Saint Anthony’s International Awards
March 16 2003
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ON DECEMBER 3 the ceremony for the Saint Anthony International Awards was hosted by the Verdi Theatre, Padua’s most prestigious venue. The Oscar-like prize is a bronze reproduction of the statue of Saint Anthony by Donatello. There are four award categories: Witness, Solidarity, Television and Cinema. The event, coordinated by our editor, Fr. Mario Conte and presented by Elisabetta Gardini, the renowned Italian television actress, rewarded spectators with an extremely pleasant show.
The presentation of the awards was highlighted by music by Vivaldi, Benedetto Marcello, Boccherini, Bach and Sostakovic, performed by the Olympic Theatre Orchestra from Vicenza, a provincial town near Padua. In addition three internationally famous classical dancers demonstrated their proficiency and bravura, for which they are renowned throughout the world: Gloria Grigolato and Andrei Vassiliev, soloists of the English National Ballet, winners of the Golden Globe at the XIV Nureyev Festival last year, and Marco Pierin, who has been a partner on stage with the most celebrated dancers, from Carla Fracci to Luciana Savignago, and who testified to his great love for St. Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan life.
The heart of the event
The key to the warm atmosphere of this memorable evening was the human depth and social and cultural values of those chosen for the awards. For the Witness category, which awards a lay or religious person who has given witness by concrete commitment in favour of human rights, according to the example of Saint Anthony, the Messenger friars, on suggestions provided by directors of several newspapers and magazines, chose Sister Helen Prejean, the courageous American nun who has brought aid and comfort to prisoners sentenced to death in US maximum security prisons. The book which recounts her experiences on death row inspired a celebrated film entitled Dead Man Walking, with Susan Sarandon, who won an Oscar in 1995 for her interpretation of Sister Helen.
The presence of Jane Barnabei, the courageous mother of Rocco Derek, who was executed last September, along with Parliament Deputy Fabrizio Vigni and others, who had joined in the battle to save Derek from capital punishment, offered moments of intense emotion during the course of the evening.
In presenting the Prize to Sister Helen, Archbishop Monsignor Angelo Comastri, Pontifical delegate to the Basilica of Loreto, stressed the Church’s commitment to the battle against the death penalty. I am not scandalised by the fact that capital punishment exists in the world today, he said, but I would be scandalised if Christians gave up their prophetic role and responsibility of denouncing it and fighting against it. The provincial minister of Conventual Franciscans, Fr. Luciano Fanin, presented Sister Helen with a cheque to support her initiatives in favour of men without a future.
Solidarity
For the category of Solidarity, a prize assigned to a group or association which operates in the volunteer sector, Messenger of Saint Anthony readers awarded the prize to the Abel Group, chosen from an array of six groups of different nationalities, which had been proposed by the magazine during the year. The Abel Group was founded by Fr. Luigi Ciotti, who, for over thirty years, has been involved on the front of marginalisation, battling for those who are living in difficult situations, helping them to find hope, responsibility, recognition of their civil rights and social dignity in solidarity. Fr. Ciotti has had many death threats because he has denounced organised crime. The solidarity prize was conferred by Luciano Violante, President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, who has always been close to the Abel Group in its initiatives.
Upon receiving the prize, together with a cheque to finance his activities, offered by Saint Anthony’s Charities, Fr. Ciotti expressed his hopes that one day all prizes for solidarity would be abolished, because the poor, more than solidarity itself, require justice.
Among those who voted for the choice of the Solidarity Prize, Messenger readers Anna Maria Tommasi Zanini, of Grezzana (Province of Verona), Enza Marino of Turin and Maria Antonia Holmes, of London, were present for the occasion and participated in the ceremony.
Television
For the category of Television, assigned to a programme that deals with the problems of today’s humanity, providing answers that are dictated by human and spiritual values, a jury of television critics awarded the beautiful Israeli actress, Yaël Abecassis, for her fresh and solar interpretation of the Madonna in the film Mary, Daughter of her Son, directed by Fabrizio Costa. She is Jewish, yet succeeded in explaining with a smile and a tear held back, the many dimensions of depth and truth of the first Christian witness of faith. The Prize was presented by the Italian actress Daniela Poggi.
Cinema
In the Cinema section, where the award is given to a film personality who has proposed a vision of the world that is rich in human and religious values, the jury, presided over by Gianluigi Rondi, chose Manoel de Oliveira, a great master of the seventh art. This dynamic ninety-two-year-old Portuguese director has, over the more than fifty years of his career, asserted himself with unequalled force in cinema, both in Portugal and throughout the world. He received the award for the film Palavra e Utopia, which — as the inscription for the prize reads — is comprehensive of the primary elements of all of his poetry: the literary inspiration and its sublimation in images of exemplary artistic rigour.
The film was dedicated to Fr. Antonio Vieira, the Jesuit who, through his extraordinary eloquence, defended the Indios and black slaves in Brazil in the 17th century. His sermons are a monument to the Portuguese language and de Oliveira was inspired by them to create images which, overcoming the bounds of normal biographical cinema, in essentially reconstructed spaces or in authentic frames in Europe and Brazil, almost magically revive 17th century paintings, albeit through cinema and theatre. With an extremely knowledgeable style, which is the sign, the signature, of a great director.
Round table
The event was publicised the following day with the screening of the two winning films, Palavra e Utopia, and Mary, daughter of her Son, and by a round-table discussion, at which all of the reasons that make capital punishment inhuman and useless were examined in depth. Sister Helen Prejean, Jane Barnabei, Parliament Deputy Fabrizio Vigni and Mario Marazziti from the Saint Egidio Community all participated and related their experiences. The Community of Saint Egidio together with hundreds of other Italian and foreign associations collected over 3.5 million signatures, which were presented to the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, last December 18, in order to sanction an international moratorium on the death penalty, because there are other forms of punishment and help for criminals to repent. It is a difficult battle, but not an impossible one. In any case, the struggle goes on, as Jane Barnabei wrote on the tomb of her son, who was executed last 14th September by the State of Virginia.
Sister Helen Prejean
What does it mean for a man to be on death row?
Sister Helen:
Nevertheless, many of them undertake a spiritual course towards redemption...
Anyone sentenced to death undertakes a spiritual course. It is not only a return to God out of fear, but also out of a profound search for meaning. They are struggling against desperation and they need a human face to speak to them of the light and love of God. Everyone changes. O’Dell thought he would be overcome by fear, but he faced death with great courage, even though he knew he was innocent. Patrick Sonnier’s spiritual course was different. He was tormented by remorse for what he had done, and that became his redemption.
You have accompanied to execution several men who were sentenced to death. How did you feel during those moments, and what did you ask of God?
There is no more terrible experience than to enter a room and find yourself before a living human being, who is perfectly aware that in a few minutes he will be killed. You breathe his terror. It’s absurd. It’s not like going to visit a person who is terminally ill and who gradually succumbs to his illness. So I feel that I have to live, second by second, together with the person who is about to be executed, I cannot allow myself to give in to desperation. If I do, I don’t help him. I ask God to give me the strength to sustain him and to give him the courage and comfort to face what is happening to him.
And God manifests Himself, to him, in a circle of light. The condemned person is afraid, but faces his death with a strange sense of calmness. He forgives his executioners in order not to die with hate. Then he lays down as if he were being crucified, and dies, giving himself up to God. I also receive a gift: I understand that in life I must seek essential things.
Father Luigi Ciotti
I stopped Fr. Luigi Ciotti in the hall of the hotel, just a few hours before conferral of Saint Anthony’s International Award to the Abel Group.
He says he is surprised to receive this recognition, which he is happy to accept, regardless of the fact that I am not very fond of prizes, because it was conferred by the readers of the Messenger of Saint Anthony.
I think it’s a recognition for all that has been done during these 35 years by the Abel Group, not because of anyone’s particular ability, but due to everyone’s commitment, he says. I feel it is a contribution to justice, because our choices, commitments, our labours and the hopes that have animated us through these years, have had the objective of providing an answer to the hunger and the thirst for justice, of which the Gospel speaks.
Solidarity, for us, is only an instrument to attain justice, continues Fr. Ciotti. This means paying attention to the marginalised, as well as those who are not marginalised; it means creating a culture of justice. In this spirit, Saint Anthony’s International Awards represents for us a stimulus to proceed on the road that we have chosen.
Manoel De Oliveira
With communication travelling over the Internet today, what power does the word retain?
The functioning of computers is based on numbers, but the written word always remains in the end. What we risk losing, instead — what we are already losing — is the power of feelings and even more importantly, of privacy. We no longer distinguish public from private. Even intimate relations and sex are no longer reserved subjects. There is no shame. Even love becomes a mechanical activity, a show. Sex is engaged in everywhere for its own sake, violence for its own sake, even when it comes to children’s toys. I’m old now, but what will become of my grandchildren?
In your two latest films, you are inspired by 17th century life and literature: is it a means of escape from today’s world?
I am not interested in the domination of materialism: today, everything is based on profit and money. The pace of technological development gives us something new every day. Humanity lives in an increasingly artificial manner. The fundamental quality of humanity, on the other hand, is affection, which is being lost with the invasion of technology. If I try to escape from the present, it is because I share Fr. Vieira’s search for utopia, without necessarily looking to the future.
On December 12 you were 92 years old: does old age always bring wisdom?
The only thing that is certain is that you no longer have the teeth to chew nuts! Wisdom does not come with age, but with experience.
For quite awhile now you have been producing one film per year: what are we to expect in 2001?
I’m working in Paris with Michel Piccoli, Catherine Deneuve and John Malkovich on the film I’m coming home. As Fr. Antonio Vieira says, I shall speak of one thing in order to say another.
Yaël Abecassis
Who is Mary, from your point of view?
She is a symbol of purity, freedom and the ability to follow the voice inside you. Mary is always herself. She chooses how and where she wants to live, regardless of the fact that the society of her time tries to repress her. She is also profoundly maternal. The mother of all of us.
What part of her character impressed you most?
Her light, her faith and optimism. She is oblivious to depression and is always open to hope. She gives all her strength to her Son and to all of us. I love her.
How did you feel when you played this role?
Full of energy. I acted as if I were her, following what I had inside, without making any judgements. It was an important life experience for me.
Updated on October 06 2016