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Antonino Merlino, Giovanni Tomaso, Fortunato De Luca, Luigi La Rosa: four stories, a single dream, the call to the priesthood which in this first half century has never ceased to inflame their hearts, making them experience the amazement of being Church within the Church. Fifty-two years ago, in 1974, the four young men were ordained priests in the Cathedral, through the laying on of hands of the then archbishop Francesco Fasola; it was an event within the event for the city of Messina, within the Marian Week. A beautiful journey during which each of them experienced the beauty of fatherhood, embodied in the mandate of pastoral guidance at the head of the communities that welcomed them, and the value of the friendship that has always bound them.
Born in 1948, from Scala Torregrotta, for Ninuzzo Merlino the vocation immediately appeared in his life after graduating as an industrial expert and so, despite his parents’ reticence, in 1967 he decided to enter the seminary for the training process. After a short internship carried out in the community of San Clemente in Messina, on 6 December 1974 the same Msgr. Fasola entrusted him with the parish of San Nicolò Vescovo in Venetico Superiore, which he continues to lovingly lead today. Lover of artistic beauty, he dedicated himself to the care and restoration of the mother church and other small religious buildings, creating the “Notre Dame de Lourdes” Oasis.
Born in Salice in 1947, Giovanni Tomaso, with the matriculation number “198”, entered the minor seminary as a teenager to attend gymnasium and classical high school. The example of three “special” parish priests, Santi Muscarà in Salice, Antonino Saia in Castanea and Francesco Tomasello in Rodia, influenced the choice of the priesthood. After almost three years in San Clemente, in 1977 he was appointed parish priest in Pezzolo and in 1992 in Villaggio Unrra, a community which he continues to lead today, without neglecting his innate passion for skiing and the mountains, reaching the highest peaks, from Adamello to Gran Paradiso, with the motto “With Mary closer to God”.
Born in Milazze, born in 1945, Fortunato De Luca has been leading the community of Santa Maria dell’Idria in Barcellona Pozzo di Gotto for 35 years, to which that of Condrò was also added in the first 20 years. He also entered the minor seminary at 11 years old and after the classics he undertook training for the priesthood. After ordination he obtained a specialization in catechetical pastoral theology and a degree in Pedagogy, as well as a diploma in piano and organ. During his long pastoral ministry he continued to put the skills gained in training, together with his passion for music and education, at the service of the communities.
Since 1988 the parish of San Clemente in Messina has been linked to the figure of Luigi La Rosa, from Barcelona, born in 1949. Two years after his ordination he was sent to what, from 1988, would be his second home; there, together with his other brothers, including Merlino and Tomaso, he learned the value of priestly sharing, under the wise guidance of the late father Salvatore Trifirò. Having entered the minor seminary at 11, he followed his vocation; for him, as for the other companions, the period of spiritual formation, later completed with a degree in Educational Sciences, was “marked” by the socio-cultural changes of ’68. Calm and of few words, he has always made his charisma available in teaching, transmitting knowledge and spiritual depth to young people.
Fifty-two years after that day, their paths continue to cross in the sign of a call that time has not weakened, with the awareness that the beauty of the vocation is to grow in service, share joys and hardships and renew, day after day, one’s yes to the Church.