In the beautiful church of San Giovanni Battista in Monterosso Almo in the province of Ragusa, Sicily, we were greeted by the parish priest Fr. Giuseppe and the parish community, returning to Monterosso for the second time since 2011, where it all began. During the vigil of Adoration, which was celebrated on Friday evening, June 26, Fr Daniele Bertino remembered and led the two ordinands by the hand, through the maternal intercession of the Mother of the Lord, the Queen of the Most Precious Blood. In 2012 Gianluca Gibilisco and Gaetano Noto began their formation in Rome, in Piazza dei Crociferi, accompanied by their formator, Fr. Benedetto Labate CPPS. Besides Gianluca and Gaetano, five others started; four of them are deacons and one will be incorporated on Sunday July 5th in Rome.
Truly the Lord has been good to us and has maintained these seven confreres in fidelity to the Institute.
The Ordination Mass presided by Mons. Cesare Di Pietro, Auxiliary Bishop of Messina and friend of the ordinands, began on Saturday June 27 at 6:30pm. During the homily, the Bishop was very affable and gave warm and affectionate words for the Congregation, having been a guest of the Missionaries himself while he was a student in the Gregorian University in Rome. Among other things he exclaimed: “blessed womb” addressing Gianluca’s mother, because Gianluca’s twin sister, Sister Anastasia, is a nun of the Community of the Children of God of Don Dossetti. Participatory and heartfelt celebration, in which joy, although contained because the impossibility of embracing them at the end of the ordination, we breathed it deeply.
On June 28 at 10:30 am Fr. Gaetano presided over the first Eucharist, in which Fr. Gianluca preached. A happy coincidence was learning that on the same day Fr. Gaetano’s parents celebrated 41 years of marriage. Fr. Gaetano blessed the renewal of his parents’ marriage vows. After a nice lunch based on fish, and without any waste, we ended a beautiful day.
Article by Fr. Oliviero Magnone CPPS
Photos by Fr. Daniele Bertino CPPS