(ANS – Torino) – Tomorrow, November 10th , the Faculty of Theology from the Salesian Pontifical University in Rome celebrates the 75th Anniversary of its foundation with a "Conference on the Venerable Fr Giuseppe Quadrio". The Symposium will take place in Turin, at the International Institute Don Bosco, first seat of the Faculty. The meeting intends to commemorate the Faculty and to contribute to making known one of the most significant personalities who have worked in it: the Venerable Fr Giuseppe Quadrio.

The witness of life and thought of the Venerable Fr Giuseppe Quadrio, for whom it is hoped there will be a positive outcome of the process to beatification, constitutes a valuable point of reference for those who are journeying on the path to the priesthood.

Born at Vervio in 1921, in the province of Sondrio, he fell in love with the Salesian life by reading a biography of  Don Bosco lent to him by the parish priest, making his religious vows in 1937. In Fr Quadrio, one can admire a synthesis between theological expertise and spiritual stature that he expressed in his preparation and teaching and in the inner life, and deserves to be considered as a model for teachers and candidates for the diaconate and priesthood.

With a letter to some of his students on the eve of their priestly ordination, he gave five tips

1. The Mass be the Sun of your day. Make an effort to understand it, taste it, live it. Don't forget that the Mass best celebrated is the best prepared. Celebrate every Mass of yours as if it were the first, the last of your life. […].
2. The Breviary is the best thermometer of your priestly zeal. […].
3. Regular and true Confession will save your priesthood from superficiality, from illusions, from tepidity and catastrophe. […].
4. Souls are your only passion. You are a priest for them, not for yourself. Be always, everywhere, with everyone, truly a priest: not only at the altar and in the confessional, but also in the chair, in the yard, on the street. […].
5. Love is the soul and style of your priestly life. Be good and kind and always with everybody. Everyone that approaches you, see in them a living extension of the "goodness and humanity" of our Saviour. Be "like him". […].

The Conference will be attended by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican Secretary of State, past-pupil of Crocetta, and Mons. Cesare Nosiglia, Archbishop of Turin, and will conclude with the blessing of the new location of the mortal remains of Venerable in the Church of the International Institute Don Bosco.

Published 09/11/2012