ROME - A Remembrance Day Ceremony was held at the Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery in Via Nicola Zabaglia, Testaccio, with prayers read by local school children and a plethora of wreaths to honour Allied war dead in a ceremony given added additional poignancy by the 100th anniversary of Italy entering the First World War.

  The ceremony on Wednesday was conducted by religious officials from a variety of faiths - representatives from the Roman Catholic Church, the Presbyterian Church, the Methodist Church, the Anglican Church, Judaism, Buddhism and Islam. The service was predominantly led by the Chaplain of the All Saints Church in Rome and Archdeacon to Italy and Malta, the Venerable Jonathan Boardman. 

  A two-minute silence was observed at 11:00 a.m., with “The Last Post” and “The Reveille” marking the beginning and end of the time-period. 

  Subsequently, two children, Angera and Jamie, from St George’s Nomentana, a British International School in Rome, read a prayer attributed to St Francis, as “representatives of the younger generation”. 

  Following this, wreaths were laid by Embassies, Military and Commonwealth Organisations (Embassy of Australia, Embassy of Bangladesh, Embassy of the Republic of Cameroon, Embassy of Canada, Embassy of Cyprus, Embassy of Germany, Embassy of Ghana, Embassy of India, Embassy of Ireland, Embassy of Kenya, Embassy of the Kingdom of Lesotho, Embassy of Malaysia, Embassy of Malta, Embassy of Mozambique, Embassy of New Zealand, Embassy of Nigeria, Embassy of Pakistan, Embassy of South Africa, Embassy of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, Embassy of Tanzania, Embassy of Uganda, Embassy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Embassy of the United States of America, Embassy of Zambia, Senior UK Military Representative, CWGC Commonwealth-Italian Joint Committee, ONORCADUTI, Association of British Expats, British Representative for Operation Sophia, Ambassador of Multinational Force and Observers).

  The representatives of different faiths were then given the opportunity to read from their respective scriptures, with the Buddhist monk reciting a prayer for peace, the Reverend Mary Stiles from the All Saints Church in Rome reading a passage focusing on the link between love and God from the First Letter of John, Chapter 4, New Testament, and the Rabbi and Iman making speeches from their respective holy books.

  Ven. Jonathan Boardman was keen to point out the significance of this ceremony to Italy, contently noting the “high number of Italians present”.

  Journalists and Embassy representatives were then invited back to the residence of the British Ambassador, Villa Wolkonsky, for a drinks reception.

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