Don Pino Puglisi
Don Pino Puglisi
is a righteous man because...
A man of the church who, with the courage of faith, has given young people hope and a future outside the illegal mafia creed. Beatified by Pope Francis on May 25, 2013
Pino Puglisi was born on September 15, 1937 in Palermo in the Brancaccio district. At the age of sixteen he entered the seminary and in 1960 he became a priest.
In 1963 Pino Puglisi became chaplain of the orphanage in Palermo where young boys are taken care of.
Pino Puglisi was appointed parish priest of Godrano, between 1970 and 1978, with a great work of mediation, he managed to restore peace among the population, and to put an end to the many mafia wars for the control of the territory.
In 1978 Pino Puglisi returned to Palermo and held numerous positions in the Palermo curia until 1990; he was in fact appointed Vice Rector of the minor seminary and subsequently Director of the Diocesan Center for Vocations. In those same years, Father Puglisi devoted himself to teaching at various schools in Palermo, teaching Mathematics first and then Religion.
Don Pino returned to the Brancaccio district, where he was born and raised, commanded by the Graviano brothers led by the boss Bagarella. In 1990 he became parish priest of the Church of San Gaetano and was called "U parrinu chi cavusi" - the priest with trousers -, for his habit not to wear the cassock on the streets of the district. With great determination he promoted many initiatives for the children of the neighborhood, providing them with places where to study and play.
Thus the “Our Father Center” was born, a place to welcome young people and remove them from the street and tear them away from crime. Trying to convey the values of brotherhood, Puglisi tries to put out the boys from the mafia to prevent them from drug dealing and is committed not only as a parish priest but also as
citizen, promoting the creation of a health center, the arrangement of sewers and the construction of a school.
Don Pino was a profound innovator of his church, in a path which aimed at openness and freedom. For the first time he decided not to accept donations from individuals for patronal feasts - money from mafia clans -organized meetings to discuss the relationship between the Church and the mafia, rejected men linked to clans as godparents, opened the church to non-baptized people and started saying mass outdoors. During his homilies he did not renounce to denounce the mafia, without forgetting forgiveness because the mafia, as a structure, is never to be condemned since mafia people are to be forgiven.
The mafia did not forgive Father Puglisi and on his birthday, September 15, 1993 Don Pino was killed in front of his front door "I expected it" the words spoken to his killers before the fatal blow to the back of the head.
The principals and perpetrators of the murder were sentenced to life imprisonment. Father Puglisi received the Gold Medal for Civil Value and many streets, squares and schools throughout Sicily are named after him.
Don Pino Puglisi was beatified with a decree granted by Pope Benedict XVI on June 28, 2012 for martyrdom "in odium fidei"; the ceremony was held at the Italic Forum in Palermo on May 25, 2013.
His body was buried in the Cathedral of Palermo and the anniversary of Blessed Puglisi is held on 21 October each year, the day of his baptism. Father Pino Puglisi is the first martyr of the Catholic Church to be killed by the mafia.
These are the words of Pope Francis on the occasion of the beatification ceremony on 25 May 2013: «Don Puglisi was an exemplary priest, especially dedicated to youth ministry. By educating the children according to the Gospel he lived, he rescued them from the underworld and so tried to defeat him by killing him. In reality, however, it is he who has won with the risen Christ.
Classe 4A M.A.T. Polo Statale I.S.S. "P. Mattarella" Castellammare del Golfo TP
TRANSLATION:
Class 4E Liceo Classico "P. Mattarella" Castellammare del Golfo TP
