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The two killers commissioned by the brothers Graviano, the bosses of the Mafia-infested Sicilian town of Brancaccio, never thought they were going to make a saint and martyr of their victim when they shot the parish priest Don Pino Puglisi on September 15, 1993.
Don Puglisi was murdered outside his house on his 56th birthday. It seemed he was not taken by surprise, as he had very often been threatened by the mafiosi.
The Graviano brothers, who dominated his parish, could never digest his pastoral work or his sermons. He even compared the Mafia killers to “beasts”.
His major crime, in their eyes, was that he was taking the children and the young people, an easy prey for the Mafia, away from the streets. He was running an oratorio and sports, education and various other activities for these children, often brainwashed by their own parents into accepting the Mafia mentality.
This priest was to shed his blood for the salvation of his people in the dirty world in which he lived
On May 25, I was among thousands of Palermitani who rallied to the large stadium to see Don Puglisi declared a saint and a martyr. This is a hard blow for the Mafia and the killers of Don Puglisi. Representing Pope Francis was Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, Archbishop Emeritus of Palermo, and Cardinal Paolo Romeo, the present archbishop.
Don Puglisi was declared not only beato, but also a martyr “in odium fidei” (of hatred towards the faith). It was Pope Benedict XVI who on June 28, 2012, decreed his beatification as martyr for the faith. As such, according to Canon Law, no miracles are required, because the shedding of blood for the faith is already a sign of holiness.
Pino Puglisi was born in the working-class quarters of Brancaccio on September 15, 1937. His father was a very modest shoemaker and his mother worked as a dressmaker to make both ends meet. Pino was the third of four male children. He had, therefore, known poverty in the slum area of Brancaccio when he was sent back there in 1991 as its new parish priest.
Don Puglisi, or as his people knew him, Padre Puglisi, arrived among the people with whom he had grown up with a vast pastoral experience behind him in the diocese of Palermo. From the very first day the Mafia bosses saw this as a threat to their criminal business that ranged from drugs to murder.
He had been ordained priest in 1960 by Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini. At about that time I accompanied his friend, Archbishop Michael Gonzi, to Palermo to invite him to Malta for the centenary celebrations of St Paul.
In his ordination cards Don Puglisi wrote: “O Lord, may I become a worthy instrument in Your hands for the salvation of the world.” It seemed quite an ambitious dream for a young priest, but now it seems like a prophecy come true. This priest was to shed his blood for the salvation of his people in the dirty world in which he lived. After his ordination he worked with future priests in the seminary for a few years. In 1970 he became a parish priest in the rural area of Godrano, in the province of Palermo, where he spent eight years.
This area was divided in two because of a local bloody faida between some families. He went on to eradicate the existing hatred between the families through the love of Christ.
This was a great and even risky challenge, but through his goodness, zeal and above all love he won the hearts of his people. This was his testing ground.
Being a very exemplary priest, in 1979 he was entrusted the mission of attracting vocations in the archdiocese. He sowed the seeds of priestly and religious vocations in several youths, so much so that he was appointed a member of the National Centre for Vocations in Rome. He was also spiritual director of the students, of various family groups and confessor for nuns.
It seems all this was in preparation for his future martyrdom. “Wherever he worked,” wrote his friend, the well-known Jesuit Father Bartolome Sorge, “he put into practice listening and from thence his commitment towards the affirmation of the Gospel values, above all to all youths and children, against the influence of the mafioso mentality, an ideology ready to sell the dignity of men for money which eventually decreed his death sentence”.
This does not mean he was a political priest or hot headed, “but a very simple, modest, humble and spiritual pastor. He was like the Good Sheperd ready to give his life for his flock”.
From his talks and writings it transpired that he knew he lived in danger. He had known the Mafia in his area from his childhood and even knew his two killers.
In 1991, speaking in Trent, he uttered these prophetic words: “We are witnesses of hope. Bearing Christian witness runs up against all sorts of difficulties, a witnessing which becomes martyrdom. In fact witness in Greek is “martyrion”.
“The gap between bearing witness and martyrdom is small, in fact this is what enriches it... They should both give faith, if one lives in a hostile society. The hope is in Christ and through a life in Christ.”
Quite aptly, comments Fr Sorge, “This bearing witness, even today after 20 years from his death, through the grace of his beatification, is a great gift to Sicily, his homeland, and a sign for the whole Church.”
To appreciate Don Puglisi’s sacrifice, one has to know about the occult hands of the Mafia. The reality of the Mafia was depicted in the fictional film Brancaccio, in which Beppe Fiorello played the role of Don Pino superbly. Shown on Rai 1, it was seen by an audience of eight million.
Don Puglisi was convinced that the Mafia cannot be vanquished only through the police, who often fail in their fight. The Mafia is a system of power and Don Puglisi was involved in a power struggle with the brothers Graviano. He was beating evil through good, love and honesty, which the mafiosi could not accept.
He became a loving pastor, who went out in the streets and houses to bring home the lost sheep. He was very much the model priest who “even smelled of sheep”, according to Pope Francis.
The Mafia in Italy is a vast economic empire, which dominates the markets and business from Palermo to Milan and even to New York. Don Puglisi fought this ‘occult’ power by providing welfare services, but above all by seeking love, charity and justice.
Fr Sorge wrote: “In fact don Puglisi was not killed by the Graviano brothers because he was a priest, but because the Mafia could not tolerate the love with which a priest was snatching young people from the streets and the malavita of crime.”
When Benedict XVI visited Palermo in 2010 he exhorted everyone to keep the memory of Don Puglisi alive and to “imitate his heroic example”.
The work of Don Puglisi continues daily in his parish of Brancaccio, where I am meeting some families. His oratorio, hostel and home for the needy are all fruit of the blood he shed for the love of his people.
His catch phrase was and still is: “Christ died for us when we were his enemies. His love has no limits. It is the motive of our joy.”
charlesvella@alice.it
Mgr Charles Vella is the founder of the Cana Movement.