I just read a beautiful story about a homeless man who went to Mass every day at the Church of Sant’Anna inside the Vatican walls. His name was Willie Herteleer. He was from Belgium, but lived on the street near Saint Peter’s Square. He was one of God’s special people, an evangelizer for the one, true Faith, who, although he lived out of a pull-cart, managed to keep well-groomed. He had many friends, including a monsignor and a Franciscan sister. He told the monsignor, a canon of Saint Peter’s in fact, that he had to look good if he was going to win souls. He was also a friend of Paul Badde, a German journalist who wrote a book on the Veil of Manoppello. He loved his freedom, did not like staying in a shelter, and used his freedom to share his religion with the locals and tourists. He was right upfront and would ask them: “When did you last go to confession?” “Are you going to communion”? “Do you go to Mass?” He died on the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, 2014, at the age of 80. His friend, Monsignor Ciani, offered his funeral Mass. Thanks to his friends, Monsignor Ciani, and Paul Badde he is buried in the Vatican cemetery for Germans.
Angela Ambrgetti, CNA: Everyone in the neighborhood outside the Vatican knew Willy Herteleer.
The “Borgo” – as the area that borders St. Peter’s Square to the north is called – has a small-town-feel. Alongside the monsignors, sisters, cardinals and Romans that live in the neighborhood, there are many homeless people. You can see them every morning at Mass at the Pontifical Parish of Sant’Anna, just off the Borgo inside the Vatican walls.
Willy was one of them. Read the rest of the story here.
