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"I'm nearly 80 years old. I'm about to
depart.
"Looking back at my
past, I can see that in my early youth, I chose a bad path which led
me to ruin myself.
"My behavior was
influenced by print, mass-media and bad examples which are followed by
the majority of young people without even thinking. And I did the
same. I was not worried.
"There were a lot of
generous and devoted people who surrounded me, but I paid no attention
to them because a violent force blinded me and pushed me toward a
wrong way of life.
"When I was 20
years-old, I committed a crime of passion. Now, that memory represents
something horrible for me. Maria Goretti, now a Saint, was my good
Angel, sent to me through Providence to guide and save me. I still
have impressed upon my heart her words of rebuke and of pardon. She
prayed for me, she interceded for her murderer. Thirty years of prison
followed.
"If I had been of age,
I would have spent all my life in prison. I accepted to be condemned
because it was my own fault.
"Little Maria was
really my light, my protectress; with her help, I behaved well during
the 27 years of prison and tried to live honestly when I was again
accepted among the members of society. The Brothers of St. Francis,
Capuchins from Marche, welcomed me with angelic charity into their
monastery as a brother, not as a servant. I've been living with their
community for 24 years, and now I am serenely waiting to witness the
vision of God, to hug my loved ones again, and to be next to my
Guardian Angel and her dear mother, Assunta.
"I hope this letter
that I wrote can teach others the happy lesson of avoiding evil and of
always following the right path, like little children. I feel that
religion with its precepts is not something we can live without, but
rather it is the real comfort, the real strength in life and the only
safe way in every circumstance, even the most painful ones of life."
Signature, Alessandro Serenelli
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