I knew Willy

Did They “Bury a Bum” at the Vatican?

March 2, 2015 by Fr. Dwight Longenecker

Willy Herteleer

My latest article for CRUX highlights the controversy that has arisen over PewSitter’s offensive headline about the burieal of homeless pilgrim Willy Herteleer

On Dec. 12, Willy died in a hospital near the Vatican and a few of his friends began to look for a burial place for him. German journalist Paul Badde, author of “The Face of God” — a book about the Holy Veil of Manopello — had just become a brother in the Confraternity of the Campo Santo of the Teutons. The Campo Santo Teutonico, or Teutonic Cemetery, is a small piece of land within the Vatican walls donated by Charlemagne as a burial plot for pilgrims of German or Flemish descent who died on pilgrimage to Rome.

Because Willy Herteleer was Flemish, Badde suggested that he be buried in the historic Vatican cemetery. Angela Ambrogetti, writing for the Catholic News Agency, recalled how “Willy’s friends organized everything, obtaining the necessary permission from the Vatican, Italy, and Belgium, where Willy began his life. They made contact with his family — his four children whom he had not seen for decades.”

This simple act of charity might have remained no more than a touching story of a few Catholics performing a corporal work of mercy by giving a dignified burial to a poor man. Instead, it has erupted into an online firefight illustrating the polarization within the American Catholic Church.

Go here to read the whole article
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/standingonmyhead/2015/03/did-they-bury-a-bum-at-the-vatican.html

 

For many years Willy would come for the Three O'clock Divine Mercy Prayers at the Church Santo Spirito in Rome. He would always wave out to me and greet me with a big smile.

The last I saw him, a few months back ( since I have not been going there for some time) he had a big white beard and had put on weight.The photo above is an old photograph of him.

A few years back he told me he slept under a bridge near the Vatican. He would cook his own meals there.He would not eat meat. He had to avoid it he said for health reasons.

Every morning he would go for Mass at a church near the Vatican.

He liked Rome he said . He liked the churches in Rome and did not want to go to his hometown.He lived an austere life in Rome.

I am glad that he was buried at the Vatican.-Lionel