BCCCAP00000000000000000001718

CAPUCHIN GENERAL MINISTER PACIFICUS CARLETTI OF SEGGIANO 543 Carletti 112 • In early October he went to the Capuchin provincial house ofMontughi in Florence and then proceeded to Seggiano to visit his aging mother. On 10 Octo– ber 1914, he returned to the Provincial house of Montughi and discussed with Fr Felix ofPorretta (1871-1945), the local guardian, his pastoral projects and the draft of his first circular letter to the diocese. The two also programmed the celebration of the bishop's first Pontifical Mass on 18 October, coinciding with the celebration of the feast of St Francis ofAssisi in Montughi by the Franciscan Tertiaries 113 • On 14 October the bishop left for Bologna to meet the Capitular vicar of the Diocese ofAlbenga. He got back to Florence from Bologna on 17 October, already feeling feverish ifebbricitante). The investigation ofthe specialists revealed that Mgr Carlet– ti had fallen into an irreversible condition of pneumonia and nephritis. He died at 00.45 on 22 October 1914 in Montughi, Florence. That death was, in fact, an event, which caused much distress in the Capuchin Order and especially upset the confreres of the Province of Tuscany. Critically revisited, that death seems, in fact, to cover up something strangely mysterious, that raises some doubt about the official report as regards the objectivityofthe medical diagnosis ofthe illness, which would have caused it 114 • The funeral took place on 24 October 1914 in the St Francis Church in the Capuchin friary ofMontughi. He was buried in the friary cemetery, where the body remained till 1928, when it was transferred to Ossarium chapel of the Capuchins in the Cemetery ofTrespiano, Florence. There is nothing untoward in the wish of the historian and veteran archivist of the Capuchin archives of Tuscany that fresh light be cast on the sudden and unex– pected passing away of an eminent confrere ofhis Province. In fact, he makes out a strong case for presuming the occurrence of something more than what the official diagnosis says. His analysis of the eyewitness reports ofseveral people about the last days of Mgr Carletti proposes a series of plausible clues as to the real cause of the Capuchin bishop's unannounced death. However, as Fr Carlini himself admits, "the smoking gun" is just not there. "We cannot but wish the future biographer ofMgr 112 APCapTusc, G. Carlini, Lamorte di mons. Pacifico Carletti, 2-8. 113 APCapTusc, Carlini, Lamorte di mons. Pacifico Carletti, 3: "P. Felice da Porretta descri– ve, con compiaciuta soddisfazione, sia la gioia <lei frati toscani per la sua presenza come la fraterna festosita dip. Pacifko. ll ritratto tracciato dal guardiano-discepolo e molto preciso. 11 vescovo, in quei giorni, era ilare, festoso, di una grande affabilita, scherzoso''. 114 APCapTusc, Carlini, Lamorte di mons. Pacifico Carletti, 2.

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDA3MTIz