From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   Of the proving of the true lover   
      
   4. “Therefore let not strange fancies disturb thee, whencesoever   
   they arise. Bravely observe thy purpose and thy upright   
   intentions towards God. It is not an illusion when thou art   
   sometimes suddenly carried away into rapture, and then suddenly   
   art brought back to the wonted vanities of thy heart. For thou   
   dost rather unwillingly undergo them than cause them; and so long   
   as they displease thee and thou strivest against them, it is a   
   merit and no loss.   
   --Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3 Ch 6   
      
   <<>><<>><<>>   
   29 May – Blessed Rolando Maria Rivi   
      
    “I belong to Jesus,” Seminarian, Martyr, – born on 7 January 1931 in   
   San Valentin di Castellarano, Reggio Emilia, Italy and died on 13   
   April 1945- aged 14.   
   Blessed Rolando was noted for his studious and pious nature with an   
   intense love for Jesus Christ which was evident through frequent   
   Confession and the reception of the Holy Eucharist. He was amiable to   
   all and wore his cassock with great pride to the point where he   
   affirmed that he belonged to Christ and His Church. The Communist   
   partisans murdered him “in odium fidei” (in hatred of the faith)   
   towards the end of World War II in Modena, because he would become a   
   Priest.   
      
   Born in San Valentino, a hamlet of the town of Castellarano, he was   
   the second of three children of Roberto and Albertina Rivi. On the day   
   after he was born, his parents brought him to be Baptised in the   
   village church, after which they dedicated him to Our Lady of Mount   
   Carmel.   
      
   Rivi grew up, educated in the faith by his mother and father and in   
   the strong religious atmosphere, was a fixture in his Parish. Before   
   going to work in the fields each morning, he attended the celebration   
   of the Mass and received the Eucharist, after he made his First   
   Communion. In this home filled with faith, he grew along with his   
   older brother Guido and little sister Rosanna. His exuberance and   
   liveliness often proved a test to his parents but his grandmother,   
   Anna sensed his good character and said once that “Rolando will become   
   either a rascal or a saint! He can not walk the middle ground.”   
      
   In 1937 he began attending the local school where his teachers   
   cultivated his love for life and for Jesus Christ, while noting his   
   desire to know and love Jesus. He was admitted to receive his First   
   Communion almost at once, because he was among the better prepared   
   children and eager to do so. His First Communion was made on 16 June   
   1938 on the Feast of Corpus Christi. Rolando changed after that event   
   – while remaining amiable and energetic, he became more mature and   
   responsible, which was a profound change and which was accentuated   
   after receiving his Confirmation on 24 June 1940 from the Bishop of   
   Reggio.   
      
   In the meantime, his Parish Priest Father Marzocchini Olinto, became   
   his teacher and a spiritual father. Rivi availed himself of the   
   Sacrament of Penance each week and each morning he got up to serve   
   Mass and receive the Eucharist. He was almost 11 when he was no longer   
   able to ignore the beginnings of his vocation to the Priesthood and he   
   said to his parents and grandparents: “I want to be a Priest to save   
   many souls. I will go as a Missionary to make Jesus known, far far   
   away.” His pious parents did not oppose the decision and after he   
   completed his schooling, he commenced his Ecclesial studies in Marola   
   in Carpineti on 1 October 1942. As was the custom, he wore the cassock   
   from the moment he entered as a Seminarian and was proud of the   
   garment, viewing it as a sign of his belonging to Christ and to the   
   Church.   
      
   Rolando was forced to leave his studies and return home in June 1944   
   after the Nazi forces occupied the Italian nation but he still wore   
   his cassock with pride, against the wishes of his parents. His parents   
   were worried about rising anti-religious sentiment and even violence   
   against Ecclesial figures but he refused to desist and continued to   
   wear it. He said to them:  “I study to be a priest and these vestments   
   are the sign that I belong to Jesus.” Rivi wore his cassock during   
   vacation periods and even during the hot summer months. He liked music   
   and could use a harmonium. People in his village admired him for his   
   holiness and even his father admired him and said once:  “My son is so   
   good and studious.”   
      
   On 10 April 1945, Rolando was taken by a group of Communist   
   insurgents, who forced him to go with them into the woods. His father,   
   Roberto, wrote of that day as follows:   
      
   “It was the morning of 10 April 1945. After returning from Mass with   
   my son, I left to work in the fields. When I returned around midday I   
   did not find Rolando in the house. My sister-in-law told me that he   
   had gone to study in his usual place, a grove nearby the house. I   
   called him, there was no response. Together with his mother I went to   
   the place thinking that he might be asleep but a sad surprise awaited   
   us. His books were scattered on the ground and, on a piece of paper   
   taken from one of his notebooks, these words were written:  “Do not   
   search for him, he has come with us for a moment.  The Insurgents.”   
   My wife began to cry.”   
      
   On Friday, 13 April 1945, after three days of torture and humiliation,   
   the insurgents brought him to a forest in the village of Piane di   
   Monchio, where there was already a grave dug. It was about 3:00 in the   
   afternoon. They hurled him to the ground and then forced him to kneel   
   on the edge of the grave. Before they killed him, Rolando asked for –   
   and was granted – a moment to pray for his parents. Even then, he   
   reaffirmed his belonging to Christ. The Communist insurgents then   
   murdered him with two shots of the pistol.   
      
   On the evening of 14 April following the directions of some insurgents   
   (including the very assassin!), Roberto Rivi and Father Alberto   
   Camellini, the pastor of San Valentino, recovered Rolando’s body. His   
   face was black and blue, his body tormented and there were two mortal   
   wounds – one at the left temple and the other at the heart. The   
   following day they brought him to the town of Monchio, where the   
   funeral and Christian burial were held.   
      
   His figure became more well known in 2001 after news broke that the   
   English child James Blacknall (born 1998) was cured of leukemia on 4   
   April 2001 after a hair and blood relic of Rivi was placed under his   
   pillow with a novena said. Rolando Rivi’s cause for Canonisation was   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)