Campo Verano was designated as Rome’s municipal cemetery in the early nineteenth century and it opened it’s gates in 1878. Campo Verano lies on a huge piece of land, three times larger than the Vatican City. Within Campo Verano is the North American College Mausoleum for students and professors who die while in Rome. George Weigel first visited Campo Verano on All Souls’ Day with students and faculty of the Pontifical North American College. The Pontifical North American College Website says “One of the Italian traditions that our seminary encourages is the visiting of the cemetery on All Souls’ Day,” and that is how Weigel first went to the college’s Mausoleum. While there Weigel learned about a man named Franciscus Parater. Parater went to Rome in 1919 to study for the priesthood. A month after he arrived in Rome he wrote a …show more content…
Two months after arriving in Rome Parater contracted rheumatism. He suffered through a great pain for two weeks, Parater was dieing. When his college’s spiritual director came to give him his Last Rites Parater wished to get up from his bed and receive his very last communion kneeling. However his doctors would not let him, so he knelt on his bed for his last holy communion. On the next day Frank Parater passed away and while a fellow student was gathering his belongings he found the prayer that Frank had written. The prayer talked about how Frank would be honored to die for his faith. Frank wrote, “This is what I live for and in case of death what I die for. . . .Since my childhood I have wanted to die for God and my neighbor. Shall I have this grace(178)?” This truly amazes me, because most of us as humans fear death, Frank wished for it. It is amazing how strong Parater’s faith was. Frank Parater’s prayer was so respected and influential that even Pope Benedict XV and Pope Pius XI both asked for copies of the