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      <b><h1 class='Shead1'>Vatican Stamp Notes</h1></b>
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<center>
<img height='300' src='http://vaticanstamps.org/VPS/images/296/005-2025-a.jpg'><br>
<b>Witnesses of Hope: Blessed Rosario Livatino<br>
Vatican City, February 27, 2025</b></center>
<br>
In 2025, Vatican City issued a series of four stamps, released as four-stamp mini-sheets, under the banner “Witnesses of Hope”.  The first of these issues was in honor of Blessed Rosario Livatino, an Italian Magistrate and judge from Sicily who was murdered by the mafia for his incorruptible pursuit of justice and deep Christian faith.
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Rosario Livatino was born on October 3, 1952, in Canicattì, Sicily.  Livatino earned his law degree at the University of Palermo in 1975.  In 1977 and 1978, he served as vice-director of the Register Office in Agrigento and, in 1978, he was made magistrate at the court at Caltanissetta at the young age of 26.  Due to his age and youthful appearance, he was affectionately called "il giudice ragazzino" (“the boy judge”).
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		<center>
<img height='300' src='https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Giudice_Rosario_Livatino.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=index&utm_content=original'><br>
<b>Judge Rosario Livatino (circa 1985)<br>
From Wikimedia Commons, in the Public Domain</b></center>
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Livatino became well known for his work against organized crime, corruption, and the Sicilian mafia (including the notorious Stidda), seizing illegal assets and jailing high-ranking criminals.  Despite having a target on his back, he routinely refused to have bodyguards assigned to him for protection since he did not want to risk the lives of others.
<br><br>
A devout Catholic, Livatino famously wrote the acronym S.T.D. (“Sub Tutela Dei", meaning "Under the Protection of God") on his personal notes and legal files, viewing his job as an act of prayer and service.  His motto appears on the cover of the book depicted on the Vatican City stamp.
<br><br>
On September 21, 1990, Livatino was ambushed and shot to death by four mafia assassins while driving to the courthouse in Agrigento.  He was only 37 years old.  Among those drawn to the courage and efforts of Livatino was Pope John Paul II, who called Livatino a "martyr of justice and indirectly of the faith".  On May 9, 1993, during a visit to the Valley of the Temples (the ancient Greek site in Agrigento, Silicy, a short distance from where Livatino was murdered), the pope challenged the Mafia by saying:
<blockquote>
<center><i> "Be converted! One day the judgment of God will come!"</i></center>
</blockquote>
Livatino was beatified on May 9, 2021, after Pope Francis formally recognized his martyrdom as having occurred “in odium fidei” (“in hatred of the faith”).  He thus became the first judge and magistrate in the history of the Catholic Church to be named “Blessed”.
<br><br>
In 2025, Livatino’s body was translated from his family mausoleum in the municipal cemetery and now rests in the Church of Santa Chiara in Canicatti.
<br><br>
<b>REFERENCES:</b><br>
<li>Wikipedia, <a href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosario_Livatino'>Rosario Livatino</a><br>
<li>PosteVaticane.va, <a href='https://www.postevaticane.va/en/philatelic-issues/4-2025/10'>Witnesses of Hope Stamp: Blessed Rosario Livatino</a>
<li>Vatican Philatelic Society website, www.vaticanstamps.org, Stamp Database Search
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