di p. Alfredo M. Tortorella,
Macchia di Monte Sant’Angelo, lì 1 ottobre ’19

For the Province of Sicily and Naples of the Camillians, the month of September was rich in important moments. The first celebration took place on 4 September, the Feast Day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, when the Camillian deacon Dario Giuseppe Malizia was ordained a priest in the cathedral of Palermo, surrounded by another four priests who were also being ordained (another religious and three deacons). The priestly ordination of Dario Giuseppe was preceded by days of Camillian mission which saw him, together with confreres and Camillian sisters, visit important stages on his vocational journey: the Mission of Biagio Conte, the parish, Villa Sofia Hospital and the Church of Santa Ninfa of the Camillians in Via Maqueda. Father Dario Giuseppe received the Sacrament of Holy Orders with the laying on of hands of Msgr. Corrado Lorefice and with his relatives, friends and confreres he celebrated not only his ordination but also his return to the Monaldi Hospital of Naples where he would be a chaplain. Father Dario immediately showed that he has an excellent capacity for transmitting the Word of God through homilies that are the outcome of personal meditation and nearness to the human suffering of those who in recent years he has met in centres for care and treatment.

On 24-28 September Camillian religious of the South of Italy met at Aci Sant’Antonio (CT) for the course of spiritual exercises whose subject was ‘Bless the Lord my Rock’ given by the Salesian Don Giuseppe Buccellato. Father Buccellato, a lecturer at the St. Paul Theological Institute of Catania, dwelt upon the great value of being and becoming for others a blessing, against every form of ill-speaking, that is to say every temptation to devalue other people. During the exercises, on 28 September the three postulants Alessandro La Rosa, Domenico Sciacca and Gianluca Spalice officially entered the novitiate which this year as well will be in Messina under the guidance of the teacher of novices Fr. Hubert Goudjinou. To Alessandro, Domenico and Gianluca will be added Lorenzo Lettere, a novice of the Province of Rome: to these young men, to their enthusiasm and their joy, we wish a year of the novitiate according to the heart of Christ and according to the heart of St. Camillus, in their wish to continue their journey with impetus and perseverance.

Lastly, on 29 September, the Feast Day of the Holy Archangels, Salvatore Maria Barbagallo and Mariano Pio Servadei, after completing the year of the novitiate, professed their religious vows for the first time, promising God to serve the sick even when they put their lives at risk, in chastity, poverty and obedience, and putting on their habits with the red cross of St. Camillus. The celebration took place in the Parish of St. Camillus of Messina and witnessed a high level of participation of the faithful, amongst whom relatives and friends of the newly professed from Casalnuovo and Afragola in the Province of Naples. Salvatore and Mariano wanted to add to their baptismal names the religious name dedicated to Our Lady (Salvatore) and to St. Pio da Pietralcina (Mariano), in line with a practice that has been retrieved recently by various young Camillians from the South of Italy: the addition of a ‘name of devotion’ or its change in religious life indicates a wish for a commitment on the person’s journey that draws inspiration ‘from the new name’ that is adopted and a personal and public sign of a wish for ‘change’ as regards the life that was led previously.

Salvatore Maria and Mariano Pio will continue their pathway of formation as temporary professed religious through study and service to the sick in Acireale at the St. Camillus Care Centre of Via Genuardi, accompanied by Fr. Salvatore Giuseppe Camillo Pontillo and by Fr. Paolo Calderano.

While Fr. Dario Giuseppe and these young men on their journeys promise God through the Church and their religious superiors to give their lives and to continue the work that He began in their hearts, we confreres can promise to each one of them the nearness of prayer and affection. Something that willingly we will always do for them and for those who feel called by the Lord in this religious family!

Ordinazione Presbiteriale di Dario Giuseppe Malizia

Esercizi Spirituali aventi come tema “Benedetto il Signore mia roccia

Ingresso in noviziato di Alessandro La Rosa, Domenico Sciacca e Gianluca Spalice

Professione temporanea di Maria Barbagallo e Mariano Pio Servadei.