Photo of Fr Gigi from a video interview in Wilton
August 2024 World Mission Sunday
A Day of Celebration and Renewed Support for Missions Worldwide
On the night of 17 September 2018, Fr Pierluigi [Gigi] Maccalli SMA [Italian Province] was kidnapped from his Mission in Bomoanga, Niger Republic, by GSIM jihadists [Group of Support for Islam and Muslims]. He was dressed in his pyjamas and slippers. He was released in Mali Republic on 8 October 2020. Since his release, Fr Gigi has taken time to rest, to pray, and to recover his health, having spent nearly all of his captivity in chains. He spent some weeks with our SMA community in Wilton, Cork, last August, to improve his English. During that time, he spoke of his ‘trial’ at the Sunday Masses in the parish.
After thanking the SMA and our supporters in Ireland for our prayers, he continued:
“I may summarise this long time as a prisoner, in two words: sadness and bitterness. This time has been for me the period, by far, the darkest of my life. From September 2018 to October 2020, I have counted 753 days in captivity, otherwise 25 new moons that means two years and three weeks, a long holiday! But I have to add, right now, that since the first day of freedom, I have washed away these two years or sadness and bitterness.
Gifts
At my arrival in Rome, my nephew Andrea hugged me so strongly in his arms that I poured out all my tears. So these tears have cleansed (baptised) me… I’m reborn, and now I feel at peace.
I summarise my story using three objects that I brought home from my captivity. They are the gifts of my desert experience: chain, rosary and this Cross.
Chain: this is a piece of the chain that I had on my feet. This link is the only part that I was able to open because it was not welded. After 17 days on a motorbike, a man came with a chain (1.5 metres long), and put one end of the chain around my ankle and the other end round a tree. I remember it well, it was on October 5, 2018. For 22 days I was held there, day and night. I cried out all my pain to God. “Why have you forsaken me? What wrong have I done? Where are you God? Lord come haste to my aid………..
The strength came from above, I am convinced. I cried, prayed and invoked the Virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit”
After that I was taken away into the Sahara. For a whole year the Sahara was my open-air prison. For the first 6 months I was the only prisoner there, then I was joined by two other hostages, Luca [Tacchetto] and Nicola [Chiacchio]. The guards took off the chain, but then, on 14 September 2019, they put it on my feet again. This happened because Luca tried to escape during the night. From then on I was in chains each night from sunset to sunrise until my release. Sleeping in chains was very very uncomfortable.
Even though it might sound strange to you, I tell you that being chained has opened up ‘my free inner space’. One evening I was upset, looking down at my feet in chains. Then suddenly an inner awareness came to me and I said to myself “my feet are chained, but my heart is not!”. I thought of St Thérèse of Lisieux, the Little Flower, who said: “I will be love in the heart of the church”. I recalled what our Founder said: “I will be a missionary from the bottom of my heart.” So the prayer of the heart was my free space.
This piece of chain reminds me of all those who are suffering as victims of war and injustice and the urgent need for mission for peace.
Rosary: I made this Rosary myself from the material used to protect me from the sun. I tied 10 knots, so I could say the Rosary twice a day. Even now, I use it to pray for all the innocent victims of the war (every morning that is my first intention). I continue to pray this Rosary (one decade) that I wear also on my wrist for all the innocent victims of war and also for those who persecute the peace.
These 10 knots remind me that the important thing in life is…. to tie RELATIONSHIPS, to build bonds of friendship / fraternity. As Pope Francis says in his Encyclical Letter Tutti Fratelli, we are all brothers and sisters.
These same words I said to Abu Naser (one of the mujahidin’s leaders) on my last day in captivity: “… may God help us to understand that we are all brothers and sisters!” Before leaving the desert, I forgave him.
In spite of the words they spoke against me (they looked on me as kafir and an enemy, good only for hell), but I am convinced that only forgiveness and pardon can break down the chains of hate and violence.
Finally, the 3rd Gift is the Cross: I made this cross by myself but I didn’t show it to anyone. I’ve always hidden it in my pocket. This cross reminds me of the silence.
Symbols
The silence is the greatest gift I’ve brought back from the desert. I cried out as Jesus did on the cross: “Father, why have you forsaken me?” And God didn’t answer (or better) he answered me with the sound of silence. But that heavy silence allowed me to go deeper into myself and see beyond my own horizon. I discovered in this silence something about God. Today I dare to say, God is silence.
I have experienced that the desert is not empty, but the best place to hear God deeper. The word of God comes from the silence. The silence is the father of God’s word. God is light in the darkness and he speaks and communicates thorough the silence.
The keyword / symbol of my desert experience is the cross, and from the cross I’ve learned two lessons: first, I learned to pray differently. I like what St. John of the Cross has said about prayer: “prayer is the harmony of two silences”.
And the second lesson, I bought home from my story is…to love and forgive my enemies. During my captivity, I often meditated on the words of Jesus on the cross: Father, forgiven them, they don’t know what they are doing. Before leaving the desert for freedom, I forgave my captors. For all the details of my story, I refer you to Catene de libertà, the book I have written on my time in captivity. But at least these three objects highlight the main elements of my desert story.
Last but not least… I’m set free, but peace is still a hostage… so, please let us continue to pray for peace. Don’t stop praying for all those who suffer for the sake of the Gospel. Thank you.
View a video in which Fr Gigi speaks about his captivity here.