Wednesday, November 24, 2010

In memoriam Manuela Camagni of the Papal Household

UPDATE: For those who are wondering and do not know the circumstances of Manuela's death, she was walking in Rome with some friends on Tuesday evening when she was struck by a car. She died yesterday morning due to serious brain injuries she sustained in the accident. Carol Glatz has a nice post over the CNS blog, in which she writes about the Holy Father mentioning his relationship with his "papal family" in his new book-length interview with Peter Seewald, The Light of the World. He lives with his family of Memores Domini, celebrates daily Mass, shares meals, and enjoys watching movies on DVD with them and, yes my dear ciellini, School of Community!

Members of the papal family eat their meals together and often relax in the evenings watching DVDs, he said in the book. They celebrate the holidays and feast days together, even exchanging gifts, and “there is above all Holy Mass in common in the morning,” the pope said.

“That is an especially important moment in which we are all with each other in a particularly intense way in the light of the Lord.


Press release:
Message of Fr. Julián Carrón on the sudden death of Manuela Camagni, Memores Domini of the papal household

Upon learning of the sudden death of Manuela Camagni, a member of Memores Domini who served in the papal apartment, Fr. Julián Carrón, President of the Fraternity of Communion and Liberation, sent this message to the entire Movement:

Dear friends, the sudden death of our friend Manuela Camagni is the mysterious modality by which the Lord forces us to think of Him, renewing the certainty that “not a hair on your head will be destroyed," as today’s Liturgy said. Let us draw together ever more intensely in the embrace of the Holy Father, as children who want to share in all his wounded humanity.



"No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.” Manuela’s laying down of her life was manifested evidently and surprisingly both through her openness to mission in the experience in Tunis, and in her service of the Holy Father. May her sacrifice renew in all of us the truth of our "I", that the victory of Christ be increasingly affirmed in our hearts.

May Fr. Giussani obtain from Our Lady the gift of eternal happiness for our friend and the gift of consolation for the Pope.

The CL press office
Milan, November 24, 2010

Thank you to my dear friends, Stefania and Sharon for passing this news along.

All holy men and women, pray for us

2 comments:

  1. Gosh this is sad news and she was so beautiful. I don't really understand the organisation she was part of. What is memores domini and what is the communion/fraternity she was part of. Was she a nun or.and a nurse/ secretary ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Truly sad, Philomena, but indicative of life and shows us its transitory nature. Memores Domini, which is a part of the Fraternity of Communion & Liberation, is a group of women and men who take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They live in community in Memores houses, but typically work in secular occupations.

    I belong to Communion & Liberation, but, as a married deacon with children, I am not a member of Memores Domini. The Holy Father lives in community with members of Memores Domini, some of whom cook and clean, etc., but they all share a communal life together. So, she is best described, as are all the members of Papal Apartment, as one of his companions, his friends.

    I know he was quite bereft at her passing, like losing a family member.

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