Image is used from www.hermitagemuseum.org, courtesy of The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

Peter Paul Rubens (Siegen 1577 - Antwerp 1640), Roman Charity (Cimon and Pero), c. 1612, oil on canvas (transferred from panel, 140.5 x 180.3 cm, St. Petersburg, Hermitage Museum 

Signs of hope: the prisoners. 

The story that this beautiful painting by Rubens illustrates is told in the ‘Nine Books of Memorable Sayings and Facts’ by the Latin historian Valerius Maximus. A Roman woman, Pero, secretly breastfeeds her father, Cimon, who has been imprisoned and condemned to death by starvation. She is discovered and denounced by a guard, but her courage and filial piety so impress the prison officials that they grant her father's release.

The great Flemish painter skilfully depicts the heart of the story: we see the two protagonists in the foreground, no one else is present, Pero has uncovered the breast with which she is about to feed her starving father.

The first thing that strikes us is the setting. The fact that it is a prison is immediately apparent, both from the chain that hangs from the large metal ring on the wall and keeps Cimon bound, and from the heavy bars of the window that can be seen in the upper left of the painting.

A second element that Rubens wanted to portray is the contrast between the two protagonists of the episode. If we observe, there are several things that place old Cimon and young Pero almost at opposite poles: he is almost naked, she is almost fully clothed; he has very dark skin, she is very white; he has grey hair, she is red; the only piece of cloth covering him is pitch black, while her dress is a beautiful scarlet red. All this, however, is not meant to drive the father and daughter away, but rather to emphasise the act with which they are about to come into contact. The young Pero has indeed uncovered her breast and gives it to her father, who is condemned to die of hunger, while the old Cimon draws his mouth  to his daughter's breast in order to find nourishment and life. In this way, the course of nature, in which it is the parents who feed their children, seems to be reversed, whereas here the opposite happens.

This is why the boldness and generosity of a young woman becomes a symbol and the episode is often remembered not by the simple name of the two protagonists, "Cimon and Pero", but by a title that makes it a paradigm for all: "Roman Charity".

The prison therefore, from an environment of loneliness, punishment and even death, is transformed, thanks to the young Pero, into a place where life prevails and filial love transforms and changes a destiny that seemed inexorably marked.

During the Holy Year, we are called to be tangible signs of hope for those of our brothers and sisters who experience hardships of any kind. I think of prisoners who, deprived of their freedom, daily feel the harshness of detention and its restrictions, lack of affection and, in more than a few cases, lack of respect for their persons. I propose that in this Jubilee Year governments undertake initiatives aimed at restoring hope; forms of amnesty or pardon meant to help individuals regain confidence in themselves and in society; and programmes of reintegration in the community, including a concrete commitment to respect for law.

This is an ancient appeal, one drawn from the word of God, whose wisdom remains ever timely. It calls for acts of clemency and liberation that enable new beginnings: “You shall hallow the fiftieth year and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants” ( Lev 25:10). This institution of the Mosaic law was later taken up by the prophet Isaiah: “The Lord has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” ( Is 61:1-2). Jesus made those words his own at the beginning of his ministry, presenting himself as the fulfilment of the “year of the Lord’s favour” (cf. Lk 4:18-19). In every part of the world, believers, and their Pastors in particular, should be one in demanding dignified conditions for those in prison, respect for their human rights and above all the abolition of the death penalty, a provision at odds with Christian faith and one that eliminates all hope of forgiveness and rehabilitation.  In order to offer prisoners a concrete sign of closeness, I would myself like to open a Holy Door in a prison, as a sign inviting prisoners to look to the future with hope and a renewed sense of confidence.

(Francis, Bull of Indiction of the Jubilee 2025 Spes non confundit 10)

(Contribution by Vito Pongolini)