On March 9, 2025, the thirtieth-day memorial Mass for Friar Arrigo Celestino PEDON was held at the Basilica of the Twelve Holy Apostles in Rome. Friar Celestino was a member of the Italian Province of St. Anthony of Padua (Northern Italy). He passed away on February 9, 2025, at the age of ninety-two.
The memorial Mass was organized by friars from the Friary of the Twelve Holy Apostles and the San Giacomo Friary, both in Rome. The friars worked in collaboration with the Catholic University of LUMSA (Libera Università Maria Santissima Assunta, currently with 9,000 students), LUISS (Libera Università di Studi Sociali Guido Carli), INFAD (National Association of Evolutionary and Educational Psychology of Childhood, Adolescence, Elderly and People with Disabilities) from the municipality of Badajoz, located in the autonomous community of Extremadura, Spain. Also present were college students and assistants who had been mentored by Friar Celestino during his many years as a university professor and Friar Celestino’s attending physician, Dr. Filomena D’AGROSSA.
The Guardian and Pastor of the Friary and Basilica of the Twelve Holy Apostles, Friar Francesco CELESTINO, presided over the Mass. Friar Francesco PANIZZOLO, a member of the Province of Padua, concelebrated as did Friar Sergio COGNIGNI, the Vicar Guardian of the San Giacomo Friary, where Friar Celestino PEDON lived for fifteen years.
In his homily, Friar Francesco spoke about Friar Celestino, showing him to be a man of great cultural depth, full of humanity and someone who had a strong sense of belonging to our Seraphic Order.
At the end of the celebration, a number of friends and admirers expressed sympathy by joining in the prayer of remembrance. Professor Paula BENEVENE and Sister Palma TOGATO spoke on behalf of the Rector of the Department of Human Sciences and the LUMSA Administrative Directorate. The alumnus Professor Valeria CAGGIANO also spoke.
Friar Celestino’s friend from Spain, Professor Florencio Vicente CASTRO, gave a moving eulogy. Professor Castro presented a publication containing forty-five testimonials from university professors from Spain and Italy, who expressed their affection and esteem for Professor Pedon in remembrance of the sixteen trips he made to Spain, participating as a professor and speaker in various academic psychology conferences.
All the speeches highlighted Friar Celestino’s unique human, cultural, academic, and Franciscan qualities. As one of his students wrote, “ He was not just an academic; he was a builder of relationships, a weaver of connections that united people of different origins and backgrounds. He taught us that true knowledge develops through dialogue, active listening, and sharing experiences. His legacy lives on in the hundreds of young people who attended his undergraduate and doctoral courses. He had the ability to forge relationships with his students and with all those who approached him. He was a great teacher of life who was passionate about the science of psychology. He spent fifty years as a university Professor teaching in Padua, Verona, and at LUMSA in Rome, where he served as Dean and founded its Department of Work Psychology.”
His literary and academic publications in the field of psychology are notable. He edited the “Dictionary of Qualitative Methods in the Human and Social Sciences,” with the Borla Publishing House, and he edited, “Methodology for the Behavioral Sciences” with the Il Mulino Publishing House.
Friar Paolo Fiasconaro
