These past BLOGs have been dedicated to holy lay people: doctors, an engineer and now a politician. A politician? How can anyone in politics be holy? With God nothing is impossible.
Recently made venerable is GIORGIO LA PIRA who was known as the “holy mayor” of Florence
Giorgio was born in 1904 in Pozzallo to a Sicilian packing-house worker the first of six children. His Catholic upbringing and in particular the teachings of St Francis of Assisi had a vital role in shaping his political and philosophical beliefs. He saw all that he did and each position he took as an expression of his spiritual beliefs. In 1924 he experienced a profound religious calling that would forever set the pattern for his life. Giorgio became a Third Order Dominican in his early twenties.
He studied accounting in Messina and received a law degree from the Florence college in 1925. He became professor of Roman Law there in 1933 and his openness made him popular with the students.
As the mayor of Florence Russia , China and Vietnam Moscow , he visited Fatima and wrote to cloistered religious orders asking for their prayers for his journey.
At home in Italy
His political perspectives were controversial in Italy
However, he was well-respected by religious leaders, even beyond Catholicism. In 1960, he began a friendship with Athenagoras I, the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople, who famously asked the mayor to bring an unprecedented gift of candy to Pope John XXIII, as a way to foster relations between the two churchmen. Four years later, Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI held a historic meeting in Jerusalem
He chose to live in simplicity in a cell in the monastery of San Marco in Florence
After La Pira died in 1977, Pope Paul VI honored him in an Angelus address.
Pope Saint John Paul II spoke of the important role Giorgio La Pira played in the reconstruction of Europe, and chose to celebrate the “Jubilee of Governors” in 2000 on the date of Giorgio’ s death, Nov. 5.
A quote from the former mayor ofFlorence
A quote from the former mayor of