Pastoral care and material support are the two activities performed by the chaplain friars at the Regina Coeli Prison in Rome. The friars have been serving at the prison for over fifty years.
With a thousand inmates, the Regina Coeli Prison is one of the largest prison facilities in Italy. The friars carry out charity and service there “without borders,” given that sixty-five percent of the inmates are foreigners.
The chaplains play an extremely important role in assisting at this human citadel; they offer valuable support in the face of the multiple shortcomings of a penitentiary whose inmates have so many daily needs. The chaplain becomes a contact person for inmates in need. Inmates knock on the friar’s door looking for help that they cannot find elsewhere.
Two Conventual Franciscans have been serving as permanent chaplains at Regina Coeli for many years. One is Friar Vittorio TRANI, who has been serving for fifty years. The other is Friar Renzo DEGNI who has been serving for eight years. Friar Sergio COGNIGNI provides volunteer support as well. In addition, there are sixty lay volunteers and occasional friar volunteers from the nearby San Giacomo alla Lungara Friary.
The Conventual Franciscan chaplains provide religious assistance and pastoral care in the form of festive Masses, catechesis, confession, the blessing of cells and daily dialogue with individual prisoners. They also play an important part in providing material support in order to help address the infinite needs of the prisoners.
The friar chaplains have many personal contacts and a long association with various entrepreneurs, entities, associations, non-profits and other benefactors. Because of this, every year, they can thank Providence for delivering a substantial supply of material goods, which partially meets the many demands of the inmates.
Here is a list of donations in the last two years that show how much material the chaplains have on hand to distribute across the various sections of the prison: A thousand Easter cakes from the Bauli and Fiasconaro companies, three thousand Puma sports kits from the Italian National Soccer Team, over a thousand pairs of shoes from the various state entities and non-profits comprising the “Aiutiamoli a Vivere” [Let’s Help Them Live] Foundation, seven thousand men’s briefs, three thousand boxer shorts, 1,500 pairs of jeans, Twenty four kilos [fifty-three pounds] of coffee and sugar every week, four monthly tanks of body wash, various linen items and teaching materials. All of this is donated free of charge by benefactors who show solidarity “without borders.”
This material support certainly helps alleviate the many needs of the prisoners. Moreover, the chaplains who mediate on their behalf provide a charitable service, which together with their religious service, helps humanize the daily experience of the inmates.
The prisoner perceives this service through the concrete gestures of the chaplain. He begins to see the chaplain as someone he can trust unconditionally. This becomes a sure starting point for an inmate’s human and spiritual growth.
Friar Paolo FIASCONARO
