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 published: 2006-10-13

"Matri Ecclesiae Shrine, Rome"

Roman notes from Francisco Nuño, who along with his wife will be the future custodians of the Matri Ecclesiae Shrine and of the International Center of the Schoenstatt Family in Rome

 

Roma – centro de la Madre Iglesia

Rome, center of the Mother Church

Rom, Mittelpunkt der Mutter Kirche

Foto: Santos © 2006

 

Santuario Matri Ecclesiae

Matri Ecclesiae Shrine

Matri Ecclesiae-Heiligtum

 

Santuario de todos nosotros – Santuario de la naciente familia de Schoenstatt de Italia

The Shrine of all of us – the Shrine of the growing Italian Schoenstatt Family

Unser aller Heiligtum – und Heiligtum der werdenden italienischen Schönstattfamilie

 

Guardianos salientes: Terezinha y Nivaldo Abram

The first guardians: Terezinha and Nivaldo Abram

Scheidende Wächter: Terezinha und Nivaldo Abram

 

Grupo de peregrinos internacionales

International pilgrim group

Internationale Pilgergruppe

 

En el Santuario

In the Shrine

Im Heiligtum

Fotos: POS Fischer © 2006

 
   

ROME, Francisco Nuño. "During the last few years our beloved Father Alberto Eronti wrote and sent his reflections ("Roman Reflections) about some experiences and events that he experienced during his stay in Rome to many friends and members of the Family; he wanted to inform the Family through these reflections. It was a gift that we personally appreciated very much. Thinking about him, I also decided to write about my personal experiences in Belmonte, Rome. They are personal notes that can reach the Family." This is how Francisco Nuño –who with his wife Anneliese were the general superiors of the Schoenstatt Institute of Families, and who have been named custodians of the Shrine of Belmonte – presents his first edition of his "Roman Notes". Francisco Nuño’s notes will also published on Schoenstatt.de just like Father Alberto Eronti’s Roman reflections.

I have been in Rome for six days, from Friday, September 8th to Wednesday the 13th of 2006. It is the first time that I have visited the eternal city after concluding the general chapter of our Institute, where new superior generals were elected, and after the new leaders of our community confirmed our next task as custodians of the Matri Ecclesiae Shrine and of the International Center of the Schoenstatt Family in Rome. It has been a very special experience!

A time of transition in Belmonte

There were several reasons for coming to Rome. Anneliese stayed in Schoenstatt. In the first place, I wanted to find our "in stu" (on site") of the state of the construction of what will be our home for the next two years. It is named Covenant House and it includes the living quarters of the "custodian" family as well as halls and other apartments for a Schoenstatt Sister of Mary and for a priest and/or an invited guest to the Center. On the other hand I was interested in personally bidding farewell to the Abram Family who will return to Brazil in September after two years of service and giving of self to the Shrine. The Musolino’s, Rosita and Lito, from Mendoza, Argentina were also with them during those days. The Musolino’s have come to Rome to make it possible for the Abram to take a few weeks of vacation and of their essential presence at the general chapter of Schoenstatt, and as leaders for their community of the works of the International Center of Belmonte. I met with Georg Egle, a priest, who is a member of the Schoenstatt Institute of Diocesan Priests, and he is in charge in behalf of his community of the works of the International Center of Belmonte. He had planned to be in Rome during the same days as I, and he wanted to show me the house and speak with me about our move and our adjustment in the house.

Five "Custodians" together

Furthermore, they had informed me that the Italian Schoenstatt Family that is beginning had planned to go to Belmonte on Sunday, September 10th on their annual pilgrimage to celebrate the second anniversary of the blessing of the Shrine that took place two years ago on September 8th of 2004. I was disposed to help the Abram’s and the Musolino’s in anything that was needed concerning the preparation of the Shrine and the surrounding area for an encounter of more than five hundred people, on the day of a multitudinous pilgrimage. That is how the five "custodians" gathered around the Shrine. It was providential since the task at hand required willing hearts and hands.

In Rome one breathes beauty everywhere.

The Shrine of Rome in Belmonte is very beautiful. It was presented to the Founding Father in the year 1965 by the General Presidency in the name of all the Schoenstatt Family on the occasion of his eightieth birthday, it was dreamed about and desired by a few during almost forty years, and it was built by Roman hands about two years ago. Undoubtedly, Rome, the eternal Rome, has always had a special feeling for beauty and the beautiful. He who has been in Rome knows this: hundreds of buildings, churches, monuments, streets and squares transmit a special "air" to the visitor. In Rome one breathes beauty everywhere. And our Shrine of Belmonte in Rome participates of this marvel and it transmits a unique beauty to the pilgrim through "art and magic" of small and special details, that make a building, a square or a statute an work of art, a place that is pleasant to visit. Roman hands have made it possible that our Matri Ecclesiae Shrine in Rome be one of the luminous jewels among the more than one hundred eighty Schoenstatt Shrines that populate the face of the earth.

Anneliese and I will have to take care, like Teresinha and Nivaldo Abram have done until now, so that this special luster will not fade, and that it will continue to be the "pearl of the crown" in the Marian reign of the Father, for the Church and for the entire world. Rome, center of Christianity! And that the Shrine of Belmonte in this eternal Rome, be heart and foundation of the International Center of the Schoenstatt Family before the Holy Father and the Vatican. Matri Ecclesiae, for the holy mother Church and for the Mother of the Church.

The mission at Belmonte

This act of the meeting celebrated on November 27, 1965 in Schoenstatt informs us of the task that our Founding Father foresaw for this Center of Rome: "…It is about the Shrine and of a house that will orient and reflect what Schoenstatt is so that the visitor can learn that Schoenstatt has its reason for being in relation to its availability and service to the Church. We think about all of those who come to Rome, as heart of the church, from the entire world, bishops, priests and laity, and that in this way they will have the opportunity to learn about Schoenstatt."

On February 2, 1966, the Founding Father spoke to a group of young Swiss postulants of the Institute of the Sisters of Mary. They had expressed the desire to commit themselves in a special way with the land of Belmonte. Father tells them in his talk:

"What do we want here (the land at Belmonte). A Shrine. In a certain way – no, not only in a certain way –rather very consciously and in a reflective manner" the Mother of God should take care from here so that the universal Church in its leadership circles will say a whole hearted yes to Schoenstatt, that it recognize Schoenstatt. That the Holy Father and with him all the Holy See, and further, all the episcopate, say a whole hearted yes to Schoenstatt, and that they confirm it as such at all levels. Not a cut down Schoenstatt, a beheaded Schoenstatt. Rather an original Schoenstatt, exactly as we believe that it is in the plans of the eternal Wisdom and of the eternal Love."

Meanwhile, during these days, we write in September 2006, forty years have passed and the Shrine and the Covenant House are built and await the first family that will inhabit it in the Center itself, that will take care of the Shrine and its facilities, and who will work along with others on the land that the Father himself blessed for the mission that he wanted for the Schoenstatt International Center in Rome. Great tasks on weak shoulders!

To live the solidarity that the Founding Father desired

It was a unique experience in our Schoenstatt Family until now: a few people, members of some Schoenstatt Institutes, are going to live in the same Center and taking care of their privacy and originality they will show what Schoensatt is to the visitor. In these six days that I have been in Belmonte I have already experienced the challenge of the task.

We find ourselves in a same project: Institute of Diocesan priests (they are the owners and ultimate leaders of the Center by the will of the Founder), Schoenstatt Fathers, Sisters of Mary, women who belong to the Institute of Our Lady of Schoenstatt and us, a couple who belong to the Family Institute. The International Center of Belmonte will a "laboratory" exposed to all the Family and even beyond, in which we will live in the solidarity desired by the Founding Father without stifling nor dispensing with the principle of the creative tensions of life that Father Kentenich placed in the cradle of its communities.

In the day by day experience in Belmonte along with my brother custodians, we took care of the pilgrims, cleaned the floor of the Shrine, stored chairs and tables, learned about the assignment of rooms and apartments in the Covenant House and we wanted to please everyone who presented their ideas or desires, for the first time I have had a taste of the immense task that Anneliese and I will have as a couple, the task of building FAMILY, to show the Church what we are or want to be. I am happy because the Founding Father gave the Schoenstatt Family Institute; he precisely gave us, this original task of being and building family within the Schoenstatt Family.

Founding of the Filiation of Schoenstatt Fathers

Here in Rome, the Schoenstatt Fathers have a filiation that was just officially begun a few days ago. Father Juan Pablo Catoggio, Superior of the Region of the Father (Argentina, Paragua and Uruguay) came for this, and I greeted and spoke with him for a while, the little time that the event permitted. The Fathers have named Father Ludovico Tedeschi, who has lived in Italy for some years, as rector of the Roman Filiation. There are five Fathers and they hope that the Diocese will assign a parish to them. Father Ludovico is also in charge on behalf of the Fathers of building the Movement in Italy. It is beginning. The majority of the pilgrims unite around the Pilgrim MTA that is already present in different Italian dioceses. Our Sisters of Mary (a group from Atbaia, in Brazil) work with much success with the Pilgrim MTA.

On Sunday, September 10th almost five hundred people arrived at Belmonte to celebrate the MTA in her Shrine. The Holy Mass was presided by the Rector of the Shrine, and for some months, the Metropolitan Archbishop of Oristano in Sardinia, Monsignor Ignazio Sanna, member of the Schoenstatt Diocesan Institute. Several reporters have written and sent their reports about this event to www.schoenstatt.de

Sister Fernanda, from Brazil, will work in and from Belmonte

All the members of the Institutes who were present in Rome were involved in the organization and development of this day of pilgrimage in Belmonte. The Branch of Sisters from Via Aurelia Antica, where the first Schoenstatt Shrine of Rome, Cor Ecclesiae Shrine, is located was also present. They also helped and were accompanied by their new Sister of community, Sister M. Fernanda, from Brazil. This Sister has been named by her community to work from Belmonte for the Schoenstatt Movement in Rome. She will be our first neighbor in the Covenant House. We have known Sister Fernanda for some time since she helped our Family Institute in Brazil as educator, accompanying some novitiate and tertiary of our families. She will also continue with the task initiated in the Parish of Saint Gemma by the Abram family.

During the days of my stay in Rome I have been able to speak with her about the future of Belmonte, our common objectives and challenges in the work of the Father. She is also happy and full of illusion, desiring that the "temporariness" of the moment will change into the "normalcy" that is needed to carry out our work. The architect, the engineers and the Roman companies that have been contracted have a lot of work ahead, before sister and we can live in the Center and take care of the Shrine from the house under construction. Thanks to God that our brothers Lito and Rosita Musolino are here and that they will take care of the Shrine, even after the Abram’s return to their home in Curitiba, Brazil. Soon we will know more!

Rome, I will return soon, and this time it will be, God willing, with Anneliese and our furniture!

Translation: Celina Garza, Harlingen, TX, USA


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