The people in a remote Italian village walled up their local Priest in the parish church to prevent him from leaving. Fr. Emilio Succhiella became a 'prisoner of love' after Capuchin Franciscans decided to withdraw from Trasacco, in the mountainous Abruzzo region near Rome, after 428 years of service.

Protesting villagers took the unusual step after they had unsuccessfully appealed to the Order's Provincial and to the local Bishop. They bricked up the main entrance to the 17th century Convento della Madonna del Perpetuo Soccorso to prevent Fr. Succhiella, its sole occupant, from leaving.

Other doors were secured with chains and padlocks and protesters mounted a 24-hour guard outside.

The local mayor described the priest's imprisonment as a popular uprising, adding that villages were feeding the priest by passing food through a grille. Church services continued with Fr. Succhiella passing the bread and wine for Communion through the grill so it could be used at open air Masses.

A bemused Fr. Succhiella, who had arrived in Trasacco only last December after serving as a missionary for 30 years in Colombia, told reporters he was well used to hardship. "But the last thing I imagined was that I would be held hostages back in Italy. I am a prisoner of love. They are keeping me here because they love God, and they love me".

After intervention from police and church authorities, Fr. Succhiella finally managed to persuade his captors to release him. He explained the need to be obedient to the will of his superiors and the villagers, bowing to the inevitable, agreed.