Every year for as long as anyone living can remember, there has been a national day of remembrance. The day of remembrance is 11th November and the time of remembrance is 11:00am.
Remembrance Day was originally called Armistice Day, the first of which was held on Tuesday 11th November 1919, the anniversary of the signing of the armistice which ended WWI Today, the day of remembrance is generally held on the Sunday closest to 11th November.
Poppies are a universal flower of remembrance, depicting the field of poppies which covered the fields in Flanders, a major battlefield in World War I.
So who or what are we called to remember?
Immediately after WWI the act of remembrance focussed on British servicemen and women who had lost their lives in what became known as ‘The Great War’. After the Second world Remembrance was extended to include those lost in that war.
Today, for many, the focus remains on those lost in these two wars but a trip to the National Arboretum demonstrates graphically how may British servicemen and women have died since the end of WWII.
Here are some figures:
880,000 British servicemen died in WWI (2,000 civilians)
Overall (all nations) the estimated death toll was between 22-23,000,000)
383,600 British servicemen and women died in WWII (70,000 civilians)
Overall (all nations) the estimated death toll was between 70-85,000,000, about 6% of the world’s population in 1940.
During 20th and 21st centuries there has been an estimated 187,000,000 deaths as a direct result of wars – this figure is generally thought to be a significant underestimate.
There is surely nobody alive today who remembers the First World War and very few who remember the Second World War. For most of us they are both little more than a part of our history. Remembrance Day can so easily become little more than an annual ritual. It can sanitise war as something glorious whereas all wars are, by definition, failures; failures of national leaders to resolve issues by mean other than trials of strength and sacrifice of proxies (those sent to fight).
The phrase ‘Lest we forget’ should not be limited to remembering the dead but in remembering the insanity that led to their deaths. Wars will never end wars (there have only been a few very short periods without any conflict worldwide since 1945).
Grief is something we are all likely to encounter and experience at some point in our lives. Grieving is natural and normal. It’s not an illness, although it can make you feel ill and it does not last forever. There’s no ‘right’ way to grieve and we each react in our own way as we are unique individuals and our relationships with the deceased are personal to each one of us. There’s no time limit on grief. It varies hugely from person to person. It may depend on the type of relationship we had with the person who died, how close you were and how they died. It could also be affected by previous experiences of loss or grief.
It is possible to experience any range of emotion when we experience loss. We may feel lots of different emotions at the same time, or our feelings may change quickly. At times those emotions can be confusing. It is important to remember that there’s no right or wrong way to feel.
Feelings of grief can also happen because of other types of loss or changes in circumstances. For example:
The end of a relationship
The loss of a job
Moving away to a new location
A decline in the physical or mental health of someone you care about
Distressing world events
People who have experienced loss have described some common feelings after a bereavement. One of these is shock and numbness. When we first hear the news of our loss we might feel like we are in shock. People can feel numb or carry on as if nothing has changed. This is because it can take a long time to process what has happened. Disorientation as though we lost your place in your world can also happen. All of these feelings are normal.
The death of someone close to us is the most devastating experience that will ever happen to us. It can be very painful. People describe it as being cut in two or losing a part of themselves. These feelings can be very frightening and upsetting and feel physically painful. Again this is normal
It’s normal to feel angry when someone dies. Death can seem cruel and unfair. This is particularly true when we feel someone has died too young or if we had plans for the future together. We may find we are angry with the person who died, angry at others, or even angry at ourselves for things that we did or didn’t do while they were alive. Angry is normal and finding ways of expressing this well can help.
Guilt is another common reaction to grief. We might feel directly or indirectly to blame for the person’s death. Or we might feel guilty if we had a difficult relationship with the person who has died. We can find ourselves saying if only statements such as, ‘if I had taken him to the doctors sooner.’ We need to try being kind to ourselves, it’s very unlikely we could have done anything to prevent the death from happening.
Feeling depressed and sad after the death of someone close is normal. It can feel overwhelming. It takes time and space and there are things that can help such as talking to others or speaking to your GP. Don’t struggle alone. We as a church can help as can other organisations. We will provide a list at the end of this article. People sometimes think they can hear or see the person who has died. “Seeing” the person who has died and hearing their voice can happen because our brain is trying to process the death and accept that it’s final. It’s important to know this is normal.
Physical feelings are common after bereavement. The pain of grief can be felt as a real pain. Every part of your health can be affected. It can also reduce your ability to fight off minor infections. Normally, feelings of physical pain will ease with time. But try to get as much rest as possible and we need to listen to what our body needs. If you find pain persists for several weeks, speak with your GP.
Our Appetite can change and we may not feel like eating in the early days after someone dies. It may feel difficult to swallow and food can taste strange. Some people find they are eating a lot more than usual or only eating foods that are comforting. This is very normal and we need to try and not to be too hard on ourselves if our diet looks different at these times We also need to try not to panic if you notice these changes. Our sleep patterns can change too when we grieve. We might be frightened to go to sleep because of bad nightmares or find it difficult to get to sleep because our mind is racing.
Grief can make us feel anxious. Sometimes this can result in feeling breathless, having heart palpitations or even a panic attack. Someone once described the feeling as like having an elephant sat on your chest. it’s a good idea to contact the doctor if this happens regularly.
People often ask how long the grief will last. The truth is that healing comes slowly, but it does come. Nothing can replace the person who has died. But gradually most people find they are able to continue with life, and start to feel happy at times, while remembering those who have died. It can take time to understand your feelings and adjust to what has happened. But there are things you can do to help yourself cope.
It’s important to do what works for you. You might have good and bad days. So take things one step at a time – if the first step feels too hard, try to break it up into smaller steps. It might also help to try different things at different times.
Connect with others can be helpful as they can help with the feelings of Isolation and loneliness. It is ok let others know what we need. Tell people what helps and what you find difficult. It’s ok to be clear about what we need from them. It’s also ok if this changes.
It may also help to talk with others who are currently coping with a loss or have walked the journey of grief in the past. Talking with a trained professional can help us understand and cope with the thoughts and feelings we experience following a loss.
There are things we can do to help with the physical effects of grief.
If our appetite is affected then try to find a relationship with food that works. When we have no appetite try serving small, manageable portions. If cooking is too much and overwhelming, try a ready-meal or something that takes little preparation. But most importantly, remember to be kind to ourselves. It’s okay not eat as we normally would, but slowly getting back to a routine of eating at the same times can help. If this pattern persists after several weeks, it might be time to speak to a doctor.
If sleep is an issue try to slowly get back into a night-time routine. Things like taking a bath or showering before bed are great ways to help you relax into the evening. Exercise can also be really helpful to tire your body out. It doesn’t have to be vigorous exercise, walking or swimming can be gentle ways to get moving, Try not getting into bed until you feel really ready to sleep and try listening to relaxing music or sleep podcasts. Prayer can also help, especially by telling God the difficult feelings bereavement brings.
Exercise is a useful way for our body to reduce tension, and it uses up the adrenalin that it’s producing that’s making us feel anxious. It is not a good idea to start an extreme new gym class when a gentle walk is all we can manage. Talking to someone about what’s making us anxious can also really help.
We might feel like using drugs or alcohol to cope with any difficult feelings. But in the long run they can make us feel worse.
It’s normal for certain things to trigger difficult feelings or painful memories about our loss for instance a specific food or place. Try taking note of what might affect our mood. This can help us gradually learn how to cope with triggers when they happen. Using a pen and paper,or find a free online diary can help us identify these triggers.
As time passes, we may feel an expectation to move on from our grief, This pressure can come from families and ourselves. Moving on however may not feel like something you want or be able to do. Some people find it more helpful to think about moving forward with their grief, rather than moving on from it.
Remember that there’s no time limit on grief. There isn’t a point where we are supposed to ‘complete’ our grief and move on. Grief may always be a part of us and may be something we always struggle with at times for instance on anniversaries.
These are some ideas could help, although remember that different things may work at different times:
Cherish memories of the person who has died. That could be finding ways to include their memory in celebrations, talk to others about them, or spend time learning more about an interest or hobby they had For example light a candle at Christmas.
Doing things on behalf of the person that has been lost, or in honour of them. For example, getting involved with a fundraising or campaigning project in their memory.
Express our feelings through creativity. For example, through drawing, journalling, or taking photos.
Keep objects to remind you of the person. For example, you might want to wear an item of clothing or jewellery that belonged to them.
Remember that it’s ok to feel happy and to find enjoyment in life. We can feel guilty about feeling happy when we’ve lost someone. But having positive emotions or good days doesn’t mean we don’t care or aren’t still grieving.
Try new things, for example joining a club or volunteer group. Or starting a new hobby. Sometimes this can help distract us and give us something new to focus on.
Read or listen to stories from other people who have been through similar experiences. Sometimes this can help us to feel more understood and hopeful for the future.
Remember Grief is personal to everyone but we are not alone and of we can help as church do let us know.
You can contact us in a number of ways:
Phone the vicar on 01773 712097
Phone or text the church office on 07756 555101
Email the vicar: padleykaren@gmailcom
Email the church office: allsaintschurchmarlpool@gmail.com
This is something for young and old, couples, families and singles. Dance to live music!
Don’t know how to dance? – You’ll be in good company! The ‘caller’ will teach us the steps dance by dance.
Reserve your tickets early as numbers are limited .Just phone or text the above number to book tickets – we will hold them for you and you can pay on the day.
A recent BBC documentary by the BBC highlighted the appalling and long lasting aftermath of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of WWII
Some of todays Hydrogen Bombs are 1,000 times more powerful than the Atomic Bombs dropped on Japan! It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to realise what horrors the deployment of such weapons would wreak!
For those of us who didn’t really live through it, it’s easy to underestimate just how close the world was to a truly disastrous situation at the peak of the Cold War. With tensions boiling over at times and everyone living in fear of the possibility of nuclear war, it was a pretty terrifying time.
One of the most famous and scary episodes in this behind-the-scenes escalation came between 1981 and 1983, when the world’s fate hung on a knife edge.
In 1981, the Russian Government became so afraid of a pre-emptive strike by the US with its nuclear arsenal, General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev and KGB chairman Yuri Andropov began Operation RYaN (Nuclear Missile Attack), a huge surveillance operation. Things only got more tense from there, as the US started to fly its planes briefly into Russian airspace to test their defences and remind them of the threat they carried, while the Russian authorities invested more and more in both defence capabilities and its own missile armada.
It was in this atmosphere that, on 21 September 1983, the Soviet Orbital Missile Early Warning System (SPRN) reported that a single intercontinental ballistic missile was on its way from the US to Russia.
The officer on duty that night was Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov, and he might just have saved the world by remembering a key detail from his training. Intelligence suggested that if the US launched a real attack, it would be with at least three missiles, but only one was apparently incoming, which didn’t seem right to Petrov.
Petrov made the unbelievably brave decision to label the data as a false alarm, and didn’t alert his superiors, a judgment that would quickly be proved correct as no missile actually entered Russian airspace.
Petrov told the BBC’s Russian Service in 2013: “I had all the data [to suggest there was an ongoing missile attack]. If I had sent my report up the chain of command, nobody would have said a word against it.” He added: “The siren howled, but I just sat there for a few seconds, staring at the big, back-lit, red screen with the word ‘launch’ on it. “There was no rule about how long we were allowed to think before we reported a strike.”
Instead, Petrov reported a system malfunction, and realised he’d been correct when nothing happened after half an hour. This wasn’t the only time there were near misses during the Cold War but it was one of the closest, and a reminder that sometimes it only takes one person to avert catastrophe.
Petrov’s decision may have literally saved humanity!
Nuclear weapons are unlikely to become a thing of the past until they are rendered useless by an, as yet unknown, defence system. We can only pray that no country or other agency is ever foolish enough to initiate a nuclear attack and that in the event of a false alarm the watchkeepers are as brave as Stanislav Petrov.
There were more Christians persecuted during the 20th century than in all previous centuries put together. The situation has not improved in the 21st century. Barnabas Aid works tirelessly with persecuted Christians throughout the world. The song in this video contrasts the freedoms of Christians in the West with the severe persecution faced by believers in other arts of the world. It urges us to acknowledge the struggles of our fellow Christians’ struggles and to actively support and empathise with them.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Matthewchapter 25
Where do I begin? With a prayer, a plea, or just a simple hello? I guess it doesn’t really matter, since you already know what’s in my heart before the words even reach my lips.
I want to start by thanking you. Thank you for this beautiful life, with all its twists and turns, ups and downs. Thank you for the people you’ve put in my life — family, friends, teachers, strangers — who have shaped me into who I am. Their kindness, wisdom, laughter, and love have gotten me through so much.
Thank you for the talents and abilities you’ve given me, however small they may be. I may not be the best singer, the greatest athlete, or the most eloquent speaker, but I appreciate whatever gifts I have, and I want to nurture them.
Thank you for the opportunities I’ve been given. For education, for travel, for experiences that have expanded my mind and shown me more of this amazing world you created. I know so many are not nearly as fortunate, so I do not take these blessings lightly.
Most of all, thank you for being there in both triumph and tragedy. In times of joy, when I’ve accomplished a goal or had an adventure, you were there celebrating with me. And in times of heartbreak, when I felt lost, alone, and afraid, you were right there next to me, lifting me up with your unconditional love and showing me the way forward one step at a time.
I’m grateful for each day you give me on this earth. For another sunrise peeking over the horizon. For another chance to live, learn, and grow. I know life is fragile and fleeting, so thank you for this gift.
Yet still I come to you with all my human flaws. Searching, striving, struggling, hoping. Falling down and wondering if I’ll ever have the strength to stand back up. Questioning who I am, why I’m here, and what my purpose could possibly be in this vast universe of yours.
In my darkest moments, when I feel utterly alone, give me the courage to remember that I’m never truly alone because you are always there beside me. Holding my hand, guiding me home.
In times of anger, when I’m blinded by rage at the injustices of this world, reminds me that darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only your light and love can illuminate the shadows. Calm the tempests that batter my heart and give me the wisdom and compassion to be an instrument of change.
When I feel worthless, broken, disenchanted, and begin to believe the lies that I have nothing to offer, speak truth into my heart. Remind me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made in your image. That I have a purpose here. Help me hear my calling above the noise and negativity of the world.
Forgive me for my many sins. For harboring anger and hatred when I should show mercy. For apathy when I should care. For selfishness when I should give freely. You know I am imperfect, yet you love me still. Help me reflect your light each day through kind words and selfless acts.
Guide me to build deeper connections with others. In my relationships, give me the wisdom to speak the truth with compassion. Help me see each person as the complex, beautiful child you made them to be, not simply the mask they wear on the surface. Teach me to love unconditionally.
God, when I face trials that feel too heavy for me to bear, let me remember that I never walk alone. You can see the path ahead even when all I see is darkness. Give me the faith to take things one day at a time, trusting that the sun will rise again. Help me to surrender my anxieties and burdens to your infinite strength.
As I lie down to sleep tonight, I pray that you will grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
But most of all, I pray for joy. I pray that I will wake each morning with joy in my heart, eager for whatever adventures the day may bring. I pray that I will nurture an attitude of gratitude through all of life’s ups and downs. And I pray that each night when I rest my head down, I will have joy in the memories made that day.
This is what I ask of you, God: Help me live my one life fully. Give me the strength to pursue my dreams wholeheartedly, without fear or hesitation. In each moment, help me show compassion to others and live in a way that reflects your light.
I know the road won’t always be easy, but you will be walking right beside me each step of the way. And for that promise, that faithful, unwavering love, I am forever grateful.
Stress is part of everyday life and living. It can make you feel exhausted, unable to cope and in a state of flight response plays a critical role in how we deal with stress and danger in our environment. Essentially, the response prepares the body to either fight or flee the threat. It is also important to note that the response can be triggered due to both real and imaginary threats.
Understanding the body’s fight-or-flight response is one way to help cope with such situations. When you notice that you are becoming tense, you can start looking for ways to calm down and relax your body. These activities are for new ways to cope with stress.
GET OUTSIDE – being outside in nature is great for wellbeing. Going for a short walk or sitting in a green space can have an extremely calming effect on how we feel. Just sit and listen to the birds, focus on their different sounds, take in deep breaths and you feel so much better. Try gardening – as it can also have a positive impact on our brain chemistry, influencing the release of serotonin and cortisol, which help us feel good. For many gardeners, a daily stroll around the garden is one of the most enjoyable things to do. It allows you a peaceful moment to see what has grown or changed.
TRY SOMETHING CREATIVE – When we’re doing something creative, we’re using a different part of the brain to where stress is occurring. Even for 5 minutes, being creative can help to relieve feelings of pressure. You could draw, doodle, sew, sing, paint.
EXERCISE – (yes, I know, everyone says exercise) even the thought of it will make you feel more stressed, but it is a very effective way to combat stress. When we exercise our bodies release endorphins which help us feel good. (and you don’t have to spend hours in the gym), you could go for a walk or jeffing (jeffing is walking for 60 seconds and a light jog for 60 seconds), it’s been proven that this helps your heart too, and any exercise that gets your heart pumping even a little, daily is good for you. Dancing is another form of exercise, listening to your favourite music and dance away to it. PRACTICE MINDFULLNESS – Noticing your emotions and gaining a sense of perspective on them. It’s typically done by sitting or lying down in a quiet place and focussing on your breathing. This enables you to focus on the present moment and gradually let go of outside thoughts and distractions. (When I do this, I pray). It’s the ability to be fully present and fully engaged with whatever you are doing in the moment. Start by noticing things in your immediate surroundings such as smell, touch, sounds, taste, and sight – this can help to ground you. There are lots of free apps on the internet and on YouTube to help you start mindfulness practice.
WRITE DOWN YOUR THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS – You’re not writing with the aim of anyone reading it, just for yourself to get down on paper what you’re feeling. This can be a big stress reliever. Listen to music, and try some classical music at night, this can help you relax.
ALLOCATE SOME TIME FOR YOURSELF AND DO SOMETHING YOU ENJOY – When we’re busy it’s easy to eliminate the things we enjoy from our schedule. But these are the things which help us to relieve stress.
TALK TO SOMEONE – As they say, a problem shared is a problem halved. Speaking to a friend, loved onTaken from an article in the Grapevine Erewash Mag, adapted by Christina J Ashcrofte, colleague or therapist can help you lighten the stress you may be feeling.
Taken from an article in the Grapevine Erewash Mag, adapted by Christina J Ashcroft
Judging by the list of priorities identified among the UK electorate by a pre-election survey, climate change comes fairly low on the list. That is understandable since many, perhaps most, of us have immediate issues with; the cost of living, the NHS, Social Care to name but a few. However, we might need to rethink.
The second annual Indicators of Global Climate Change report, which is led by the University of Leeds, reveals that human-induced warming has risen to 1.19 °C over the past decade (2014-2023)—an increase from the 1.14 °C seen in 2013-2022 (set out in last year’s report).
Looking at 2023 in isolation, warming caused by human activity reached 1.3 °C. This is lower than the total amount of warming we experienced in 2023 (1.43 °C), indicating that natural climate variability, in particular El Niño, also played a role in 2023’s record temperatures.
The analysis also shows that the remaining carbon budget—how much carbon dioxide can be emitted before committing us to 1.5 °C of global warming—is only around 200 gigatons (billion tons), around five years’ worth of current emissions.
On that basis, if we don’t reduce CO2 emissions quickly and dramatically our world will change irrevocably and not in a good way.
Unlike most other greenhouse gasses, carbon dioxide, once it is in the atmosphere remains there for between 300 and 1,000 years and with it the effect it has on our climate. So on current projections it is not too dramatic to say that we are staring disaster in the face, not just for us but for our children and grandchildren.
A young primary school teacher taking a class discussing ‘Equality’ began by asking if anyone in the class had recently hurt there elbow. A few put their hands up so she gave each of them a plaster for their elbow. She then asked if anyone had bumped their heads. Again, a few hands went up. The teacher proceeded to give each child who had bumped his or her head a plaster for their elbow. The children looked confused. The teacher then asked if anyone who’d recently grazed their knee to put their hand up. She proceeded to give each of these children a plaster for their elbow. By this time the children were all looking very confused.
The teacher explained that although she had treated all of her class equally in giving everyone a plaster for their elbow that was clearly a silly thing to do as only some of them had hurt their elbows.
She went on to explain that equality meant giving everyone the same opportunities and this often meant treating some people differently. Some children in the school sometimes needed ear protectors because they found classrooms too noisy for them to concentrate, others might have difficulty with sitting and needed a special chairs, yet others might find concentration hard and so needed special help and so on.
The teacher then asked the class to consider how each of us could treat each other equally. After an animated discussion the class agreed that we shouldn’t always expect to be treated exactly the same or treat each other exactly the same. We should try to help one other be the best we and they can be.
80 years ago today, a priest who incarnated the ‘social gospel’ was martyred
Mar 24, 2024
Father Pietro Pappagallo, shown along with a plaque which today is displayed outside his residence in Rome. (Credit: Vatican Media.)
ROME – Exactly 80 years ago today, on March 24, 1944, the Nazi occupiers of Rome shot 335 Italians to death, mostly civilians, in a series of caves on the southern outskirts of town called the Fosse Ardeatine. The killings came in retaliation for an attack the day before by the Italian resistance that left 33 German soldiers dead, making it a ratio of ten Italian lives lost for every one German.
(In a rare lapse in Nazi efficiency, bureaucratic confusion led to five more people than strictly necessary being executed.)
Among the victims that day was one Catholic priest: Father Pietro Pappagallo, 55 years old at the time, who’d been in a Nazi prison since January, having been turned in by a snitch for his activity in sheltering Jews, monarchists, communists, intellectuals, anti-fascist activists, gays, and anyone else targeted by the occupation.
While there’s no special reason why the loss of a priest’s life matters more than anyone else’s, the Pappagallo story nonetheless merits retelling today, in part because it captures the entire drama of the early 20th century birth of “social Catholicism” in miniature.
Pietro Pappagallo was born on June 28, 1888, in the mid-sized town of Terlizzi in the Puglia region of southern Italy. His family scraped by on limited means – his father was a ropemaker, while his mother raised the eight children. As a youth he worked with his father and also did seasonal labor on local farms, until his mother decided to enroll him in a local school, from which he eventually entered the seminary.
At the time, families of a candidate for the priesthood were required to make a payment to cover the cost of his studies, so Pappagallo’s mother signed over a meager couple of pieces of land she’d inherited from her family to cover the cost.
He was ordained on April 3, 1915, having escaped being drafted for World War I because of a problem with his heel. The next day he celebrated his first Mass, and on the traditional holy card printed for the occasion, he inscribed the celebrated prayer for peace composed by Pope Benedict XV, who had memorably termed WWI “useless slaughter”: “From you, God of mercies, we implore with our groans an end to this immense scourge; from you, peaceful King, we rush with our prayers for the longed-for peace.”
Benedict XV was, in some ways, the original “Peace Pope,” and Pappagallo clearly drew inspiration from him.
Just like in the United States, in the early 20th century scores of people from Italy’s impoverished south were heading north in search of work, and Pappagallo wanted to serve them. He ended up in Rome in the 1920s, serving as director and chaplain for a boarding house attached to a massive rayon factory called Cisa Viscosa, which had been financed by American investors.
Quickly, he discovered that the hundreds of workers housed by the company were being terribly mistreated: Routinely forced to work overtime without additional pay, at the threat of being fired if they refused; denied the social security benefits allotted to other laborers in Rome; being treated in a discriminatory fashion by managers because they came from the south, and therefore were regarded as second-class citizens; and routinely suffering health problems related to the toxic chemicals used in the factory’s processes to which they were exposed with any protection.
Pappagallo immediately launched protests, which prompted the factory owners to appeal to their protectors in Italy’s fascist regime, who in turn reached out to a Vatican official named Monsignor Ferdinando Baldelli, who would later become a key aide to Pope Pius XII. Baldelli told Pappagallo to stand down, telling him it wasn’t his role to be a union organizer, and that his efforts could disrupt negotiations between church and state to settle the so-called “Roman question.”
We have the letter Pappagallo wrote to Baldelli: “Monsignor, I see myself in the workers at the boarding house. They come from my land, and they’re immigrants too. The fact that they haven’t gone overseas doesn’t make their situation any less painful or difficult … The work in the factory is dehumanizing. I don’t find it just, and I can’t appease myself with arguments about politics, which don’t interest me at all. I only know that the faith, and a sense of humanity, don’t allow me to ignore my brothers, to whose service I’ve been assigned. If you’re not on their side, I can only say that I’m upset and confused.”
Baldelli promptly had Pappagallo removed from his position at the boarding house, with the idea that he would enter a training program for priests to serve Italian immigrants overseas and leave the country.
Despite that, Pappagallo managed to hang on in the Eternal City, eventually becoming chaplain to the Oblate Sisters of the Child Jesus, a post which came with an apartment near the great basilica of St. Mary Major. He transformed the apartment into a sort of halfway house for immigrants moving south to north, and eventually convinced the sisters to give him use of several other facilities in the area for the same purpose.
Thus when the German occupation of Rome began in September 1943, Pappagallo was ideally positioned to provide refuge for all those targeted by the Nazis. One priest friend who visited Pappagallo in late 1943 would note in his diary that the apartment was a “mezzanine full of refugees.” Many of those who took refuge with Pappagallo would escape the Nazis with false passports and other documents provided by two of the priest’s nephews, Gioacchino and Tommaso, who ran a nearby printing shop and who churned out fake papers by night for people sent their way by their uncle.
Eventually an informant tipped off the Nazis, and Pappagallo was arrested on Jan. 29, 1944. He was taken to the infamous Gestapo prison on Via Tasso, which today houses the Museum of Liberation. There he was tortured at the personal direction of Herbert Kappler, an SS officer and Chief of Police in occupied Rome, but refused to divulge the names of anyone else involved in sheltering targets of the regime.
Fellow inmates would later testify that Pappagallo always shared the meager amounts of food and water he was given with others, and that he acted as a sort of spiritual father for other prisoners, even those who didn’t share his faith. Two young communists, Aladino Govoni and Tigrino Sabatini, later said they’d been intrigued by his prayer book, and so he began explaining the psalms to them, thereby not only passing the time but giving them badly needed comfort.
When the time came to carry out the reprisals on March 24, 1944, Kappler put Pappagallo’s name on the list, and so he was herded onto one of several trucks that carried the condemned out to the Fosse Ardeatine for execution. On the way, he offered blessings and heard the confessions of anyone who asked.
Once they arrived at the site, one witness would later say, Pappagallo managed to slip out of the ropes with which the prisoners’ hands had been bound, raised his arms to the heavens, and blessed those who were to die and forgave those doing the killing.
After his death, Pappagallo helped to inspire the character of Don Pietro in Robert Rossellini’s classic 1945 film Roma città aperta. In 1998, Italian President Carlo Ciampi awarded Pappagallo the Gold Medal for Civil Merit, the country’s highest civilian honor, saying the priest had sacrificed his life “with serenity of spirit, a sign of his faith that always illuminated him.”
In 2000, Pope John Paul II included Pappagallo on a list of 20th century martyrs. In 2018, the Yad Vashem Holocaust Remembrance Center declared Pappagallo “Righteous Among the Nations,” recognizing his role in saving Jews during the Holocaust.
On this day 80 years ago, in other words, a priest went to his death who incarnated the burgeoning Catholic social consciousness of his day. While his executioners succeeded in ending his life, they obviously had no power to extinguish his legacy, which in many ways is the legacy of the social gospel in miniature — and which, arguably, is more alive today than ever.
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