From Our Own Correspondent in Italy A great impression has been made in Molinella, pioneer town of Italian Socialism, by the reading from the altar at Sunday Mass of a letter from Cardinal Nasalli Rocca, Archbishop of Bologna, on the subject of the two days of violent conflict reported last week between the 4,000 Socialist and Christian Democrat strike-breakers and 9,000 imported Cornmunist workers.
The conflict, in which 28 perions were wounded and one woman killed, was the subject of two angry debates in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate which stressed the similarity between the methods of the Communists of today with those of the Fascists.
The two days of riot left a bitterness in Molinella which the Cardinal's letter has since done much to dispel. The letter was addressed to the parish priest of Molinella, and reads as follows; " We much appreciate your visit of yesterday to inform us exactly of the troubles that have recently befallen the people of your parish. Many times we have been among your people and have learned to love their candour and goodness of heart. For this reason we would like you to read these few words to them from the altar.
" Let us remember that we are all brothers, and between brothers there must be neither hatred in the heart nor weapons in the hand. From conflicts of violence nothingcomes forth but the destruction of life and property and the values we hold dear.
WITH ALL OUR HEART
" We pray with all our heart to Our Lord and to Our Lady of San Luca, who is so venerated in your town, that peace may come again to your fields and that every one of you will enjoy better conditions."
The Cardinal comes from a wealthy and noble family of Piacenza. His archdiocese is the most Communist in Italy. This might not Seem an harmonious combination, and, indeed, in the period immediately following the Liberation, the Communists did their hest to discredit a " Prince of Clerical Reactionaries," but his fatherly understanding of his people and his constant preoccupation for their welfare have carried him triumphantly through the innumerable social crises of post-war Bologna.
Evidence of the respect and affection in which he is held by Communist and non-Communist alike Was shown by the huge crowds that assembled for the traditional Ascension Day procession to escort the miraculous ikon of the Madonna of Saint Luke from the C..athedral back to its shrine on a hill three miles outside the city, whence it had been brought a week before_
A procession two miles long, of members of guilds. trade unions,
student organisations, religious orders, walking from six to ten abreast, preceded the image of the Madonna.
All the windows along the route were hung with red damask and carpets and flowers were thrown down as the image passed.