"We know that both life and death are in the hands of God" (Ven. Fr. Gregory OFM)

Dear friends, the new year that we are going to begin, brings to our parish community a great gift: on April 24, 2022 we will celebrate, God willing, the 200 years of the birth, in Grotte di Castro, of the Venerable Father GREGORIO FIORAVANTI OFM, Founder of the Congregation of the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart. As you all know, because a plaque reports the news, Father Gregorio was born in Via del Santuario, in a house a few meters from the Basilica Santuario "Maria SS.ma del Suffragio". In this Church little Ludovico (this is his baptismal name) begins to "serve" Mass: he is a good altar boy, diligent in following the services, ready to accompany them with his sweet voice. Under the vaults of the evocative church dedicated to Our Lady of Suffrage, where his mother is buried, he learns to soothe the emptiness of his lacking, opening himself to the tender presence of this other special mother, the Most Holy Virgin Mary, to whom he is already devouted. Slowly the seeds of vocation that God has placed in his heart ripen in him. Ludovico said to his father Antonio: "I want to be a friar!". (Cfr. M. Antonietta Pozzebon - "Il Servo di Dio Padre Gregorio Fioravanti, ofm", Editrice VELAR, 2012).