the twenty-year dispute with the archbishop – Corriere.it

Grazia lives in the center of Lecce in a building that borders the little church of Sant’Antonio Abate. Only a wall divides the lady’s house from the House of the Lord. The chapel has not been very busy in the past decades, the celebrations have become less frequent over the years. But it has not been deconsecrated: it has belonged to the Archdiocese, at least since 1600. Only that it took three different judges and twenty years of disputes to establish this truth.

The conquest of the chapel

In fact, it happened that one day the lady thought of expanding: new environments, more space, more air. In your hand you have the purchase and sale contract of the property (1982) which also indicates any rights to the chapel. In church, moreover, there is never anyone. And then she would start hammering to open a hole. Without imagining, there and then, that those hammer blows would end up in Cassation. The hole then magically becomes a door (perhaps there was already an access from the 1970s but witnesses from the curia have always denied it). The fact is that the chapel was conquered from the inside without the spreading of rubble. A silent and peaceful annexation. An extension of the dining room, an enlargement of the living room. Without disturbing: the neighbors of the two very central streets, where the church is on the corner, have seen nothing. And who knows how he furnished it. Is the altar left or has it been replaced by a TV?

The locked door

At one point, however, a priest of the archdiocese shows up, unaware of the special operation of the lady who on the one hand had used a hole in the wall but on the other had closed the entrance door of the church by nailing it, inside, with wooden boards. The right precaution in case some ill-intentioned priest tried to sneak in to say two prayers or even celebrate mass. In fact, the don turns the key but nothing to do. So he takes a ladder – tell those who know the story – he looks out the only window, sees the armor plating of the door but verifies that it is impossible to climb down from there. And he goes to report to the archbishop: Your Excellency, Sant’Antonio Abate barred!.

The suspects

At that point (we are in 2001, 19 years after the arrival of Signora Grazia in the building) some suspicions arise among the high ecclesiastical hierarchies of Lecce: Didn’t our church neighbor steal the chapel? Chapel that the Archdiocese – it must be said – had somewhat abandoned to itself after the death of the custodian 40 years ago. But from becoming the relevance of a civil house, in the center of Lecce, without even being deconsecrated, a 3-minute walk from the Maria Santissima Assunta cathedral, it passes. Off with the cadastral survey, then, and on with the stamped papers. Responsively, the lady does not give in, on the contrary, she exhibits the aforementioned presumed extension of the title deed and alternatively claims usucapione, i.e. having acquired the property for twenty years of peaceful occupation. The matter gets complicated for the archbishop and in the meantime who knows what happens there under the crucifix: will the smell of fried food arrive? And the condensation from the minestrone?

Up to the Supreme Court

You go to court and the lady loses. But she appeals and does not give up the chapel. In the second degree (2018) she still succumbs but the door remains barred because we go to Rome, to the Cassation. Two weeks ago, on November 15, the final judgment with the publication of the ordinance. Dear lady – essentially says the Supreme Court – that piece of paper on any rights existing on the chapel is worth nothing. The usucapione unthinkable and the belonging to the episcopal curia of the church proven by numerous documents dating back over time. Third definitive cross on the sacred outbuilding. The Supreme Court also establishes a subtle legal precedent: churches cannot be conquered by breaking down the border wall.

End of the story?

End of the story. But the lady bolted the door? We call Francesco Tuccari, the lawyer of the Archdiocese who led the battle. Lawyer, has Saint Anthony the Abbot returned to the fold? No. In what sense? We are dealing with a delicate phase, indeed please do not name names. For goodness sake.