Stone by stone
Armando (Padre Pietro) Lavini, “God’s builder”, died on August 9th, aged 88
WHEN the young St Francis knelt in prayer in the filthy, derelict church of San Damiano in Assisi, around 1206, the wide-eyed figure of Christ on the cross asked him to restore it. When Padre Pietro Lavini, already a Capuchin friar walking in Francis’s footsteps, came for the first time to the ruined church of San Leonardo high in the Apennines, his experience was almost the same. The stones seemed to say: “Why don’t you rebuild us?” Pushed by some mysterious force, he found himself answering: “Why not?”
This article appeared in the Obituary section of the print edition under the headline “Stone by stone”
Obituary August 22nd 2015
From the August 22nd 2015 edition
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