Automatic translation from Italian, under review.
On Sunday, October 12, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., in the “Cristo Re” hall in Capo d’Orlando, the Family Afternoon took place, organized by the community of Naso and entitled “Together… One Family.”
In the atmosphere of the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of the birth of the municipality of Capo d’Orlando, distinct from that of Naso, we thought of strengthening the bond of love that unites us to Capo d’Orlando, for deep reasons tied to our history and to our present (considering that the Chapel for the deceased sisters is located right in Capo d’Orlando). After 25 years spent in Naso, as a community of Sisters of Beautiful Love, it seemed good to us to respond to the desire of many to meet us or to come to know our history better: why the Foundation took place, and the resulting move of the community of the Sisters of Beautiful Love to Naso, when it already seemed certain that we would have to move to another town of the diocese because of the circumstances concerning the house. It is almost as if St. Cono wanted to bring us “up the mountain of Naso,” to make our communion with Capo d’Orlando ever more alive and present, since, according to religious tradition, it was precisely the patron saint who brought there the much-loved and venerated little Madonna.
And… Capo d’Orlando answered!
The hall, festively decorated with the help of the people of Naso, filled with many people, who had gathered at a time that was, to say the least, “discouraging,” and at once a climate of deep listening, emotion and great, intense participation was created. The story of the Foundation, intertwined with the story of the Foundress, whom many know personally, told through 2 videos and the appropriate explanations, aroused much wonder, the discovery of a great gift of God, greater understanding in many, the dispelling of questions in others, and joy and a desire to know more in still others. The story was preceded by some numbers prepared by the young girls of Naso and Capo d’Orlando, as an exchange of gifts, and by a piano piece performed by a young man from Capo d’Orlando (my former pupil, like the girls, with whom we met several times, in the summer heat, to prepare the event). The friendship with Grazia Martelli (niece of Sr. Giuseppina Martelli, Sister of the Holy Family of Bordeaux, now in heaven, who was so fond of us even at the time of the passage to the new Institute), owner and dance teacher of one of the schools present in Capo d’Orlando, allowed us to enrich the afternoon with moments of true beauty: pieces of classical dance on Peace, a gift so longed for by all of us, for the humanity of this moment and of every time. The brief message of Sr. Nunziella, in the video, indeed invited us to be bearers of peace, unarmed and disarming….
The mayor of Capo d’Orlando, present with his wife from the beginning of the meeting, then underlined the importance of gatherings like this one in fostering cohesion. Likewise the parish priest, Fr. Nello, who since May had given us his full availability to organize this event, was visibly happy and moved, certain that all this “contributes to the betterment of society as a whole.”
Present were the Scouts of the parish of Cristo Re, with Federico La Torre, some members of the local service clubs, many friends also from Naso, many from Capo d’Orlando whom we had not seen for years, and many new people, who arrived through the school enrollment of recent years. At the end, the images of St. Cono handing the little Madonna over to the people of Capo d’Orlando, with the Hymn to St. Cono in the background. Great was the heartfelt applause, proclaiming a truth that no distinction can ever deny: Capo d’Orlando and Naso, “Together… One Family”!!
Sr. Rossana Maria
