Daniele Bonanni is a young Italian seminarian. He is in his third year of his bachelor's degree in Theology at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross thanks to a grant from the CARFwho is helping him and all his companions of the Missionary Fraternity of St. Charles Borromeo to be formed as future priests and missionaries. The Fraternity of St. Charles was founded in 1985 by Msgr.
Camisasca, in the charism of Communion and Liberation.
"I have to thank God for the beauty of my family. I am the youngest of three brothers and my father, Fabio, together with my mother, Antonella, have always been a clear sign of unity, love, optimism and hope for life. First among themselves, but then also towards us. Their union founded on faith has put me in the germ of certainty that my life is something good, that it is positive and that it is worth discovering its true meaning," he says.
During his university years he moved away from the faith. He graduated in mathematical engineering at the Politecnico di Milano and worked in Luxembourg in investment funds. "I thought I had achieved what I dreamed of. A job, a girl to share life with, friends. However, I was not happy. Something inside me kept telling me that the value of my life could not be reduced to that. It seemed to me that my life had been reduced to a fixed plan that I was content with," he says.
Then he met Father Maurice, a Jesuit priest who was in his eighties at the time. "He was in Luxembourg on a mission and I was struck by the unity of life he showed. He was serene, at peace, always and everywhere, with every person. Because of this he was capable of loving any person. But I was not, I was not. After a confession with him, for the first time, this strange thought came to my mind: "Maybe God is calling me to be like Father Maurice: a missionary priest".
After some time, he decided to apply for admission to the seminary of the Fraternity of St. Carlo Borromeo, a priestly, missionary fraternity, but anchored to the charism of Communion and Liberation, "which, I realized, was the path chosen by God to come and take me," he recounts.
Today I am in my sixth year of seminary in Rome - with one year of formation in Bogota, Colombia - and the rest at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, "where I am preparing to be ordained as a deacon in the coming months, God willing. Friendship with Jesus makes our lives flourish.
