Lettere e Scritti. Conservati negli archivi dei conventi di S. Antonio dei Frati Minori Conventuali di Istanbul e Padova

Sono raccolte in questo volume alcune corrispondenze epistolari di Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, poi pontefice con il nome Giovanni XXIII, avute tra il 1931 e il 1958. I documenti raccolti da Chilin, pur non apportando grandi novità nella letteratura giovannea, costituiscono sicuramente un ulteriore tassello del volto umano e biografico del beato pontefice. Troviamo anticipazioni, semi della sua santità presente prima dello svelamento come pastore della Chiesa. L'importanza della raccolta risiede soprattutto nella testimonianza di affetto e di amicizia avuta da mons. Roncalli nei confronti della famiglia francescana conventuale, attiva e vivace tra le comunità cristiane di Istanbul, e al particolare legame di amicizia che lo strinse al p. Giorgio Montico (1897-1980).

The volume is a collection of letters and writings by the apostolic delegate Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, published 37 years after his death, on occasion of his beatification (3 September 2000). His five-year papacy (1958-1963) - after having been apostolic delegate in Bulgaria and in Turkey, nuncio in Paris and patriarch of Venice - left the mark of an epochal turning point in the history of the Church. The Letters and the Writings gathered here by Fr. Massimiliano Chilin, who has been active in Lebanon for many years, and provincial minister of the Province of the Orient of the Conventual Franciscans, even though they are mostly well known, nevertheless constitute an important piece in the reconstruction of Pope Roncalli's personality, particularly in the years preceding his election as Pope. Even though the volume has no pretence of being a critical reconstruction, it proposes a documentation on the life of the future Pope, who testifies, in his letters, to the affection and friendship that he feels towards the Conventual Franciscan Family, which has always been active in Istanbul, especially through its representative, Fr. Giorgio Montico, who had a long tenure as Superior of the convent of Saint Anthony, provincial minister of the Province of the Orient, and later of the Paduan Province of Saint Anthony. There are several signs of his devotion to Saint Anthony, especially in the tragic moments of the Second World War, through his constant relations with the Basilica and Anthonian Convent in Padua.