Ten years after the martyrdom of Father Hamel, ‘Sisters of Sorrow’ arrives in Italy

The volume reconstructs the human journey of Roseline Hamel, sister of the priest, and Nassera Kermiche, mother of Adel Kermiche, one of the two responsible for the attack. United by a pain experienced from opposite perspectives – the loss of a brother and the weight of having a son who became a terrorist – the two women chose to meet and share their suffering, transforming it into a path of listening, dialogue and forgiveness.

The assassination of Father Hamel, which occurred during the Eucharistic celebration, aroused deep emotion on an international level. Pope Francis immediately recognized his testimonial value, defining him a martyr and indicating his sacrifice as an expression of faith lived to the extreme.

In the book, Lieven tells how, from the rubble of that tragedy, an unexpected friendship was born between Roseline and Nassera, two women who decided to oppose the spiral of hatred by choosing mutual closeness. A relationship that gives the volume its title and which becomes testimony to the possibility of reconciliation even after terrorism.

Published in co-edition by Edizioni Ares and Libreria Editrice Vaticana, the book is enriched by the preface by Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem. «The heart of this book is not the martyrdom of Father Jacques Hamel. It’s what happens next. It is humanity that resists under the rubble”, writes the cardinal.

The testimony of the two protagonists will be at the center of the inaugural meeting of the next Meeting for Friendship among Peoples in Rimini, scheduled for August 21st, where Roseline Hamel and Nassera Kermiche will publicly discuss the path that led them to transform pain into a choice of hope. Presenting the event, the president of the Meeting, Bernhard Scholz, defined their story as “an extraordinary example of how friendship and hope can win over tragedy”. Samuel Lieven, a French journalist and writer specializing in religious and social issues, was the first to receive the Jacques Hamel Prize, an award dedicated to initiatives for peace and interreligious dialogue. Precisely on that occasion he met Roseline Hamel and Nassera Kermiche, collecting their story in a book which, on the tenth anniversary of the attack, offers a reflection on the value of reconciliation and the possibility that dialogue prevails over hatred.