In the homily of the Eucharistic Celebration celebrated on Saturday, 17th January on the occasion of the closing of the Diocesan Inquiry launched in Albano for the cause of Beatification and Canonization of Domenico Mangano, a Volunteer of God of the Focolare Movement, Mons. Stefano Russo, Bishop of the Diocese of Velletri-Segni and Frascati, near Rome said, “The Lord continues to call through His word (…) As happened to John the Baptist who, enlightened by the love of God, recognized the Son of God and pointed him out to others (…) something similar happens at the start of a path of canonization of a person when someone points out the presence of holiness, a consequence of an encounter with Christ. This was the case for Domenico. A community said: “We met him, we shared many experiences with him, participating together in a holy journey, we saw his actions illuminated by the Lord especially from the moment he met the charism of unity”.

The family of Domenico Mangano, his friends and members of the Focolare Movement were present in the Auditorium of the International Centre of the Focolare Movement while a live-stream connection allowed many people from different parts of the world to follow the event.

Who was Domenico?

Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement, described Domenico’s life as, “a life marked by availability, attentiveness to others and a concrete love, lived without fanfare but with fidelity. Like the Good Samaritan, Domenico knew how to stop, to draw close and to transform an encounter with another person into a gift”.

Jesús Morán, Co-President of the Focolare Movement, said, “A Christian layman who took faith seriously in real life. A husband, father, worker, citizen deeply rooted in his community, he didn’t live the Gospel as a private matter, but as a light capable of illuminating public choices, social responsibilities and commitment to the common good. His spirituality was deeply incarnated: rooted in faith, which does not distance people from the world but is always attentive to history, to people’s problems and to the needs of society.”

Domenico felt the Gospel call to serve the community by promoting respect, dignity, social co-responsibility and a culture of participation, so that every citizen could feel that they were a living part of society. He was a man of dialogue by inner choice and Christian responsibility. For him, politics was never a place of conquest, but a space of service, a concrete form of social charity, lived with moral seriousness, clarity of judgment and a deep sense of justice. He constantly tried to unite Heaven and earth by translating the message of the Gospel into social life.

Margaret Karram, President of the Focolare Movement; Jesús Morán, Co-President of the Focolare Movement; Dr Waldery Hilgeman, Postulator of the Cause; and Monsignor Stefano Russo, Bishop of Velletri-Segni and Frascati.

Along this journey, the lifeblood flowed from the spirituality of unity and from his commitment to the “Volunteers of God” whom Chiara Lubich, Foundress of the Focolare Movement, defined as “the first Christians of the twentieth century who live to render the presence of Jesus visible wherever they are.”

Through his commitment to a lifestyle based on the Gospel, a deep spiritual dimension matured in him: he gradually learned to let God be at the centre, to guide his life and his choices and, with Him, to place the people, the community and the common good at the heart of everything. This was the source of his inner freedom, serenity and of his ability to love concretely.

Fr Andrea De Matteis, Judicial Vicar of the Diocese of Albano, Episcopal Delegate for this Cause, recalled that many have described Domenico as “a mystic of the ordinary: prayer, family, work and civil commitment formed a single reality in him. He lived a mysticism of presence, recognizable in the simplest gestures: in listening, in a discreet word or in a smile. A contemplative heart immersed in the world, a man who sought to please God in the practicalities of daily life. In his disarming simplicity, he bore witness to how it is possible to make the ordinary extraordinary, normality exceptional and to draw the divine into the fragile human condition of each person.”

Domenico also experienced the trial of illness with demanding faith, experiencing it as a time of entrusting and offering. Along that painful path, he once again recognized the presence of God who calls, transforms and leads to fulfillment.

In the photos: 1- The boxes containing the documents of the Cause – 2 – from left, Dr Waldery Hilgeman, Postulator, and then the members of the Diocesan Tribunal of the Cause: Prof. Marco Capri, Notary, Don Andrea De Matteis, Judicial Vicar of the Diocese of Albano and Episcopal Delegate, and Prof. Emanuele Spedicato, Promoter of Justice – 3 – on the left, Juan Ignacio Larrañaga, central coordinator of the Volunteers of God; in the centre, Dr Paolo Mottironi, central manager of the Volunteers of God at the time the Cause began.

The solemn conclusion of the diocesan phase for Domenico – which for a long time has involved the dedicated service of the Bishops of Albano, at first Mons. Marcello Semeraro then Mons. Vincenzo Viva, alongside the Tribunal, various collaborators and many witnesses – was an event of profound ecclesial significance.

With this official act it was declared before God and the ecclesial community, that the patient and passionate work of listening, gathering and evaluating evidence, was carried out by many with integrity, truth and fidelity to the norms of the Church and a deep awareness of the gift entrusted to them.

In Domenico Mangano we see how holiness can flourish in ordinary life, in the choices made with love and truth wherever the Lord places us, when a person allows themselves to be emptied of self in order to be filled by God.

Marina Castellitto
Photo ©Javier Garcia – CSC Audiovisivi

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