Italy Recalls Founder of "City" for Street Children

ROME, JUNE 5, 2001 (Zenit.org).- Last week, a «city» of street children and the marginalized commemorated the first anniversary of the death of its founder, Father Salvatore d´Angelo.

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Father d´Angelo´s initiative for the sheltering of children is one of the most ambitious in southern Europe. It was begun at the end of World War II to shelter and educate orphans. There are now 1,200 students in this «Boys´ City,» as it is known in Italy.

More than 500 of the marginalized and abandoned students are supported directly by the foundation in its house in Maddaloni, near Naples.

The foundation also has a kindergarten, primary and lower secondary school, a technical and industrial institute, a technical aeronautical institute, a bachelor´s program in linguistics, and a higher institute for interpreters and translators.

Before his death, Father d´Angelo asked Father Marcial Maciel, founder of the Legionaries of Christ, if his congregation would take over the direction of the «City,» so that his 53 years of work could continue to bear fruit. Father Maciel agreed.

Cyclists of the celebrated «Tour of Italy» observed the anniversary of Father d´Angelo´s death by passing by the institution in Maddaloni. Many of the institution´s youths saluted them as they passed.

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