Homeless Man Receives Solemn Roman Rite Requiem (Pictures)

Sicilian-born Gaetano Tinnirello, 33, a homeless man and former drug addict, died on November 13 in Rome and was buried with a Solemn Roman Rite Requiem attended by many, including aristocrats, working people, homeless, and others.

Tinnirello spent his last years begging at the steps of SS Trinità dei Pellegrini Church whose priests belong to the Fraternity of St Peter (FSSP).

Father Vilmar Pavesi FSSP who celebrated the Requiem remembered in his eulogy Tinnirello’s last days (CatholicNewsAgency.com, December 4).

Tinnirello was laying unconscious in hospital after surgery when Father Pavesi attempted to visit him but was not allowed to enter. So he returned two days later. Now, Tinnirello was perfectly lucid but unable to move. He wanted to drink. Pavesi helped him and reminded him of the thirsting Christ on the cross. Then, the priest gave Tinnirello the Last Rites. After the final blessing, Tinirello said, "Thank you, Father. You have made me very happy!"

The next day, Tinnirello fell again into a coma, underwent another surgery and didn't regain consciousness anymore.

Pavesi noticed from the pulpit that Tinnirello returned to consciousness only for a few hours, like the dead child who resurrected in front of St Philip Neri to confess, to receive Extreme Unction, and to die again.

Tinnirello used to enter SS. Trinità dei Pellegrini every day, to greet to all the saints in the church, and to prostrate himself on the floor in front of the High Altar. “I always thought that the Lord would save him for this act of piety, done with such sincerity,” Father Pavesi noticed.

#newsHkwrqfhjoy