Palazzini Pietro

Amendola, Maria Cupertino, Pastor Daniele Cupertino, Teresa Fagiolo, Monsignor Vincenzo Palazzini, Cardinal Pietro On the day of the roundup of the Jews of Rome, October 16, 1943, known as the “Black Sabbath,” Michael Tagliacozzo, 22, just managed to escape arrest by the SS men who came to his apartment. He found refuge at the flat of Maria Amendola, his high-school literature teacher, and he stayed there until October 22. At that time he had to leave, because neighbors were suspicious that his kind hostess was hiding a Jew. He then found refuge in the extraterritorial domain of the Vatican through the intervention of a young priest, Vincenzo Fagiolo. The latter succeeded in convincing his superior, Pietro Palazzini, to cooperate in saving Tagliacozzo. They took care of him from October 22, 1943 until February 1944. Other Jews found refuge in this same hiding place. On February 4, 1944, a group of Italian Fascists entered the place where he was hiding, but Tagliacozzo managed to escape. Since he knew no one else to whom he could turn, he went to one of his acquaintances, Pastor Daniele Cupertino, a Baptist minister. The latter was the spiritual leader of a small Protestant sect in Rome, members of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church (Chiesa Avventista del Settimo Giorno). Cupertino listened to what Tagliacozzo had to tell him, and he agreed to help. Consequently, he was accommodated in the small flat where Cupertino lived with his wife, Teresa (née Morelli) and their three-year-old child. Cupertino told people that Tagliacozzo was a relative who had fled his village because of the war. The family welcomed him warmly, and everyone was kind and generous. He was extended both material and spiritual help and received constant encouragement. Nevertheless, Tagliacozzo stayed with this family for only two months, until April 10, 1944. Then he realized that it was too dangerous to stay on with his rescuers. Left with no other alternative, he returned to FatherPalazzini and asked again to be accommodated in the Vatican. Although Palazzini was already suspected by the Italian Fascists of harboring Jews, he could not let him down. This time he hid him in the Basilica of St. Giovanni in the Vatican. Tagliacozzo stayed there until the liberation of Rome on June 4, 1944. Palazzini was later appointed Cardinal at the Vatican. On May 26, 1983, Yad Vashem recognized Pastor Daniele Cupertino and his wife Teresa, Maria Amendola, Cardinal Pietro Palazzini, and Monsignor Vincenzo Fagiolo as Righteous Among the Nations.