The Virgin who keeps the body of Jesus dead in his womb, the iconographic theme of the “pity”, shows a maternal pain that finds comfort in the faith of the resurrection: Christ rises and saves us. But the same mother at the foot of the cross is portrayed torn by a profound suffering. Today, Day that celebrates the mother, those images of the Christian tradition say so much of the prematurely private mothers of their children, victims of atrocious crimes. An unnatural condition that does not find consideration in our vocabulary, because There is no term that indicates a parent who survived his child. Yet, due to the too many victims killed on the road, or violated in the name of violent ideologies and governments, or still ended up by a toxic love, The “orphaned” mothers become increasingly numerous, By soliciting a definition which, although not made official by the Crusca Academy, is already widely in use.
In fact, what else can orphanty be if not the perception of a great irreplaceable lack? And what more lacerating lack of a womb orphan of one’s child? Even for non -believers, the sacred image of pity thus becomes an emblem of faith in a new life, in a maternal that continues in other form, supported by a love that does not die with the son, but remains active to nourish other lives. The strength of the orphaned mothers seems infinite, like their dignity in the face of pain, almost beyond the limits of the human: no externalization, anger or revenge in their actions and words, but only the invocation of justice and a lot of commitment to the field.
Without going too far, we remember with particular affection Cetty Zaccaria, mother of Sara Campanella, the Fuorized student killed on March 31 in Messina for saying a no. Cetty – who became Sara and her dear “one of the family” – with dignity and composure thanked the colleagues of the daughter and the crowd of Messina from Piazza Pugliatti present at the torchlight procession in his memory, swallowing the tears to return the embrace of an entire city. His words spoken in a weak but decisive voice are in the heart of everyone, mothers in particular, touched by a powerful feeling of identification. But that voice interrupted by the emotion continued to shoutly shouting its no to gender -based violence, and has become action through the project of a foundation in memory of Sara who will include among its objectives a path of sentimental education intended for young people. A pain already sublimated into concrete commitment, which has transformed the crying into the hope of not having to dry other tears.
In the very long list of orphaned mothers who have put their drama at the service of the community, the struggle of Maria Teresa Giglio, mother of Tiziana Cantoneyoung thirty -year -old from Naples who died suicidal in 2016 following the spread of his close videos on the internet by his partner. After Tiziana’s death, Mrs. Giglio embarked on a long and complicated battle against defamation on the net, thanks to which the crime of “Revenge Porn” was established in 2019 (article 612 ter cp), which provides for sanctions or prison for anyone who spreads sexually explicit images or video, without the consent of the people represented.
The list of orphaned mothers could continue indefinitely: warrior women, who change things without declaring wars. Is the life of their children really finished forever? Could not exist, thanks to them, a secular resurrection by virtue of love?
