 |
| This Image from the Visit Assisi Website |
This same site was the residence of the Bishop in the 20th century, when world war 2 reached this small mountain town and is now the home of the Museum of Memory, Assisi 1943-1944. The museum’s founder (2011), Marina Rosati met us at the door, and showed us a video of Don Aldo Brunacci, parish priest in Assisi, who described the day he was called into the office of Bishop Nicolini Giuseppe He told the priest that he had received instructions from the pope that they were to help refugees in any way they could, but would have to do it quietly. Father Aldo Brunacci headed up The Committee for Assistance , which began to collect clothing and other things the refugees would need, and a workshop was set up right there in the bishop’s residence. [i]
And indeed refugees began to arrive in Assisi, some drawn by the reputation of St. Francis.
Right by the front door of the museum there is a big old printing press.
The Refugees needed documents to receive their food rations, and Jewish refugees would be arrested if their identity was known. Marina told us about Luigi Brizi, who ran a small souvenir shop who with his son Trento began to forge documents for refugees, giving them Christian names, and addresses in a part of southern Italy that was not occupied.[ii]
As we heard in the story of Lea and her sisters, the new documents meant freedom and safety for the many who received them.[iii]
In one nook of the museum was a bike, and a photo of a man famous for winning the famous Tour de France cycling race twice, Gino Bartali. He hid those forged documents in his bike and would deliver them to the refugees eagerly awaiting them. Because he was a famous biker, who had to bike great distances for his training, the guards waved him through when he asked them not to search his bike which was “carefully calibrated” for racing.
Mariana told us about Father Rufino Nicacci*, the Franciscan priest and Father Guardian of San Damiano convent”[iv] He helped hide 100 Jews within 26 monasteries in the small mountain town which had only about 5000 residents at the time. Bishop Nicolini headed the underground movement in Perugia province, because “Under his authority, even those religious institutions categorized as “clausura,” which were shut off from the world, were opened up to accommodate them, dressed as monks and nuns, in order to save their lives.”[v]
If you were here last spring you may remember the story of St. Clare, who grew up in Assisi and founded an order of women religious who take a vow of strict poverty, and of seclusion. This is how the order she founded, the Poor Clares, live even today. [slide 5] They cloister themselves off form the world, to not go out, and if they do see visitors, they do so behind a grate. [Slide 6] 
It was in one such cloister that Mother Biviglia stood before the German army and said with faith and a bit of cheeky shrewdness “here, I am ready; show me the permission because I am a cloistered nun and I cannot abandon the cloister without authorization!”
We walked, after touring the museum, down the hill to the Basilica of St. Francis, where our guide pointed to the bell tower where some refugees were hidden, then he pointed to the historic hotel next door- this was where the German officers were staying. The refugees living in the bell tower must be very quiet, waiting until the bells tolled to stretch and move and do the necessary things of life.
Imagine, the bravery it took to for the refugees, imagine the bravery of the priests and nuns and lay people who protected them, and imagine to keep all that a secret from the army occupying your city.
“One day local Fascists, who suspected church leaders of harboring Jews, stormed into Father Brunacci’s home to arrest him. [2 refugees] were visiting at the time, but the priest acted quickly, pushing them behind an open door, where they were shielded while he was taken away.
Father Brunacci was imprisoned for a time, then released to the custody of the Vatican.”[vi]
As our group of pilgrims heard the stories we could not help but see the connection to our own time and feel challenged by the bravery of this community who truly lived their faith in those dark days. We wondered if we could be so brave if a refugee journeyed to our church, having heard that we were good people hoping would offer them help. In our time, I wonder not only refugees from other countries, but people of color fleeing ICE, women in need of reproductive care, trans* and queer folks seeking the freedom to simply be who they are.
In Israel there is another museum of memory: Yad Vashem – The World Holocaust Remembrance Center. It documents the lives of the ordinary Jewish people who lost their lives in the Holocaust, and it also has a special section for people who risked their lives to save Jewish people without thought of payment or reward.
Their website tells us: “The mainstream watched as their former neighbors were rounded up; some collaborated with the perpetrators and many benefited from the expropriation of the Jews’ property. But in a world of total moral collapse there was a small minority who mustered extraordinary courage to uphold human values, risking their lives to save Jews by hiding them in their homes, providing false papers and assisting their escape…
The Righteous Among the Nations come from different countries and nationalities, and from all walks of life. They teach us that each and every person can make a difference.”[vii]
7 people from the town of Assisi were so honored. The Brizi’s and their printing press, Gino Bartali and his bike, The Bishop Giuseppe Placido Nicolini, Father Rufino Niccacci, Father Aldo Brunacci, Mother Superior Giuseppina Biviglia, Mother Superior Ermella Brandi of the Suore Stimmatine convent[viii]. Many others in that small town were surely just as brave, but with secrecy so important, many acts of compassion were not documented, and the bravery lives on only in the people they helped survive.
We have among our UU ancestors so recognized, Martha Sharp and her husband, the Rev. Waitstill Sharp who were empowered by the Unitarian Association to go to Europe and see how they could help the refugees there. They were supported by the organization that became the UU Service committee[ix], which helped as many as 3,000 people escape Europe during WWII.
As we have listened to the news this week, we have been shocked, angered, saddened by the actions of our government. We fear for those most vulnerable, we fear for our own families, our own lives. We wish there was more that we could do. These stories of those righteous souls in Assisi not only inspire me to be brave, but remind me that the small acts of ordinary people do make a difference; a cyclist hides documents in his bike. A souvenir shop owner uses his printing press to make life saving papers. Nuns who vowed to spend their lives in seclusion care for refugees hiding among them. Churches take up a collection for food and clothing for refugees. I don’t know what will be asked of us in these times, but I believe that each and every person can make a difference.
