a
better chance of recovery. The king, however, obstinately refused to let
himself be removed, and the queen, in despair, had recourse to Fra Lodovico. He
came to see Ferdinand, and after speaking to him with his usual simplicity and
charity, he said: “Till now, sire, you have acted like a king; now you must
become a little child and obey Saint Francis. I am only a poor brother of Saint
Francis, but I declare to you, in his name, that you must remove to Caserta and
take better care of your health.” “Very well,” replied the sovereign, “I will
obey the son of Saint Francis.” And the next day he left for Caserta.
Fra Lodovico had a deep
affection for Ferdinand II and for his son, King Francis; both had been the
generous benefactors of his first foundations, and the revolution of i860, that
drove the young king into exile, cut him to the heart. His first impulse was to
fly from Naples, to abandon his different works and bury himself in some
distant convent of his order. Before acting upon this impression he consulted
Pope Pius IX. “Son of Saint Francis,” replied the pope, “return to Naples,
throw yourself into the fight; make use of your enemies in order to do good,
and you will please God.”
He obeyed and continued
to serve God and the poor, shutting his eyes resolutely to all political
intrigues. When the interests of God required it, he knocked at the palace door
as in old times. “I am come to see King Victor Emmanuel,” he used to say to the
astonished porter; “will you please tell him that Fra Lodovico would be glad to
speak to him?” He was seldom refused an audience, and he generally obtained
what he came to ask for.
The Archbishop of Naples,
Cardinal Riario Sforza, was our hero’s warm friend. The two were very
different; the one of noble birth, refined, aristocratic, and dignified in
manners and appearance; the other, a son of the people, uncultivated and
illiterate; but they possessed in an equal degree that which bridges over all
social differences – an ardent love of God and of the poor.
The cardinal died in
1877, to Fra Lodovico’s intense grief. “O Jesus! what hast thou done?” he
writes; “who can ever replace him? . . . My faith tells me that he was a saint
and that thou didst desire, O Jesus! to reward his virtues.”
Our hero’s best friends
were the poor, the sick, the weak and little ones of this world; but if chance
circumstances brought him into contact with illustrious personages he was just
as simple, cordial, and cheerful as among his boys.
During his mission to
Africa he found himself on one occasion stranded on the banks of the Nile,
looking out for a boat to take him back to Cairo. A magnificent steamer,
belonging to Prince Anthony Hohenzollern, happened to pass by, and the prince,
hearing of the good friar’s embarrassment, offered to take him on board. The
offer was gratefully accepted, and Fra Lodovico was welcomed with the utmost
deference by his noble host. He took the honors paid to him with his usual
simplicity; alluding to this incident he writes: “If we are told to accept humiliations,
why should we not also accept honors when they come in our way? Believe me,
when the soul is closely united to God, both are good; without God everything
does us harm, with God everything may do us good.”
This was the secret of
his holiness; he had attained to such a degree of union with God that the
things of this world seemed powerless to trouble the peace and purity of his
soul.
Pope Leo XIII treated our
hero with constant kindness; he often received him in his private study,
conversed with him as with a familiar friend, and, speaking of him to Cardinal
Alimonda, he once exclaimed, with a ring of tenderness in his voice: “O Fra
Lodovico! he is indeed my friend.”
The fact that among his
friends were men of every rank and opinion, princes, peasants, priests, laymen,
religious, and free-thinkers, poets and politicians, magistrates and artists,
proves his extraordinary power of sympathy. Cantu, the celebrated critic,
gloried in his friendship; Augusto Conti, another writer, says that “he was
another Saint Francis; . . . which of the great personages of our day,” he
adds, “is really greater than the poor brother of Casoria?” Count Campello,
brother-in-law to Cardinal Bonaparte, often observed: “He is the holiest man I
ever knew.” “He took the world as it is,” says another, “only trying to make it
as good as possible.” He was never gloomy or despondent in his way of judging
men, and never violent, bitter, or querulous. He appeared as much to his
advantage among the rich as among the poor, in an assembly of religious, in a
group of politicians, or in a consistory of cardinals; always simple, kind, and
gentle.
To this sunny temper,
which made him inclined to look upon the world with indulgent eyes, Fra
Lodovico united a love of suffering, which is in itself alone a mark of
holiness. Always ready to relieve the miseries of others, he bore his own with
joy and gratitude. For many months before his death he suffered from a painful
internal malady. He knew that the disease was mortal, but as long as human strength
could hold out he went about his work in his old, cheerful way. In the spring
of 1885 he was asked to visit an English lady, Mrs. Montgomery, who lay
dangerously ill. “You will be cured,” he said to her, “but I am going away; my
mission is accomplished.” On the 2d of March of the same year he visited the
different institutions he had founded in Naples; he spoke kindly as usual to
the nuns, the Bigi, the orphans, to whom he was a father; only once he was
heard to murmur “I shall never come back here.”
About the same time he
wrote to King Humbert as simply as he had formerly knocked at the palace door
to visit King Victor Emmanuel. “Sire,” he said, “a poor son of Saint Francis
begs your Majesty to set Pope Leo XIII. free; . . . show yourself the worthy heir
of so many holy persons. . . . Leave Rome to the pope. . . .”
At last the end came,
and, like a laborer who has faithfully finished his task, Fra Lodovico lay down
to die. He bore his excruciating sufferings without a murmur. “Jesus must be
loved on the cross,” he often repeated; “if he is not loved on the cross, he is
not really loved.” “I am on the cross,” he added, “and both my soul and my body
are well.”
On Palm Sunday, March 29,
1885, he received Holy Communion, and divided between the Bigi present a
palm-branch which he held in his hand. The next day, at an early hour, he again
received the Blessed Eucharist and blessed the disciples who were kneeling
around his bed. Then, with a gesture familiar to him in life, he threw back his
head and looked straight upwards towards heaven; gently his head dropped
forward and his spirit passed away. It was seven in the morning, and the
radiant sun of an Italian spring morning flooded the poor cell with its golden
light, a sign and symbol of the heavenly glory into which the pure spirit had
winged its flight.
Fra Lodovico’s body was
laid out in the chapel of the hospital of Pausilippo, where he died; the
inhabitants of Naples came in thousands to take leave of their best friend and,
with the demonstrative devotion of their race, they cut off pieces of his habit
as relics. As he lay there so calm and still, with his poor tunic alt torn and
tattered, he reminded those present of the figure of Poverty, painted by
Giotto, in the Basilica of Assisi.
On the 31st of March,
1885, he was carried to the cemetery of Naples amidst an extraordinary
concourse of people. The Bigi bore the coffin; they were surrounded by those
for whom the dead friar had spent his life – the neglected, the orphans, the
pupils of the noble college, the nuns, and the poor. Then came the deputies,
magistrates, and political characters of the city, many of them openly
irreligious, but all united in a common bond of reverence for him whose loving
heart had conquered animosities and prejudice.
The windows and balconies
were lined with spectators; many tears were shed. “Our friend has gone to
heaven,” sobbed a workman, “but he will surely continue to help us, he loved us
so much!”
Two years later the Bigi
obtained leave to take up their founder’s body, and to bury it in the chapel of
the hospital at Pausilippo, where it now rests. Documents are being collected
wherein the many graces attributed to Fra Lodovico’s intercession are carefully
recorded, and it is hoped that they may serve at some future time to bring
about the canonization of him whom popular devotion has already surnamed the
modern Saint Francis.
– text taken from “The
Catholic World” #368, November 1895
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/a-modern-saint-francis-by-the-comtesse-de-courson/
RITE
OF CANONIZATION OF BLESSEDS:
HOMILY OF POPE FRANCIS
Today’s liturgy invites us to fix our gaze on Christ,
the King of the Universe. The beautiful prayer of the Preface
reminds us that his kingdom is “a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of
holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace”. The readings we have
listened to show us how Jesus established his kingdom; how he brings it about
in history; and what he now asks of us.
First, how Jesus
brought about his kingdom: he did so through his closeness and tenderness
towards us. He is the Shepherd, of whom the Prophet Ezekiel spoke in the First
Reading (cf. 34:11-12, 15-17). These verses are interwoven with verbs which
show the care and love that the Shepherd has for his flock: to search, to look
over, to gather the dispersed, to lead into pasture, to bring to rest, to seek
the lost sheep, to lead back the confused, to bandage the wounded, to heal the
sick, to take care of, to pasture. All of these are fulfilled in Jesus Christ: he
is truly the “great Shepherd of the sheep and the protector of our souls”
(cf. Heb 13:20; 1 Pt 2:25).
Those of us who are
called to be pastors in the Church cannot stray from this example, if we do not
want to become hirelings. In this regard the People of God have an unerring
sense for recognizing good shepherds and in distinguishing them from hirelings.
After his victory, that
is after his Resurrection, how has Jesus advanced his kingdom? The Apostle
Paul, in the First Letter to the Corinthians, says: “for he must reign until he
has put all his enemies under his feet” (15:25). The Father, little by little,
subjects all to the Son and, at the same time, the Son subjects all to the
Father, including even himself in the end. Jesus is not a King according to
earthly ways: for him, to reign is not to command, but to obey the Father, to
give himself over to the Father, so that his plan of love and salvation may be
brought to fulfilment. In this way there is full reciprocity between the Father
and the Son. The period of Christ’s reign is the long period of subjecting
everything to the Son and consigning everything to the Father. “The last enemy
to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor 15:26). And in the end, when all
things will be under the sovereignty of Jesus, and everything, including Jesus
himself, will be subjected to the Father, God will be all in all (cf. 1 Cor 15:28).
The Gospel teaches what
Jesus’ kingdom requires of us: it reminds us that closeness and tenderness are
the rule of life for us also, and that on this basis we will be judged. This is
how we will be judged. This is the great parable of the final judgement in
Matthew 25. The King says: “Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you
gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you
welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I
was in prison and you came to me” (25:34-36). The righteous will ask him: when
did we do all this? And he will answer them: “Truly, I say to you, as you did
it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40).
The starting point of
salvation is not the confession of the sovereignty of Christ, but rather the
imitation of Jesus’ works of mercy through which he brought about his kingdom.
The one who accomplishes these works shows that he has welcomed Christ’s
sovereignty, because he has opened his heart to God’s charity. In the twilight
of life we will be judged on our love for, closeness to and tenderness towards
our brothers and sisters. Upon this will depend our entry into, or exclusion
from, the kingdom of God: our belonging to the one side or the other. Through
his victory, Jesus has opened to us his kingdom. But it is for us to enter into
it, beginning with our life now – his kingdom begins now – by being close in
concrete ways to our brothers and sisters who ask for bread, clothing,
acceptance, solidarity, catechesis. If we truly love them, we will be willing
to share with them what is most precious to us, Jesus himself and his Gospel.
Today the Church places
before us the example of these new saints. Each in his or her own way served
the kingdom of God, of which they became heirs, precisely through works of
generous devotion to God and their brothers and sisters. They responded with
extraordinary creativity to the commandment of love of God and neighbour. They
dedicated themselves, without holding back, to serving the least and assisting
the destitute, sick, elderly and pilgrims. Their preference for the smallest
and poorest was the reflection and measure of their unconditional love of God.
In fact, they sought and discovered love in a strong and personal relationship
with God, from whence springs forth true love for one’s neighbour. In the hour
of judgement, therefore, they heard that tender invitation: “Come, O blessed of
my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the
world” (Mt 25:34).
Through the rite of
canonization, we have confessed once again the mystery of God’s kingdom and we
have honoured Christ the King, the Shepherd full of love for his sheep. May our
new saints, through their witness and intercession, increase within us the joy
of walking in the way of the Gospel and our resolve to embrace the Gospel as
the compass of our lives. Let us follow in their footsteps, imitating their
faith and love, so that our hope too may be clothed in immortality. May we not
allow ourselves to be distracted by other earthly and fleeting interests. And
may Mary, our Mother and Queen of all Saints, guide us on the way to the
kingdom of heaven.
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Nel Martirologio Romano, 30 marzo, n.
12 : «A Napoli,
beato Ludovico (Arcangelo) Palmentieri da Casoria, sacerdote dell'Ordine dei Frati Minori, che, spinto da
ardore di carità verso i poveri di Cristo, istituì
le due Congregazioni dei Fratelli della Carità e
delle Suore Francescane di Santa
Elisabetta. »
Iglesia
de San Pedro de Alcántara, Marbella
San Ludovico (Arcangelo)
Palmentieri da Casoria Sacerdote francescano, fondatore
Casoria, Napoli, 11 marzo
1814 - Napoli, 30 marzo 1885
Nato a Casoria, in
provincia di Napoli, nel 1814, Arcangelo Palmentieri entrò a 18 anni tra i
Francescani Alcantarini divenendo fra Ludovico. Per 20 anni insegnò matematica
e filosofia a Napoli, tenendo anche la farmacia del convento, che trasferì con
sé a Capodimonte. La sua carità si estese presto ai piccoli che vagavano per le
strade di Napoli, ai giovanissimi africani condotti in Occidente come schiavi,
ai ciechi e ai sordomuti. Per dare continuità alle sue opere, fondò nel 1859 i
Terziari Francescani della Carità, detti Frati Bigi (ora non più esistenti) e,
cinque anni dopo, le Suore Francescane Elisabettine dette Bigie. Il Vaticano
gli affidò la missione di Scellal, in Sudan, che però durò poco. Morì a Napoli
il 30 marzo 1885, a 71 anni. Beatificato da san Giovanni Paolo II il 18 aprile
1993, è stato canonizzato il 23 novembre 2014 da papa Francesco. I suoi resti
mortali riposano presso l’Ospizio Marino a Napoli, in via Posillipo 24. La sua
memoria liturgica cade il 17 giugno, giorno in cui, nel 1832, vestì per la
prima volta il saio francescano.
Martirologio Romano: A
Napoli, beato Ludovico (Arcangelo) Palmentieri da Casoria, sacerdote
dell’Ordine dei Frati Minori, che, spinto da ardore di carità verso i poveri di
Cristo, istituì le due Congregazioni dei Fratelli della Carità e delle Suore
Francescane di Santa Elisabetta.
Arcangelo Palmentieri nacque a Casoria, in provincia di Napoli, l’11 marzo 1814, terzo dei cinque figli di Candida Zenga e Vincenzo Palmentieri, di professione vinaio. Vestì il saio dei Frati Minori Alcantarini il 17 giugno 1832, assumendo il nome di fra Ludovico. Dopo gli studi necessari come novizio presso Nola, fu ordinato sacerdote il 4 giugno 1837. Inizialmente, gli fu affidato l’insegnamento della d’insegnante di matematica e fisica nei seminari del suo Ordine. Nel contempo istituì una farmacia–infermeria per i frati malati e per i sacerdoti poveri del Terz’Ordine, alloggiandoli in un edificio a Scudillo di Capodimonte in Napoli, detto “La Palma”.
Tra il 1847 e il 1848, a seguito di una malattia e di un’intensa esperienza di grazia, che successivamente definì come “lavacro”, diede un nuovo corso alla propria vita. Rilanciò il Terz’Ordine di San Francesco e istituì una piccola infermeria per i confratelli e per i sacerdoti terziari poveri presso il convento napoletano di San Pietro ad Aram, poi ingrandita e trasferita presso Capodimonte.
La sua carità si estese presto ai piccoli scugnizzi che vagavano per le strade di Napoli e, dietrosuggerimento del genovese donNiccolò Giovanni Battista Olivieri (fondatore della Pia Opera del Riscatto; per lui è in corso la causa di beatificazione), ai giovanissimi africani condotti in Occidente come schiavi. Già nel 1854 poté accogliere i primi due bambini affidatigli da don Olivieri, Giuseppe Rab e Giuseppe Morgian, con risultati confortanti.Ideò il progetto che i missionari venissero reclutati fra gli stessi indigeni, con la celebre frase «L’Africa deve convertire l’Africa».
Ottenute le necessarie approvazioni dai suoi superiori e sotto il beneplacito reale, nel 1856 riunì nel convento La Palma allo Scudillo nove bambini di colore, indirizzandoli agli studi; alcuni di essi furono poi battezzati solennemente dal cardinale arcivescovo di Napoli.
Nel 1857 ottenne che il re Ferdinando II riscattasse dodici bambini, che andò personalmente a prendere ad Alessandria in Egitto. Nonostante le offerte provenienti da ogni parte, specie dalla Germania, si vide ben presto che i locali de La Palma ormai erano insufficienti. Falliti i tentativi di acquistare un edificio accanto, il re intervenne espropriandolo e donandolo a padre Ludovico.
Dopo aver incontrato madre Anna Lapini, fiorentina, fondatricedelle Povere Figlie delle Sacre Stimmate di San Francesco d’Assisi, popolarmente note come Suore Stimmatine (Venerabile dal 2003), le affidò un progetto analogo per le bambine. Il collegio delle “Morette” sorse insieme con la Casa delle Stimmatine a Capodimonte e fu inaugurato il 10 maggio 1859: insieme a dodici bambine africane, vi erano educate le fanciulle povere della città.
Per dare continuità alle sue opere, fondò nel 1859 i Terziari Francescani della Carità, detti Frati Bigi dal colore del saio (ora non più esistenti) e, cinque anni dopo, le Suore Francescane Elisabettine dette Bigie.
La Sacra Congregazione di Propaganda Fide gli affidò la stazione missionaria africana di Scellal, dove fondò un Istituto di missionari e un ospedale, che purtroppo unanno dopo dovette chiudereper mancanza di fondi. Ad Assisi fondò, il 17 settembre 1871, l’Istituto Serafico per i bambini disabili, dedicandolo a san Francesco.
Padre Ludovico seppe muoversi diplomaticamente con la caduta dei Borbone e l’avvento del Regno d’Italia, benvoluto e considerato da tutti. Ebbe anche molti grandi amici dello spirito: alla giovane Caterina Volpicelli suggerì di dedicarsi alla diffusione del culto al Sacro Cuore a Napoli (fondò in seguito le Ancelle del Sacro Cuore; è Santa dal 2009) e fu ispiratore dell’avvocato Bartolo Longo (Beato dal 1986) nella fondazione delle opere annesse al Santuario della Beata Vergine del Rosario di Pompei.
Morì a Napoli il 30 marzo 1885, a 71 anni.È stato beatificato da san Giovanni Paolo II il 18 aprile 1993 e canonizzato da papa Francesco il 23 novembre 2014.La sua memoria liturgica cade il 17 giugno, nell’anniversario della sua vestizione religiosa.Il suo corpo è sepolto presso l’Ospizio Marino in via Posillipo 24 a Napoli, da lui istituito per i pescatori poveri e malati della zona.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli ed Emilia Flocchini
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90241
Ospizio
Marino Padre Ludovico da Casoria, Napoli
LUDOVICO da Casoria
di Gaetano de Felice -
Enciclopedia Italiana (1934)
LUDOVICO (Lodovico) da
Casoria
Chiamato al secolo
Arcangelo Palmentiere, nacque a Casoria presso Napoli l'11 marzo 1814. Nel 1832
entrò nei frati minori alcantarini, e più tardi istituì una congregazione a
parte del terz'ordine francescano, detta dei "frati della carità", o "frati
bigi" dal colore dell'abito, diffusi oggi in cinque città d'Italia. Morì a
Napoli (Posillipo) il 30 marzo 1885.
Datosi tutto ad opere di
carità, aprì ospizî, scuole, collegi popolari, chiese, a Roma, Assisi, Firenze,
ma specialmente a Napoli: ivi nel 1882, settimo centenario della nascita di S.
Francesco, aprì un ospizio marino per i marinai vecchi e i fanciulli
scropolosi, inaugurandovi il monumento a S. Francesco attorniato dai terziarì
francescani Dante, Giotto e Colombo; e diede da mangiare a cinquemila poveri in
memoria dei 5000 frati convenuti al celebre Capitolo delle Stuoie. Prima
aveva pensato anche all'Africa, e andato a raccogliervi i "moretti"
aveva aperto un istituto per essi a Napoli nel 1852. La sua carità e la sua
santa vita gli conciliarono l'ammirazione generale che gli permise d'influire
anche in questioni politiche. Egli indusse Ferdinando II, ammalatosi in Bari, a
tornare a Napoli. Caldeggiò l'unità d'Italia in accordo col papa, e scrisse in
tal senso a Umberto I esortandolo a difendere "il papa con armi
italiane"; come pure sostenne le parti dell'abate Luigi Tosti, quando per
il suo opuscolo sulla conciliazione fu violentemente attaccato dagli avversarî
d'un accordo tra il Vaticano e l'Italia. Fu tra i più autorevoli membri di quel
gruppo neo-guelfo napoletano, cui appartennero Alfonso Capecelatro, Enrico
Cenni, Alfonso della Valle di Casanova, Federico Persico e altri. La sua causa
di beatificazione fu introdotta a Roma nel 1907.
I "frati bigi",
estesi da Napoli in cinque altre città d'Italia, continuano nella missione del
loro fondatore.
Bibl.: A.
Capecelatro, Vita del p. L. da C., 2ª ed., Roma 1893.
SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ludovico-da-casoria_(Enciclopedia-Italiana)/
LUDOVICO da Casoria
di Serena Veneziani -
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 66 (2006)
LUDOVICO da Casoria (al
secolo Arcangelo Palmentieri)
Nacque a Casoria, non
distante da Napoli, l'11 marzo 1814, terzogenito di Vincenzo, vinaio, e Candida
Zenga. Studiò presso il convento francescano dei minori riformati nella vicina
Afragola, dove in seguito entrò vestendone l'abito nel 1832. Trascorse l'anno
di noviziato nel convento di S. Giovanni del Parco presso Lauro nel Nolano. Dal
1841 insegnò fisica, matematica e filosofia in alcuni istituti privati e nel
convento di S. Pietro ad Aram di Napoli. Del 1847 è la svolta della sua azione
sacerdotale verso un intenso impegno sociale: a S. Pietro ad Aram aprì una
piccola infermeria per religiosi e iniziò a radunare intorno a sé un gruppo di
terziari di ambo i sessi che lo seguissero nell'opera assistenziale verso i
bisognosi. Tali congregazioni fiorirono poi soprattutto nel basso Lazio e nel
Napoletano.
Nel 1852, finanziato da
ricchi benefattori, acquistò in località Scudillo di Capodimonte, presso
Napoli, un edificio che fu detto Casa della palma e che ospitò un piccolo convento
francescano e un'infermeria-farmacia per religiosi poveri e malati delle zone
di Napoli e Caserta.
Sollecitato dal sacerdote
genovese G.B. Olivieri, L. iniziò a occuparsi anche del riscatto dalla
schiavitù e della conversione dei bambini dell'Africa nera accogliendone nel
1854 i primi due nella Casa della palma con l'idea di istruirli ed educarli ai
valori cattolici. Nelle sue intenzioni questi bambini, educati all'interno di
appositi collegi, avrebbero frequentato il noviziato a Napoli e poi, affiancati
a missionari italiani, sarebbero tornati a evangelizzare l'Africa, in modo che,
come affermò lo stesso L., "l'Africa convertirà l'Africa".
Nel 1856 l'iniziativa
ebbe l'approvazione e l'appoggio finanziario di Ferdinando II, re delle Due
Sicilie, e nel 1858 le regole ottennero il nulla osta dai superiori
dell'Ordine. Il numero dei fanciulli sistemati presso la Casa della palma (e i
più piccoli, in seguito, presso l'istituto S. Raffaele) crebbe raggiungendo la
cifra di 45 nel 1859 (Capecelatro, p. 116), tanto che molte famiglie
dell'aristocrazia napoletana furono indotte a sostenere finanziariamente il
loro mantenimento. Nel 1859 L., insieme con suor Anna Lapini, fondatrice delle
suore stimmatine, diede vita a Napoli a una analoga istituzione per le bambine
africane e per le fanciulle in difficoltà, la cui direzione fu in seguito
affidata alle suore elisabettine.
Tra il 1865 e il 1866,
dopo che la congregazione di Propaganda Fide ebbe scelto nel 1864 la stazione
di Scellal presso Assuan come base di partenza per l'evangelizzazione
dell'Africa centrale e come sede di un ospedale e dimora per missionari
affidati alla sua supervisione, L. intraprese un viaggio di qualche mese in
Egitto cui prese parte anche don D. Comboni, già impegnato
nell'evangelizzazione dell'Africa. Tuttavia, per mancanza di fondi, la missione
rimase in vita solo fino all'ottobre del 1866.
Molti anni dopo, nel
1883, L., non dandosi per vinto, ottenne l'approvazione dal Consiglio dei
ministri per una missione cattolica (dotata di chiesa e scuola) presso Assab,
in Eritrea, ma anche questa iniziativa, malgrado l'appoggio del ministro degli
Esteri P.S. Mancini, non riuscì a imporsi stabilmente.
L'8 dic. 1859 L. aveva
intanto fondato la Congregazione dei frati della carità, detti anche bigi dal colore
dell'abito.
I primi bigi erano
fratelli laici cui in seguito si aggiunsero alcuni sacerdoti, tutti professanti
la regola del Terz'Ordine francescano con particolare cura per l'istruzione dei
giovani popolani in condizioni disagiate e l'assistenza agli infermi. I primi
luoghi di destinazione dei bigi furono l'ospedale degli Incurabili di Napoli e
quello militare di Caserta. In seguito furono in prima linea nelle più
importanti fondazioni di L. a Napoli, Sorrento, Assisi, Roma e Firenze, nonché,
dal 1861, impegnati nell'opera missionaria in Africa. Ai frati bigi L. aggiunse
nel 1866 le suore di S. Elisabetta, dette anche bigie del Terz'Ordine o
elisabettine, per molti versi corrispettivo femminile della congregazione
maschile: tra le loro mansioni vi erano la preghiera per i moribondi, il
seppellimento e l'esumazione dei morti e la preghiera per le loro anime: da ciò
derivò loro il nome di ausiliatrici del Purgatorio.
Alle due congregazioni L.
affidò la gestione dei numerosi collegi e istituti di carità da lui fondati,
che fiorirono in modo stupefacente nell'area centromeridionale della penisola,
raggiungendo complessivamente il numero di oltre 200, rivolti a poveri,
indigenti, orfani, bambini, malati e anziani: nel 1862 L. aveva tolto a Napoli
migliaia di ragazzi dalla strada e istituito, con l'intento di educarli,
l'Opera degli accattoncelli la cui sede principale sarebbe divenuta l'istituto
S. Raffaele; inoltre, per insegnare loro un mestiere, predispose una tipografia
e varie officine. Fondò sempre a Napoli nel 1866 un collegio per giovani di
classi abbienti chiamato La Carità e successivamente un ospizio marino per
vecchi pescatori a Posillipo, cui rimase particolarmente legato e al quale nel
1883 affiancò nelle vicinanze un ricovero per circa 200 fanciulli scrofolosi.
A Napoli inoltre, nel
1884, creò un'opera "De' casi disperati", un fondo di denaro per le
situazioni urgenti e di estrema gravità. Anche nella penisola sorrentina
fiorirono le sue iniziative: nel 1868, nella zona chiamata Deserto, sorsero una
casa con scuola agraria e convitto per fanciulli orfani e poveri, un'altra
scuola nel Piano di Sorrento gestita dalle elisabettine e un ospizio per
poveri. Nel 1871 aprì ad Assisi un istituto per ciechi e sordomuti, dopo che
già uno era sorto a Napoli; un altro sarebbe nato in seguito a Firenze; nel
1879 fondò a Roma una scuola che poi cedette a don G. Bosco, e nel 1883
inaugurò l'istituto dell'Immacolata come scuola gratuita per fanciulli poveri,
convitto per gli orfani e seminario. A Firenze fece edificare nel 1874 una
chiesa dedicata al S. Cuore di Gesù dopo che già in città aveva istituito un
orfanotrofio con tipografia e varie botteghe adiacenti.
Nel campo della cultura
L. fondò a Napoli nel 1864 l'Accademia cattolica di religione e scienza: vi
aderirono eruditi e scrittori anche da altre parti d'Italia, fra cui G. Capponi
e N. Tommaseo con il quale L. fu in contatto epistolare. Scopo dell'Accademia
era di promuovere i valori della dottrina cattolica rispetto alla crescente
diffusione della cultura laica, ma ebbe vita breve per problemi organizzativi.
Identica sorte toccò ai periodici napoletani La Carità, fondato nel 1865,
e L'Orfanello (1873), poi fusi insieme in La Carità e
l'orfanello, che contengono molti pensieri, massime e brevi trattazioni del
religioso. Oltre a questi periodici si ricorda il successivo mensile Novità
musicali: canti del padre Ludovico da Casoria, che toccava temi cari a L., il
quale era in stretto contatto con i due musicisti napoletani F. Parisi e F.
Taglioni e considerava la musica centrale nei suoi metodi educativi. Nel 1882,
in occasione del settimo centenario dalla nascita di s. Francesco, promosse
celebrazioni in tutta Italia e offrì un pranzo per cinquemila poveri a
Posillipo, dove aveva fatto edificare per l'occasione, e secondo una sua idea,
un monumento al fondatore dell'Ordine dei minori con ai suoi piedi Dante,
Giotto e Colombo. Organizzò anche, l'anno dopo, un congresso del Terz'Ordine
francescano a Napoli nella chiesa di Donna Regina.
Personaggio religioso di
rilievo della seconda metà del secolo XIX, L. fu stimato dai papi Pio IX e
Leone XIII e sostenuto nella sua opera dai re delle Due Sicilie Ferdinando II e
Francesco II. Nel novembre del 1860 fu scelto dal governo piemontese, tramite
il cardinale A. Capecelatro, per portare le scuse al cardinale S. Riario
Sforza, arcivescovo di Napoli che essendosi rifiutato di sottostare alle
condizioni a lui imposte da G. Garibaldi arrivato in città, era stato esiliato
e si era stabilito a Roma. La missione si concluse positivamente con il rientro
del RiarioSforza a Napoli il 30 novembre. Esponente di punta dei neoguelfi
napoletani, L. fu rispettato anche da uomini di posizioni differenti come P.E.
Imbriani e L. Settembrini che nel 1870 intervennero nella seduta del Consiglio comunale
chiedendo che non gli fosse tagliato l'assegno di sussidio e gli fosse concessa
una dilazione per lo sgombero di uno stabile (Capecelatro, p. 430). La sua
importanza rimane legata al carattere fortemente sociale del quale improntò la
sua azione caritativa e che gli consentì nella pratica la fondazione capillare
di istituti e collegi, quando, a metà dell'Ottocento, il ruolo dei terziari
risultava per certi versi antiquato e bisognoso di rinnovamento.
L. morì il 30 marzo 1885
nell'ospizio marino di Posillipo. La dichiarazione dell'eroicità delle virtù
risale al 13 febbr. 1964 e la beatificazione è del 18 apr. 1993.
Fonti e Bibl.: Beatificationis
et canonizationis ven. servi Dei p. Ludovici a Casauria responsio ad alias
novas animadversiones promotoris generalis fidei, I-II, Romae 1957 (Altera pars
documentorum); Ludovico da Casoria, Epistolario, a cura di G. D'Andrea,
I-III, Napoli 1989; P. Paribello, Attività socio-religiosa dei padri L. da
C., Bonaventura da Sorrento e compagni in scritti inediti, 1870-1888, Napoli
1991; M. Le Monnier, Vie du p. Ludovic de C. d'après Alphons Capecelatro,
Parigi 1892; A. Capecelatro, Vita del ven. p. L. da Casoria, Roma-Tournay
1893; J. Schmidlin, Manuale di storia delle missioni cattoliche, III,
Milano 1929, pp. 93 s.; G. Nardi, Il ven. p. L. e i collegi dei moretti,
Milano 1932; A. Gemelli, Il francescanesimo, Milano 1947, pp. 285,
298-303, 305 s., 315, 317 s., 334, 347 s., 362, 365-370, 377, 381 s.; L. Di
Stolfi, Figure francescane nella vita del Tommaseo, in Frate Francesco,
VIII (1961), aprile-giugno, pp. 75-82; G. D'Andrea, P. L. da Casoria
O.F.M., San Marino 1976; S. Garofalo, La carità sfrenata, il ven. p. L. da
C. francescano, Napoli 1985; L. Fabiani, Vita popolare illustrata del ven.
p. L. da C., Assisi 1989; Diz. illustrato di pedagogia, II, pp.
571-577; Enc. cattolica, VII, col. 1639; Bibliotheca sanctorum, VIII,
coll. 307-311; Seconda app., col. 1075; G. D'Andrea, Rep.
bibliografico dei frati minori napoletani, pp. 143 s., 175-177; Enc.
Italiana, XXI, p. 597.
SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/ludovico-da-casoria_(Dizionario-Biografico)
OMELIA DEL SANTO PADRE
FRANCESCO
La liturgia oggi ci
invita a fissare lo sguardo su Gesù come Re dell’Universo. La bella preghiera
del Prefazio ci ricorda che il suo regno è «regno di verità e di vita, regno di
santità e di grazia, regno di giustizia, di amore e di pace». Le Letture che
abbiamo ascoltato ci mostrano come Gesù ha realizzato il suo regno; come lo
realizza nel divenire della storia; e che cosa chiede a noi.
Anzitutto, come Gesù
ha realizzato il regno: lo ha fatto con la vicinanza e la tenerezza verso di
noi. Egli è il Pastore, di cui ci ha parlato il profeta Ezechiele nella prima
Lettura (cfr 34,11-12.15-17). Tutto questo brano è intessuto di verbi che
indicano la premura e l’amore del Pastore verso il suo gregge: cercare, passare
in rassegna, radunare dalla dispersione, condurre al pascolo, far riposare,
cercare la pecora perduta, ricondurre quella smarrita, fasciare la ferita,
curare la malata, avere cura, pascere. Tutti questi atteggiamenti sono
diventati realtà in Gesù Cristo: Lui è davvero il “Pastore grande delle pecore
e custode delle nostre anime” (cfr Eb 13,20; 1Pt 2,25).
E quanti nella Chiesa
siamo chiamati ad essere pastori, non possiamo discostarci da questo modello,
se non vogliamo diventare dei mercenari. A questo riguardo, il popolo di Dio
possiede un fiuto infallibile nel riconoscere i buoni pastori e distinguerli
dai mercenari.
Dopo la sua vittoria,
cioè dopo la sua Risurrezione, come Gesù porta avanti il suo regno?
L’apostolo Paolo, nella Prima Lettera ai Corinzi, dice: «E’ necessario che egli
regni finché non abbia posto tutti i nemici sotto i suoi piedi» (15,25).
E’ il Padre che a poco a poco sottomette tutto al Figlio, e al tempo stesso il
Figlio sottomette tutto al Padre. Gesù non è un re alla maniera di questo
mondo: per Lui regnare non è comandare, ma obbedire al Padre, consegnarsi a
Lui, perché si compia il suo disegno d’amore e di salvezza. Così c’è piena
reciprocità tra il Padre e il Figlio. Dunque il tempo del regno di Cristo è il
lungo tempo della sottomissione di tutto al Figlio e della consegna di tutto al
Padre. «L’ultimo nemico ad essere annientato sarà la morte» (1 Cor 15,26).
E alla fine, quando tutto sarà stato posto sotto la regalità di Gesù, e tutto,
anche Gesù stesso, sarà stato sottomesso al Padre, Dio sarà tutto in tutti
(cfr 1 Cor 15, 28).
Il Vangelo ci dice che
cosa il regno di Gesù chiede a noi: ci ricorda che la vicinanza e la tenerezza
sono la regola di vita anche per noi, e su questo saremo giudicati. E’ la
grande parabola del giudizio finale di Matteo 25. Il Re dice: «Venite,
benedetti del Padre mio, ricevete in eredità il regno preparato per voi fin
dalla creazione del mondo, perché ho avuto fame e mi avete dato da mangiare, ho
avuto sete e mi avete dato da bere, ero straniero e mi avete accolto, nudo e mi
avete vestito, malato e mi avete visitato, ero in carcere e siete venuti a
trovarmi» (25,34-36). I giusti domanderanno: quando mai abbiamo fatto tutto
questo? Ed Egli risponderà: «In verità io vi dico: tutto quello che avete fatto
a uno solo di questi miei fratelli più piccoli, l’avete fatto a me» (Mt 25,40).
La salvezza non comincia
dalla confessione della regalità di Cristo, ma dall’imitazione delle opere di
misericordia mediante le quali Lui ha realizzato il Regno. Chi le compie
dimostra di avere accolto la regalità di Gesù, perché ha fatto spazio nel suo
cuore alla carità di Dio. Alla sera della vita saremo giudicati sull’amore,
sulla prossimità e sulla tenerezza verso i fratelli. Da questo dipenderà il
nostro ingresso o meno nel regno di Dio, la nostra collocazione dall’una o
dall’altra parte. Gesù, con la sua vittoria, ci ha aperto il suo regno, ma sta
a ciascuno di noi entrarvi, già a partire da questa vita, facendoci
concretamente prossimo al fratello che chiede pane, vestito, accoglienza,
solidarietà. E se veramente ameremo quel fratello o quella sorella, saremo
spinti a condividere con lui o con lei ciò che abbiamo di più prezioso, cioè
Gesù stesso e il suo Vangelo!
Oggi la Chiesa ci pone
dinanzi come modelli i nuovi Santi che, proprio mediante le opere di una
generosa dedizione a Dio e ai fratelli, hanno servito, ognuno nel proprio
ambito, il regno di Dio e ne sono diventati eredi. Ciascuno di essi ha risposto
con straordinaria creatività al comandamento dell’amore di Dio e del prossimo.
Si sono dedicati senza risparmio al servizio degli ultimi, assistendo
indigenti, ammalati, anziani, pellegrini. La loro predilezione per i piccoli e
i poveri era il riflesso e la misura dell’amore incondizionato a Dio. Infatti,
hanno cercato e scoperto la carità nella relazione forte e personale con Dio,
dalla quale si sprigiona il vero amore per il prossimo. Perciò, nell’ora del
giudizio, hanno udito questo dolce invito: «Venite, benedetti del Padre mio,
ricevete in eredità il regno preparato per voi fin dalla fondazione del mondo»
(Mt 25,34).
Con il rito di
canonizzazione, ancora una volta abbiamo confessato il mistero del regno di Dio
e onorato Cristo Re, Pastore pieno d’amore per il suo gregge. Che i nuovi
Santi, col loro esempio e la loro intercessione, facciano crescere in noi la
gioia di camminare nella via del Vangelo, la decisione di assumerlo come la
bussola della nostra vita. Seguiamo le loro orme, imitiamo la loro fede e la
loro carità, perché anche la nostra speranza si rivesta di immortalità. Non
lasciamoci distrarre da altri interessi terreni e passeggeri. E ci guidi nel
cammino verso il regno dei Cieli la Madre, Maria, Regina di tutti i Santi.
Amen.
La liturgia oggi ci
invita a fissare lo sguardo su Gesù come Re dell’Universo. La bella preghiera
del Prefazio ci ricorda che il suo regno è «regno di verità e di vita, regno di
santità e di grazia, regno di giustizia, di amore e di pace». Le Letture
che abbiamo ascoltato ci mostrano come Gesù ha realizzato il suo regno; come lo
realizza nel divenire della storia; e che cosa chiede a noi.
Anzitutto, come Gesù
ha realizzato il regno: lo ha fatto con la vicinanza e la tenerezza verso di
noi. Egli è il Pastore, di cui ci ha parlato il profeta Ezechiele nella prima
Lettura (cfr 34,11-12.15-17). Tutto questo brano è intessuto di verbi che
indicano la premura e l’amore del Pastore verso il suo gregge: cercare, passare
in rassegna, radunare dalla dispersione, condurre al pascolo, far riposare,
cercare la pecora perduta, ricondurre quella smarrita, fasciare la ferita,
curare la malata, avere cura, pascere. Tutti questi atteggiamenti sono diventati
realtà in Gesù Cristo: Lui è davvero il “Pastore grande delle pecore e custode
delle nostre anime” (cfr Eb 13,20; 1Pt 2,25).
E quanti nella Chiesa
siamo chiamati ad essere pastori, non possiamo discostarci da questo modello,
se non vogliamo diventare dei mercenari. A questo riguardo, il popolo di Dio
possiede un fiuto infallibile nel riconoscere i buoni pastori e distinguerli
dai mercenari.
Dopo la sua vittoria,
cioè dopo la sua Risurrezione, come Gesù porta avanti il suo regno?
L’apostolo Paolo, nella Prima Lettera ai Corinzi, dice: «E’ necessario che egli
regni finché non abbia posto tutti i nemici sotto i suoi piedi» (15,25). E’ il
Padre che a poco a poco sottomette tutto al Figlio, e contemporaneamente il
Figlio sottomette tutto al Padre, e alla fine anche sé stesso. Gesù non è un re
alla maniera di questo mondo: per Lui regnare non è comandare, ma obbedire al
Padre, consegnarsi a Lui, perché si compia il suo disegno d’amore e di
salvezza. Così c’è piena reciprocità tra il Padre e il Figlio. Dunque il tempo
del regno di Cristo è il lungo tempo della sottomissione di tutto al Figlio e
della consegna di tutto al Padre. «L’ultimo nemico ad essere annientato sarà la
morte» (1 Cor 15,26). E alla fine, quando tutto sarà stato posto sotto la
regalità di Gesù, e tutto, anche Gesù stesso, sarà stato sottomesso al Padre,
Dio sarà tutto in tutti (cfr 1 Cor 15, 28).
Il Vangelo ci dice che
cosa il regno di Gesù chiede a noi: ci ricorda che la vicinanza e la tenerezza
sono la regola di vita anche per noi, e su questo saremo giudicati. Questo sarà
il protocollo del nostro giudizio. E’ la grande parabola del giudizio finale di
Matteo 25. Il Re dice: «Venite, benedetti del Padre mio, ricevete in eredità il
regno preparato per voi fin dalla creazione del mondo, perché ho avuto fame e
mi avete dato da mangiare, ho avuto sete e mi avete dato da bere, ero straniero
e mi avete accolto, nudo e mi avete vestito, malato e mi avete visitato, ero in
carcere e siete venuti a trovarmi» (25,34-36). I giusti domanderanno: quando mai
abbiamo fatto tutto questo? Ed Egli risponderà: «In verità io vi dico: tutto
quello che avete fatto a uno solo di questi miei fratelli più piccoli, l’avete
fatto a me» (Mt 25,40).
La salvezza non comincia
dalla confessione della regalità di Cristo, ma dall’imitazione delle opere di
misericordia mediante le quali Lui ha realizzato il Regno. Chi le compie
dimostra di avere accolto la regalità di Gesù, perché ha fatto spazio nel suo
cuore alla carità di Dio. Alla sera della vita saremo giudicati sull’amore, sulla
prossimità e sulla tenerezza verso i fratelli. Da questo dipenderà il nostro
ingresso o meno nel regno di Dio, la nostra collocazione dall’una o dall’altra
parte. Gesù, con la sua vittoria, ci ha aperto il suo regno, ma sta a ciascuno
di noi entrarvi, già a partire da questa vita – il Regno incomincia adesso –
facendoci concretamente prossimo al fratello che chiede pane, vestito,
accoglienza, solidarietà, catechesi. E se veramente ameremo quel fratello o
quella sorella, saremo spinti a condividere con lui o con lei ciò che abbiamo
di più prezioso, cioè Gesù stesso e il suo Vangelo!
Oggi la Chiesa ci pone
dinanzi come modelli i nuovi Santi che, proprio mediante le opere di una
generosa dedizione a Dio e ai fratelli, hanno servito, ognuno nel proprio ambito,
il regno di Dio e ne sono diventati eredi. Ciascuno di essi ha risposto con
straordinaria creatività al comandamento dell’amore di Dio e del prossimo. Si
sono dedicati senza risparmio al servizio degli ultimi, assistendo indigenti,
ammalati, anziani, pellegrini. La loro predilezione per i piccoli e i poveri
era il riflesso e la misura dell’amore incondizionato a Dio. Infatti, hanno
cercato e scoperto la carità nella relazione forte e personale con Dio, dalla
quale si sprigiona il vero amore per il prossimo. Perciò, nell’ora del
giudizio, hanno udito questo dolce invito: «Venite, benedetti del Padre mio,
ricevete in eredità il regno preparato per voi fin dalla fondazione del mondo»
(Mt 25,34).
Con il rito di
canonizzazione, ancora una volta abbiamo confessato il mistero del regno di Dio
e onorato Cristo Re, Pastore pieno d’amore per il suo gregge. Che i nuovi
Santi, col loro esempio e la loro intercessione, facciano crescere in noi la
gioia di camminare nella via del Vangelo, la decisione di assumerlo come la
bussola della nostra vita. Seguiamo le loro orme, imitiamo la loro fede e la
loro carità, perché anche la nostra speranza si rivesta di immortalità. Non
lasciamoci distrarre da altri interessi terreni e passeggeri. E ci guidi nel
cammino verso il regno dei Cieli la Madre, Maria, Regina di tutti i Santi.
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
PREDIGT VON PAPST
FRANZISKUS
Die Liturgie lädt uns
heute ein, den Blick auf Jesus als den König des Universums zu richten. Das
schöne Gebet der Präfation erinnert uns daran, dass sein Reich »das Reich der
Wahrheit und des Lebens, das Reich der Heiligkeit und der Gnade, das Reich der
Gerechtigkeit, der Liebe und des Friedens« ist. Die Lesungen, die wir gehört
haben, zeigen uns, wie Jesus sein Reich verwirklicht hat, wie er es im Werden
der Geschichte verwirklicht und was er von uns erwartet.
Vor allem, wie Jesus
sein Reich verwirklicht hat: Er hat es getan mit der Nähe und der
zärtlichen Liebe zu uns. Er ist der Hirte, von dem der Prophet Ezechiel in der
ersten Lesung zu uns gesprochen hat (vgl. 34,11-12.15-17). Dieser ganze
Abschnitt ist mit Verben durchwebt, die auf die Fürsorglichkeit und die Liebe
des Hirten für seine Herde hinweisen: suchen, sich kümmern, zurückholen aus der
Zerstreuung, auf die Weide führen, ruhen lassen, das verloren gegangene Schaf
suchen, das vertriebene zurückbringen, das verletzte verbinden, das schwache
kräftigen, behüten, sorgen. Alle diese Verhaltensweisen sind in Jesus Christus
Wirklichkeit geworden: Er ist wirklich der „erhabene Hirte der Schafe und Hüter
unserer Seelen“ (vgl. Hebr 13,20; 1 Petr 2,25).
Und alle, die wir in der
Kirche berufen sind, Hirten zu sein, dürfen von diesem Vorbild nicht abweichen,
wenn wir nicht zu bezahlten Knechten werden wollen. Diesbezüglich besitzt das
Gottesvolk einen untrüglichen Spürsinn, die guten Hirten zu erkennen und sie
von den bezahlten Knechten zu unterscheiden.
Wie bringt nun
Jesus nach seinem Sieg, das heißt nach seiner Auferstehung sein Reich
voran? Der Apostel Paulus sagt im Ersten Brief an die Korinther: »Er muss
herrschen, bis Gott ihm alle Feinde unter die Füße gelegt hat« (15,25). Der
Vater ist es, der dem Sohn nach und nach alles unterwirft, und zugleich
unterwirft der Sohn alles dem Vater – und am Ende sich selbst. Jesus ist kein
König nach der Art dieser Welt: Für ihn ist regieren nicht kommandieren,
sondern dem Vater gehorchen, sich ihm übergeben, damit sich dessen Plan der
Liebe und des Heiles erfüllt. So besteht eine vollkommene Gegenseitigkeit
zwischen dem Vater und dem Sohn. Die Zeit des Reiches Christi ist also die
lange Zeitspanne, in der alles dem Sohn unterworfen und alles dem Vater
übergeben wird. »Der letzte Feind, der entmachtet wird, ist der Tod« (1 Kor 15,26).
Und am Ende, wenn alles unter das Königtum Jesu gestellt ist und alles, auch
Jesus, dem Vater unterworfen ist, wird Gott alles in allen sein (vgl. 1 Kor 15,28).
Das Evangelium sagt
uns, was das Reich Jesu von uns verlangt: Es erinnert uns daran, dass die
Nähe und die zärtliche Liebe auch für uns die Lebensregel sind, und danach
werden wir gerichtet werden. Das wird das Protokoll unseres Gerichtes sein. Es
ist das große Gleichnis vom Jüngsten Gericht aus Matthäus 25. Der König sagt:
»Kommt her, die ihr von meinem Vater gesegnet seid, nehmt das Reich in Besitz,
das seit der Erschaffung der Welt für euch bestimmt ist. Denn ich war hungrig
und ihr habt mir zu essen gegeben; ich war durstig und ihr habt mir zu trinken
gegeben; ich war fremd und obdachlos und ihr habt mich aufgenommen; ich war
nackt und ihr habt mir Kleidung gegeben; ich war krank und ihr habt mich
besucht; ich war im Gefängnis und ihr seid zu mir gekommen« (25,34-36). Die
Gerechten werden fragen: Aber wann haben wir all das getan? Und er wird
antworten: »Amen, ich sage euch: Was ihr für einen meiner geringsten Brüder
getan habt, das habt ihr mir getan« (Mt 25,40).
Das Heil beginnt nicht
mit dem Bekenntnis zum Königtum Christi, sondern mit der Nachahmung der Werke
der Barmherzigkeit, durch die er das Reich verwirklicht hat. Wer sie vollbringt,
beweist, dass er das Königtum Jesu angenommen hat, denn er hat in seinem Herzen
der Liebe Gottes Raum gegeben. Am Abend des Lebens werden wir nach der Liebe,
nach der Nähe und nach der Zärtlichkeit gegenüber unseren Mitmenschen gerichtet
werden. Davon hängt es ab, ob wir ins Reich Gottes eingehen oder nicht, ob wir
auf der einen oder der anderen Seite Platz finden. Jesus hat uns mit seinem
Sieg sein Reich geöffnet, doch es liegt an jedem von uns, dort einzutreten –
schon von diesem Leben aus: Das Reich beginnt jetzt! –, indem wir uns
konkret zum Nächsten unseres Bruders machen, der um Brot, Kleidung, Aufnahme,
Solidarität und Katechese bittet. Und wenn wir jenen Bruder oder jene Schwester
wirklich lieben, werden wir uns gedrängt fühlen, mit ihm oder ihr das
Kostbarste zu teilen, was wir besitzen, nämlich Jesus selbst und sein
Evangelium!
Heute stellt uns die
Kirche als Vorbilder die neuen Heiligen vor Augen, die – jeder in seinem
Bereich – gerade durch die Werke einer großherzigen Hingabe an Gott und an die
Mitmenschen dem Reich Gottes gedient haben und seine Erben geworden sind. Jeder
von ihnen hat auf das Gebot der Gottes- und Nächstenliebe mit außergewöhnlicher
Kreativität geantwortet. Sie haben sich rückhaltlos dem Dienst an den Letzten
gewidmet, indem sie Notleidenden, Kranken, Alten und Pilgern geholfen haben.
Ihre Vorliebe für die Geringen und die Armen war der Widerschein und das Maß
der bedingungslosen Liebe zu Gott. Tatsächlich haben sie die Liebe in der
starken und persönlichen Beziehung zu Gott gesucht und entdeckt, aus der die
wahre Nächstenliebe entspringt. Deshalb haben sie in der Stunde des Gerichtes
diese freundliche Einladung gehört: »Kommt her, die ihr von meinem Vater
gesegnet seid, nehmt das Reich in Besitz, das seit der Erschaffung der Welt für
euch bestimmt ist« (Mt 25,34).
Mit dem Ritus der
Heiligsprechung haben wir wieder einmal das Geheimnis des Gottesreiches bekannt
und Christus, den König und liebevollen Hirten seiner Herde geehrt. Mögen die
neuen Heiligen mit ihrem Beispiel und ihrer Fürbitte in uns die Freude
steigern, auf dem Weg des Evangeliums voranzugehen, und die Entscheidung
nähren, es als Kompass unseres Lebens anzunehmen. Folgen wir ihren Spuren,
ahmen wir ihren Glauben und ihre Liebe nach, damit auch unsere Hoffnung sich mit
Unsterblichkeit bekleidet. Lassen wir uns nicht durch andere weltliche und
vergängliche Interessen ablenken. Möge uns auf unserem Weg zum Himmelreich die Mutter, Maria, die Königin
aller Heiligen führen und leiten.
Copyright © Dicastero per la Comunicazione - Libreria
Editrice Vaticana
HOMILÍA DEL SANTO PADRE
FRANCISCO
La liturgia de hoy nos
invita a fijar la mirada en Jesús como Rey del Universo. La hermosa oración del
Prefacio nos recuerda que su reino es «reino de verdad y de vida, reino de
santidad y de gracia, reino de justicia, de amor y de paz». Las lecturas que hemos
escuchado nos muestran cómo realizó Jesús su reino; cómo lo realiza en el
devenir de la historia; y qué nos pide a nosotros.
Ante todo, cómo
realizó Jesús su reino: lo hizo con la cercanía y la ternura hacia nosotros. Él
es el pastor, de quien habló el profeta Ezequiel en la primera lectura (cf. 34,
11 - 12. 15-17). Todo este pasaje está entrelazado por verbos que indican la
premura y el amor del pastor hacia su rebaño: buscar, cuidar, reunir a los
dispersos, conducir al apacentamiento, hacer descansar, buscar a la oveja
perdida, recoger a la descarriada, vendar a la herida, fortalecer a la enferma,
atender, apacentar. Todos estas actitudes se hicieron realidad en Jesucristo:
Él es verdaderamente el «gran pastor de las ovejas y guardián de nuestras almas»
(cf. Hb 13, 20; 1 P 2, 25).
Y quienes estamos
llamados en la Iglesia a ser pastores, no podemos distanciarnos de este modelo,
si no queremos convertirnos en mercenarios. Al respecto, el pueblo de Dios
posee un olfato infalible al reconocer a los buenos pastores y distinguirlos de
los mercenarios.
Después de su victoria,
es decir, tras su Resurrección, ¿cómo lleva adelante Jesús su reino? El
apóstol Pablo, en la Primera Carta a los Corintios, dice: «Cristo tiene
que reinar hasta que ponga a todos sus enemigos bajo sus pies» (15, 25). Es el
Padre quien poco a poco somete todo al Hijo, y al mismo tiempo el Hijo somete
todo al Padre, y al final incluso a sí mismo. Jesús no es un rey al estilo de
este mundo: para Él reinar no es mandar, sino obedecer al Padre, entregarse a
Él, para que se realice su designio de amor y de salvación. Así hay plena
reciprocidad entre el Padre y el Hijo. Por lo tanto, el tiempo del reino de
Cristo es el largo tiempo del sometimiento de todo al Hijo y de la entrega de
todo al Padre. «El último enemigo en ser destruido será la muerte» (1 Cor 15,
26). Y al final, cuando todo sea sometido bajo la realeza de Jesús, y todo,
incluso Jesús mismo, sea sometido al Padre, Dios será todo en todos (cf. 1
Cor 15, 28).
El Evangelio nos
dice qué nos pide el reino de Jesús a nosotros: nos recuerda que la
cercanía y la ternura son la norma de vida también para nosotros, y a partir de
esto seremos juzgados. Este será el protocolo de nuestro juicio. Es la gran
parábola del juicio final de Mateo 25. El Rey dice: «Venid vosotros,
benditos de mi Padre; heredad el reino preparado para vosotros desde la
creación del mundo. Porque tuve hambre y me disteis de comer, tuve sed y me
disteis de beber, fui forastero y me hospedasteis, estuve desnudo y me
vestisteis, enfermo y me visitasteis, en la cárcel y vinisteis a verme» (25,
34-36). Los justos contestarán: ¿cuándo hemos hecho todo esto? Y Él responderá:
«En verdad os digo que cada vez que lo hicisteis con uno de estos, mis hermanos
más pequeños, conmigo lo hicisteis» (Mt 25, 40).
La salvación no comienza
con la confesión de la realeza de Cristo, sino con la imitación de sus obras de
misericordia a través de las cuales Él realizó el reino. Quien las realiza
demuestra haber acogido la realeza de Jesús, porque hizo espacio en su corazón
a la caridad de Dios. Al atardecer de la vida seremos juzgados en el amor, en
la proximidad y en la ternura hacia los hermanos. De esto dependerá nuestro
ingreso o no en el reino de Dios, nuestra ubicación en una o en otra parte.
Jesús, con su victoria, nos abrió su reino, pero está en cada uno de nosotros
la decisión de entrar en él, ya a partir de esta vida —el reino comienza ahora—
haciéndonos concretamente próximo al hermano que pide pan, vestido, acogida,
solidaridad, catequesis. Y si amaremos de verdad a ese hermano o a esa hermana,
seremos impulsados a compartir con él o con ella lo más valioso que tenemos, es
decir, a Jesús y su Evangelio.
Hoy la Iglesia nos presenta
como modelos a los nuevos santos que, precisamente mediante las obras de una
generosa entrega a Dios y a los hermanos, sirvieron, cada uno en el propio
ámbito, al reino de Dios y se convirtieron en sus herederos. Cada uno de ellos
respondió con extraordinaria creatividad al mandamiento del amor a Dios y al
prójimo. Se dedicaron sin reservas al servicio de los últimos, asistiendo a los
indigentes, enfermos, ancianos y peregrinos. Su predilección por los pequeños y
los pobres era el reflejo y la medida del amor incondicional a Dios. En efecto,
buscaron y descubrieron la caridad en la relación fuerte y personal con Dios,
de la que brota el verdadero amor por el prójimo. Por ello, en la hora del
juicio, escucharon esta dulce invitación: «Venid, benditos de mi Padre; heredad
el reino preparado para vosotros desde la creación del mundo» (Mt 25, 34).
Con el rito de
canonización, hemos confesado una vez más el misterio del reino de Dios y
honrado a Cristo Rey, pastor lleno de amor por su rebaño. Que los nuevos santos,
con su ejemplo y su intercesión, hagan crecer en nosotros la alegría de caminar
por la senda del Evangelio, la decisión de asumirlo como la brújula de nuestra
vida. Sigamos sus huellas, imitemos su fe y su caridad, para que también
nuestra esperanza se revista de inmortalidad. No nos dejemos distraer por otros
intereses terrenos y pasajeros. Y que la Madre, María, reina de todos los
santos, nos guíe en el camino hacia el reino de los cielos.
«Quienes estamos llamados
en la Iglesia a ser pastores, no podemos distanciarnos» del modelo indicado por
Jesús «si no queremos convertirnos en mercenarios»: lo recordó el Papa
Francisco en la plaza de San Pedro el domingo 23 de noviembre, por la mañana,
solemnidad de Cristo Rey, durante la misa celebrada para la canonización de
Juan Antonio Farina, Kuriakose Elías Chavara de la Sagrada Familia, Ludovico de
Casoria, Nicolás de Longobardi, Eufrasia Eluvathingal del Sagrado Corazón y
Amado Ronconi. «Su predilección por los pequeños y los pobres —dijo el
Pontífice en la homilía— era el reflejo y la medida del amor incondicional a
Dios».
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Voir aussi : https://www.napolipost.com/san-ludovico-da-casoria-il-corpo-a-santa-chiara/
