Good Samaritans in NYC attack attend Mass with Pope
Francis
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| Elizabeth Bettina Nicolosi with her two 'Good Samaritans', Jonny Lennon and Ashley Aversano.- RV |
(Vatican Radio) Elizabeth Bettina Nicolosi puts everything
down to a “miracle”. A miracle and a series of coincidences which saved her
life after a brutal mugging in New York City one night before Christmas last
year. In an apparent theft-turned- attempted murder, a man had followed her
home and viciously attacked her in the vestibule downstairs. Elizabeth and her
two rescuer-Good Samaritans, Jonny Lennon and Ashley Aversano, attended the
Mass at Santa Marta and met Pope Francis on Tuesday. They shared their story
with Tracey McClure:
“I think that this is all a miracle – it’s unbelievable how
this all happened,” says Elizabeth. “I am so lucky that when I was being beaten
for five minutes in the vestibule of my building, people who did not know me
came down from the fifth floor and saved my life and they are the ultimate Good
Samaritans and I couldn’t think of a better way to say thank you for saving my
life than having this lovely couple that’s engaged to be married, to have them
meet Pope Francis. The world needs more good stories of people sticking their
necks out for others, no matter what”.
She says she had the opportunity to meet Pope Francis and
introduce him to her two Good Samaritans and show him a photograph of her as
she recovered in a New York hospital after the attack. “He sort of did a ‘wow’
and stepped back. When you see that picture, it was pretty bad”.
Jonny explains that he had been due to be out of town for a
meeting on the evening of the attack but he “had a weird feeling that day that
I didn’t want to leave – I didn’t want to leave [Ashley] alone in the building.
… I got this weird feeling and just said, ‘I’m not going to go’”.
The couple planned to leave on holiday the next day and as
they were sitting at the table folding laundry, they heard loud banging and
thudding coming from downstairs. “We decided it was probably the kids
downstairs; they watch football, they’re always screaming.. so we walked back
into our apartment and then we hear some more screaming”, Jonny said. “So I
said, I’m just going to stick my head out real fast, one more time and I hear a
giant thump (so ) I said, that’s not a normal… it sounded violent. It sounded
like a violent scuffle”.
So he decided to go down to investigate; Ashley, calling
911, was shortly after him. “I just said, I’ve got to get downstairs,
somebody’s in trouble” Jonny recalled. The scene before him was macabre – blood
everywhere. Elizabeth bruised and moaning on the ground, her assailant with
fists raised. The man fled.
Helping strangers
Both Jonny and Elizabeth’s fathers were firemen. “Maybe it’s
somewhere in that DNA – you know you’re supposed to help someone else”, says
Elizabeth, reflecting on the coincidences that brought the couple to her rescue
and on how her own Dad used to talk about his work at the dinner table. “That’s
what they do for a livelihood. They help strangers that they don’t know.”
Saying that he and Ashley have grown in their faith in
recent times, and knowing that intervening to help would put his own life in
danger, Jonny put his faith in God to protect him. “There were so many thoughts
in that one second: you’re going to be protected – just go! It was a
faith-based ‘go for it’”.
Making the world a better place
“I can’t thank both Jonny and Ashley enough for not… being
bystanders and for saving my life because according to New York City police,”
Elizabeth added, the assailant “was never going to stop … he kept saying ‘I’m
going to kill you’. My hope is that this story can be insightful for others: to
not to be a bystander in life and to do something for others – whether it’s
risking your life – Jonny was totally risking his life by coming into the
vestibule to save mine. Or just helping someone with a package. If we just
treat each other with a bit of kindness, the world is a better place.”
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