Lucia Apicella
Lucia Apicella (Cava de' Tirreni, 18 November 1887 - Cava de' Tirreni, 23 July 1982) was an Italian philanthropist, nicknamed "Mamma Lucia" (Mother Lucy). Born and raised in Sant'Arcangelo of Cava de 'Tirreni, immediately after World War II strove to bury the corpses of German soldiers. She was a mother, simple and pious, who lived exercising the activity of greengrocer. Mamma Lucia died in 1982.[1]
In search of the fallen
In September 1943 it took place the Allied invasion of southern Italy, Operation Avalanche. The main invasion force landed around Salerno on the western coast and its primary objectives was to seize the port of Naples to ensure resupply. The obliged pathway from Salerno to Naples is the road, currently named "Strada statale 18 Tirrena Inferiore", which passes into the valley of Cava. Because of the relatively fast advance of the Anglo-Americans forces toward Naples hundreds of dead unburied bodies were left abandoned on the battlefields around Cava de' Tirreni.
Lucia Apicella was a very religious woman and felt the Christian duty to bury the remains of the German soldiers. After attending the scene where some kids were kicking the skull of a soldier and after dreaming of eight German soldiers begging her to hand over their bodies to their mothers, "Mamma Lucia" with motherly love devoted herself to find the remains of the fallen soldiers and put them back together in coffins of zinc. Her goal was to return the bodies to their mothers or, at least, to facilitate finding them.
"They are all sons" was the simple but pithy answer was the "Mamma Lucia" motto she said to whom told her to leave the corpses alone or that it was not worth wasting time and money. She also took some risks because of unexploded bombs and projectiles that were largely present on the battlefields. She found more than 700 corpses, mostly of German but even someone of Italian and Allies soldiers.
The boxes of zinc, in which laid the remains of the soldiers, were transported to the Catholic Church of Santa Maria della Pietà. It is the oldest church in the village Scacciaventi of Cava, and there it was where Lucia Apicella went to pray every morning until 1980, when, due to the 1980 Irpinia earthquake, the church was declared unfit for use. She died in 1982, at 94, beloved by Cava's citizens.[2]
Order of Merit
Mamma Lucia received in August 1951 from Theodor Heuss, President of the Western Germany, the "Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany – Grand Cross".
Notes
Bibliography
- Pastore F.. Mutter der toten. Editore Palladio. Salerno 1980.
- Senatore, Raffaele. Mamma Lucia l'epopea di una Madre. Editore La Faiola. Salerno, 1990