With great power: the life and work of Father Emidio Alessandrini

By Gianluca Giorgio

ROME, June 28, 2022 / 4:00 PM (ACI Print) .-

With great power is the title of the book that collects the memories and testimonies on the life of Father Emidio Alessandrini. Friar minor, priest and penitentiary at the basilica of Sant’Antonio in Rome, he died prematurely on April 19, 2021. he was 64 years old.

The text, edited by Valerio Grimaldi for the Porziuncola publishing house, tells all this by highlighting the gifts of the religious. Intelligence, generosity and altruism were the constants of his life.

The writing, which on the cover, presents the photograph of the priest, is divided into three parts: his life, her words, the words of those who knew him.

From the years of his attendance to activities in the parish of Sant’Achille, enrollment in the Faculty of Medicine up to arriving at the entrance among the Franciscans are some of the salient data of his career. The pages scroll quickly and rapidly, speaking of the enthusiasm and that way of being that made him special.

Among the collected texts shines “My little testament”the homily delivered for his thirty years of priesthood: “What is the purpose of life? Jesus explains it: Be perfect as your Father is perfect, who sends sun and rain on the good and the bad, the just and the unjust (cf. Mt 5,45,48): and in a parallel passage he says: Be merciful , be perfect (Lk 6:36). So the aim is to resemble the One who created us as best we can, in love and in works “(page 49).

In love with the charism of the Order, he often spoke of it, illustrating the beauty and richness it manages to offer to the faithful who follow its spirituality. In the conversations, the face of an authentic Franciscan who succeeded always emerged: “to show the relevance of the Poverello of Assisi in today’s life “(page 93).

A man of culture and listening, there are many attestations of esteem that remind him of his affability, goodness of soul and wise cheerfulness able to put the interlocutors at ease.

A life full of apostolate, of commitments in the vocational pastoral care of the Order and in listening to the problems of the people who found support in him. Always available, every concern or question found an answer and such a welcome that he returned to find him.

Reading the Gospel was his constant and the advice he gave with an open heart as a solution to the unknowns of existence. Knowing Jesus – he repeated – is everything.

From 2006 he was in the community in Rome. Often in the confessional for several hours he listened and welcomed people. Many crossed faces and heard stories. Many appointments to be present in the reality of the brothers. With everyone she was smiling and helpful.

In the evening during the evening mass celebrated in the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, he always offered some ideas for meditation on the Gospel. Simple and short words that opened the view on an unexplored world and made us reflect on that gift that Father Emidio knew how to spread the faith.

Over time they remained indelible and helped in the journey, sometimes, uphill of tomorrow.

The text thus becomes a faithful travel companion, and a precious company in the life of those who knew Father Emidio and for those who want to approach the testimony of this Franciscan who knew not only to comfort but to love by teaching the power of faith in everyday simplicity.

With great power

The life and testimony of Father Emidio Alessandrini,

Porziuncola Editions, Assisi, 2022, 150 pages, 15 euros.