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After praying the midday Regina Caeli with pilgrims on this Pentecost Sunday, May 28, Pope Francis noted an Italian author who wrote one of the Pope's favorite books, which he has referenced a number of times.
Last May 22 marked the 150th anniversary of the death of one of the loftiest figures in literature, Alessandro Manzoni. He, through his works, was a cantor of the victims and the last: They are always under the protective hand of divine Providence, which "lands and arouses, afflicts and consoles"; and they are also sustained by the closeness of the faithful pastors of the Church, present in the pages of Manzoni's masterpiece.
Alessandro Manzoni (1785-1873) is the author of The Betrothed, as well as other works. The novel recounts the story of a young couple that wants to marry but runs into a number of problems: firstly the bride is eyed by the local baron, and by the end, they've both nearly died of the plague. In their difficulties, they are aided by a Capuchin friar, and inspired by the archbishop of Milan, Charles Borromeo.
Pope Francis once said, “I have read The Betrothed, by Alessandro Manzoni, three times, and I have it now on my table because I want to read it again. Manzoni gave me so much. When I was a child, my grandmother taught me by heart the beginning of The Betrothed: ‘That branch of Lake Como that turns off to the south between two unbroken chains of mountains….’”
Pope Francis, who taught literature in the 1960s at a Jesuit university in Buenos Aires, has drawn many lessons from the book, including one on remorse:
