Seven packages containing fifteen thousand pages of documents concerning the diocesan process for the beatification and canonization of Nino Baglieri, servant of God, who passed away in Modica 17 years ago, who – as Monsignor Salvatore Rumeo said in the homily of the bishop of Noto – offered his suffering to God. Words that moved the faithful who crowded the Cathedral of San Pietro in Modica. But not only. The Cathedral witnessed the presence of three bishops (Rumeo, from Noto; Giurdanella, from Mazara del Vallo; Gisana, from Piazza Armerina; a delegate of the Archbishop of Palermo, Lorefice); the representatives of the Salesian Family; the “Volunteers with Don Bosco”. Also present were almost all the priests of the Diocese of Noto.
And the closing rite, with the affixing of Bishop Rumeo’s signature on each package and the wax seal, took place on May 5th, a date dear to Nino Baglieri: on May 5th 1951 he was baptized (just 4 days after birth) and on May 5, 1968 he celebrated his seventeenth birthday, at the seaside with friends, the day before he fell from the scaffolding he was working on, leaving him quadriplegic.
Nino Baglieri’s reputation for holiness and charity has spread widely among the faithful of the Sicilian churches, who now see with hope the path towards the possible canonization of the Servant of God. The documents of the trial have been collected and sent to the Congregation for the Causes of Santi in Rome for further evaluation.
the diocesan investigation was officially opened on 2 March 2014 in the Cathedral of Noto by bishop Antonio Staglianò. Nino thus became “Servant of God”. In little more than a decade the Tribunal Appointed by the Bishop and the Theological Censors and the Historical Commission have worked hard.
The Historical Commission, in particular, has researched, collected, studied and presented the many documentary sources regarding the Cause: Nino’s personal documents (civil, religious, medical, etc.); writings – published or otherwise – of the Servant of God (such as the Letters and the fundamental Notebooks-Diaries written with the mouth); Significant writings by the Servant of God and above all Writings on the Servant of God (from books to articles, from accounts of thanks to many attestations of the good done by Nino and initiatives in honor of him). The Historical Commission delivered to the Court packages with over fifteen thousand pages of writings, as well as a Report that illustrates the work carried out, evaluates the sources and presents a first critical biography of the Servant of God.
The Court focused its attention on listening, under oath, to over 100 witnesses: family members, friends (including those of Nino Baglieri as a teenager) and acquaintances. The work of research and examination of the documentation will continue in the Vatican and should also be enriched by the testimony regarding a miracle.
The event at the Cathedral of San Pietro also saw the presence of civil and military authorities from the Modica district, regional parliamentarians, the mayor of Modica, Maria Monisteri, and his council, as well as Nino Baglieri’s family members. Now the path of the Servant of God towards other, desirable honors can begin: a long road but at the end of which the name of “Nino Baglieri, the Saint of Modica” could be written.
