Long awaited, the result of seven years of tiring documentary and archival research, of collecting direct testimonies, of digging into personal and collective memory, the book by Paolo Di Gabriele finally reaches the press. Here my Sanctuary must rise, with the preface by Corrado Baglieri and edited by Don Antonio Stefano Modica.
The centuries-old devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, having the Rosolini Sanctuary as its center of radiation, is deeply rooted in popular piety and, in the forms and contents experienced and witnessed by Mother Carmela Aprile, it soon spread beyond the city and regional borders. . In the face of such a patrimony of faith and spirituality, few works had been published until a few years ago, Starting from 2018, two important editorial initiatives by Don Antonio Stefano Modica: the publication of copies and transcriptions of the autobiographical notebooks of Mother Carmela Aprile; and the book When the mystery is not silent (2019), with two contributions by Francesco Terrasi and Carmelo Di Mari. Not to mention a valuable film by the Argentine director Luis Garay, Cor Jesus mecum est, about the figure of Mother Carmela Aprile.
To satisfy the need for more in-depth knowledge, the text by Paolo Di Gabriele finally arrives, who tries to reconstruct the history of the birth and development of this spirituality and this devotion from the origins, retracing the biographical events of Mother Carmela Aprile , as well as the works and events that ensued for over a century. The author gives ample space to documentary sources, newspaper articles, testimonies, images, inserting everything in a solid narrative framework, through which he connects facts and events, outlines the historical and social contexts, discreetly expresses the their own considerations, also drawing on their own experience and feelings.
Despite the consistency of the 528 pages, reading is easy and engaging. The layout of the book allows the reader to simply follow the narrative thread or to immerse themselves in the documentary sources at their own discretion. The figure of Mother Carmela Aprile emerges powerfully from the discussion, which highlights the relevance of a charism hidden in humble guise and in the fertility of a normal life, which confirms the great humanity of a person who has opened wide the door of a relationship to the common faithful. personal and direct with Jesus Savior and Merciful.
Therefore the book has a multiple value: first of all, an act of witness to a faith and a spirituality, as well as documentary research and restitution to the community of an important piece of its historical memory.
On the occasion of the celebrations of the Sacred Heart on Friday 25 September at 7.30 pm at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart in Rosolini, the presentation of the volume will take place with the presence of the Author.