| Praise, praise and more praise to all for the very welcomed, informing, satisfying content, pleasing in the way of printing and nostalgic in the very accomplished nuance of colors. As many others, I was thrown from my nest when very young, and I had to experiment how to" fly "in very poor and unstable conditions, but always supported by that typical character of ours, typical of the islanders, typical of Cherso., which without hardening oneself, it is comforting in the very difficult moments of life. I came back to the island very seldom because, as expressed so well by Nives Chialina, when I took a look at "Pra", coming down from the "Strada Nova", an intense choking feeling come over me, and I hardly could hold my intense emotion and my tears. My house was there in front of me, always the same, in its pink color and to me nothing seemed to have change. And in local dialect: " That’s you, my little one…How many times I have sung with your mother…Did you know that I have been sailing with you father?" I revisited my childhood friends: Etta, Maria, Ninuccia and it was like I have never left, as if they knew everything about me, or I of them, like our talks have never been interrupted. No, I was not a stranger! I could converse with people, with the stones, with the houses, the churches, the school, the faces and the stairways of the baladoras (terraces), with the tombstones in the cemetery; everything was familiar to me, and the memories came back with such a force to me. It was like everything belonged to me by birth rights. I even went to look for the sign of my little foot print which I made on the fresh cement of the sidewalk in front of the house after the wall have was demolished. ( I have appreciated, by the way, the interesting “Epopea” of the ancient walls, written by Gigi Tomaz, and I would like very much to know the exact date of the demolition of the last part of the walls between Porta Marcella and Porta Bragadina- 1946-47?). I don`t know if and when I will come back, but each time I will receive "Il Foglio" (The newspaper of the CC.), I will see again the photos of places and persons, will read the pages of history of my land and information about my people, it will be like coming back to my never forgotten crib. Thanks! Annamaria Zennaro _________________________________________________ From Valeria Arseni Madronich. we received the following communication: “On page 41 of the book Il Libro della Bora by Corrado Belci, edition LINT, Trieste 2002, it is said that my father, Pasquale Arseni, survived a concentration camp in Germany, went at the end of the war, directly to Australia without letting anybody know of his where about. Returning to Cherso, as a tourist, after many years, he has seen , with great surprise, his name on the monument for the Fallen. As incredible as it seemed, this story began to raise painful doubts in me, and I decided to contact the author. Mr. Belci, very surprised, told me that he had narrated the story exactly the way it was presented to him in Cherso. Finally we have found out that the story was a real one, but the name was confused with that of another person. An error in bona fede, therefore. Thus dissipated all my doubts, I would like to rectify the error to anyone who has read the book. Valeria Arseni-Madronich Dear Director, Allow me to introduce myself. I am the priest, don Francesco Cesari, born in Smergo on the 21 of March 1925. In the last number of "Comunita` Chersina" I have found the announcement of the passing of teacher, Gina Rossi, with a photo of the pupils in the school of Smergo. I was at the time 7 years old, and with my sister Maria, we are exactly at the center of the photo. So many memories! Teacher Gina has been my very first teacher. Later, in 1939, on advice of my priest, Don Giusepe Crivellari, I have entered the Seminary of Zara. There I remained until 1947: The year in which the then commanding authorities ordered the closing of our Seminary, causing us, and the clergy to disperse all over Italy. With the help of my teacher from the 5th class elementary school, Tebaldi Albina, from Soave -Verona, and of her Priest, I was accepted at the Seminary of Verona, where I concluded the last year of Theology and was ordained priest on the 27 of June 1948. I remained at the service of Verona’s Diocese for 52years, until June 2000. On June 2000 I went back to live in Cherso with my younger sister Angela. In the winter period I reside in Cherso, where I am very happy and comfortable with the Priest and the Chaplain, celebrating the Mass with them. In summer I live in Smergo, in the little house of my parents, and celebrate the Mass in the tiny church of S.Giovanni Battista. During the summer vacations period, from July to September, every Saturday evening I celebrate the Mass in Cherso for the Italians: naturally in Italian language. To attend the Mass there are not only the Italian tourists, but many local old people, who know very well Italian. In the church in Cherso there is a confessional with a sign "Italian"; that`s my confessional, where many little old ladies come to confess, and still remember the prayer " Atto di Dolore" in Italian. After living so many years in Italy I could never have hoped to be able to return to my beautiful island, but with the new political climate of Croatia, I came back, and I do feel very good with the Croatian Clergy. The Bishop of Veglia, Mon. Valter Zupan, received me with brotherly love, and he is very thankful to me for my service and especially for the confessions I perform. I thank the Lord for all this, and I dedicate my time almost exclusively to the prayer. Don Francesco Cesari Translated by Valeria Madronich |
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| Don Francesco Cesari |
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