Simone Troisi - Chiara Corbella Petrillo

Simone Troisi and Cristiana Paccini

Chiara Corbella Petrillo

A Witness to Joy

Translation by Charlotte J. Fasi

SOPHIA INSTITUTE PRESS
Manchester, New Hampshire

Copyright 2015 by Edizioni Porziuncola;
English translation Copyright 2015 by Charlotte J. Fasi

Chiara Corbella Petrillo: A Witness to Joy is an English translation of Siamo Nati e Non Moriremo Mai Pi: Storia de Chiara Corbella Petrillo , published in 2013 by Edizioni Porziuncola, Via Protomartiri Francescani, 2 06088 S. Maria degli Angeli (Pg) Italia (ISBN 978-88-270-1015-0).

Printed in the United States of America. All rights reserved.

Cover design by C oronation Media in collaboration with Perceptions Design Studio.

Photos courtesy of Chiaras family and Edizioni Porziuncola. Used with permission.

Biblical references in this book are taken from the Catholic Edition of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1965, 1966 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

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Sophia Institute Press is a registered trademark of Sophia Institute.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Troisi, Simone.

[Siamo nati e non moriremo mai pi. English]

Chiara Corbella Petrillo : a witness to joy / Simone Troisi and Cristiana
Paccini ; translated by Charlotte J Fasi.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 978-1-62282-305-5 (pbk. : alk. paper) ePub ISBN 978-1-622823-062

1. Corbella Petrillo, Chiara, 1984-2012. 2. Catholics Italy Biography.
3. Cancer Patients Italy Biography. I. Title.

BX4705.C68145T7613 2015

282.092 dc23

[B]

2015025050

To Reverend Joseph F. Flanagan,

our Father Vito,

pastor of St. Gertrude Church,

Windsor, Connecticut,

1956-1976,

in appreciation

C.J.F.

We are born into eternity, and we shall never die.

Contents

Foreword: , by Father Vito DAmato

Preface: , by Enrico Petrillo

Introduction:

Acknowledgments

Foreword

What We Have Seen

Much has been written of the things that we have witnessed... These are the words that begin the Gospel of St. Luke. With these same words Simone and Cristiana wished to begin their biography of Chiara Corbella Petrillo.

The desire to know Chiara was immediately very strong, and at her funeral, when I said at the end of my homily, If you wish to know more about Chiara, come ask us, people responded in the thousands, urging us throughout the year to release testimonies, interviews, and material about her.

Thus, we instantly became aware of the high demand to hear her story, a story that stuns and alarms and at the same time charms. Many had already narrated the events of her story. There were articles in the national dailies, complete chapters in books, and discussions in blogs and in social media.

Moreover, as often happens in these cases, the (legitimate) desire to understand combined with the scarcity of information made way for interpretations and added details that had nothing to do with the reality of the facts.

In consideration of all this and of the impossibility on the part of her husband, Enrico, to cope with all the requests that came from all over, the idea for this book was born. It became the instrument to tell their story as it really happened. After overcoming the first natural resistance, owing to the fact that we had to share Chiaras story with masses of believers and nonbelievers, Enrico and I thought of asking Simone and Cristiana to write it. Always going back to St. Luke, we asked them to go over the whole story from the beginning and write an ordered account (cf. Luke 1:3).

This book reflects not simply the authors points of view on what happened but also the accuracy with which Simone gathered the memories of relatives and friends. Those who witnessed, close up, all the events of Chiaras story make this book a testimony of faith by a portion of the Church that speaks of eternal life and actualizes the words of St. John, who writes in his Gospel: [W]e speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen (John 3:11).

Father Vito DAmato

Preface

In Order Not to Forget

I am here now, in your room, your last room. You slept here only one night, and now it is your room. It is here that the doors were opened and He came in person to meet you. It is the room where your loving eyes finally recovered. In brief, I am here in this holy place, and I am reminiscing.

Only a year has passed since that last, unique Mass was celebrated in this room. I am moved by all the love that was received and given here, always together, and I discover again how much in love I am with you and with Him.

Perhaps, however, it is still too easy for me. I have been nurtured too well. I have eaten the honey from the rock [Ps. 81:16], to cite a biblical reference. The... best [pasta] carbonara, I would say. Again, it is here that He told us in the Gospel of that last Mass, You are the salt of the earth... the light of the world (Matt. 5:1314). It was and it is His mandate to go out and proclaim [that] the kingdom of heaven is close at hand (cf. Matt. 10:7).

There is a world [out there] that loves you in an extraordinary way. It feels close to you in its sufferings. It prays to you as if you were already a recognized saint. I would like to tone it down a bit, although I have no doubt that you truly are. Your happiness almost seems the imprimatur of the Lord: as if to say, Here I passed; this is my space.

You know, my love, our love continues to generate children (Father Vito made me aware of it). We have so many that I cannot remember all their names. They are children not in the flesh; rather, they are children in the Lord.

I hope that Francesco will forgive me, but I opened his gift, your letter to him for his birthday. I wrote some of it myself, and I think I should share it with the children far away. I hope I did not err. I did not think that I was depriving Frankie of your love, for he is the child of your flesh.

You know, there are also those in the world who would prefer that you never existed, because it is not easy to be judged by God in you: in your eyes, in your bandage, in your smile. In you, in the totality of your beauty, there is always He. Therefore, this book is necessary. My love, there is already a book about you; we are still marveling over it! It is not a book that explains the truth. The truth knows very well how to explain itself. Nor does the book exist to generate publicity (as many would have wished). There is never complete truth in anyone who wishes to sell you something. But you, yes, you can say it because you have given all that you were able: life.

It was necessary for you to die, my love; it was necessary so that the blind see, so that the thirsty drink, so that the arrogant are routed in their heart, and so that His people know that slavery has ended and that the King comes in glory.

This book exists simply to give witness to the one who wishes to open his heart to the reality that God is good and that one can die happy. Above all, it helps me not to forget. I have seen, only through grace, what many prophets and kings would have wished to see but did not [cf. Luke 10:24]. I would be culpable if I were silent. I must testify I from here, and you from there, united in love that, for us, is different but certainly not weaker.