The Holy Father's tender affection for 'la mia Manuela' has been a very touching demonstration of his warm humanity, shown yet again in this very personal eulogy that he sent his secretary to deliver at her funeral Mass yesterday afternoon in San Piero in Bagno. Here is a translation:
The Pope's eulogy for Manuela
Translated from
Nov. 30, 2010
Left, the Holy Father at the wake for Manuela on Friday at the Vatican church of Santo Stefano degli Abissini; right, a photograph from Avvenire of yesterday's funeral Mass. Below, Mons. Gaenswein reads the Pope's eulogy. Photos from Romagna Noi, thanks to Beatrice who found the site through a friend.
Dear brothers and sisters,
I would gladly have presided at the final rites of our dear Manuela Camagni, but, as you can imagine, it is not possible for me. Nonetheless, communion in Christ allows us Christians a real spiritual closeness, in which we share prayers and affection for her soul.
In this profound bond, I greet you all, especially the family of Manuela, the diocesan bishop, the priests, the Memores Domini, and her friends.
I wish to offer here very briefly my own testimonial about our sister, who has left us for heaven. Many of us have known Manuela for a long time. I have been able to benefit from her presence and her service in the pontifical apartment these last five years, in a familial dimension.
For this, I wish to thank the Lord for the gift of Manuela's life, for her faith, for her generous response to vocation. Divine Providence led her to discreet but valuable service in the Pope's home.
She was happy for this, and participated joyfully in our family moments: at the Holy Mass in the morning, at Vespers, at the meals we had in common, and the many different occasions we celebrated within the family.
This separation from her, which is so unexpected, and even the way she was taken from us, has given us great sorrow that only faith can comfort. I find much support in thinking of the words that constitute the name of her community: Memores Domine.
Meditating on these words and their meaning, I find a sense of peace because they remind us of a profound relationship that is stronger than death.
Memores Domini means "those who remember the Lord", therefore, persons who live in remembrance of God and Jesus, and in this daily remembrance, full of faith and love, they find the sense of every thing, of small acts as well as major decisions, of work, of study, of brotherhood.
Remembrance of the Lord fills the heart with a profound joy, as an ancient hymn of the Church says: "Jesu dulcis memoria, dans vera cordis gaudia" [Jesus, sweet memory, who gives true joy to the heart).
And that is why it gives me peace to think that Manuela was a Memores Domini, a person who lived in the remembrance of the Lord. This relationship with him is more profound than the abyss of death. It is a bond that nothing and no one can break, as St. Paul says: "(Nothing) will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 8,39).
Yes, if we remember the Lord, it is because He first remembers us. We are memores Domini because he is Memor nostri, he remembers us with the love of a parent, a brother, a friend, even at the moment of death.
Although at times it may seem that he is absent, that he has forgotten us, in fact we are always present in him - we are in his heart. Wherever we may fall, we fall into his hands. And precisely there, where no one can accompany us, God awaits us - our Life.
Dear brothers and sisters, in this faith that is full of hope, which is the faith of Mary at the foot of the Cross, I celebrated a Holy Mass for Manuela on the morning of her death. Even as I accompany with prayer the Christian rite of her burial, I impart my blessing affectionately to her family, her sisters in the community, and to all of you.
I owe Benevolens at the PRF for the photo on the left, which she shot in Castel Gandolfo last Assumption Day. The other photo is from Romagna Noi.
'Mietek' came from the Ukraine
to concelebrate the funeral Mass
by Francesco Zanotti
Translated from
Nov. 30, 2010
Another proof of the special bond that unites the papal family is that Archbishop 'Mietek' came from the Ukraine to concelebrate Manuela's funeral Mass, as the Avvenire correspondent recounts in his report. He fails to mention that 'Mietek' was a part of that household until the Pope named him coadjutor archbishop of Lviv, since when he has become the Archbishop himself. I will omit the first part of the Avvenire report which quotes from the Pope's eulogy:
FORLI-CESENA - ...After Mons. Gaenswein read the Pope's words, Mons. Antonio Lanfranchi, Archbishop of Modena- Nonantola and apostolic administrator of the diocese of Cesena-Sarsina, recalled Manuela's biography.
Mons. Lanfranchi presided at the Eucharistic celebration with three concelebrants: Lino Garavaglia, emeritus Bishop of Cesena-Sarcina; Mieczyslaw Mokrzycki, Archbishop of Lviv of the Latins in the Ukraine; and Archbishop Luciano Suriani, Pontifical Delegate.
Also present, besides Manuela's three Memores Domini sisters in the papal household (Cristina, Loredana and Carmela), were 30 priests led by the parish priest Don Rudy Tonelli, and don Julian Carron, president of Comunione e Liberazione, of which Memores Domini is the lay arm for men and women.
Carron, in his eulogy, also cited St. Paul from the Letter to the Romans, who said "no one lives for himself nor dies for himself." He said St. Paul helps us to find a meaning in every death.
"She radiated life," he said of Manuela, "and this is the memory we will keep of her. It was her image of her vocation. If we live for the Lord, he brings us a joy that surpasses our imagination, and this we saw in Manuela".
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/11/2010 23:43]