Remembrance . That of remembrance is an exercise that cannot only be pleasantly related to our fondest memories, sometimes this exercise can be hard and raw and allows us not to forget our mistakes or the negative episodes of our or others' lives, without thereby bringing in us a desire for revenge.

The location

The Fosse Ardeatine massacre was the killing of 335 Italian civilians and military personnel, political prisoners, Jews, or common detainees, slaughtered in Rome on 24 March 1944 by German occupation troops in retaliation for the partisan attack on Via Rasella, carried out on 23 March by members of the Roman Patriotic Action Groups, in which 33 soldiers of the "Bozen" regiment belonging to the Ordnungspolizei, the German police, had been killed.

The massacre was not preceded by any warning from the Germans, who were not the only perpetrators of the roundups that prepared for the crime: “it was the Italians who implemented 104 arrests (and an additional 81 were implemented jointly).”

In the aftermath of the liberation of Rome, in the autumn of 1944 a delegation of the families of the victims of the Fosse Ardeatine massacre went to the President of the Council Ivanoe Bonomi, proposing to launch a national architectural competition for the construction of a monument; in this place the Italian government undertook to build a monument to “perpetual memory of the Martyrs and all the fallen of the war of liberation” on the site chosen by the German troops for the reprisal following the partisan attack on Via Rasella.

Traces of Christian life

From the Gospel of Luke (Lk 6:27-36)

27 “But I say to you that hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. 29 To him who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from him who takes away your cloak do not withhold your coat as well. 30 Give to every one who begs from you; and of him who takes away your goods do not ask them again. 31 And as you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.

32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return;[c] and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish. 36 Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

The right questions

What do you find yourself thinking about most often? A bad event that has now passed loaded with lessons or a happy event that has left an indelible mark of joy in your heart?

Why?

Dynamic

Draw a sphere on an A4 sheet of paper and write in it a memory meaningful to you, then give it to another Pilgrim of Hope present at this same stage, or even better to a passerby, explaining why that memory is significant to you.

Traces of Hope

In light of what has been read, experienced, reflected upon, shared... insert words here that summarize the experience.

AGESCI - Branca R/S

A journey that knows how to make a pilgrimage to the Jubilee of Young people, from 28 July to 3 August 2025, with a rich program and an experience proposed by the Branca R/S for all young people and their communities of reference: Tracce di Speranza (Traces of Hope).

traccedisperanza.agesci.it available to all, born in the Jubilee Year!

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