Ex Veterinarian Dies On Pilgrimage
EAP: Saturday 50 kilometres outside Milan a formerly practicing veterinarian, Marco Bonatti died tragically while on a religious pilgrimage between his home town of Milan and St Peters Cathedral in Rome. His pilgrimage came to its premature end when he failed to move fast enough over a rail level crossing, succumbing to an approaching frecciarossa train travelling a great speed. Driver Angelo Santi said; "It was horrible. It's always the nightmare of drivers to have something like this happen. He was just laying there stretching out it looked like. You just can not pull up a train in that short distance so I just had to witness the impact. The thud keep playing over in my head" Witnesses waiting at the crossing told the police he was just stretching his way over the lines and when the klaxons sounded he didn't take action to get out of harms way but continued on. "I don't know if it was suicide or some bizarre cult practice. He was wearing a monk's robe.
The carabinieri some kilometres back reported stopping traffic earlier to assist the prostrating pilgrim cross a street in safety. So who was he? His neighbours reported reported a very quiet and morose man who had become pious to the point of becoming a "bit weird". Neighbours reported 16 to 18 hours of straight praying, crying and self whipping.
Marco Bonatti was a very successful insect veterinarian in Milan working with insect pets. However his life, career and marriage came undone following a medical malpractice suit by a very heart broken and aggressive litigant following the death of his beloved fly companion during its cardiac surgery. His bad luck followed the death of a ladybird beetle when his veterinary nurse stepped on him causing much grief to his owner and a substantial out of court payout settlement. His practice was forced to close and with no stable income Marco's wife, Anna, returned to her family in Turin. Foreclosure of his 2 properties and a holiday home soon followed. Marco began a nervous breakdown, a course of SSRI antidepressant medication and occasional thoughts of suicide.
With his life in ruins Marco found solace in the mother church of memory, of his childhood, the Roam Catholic Church and it was to the church that he turned for the nourishment of a motherly nurse. Marco buried himself in study, self flagellation and prayer. He remembered a holiday to Tibet, visiting the Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. He was especially impressed by pilgrims who would would make their way, sometimes hundreds of kilometres to Jokhang, the most sacred temple for Tibetan Buddhists, prostrating all the way. They would unfurl a prayer rug, get down on the knees, stretch the rest of their bodies ahead of them and stretch out arms on the ground, before getting up, folding up the prayer rug, take 2 steps and start all over again.
Inspired by his memories of Tibet in happier times Marco decided he would prostrate himself all the way from Milan to Rome. Thus armed only with his meager robe, a bowl for begging and a prayer rug which doubled as protection against the weather at night Marco set off for his destination, falling short at an unscheduled meeting with the frecciarossa train.
Public reaction has been mixed; varying from "what an idiot", "Darwin award" to "He's a saint" and "I'll pray to him in hope he can effect a cure for me". The Vatican has not as yet released a statement on the tragedy.
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Evil Atheist Press, February 2019
The carabinieri some kilometres back reported stopping traffic earlier to assist the prostrating pilgrim cross a street in safety. So who was he? His neighbours reported reported a very quiet and morose man who had become pious to the point of becoming a "bit weird". Neighbours reported 16 to 18 hours of straight praying, crying and self whipping.
Marco Bonatti was a very successful insect veterinarian in Milan working with insect pets. However his life, career and marriage came undone following a medical malpractice suit by a very heart broken and aggressive litigant following the death of his beloved fly companion during its cardiac surgery. His bad luck followed the death of a ladybird beetle when his veterinary nurse stepped on him causing much grief to his owner and a substantial out of court payout settlement. His practice was forced to close and with no stable income Marco's wife, Anna, returned to her family in Turin. Foreclosure of his 2 properties and a holiday home soon followed. Marco began a nervous breakdown, a course of SSRI antidepressant medication and occasional thoughts of suicide.
With his life in ruins Marco found solace in the mother church of memory, of his childhood, the Roam Catholic Church and it was to the church that he turned for the nourishment of a motherly nurse. Marco buried himself in study, self flagellation and prayer. He remembered a holiday to Tibet, visiting the Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple in Lhasa. He was especially impressed by pilgrims who would would make their way, sometimes hundreds of kilometres to Jokhang, the most sacred temple for Tibetan Buddhists, prostrating all the way. They would unfurl a prayer rug, get down on the knees, stretch the rest of their bodies ahead of them and stretch out arms on the ground, before getting up, folding up the prayer rug, take 2 steps and start all over again.
Inspired by his memories of Tibet in happier times Marco decided he would prostrate himself all the way from Milan to Rome. Thus armed only with his meager robe, a bowl for begging and a prayer rug which doubled as protection against the weather at night Marco set off for his destination, falling short at an unscheduled meeting with the frecciarossa train.
Public reaction has been mixed; varying from "what an idiot", "Darwin award" to "He's a saint" and "I'll pray to him in hope he can effect a cure for me". The Vatican has not as yet released a statement on the tragedy.
***
Evil Atheist Press, February 2019
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