Franciscan monks in Assisi
saved more than 40 Jews during the Second World War by hiding
them inside the belltower of St Francis' Basilica in the Umbrian
hilltown, the Roman Catholic order disclosed Tuesday on its
website sanfrancesco.org.
The fugitives were hidden in the tower in groups of four to
six people with the superior of the monastery not aware of their
presence, according to the article written as part of literature
on the eve of the Holocaust Day of memory.
Each evening when the organ was played the people in hiding
were able to leave the belltower briefly without ever being
spotted by the Nazis.
"Like St Francis people have to make themselves instruments
of peace," said Fr Enzo Fortunato, head of the press office of
the monastery.
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