“I found myself alone in a room before God”
Father Angelo Marcandella is one of the brothers of the Congregation infected by Covid-19. Thank God he is alive and well in a rehabilitation clinic in Santiago at Ponte dell'Oleo (Piacenza, Italy). He was asked some questions by telephone.
Can you speak about your time as a patient in the hospital?
Since 2000, I have been in the hospital several times for different reasons. With God's help everything has gone very well for me and the doctors take the opportunity to check my health. This time I went to the hospital and was hospitalized for several days because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Given the novelty of the disease and its destructive force on human life, it was as if two forces were fighting and one was trying to destroy the other. I had to fight the virus knowing that it was a matter of life and death. I realized that the vulnerability of the human body is nothing. It's all vanity. At that moment, I remembered that the most important thing in the Congregation for me is night worship. In the solitude of my illness, where I found myself alone with my illness, in the silence of the night, I dedicated a few hours to prayer. I always keep within me the images of Saint Damien de Veuster, the apostle of the lepers, and of Blessed Eustaquio, the apostle of health and peace.
How did you experience Holy Week?
During Holy Week I found myself in a place where there were no religious signs to connect me with this liturgical high point. I found myself alone in a room before God. I remembered some religious hymns by heart that corresponded to what the church is experiencing at this time. These songs helped me to live the Easter Triduum. I also had the experience of not celebrating the Eucharist. During all this time, I did not receive communion. But I was united with Christ in his suffering, passion, death and resurrection in sickness.
How do you live the time of Easter now?
In the middle of March I really felt the effects of the illness on my body. I was taken to the intensive care unit of the hospital in Piacenza. I stayed there for two days. Then I was transferred to the hospital of Fiorenzuola, in the jurisdiction of Cartell'Arquatto, near the parish of St. Anthony of Padua, where I exercise my ministry. I spent three weeks in this hospital. On Monday, Easter Monday, the doctors confirmed that I had been cured of the Covid-19 pandemic. This was for me the good news of Easter. I was transferred that same afternoon to St. James Rehabilitation Clinic in Piacenza. I continue with quarantine and rehabilitation. I have lost a lot of weight and have no balance to walk. That's why I'm engaging into recovery therapy, to become independent. For me, the good news of Easter is that I am learning a new life again. My sincere thanks for your prayers. Happy Easter to all of you.
05/09/2020