2015-11-11 14:45:00

Rome’s English-speaking communities commemorate the fallen of War


(Vatican Radio) On Sunday 8 November, the traditional English-language Mass of Remembrance was offered at the Basilica of San Silvestro in Capite, in the presence of H.E. Nigel Baker, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Holy See, together with representatives from other Anglophone countries.

The Principal Celebrant of this year’s Liturgy, Father Mark Harold, Vice Rector of the Venerable English College, preached about the forgotten sacrifice of many who had died during the liberation of Italy during the Second World War. Often eclipsed in public memory by the D-Day Landings, which occurred two days after the liberation of Rome, he recalled how many tens of thousands of Allied troops, and Italian civilians, had perished during the Campaign.

Listen to Phil Andrews' report: 

Memorably, he related how, when as a student at the English College some twenty-five years earlier, he had visited Anzio and Nettuno, and had spoken to senior citizens who had been children during those turbulent times in the 1940s. They had taken him to various graves in the British and Commonwealth War Cemetery, and related stories concerning many of those who lay in those graves.

Despite the intervening years, these venerable Italians recalled fondly the British soldiers who had played football with them in the main piazza, and who had then gone on to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to ensure those Italian children could grow old in a free Italy.

He invited the assembled congregation to be mindful of the importance of how we live, as being the key to how we are remembered. Recalling the poor widow in that Sunday’s Gospel (Mk 12:38-44), he explained how it is often those with little, but who give their all, who contribute to a rich and memorable harvest.

He paralleled this with the service which should flow generously from the Church, because of the generosity of its members. In the words of St Ignatius of Loyola, Christians should be recognized as being those who give, but do not count the cost; fight, but do not to heed the wounds; toil, but do not to seek for rest; labour, but do not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that they do God’s will.

On Wednesday 11 November, Remembrance Day in Great Britain and the Commonwealth, and Veterans’ Day in the United States, the ending of the First World War was celebrated at Rome’s War Cemetery with an Interfaith Service. The Service was led by representatives from Rome’s Christian denominations, as well as representatives from other faiths. At 11am, two minutes’ silence was kept, and wreathes were laid at the Cenotaph by ambassadors accredited to the Republic of Italy.

In September this year, Pope Francis visited the War Memorial of  'Redipuglia', also known as the Memorial of the 100,000, together with the Austro-Hungarian cemetery in Fogliano. Whilst there, he celebrated Holy Mass for the fallen of all wars, past and present, and spoke of how senseless the slaughter of the First World War had been.








All the contents on this site are copyrighted ©.