On May 7, 2023, the Province of St. Bernardine and St. Angelo in Italy (Abruzzo-Molise) celebrated the 100th birthday of Friar Dionisio LATTANZI. The celebration took place at the Santa Maria Assunta Church in Silvi Marina, Italy.
Friar Dionisio is the oldest friar in the Province. Those attending the celebration included the Minister Provincial, Friar Mauro DE FILIPPIS DELFICO; the Procurator General, Friar Maurizio DI PAOLO; the Mayor of Silvi Marina, Mr. Andrea SCORDELLA, and many friars, relatives, friends and parishioners.
Friar Dionisio was born the only son of Carlo and Carmela LATTANZI, in Casoli di Atri, Italy, on May 7, 1923. He entered the friary for the first time in 1936, at the college in Penne, Italy, where he carried out his high school studies until 1940. On July 14, 1940, he entered the novitiate at the Sacred Convent of Assisi where he took the Conventual Franciscan habit. He remained there until 1944, as he finished his philosophy studies. In 1944, he began his theology studies, again in Assisi. In 1948, he completed his studies in Chieti, Italy, and was ordained to the priesthood there on March 13 of the same year. From 1948 to 1949 he held the position of Preceptor of Probands at the college in Penne, and then the following year, became the Rector of Probands at the College in Atri until 1951. He later lived in various communities in Italy, namely, Penne (1951-60); Pescara (1960-61); Penne again (1961-66); Civitella del Tronto (1966-67); Castelvecchio Subequo (1967-69); L’Aquila (1969-81); Silvi Marina (1981-84); Lanciano (1984-93); and Tagliacozzo (1993-2000). He returned to Silvi Marina in 2000, a place where, except for a brief stay in Castelpetroso, he has remained to this day.
Friar Dionisio, with his temperament “of character,” as he often likes to say, was an irreplaceable pillar of support for building up and relaunching the Province. Besides being the oldest member of the Province, today the friars see him as someone who is emblematic; he is a living record of our past and an expressive representative of the charism of Abruzzo. We thank him from the bottom of our hearts for devoting himself to God and serving Him with such tireless generosity.
Friar Paride ADMIRATI, Provincial Secretary
