Among the Archpriests of the Mother Church of Avola the memory of the archpriest Frasca remains alive, to whom we want to dedicate these lines so as not to forget the many workers in the vineyard of the Lord who in recent years have succeeded in leading the Christian community of Chiesa Madre. Don Antonio Frasca born in Pozzallo on 13 July 1912, was ordained a priest in July 1937 and on 16 February 1941 he entered as archpriest in the Mother Church of Avola, which became his adopted homeland and practically spent all his energies there in an effort to communicate in a city, which after the war had woken up “red”, a strong sense of Christian life lived above all in its inner dimension. He was also endowed with a great organizational capacity that led him to promote the construction of kindergartens, oratories, sports fields. This volcanic activity, before it was consciously repudiated, was interrupted by the infarction of 6 July 1968.

Leaving the parish, he spent the last 14 years of his life devoting himself to a pastoral activity that will lead him to a work of evangelization and wide-ranging catechesis, gathering around him lay people from various dioceses. His death caught him suddenly during the siesta of November 13, 1982, blocking his face in a smiling expression.

His harsh and difficult character concealed a need for tenderness which, together with the spiritual yearning and the search for peace, is found in the verses that his nephew, Don Giuseppe Ruggieri, published in a booklet that has the title of “Flights of swallows ”, suggested by the metaphor that Don Antonio Frasca had used to indicate life: it is a flight of birds, in particular swallows, which can never touch the ground but must always rest on a support higher than the ground to stand out again the flight.

Anna Munafò