«I have known Anna since she was a girl, she attended our parish and was busy first as a catechist helper, then as a catechist and in the experience of the children of family groups. She was available to everyone and certainly her career choice as a social and health worker fits in with her person, in her call to put herself at service.” The 79 year old Don Vincenzo Zoccoliparish priest since 1981 in Catanzaro of the “Santissimo Salvatore”, approximately 3,500 inhabitants, participates with the heart of a spiritual father and pastor in the tragedy that struck a family of his community, always present at Sunday Mass until April 19th. «When they arrived at church with the three children, it was a joy for everyone to see them. And she smiled». That smile was extinguished forever the other night, when Anna Democrito – 46 years old – threw herself from the balcony of her house with her children, dying instantly with her two boys.
A family, that of Anna and her husband Francesco, which Don Vincenzo saw born because not even a decade ago he had blessed their wedding in the parish. «Afterwards we celebrated in the courtyard without going to the restaurant, like a big family of familiesas the first Christians did”, comments Don Zoccoli, who, however, before the marriage had recognized how much “the pain of the loss of her father had touched Anna: she had lost a bit of balance”.
From the union with Francesco, also an OSH in the same RSA (Health Care Residence) in Catanzaro where Anna worked, three children were born: the eldest daughter Maria Luce, not even 6 years old, has been hospitalized since last night in intensive care at the Gaslini pediatric hospital in Genoa, in stable conditions for now but with a reserved prognosis, after that three-story flight from the apartment in Catanzaro in which her little brothers Nicola, 4 years old, and Giuseppe, just 4 months old, lost their lives. born in December and baptized last March 19th, on the feast of Mary’s Spouse.
«Anna loved life but was tired, depressed, worried and anxious about the children. I advised her several times to ask doctors for help, including last Monday, but it had to be her personal choice. Due to commitments with my children and work, I only saw her at Mass, and little by little she had given up her other roles in the parish.” And last night the parishioners gathered in the church for a prayer vigil. «The father is finding meaning by attaching himself to Maria Luce: we spoke this morning and I think he will find strength in this little girl. He is next to her at the Gaslini hospital”, says Don Vincenzo.
Closeness to the family and to the entire city community was expressed by Monsignor Claudio Maniago, metropolitan archbishop of Catanzaro-Squillace, who said he was «deeply saddened by the tragedy» and entrusted «Anna and the two little ones who lost their lives in such dramatic circumstances to the mercy of God». His thoughts also went “to the surviving child, who is fighting for her life, so that the Lord may give her strength, hope and support through the care of the doctors and the closeness of those who love her”. She expressed her paternal closeness «to her husband, family and the entire community, inviting everyone to unite in silence and prayer. It is a time in which to entrust to the Lord the pain that passes through us and to hold each other in hope. In the face of such a great tragedy we cannot remain indifferent. We are called to protect those who sufferto recognize the hidden pain that inhabits many lives and to build communities capable of listening, closeness and love.”
