An Account of Fr. Stefano Manelli's visit to Russia in 1999 Four young missionaries It is beautiful to see these four young missionaries departing for Russia. Two friars and two sisters. It is beautiful to look and admire their youthful impulse to give themselves completely to something so great as a Mission in an unknown and tormented land. It is beautiful to contemplate, one could say, the missionary vocation on their serene faces and in their vivacious eyes, in their faithful and generous attitude in the face of an event of grace that is unwinding only under the sign of faith, of hope and of charity, entrusted completely to the Heart of the Divine Mother. They are only four and yet constitute a small sample of the three continents: the continent of Asia (Sister Maria Lilia and Friar Joseph), the continent of America (Friar Ginepro) and the continent of Europe (Sister Maria Paola). One friar and one sister are from the Philippine Islands, one friar is from Brazil and one sister is from Italy. Also this is a marvel that astonishes and makes one reflect. The Immaculate has taken them and is bringing them to the Mission in Russia. The Heavenly Weaver is always in action, drawing the strings from on high, arranging these meetings of grace, without us being able to understand absolutely anything about how they happen, in a manner so simple and at the same time inexplicable. With the other missionaries who already went some time ago to Russia "as the vanguard", these four missionaries will form the first two communities of friars and sisters in Russia. The Marian House "Madonna of Fatima" is made up of three friars (Father Carmelo, Friar Joseph and Friar Ginepro). The Marian House "The Immaculate Heart" is made up of four sisters (Sister Maria Chiara, Sister Maria Benedetta, Sister Maria Paola and Sister Maria Lilia). They are two missionary communities marked by the special presence of grace of Our Lady of Fatima to whom is dedicated also the little Parish that has been entrusted to them by the bishop of Samara.
We fly and pray
On the flight there is almost an air of festivity amongst us. An atmosphere of grace. There is gratitude for the fact that we managed to carry, by hand, 150 kg. Knowledge of a great thing that the Immaculate is operating and will operate with this adventure that is not resting on any human foundation: it is only stuff of.. ."fools for Christ", as Saint Paul said, and "fools of the Immaculate", as Saint Maximilian said. And the thought comes to mind that this aeroplane is like the Womb of the Immaculate, that carries its children from one place to another, from one continent to another to reach as quickly as possible the work to be carried out, carrying forward the Mission to "conquer the whole world for the Reign of Christ". Thank you oh Immaculate! With the first movement of the plane we recite the Angelus (it is 13.30) and this is followed by the recitation of the first crown of the Holy Rosary. We then continue with afternoon prayer. This is followed by lunch "alla Russa" and then we try to rest for a while. After, we recite together Vespers and then begin another crown of the Holy Rosary. Every so often one looks out of the window at the wonders of creation that never cease to amaze and move, and remind one of the sublime words of the Psalmist poet: "You stretch out the heavens like a tent. ... You make your chariot from the clouds, you walk on the wings of the wind... You make the winds your messengers..." (Ps. 103) God "makes the snowfall like wool, He scatters hoarfrost like ashes. He casts forth ice like morsels; who can stand before His cold? (Ps. 147): and all of that is truly of value for White Russia... After about three hours 'the descent to Moscow begins. With the time difference, we find that it is two hours ahead of the time in Italy. Here it is already evening, but there is still enough light. The dark arrives towards 9 p.m. The temperature is somewhat mild and it is about 20 degrees. The sky is tranquil. The plane lands perfectly. I heard it said that the Russian pilots are very good because the Russian planes, on the contrary, are "ramshackles". At the airport we meet Sister Maria Chiara who immediately comes to help us transfer the baggage into a van that will take us to the residence of the Family of Maria Co-redemptrix. Sister Maria Chiara is amiable and joyful in helping us, and with a great loquacity explains many things to us about Moscow during the journey through the city.
Here we are at Moscow!
To Say Moscow means to say Russia with its millennial history, with its trials and sufferings, with its triumphs and disasters. Today Moscow is a metropolis of about 15 million inhabitants with its suburbs. It is one of the biggest capitals in the world. But it has been for a long time in a critical situation, both political and economical, that can make one fear also tragic things for Russia, if not for the whole world.On landing at Moscow - having completed the third Crown of the Rosary -, and during the journey through the city, many memories crowd confusedly in my mind like waves and squalls. And thus I think of the stupendous Icon of the Mother of God, of which Russia is the motherland, I think of the "Triumph of the Immaculate Heart" to come; I think of the most famous Russian Saints: Saint George (Patron Saint of Moscow), Saint Seraphin, Saint Nicholas, Saint Serge, I think of the great Russian authors: Gogol, Turgheniev, Dostoieskij, Tolstoi, Cechov, Puskin, I think of the great musicians, Schiostakovic, Korosak; I think of the great Orthodox theologians: Cabasilas, Palamas, Florwski, Bulgakov, Evdokimov, I think of the great Catholic Philosophers: Soloviev, Bediaev... It is a cascade of luminous memories that crowd in my memory, filling it with the beautiful and rich things of this earth and of this people that in a thousand years of Christianity, has written stupendous chapters of holiness and poetry, of theology and philosophy, of literature and of music. And this is the best part, the most precious and immortal patrimony that, from the time of St. Vladimir, that is from the time of that Russian prince that was converted in 988, makes Russia great, opening the doors and initiating the way of Christianity in Russia.
Sequences of the trials and oppressions
Europe of the East is the field of Russian dominion that extends also throughout all of Siberia, that immense and mysterious expanse of almost perennial snow, which alone is vaster than the rest of Europe. Geographically, Russia extends from the borders of Western Europe to the borders of Asia. It is like a giant placed between the immensity of the Asiatic continent on the one part, and the power of Western Europe on the other. In effect, Russia was, historically speaking, the extreme defence of Europe against the gangs of nomads that poured out from Asia, but it was also, politically speaking, the antagonist of the formation of the states of Western Europe that borders it. The sequence of wars and struggles that the Russians have had to endure and support in order to be able to build up a unique and independent people, overcoming battles and guerilla warfare from within and sustaining terrible wars with the outside world, is incredible. The last two great adversaries that tried to mortally strike Russia were Napoleon and Hitler. Both failed, though, with the loss of entire armies, with thany dead and incalculable ruin. The Russian winter is the most powerful armour, invincible against whoever tries to invade and submit Russia, that in its time though, has struck and submitted with violence the many neighbouring countries of Eastern Europe: Ukraine, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia ..., for a long time enclosed in that "iron curtain" that constitutes also the glorious "Silent Church" for about half of the 20th Century.
"Red Square"...
A rapid visit to the Kremlin with its famous Red Square, with the monasteries and churches with large and small domes of gold, with the wonder of the basilica-monastery of Saint Basil, with the horror of the mausoleum of Lenin (though now the way is free for its demolition). To the alluring beauty of the basilicas, churches and monasteries, that appear as fountains of light and are a recall to the heavenly things, is compared the unhappy story of 70 years of atheistic communism - from 1917 to 1987 -, that has darkened the faith and destroyed the Christian morals with the wickedness and power of satan. The memory of the horror experienced in his time written in the volume of Solgenitsin, L'Arcipelago Gulag, returned to my mind during the few minutes spent at the Kremlin, that one could say, has been the infernal centre of the terrorism carried out by Lenin and Stalin, who (together with Hitler) are perhaps the greatest of criminals and the most diabolical assassins from the beginning of humanity And it is significant, for example, that in his writings, Stalin also signed his name using the pseudonym of Demonoshvili and Besoshvili, which mean the rival of the devil and the demoniac, respectively' (and Blessed Padre Pio of Pietrelcina said that compared to Stalin and Hitler, Nero was a simple "little sinner"). More than 60,000 Orthodox churches were destroyed or closed to worship. More than 1000 monasteries present in Russia until 1917 were anihilated. Hundreds of Bishops were killed. Tens of thousands of priests and religious were killed. Millions and millions of the faithful were killed or interred in the Gulag. The Catholic Church was then officially declared to have "disappeared", and was constrained to live the most risky and clandestine experience of the catacombs. Now, it is true, in Russia one can breath an atmosphere which is very different, but it is impossible to deceive oneself and believe that it can easily and quickly pass from seventy years of the crushing of atheistic man, reduced to only animal material (what noble philosophy communism ' ), to a new status of liberty of the man-person and son of God. "Communism - wrote Solgenitsin - is far from being dead in the territories of the ex URSS... The roots of communism remain impressed in the consciences and in the every day lives of the people" (Obs. Rom: 16.IX.93 p.2). Immaculate Heart of Mary, intercede and provide!
Charity in action
There are six of us, three friars and three sisters and we find here, in Moscow, the charity in action of the Family of Maria Co-redemptrix that welcomes us and gives us hospitality for one night and one day, before we take the other flight to the Town of Samara, in order to reach the Town of Togliatti where our two religious communities reside. It is a charity both precious and exquisite which is offered to us. Sister Rita, the sister in charge, and Father Rodolfo - who we already knew and met several times in Rome - have put at our disposal two of their apartthents and have also offered us the food for the meals prepared by our sisters. The Immaculate prepares everything quietly, maternally, providing nourishment and accommodation here in Moscow, where the doors of every house seem like the armoured doors of a bunker of a concentration camp. Is there anything which the Madonna does not know how to do! I seem to be dreaming. The brief meeting with Father Rodolfo was interesting and we come to know from him that 40% of the Russian people are alcoholics (out of desperation!), that the relations with the Orthodox priests are very difficult, also if externally the "appearances" are preserved, that the Orthodox seminaries have many vocations of which a good many, though, are only arrangements "to live"; that the attendance at the Festal Mass of the Catholics drops very much during summer, nearly all the people going to work in their "dacia" (a piece of land used as an orchard), that the attendance at the Sunday Mass by the Orthodox is always very low, because they do not have the festal precept; that our presence in Russia must above all be especially a "presence of prayer". In the Town of "Togliatti" The name of "Togliatti" is ugly and it invokes a character of a clear Stalinist mould of the times of the most bloody Arcipelago Gulag, the supreme shame and horror of humanity (together with the German concentration camps amongst which we remember Auschwitz, the camp where Saint Maximilian M. Kolbe was martyred.There is one hope to be cultivated immediately, and that is to exchange the name of "Togliatti" with the blessed name of a famous Russian saint - Saint Seraphin of Sarov - so that it will no longer be called the town of "Togliatti" but the town of "Saint Seraphin" (just as there is the town of "Saint Petersburg"). "Togliatti" is a town of 800,000 inhabitants, near to the great and majestic River Volga. It is a town which is geometrically a square with large streets, almost all with trees, and with great blocks of flats which remind me of dull and uniform little boxes, with standard apartments (three rooms, with a bathroom the same size as ... the one on the aeroplane). On entering these blocks of flats of 10 floors, almost always there is a characteristic that strikes one with violence, that is the sickening stench (which turns the stomach, says Father Carmelo) that assails you and almost suffocates you throughout the whole of the stairwell. Whatever could it be? Unfortunately this is a characteristic of the degrading situation in which the great mass of the Russian families live: there is the dirtiness that seems to reign supreme in all the houses, in the bathrooms, in the bus and also in the famous Red Square where one would think to find, due to the fame of the historical Red Square, a certain good maintenance of the public bathrooms. Instead one finds a public latrine that emanates the most sickening fetidness, even from a distance of many metres. It is impossible to draw near and to enter without ... fainting at once! That poverty signifies dirtiness is not at all true. Dirtiness is always the most elementary sign of incivility.
Our Two Communities
A town of 800,000 inhabitants without a church, without a priest, without a religious, without the least sacred sign: this is the town of "Togliatti" thought of, wanted and constructed only to think of this reality. And yet the 800,000 inhabitants have lived and are living in this entirely atheistic reality of a city structured only for the men-animals. Poor humanity reduced to the level of "beasts". After 70 years of communism there are finally in this town two Orthodox priests and today there are also the two communities of our religious of Franciscans of the Immaculate (four sisters and three friars). The Orthodox priests are married and have families: that means that they can only dedicate to the church a limited amount of time. The Orthodox priests already have a chapel and are also constructing a Church with accommodation for the priests. In reality, what are two priests with families for 800,000 inhabitants? How can only two sacred places for a Town so large be enough? Here a hundred full time priests and a hundred churches for 8000 souls each, would be necessary. But where are they? Who thinks of this? Our two communities have only a small prefabricated chapel of 12 x 7 metres, donated by Germany to Bishop Pickel, who is also German. This little chapel is also a Parish dedicated to the Madonna of Fatima, with only several hundred Catholics, almost all of a Polish and German origin. The Chapel is externally very charming with its dark blue colouring and white borders, placed on a rectangle of a completely green field. It could seem to be the little house of a ... fairy. But the thing which is very beautiful and consoling is that this Chapel-Parish is dedicated to the Madonna of Fatima. How can it not increase the most beautiful hopes under the protection of the Madonna of Fatima? How can we not all be clasped by Her in the wait for the Triumph of Her Immaculate Heart which by now is near? The Houses in which our two religious communities live are fairly distant from each other and are two rented apartments within two blocks of flats-"boxes". The first battle that the friars and sisters have had to face is that of the dirtiness. The second battle is that of lack of space and trying to obtain little rooms of solitude for the friars and sisters. Notwithstanding the good will and spirit of sacrifice, there remains, however, the difficulty of being unable to give hospitality to other~friars or sisters and to welcome young people for vocational experiences. It will be necessary to make room and adapt oneself as best as possible. The Immaculate will provide.
Poverty and joy together
Friars and sisters live in the most restricted poverty with privation upon privation. The things here cost less than in Western Europe, it is true, but here there is not the dollar or the German mark to acquire the things. The Friars and sisters have only the Providence of vegetable and fruit that are more easily given to them. Meat and fish are eaten only every so often and days are not lacking in which one feels the hunger...We can rejoice for this with Saint Francis of Assisi who exulted in the face of a little piece of bread and water eaten with the hands. This is the poverty that has given to us the heavenly riches of Franciscanism with the company of Saints who have benefited humanity incalculably, as Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe and Blessed Pio of Pietrelcina teach us in this last century of the second millennium. In fact, in the two residences of the friars and sisters, are lacking chairs, cutlery, plates, beakers, saucepans and umbrellas ... Yet one manages, and with a pure and sweet joy for the taste of the things that are lacking ... This is the taste of the true poor! It is pouring with rain one day. There is no umbrella under which to take shelter. A sister goes to get at least one umbrella with thirty rubli collected as far as possible from the friars and sisters. But the umbrella does not cost 30 rubli but 300 rubli ... The sister returned without the umbrella and completely soaked by the rain but with a very cheerful face she told us that 30 rubli are not enough to buy anything The joy of poverty is Franciscan joy; ours is the truest joy seasoned by supernatural grace that can only be relished by one who wants to live the evangelical poverty of earthly things in order to be rich in virtues and heavenly goods, as the seraphic Father Saint Francis, with all the company of Franciscan Saints of every time and place have taught. Thank you Lord! And thus may it be for all the days of our life of love for You and for all the souls on this earth, particularly in these Franciscan places dedicated to the sweet and dear "Marion-nina" of Fatima.
How can they be saved?...
Thinking of the devastation made by atheistic communism in 70 years of terror, and looking at one city, like Moscow, that has about fifteen million inhabitants, and at a town like this one of Togliatti with its 800,000 inhabitants, for which there do not exist priests or churches, except in a paltry amount. The temptation of discouragement comes into the depths of one's soul: how is it possible to reconstruct the faith of such an immense amount of people, for 70 years made to be atheists and reduced by now to the bone, having neither church nor sacraments, priests or religious? More than anything there is the very intense and hidden (or unhidden) trials on the part of the Orthodox Church with regard to the Catholic Church. One knows that the Orthodox Church can do little, with its married priests with families to care for, and for this the work of evangelisation that Catholic priests and religious, working for the Kingdom of God can do, should be favoured. And instead, the Orthodox Church doesn't want the Catholics to do anything, but, on the contrary, it has managed to obtain that in 1997, the State declare the Catholic Church almost a ... sect, placed therefore under the sword of Damocles, that is, the expulsion from Russia. For this, one reaches the point of being taken in by every type of ecumenism. And in the meantime, there is no help for the millions and millions of Russians in need of re-evangelisation! But the famous opera of Gogol comes into my mind, Dead souls, and looking at the inhabitants of these cities, dominated for 70 years by atheism, I seem to see in them all Dead souls, deprived, that is, of the faith, and of the grace, reduced to animals in trousers and skirts, walking towards the abyss of nothing ... under the dominating rule of satan. Poor humanity! They couldn't be more maltreated than they are. As Padre Pio of Pietrelcina well said: "You could not be born in a more unfortunate epoch!" Who will save them then? Is it possible to respond to this question? ... Yes, it is possible. And the reply is always that which God Himself revealed in the words said to the serpent who deceived our first parents: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your descendants and Hers: She will crush your head" (Gn 3:15). It is always the woman that with Her Son will crush the head of the serpent. Sooner or later. In one way or another. For our part we must only hasten the time of redemption with our generous co-operation with the salvific Mission of the Immaculate Coredemptrix and universal Mediatrix, with our faithful co-operation in prayer and sacrifice, in action and in immolation. The Immaculate is truly the living "Hope" of this earth. I brought with me a little green rosary and it has given me pleasure in using it because green is the colour of hope, and all the "Ave Maria" recited with this green rosary are coloured with hope, entrusting entirely in She who is the hope of the world. I was reminded, by the way of the choral hymn "Ave mundi spes" and I immediately thought that it would really fit like a glove for this Russian mission. For this reason I recommended the sisters to put it in the first place amongst the Marian chorals, together with the choral of the Mediatrix of all graces and that of "0 Immaculate Heart".
Apostolic Projects in Sight
If the Immaculate makes use of Her "docile instruments" to actuate the apostolic projects for the salvation of souls, so much more will She make use of her "absolute property" so that they cooperate with Her Mission of "conquering the whole world for the Reign of Christ". But what can the projects of the Immaculate be in this Russian Mission? Certainly in the first place is the project of a great amount of Prayer. This is sure and absolutely fundamental. Without Prayer nothing is possible: "Without Me you can do nothing"... The other is the second part of the Prayer project and is that of the offering of the daily sacrifices, that is: the sacrificial offering of a perfect community life, of regular observance, of patiently accepting thousands of little and not so little discomforts, difficulties, privations and the distorted things that can always happen. To these two primary projects, then, must follow other projects of logistic organisation of the two communities and the organisation of the most efficacious apostolate in relation to the concrete situation in which one finds oneself and operates. As far as possible, it is necessary to try to gather together the signs or recalls that come from the people of God which necessitate spiritual guidance and encouragement to go forward, the support and points of reference to recuperate and deepen the Faith that must animate the entire life of every Christian. That which is a great worry is the reality of these 800,000 inhabitants of the town of Togliatti to be reached and to whom must arrive the Word of God that illuminates and the divine Grace that regenerates the "dead souls". But how can it be done? In what way or by what means is it possible to reach all, or at least a great many? A reply to these anguished questions came from an unexpected inspiration: here it is really necessary to have a religious Radio, in fact, it is possible to enter into all the houses of the town of Togliatti. And is not the use of the mass-media part of our own charism to bring the Immaculate to everyone and bring everyone to the Immaculate in order to meet and receive the Saviour?... Welcome, therefore, Radio Fatima! Yes, this has been the first inspiration. It is necessary to immediately ask the grace of the Immaculate to begin well and carry forward an apostolic work so important and salutary. Lets hope that insurmountable problems do not arise (as has happened to our friars in Australia). We will try to find the right way, at the opportune time, with the help of the Immaculate. But, in the first place, Russian vocations are necessary. Without these, the project will remain on the paper or only an aspiration. It will be necessary, therefore, to intensify the supplications so that the Russian vocations will come, be they masculine or feminine. The Sanctuary with two convents The most immediate plan to be realised, though, is that of a Church-Sanctuary dedicated to Our Lady of Fatima (that is the title of the Parish) and of the two convents for the two communities of our friars and sisters, to whom has been entrusted the conduction of the Parish. Actually the friars and sisters only have a small prefabricated Parish Chapel, but around this there is ground available and sufficient for a Church and for two convents. Within a year, though, it is necessary to take steps to prepare a design-plan and to begin the work for the building. The two convents would appear to be more necessary in order to free the friars and sisters from the apartments in which they are living, with truly great hardships, be it of the narrowness of the rooms, or be it of the distance from the little church, bearing in mind that for many months here there is snow and the temperature is below zero. But it will be very difficult for us to be granted to provide first for the construction of the two convents. In any case, it will be necessary to make a great effort to initiate the preparation and completion of the design-plan in a short time because the bureaucratic practices in Russia are truly a long torment. The Immaculate will'help us to find the adept persons and the funds necessary to begin and bring to fulfilment this, Her work. Thinking of the life of the friars and sisters in the apartments that have nothing of a real convent (except for the ineffable and loving presence of the Most Holy Sacrament in the Chapel within every convent!), that are apartments with doors which are similar to bunkers, amongst people that look at them with atheistic indifference and who are disinterested in everything that is not of this poor world, thinking of the necessity of a larger Church for the Catholics, that at the moment are little more than a hundred, but that one hopes to recuperate and multiply, the desire comes to me to have immediately at our disposition, within one year, the two convents and the Church... And instead, against one's will, many years will pass, be it because the necessary funds for the work (which altogether will be more than a billion lire) are not ready, or be it because in Russia one can only work three or four months of the year. The rest of the months there is only a temperature of below zero. The Immaculate and Saint Joseph will help us to find the necessary funds to speed things up (it seems that we have been granted only five years in which to construct everything). Their ways are not our ways. To them we want to entrust ourselves, committing ourselves to co-operate, on our part, with all our strength, so that the 800,000 inhabitants of Togliatti may see this little town dedicated to the Madonna of Fatima, placed at the centre, that is at the heart of their town. Books, magazines etc One says that "the Russians read a lot". This affirmation has given pleasure and has caused to spring forth the project of a religious bookshop and, even better, a Russian Marian House Publishers, which would be unique and alone in this city of 800,000 inhabitants who are in need of religious reading, from the most elementary upwards. The idea came of a weekly magazine, like Christian Family of fifty years ago, that is, of a magazine of true Christian formation, for every level, which would be a light and guide in the way of eternal salvation through this poor world "placed under the devil" (1 Jn 5:19). These are ideas that spring forth in the mind, they are plans that want to rise, they are inspirations that qualify the importance and the preciousness of the plan of salvific love for this land of Russia, for this people of great spiritual resources, humiliated and offended by seventy years of infamous and homicidal atheism at the service of satan "the homicide from the beginning" (Jn 8:44). The Marian bookshop could be at the side of the Church, in sight of whoever passes this central zone of the town. The Marian publisher and the Radio Fatima station, could instead be placed in the internal rooms of the convent of the friars and of the sisters, respectively. Also for the Publishers and for the bookshop, Russian vocations are obviously necessary for our friars and sisters. Who would be able to print a magazine in Russian if not one whose mother language was Russian. In the same way, persons fluent in the Russian language would be necessary for the translation of our books into Russian. The most intense prayer and the most attentive care for Russian vocations are of prime importance therefore for the subsistence and development of the Mission, for the apostolic activity and for the evangelisation of these people who need to re-discover and return to the source of Christian life that is the catechesis, listened to by Radio, and read and meditated upon personally, by means of books and magazines of Christian formation. To Saint Clare of Assisi - with an ardent missionary soul -, Saint Agnes of Prague, daughter of the land of Czechoslovakia of the Slavic world, and to Saint Maximilian Mary Kolbe, several times present in Russia, we want'to entrust these apostolic projects by which we hope, in the first place, to obtain numerous and holy Russian vocations. Little sacrificial offerings From all the necessities of every kind in this new Russian Mission, came the spontaneous thought to offer something, to be able to suffer something that will obtain graces and help, blessings and support for these generous and courageous unfledged missionaries. .. . friars and sisters so young that all together their average age just about reaches twenty eight years.. .The occasion for a little sacrificial offering came to me by surprise when the big toe of my right foot became a little gangrenous. The nail of the right toe, in fact, has been defective for some time. It must have received an unperceived knock in the hum-drum of our departure from Rome Airport and had become gangrenous. The pain is not too bad. Worse and more fastidious is the bad smell which emanates from it, disturbing whoever observes it. It does not worry me at all because I already knew that sooner or later the nail would have to be removed. I rejoiced, instead, for the possibility of offering a suffering, be it very small, for this Mission and for these two missionary communities. Another small offering has been that of concelebrating the Holy Mass in Russian, without understanding anything. It is true, we know, that also if we do not understand, all the languages praise the Lord, as it was at Pentecost when the Apostles "Began to speak in other tongues" (At 2:4) announcing to all "the great works of God" (At 2:11). The sacrificial offerings of Mother Maria Francesca and of the friars and sisters who have come with us for the first time will be numerous. The discomforts and disturbances will not be lacking on these occasions, also if more than once Mother Maria Francesca has openly manifested her particular happiness to be on this Mission: why? ... Because it is a true Mission, rich in immolation! May God and His Divine Mother be blessed!
Visit to the Apostolic Nuncio
An interesting and useful visit to the centre of the city of Moscow, where we meet the Apostolic Nuncio. He is a striking man of American origins, tall and slim, of a venerable age, vivacious and courteous. For about one hour we dwell with him in conversation. The Apostolic Nuncio spoke Italian easily and correctly: something which is not easy for the Anglosaxons. The first most charming note was the cheerful and witty remark of the Nuncio who, as soon as he knew that Mother Maria Francesca was the Mother General of the Institute exclaimed: "But was she elected Mother General straight after her First Holy Communion?...". Evidently, the Nuncio was struck by the youthfulness and virginal candour of Mother Maria Francesca. The first conversation was with regard to the "John Paul II" Hospital, constructed in Moscow by Cardinal Angelini and entrusted from the beginning to our friars and sisters who came from Italy. The Apostolic Nuncio was very clear in explaining the situation to us: in reality one does not know what to do with the "John Paul H" Hospital, from the moment when also the Salesians refused every management on their part, for the expenses which the hospital would bear, with the commitment of an activity which would be entirely dependent on charity, in caring for sick children who could not and must not pay anything (perhaps the State would like a work equivalent to the work of the sisters of Mother Teresa for the poor people and for the most desperate cases amongst the adults). The expenses of administration would be about half a billion a year. At the moment, the only possible solution, according to the Apostolic Nuncio, would be to entrust, to offer the hospital to the State, with a clause that would safeguard at least in part the purpose of free assistance for the sick children, according to the charitable project wanted by Cardinal Angelini. But it is only to be seen whether that will be possible in the complicated negotiations that are requested in Russia. Speaking to us about the actual situation in Russia, the Nuncio affirmed that 70 years of atheistic communism have razed to the ground the Christian faith of Russia, and if one says that 50 or 55% of the Orthodox people are proclaimed as still believers, it all seems to be reduced just to Baptism, without any religious practice. It is enough to know, in fact, that for the solemnity of Easter -that is the Feast of feasts for all the Orthodoxy - only 2% of the faithful are present at the religious functions!! On the other Sundays, then, for which there is no obligation for the Orthodox faithful to attend, the total is 0.001...! Yes it is truly - to the ground.
Communist Russia
Struck to death on all fronts by 70 years of atheistic communism, the Apostolic Nuncio explained that politically and economically Russia finds itself in a critical situation which is both very grave and dangerous. In these last seven years, in fact, a great quantity of capital was exported and placed in safety abroad, and in this way impoverishing, to the point of collapse, the finances of Russia (at the moment there is the scandal denounced in the world newspapers about the capital which Yeltsin has deposited in banks in Switzerland and in the United States...). There are three groups that today are contending for political-economic power in Russia: the Nationalists (with Zirinowsky, of the extreme right), the Conservatives of the Tsarist mould, and the Democrats for Europe (the Europeans). The Orthodox Church is joined to the first two groups. Both of these groups are hostile to Europe (and therefore to the West). The second group is composed of a fanciful type that would like to reconstruct Great Russia, the "Holy Russia" of the Tsars (thus, particularly Solgenitsin), with a government of the monarchial mould. The third group that tends to Europeanism, is the smallest but is certainly the best out of the three. Atheistic communism, in fact, - continues the Nuncio - from perestrojka onwards, operated by Gorbaciov, who abolished the atheistic State, has little consistency now in Russia and will subsequently continue to decline. But one must not forget that the entire ruling classes of Russia, at the moment, and still for some time to come, are only in the name of ex-communist, whilst concretely speaking, the are all still of the communistic structure, mentality and mould, even if many leaders say that they are not at all communists and strive to be democratic. The ways and reforms are not easy and much less automatic. The transformation of mentality demands a long and laborious time. There remains then, - concludes the Nuncio - the blindness of those who want to continue to be communists to the bitter end, though knowing of the infamous crimes of communism that have horrified the whole world.
Orthodox Russia
With regard to the Orthodox Church, the talk by the Apostolic Nuncio has been marked by the most open charity, but he has also been very clear in his remarks on concrete situations that cause much suffering. In the theological teaching, for example, the Orthodox Church is closed within the antique hostility with regard to the Church and Catholic Theology. Their five theological Faculties (here called "Accademie") teach only the doctrine which they taught one hundred years ago, all in opposition to the Catholic church. That is obviously very grave if one thinks of the dominant mentality of the Orthodox clergy that teach and form the faithful. Instead of allowing themselves to be helped also by Catholics in the work of evangelisation which is so necessary today, they want only to continue to push away and eliminate the Catholics. Is this not blindness? In the direct relations with the Orthodox Church and in the practical initiatives, moreover, for us Catholics (continues the Nuncio) it is preferable that we keep our distance from them (for which, concretely speaking, it is better to work far away, especially from Moscow, where one is under their eyes .at every step). With the law of 1997, that the Orthodox made the State approve, we Catholics are almost always to be pursued and expelled, because we are put almost on a par with the real sects... The Apostolic Nuncio then referred to a very sad fact: Pope John Paul II has written and asked the Patriarch of Moscow if he could come to Russia for the Jubilee of the year 2000, proposing to him that he would canonise together several saints common to both the Catholics and the Orthodoxy. No reply! Clearly, in this way neither ecumenism nor ... good manners, are saved. "But we must continue to exercise charity towards the Orthodoxy ... concluded the Nuncio, - trusting that slowly the things would dissolve". Reflecting on the news of the Nuncio, the explanation came into my mind that Padre Pio of Pietrelcina gave one time to someone who asked why atheistic communism was able to take root and place its supreme command in Christian Russia, instead of in another of the numerous pagan countries. Blessed Pio replied explaining that the orthodox Church, in its opposition to Rome and to the Catholic Church, is placed amongst those who refuse the known Truth, and this is the sin against the Holy Spirit that keeps in the darkness Russia, or elsewhere. Lord have mercy on us, and still more on our separated brothers!
Siberia in Sight?...
At a certain point during the conversation, the Nuncio asked what recognition we had by the Church, and when he heard that we are already of pontifical right, he asked how many members we were. On replying that we are almost 300 friars and 200 sisters he exclaimed with a strong and joyful surprise saying: "But then there must be more of you in Russia... there's the whole of Siberia, the immense Siberia, bigger than Europe, that awaits you". It is in Siberia that there is the greatest number of Catholics to care for. They are especially Catholics of a Polish and German origin. A bishop of Siberia has 20,000,000 inhabitants disseminated in a boundless territory and only 27 priests! In Siberia the needs are without measure and necessitate many missionaries, and especially young missionaries who are in good health, because in that land one passes from one frozen season of -60 degrees, to another very hot season of +40 degrees! Other news briefly given by the Nuncio are these: there is the transiberian railroad that goes from Moscow to Pechino in China where it does not seem to be impossible to enter (and the Nuncio has invited us to take this journey of two weeks by train...); in Siberia there are the notorious "Gulag" or concentration camps for forced labour, where millions and millions of people have died, victims of ferocity, with many martyrs of the faith which they never denied; it is so cold there at -60 degrees that if one goes out without covering their face, soon it will become frozen and . . . the nose will become detached, and to be able to travel by car it is necessary first of all to keep the motor running for several hours. Siberia is a world unto itself, rich with primary materials, much more than of human life, because of the enormous extension that it has. But there also, there are the souls of those inhabitants to save and to assist with esangelisation and the sacraments. Jesus said "Go to the ends of the earth"(Mc 16:15). And Siberia truly seems to represent the "the ends of the earth" or be it, perhaps, the extreme borders of life.
"The Academy" for the ... Icons?
2nd September 1999: last day of our stay in Russia. This evening we catch the plane for our return journey to Italy. Early in the morning we arrive in Moscow and the temperature is 3 degrees below zero - severely cold. It is a splendid day with a stupendous blue sky and with air that warms one up, hour after hour. To see again the city of Moscow on a beautiful sunny day is an extra joy that I take with me amongst my beautiful memories of the opening of this Mission in Russia with the two communities of our friars and sisters. Especially the ancient city of Moscow, with its historical centre, is truly impressive. Glimpses of sights most beautiful are offered by the houses and the churches, the palaces and the monasteries, the roads and the tree-lined squares, the river with its bridges that cross the heart of the city. Then, the entire area of the Kremlin, with its numerous and luminous domes in gold (like "onions") on the basilicas and monasteries, draw one's attention and offer a view of beautiful and original things that perhaps it would not be easy to find in any other city. To see such beautiful things, the prayer that rises spontaneously from the heart is that this city will once again become a city of faith, a completely Christian and Marian city, the capital of Holy Russia, rich with thousands and thousands of Marian icons, a sign of grace and blessings, that adorn and make precious in a unique way. In this regard, reflecting on the project of the "John Paul II" hospital, that seems to be almost impossible to manage by us, foreigners, I thought to myself, passing through the streets of Moscow, almost ... dreaming: instead of leaving it unused, why don't we transform that prefabricated building which is almost ready, into an "Academy" or into a "Cultural and Spiritual Centre" for studies and for the care of the Marian Icons? Who knows... In time and when there are vocations, a similar "Academy" could become a centre of great interest and of great importance for the research and the study of the icons, for the world iconography, and for the sacred art that fascinates more than anything. If the Immaculate wants to realise also this dream, like many others, She knows very well how to find the ways which are unknown to us, but which She already knows in the vision of God.
"Come let us adore Him"
And this potential dream accompanies us on our flight back to Italy. In reality, the unique and great hope of the conversion of Russia is connected to those roots that we can call the "Marian Icons". One cannot deny, it is true, that 70 years of atheistic communism have tried to destroy and bury them in order to cancel them, but certainty never leaves us that, though buried, the Marian Icons will come back to life and will again germinate the Faith of the Fathers of the Russian people in vitality and a continuance of grace, and will renew the lives of the glorious Saints of "Holy Russia". Did not Berdiaev, adopting a somewhat paradoxical expression, say that "Russia is more Marian than Christian"? And another studious Russian, Massimo Gorkij, ideologist of atheistic communism, in his work "The Mother" (that is Russia), affirms that "the invincible enemy" in Russia is the "Madonna", the Divine Mother, She that holds the key to the heart of the Russian people, especially of the heart of th'e women. This is the great and consoling truth that one cannot change and that will never change. The Immaculate is the Divine Mother; the Immaculate is the Universal Mother; the Immaculate is also the "Invincible Warrior" who, with Her Son, will crush the head of the monster of atheism, that is satan, the "antiGod" eternally damned with his followers, with his descendants made up of demons and of men without God. In its long and tormented history, the Russian people has always known how to re-find its religious vitality in the veneration of the Marian Icons, having recourse to the Divine Mother with Her Son in Her arms. Of these Icons, Pope John PaW II, also in his Marian Encyclical Redemptoris Mater, has been able to write: "They are sacred images attesting to the faith and the spirit of prayer of the good people, which feel the presence and the protection of the Mother of God" (no. 33). Magnificent, by the way, is particularly the icon of the "Theotokos", one of the most famous icons, that represents Baby Jesus held in the arms of the Madonna to Her left, upon Her heart: the heart of the Immaculate is the true throne of Jesus! And the Mother, in such a way, is at the right of Jesus, according to the psalmist: "The Queen is on my right, dressed in gold" (psalm 44:10). With Her right hand the Madonna points to Jesus, almost as if to invite and say to everyone: "Come to adore Him!". This, in fact, is the way for Russia: to go to Jesus the Saviour who is in the arms of His Mother upon His throne which is the Heart of the Immaculate. And thus may it be, as soon as possible, with the "Triumph of the Immaculate Heart of Mary!"
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