Milan, 3 Aug. (LaPresse) – A long queue of people formed in the early afternoon heat outside the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio, at 15 Piazza Sant’Ambrogio in Milan, as they waited to enter and pay their last respects to Don Antonio Mazzi, founder of Exodus, who died on Friday aged 96. Wreaths from Curva Sud Milano and the Pooh were laid on the church forecourt. Many young people wore T-shirts bearing quotes from the priest: “There is a time to be born and a time to be reborn” and “Reserved for those with a tremendous will to live”. “Every time I recite the Lord’s Prayer, Don Antonio Mazzi taught me that there are four ‘P’s’ in the Lord’s Prayer: forgiveness, peace, bread and Father”. These were the words of Father Felice Riva, Mazzi’s friend and fellow priest for forty years, speaking on the sidelines of the funeral. “Every time we reflect on the word of God,” continued Riva, “we reflect on the words that Father Antonio Mazzi left us.” The funeral was scheduled for 3 pm and the City Council has declared a day of city-wide mourning. Representing the Ambrosian diocese is the Vicar General, Monsignor Franco Agnesi, who is standing in for Archbishop Mario Delpini, who is in Brazil on a visit to the Ambrosian missionaries. At the end of the ceremony, the body will be taken to Maguzzano, on the Brescia side of Lake Garda, where it will be laid to rest in a private ceremony in the cemetery of the Opera Don Calabria, within the abbey where Mazzi had studied as a young man.
Don Mazzi: long queue at Sant’Ambrogio for a final farewell
Milan, 3 Aug. (LaPresse) – A long queue of people formed in the early afternoon heat outside the Basilica of Sant’Ambrogio, at 15 Piazza Sant’Ambrogio in Milan, as they waited to enter and pay their last respects to Don Antonio Mazzi, founder of Exodus, who died on Friday aged 96. Wreaths from Curva Sud Milano and the Pooh were laid on the church forecourt. Many young people wore T-shirts bearing quotes from the priest: “There is a time to be born and a time to be reborn” and “Reserved for those with a tremendous will to live”. “Every time I recite the Lord’s Prayer, Don Antonio Mazzi taught me that there are four ‘P’s’ in the Lord’s Prayer: forgiveness, peace, bread and Father”. These were the words of Father Felice Riva, Mazzi’s friend and fellow priest for forty years, speaking on the sidelines of the funeral. “Every time we reflect on the word of God,” continued Riva, “we reflect on the words that Father Antonio Mazzi left us.” The funeral was scheduled for 3 pm and the City Council has declared a day of city-wide mourning. Representing the Ambrosian diocese is the Vicar General, Monsignor Franco Agnesi, who is standing in for Archbishop Mario Delpini, who is in Brazil on a visit to the Ambrosian missionaries. At the end of the ceremony, the body will be taken to Maguzzano, on the Brescia side of Lake Garda, where it will be laid to rest in a private ceremony in the cemetery of the Opera Don Calabria, within the abbey where Mazzi had studied as a young man.
