Mass in Memory of Modesta & Steven

For more than thirty years, the Community of Sant’Egidio has been remembering the victims of those who live on the streets, starting with the death of Modesta Valenti, a 71-year-old homeless woman who lived near Termini Station, where she used to sleep at night.

Last year, we shared in this memory in the United States, remembering our dear friend Steven who died during the pandemic.

Story of Modesta

On January 31, 1983, Modesta felt ill right at Termini Station and the ambulance crew that rushed to the call did not want to take her aboard because, due to the conditions in which she lived, she was dirty and had lice.

Modesta died after hours of agony, waiting for someone to decide to help her.

Steven was a friend for many years before he died on January 12, 2016, alone in a bathroom. Like Modesta, Steven was a victim of a throw-away culture that has spread through our society.

Modesta’s death deeply marked the friendship of the Community of Sant’Egidio with the homeless. For this reason, each year on the anniversary of her death, Sant’Egido holds a liturgy that commemorates all the “friends on the street” with whom the Community has been close and who have lost their lives, remembering each one by name. With them, the Community – through the service of the dining centers, food distributions, and hospitality centers – has woven over the years relationships of proximity and familiarity, in an attempt to improve the difficult conditions of their lives.

The memory of Modesta and her friends on the street has spread from Rome to many places where the Community is close to those who live and die homeless.

Please join us this year: