The Servant of God commemorated at Manoppello on Sunday September 16 -- forty years
after his death, also with the introduction of a book on his life.
By Antonio Bini
"The passage of time, instead of weakening his
memory, shows an ever greater following, even by people who did not know him in
life". A quote from the amazed vice-postulator of the cause of
beatification, Fr. Eugenio Di Gianberardino and the Rector of the Sanctuary, Fr.
Carmine Cucinelli at the end of the event organized in the Sanctuary of the
Holy Face of Manoppello, to remember Father Domenico da Cese (1905-1978), forty
years after his death as a result of a road accident in Turin, where he had
traveled for the exposition of the Shroud.
The celebration of the Mass was preceded by a meeting
attended by many people who came to Manoppello from every part of Italy and
also from abroad to testify to their devotion to Fr. Domenico da Cese, also by
providing written statements. There were even pilgrimages specially organized from
Ruvo di Puglia, Andria and Civitavecchia.
So many came that in the San Damiano hall, adjacent to the basilica, that
the closest devotees linked to the figure of Capuchin from the Italian land of
Marsica could hardly enter.
Introducing the meeting, Fr. Carmine Cucinelli illustrated
the complex process begun in recent months to give a burial in the Basilica of
the Holy Face to the mortal remains of Fr. Domenico da Cese, for whom a special
project was begun, recalling that the issue arose in the days immediately
following the death of his confrere. In fact, from a letter recently found in
the archives of the friary, it emerges that the spiritual assistant of the
Association of the Holy Face of Ruvo di Puglia, Don Vincenzo Amenduni, on
October 30, 1978, expressed warmly, in
the name of a community of faithful larger than the same association, the
desire that the body of the beloved Father Domenico da Cese find its resting
place in the Sanctuary of the Holy Face of Manoppello. In this regard it seems
interesting to grasp the reasons that the priest, on behalf of the associates
and other faithful, supported the request, recalling that "Father Domenico
carried out his religious and priestly activity in the Shrine, remaining
permanently bound to the zeal with which he spread the devotion to the Holy
Face making himself a wise moral and spiritual guide of those who saw in him a
generous father who spared no effort for the formation of many faithful coming
to Manoppello from every part of Italy and Europe ".
These seem to be expressions that represent the
extraordinary relationship between Fr.Domenico and the Holy Face, of which he
was a tenacious and passionate disseminator, in the certainty of its
authenticity, which appears inseparable from him- yesterday as today - even to
those who only recently came to know or study the figure of the friar and the story
of the Holy Face, re-emerged from oblivion and recovering its significance in the
history of Christianity only in recent years.
The same Fr. Carmine himself gave an affectionate thanks to the
nephew and nieces of the Capuchin for having consented to the transfer of the
remains of Fr. Dominic from the private chapel of the cemetery in Cese, with a
joint letter in which they said they were certain that his will was to remain
close to his beloved Holy Face. After the Congregation for the Causes of the
Saints in 2015 recognized the Capuchin as Servant of God, there was placed in
the hall for ex-voto a giant portrait of Fr. Domenico with a copy of the Holy
Face in his hand, alongside a visitors book open to those who arrive at the
Sanctuary, continuing to follow his teaching.
Fr. Eugenio then opened the floor for the exposition of numerous
testimonies of devotees, regarding miracles, or of personal experiences of
extraordinary events, also by people who have come to the knowledge of Fr.
Dominic only in recent years, as for example, a lady from Taranto, who told the
dramatic case of a relative. Several personal and family histories are
different and even unique, even of children who tell the story of their
parents, like the joy at the arrival of the letters from Fr. Domenico,his constant invitation to prayer and the veneration of the Holy Face. The
overcoming of the effects of serious traffic accidents, as told by a lady who
came from France and other very serious pathologies, faced with prayer and with
the perceived closeness of the Servant of God. Others have once again presented
the mysterious relationship between Fr. Domenico and Padre Pio from
Pietrelcina, with stories that surpass any ability to understand according to
the ordinary mechanisms of human reasoning. The intervention of Fr. Eugenio has
often offered calm reflections on the religious level with respect to
individual testimonies.
Among the various religious gathered, the emotional presence
of Fr. Luciano Antonelli and Fr. Pietro De Guglielmo, confreres of the
unforgettable Fr. Domenico in the convent of Manoppello in that distant 1978.
The former (now in L'Aquila) was the superior, while the latter (now in Penne)
was commissioned to go to Turin to assist the dying Fr. Domenico.
Particular affection has been shown by many people towards
Br. Vincenzo d'Elpidio, present at the event, who was a friend of Fr. Dominic
and who for years has been committed to supporting the cause of beatification
of the confrere, which he knew well, the extraordinary charisma, simplicity, total
availability to the humble and suffering and his untiring dedication to the
cause of the Holy Face, which had also brought him to Turin on his last trip,
with the tragic epilogue that he would have foreseen. We heard the old friar
confiding to some people who greeted him familiarly of his desire to attend the
burial of Fr. Domenico in Manoppello before leaving this earth.
Also in attendance at the event was the journalist
Aleksandra Zapotoczny, who collaborated in the process of canonization of John
Paul II and who recently published the book "Live within us", also
published in Italy by Mondadori and containing an interesting review of
testimonies that led to the beatification of the Polish Pope.
On the occasion of the event, the book "Padre Domenico da Cese, Cappuccino, Una Biografia Illustrata" (Father Domenico
da Cese, Capuchin: an Illustrated Biography), presented by Sr. Petra-Maria
Steiner, published in Italian by Vita Communis, Waiblingen (Germany), also with a separate
edition in German.
This is an interesting biography of the Apostle of the Holy
Face, told through a rich series of photographs and documents, largely
unpublished, that the author has been able in recent years to collect and arrange in the friary of Manoppello, and coming also from time spent in other friaries,
including Avezzano, Penne, L'Aquila (where he was also chaplain in the local
hospital), Vasto, Sulmona, Luco dei Marsi, Campli, Caramanico Terme, before his
assignment to the friary of Manoppello, which took place in 1966. For the first time some events are related of the period
in which Fr. Domenico was a military war chaplain in Trieste and then in the
territories of the former Yugoslavia as well as a series of interesting articles
published in the Austrian Catholic magazine "Grüß Gott" whose editor, Ms. Ida Loidl, organized
pilgrimages to San Giovanni Rotondo and Manoppello when Fr. Domenico was alive.
The publication, introduced by the writer Paul Badde, is
destined to open further research perspectives on the life of the friar.
Circumstances that make us reflect on what the Fr. Domenico claimed when he
said he did not want anyone to talk about him, something that could only be
done after his death.
