head of the table; and, barring a rather slow service, due to the fact
that the cooking was done in our camp kitchens four hundred yards away,
this first meal in the hotel was a success. It being our last in
Messina, there was a warm interchange of sentiments of the most friendly
nature, the Prefect saying that the occasion marked the beginning of a
new life in Messina, and the Pro-Sindaco, in the name of the Municipal
Council, conferring the honorary citizenship of Messina upon Lieutenant
Buchanan, Ensigns Wilcox and Spofford, Dr. Donelson, Mr. Elliott, and
myself. When I rose to bid them farewell and to commend to their kind
offices Ensign Spofford, who was remaining behind for a little while,
General Del Rosso rose and stretched his hand across the table to
Spofford, saying: ‘You are our comrade.’
“The main body, however, left Messina shortly after our farewell lunch,
by the five o’clock ferry, amid a popular and official demonstration
that will never be forgotten by any of us.
“What our American party built in the earthquake area may be seen in
the following summary; and to quote some of the things said of it, a
translation of the decree of honorary citizenship, and a letter lately
received from the Little Sisters of the Poor, are added.
“Allowing an average of six to a family, which is not high for the
people who occupy our cottages, the number we built would house twelve
thousand; and six thousand more could be provided for by the remaining
thousand for which material was provided.
“The church would easily hold three hundred or three hundred and fifty
people; fifty or sixty sewing women or other people could work in the
_laboratorio_, comfortably; and seventy-five to eighty children in each
schoolhouse. The _laboratorio_ and schools were ceiled and plastered,
and built on concrete foundations. All these large buildings are
permanent structures, and should last for years.
“The Hospital Elizabeth Griscom, at Villaggio Regina Elena, especially
is a worthy group of buildings, based on a substantial concrete
foundation, strongly framed, and well finished, all corners rounded in
the wall plastering, tiled floors in the surgical rooms, bathroom, and
kitchen, and roofed first with rubberoid, then with artificial slate.
Painted white, with red roof, and situated high up on the hillside, it
stands out from its surroundings, as seen from the harbor, most
attractively, while from the windows of the wards of the hospital itself
the view is unsurpassed.
“The hotel building was turned over to the authorities with all the
wood-working part finished, and in such general condition that a
_concessionaire_ could in a short time complete and open it. The form is
a wide H, the central part one hundred feet long by thirty-two wide, and
each wing one hundred and thirty-two feet by thirty-two feet wide. It is
arranged for seventy-five bedrooms, of several sizes, and thirteen or
fourteen bathrooms, so grouped as to minimize the amount of branch
piping necessary. Great care was taken with the foundation and to make a
strongly built structure; and also to make one that should be in some
degree worthy of the beautiful site on which it stands.
“Nothing but cottage-building had been contemplated when we went to
Messina, and this task had been accomplished at the rate of fifteen
cottages built for every day we spent there, including Sundays,
holidays, and days of rain. The other work--schools, workroom, church,
hotel, hospital--were all additional, their undertaking made possible by
the allotment of more funds by the American Red Cross.
“To mark the givers, each house completed bore on the door a plate,
reading, ‘U Italy S, 1909,’ or ‘American Red Cross for Italy, 1909.’
These were placed on the cottages, in the proportion of three to one,
which was about the ratio of the respective expenditures of the U. S.
Government and the Red Cross for this particular work,--roundly $450,000
and $150,000.
“As nearly as could be figured, the whole cost of each cottage came to
not more than $235, of which about $35 represented the cost to the
Italian Government.”
_Thanks from the Little Sisters of the Poor_
“To the Directing Manager and Gentlemen engaged in the erection of
Barracks at Messina.
“GENTLEMEN:--I, the undersigned, Provincial Superior of the Little
Sisters of the Poor, having been apprised of your approaching departure
from Messina, feel it my duty to thank you for the great kindness shown
to our sisters in that unfortunate country; no words can express our
gratitude for the noble manner in which you have treated us.
“We have every reason to hope that our Home will be soon reopened, as it
is the desire of our Holy Father, Pius X, that the aged poor should be
taken care of.
“Gentlemen, you may rest assured that your benevolence for our work will
never, never be forgotten; you will always be considered as our first
benefactors and our prayers and the prayers of our dear poor will follow
you everywhere. If you come back to visit this desolated country of
Messina, we hope you will come at once to see us, as we are really your
‘protegées.’
“Receive, Gentlemen, my most grateful homage, and believe me
“Your most humble servant
“In Christ our Lord,
“ST. AIMÉE DE LA PROVIDENCE,
“Provinciale des Petites S’re. des Pauvres.
“Piazza, San Pietro in Vincoli, Roma.
“August 8th, 1909.”
COMMUNE OF MESSINA
[Sidenote: Date June 9, 1909.
SUBJECT
Honorary citizenship of the Commandant and Officers of the Navy of the
United States of America, who directed the construction of the American
houses.]
Extract from the Deliberations of the Municipal Council.
The year nineteen hundred nine, the ninth day of the month.
The Municipal Council of Messina, being called together by a notice of
meeting, sent by the Mayor, dated the seventh of May, convened today in
a hall of the Palazzo Comunale, with the following present:
1. Commendatore Antonio Martino, _Mayor_, Presiding.
2. Avvocato Auguste Bette, _Alderman_.
3. Cav. Avvocato Francesco Martino, _Alderman_.
4. Cav. Ingegnere Amilcare Martinez, _Alderman_.
5. Cav. Ingegnere Arturo Lella, _Alderman_.
6. Dottore Orazio Ciraolo, _Alderman_.
The Secretary-General, Avvocato Giacomo Crisafulli, assisted at the
meeting.
The President at 1 o’clock P.M. declared the session open.
On the motion of the President,
The Municipal Council considering that, in the tremendous disaster of
the 28 December et seq., all the civilized nations of the world,
sympathizing in the distress of the surviving Messinesi, united in
various ways, to relieve and mitigate their sufferings, considering that
the Republic of the United States of America chose to take part in this
great affirmation of the solidarity of humanity by means of enduring
works, namely, by the construction of one thousand five hundred houses,
for the shelter of a good portion of the surviving population, a
magnificent hotel, a church, and three school buildings; considering
that this new proof of affection furnished by the worthy American people
merits being signalized, and that a tribute is due in equal measure to
those also, who, with so much zeal and affection, have devoted their
energy and activity to this work for several months; convinced in
consequence that the executive body interprets the voice and feeling of
the entire populace, in solemnly expressing the most sincere sentiment
of gratitude, at the moment in which the gallant officers and sailors of
the glorious American Navy are leaving these shores, tried by suffering;
assuming on account of urgency, the power of the community, the Council,
by unanimous vote
DETERMINES
_a_) to communicate to His Excellency the President of the United
States of America, through His Excellency the Ambassador, resident
at Rome, the profound gratitude of the survivors of Messina for
this proof of the common bonds of humanity, furnished on the
occasion of the tremendous disaster of the 28 December.
_b_) to confer the honorary citizenship of Messina upon Messrs.
1) Lieutenant Commander Reginald Rowan Belknap.
2) Lieutenant Allen Buchanan.
3) Ensign John W. Wilcox.
4) Ensign Robert W. Spofford.
5) Assistant Surgeon Martin Donelson.
6) John Elliott.
_c_) to make the aforesaid Commandant Mr. Belknap the warmest
expression of appreciation for the kindly care with which he
assumed a difficult undertaking, and carried through an extensive
and complicated work.
_d_) to recognize also the zealous efforts, effective and
harmonious, of the other officers and of the Engineer Elliott, who
contributed their co-operation to such a degree.
After being read, the present proceeding is approved and signed.
_The Mayor._
(Signed) A. MARTINO.
_The Senior Assessor._
(Signed) A. MARTINEZ.
_The Secretary General._
(Signed) G. CRISAFULLI.
The present document has been published in the pretorial bulletin
of this Community on the feast day tenth of June, and no objection
has reached this Office.
_The Secretary General._
(Signature) G. CRISAFULLI.
The present copy conforms to the original, and is furnished solely
and exclusively for administrative uses.
At the Municipal Residency, the 11 June, 1909.
Compared, [SEAL]
(Signature) C. LARGARO.
_The Secretary General._
(Signature) G. CRISAFULLI.
Visé _The Mayor_.
(Signature) A. MARTINO.
On their way to the ferry-boat the newly made citizens of Messina passed
through the Piazza del Duomo and by the ruin of an old Norman cathedral,
whose foundations were laid in the year 1098, by order of Roger II. The
noble central doorway is still standing; over it is a marble bas-relief
of the Madonna. The child has dropped from her arms. Then comes a great
rent, for the upper part of the façade has fallen. The mighty columns
of the nave (they once upheld the roof of the temple of Poseidon at Faro
Point) are snapped like pipestems. Two only remain upright and
uninjured. The high altar, a marvel of jasper, chalcedony, and
lapis-lazuli, has fallen, broken into a thousand pieces. The splendid
gold mosaics of the apse, so hard to see in the old days, are now easily
visible. In the central arch over the ruined altar the figure of the
Christ is almost intact. From the rich gloom of the mosaics His grave
face looks out on the ruins of Messina, upon His world. For the world
has never been so truly Christian as it is today; not even when Richard
of the Lion Heart wintered in Messina on his way to Palestine to fight
for the Holy Sepulchre, that same winter he took to wife the lovely
Berengaria. A new name is added to the long list of those who have made
their camp beside Charybdis, opposite Scylla, on the most beautiful, the
most deadly coast in all the world--the Americans, who came not to
conquer or to ravage, but to help and to save. The little boy who
greeted Captain Belknap on Easter morning with the words, “Be thou
blessed!” expressed the general sentiment of the Sicilians towards the
Americans.
In our bustling young country we are so busy looking forward and looking
backward that we sometimes lose sight of the only thing that is really
ours to make or to mar--today. In Sicily there is more time, and, in the
years to come, the old men and old women of Messina will tell the tale,
hand down the story of those latter-day Crusaders, Captain Belknap and
his men, and what they did in their camp beside the Torrente Zaera.
There was a certain exaltation in all the people who worked for Sicily
and Calabria that seemed to lift them above the smallnesses of every day
existence. They saw each other transfigured, they lived the heroic life.
Each was eager to do the other’s work,--all were quick to sacrifice
themselves to the others, as well as to the cause. It was a time when
men and women seemed purged of meanness and jealousy. Each saw the god
in the other. There was hardly a discordant note. It was like the time
of our Civil War, when a breath of heroism passed through the country.
No matter what might follow of discord and jealousy, the men and women
who passed through that fire of sympathy will never again be quite the
same. All their lives they will yearn for the glorified vision of those
days; their eyes will never quite lose the keener insight of the
mysteries they then attained.
THE END.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Francesco Crispi, the great Sicilian patriot and statesman.
[2] When the work was all done, the Americans hung the bell in
the belfry of the church of Santa Croce. Our church is now the
pro-cathedral of Messina!
End of Project Gutenberg's Sicily in Shadow and in Sun, by Maud Howe Elliott