On May 9, 2021, Rosario Livatino, a magistrate little known outside of Italy, was beatified. In the basilica cathedral of Agrigento in Sicily, the faithful venerated the bloodied shirt worn by Blessed Rosario during the moment of his horrific murder by the Stidda, a rival gang of the more famous Sicilian Mafia. In Rome, Pope Francis commented, “In his service to the common good, as an exemplary judge who never succumbed to corruption, he sought to judge not to condemn but to redeem . . . . His work placed him firmly under the protection of God. For this reason, he became a witness to the Gospel even unto a heroic death.”
People outside of Italy might imagine that the violent mob murder of a magistrate perhaps occurred in the time of Al Capone, of tommy guns, and Prohibition. However, Blessed Rosario was gunned down off the side of a highway in Sicily on the morning of September 21, 1990, a date firmly within the lifetime of most adults. Whereas in the United States mob violence is viewed as distant history or associated with popular films or television shows, for the people of Sicily this was the reality of recent memory, in which the brutal mafia wars blurred the lines between gangland violence and terrorism.
Blessed Rosario Livatino was born on October 3, 1952, in the small town of Canicattì, in the province of Agrigento. In 1975, he completed his law degree in Palermo. On the top of his thesis, he wrote three letters: STD, or Sub Tutela Dei. Thus, from the very beginning of his legal career Blessed Rosario entrusted his work as a lawyer and judge to God.
Over the course of his legal career, Blessed Rosario progressed from prosecutor to magistrate. His colleagues recall his rigorous and inflexible application of the law, while at the same time his ability to recognize the humanity in even the most hardened criminals. He understood that there was great disorganization and corruption in the region resulting in ineffectual and fragmented investigations. Blessed Rosario’s requests for greater coordination among law enforcement resulted in the closure of a local bank considered to be the safe deposit box for the mafia. These efforts resulted in the increase of threats against Blessed Rosario and his family. However, he was not swayed. Strengthened by his Catholic faith, he hungered for justice.
Only days before his thirty-eighth birthday, Blessed Rosario drove alone to the courthouse to begin his day of work, having refused an armed escort. Stidda assassins drove his vehicle off the road and Blessed Rosario was gunned down. In the investigation that followed, the perpetrators testified that they had committed their heinous crime because Blessed Rosario was immune to corruption. The mafiosi mocked Blessed Rosario’s Catholic faith and revealed that they had originally planned to murder him leaving the church where he daily adored the Blessed Sacrament. This was truly a murder in odium fidei. It is therefore not surprising that on the same day as Blessed Rosario’s beatification, the Vatican Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development announced the establishment of a working group committed to the excommunication of mafia members.
Blessed Rosario did not separate his life as a Catholic from his role as a lawyer or magistrate, though he lived his faith in humility. Every day he could be found at Mass, and in adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. This life of prayer and devotion provided him with the strength that enabled him to resist societal pressures and the temptation of lucrative corruption in order to take action for justice, and to root out the evil poisoning his beloved home. His was not a faith segregated to a private sphere, but rather his animating force, the light of Christ guiding him on the path of justice as a humble servant of the common good.
