Martirio e diritto canonico. Riflessioni sul caso di don Puglisi

The concept of Christian martyrdom is rooted in the most important theological and canonical tradition. In the present contribution we illustrate, in particular, the requirements that the science of law – already from the masterful elaboration of Prospero Lambertini, Pope Benedict XIV (1740-1758) – has identified and defined as necessarily recurring. In fact, only at the presence of this requirements we can recognize the existence of an authentic martyrdom. We analyze, in the following pages, a few examples which gave rise to problems, especially with regard to the so-called formal element of martyrdom: the odium fidei of the persecutor and the amor fidei of the victim. A particular attention we dedicated to some cases concerning the martyrs of the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century. The story of the mafia’s murder, the Sicilian priest don Giuseppe Puglisi, recently beatified, has been the subject, then, of in-depth reflection. Finally, the various hypotheses and proposal advanced in this last years to renew the classic paradigms in front the current difficulties of interpret and judge the characteristics of martyrdom in the Church, are, in this essay, described and subjected to critical analysis.

Il concetto di martirio cristiano affonda le sue radici in una solida tradizione teologica e canonistica. Nel contributo si illustrano in particolare i requisiti che la scienza del diritto - a partire dalla magistrale trattazione di Prospero Lambertini, papa Benedetto XIV - ha individuato e definito come necessariamente ricorrenti, e dunque da accertare, affinché si possa riconoscere la sussistenza di un autentico martirio. Si analizzano poi alcuni casi che hanno suscitato problemi soprattutto per quanto concerne il c.d. elemento formale del martirio, l’odium fidei del persecutore e l’amor fidei della vittima: casi riguardanti segnatamente i martiri dei totalitarismi del Novecento. Oggetto di approfondita riflessione è in seguito la vicenda dell’assassinio, ad opera della mafia, del sacerdote siciliano don Giuseppe Puglisi, recentemente proclamato beato. Dinanzi alle difficoltà di inquadrare alcune ipotesi entro i paradigmi classici si sono avanzate varie proposte per rinnovare e revisionare profondamente i connotati del martirio nella Chiesa: tali tesi sono, nel saggio, descritte e sottoposte ad un’analisi critica. The concept of Christian martyrdom is rooted in the most important theological and canonical tradition. In the present contribution we illustrate, in particular, the requirements that the science of law - already from the masterful elaboration of Prospero Lambertini, Pope Benedict XIV (1740-1758) - has identified and defined as necessarily recurring. In fact, only at the presence of this requirements we can recognize the existence of an authentic martyrdom. We analyze, in the following pages, a few examples which gave rise to problems, especially with regard to the so-called formal element of martyrdom: the odium fidei of the persecutor and the amor fidei of the victim. A particular attention we dedicated to some cases concerning the martyrs of the totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century. The story of the mafia's murder, the Sicilian priest don Giuseppe Puglisi, recently beatified, has been the subject, then, of in-depth reflection. Finally, the various hypotheses and proposal advanced in this last years to renew the classic paradigms in front the current difficulties of interpret and judge the characteristics of martyrdom in the Church, are, in this essay, described and subjected to critical analysis.