And as I am about to speak of forgiveness, dear mother, I have only
one thing to say with all simplicity: Forgive me! Forgive me all the
sorrows that I have caused you; all the agonies that you have suffered
on my account every time I have been ungrateful, stubborn, forgetful,
disobedient toward you. Forgive me if, by neglect and inexperience, I
have failed to render your life more comfortable and tranquil since the
day when my father, by his premature death, entrusted you to my care.
Now I understand well the many wrongs I have been guilty of toward you,
and I feel all the remorse and cruel anguish now that dying I have to
entrust you to the providence of the Lord. Forgive me lastly this final
sorrow that I have inflicted upon you, perhaps not without stubborn
and cruel inconsideration on my part, in giving up my life voluntarily
for my country, fascinated by the attractions of this beautiful lot.
Forgive me also if I have not sufficiently recognized and tried to
compensate the incomparable nobility of your soul, of your heart, so
immense and sublime. Mother, truly perfect and exemplary, to whom I owe
all that I am and the least good I have done in this world.
I have so many things to say to you that a book could hardly contain
them. Nothing else, therefore, is left me but to recommend you to our
Gino, on whose goodness, on whose integrity, and on whose strength
of will, I put all trust. Tell him in my name to serve willingly
our country as long as she will have need of him, to serve her with
abnegation, with ardor, with enthusiasm, even unto death, should that
be necessary. Should he be destined to live a long and struggling life,
let him be equal to it with serenity, with firmness, with indomitable
love for justice and honesty, trusting always in the triumph of good
with God's grace. Let him be a good husband and a good father; let
him raise up his children in the love of God, respect for the Church,
fidelity toward our King, to the observance of the law, to scrupulous
devotion to our beloved country. Think often of us here above; speak
of us among yourselves; remember us and love us as when we were alive,
because we shall always be with you.
Pray often for me, for I am in need of it. Be courageous in the trials
of life, as you have always been strong and energetic in the midst
of the tempest of your earthly career; continue to be humble, pious,
charitable, so that the peace of God may always be with you.
Good-bye, mother; good-bye, Gino, my dear and my belovèd! I embrace
you with all the ardor of my immense love, which has increased a
hundredfold during my absence in the midst of the dangers and hardships
of the war. Here, far away from the world, always with the image of
imminent death, I have felt how strong are the ties that bind us to
this world; how mankind is in need of mutual love, of faith in each
other, of discipline, of harmony, of unity, what necessary and sacred
things are the fatherland, the home, the family; how blameworthy is the
person who renounces these, who betrays and oppresses them.
Love and freedom for all, this is the ideal for which it is a pleasure
to offer one's life. May God cause our sacrifice to be fruitful; may
He take pity upon mankind, forgive and forget their offenses, and give
them peace. Then, oh! dear mother, we shall not have died in vain. Just
one more tender kiss.