The rain, which had not fallen in Jerusalem for weeks, came down from the sky to bless the funeral which accompanied Sister Valeria Briccoli, Sister Salvatorina Camilleri and Sister Rania Haddad to the Franciscan cemetery on Mount Zion: it did not begin before and it did not continue afterwards. The nuns died tragically in a car accident on 24th December, as they were on their way from the Sanctuary of the Beatitudes, where they performed their service, to Bethlehem, where they were to have attended the Christmas celebrations. The Requiem Mass was presided by the Patriarch, Mons. Fouad Twal in the church of St. Saviour and concelebrated by the Custos of the Holy Land, Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the auxiliary Bishop of Jerusalem, Mons. William Shomali, the auxiliary Bishop of Nazareth Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, the Melkite Archbishop of Galilee Elias Chakour, the Apostolic Nonce, Mons. Antonio Franco, and by over one hundred and thirty religious and priests from all over Israel.
In his introductory monition, Mons. Twal compared the nuns who have passed away to the wise virgins in the Gospel going towards the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus, who went to meet them as his Nativity approached. The Patriarch also joined in the prayer of suffrage which at the same time the Bishop Salim was presiding in Amman in Jordan. The youngest of the nuns, Sister Rania Haddad, thirty-four years old, was Jordanian and her mother, heart-broken with grief, was at her funeral. The Italian Sister Valeria Briccoli and the Maltese Sister Salvatorina Camilleri were both sixty-seven years old and very well known for the welcome they gave to the thousands of pilgrims who visit the Sanctuary of the Beatitudes in Galilee.
“Today we share our tears,” said Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa in his homily– which are not only my personal tears, but those of the whole community that gathers around the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They are the tears of Jesus, who by becoming flesh at Christmas, became human in everything, even accepting grief, tears and death. Yes, at Christmas, before the joy of the Nativity of the Lord, we felt we were beside Jesus mourning the death of a friend. And we are convinced that he, the Emanuel, in this moment, is here, and bears with each one of us the burden of suffering and grief. In the face of three such tragic deaths, our whys leave no room for exegesis and theologies. In the silence created by our whys without an answer, there is the question that Jesus asked Martha, the sister of Lazarus: do you believe, do we believe that he is the resurrection and the life and that everyone who believes in him, although they die, will live? Do we believe this? There is no resurrection without death, there is no death in the faith of the Lord.”(the homily)
Before the funeral rites, some farewell speeches were made: Sister Clara Caramagno, Vicar General of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, recalled that by the mystery of the communion of saints, the deceased sisters are not separated from their other sisters, but united by a bond of love in Christ. The Italian Ambassador, very moved due to his deep friendship for those sisters, with whom he had exchanged Christmas greetings just a few days earlier, then spoke. He was followed by the Maltese ambassador, Abraham Borg, who prayed in Maltese, Sister Salvatorina’s mother tongue. The last parting words were those of the Jordanian consul in Tel Aviv, Hassam Rahal, and of Mr. Teresio Dutto, representing the ANSMI (National Association of Aid for Italian Missionaries), attending the Mass together with the President Maurizio Salietto.
After the service, a very long procession wound through the Christian and Armenian Quarters of Jerusalem, passing through the Zion Gate to reach the cemetery, where the parish priest of Jerusalem, Father Feras Hejazin, gave the last blessing to the coffins before burial. Everyone then returned to St. Saviour’s to pay their condolences to the sisters and the relatives of the deceased nuns.
In his introductory monition, Mons. Twal compared the nuns who have passed away to the wise virgins in the Gospel going towards the Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus, who went to meet them as his Nativity approached. The Patriarch also joined in the prayer of suffrage which at the same time the Bishop Salim was presiding in Amman in Jordan. The youngest of the nuns, Sister Rania Haddad, thirty-four years old, was Jordanian and her mother, heart-broken with grief, was at her funeral. The Italian Sister Valeria Briccoli and the Maltese Sister Salvatorina Camilleri were both sixty-seven years old and very well known for the welcome they gave to the thousands of pilgrims who visit the Sanctuary of the Beatitudes in Galilee.
“Today we share our tears,” said Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa in his homily– which are not only my personal tears, but those of the whole community that gathers around the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. They are the tears of Jesus, who by becoming flesh at Christmas, became human in everything, even accepting grief, tears and death. Yes, at Christmas, before the joy of the Nativity of the Lord, we felt we were beside Jesus mourning the death of a friend. And we are convinced that he, the Emanuel, in this moment, is here, and bears with each one of us the burden of suffering and grief. In the face of three such tragic deaths, our whys leave no room for exegesis and theologies. In the silence created by our whys without an answer, there is the question that Jesus asked Martha, the sister of Lazarus: do you believe, do we believe that he is the resurrection and the life and that everyone who believes in him, although they die, will live? Do we believe this? There is no resurrection without death, there is no death in the faith of the Lord.”(the homily)
Before the funeral rites, some farewell speeches were made: Sister Clara Caramagno, Vicar General of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, recalled that by the mystery of the communion of saints, the deceased sisters are not separated from their other sisters, but united by a bond of love in Christ. The Italian Ambassador, very moved due to his deep friendship for those sisters, with whom he had exchanged Christmas greetings just a few days earlier, then spoke. He was followed by the Maltese ambassador, Abraham Borg, who prayed in Maltese, Sister Salvatorina’s mother tongue. The last parting words were those of the Jordanian consul in Tel Aviv, Hassam Rahal, and of Mr. Teresio Dutto, representing the ANSMI (National Association of Aid for Italian Missionaries), attending the Mass together with the President Maurizio Salietto.
After the service, a very long procession wound through the Christian and Armenian Quarters of Jerusalem, passing through the Zion Gate to reach the cemetery, where the parish priest of Jerusalem, Father Feras Hejazin, gave the last blessing to the coffins before burial. Everyone then returned to St. Saviour’s to pay their condolences to the sisters and the relatives of the deceased nuns.