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In a time in which social networks multiply contacts, but do not always build deep relationships, evangelizing means rediscovering the value of presence. A look, a word, shared time. On Vulcano, an island that fills with tourists in the summer and returns to a more intimate dimension in the winter, this challenge takes on a particular meaning. Here, where the community has around 650 inhabitants in the winter months, Don Samuele Le Donne, known by the children as Father Samu, has chosen to build a pastoral ministry based on proximity, listening and continuity.
Originally from the parish of Camaro San Paolo (Messina), Don Samuele, ordained a priest in 2022, discovered his vocation in the oratory. He arrived on the island as parish administrator just under a year ago, on 1 November 2025, bringing with him the belief that «being a parish priest in the Aeolian Islands is not an impossible mission: in the summer, when everything is full, it seems even easier. The real challenge, however, is to be there all year round.”
For the priest therefore, the Islands “are not places in which to just spend holidays, but a living reality to always live in, accompany and support”. From this vision was born the first popular mission which took place from 8 to 11 September, promoted together with the rector of the archiepiscopal seminary “San Pio
“It was an initiative that brought my two communities together”, says Father Samu, underlining “the value of an experience that allowed us to share not only moments of prayer, but also fragments of daily life”.
The seminarians visited a dairy farm and were confronted with the world of work and the difficulties of young people called upon to choose whether to stay on the island or look for their future elsewhere. They also met the volunteers of the Italian Red Cross, who work daily alongside the most fragile people and in health emergencies, “the guardian angels of the island”, as the priest defines them, recognizing the value of a discreet but fundamental presence for the community.
There was no shortage of convivial and prayer moments: games and dances on the parish field, an evening in the pine forest of Casa Pavia, a focacciata and catechesis on vocation; simple and informal occasions, through which the mission tried to create relationships, listen and share time. The initiative closed with the Eucharistic adoration vigil in the churchyard of Vulcano Porto: together with the parishioners, some passers-by also stopped for a moment of prayer, confession or simply silence.
It is an image that conveys well the meaning of the experience lived in these days: «Bringing the Church out of its usual spaces, into the life of the Island, to meet people where they are», said Father Samuele, explaining that the mission «continues in everyday life: in visits to families, in listening to the elderly, in caring for the sick and in closeness to those who work».