The Redemptorist community of Rome bid farewell to their deceased brother.
Rome, April 28, 2026
This morning, at 10:00 a.m., the funeral of Father Antonio Marrazzo, CSsR, who passed away on Sunday, April 26, was held at the Shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Rome. The funeral Mass was presided over by Archbishop Alfonso Amarante, CSsR, Major Rector of the Pontifical Lateran University.
The homily was delivered by the Superior General, Father Rogério Gomes, CSsR, who touched the hearts of those present with a personal and moving remembrance. He recounted the final hours of Father Antonio’s life, his peaceful death, and the beautiful witness of Redemptorist life he embodied until the very end. He emphasized in particular his long service as Postulator General of the Congregation, a role he held with complete dedication for nearly forty years. “He touched, in a certain sense, the lives of those who allowed God to shape them, becoming living signs of the Redeemer’s presence in the world,” he stated.
Father Gomes also thanked by name the brothers of the community, the doctor and the collaborators who accompanied Father Marrazzo with fraternal service in the last months of his illness.
The most touching moment came at the end of the homily, when the Superior General left the pulpit and, with the microphone in his hand, approached the coffin to address the deceased confrere directly:
“Dear Father Antonio, you were a gift that God, in his infinite goodness, granted to the Congregation and to us, his brothers. And today, in this Eucharist, we offer you to God as a precious gift, in the serene certainty that you have fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith. Now the crown of righteousness is reserved for you, which the Lord will grant you (cf. 2 Tim 4:7-8). Your life, marked by fidelity, generous service to the Church, and closeness to the mystery of holiness, remains for us as a living testimony that it is worth giving everything for Christ and for the mission.”
Concelebrants included Father Gennaro Sorrentino, CSsR, Provincial Superior of Southern Europe, and several confreres from the province. Also present was Father Carlo Calloni, OFM Cap., dean of postulators for causes, along with priests, nuns, family, and friends who wished to bid Father Marrazzo a final farewell.
At the end of the celebration, the concelebrants surrounded the coffin for the farewell rite, with the sprinkling, incensing, and concluding prayers. Six brothers then lifted the coffin onto their shoulders, accompanying it toward the exit of the church, amidst the congregation gathered in prayer. In the churchyard, after a final gesture of closeness, the coffin was entrusted to the undertakers.
In the afternoon, a final Holy Mass will be celebrated in the Basilica of Sant’Alfonso Maria de Liguori in Pagani, after which the body of Father Antonio Marrazzo will be laid to rest in the Redemptorists’ tomb in the city cemetery.
Rest in the peace of Christ the Redeemer, Father Antonio!
Video broadcast of the celebration in the sanctuary:
Homily at the Funeral of Father Antonio Marrazzo, C.Ss.R.
Dearest confreres, monsignors, religious men and women, priests, family and friends of Father Antonio,
- The book of Qoheleth reminds us that, in life, “everything has its appointed time […]. There is a time to be born and a time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2). Thus, for each of us, there is the day of our incarnation and the day we celebrate our definitive Passover. In this interval, our life unfolds, with its processes of learning, development, and maturation, with its accomplishments and frustrations, joys and sorrows, dreams fulfilled and others that remain unattainable.
- It is our history, this epic granted by God until the day He calls us to return to the place from which we came, the Kingdom of eternal life. “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son” (1 John 5:11). This certainty is confirmed in the Gospel of John, in the words of Jesus: “This is the will of him who sees the Son and believes in him, that everyone who has seen the Son and believed in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:40).
- The Indian poet Tagore states: “Death is not the extinguishing of the light, it is the act of extinguishing the lamp because the day has already dawned.” And this day dawned for Father Antonio Marrazzo on April 26, when he left for the Father’s house, to meet his Redeemer for good. I was an eyewitness to that moment. Despite the pain of losing a loved one, it was also a profound experience of God. I believe He leaves us signs that, perhaps, like the disciples of Emmaus (cf. Luke 24:13-35), we don’t fully understand at the time, but which later become clear to us. These signs console us when we entrust those dear to us to God.
- Father Marrazzo’s day began with the anointing of the sick and communion, and he left at 3:00 p.m., the hour when Jesus gave up His spirit to the Father, during Eastertide, on Good Shepherd Sunday, the day we celebrated the First International Meeting of the Brothers, in commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the birth of Saint Gerard, the saint who fully lived God’s will, and precisely on the day that marked the 160th anniversary of the public veneration of the icon entrusted to the Redemptorists by Pope Pius IX, on April 26, 1866. Father Marrazzo coordinated, organized, and documented the restoration of the original icon of the Mother of Perpetual Help.
- During his passage to the Father, he told me three times: “Let God’s will be done.” He said goodbye with a “ciao, ciao” repeated three times and thanked us for everything we had done for him. I, for my part, thanked him for his service to the Congregation and told him, “I am with you.” After a few minutes, he made the sign of the cross and prayed two Hail Marys, which I accompanied him to pray.
- In his final moments, when I sensed his distant gaze, as if contemplating the horizon, and his breathing becoming increasingly shallow, I took his hand and began to pray the Hail Mary with him. At a certain point, I said to him: “Marrazzo, go with God, go in peace, and may the angels and saints accompany you.” A profound silence fell. I made the sign of the cross on his forehead, and then God’s will was done.
- I can say that he died peacefully, at peace with himself, in the room where he had lived for nearly forty years, in a simple way, like a Redemptorist, surrounded by his religious family. In addition to me, who was by his side, four other confreres—Brother Diego and Fathers Marek, Sanjay, and Kukla—were with him in his office, silently accompanying him on this journey. He once told me, “You are my family.” In one of our conversations, he confided that he did not wish to die in a hospital.
- I would like to thank the brothers who were at his side during his illness, bringing him meals and the Eucharist, caring for him, and even taking care of the pharmacy and his funeral: Bishop Amarante, Fathers Donato, Gianni, Agustín, Sanjay, Brother Diego, Vicente Soria, Pupo, his collaborators Andrea and Elias, the cook Francesco and his team who prepared his meals, and all those who visited him and prayed for him. A special thanks to Dr. Bottini, his friend and a Redemptorist Oblate, who spent countless hours at his side, providing relief with medicines but also with his friendship. Thanks to all those who, with a sense of family and a spirit of fraternity, contributed to his well-being.
- I have received many messages of condolence from the Vatican, particularly from the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, from many bishops, from other Congregations, from the General Council, and from my confreres.
- Father Marrazzo was a Redemptorist missionary. Among the many services he performed, he received a very special mission: that of Postulator General. In this mission, he served the Church and the Congregation with dedication and competence. We can believe that the saints and blesseds whose causes he championed came to welcome him: Saint Paul VI, Saint Bartolo Longo, the Redemptorist blesseds Gennaro Maria Sarnelli, Francis Xavier Seelos, Dominic Trčka, Peter Donders, Blessed Maria Celeste Crostarosa, Blessed Maria della Concezione (Conchita) Barrecheguren, the Redemptorist Martyrs of Ukraine, Madrid, and Cuenca, among many others. Surely, when meeting them, he would have revealed something of his profound sense of humor. He surely cracked a joke or two…
- Over these forty years, Father Marrazzo, more than anyone else, with his discreet and respectful demeanor, has come into direct and continuous contact with men and women who have profoundly lived their humanity and an intense intimacy with God. These are lives transformed by grace, becoming paths of beatitude and holiness, witnessed in the concreteness of daily life.
- In carrying out his service, he did not limit himself to studying trials or following cases, but rather drew closer to stories marked by fidelity, dedication, and radical love for the Gospel. He touched, in a certain sense, the lives of those who allowed God to shape them, becoming living signs of the Redeemer’s presence in the world.
- In a special way, he had the grace of meeting confreres who authentically embodied the Redemptorist charism, living it in simplicity, apostolic zeal, and closeness to the most abandoned. Thus, throughout these years, he was not only a servant of the causes of saints, but also a man who, contemplating so many lives transfigured by grace, allowed himself to be challenged and enriched by them, becoming himself a witness that holiness is possible and concrete in history. He knew and touched Redemptorist holiness!
- I would like to thank, in particular, the Provincial Father Gennaro Sorrentino, the former Province of Naples, now the Province of Europe South, for offering Father Marrazzo this important service to the Congregation. This collaboration will continue.
- Dear Father Antonio, you were a gift that God, in his infinite goodness, granted to the Congregation and to us, his brothers. And today, in this Eucharist, we offer you to God as a precious gift, in the serene certainty that you have fought the good fight, finished the race, and kept the faith. Now is reserved for you the crown of righteousness, which the Lord will grant you (cf. 2 Tim 4:7-8). Your life, marked by fidelity, generous service to the Church, and closeness to the mystery of holiness, remains for us as a living testimony that it is worth giving everything for Christ and for the mission.
- Dear Father Marrazzo, may you rest in peace, in the communion of saints, together with the blessed, the Redemptorist martyrs, and all the brothers who preceded us, and may you intercede for the Congregation, your family, whom you loved so much. And, with the joy that always characterized you, continue to make your jokes even up there in Heaven.
- With dedication and profound patience, you restored the icon of the Mother of Perpetual Help. In God’s mysterious providence, you were called to the definitive encounter with his Redeemer Son on the very day we celebrated the 160th anniversary of the public veneration of this icon entrusted to our Congregation. What you contemplated in the beauty of iconographic art, you now contemplate in the fullness of reality: the very Mother of Fair Love, Mother of Mercy, Advocate and Refuge of sinners, Sweetest Hope, Divine Shepherdess, Perpetual Help. And She, whom you have so often pointed out as the way, now guides you and restores within you all the beauty of redeemed humanity, so that you may contemplate face to face the Supreme Beauty, Christ the Redeemer. Amen.
Fr. Rogério Gomes, CSsR.
Superior General
Rome, Church of Saint Alphonsus and Perpetual Help, April 28, 2026.
(Englsih translation from Italian text)
