Message from the Holy Father for the celebrations and initiatives in Gravina, in the Italian region of Apulia, on the occasion of the third centenary of the election to the papacy of Pier Francesco Orsini, until now the last Pontiff of southern Italy. During the Mass Cardinal Semeraro: “he wrote 218 Marian sermons, his devotion to the Virgin was so well known that his contemporaries defined him as a ‘Marian singer’.”
A man of prayer who after the election remained in deep prayer during the first three days; humble man who never adapted to worldly styles or succumbed to the lure of a career; “Companion of the poor” for whom he had a special predilection; guide for clergy committed to spiritual renewal. Pope Francis remembers with glowing words the figure of Benedict XIII – Pier Francesco Orsini (1650-1730), to date the last Pontiff of southern Italy. Precisely from Gravina in the Italian region of Apulia, where these days the third centenary of the election of the illustrious “fellow citizen” to the papal throne (May 29, 1724) is celebrated with a series of ceremonies and initiatives.
Human and Christian experience
Yesterday, May 29, in the Basilica of Santa Maria Assunta, where the future Benedict XIII cultivated his vocation to the priesthood and religious life as a young man, Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, celebrated a Mass . At the conclusion of the liturgy, Monsignor Giuseppe Russo, bishop of Altamura – Gravina – Acquaviva delle Fonti, read the message of Pope Francis in which he urges the participants in the celebration of the Orsinian Year to “take advantage of the human and Christian experience of Pope Orsini is the example to revitalize our path”.
Opposed to prestigious commissions
In the message, Pope Francis then rereads the life of his predecessor: “a personality of faith and a good soul” who, although the firstborn of a family of high aristocracy, “had the courage to leave everything and follow Jesus Christ, entering into the Order of Preachers”. Therefore, he renounced the “attractions of a career that was already oriented toward him” and even as a consecrated man he was against receiving prestigious positions. However, “a year after his priestly ordination out of obedience – the Pope recalls – he accepted to enter the College of Cardinals and later be named bishop of the then Siponto.”
Tool to revive the Church
“Instead of rebelling or adapting to the worldly style of the time, he cultivated the dream of becoming a shepherd of the flock, thus transforming his internal opposition into opportunity,” Francis emphasizes, “he understood that Providence offered him the possibility of being a docile instrument for make the Church of souls reborn”. Orsini always maintained “the fervor of a pious and humble religious” and in the three dioceses he served (Manfredonia, Cesena and Benevento), “he spared no effort to fulfill his episcopal responsibilities, paying great attention to the spiritual renewal of the clergy, going to meet the faithful”.
Compassionate love for others
Endowed with a “forward-looking intelligence” and also with a “proven culture”, he was distinguished above all “by his pastoral care and his goodness of soul.” The Pope’s hope is that this spiritual legacy can rekindle among the faithful of the diocese of Gravino “the same love” that their fellow citizens “had for the Church and for the beloved of the Gospel, the poor, arousing feelings of loving compassion for others”. To priests in particular, the Pope entrusts “the task of experiencing in the priestly ministry the same inspiration that ignited the entire existence of the Pontiff Benedict”.
Devotion to Mary
“The great devotion that Orsini had towards the Holy Mother of God” was, however, the aspect highlighted by Cardinal Semeraro in his homily. In fact, contemporaries defined the Pontiff as a “Marian singer.” “In publishing his Marian sermons delivered Saturday after Saturday in the cathedral of Benevento,” Benedict Crowning the image of Santa Maria delle Grazie, on April 3, 1723, the Pontiff of Apulia concluded his last Marian sermon with these words: “In the meantime, it remains for you, Lady Clement… to have the pleasure of writing to me in the Book of your servants, because then I will have the certainty that I will still be written in the Book of Eternal Life… And so I hope that it will be so.”
Concerts and initiatives
Among those present at the celebrations – which began Wednesday the 29th with the concert at the Oratory of Saint Catherine and will end today, May 30, with the Habemus Papam commemorative event – Life and work of a man in the service of God and the people – the bishop of Altamura -Gravina-Acquaviva delle Fonti, Monsignor Giuseppe Russo, the Archbishop Bishop Emeritus, Giovanni Ricchiuti, and Monsignor Saverio Paternoster, committed to the cause of beatification of Benedict XIII.
