"The Custody will not forget what you did at Cana, and if Cana remains Christian today, it is due to you , to your selflessness and the fact that you risked your life." So wrote Father Erminion Roncari in 1972. These words were addressed to Friar Giuseppe Leombruni, for years parish priest of the town where on July 22, 1948, he went out to meet soldiers of the Haganah, convincing them to save the townspeople.
A plaque recording thanks, in these very words, has been unveiled a few meters from the Latin Church here. It was Father Michele Piccirillo who, shortly before his death, commissioned the sculptor Vincenzo Bianchi to fashion a bas-relief likeness of Father Leombruni.
A native of Ferentino, Father Leombruni came to the Holy Land when he was only eleven. Baptized Luigi, he became Brother Giuseppe in 1934, and Father Giuseppe in 1942. For some years he was a military chaplain, and eventually became Parish Priest of Cana. The incident recorded on the plaque recalls the partition of Palestine between Arabs and Jews, and the proclamation of the State of Israel, which provoked the first Arab-Israeli war. (1'15")
Friar FRANÇOIS-MARIE SHAMIYEH ofm
Superior, Friary of the First Miracle - Cana
During his tenure as a military chaplain he came to know several British and Jewish officers. During the incursions that took place in claiming territory, the Haganah, or fledgling Israeli Army advanced, and he, together with an Orthodox priest, the Christian mayor and officials, walked down from Cana with a white flag as a sign of peaceful surrender, in the spirit of Saint Francis. Several families had sought refuge in the Church and friary for several days. Now in 2011, we remember his action and his love for the people.
A plaque recording thanks, in these very words, has been unveiled a few meters from the Latin Church here. It was Father Michele Piccirillo who, shortly before his death, commissioned the sculptor Vincenzo Bianchi to fashion a bas-relief likeness of Father Leombruni.
A native of Ferentino, Father Leombruni came to the Holy Land when he was only eleven. Baptized Luigi, he became Brother Giuseppe in 1934, and Father Giuseppe in 1942. For some years he was a military chaplain, and eventually became Parish Priest of Cana. The incident recorded on the plaque recalls the partition of Palestine between Arabs and Jews, and the proclamation of the State of Israel, which provoked the first Arab-Israeli war. (1'15")
Friar FRANÇOIS-MARIE SHAMIYEH ofm
Superior, Friary of the First Miracle - Cana
During his tenure as a military chaplain he came to know several British and Jewish officers. During the incursions that took place in claiming territory, the Haganah, or fledgling Israeli Army advanced, and he, together with an Orthodox priest, the Christian mayor and officials, walked down from Cana with a white flag as a sign of peaceful surrender, in the spirit of Saint Francis. Several families had sought refuge in the Church and friary for several days. Now in 2011, we remember his action and his love for the people.