After reading this column, you will see that Josef Meyr-Nusser might have lived in a different decade but the challenge he faced remains in various forms in many countries, including ours.
Have you heard of a place called South Tyrol? Today it is Italy’s second largest province. But for a long time it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. When the Empire collapsed, borders were redrawn and territories were reorganized. Austria ceded South Tyrol to Italy in 1919.
Nine years before this happened Josef was born in Bolzano, the capital of South Tyrol. Five years after his birth, his father, who was in the army, died. So Josef was brought up by Maria, his mother, who had to look after the family farm and raise her six children all alone. With all her work, she attended Mass everyday and the entire family prayed the rosary daily.
Fr M.A. Joe Antony SJ
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