We have seen the worst of religious opportunists in this crisis. There are also stories of amazing selflessness from religious groups and individuals. One such person is Rev. Giuseppe Berardelli, 72. Many of you may already have heard of this man but his story is as inspiring as it is tragic. According to Vatican News, Berardelli greeted everyone with the phrase: “Pace e bene” (“Peace and All Good”)
Berardelli was known for his warm personality and his love for his motorbike.
He contracted coronavirus like many priests who are struggling to attend to the sick and the dying. Sixty priests in Italy have died in this pandemic and many others are sick.
Berardelli served at the parish of San Giovanni Battista, in Casnigo, Italy, just northeast of Milan. When his parishioners bought him a respirator, he insisted that they give it to a younger person. He then contracted the virus.
At the hospital, he was put on a ventilator. However, according to published reports, he spotted a younger patient struggling with the virus. He insisted that the equipment be used on the younger patient. Berardelli later died at the hospital from the virus.
Berardelli is the face of humanity in this pandemic. It is easy to succumb to cynicism in reading of religious opportunists and fringe figures. However, hundreds of priests like Berardelli have joined doctors and nurses in confronting this menace. Dozens have died in bringing solace to the suffering. Yes, this crisis has brought out some of the worst of us in the form of hoarders and profiteers. However, it has also brought out some of the best of us. Berardelli was the best of us.
Pace e bene, Father Berardelli.
“In reality, said Giuseppe Foresti, sacristan of Berardelli’s parish of St. John the Baptist in Casnigo, about 15 miles from Bergamo in northern Italy, the elderly priest simply couldn’t tolerate the ventilator, in part because of preexisting health conditions, and refused to use it.”
‘Fake news’ aside, friend says priest dead of coronavirus was still a ‘special person’
Elise Ann AllenMar 24, 2020
SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
https://cruxnow.com/covid-19/2020/03/fake-news-aside-friend-says-priest-dead-of-coronavirus-was-still-a-special-person/
ROME – A longtime friend of Father Giuseppe Berardelli, who died in northern Italy from the COVID-19 coronavirus earlier this month, has described the priest as a caring and involved pastor, while also debunking what he says is “fake news” about the priest’s death.
Over the last 24 hours, Italian media have featured stories prominently about Berardelli, 72, claiming that he “donated” a ventilator being used to treat his COVID-19, allegedly declining to accept it so that it could be used to treat someone younger.
In reality, said Giuseppe Foresti, sacristan of Berardelli’s parish of St. John the Baptist in Casnigo, about 15 miles from Bergamo in northern Italy, the elderly priest simply couldn’t tolerate the ventilator, in part because of preexisting health conditions, and refused to use it.
Foresti emphasized that doesn’t make Berardelli any less of a role model.
“I can tell you that certainly Don Giuseppe was a special person, he really gave himself to the entire community,” Foresti told Crux March 24.
The two men two had known each other for more than 16 years, when Berardelli first came to the parish in 2006.
“Fr. Berardelli was a man of self-sacrifice, but reports of a donated respirator are not true”
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/fr-berardelli-was-a-man-of-self-sacrifice-but-reports-of-a-donated-respirator-are-not-true-10682
Excerpt:
A March 22 report from the Italian website Araberara, which claimed Fr. Berardelli sacrificed a respirator donated by his parish for another younger patient, went viral March 23.
The website quoted an anonymous employee at the San Giuseppe Rest Home in Casnigo as the source of its information.
But Benedetta Franchina, an employee at the San Giuseppe Rest Home, told CNA it is unlikely fellow employees of the rest home could have known how things ended for Fr. Berardelli, because he died at the Lovere Hospital, and not at the rest home.
Franchina told CNA she is a parishioner of Berardelli’s parish, St. John the Baptist, and that she knew the priest as a man of great faith.
“Berardelli later died” is a highly sanitized version of events. Berardelli slowly smothered today over excruciating, terrifying, hours, where it was a battle to draw breath through a straw into lungs that were increasingly underwater. It’s like in the movies when the sub has sunk and sprung a leak, and water slowly enters the chamber behind the bulk head and drowns the crew.
Berardelli likely knew this was his fate. His was a beautiful, heartbreakingly kind sacrifice. God bless him and keep him.
The Covid-19 pandemic will be especially hard on the Catholic Church. Their clergy is, on average, old. In some parts of the world they struggle with too few priests and nuns. Not many seek the life of celibacy. So many will be lost to the pandemic that this is going to have far reaching consequences.
“Berardelli slowly smothered today over excruciating, terrifying, hours, where it was a battle to draw breath through a straw into lungs that were increasingly underwater. It’s like in the movies when the sub has sunk and sprung a leak, and water slowly enters the chamber behind the bulk head and drowns the crew.”
Do you have proof of this, Karen — in Rev. Berardelli’s case? If not, please dispense with the unnecessary and counterproductive high-drama.
Air-hunger is a terrible thing, but there are comfort/palliative measures that are available.
Please back up your statements about Rev. Berardelli’s death.
Selfless, he wasn’t even that old. He could have lived another 10-20 years. Rest in Peace.
“However, it has also brought out some of the best of us. Berardelli was the best of us.”
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Died doing what he committed his life to doing. There really isn’t a better way to go.
As the good father likely knew and as Macaulay wrote:
“To every man upon this earth, death cometh soon or late;
And how can man die better than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods,
~Horatius at the Bridge (1842)
All the best to Giuseppe in this realm and all the others. There’s a man who embodied true service.
…how many alter boys shed a tear at his departure?
What a stupid thing to say. Who did you give your life for today?
” … alter boys?”
*****************
Are they changelings?
It is well with your soul, Father Berardelli.
Pace e bene, Father Berardelli. Rest In Peace. Be well, Professor Turley.
Requiescat in pace
Milan is English for Milano. Rome is pronounced and spelled Roma. Florence is Firienze. God is Dog.
The situation in Italy is worrisome and in direct contrast to the “data” being reported by China. JAMA just published an article written by physicians in Italy where they compared the data from Italy vs China. Finally! Lets see who runs with their analysis in the MSM. I predict none
Case-Fatality Rate and Characteristics of Patients Dying in Relation to COVID-19 in Italy
Graziano Onder, MD, PhD1; Giovanni Rezza, MD2; Silvio Brusaferro, MD3
Author Affiliations Article Information
1Department of Cardiovascular, Endocrine-Metabolic Diseases and Aging, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
2Department of Infectious Diseases, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
3Office of the President, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
JAMA. Published online March 23, 2020. doi:10.1001/jama.2020.4683
R.I.P. padre.
And now compare him with the selfish narcissist we have at the helm. For him nothing else matters but his bottom line. For that he will keep talking like a wacko spewing nonsense everyday on national television, lying through the teeth and endangering everyone. The way he talks is a serious embarrassment – I work with an international team and they are flabbergasted that Americans have such a moron of a president. I invited them to check out some of the commenters on this blog.
And now compare him with the selfish narcissist we have at the helm.
Ya know, Hutom, we often do not see ourselves as others do.
“…we often do not see ourselves as others do.”
“This is absurd” needs to take those words to heart.
International team…ok so which one and what are your professional credentials? Head bedpan cleaner? Actually the way YOU talk is not only an embarrassment to our country, but anyone with an IQ over 70.Did everyone of you liberals get dropped on your heads by your mother at birth or were you just born mentally impaired? Lucky that you live in a great country like the USA, so even retards like you can spout their uneducated opinions, steeped in even more retarded political views. Liberalism is a disease, sounds like you really have it bad.
Screw your ‘international team’. Only a numbskull would be courting the approval of these fatally smug clowns who criticize the US while remaining oblivious to the very real threats they have introduced to their own countries. Too bad about your inferiority complex.
Hutom, are you an American? I detect from your painful embarrassment in front of your international friends but also your syntax that you don’t see yourselves as one of us. Are you?
May the good father rest in eternal peace.
Amen.