Lessons from the homeless

You may not know his name but I guarantee you will never forget his story. Willy Herteller was an 80-year-old homeless man who slept on the streets of Rome under the shadows of the Vatican.

Herteller was well known to those in Vatican City. Many clergy were known to bring him food on a regular basis and, for over 25 years, it is reported that Herteller attended daily Mass. Additionally, Herteller was a loud voice for encouraging others to attend Mass and receive the Lord in the Eucharist.

Father Bruno Silvestrini, pastor of the Church of Saint Anne in the Vatican, told the Huffington Post that Herteller “was very, very open and had made many friends. He spoke a lot with young people, he spoke to them of the Lord, he spoke of the Pope, he would invite them to the celebration of the Eucharist.”

I can only imagine how a man living on the streets for years would smell, what he would look like, what his clothes would look like, and how he might ‘fit’ with the others who attended Mass.

Think about your parish Mass. Would you notice if someone who had worn, tattered and dirty clothes and smelled sat next to you or behind you at Mass? Better yet, would you say something to someone?

Willy Herteller was a true example of how Jesus does not judge the outside, but he wants our hearts to be full of Him. He wants our hearts to love Jesus enough to where, even in our darkest and most difficult times, we will come to receive Him and celebrate Him in the Eucharist without apology or worry about what others think.

This poor, lowly man who knew the smells and sounds of the Roman streets just as well as you or I know the smells and sounds of our home, loved Jesus and did whatever He could to obey and express His love.

Herteller died on December 12, 2014 and his body remained unclaimed for a length of time. It wasn’t until Monsignor Americo Ciani noticed Herteller had not been around that Ciani went looking for the homeless man who had been a “friend” and frequent face to so many. Ciani discovered that Herteller had died and his body was unclaimed in an Italian morgue.

But, despite him spending the majority of his life on the streets with the lowest and most overlooked individuals in society, Herteller’s final resting place would not be in a morgue or on the streets.

Herteller was interred among some of the most cherished and celebrated individuals in society. He was interred in the Teutonic Cemetery inside Vatican City. Those burial plots or typically reserved for clergy and aristocrats. However, Herteller’s final resting place is a place of honor within the company of those who knew fame and fortune instead of mockery and poverty.

The Teutonic Cemetery is beside St. Peter’s Basilica and is the site of what once was the Circus of Nero during the period of the Roman Empire – a site where the blood of the martyrs flowed.

Now, that cherished burial area now holds a lowly Belgian man who didn’t have a roof over his head but he had a love in his heart for Christ. The one who made his bed on the wet and dirty streets of Rome now rest forever among royalty.

“Those who give to the poor will lack nothing, but those who close their eyes to them receive many curses.” (Proverbs 22:22-23)

How many times have you glanced past the homeless man on the street and discounted his worth? How many times have you turned the other way when a smelly, dirty homeless woman holds out her hand for some change?

In the Gospels we see Jesus tell his followers “naked and you covered me, sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me” and his followers missed the point: “As long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.”

With the approval from Pope Francis, Herteller was interred among royalty and the most cherished of individuals in society, but Jesus says what was done for Herteller was done for Jesus.

When you give to the poor, when you go the extra mile, you give to Jesus. When you turn your head away from the poor and ignore their plight, you turn away from Jesus.