Introduction to Ven. Simon Srugi

An Introduction to Ven. Simon Srugi

Ven. Simon Srugi, second from the left

(ANS – Beitgemal, Israel – April 9, 2021) - Salesian Fr. Giovanni Caputa, former professor of theology in Cremisan and Jerusalem (1980-2017), since 2014 has been a collaborator in the cause of beatification of Venerable Simon Srugi, a Salesian brother who was a central figure for the Salesians of the Middle East. Fr. Caputa recently wrote a new book in Italian on Bro. Simon (Simone Srugi nella storia di Betgamāl), and today he illustrates the history of the Venerable and the value of this publication.

It’s not your first book on Srugi. What’s new in this one?

In 2018 I published Vita e scritti di Simone Srugi (“Life and Writings”), which contains all the documentation. In this new book, I better frame both parts in their historical context, that is, the hundred years between the reconstitution of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem (1847) and the partition of Palestine (1947). It was part of a region that during that century completely changed aspect, from a political, socio-economic, cultural, and religious point of view. The maps and the photo gallery, which complete the volume, help to offer a better picture.

Against that background, the life and action of Bro. Srugi stand out. After his childhood in Nazareth and the years of apprenticeship in Bethlehem (nurse, tailor, and baker), he made his religious profession as a Salesian brother (1896) and carried out his mission for 50 years in Beitgemal. In this out-of-the-way and malarial locality, the Salesians welcomed Palestinian orphans, Armenian, Lebanese, and Syrian refugees, and finally also Poles. They ran an agricultural school with an attached mill, olive oil press, mini-mart, and medical-pharmaceutical dispensary. Bro. Simon was teacher and catechist of the little ones, master of ceremonies in the shrine of St. Stephen, and above all a nurse: the sick came to him by the dozen every day, from about 50 villages. It is estimated that he treated tens of thousands of poor sick people.

What writings did Bro. Srugi leave?

He was not a writer; he was a practical, simple man, who loved to read Don Bosco’s books, manuals of piety, etc. From them he transcribed short sentences, which he distributed on strips of paper to brothers and boys. They resemble today’s tweets.

Here are a few:

-      A “thank you to God” is worth more, a “God be blessed” in adversity, than a thousand thanks in prosperity.

-      God does things slowly, but he does them well.

-      Carry the cross of each day every day with the grace of each day.

-      The cross, if it is loved, is only half a cross, because the love of Jesus softens everything, and one does not suffer much, except when one loves little.

-      It is worth more to lift a straw out of obedience than to fast for 40 days by one’s own choice.

-      You do not have to look for enemies in the town square, while the most bitter is hidden inside you, indeed, it is you. So look at your soul for yourself.

-      The happiness of pleasing God by doing all things well is the wisdom of heaven.

The book in Italian Simone Srugi nella storia di Betgamāl (“Simon Srugi in the history of Beitgemal”) will soon be included in the Salesian Digital Library (SDL).