Rosario Livatino

After working briefly as a deputy probation officer at the Agrigento Registry Office between 1977 and 1978, Rosario Livatino passed the entrance examination for the judiciary. On July 18, 1978, he began his career as a judicial auditor (uditore giudiziario) at the Court of Caltanissetta. On September 24, 1979, he was appointed deputy prosecutor of the Republic at the Court of Agrigento, a position he held for nearly ten years. During this period, he specialized in the fight against organized crime and corruption. Thanks to his in-depth knowledge of the mafia phenomenon, he conducted extremely delicate investigations into the seizure of assets of illicit origin and the financial ramifications of the local mafia. On August 21, 1989, he took up his duties as a judge in the criminal section of the Court of Agrigento. Condescendingly nicknamed the "kid judge" (giudice ragazzino) by some politicians because of his youth, he demonstrated absolute integrity and a profound respect for the dignity of the people he had to judge, including criminals. Refusing any police escort so as not to endanger the lives of fathers, he knew he was a target. On the morning of September 21, 1990, while driving alone to the Court of Agrigento in his Ford Fiesta, he was ambushed on National Road 640 by a commando of four killers from the Stidda (a local mafia organization). Wounded by an initial volley, he tried to flee on foot into an adjacent field, but he was caught and shot dead. His last words addressed to his assassins were: "Picciotti, cosa vi ho fatto?" ("Guys, what have I done to you?").

The tragic death of Rosario Livatino sparked immense emotion in Italy. During his pastoral visit to Agrigente on May 9, 1993, Pope John Paul II met with the judge's parents and, in his famous improvised speech in the Valley of the Temples, described Rosario Livatino as a "martyr of justice and, indirectly, of the faith." The diocesan inquiry for his beatification was officially opened on September 21, 2011, in the Church of San Domenico in Canicattì, under the impetus of the Archbishop of Agrigente, Cardinal Francesco Montenegro. During this phase, 45 witnesses were heard, including one of the repentant assassins, Gaetano Puzzangaro. The diocesan inquiry concluded on October 3, 2018. During the instruction, the cause, initially opened super virtutibus (on the heroic nature of virtues), was redirected super martyrio (on martyrdom). Theologians and historians demonstrated that the judge was murdered in hatred of the faith (in odium fidei). Indeed, local mafia bosses despised him for his constant piety (calling him a "santocchio," meaning a bigot) and knew that his Christian faith made him totally incorruptible and impervious to any pressure or attempt at corruption.

On December 21, 2020, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing the martyrdom of Rosario Livatino. The beatification ceremony was celebrated on May 9, 2021, in the Cathedral of San Gerlando in Agrigento, presided over by Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, as the Pope's delegate. His main relic, presented during the Mass, is the bloodstained shirt he was wearing on the day of his assassination. Pope Francis hailed this beatification during the Regina Caeli on the same day, describing him as a "martyr of justice and faith." His liturgical memorial is set for October 29, the anniversary of his confirmation (received late in 1988). On May 10, 2025, his mortal remains were transferred from the Canicattì cemetery to the Church of Santa Chiara in Canicattì. In May 2026, the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI) unanimously approved the proposal to proclaim him patron of Italian magistrates.

The spiritual life of Rosario Livatino rested on a deep unity between his Christian faith and his professional duty. Each morning, before entering the court, he would go to the church of San Giuseppe, near the Agrigento courthouse, to pray before the Blessed Sacrament. In his personal diaries and on his doctoral thesis, he systematically inscribed in the margin or header the mysterious acronym "S.T.D.", which stood for Sub Tutela Dei ("Under the gaze of God" or "Under the protection of God"). For him, administering justice was not a simple technical exercise or an exercise of power, but an act of love and redemption, a true prayer and an offering to God. He wrote in particular: "To decide is to choose [...]; and to choose is one of the most difficult things that man is called to do. [...] And it is precisely in this choice to decide, to decide in order to order, that the believing magistrate can find a direct relationship with God." His intellectual and spiritual legacy is summarized in his famous 1984 lecture on "The role of the judge in a changing society," where he defended the absolute independence of the magistrate and the total coherence between his public and private life. He left this memorable phrase: "When we die, no one will ask us if we were believers, but if we were credible."