REMEMBERING FILOMENA LUCIANI D'AMICO

Last June Filomena called me to postpone an appointment we had in Lugano, Switzerland, because she felt very tired. Her call was long for we had the usual exchange of news about the Association, but I would never have thought that it would be the last time I would hear her dear voice.

I met Filomena around 1973/74, when I was invited by a very kind Alumna; she lived near us and I was meeting her at other "social" occasions. Dear Thea Corradi dal Verme invited me to tea with the President of the National Alumnae Association, Filomena Luciani.

In Rome, she had received from Mother Barcherini the names of Francesca Melzi-Kaucisvili and myself, recommending that she meet us. I had not been a pupil of Mother Barcherini, but three of my sisters were.

In fact, I did not go to the Genoese RSCJ school for my studies, except for the first elementary class, with peparation to First Communion and Confirmation; and then afterwards for three classes of Gymnasium, interrupted at the Lyceum by bombardments in Autumn 1942.
However, my "Sacred Heart formation" had been prepared and supervised by my Mother, an unshakable Alumna and Child of Mary, as it was for all ten of her children.
Later, I lived for 16 years near Leghorn and I could not go to Florence for the Association - but when I arrived in Milan I went to Via San Vittore with pleasure and met many Alumnae and Children of Mary of various towns. I was warmly welcomed.

In those years when protest movements were so active, I was a teacher and I had to dedicate all my time to seminars on new ideas, helped by the Catholic Teachers' Association, and therefore I neglected the Sacred Heart Alumnae.

My meeting with Filomena was a fateful moment for me and, I think, also for Francesca. From then on, we became active within the Association in San Vittore and we took part in the National and European Congress of 1975, thus beginning our national and international "careers".
I think - and I believe I speak also for Francesca - that Filomena's advice was very important in all we did, as it surely was for Beatriz Salazar: who called Filomena "my crooked-minded advocate".

I am sure you can all understand why I am so thankful and moved while I write what follows. I have divided these memories into three chapters:

1 - Filomena as a Sacred Heart Alumna
2 - Her religious and socio-political commitment
3 - Her family and cultural life

1 - Filomena as a Sacred Heart Alumna

There are other friends of Filomena's who could tell you about her activities in both the Roman and Italian Associations, well before I began to be actively involved.

I know for certain that she worked intensely beside the Foundress of the movement, Maria Theodoli, and that she participated in drawing up the statutes of the first national constitution, as well as all the other initiatives of those years.
She was President of UNIEASC before Ina Majorana and took part in national and world Congresses ("Rassemblements" or Assemblies as they were called then) and she spoke to me of many events and memories.

She visited all the Italian Associations. Everywhere she went, she tried to recreate the same spirit of engagement and enthusiasm which she lived.
I remember her in Rome (Italian and European Congress in 1975 at "Le Frattocchie") and then in the following Italian Congresses: in Milan (Ina Majorana was Italian President and I was President of the Milan Association); in Rome (1979): in Padua (1981, she presented the new Italian Constitution she had prepared); in Genoa (1983) and in Rome (1985) etc.
She was always alert and attentive, the significance of her work and presence sometimes concealed behind her great sense of humour.
With Mother Caracciolo, Filomena visited the RSCJ Schools and Alumnae Associations in America. The impact of this contact with a reality which was so different, and yet in some ways so familiar, opened new horizons for our Alumnae and Religious, as well as the Italian and World Associations.

Her work for the World Association was very important. From the very first "Assemblies" in Rome and Brussels she worked closely with AMASC's founders; her legal competence helped form the first Constitution.

She worked as Advisor on the 1966 Statutes and those of 1974 were actually prepared at her home in Salto di Fondi!

Finally, with Denise Peeters and Jacqueline Klomp-Verhoeven, she prepared the statutes of the most recent Constitution; these were approved in San Luis Potosí in March 1998. At the end of the session, the newly elected President, Trish Burns, declared Filomena officially included in the list of "Emeritus Members" of AMASC.

In 1970, at Mother Barcherini's proposal, she took part in a session of the Chapter of the Society of the Sacred Heart along with nine other Alumnae from all the continents, and in 1976 at the next Chapter she gave a speech on the political engagement of Christians. I have kept a copy of this speech.

From 1972 to 1978 she was "Liaison Permanente avec la Maison Mère" (Permanent Liaison with the Mother House) and from 1980 to 1994 she was the much appreciated AMASC Archivist.
Her position within our national and world Associations drew her easily into other world Associations: delegate to "Commission d'entente et d'études" to constitute OMAAEEC, then Vice President of CONFEDEREX, Secretary to the OMAAEEC President and from 1973 Archivist also of that Association.

2 - Her religious and socio-political commitment

Filomena's activity within her Parish and Diocese was constant and valuable. She helped to prepare the Congress of the Roman Diocese on "Expectations of Justice and Charity". She was diocesan secretary for the central Roman area and a member of the diocesan Caritas Welcome Centre.

I remember once she had to postpone an Association meeting with us because of her engagement during a pastoral visit. I remember above all how her work was tied to her social and political activities. She always said that her religious formation compelled her to be present in the world.
That was certainly why, in far-off 1943, during the war and Allied advance into southern Italy, she joined women of all political persuasions to form the U.D.I. (Italian Women's Union). However, she resigned when the union began to take a single party political line. Her idea was to unite women in a movement stressing their capacities but also their rights.

Because of this commitment she was asked by the Allied Forces to create C.A.F. (Corpo Ausiliario Femminile) within the Italian Army - this corps was similar to the W.A.C.s. Its purpose was to help Italian soldiers who were gradually joining the Allies. Filomena attained the rank of Major and she is cited in the last volume of the Italian Treccani Encylopedia. Some Generals, journalists and government Ministers have since denied or ignored the existence of this corps and Filomena responded with well-documented rebuttals. One of the purposes of the group was to provide assistance to soldiers returning from Yugoslavia. These soldiers were imprisoned by the Allies in concentration camps, behind barbed wire, because they were thought to be dangerous communist sympathisers, when in fact they had actually fought against them. Filomena's mediation helped prevent irreparable misunderstandings and divisions.

Another task she performed with competence and enthusiasm was to help to constitute the "District Committees" where she worked with people of very different ages and backgrounds, e.g. Innocenzo Cipolletta, now General Manager of Confindustria, (the Italian Confederation of Industries).

For many years she also worked on the radio series "Room F - call Rome 3131", the first live talkback program where women could ask for answers to pressing questions by phone. Cardinal Poletti asked her to participate in this broadcast, since she was well qualified to answer legal questions, but above all because he trusted her moral strength. He was also sure she that her responses would be quick and lively, even to complicated questions.
I know she received a letter of thanks and appreciation from the Cardinal.

3 - Her family and cultural life

Her capacities were truly amazing. Because of her formation and her beliefs, it is not surprising that she cared so well for her family, both her birth family and the one she built with Giorgio - their 4 sons and their many grandchildren. She took care of everyone, calmly but with great efficiency. For example, she once took a grandchild into her home to help him with a difficult period in his education.

These responsibilities could not prevent her - in fact they seemed to stimulate her - from being much involved in several cultural fields: literature, art, theatre, cinema. She had several relatives working successfully in those fields. One had only to see the quantity and quality of the books and paintings at her home in Via Nazionale, or hear her speak of theatre, painting, Italian or Australian films... to realise that she really was an expert in so many areas.

A young Florentine student of literature has used her many letters to Jaime Pintor as the basis for her degree thesis; in the coming months these will be published (I think by Einaudi) not only as a very special literary document but also as a chronicle of a time when young people's interests and feelings were so different from what they are today.

She had what we call "mani d'oro" in Italian - "golden hands". You might have seen the carpets she made in "petit-point", or found the results of her embroideries and her fantasy in charity bazaars.
That's why her home was as pleasant and happy as she was. She was always ready to welcome friends at her table or offer her famous "5-star" hospitality.

A special chapter could be written on her preparation for the "Befana" (January 6th, an Italian holiday), when she gathered together not only family but also friends. There were gifts for everybody, prepared well in advance with love and care and much thought for tastes, wishes, usefulness.

With the same care and the same love she left a list of valuables to be left to relatives, even thinking of someone's future wedding!

I don't think even this long discourse is complete or exhaustive; but as a final brushstroke on this portrait, I will tell you something Giorgio passed on to me. Among the papers found after her death, there was an envelope which contained the text of the liturgy she had chosen for her funeral.

This was typical of a person who was always ready to act and to commit, but always with one end: the final, true and important Goal of all her life.

- MARIA FRANCA MIGONE