On December 15, at 9 a.m., Francis will be the first pope to set foot in Corsica. However, seventy-two years earlier, in May 1952, the future Pope John XXIII, Angelo Roncalli, came to spend a week on the Isle of Beauty. The one who was then nuncio (ambassador) in Paris recounts his memories in the diary he kept all his life, and whose “French years” were published in Le Cerf (Angelo Roncalli, French newspapervolume II 1949-1953) (1). Account of the first trip to Corsica of a future pope.
Letter to his niece Enrica, May 13, 1952: “On Saturday May 17, I have to cross the sea by plane (…) to go to Corsica, which, as you know, is close to Sardinia. It is now a French island, although it previously belonged to the Republic of Genoa. There, the last names are all Italian. Napoleon I also came from there. But there is no question now of speaking Italian (this December 15, 2024, Francis’ three speeches will all be in Italian, Editor’s note). This will be the fortieth flight of my life. Now there is no greater danger than traveling by car, boat or train. However, we still need the protection of heaven. Unite with me in prayer to Our Lady, star of the sea.”
Mgr Roncali had not taken a plane since his arrival in Paris in 1944. For his 89th trip, the future pope of the Second Vatican Council (it was he who convened it in 1962 without being able to complete it since he died the following year) first flew to Marignane on May 17, before taking the plane back to Bastia. “I was like a sardine in a can, uncomfortable and annoyed by the cackling of my companion lawyer Biaggi and Mgr Rodié (bishop of Ajaccio),” notes the nuncio. He says to himself “well received” in Bastia, and was immediately surprised by the huge crowd that came to welcome him. Notably, the nuncio is housed at the prefecture, received (for the first time?) as a guest of the Republic by the prefect Lucien Drevon, former leader of the Resistance in Saône-et-Loire. Mgr Roncalli had been appointed nuncio in Paris following the request by General de Gaulle for the departure of his predecessor, close to Marshal Pétain.
Long toast
The next day, Sunday May 18, Bishop Roncalli blessed the crown added to the painting of the Madonna of Lavasina – the object of strong local devotion. A few tens of thousands of Corsicans are gathered. The nuncio presides over the mass. “A perfect ritual and chants, he comments. The offertory was original: bread and wine, a lamb, a child, a sick person, a nurse. Moving. » A lunch with the clergy and authorities follows: “After the bishop’s toast, which was long, I said mine”Mgr Roncalli slipped.
Monday May 19. “I left Bastia for Cortewrites the nonce. Warm and typical reception.» The next day, Tuesday May 20, he presided over mass in the church “full of faithful” from L’Île-Rousse: “Again a triumphant welcome in the open air. » His homily refers to the 4th century martyrs whose bones were discovered the previous year, in 1951, in a Roman sarcophagus. Bishop Roncalli then hits the road again on the 21st: “Holy mass in Corbara. From there, seized with delight and apprehension, we made the journey to Calvi, where I visited the fortress and the cathedral, then, continuing along the very winding coast, by the Gulf of Porto and the Calanques, we reached Cargèse, where it rains, but where I receive nice compliments. »
Mgr Angelo Roncalli, apostolic nuncio in France and future Pope John XXIII, visiting Corte in 1952. / Jeannot Filippi / Mediathèque Culturelle de la Corse et des Corses
Arriving on the 21st at the end of the day in Ajaccio, the nuncio noted that the“we are at the height of splendor for the reception”that the crowd is immense and that it is again “the guest of the prefecture”. The next day he celebrates “the pontifical high mass of the Ascension in the packed cathedral” and notes that the public is in the majority “young and feminine”.
Friday May 23 is the time to leave and take stock. “In Corsica, I slept well for six nights, two in Bastia at the prefecture, two at the Hôtel Napoléon in L’Île-Rousse and two in Ajaccio at the prefecture. » Before getting back on the plane without incident “thanks to God and the infallible protection of Saint Joseph”the future pope finds the time to slip this invigorating step into his program: “Mountain excursion through the chestnut trees of Bocognano and the forest of Vizzavona. »
Will Francis, on Monday December 16, on the eve of his 88th birthday and the day after his trip to Ajaccio, have the same feelings as Mgr Roncalli, who wrote on May 24: “Well rested in my humble bed, I returned to work, my heart still lulled by the sweet emotions of the week spent in Corsica» ?
(1) A huge thank you to the historian Martin Dumont for his detour to the Saulchoir library, in Paris, in search of this difficult to find book. It is thanks to him that I was able to make you relive a little of this journey of Mgr Roncalli.