A Blast from the Past

It's our second-last Saturday afternoon in Rome during the General Chapter. We changed our schedule to work in the morning, trying to keep up with the schedule. However, this afternoon and Sunday are break days. People are really tired.

It's a good time to report on something a bit off-beat. While I have posted about many acquaintances who are capitulars, there was one chance meeting during the chapter that goes back to my first visit to Rome in 1983: Prospero Rivi. He has links to a number of friars in the Calvary Province, so I think it worthwhile reporting our recent encounter.

I arrived in Rome in fall 1983 to study Italian. Pat McSherry from my province was already working on a canon law degree in Rome and introduced me to Prospero, then from the Parma Province. While I casually knew Prospero over my first month in Rome, things changed when Pat had to leave town for a week and asked me to sit in for him with Prospero. The two had an agreement to help each other learn the other's language. I was happy to do so, and the experience sparked years of interaction between us.

As might normally be expected, Prospero became a great tour guide for me of Northern Italy. All my first experiences in that region were with him. However, upon my final days in Rome as a student, my parents and other family members flew to meet me for vacation Having come down with a fever, I had a chance meeting with Prospero and his provincial in a restaurant near Vatican City, as I struggled to be a good host to my family on their first full day in Rome. Prospero immediately ordered me to bed and offered to show Rome to my family for two days.

Upon my return to the States, I was able to offer Prospero hospitality in Detroit when he accompanied a friar to Houston for a then-rare heart operation. Upon his release, he was allowed to visit the province at St. Mary Friary on Boston Blvd in Detroit for Christmas in 1984. The blizzards were some of the most memorable parts of the visit.

In subsequent years, Prospero became novice director at Vignola, near Parma, Italy. A number of friars from the Midwest were hosted there by Prospero and the Capuchin Community. Sometimes, we were arriving early for a pilgrimage to Assisi. I'm sure TL Auman and Jim Andres were part of that trip. Perhaps others as well. However, other friars also visited even when not with me. The same would be true later when Prospero became novice director at Sant'Archangelo, near Rimini.

It has been maybe 10 years since I last saw Prospero. I recently learned that he was appointed local minister of the Capuchin friary in Frascati, just outside Rome. I had often stayed there for various meetings, but none since Prospero's arrival. So, it was a blast from the past and a great pleasure to have him briefly visit us during the chapter. (He is not a delegate.) I'm sure quite a few other friars will recall many pleasant memories about him as well.