This is real. I'm stunned. The Little Brothers of Jesus follow in the footsteps of Bl. Charles de Foucauld. They live in poverty. They work. They live simply. They are the type of religious Pope Francis praises, they live on the peripheries. I am so edified by this news.
"The explicit request of Pope Francis" that Father Gabriele Faraghini, 51, be released for service as the seminary rector "was, for our little fraternity, a bolt out of the blue, a novelty that literally floored everyone," said a note posted on the brothers' website. But the order's general chapter confirmed the nomination, which was announced July 31.
Most of the brothers live in small communities with a home life revolving around eucharistic adoration and prayer. Many of them, the priests included, are manual laborers, who strive simply to be a presence of friendship and solidarity with their co-workers and neighbors. Service in diocesan institutions and offices is not a normal part of their ministry, although it is not explicitly excluded.
Father Faraghini studied at the Rome diocesan seminary and was ordained for the Diocese of Rome in 1992, although he already had begun exploring the teachings of Blessed Charles and life with the Little Brothers of Jesus, according to the order's announcement of his appointment. Superiors at the seminary had encouraged him to continue toward ordination while discerning his "call within the call" to priesthood and religious life.
He spent five years in parish ministry in Rome before beginning his formal formation with the Little Brothers in Foligno, Italy. He did his novitiate in Nazareth before returning to Italy and making his profession as a member of the order. - Finish reading here.
It's a little thing - with great big symbolism. It gives me hope - renews my confidence. If people do not get Pope Francis, it's because they don't get Christ and his saints: Francis of Assisi, Clare, Teresa and John, Therese, Charles de Foucauld - the Holy Family of Nazareth.
