“L'AMOR CHE MUOVE IL SOLE
E L'ALTRE STELLE”
 

THE LOVE THAT MOVES THE SUN AND THE OTHER STARS
 

Few people have immersed themselves so deeply into the life and writings of Blessed Alexandrina as Eugénie Signorile; she has tried to express her huge fascination for the Beata in a succession of books that she has written.

The last, issued a few days ago, has a very original title: "L'Amor che Muove il Sole e l'altere Stelle," "The Love that moves the Sun and other Stars." The sentence is the last verse of Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Let’s look at the full verse:

A l'alta fantasia qui mancò possa;
ma già volgeva il mio disio e 'l velle,
sì come rota ch'igualmente è mossa,

l'amor che move il sole e l'altre stelle.

 The cover illustration of  “L’Amor che muove il sole
e l'altre stelle”, is by Brenda Hunter

That is, literally:

To the high fantasy here failed the forces,
But already moved my wish and sails,
Like a wheel that is moved,

The love that moves the sun and other stars.

The author once wrote that she had an obsession with love. She was sure that she wanted to fill the pages of the book with this Joanine theme. Love is in the headings of its four parts:

I. How Jesus loves;

II. How Alexandrina loves;

III. Love between Jesus and Alexandrina.

IV. How the Mother loves.

The original title of the book was "The Protagonists of Love." Naturally, they were the protagonists that appear in these titles: Jesus, Alexandrina and the Mother of God.
The book closes with a vision of Alexandrina’s, told to Fr. Pinho in a letter of 10^th September 1940:

"Last Sunday (the 8th), the birthday of our Heavenly Mother (this is the reason for this ecstasy on Sunday, perhaps the only one), arose a picture in my soul that has not yet disappeared. (...)
She contemplated the earth from high Heaven, with her eyes fixed on poor humanity.
Her blessed Heart was in an almost mortal pain.
With her head tilted towards the earth, She didn’t take Her blessed gaze from it, a gaze full of tenderness and compassion.
But oh, what a painful sight, what a wounded heart! How much our Heavenly Mother suffered!

One of the illustrations by Elisabeta Alberti

Today is already Tuesday and this scene has not disappeared from my mind: it seems that it is engraved in me forever.
An hour didn’t yet gone since I felt Her gaze again inclined towards earth, without being able to lift Her eyes from it, and from them ran two sources of tears, tears of deep pain that bathed the earth."

 

And Eugénie Signorile concludes:
 

"Will be this scene also be engraved in our hearts?
Yes! The hearts of many who participate in the flame of love with these models will gradually be brought to the building of a world of justice and peace in which, finally, the Immaculate Heart will triumph!
(Fatima, 13^th July 1917)

 

On the back cover is one of those extraordinary eulogies that Jesus often addressed to Blessed Alexandrina and that naturally place her among the highest names of holiness:

 

"I want everything that is mine to shine out from you.

I want your looks to have the purity of mine;

I want your lips to have the smile, the sweetness of mine;

I want your heart to have the tenderness, the charity and the love of mine.

In short, I want everything about you to imitate Me, I want you to be identical to Me.”

The authorship of the book is attributed to Blessed Alexandrina; it contains several original illustrations (two by Brenda Hunter and the other by Elisabeta Alberti): the publisher is Mimep-Docete.