Assisi 1943 - 1944
 Don Aldo Brunacci (1914-2007)
by Murray Bodo OFM

Pigeons sleep on the railings
of windows opposite mine.

Echoes pulsate from the stones
where I last saw Don Aldo,

a frail 92, his cane
gently tapping away from me

toward the Piazza Commune
at the end of Via San Paolo.

I watched him walking, it seemed,
forever, and the piazza – like

the Jewish refugees he sheltered
and saved from harm – was receding

from his determined will.
I see him walking still,

his short shuffle out of step
among friends and passersby.

 

Jewish Lives Saved in Assisi

more information on the historical facts

Don Aldo Brunaccc [+ 2 February 2007]
is one of the heroes of Assisi in World War II.

Don Aldo was right
article by André Cirino OFM

Colonel Valentin Mueller MD
1891 - 1951