Per Amore Solo per Amore by Pasquale Festa Campanile

 It was a torrid night when I went downstairs for spending some time refreshing body and mind in our living room. I opened the window, I prepared a fresh lemonade with some ice and while I was sat in the sofa I looked with attention at my books, I had forgotten the review copies upstairs and I wanted to read something: I spotted Per Amore solo Per Amore

by Pasquale Festa Campanile. I had bought this book in 1983 but never read it. Maybe it was time of giving a chance to it.

The human history of Joseph, Mary and Jesus. Wow, what a serious account of what it was!  without any kind of miracles inside. 

I found the book beautiful and...let me add this: in our religion there are many mysteries and dogmatic truths; if the story would have been this one it would have been maybe more real satisfying and...candid and intense; in this natural and mortal story I find a wonderful power of love, friendship, acceptance of other exigencies and of a son that hasn't been conceived with the...husband. 

To me it would have been maybe more satisfying, because there is humanity, also when Mary refuses any carnal contact for a sexual important blockage, caused maybe by a violence or an error committed that the girl can not forgive.

Said this, the story starts portraying Joseph, a beautiful man of 18 years, as someone who enjoyed to spend time with the girls of the town; just a kiss, or a smile to all the girls of the town: being a handsome man he was adored by these girls; he went to bed, for reasons that are understandables, just with a widow. This widow was under the attention of one of the half-brothers of Joseph who would have wanted to marry her: there was a violent discussion with Joseph, who, after all this drama, left for good. His father donated him a lot of money and Joseph started a new life with Natan and another man in Nazareth.

He knew Mary pretty soon; the girl was just 8 years old and for two years or so, spent most of the time in Joseph's carpentry. Intelligent, brilliant, genuine and candid, Joseph, Natan and everyone else appreciated and loved her. 

At that time these kids became women pretty soon and close to the age of 10 years Mary started to live under the wings of his relatives. There is no mention of his parents; she grew up with a judge, Cleofa, her uncle, and her aunt. 

Joseph, in the while, had bought a horse; a privilege of few people: he loved with it to afford in a distant city for having some sexual intercourses with some women.

He had also a sexual relationship with another widow in Nazareth, but he will lose soon interest for the widow and the distant, exotic women when he will meet one day Mary again, falling in love. Mary in the while, bloomed, becoming a beautiful girl, in fact.

Mary reciprocates the feelings felt by Joseph and soon they are engaged. One day Mary tells to Joseph that she must leaves him alone because her aunt Elizabeth is pregnant: an unexpected pregnancy this one, because the lady is pretty old and no one would have believed possible that she would have had a baby; not anymore. Being old people, she would have helped during that first months.

Joseph doesn't agree but there is nothing to do; Mary's independance (in a period in which women were "slaves" of men) wins. 

Mary leaves and she stays away at long. 

Once returned, in the family of Cleofa there is profound sadness and people cry all the time.  

Joseph can't see Mary, and he doesn't understand the reason: soon he discovers that her girlfriend is pregnant. Joseph is devastated. Who has been the man guilty of this action? Mary agreed? Was it a carnal violence? 

He searched for a possible responsible everywhere; he won't never obtain an answer from Mary, but, during all their weddings there has always been, not just the sexual blockage of Mary, but also the refusal of the girl of telling to him anything of this story.

Recrimination will be many with the time, although Joseph tried all his best, seeing the positive side of the story.

Yes, Jesus was born when they travelled; the stable was the one of his half-brother. Close to the house of the half brother of Joseph lived several pastors, and they soon reached Joseph, bringing them something to eat and drink, welcoming back again Joseph: there was also a woman called as obstetrician. 

In this group of people there was also someone else who had to give to Joseph some money for previous works done when he still lived at his father's house; Joseph knew that that money was lost, but the man saved his existence, the one of Mary and Jesus in particular, because he had discovered that Erode wanted to kill all the children under 2 years of age because old and annoyed.

Joseph and Mary decide to go to Egypt and they stay there for 8 years; once returned Joseph wasn't more rich or wealthy at all, and the sexual problems with Mary were still persisting.

Jesus was a wild boy; he loved the last ones in terms of animals and people; more miserables were people and more profound was his respect, adorantion and love for them: he brought home injured animals, and people living in the marginality of the world, trying to better their existence, but, first of all, accepting them and their nature: he was a revolutionary, as most of Jewish are: that's why they are also so fascinating: he wanted to change the scriptures as well!

He had discovered several people who, for a reason or another lived in the streets and the tale of what happened with these six individuals is absolutely enchanting; Joseph was a bit worried for the eccentricities of this son; these friends could not bring him anywhere; he needed to establish good relationship and friendships with people and contemporaries of a certain importance; Joseph was a known carpenter; there wouldn't been problems: maybe Joseph didn't know that Jesus was friend also with children of wealthy people because he had a big capacity of making constantly new friends: wealthy kids enjoyed to spending time with him, because they knew that the experience would have been unique in the genre.

Mary and Joseph had frequent frictions in particular when, one day, Mary told to Joseph that his son would have had a wonderful existence; Joseph thought that maybe Mary had had a sexual intercourse with someone very rich or wealthy and didn't want to tell him, but imagined, for this reason, a radiant future for her son.

Sometimes, when he was more mentally wake, Joseph asked to Natan his helper if he had guessed who could have been the father of Jesus, but Natan told him that he didn't have any clue.

It was a common family, after all the one of Joseph, Mary, and Jesus, with their own little or big crosses and the tensions caused by questions without answers.

Mary has never slept in the bed with his spouse; she did it only when he was paralyzed and close to the end. Joseph died in fact prematurely for a paralysis.

I didn't know all these facts and I was so happy to discover the human touch of the Holy Family.

Anna Maria Polidori