Vittorio Romeo, 10 years old
Of Alessandro Stella
«It all started in October 2023. I was eight years old at the time and one day, while I was at the catechism, I entered the church. And at that moment I heard a voice that called me: “Vittorio come with me, Vittorio Come”. From that Saturday I heard a real vocation in me and I decided that I would follow the way to enter the seminary ». To speak is Vittorio Romeo10 years old (he will turn 11 to September), a very young boy from Milan who after the summer will begin the journey inside the minor seminar of Bergamo Alta. Stock voice, decisive tone and an awareness, on the delicate issue of religious vocation, uncommon for a boy of this age. The path to take is long, but Vittorio is determined: «First of all I thank my parish priest who reported the Bergamo seminary. I feel a vocation and I want to understand and find out how the life of a priest develops». The boy then continues and underlines the importance that the figure of Jesus has for him. And he does it in no uncertain terms: «I can say that at this moment Jesus is the most important thing in the world for me. I feel very close to him and I dedicate a lot of time of my day to prayer ». And then he tells another anecdote, about when he was even smaller: «I know that hearing a call to eight years is not common. But I had already received a first small message at the age of three or four. One day I was in my room and my mother felt that I was talking on my own. When he asked me with who I was talking to her I replied: “Mom I’m talking to Jesus”. She thought he was kidding, but then he showed me an image of the Child Jesus and I said to her: “Yes mom I was talking to him” “. So now the summer and then the entrance to the seminar. And Vittorio also explains how he will work: «From my house to Bergamo it is about an hour of travel. I will stay there from Sunday evening to Friday. On the weekend, however, I will return home to my parents. The seminar is however linked to a public middle school and I will also stay with other guys who do not follow my own path ». To confirm everything is also the mother, Giannarita de Stasio: «Vittorio loves to go to procession and serve Holy Mass. And on Sunday it also goes to the church two or three times. And he also loves playing. Since he is five years he followed the battery course at the “House of Note” in Milan. And then in church the bells plays ».
Dario Cardamone, 22 years old
Dario: “” Anarchist “in high school, now in love with the Lord”
Of Annachiara Valle
A “ferment” he had as a kid. “I entered the church with great joy, jumping from one counter to another, with an exuberance that also created some embarrassment in my mother, who had also fueled in me, since the most tender age, the flame of faith”. Dario Cardamonetwenty -two year old seminarian of Amantea (Cosenza), tells his vocation. The proximity to the conventual friars of his country, the studies, “in which I was good even if a little rebellious”, the engagement at 18 years “with a peer who had a priest cousin». That “was one of the decisive meetings because I perceived, for the first time, a further presence of God in my life. He helped me a lot to discover that seed I had in my heart, to listen to the call ». And confesses: “At the beginning this discovery did not arouse me joy, but, on the contrary, a great disturbance because I was very much in love. It was not easy to deal with what happened to me, but I could not ignore that voice. And now, rereading this first arc of my life, I see how the Lord has always manifested himself in my existence. I discovered how the presence of God crossed me throughout my being, including fragility ». A choice, that of entering the Seminary of Cosenza, which may seem a little “counter -elected”, underlines it himself. «I was a little anarchist in the days of high school, engaged as a class representative, driver of my companions in fighting those that appeared to us as injustice. When I said about my vocation, both friends and family thought it was a strange choice. In reality it is not me I chose, I listened to what God said». And now that it is in the second year of the seminary “they have reversed things a little. It is I who foods the faith in my mom who had moved away a little ». Friends, on the other hand, “after what they lived as a twist, because they saw me engaged in politics and in the social, I am still between the shocked and the joy”. For Dario, «The greatest difficulty is to get out of your beliefs, get involved and welcome God’s dynamism. In our time we tend to believe we can be men and women who do it alone. Knowing how to risk is the most difficult thing. But you know that the strength comes from the love of God who arrives, he always arrives ».
Don Luca Crespi, 35 years old
Don Luca: “From finance to the parish, 8 years ago the turning point”
Of Antonio Sanfrancesco
“There is no precise event that prompted me to enter the seminary and become a priest. It was a path that traveled on three parallel tracks: my work as a financial consultant, my commitment as an educator in the oratory and my friends who took important paths of their lives how to get married and have children who have, in a certain sense, “stimulated” to ask me what my way was “. Don Luca Crespi, 35 years oldof the Parish of Santo Stefano di Nerviano, city of the north-west hinterland of Milan, is one of the eleven priests ordered on 7 June in the Cathedral by Archbishop Mario Delpini.
Diploma at the Liceo Classico in 2008, then three -year degree in economics and business and masterful management in communication and marketing of the company, both at the Catholic University: “Being a player and also basketball coach, my dream was to work in sports marketing“Says Don Luca,” but it didn’t go as I hoped. Then I decided to support my father who is a financial consultant in an investment bank. Doing this job has gratified me because it is based on relationships allowing me to stay in contact with people, listen to their difficulties, advise them on which decisions to adopt. This was the part of the work that I liked the most ».
The first “turning point” arrives in 2017 when Don Luca participates in the Easter Triduum in the Seminary of Venegono Inferiore with his future “colleagues”: «I went home with a deep joy that I didn’t know how to describe. I talked about it with the priest of the oratory and from there I considered the idea of becoming a priest ».
In 2019, after a “properductic” year, the entry into the seminary: “We wanted a lot of courage in leaving a promising and well -started work”, explains Don Luca, “but it was the decision I felt like taking. Even my family, at first, was shocked. Then they were close to me and accompanied me with joy. My friends found my choice very consistent with the rest of my life. In general, I have not had great oppositions, doubts instead yes, but I think it is normal ».
After five years as a university student, five as a worker and six of seminar, now for Don Luca begins a new adventure: “I thank the Lord who led me so far after giving me a wealth of experiences that have allowed me to mature, understand the complexity of relationships, the problems of people, from families to young people, and how much effort and commitment to enter the lives of others”.
On number 26 of Famiglia Cristiana on newsstands from Thursday 26 June we have dedicated an entire service to a role of the priest so decisive in our communities.
