Sentenced to 30 years for murder, a Catholic prisoner will profess poverty, chastity and obedience

An Italian prisoner, sentenced to 30 years for murder, will make a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience on Saturday, in the presence of his bishop.

Luigi *, 40, wanted to become a priest as a young man, according to Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian episcopal conference. The children called him "Father Luigi" when he was growing up. But alcohol, drugs and violence have changed the path of his life. In fact, he was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine when, entering into a fist fight, he took a life.

He was sentenced to prison. There, he became a reader for Mass. I start to study. He started praying again. In particular, he prayed "for the salvation of the man I killed," he wrote in a letter.

That letter was to the bishop Massimo Camisasca of Reggio Emilia-Guastalla. The two started a match last year. By now Luigi had approached two priests who served as chaplains in the prison of Reggio Emilia - p. Matteo Mioni and p. Daniele Simonazzi.

Bishop Camisasca told Avvenire that in 2016 he decided to spend time in the prison ministry. “I didn't know much about the reality of the prison, I confess. But since then a path of presence, celebration and sharing has started that has enriched me considerably, "said the bishop.

Through that ministry began his correspondence with Luigi. Speaking of his letters, the bishop said that "a passage that touched me a lot is that in which Luidi says that" life in prison is not lived inside a prison but outside, when the light of Christ is missing " . On June 26, Luigi swears they will not be part of joining a religious order or other organization: instead they are a promise to God to live poverty, chastity and obedience, commonly called evangelical counsels, exactly where he is - in prison .

The idea emerged from his conversation with the prison chaplains.

“Initially he wanted to wait for his release from prison. It was Don Daniele who suggested a different path, which would allow him to make these solemn vows now, "said Camisasca to Avvenire.

“None of us are masters of our future,” said the bishops, “and this is all the more true for a person deprived of his freedom. This is why I wanted Luigi to think first of what these votes mean in his current conditions. "" In the end I convinced myself that in his gesture of donation there is something bright for him, for the other prisoners and for the Church itself, "said the bishop.

Reflecting on his vows, Luigi wrote that chastity will allow him to "mortify what is external, so that what is most important in us can emerge".

Poverty offers him the possibility of being satisfied with the "perfection of Christ, who has become poor" by making poverty itself "pass from misfortune to happiness", he wrote.

Luigi wrote that poverty is also the ability to generously share life with other prisoners like him. Obedience, he said, is obedience is the will to listen, while knowing that "God also speaks through the mouth of the" fools ".

Bishop Camisasca told Avvenire that "with the pandemic [coronavirus] we are all experiencing a period of struggle and sacrifice. Luigi's experience can truly be a collective sign of hope: not to escape difficulties but to face them with strength and conscience. I didn't know the prison, I repeat, and for me the impact was very difficult at the beginning. "

“It seemed to me a world of despair in which the prospect of the resurrection was continually contradicted and denied. This story, like others I have known, shows that it is not so, "said the bishop.

Archbishop Camisasca stressed that the merit of this vocation is "undoubtedly the action of the priests, the extraordinary work of the prison police and all the health personnel".

“On the other hand, there is the mystery that I can't help thinking when I look at the crucifix in my study. It comes from the prison lab, it keeps me from forgetting the prisoners. Their sufferings and hopes are always with me. And they affect each of us, "he concluded