EIGHTH SCENE
The fireplace
Two armchairs in front of a fireplace. The voice of a person sitting in one of them tells his listener some of the episodes of St. Gabriel’s life. During the tale certain moments of the saint’s life are evoked, which come to life before the eyes of the spectators.
Voice
… So, as I was saying … I was saying that … during his novitiate I was his teacher and after the novitiate I was his director, director of studies and spiritual director. He rarely confessed to another priest, because I was rarely absent. He had a lively, gentle, jovial character, determined but generous …
He was utterly against deceitfulness, and was open, but prudent with others, as well as being genuine and sincere, especially with his superiors, and above all, with me, his spiritual director, from whom he never hid anything of what was in his heart or his soul …
… And after talking with him, his companions were always happy and uplifted and they remembered he had said for a long time. He instilled obedience to one’s parents, thoughts of Jesus’ passion and devotion to Our Lady, whom he loved immensely …
MARIA DOLCE TU (MARIA SWEET YOU)
G. D’Amato - A. Tosi
Gabriel (15 yrs old)
You, breath of love, you
You, comfort in pain, you
You, Lady servant, you
Of this King
Who lives in you
Gabriel (18 yrs old)
I’ll never fall again
If you stay close to me
Mary sweet you
Splendour of my heart, you
My song is only for you
Caress of a past without love
And I’ll never walk
Alone again, no
If your pardon is close to me
Gabriel (23 yrs old)
Now I’ll listen to your silence
Your living memory I bear
You Lady servant you
Of this King
Who lives in you
I’ll never fall again
My song is only for you
Caress of a past without love
And I’ll never walk
Alone again, no
If your pardon is close to me
Gabriel (15 and 18 yrs)
Live with me, live with me Mary
Live with me, live with me, live with me
My song is only for you
Caress of a past without love
And I’ll never walk
Alone again, no
If your pardon is close to me
Gabriel (23 yrs old)
Live with me – live with me
In the distance the image of the Virgin Mary speaks in a resonant voice:
If you see a great crowd running towards some wondrous thing that glitters, and your eyes are wide open, then don’t follow the crowd, but stay in your corner where probably no-one has ever looked, where there is nothing that glitters but where there is something that supports and attracts you: stay put and don’t think about moving right to the end.
Gabriel (23 yrs old). Live with me … live with me.
Voice
… Gabriel never followed the crowd, he never allowed himself to be attracted by the things that glitter … I don’t know in what year he was struck by a bad illness that left him in fear of dying. During that difficult time he was inspired to turn to God and ask him to heal his illness, promising to dedicate the rest of his life to God’s service as a religious if his prayers were answered. He renewed his promise when he was struck by another illness of the throat. The servant of God feared that he would have suffocated that very night. He told me of another time when the fear of death came to him … It was during his illness that he told me of the stresses and strains that he suffered from all the hard work he carried out without care for himself. He told me of a bad fall when his face hit the ground with such a force that his nose was pushed to one side for the rest of his life … another time he fell from quite a high point so that not only did he have cuts and bruises all over his body, but the rifle he was carrying went off, and the shot shaved his cheek almost hitting him … But the event that affected him most was the death of his beloved sister, Luisa …