The Church of Ragusa celebrates and remembers Monsignor Francesco Pennisi on the 50th anniversary of his pious passing. He rests, as he himself arranged, in the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament of the cathedral. Tomorrow, 25 June, the day on which the 50th anniversary of the pious passing of Monsignor Pennisi falls, the solemn Pontifical Lauds will be held at 9.30 in the cathedral, presided over by the bishop Monsignor Giuseppe La Placa with the participation of the Canons of the Cathedral Chapter, of the clergy, men and women religious and faithful. A floral tribute will be placed at the tomb of the bishop Monsignor Francesco Pennisi. A delegation of faithful from Pedara will be present.
Today in the cathedral, the bishop of Caltanissetta, Monsignor Mario Russotto, celebrated a solemn pontifical during which he outlined the figure of Monsignor Pennisi as a profound believer, passionate about the Church, lover of the priesthood. «For everyone – said Monsignor Russotto – he was a father, a friend and a pastor». Russotto focused on the priesthood, recalling how the history of the Church of Ragusa is also a history of holy priests and how Monsignor Pennisi considered the priesthood a poetry, instilling the young people who were preparing to become priests to know how to live and enjoy the happiness of their calling. Today the Diocese of Ragusa, which is preparing to celebrate the Jubilee for the 75th anniversary of its foundation, celebrates and remembers Monsignor Pennisi who laid the foundations of this history by guiding it, as Monsignor Russotto recalled, «with the love of a father and the heart of poet”.
The figure of Monsignor Pennisi is linked to the origins of the Diocese of Ragusa. He guided its first steps as auxiliary bishop from 6 May 1950 (when with the bull Ad Dominucum Gregem the Diocese of Ragusa was erected as a suffragan of the metropolitan church of Syracuse and united to this aeque principaliter and subjected to the archbishop Monsignor Ettore Baranzini) and then from titular bishop since October 1, 1955 when the Holy See issued the Quamquam est bull with which the Diocese of Ragusa continued its journey definitively detaching itself from Syracuse. Until 1974 he was the enlightened guide who allowed the young Church of Ragusa to structure itself but also to open up to the renewal introduced by the Council in which Pennisi himself participated and was present in all the sessions. Many of those creations are still alive today and represent a point of reference for the life and ecclesial and social dynamics of our community.
The Diocese of Ragusa has named the library which houses more than 35 thousand volumes after Monsignor Francesco Pennisi.
