ENGLISH

“The house, a sweet nest of peace, hard work, serenity, religious and civil virtues”

Antonio Cavoli was born at San Giovanni in Marignano, on 4 August 1888, of a peasant family, his parents being Francesco and Filomena. Two days later he was baptized in St Peter’s church in the village of San Giovanni in Marignano. It had something special about it because it was the year Don Bosco, Founder of the Salesians, died.

He grew up hale and hearty, brought up by deeply Christian and exemplary parents who dedicated themselves to the education of their children. He lost his mother, who was in poor health, at the age of 8, but his father remarried and Assunta, now his mother, despite having three other children and being his stepmother, loved them all equally and accompanied him lovingly.

Life in the fields, the influence of his uncle, Fr Edoardo, the spiritual atmosphere in the family – all these combined to help him recognize a calling, and at 14 years of age he asked to enter the Seminary.

The tone of the family environment was set, without doubt, by the warmth of piety and the splendoutr of virginal purity of the four sisters, all older than I. They were Rosina, Cecilia, Annunziata and Angelina. Their virtues, born and guarded in the sanctuary of the family, derived nourishment from the Association called “Daughters of Mary”, under the guidance of the meritorious Maestre Pie. (…) The Holy Picture of the Madonna of Pompeii, surrounded by many other pictures of saints, saw the whole family assembled and on their knees for the recitation of the Rosary.

(Autobiography, My sisters’ example)

That was the state of my mind when I was thirteen years old. But meanwhile I could hear the footsteps of the Divine Sower, as He approached. (…) And in that atmosphere of idyllic serenity, God’s hour came; His divine call reached my heart. In a few days, a flame was lit in my breast… I will become a Priest !”.

(Autobiography, The divine sower)