His Grace Bishop Siluan of Italy, on Saturday, March 28, officiated a memorial service for Romanian soldiers of the First World War buried in the cemetery of Altamura, in the province of Bari.
The service, held at the Parish of the Holy Great Martyr Panteleimon in Altamura, was attended by Romania’s Consul General in Bari, Ioana Gheorghiaș, and Consul Dan Ștefăneasa.
Following the service, Bishop Siluan laid a wreath at the Altamura War Memorial, dedicated to the 1,023 soldiers who fell in the First World War, among them some Romanians.
On Sunday, the hierarch celebrated the Divine Liturgy, attended also by the Mayor of Altamura, Vitantonio Petronella. On this occasion, the Bishop of Italy blessed the restoration work on the church, as well as the iconostasis and reliquaries housing the holy relics of the parish.
At the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, he elevated the parish priest, Fr Florin Cârlig, to the rank of iconom.
Romanian soldiers buried in Italy
During the First World War, a number of Romanian soldiers arrived in Italy after being taken prisoner of war. Following Romania’s entry into the conflict in 1916, some troops were captured by the Central Powers.
Subsequently, due to shifts on the front lines and the capture of Austro-Hungarian units by Italian forces, camps in Italy also came to hold Romanian soldiers, including Romanians from Transylvania who had been conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army.
Italy thus became a place where numerous Romanian prisoners were concentrated, coming from different circumstances but united by the same origin.
Conditions in the camps were harsh, and many prisoners were already weakened by war, suffering from hunger, disease and deprivation. Some died in captivity and were buried on Italian soil, in military or local cemeteries. The exact number of these soldiers is not known, but is estimated at no fewer than 1,000.
Those who survived were, in some cases, reorganised into Romanian volunteer units that went on to support the national cause.
Photo: Diocese of Italy
