A Good “Tosatel”

In Contact with Nature

I was born and raised in a small corner of the Veneto region: a small village in the middle of the countryside with the Prealps rising on the horizon. It was no bucolic idyll, especially when every Sunday you go to help clean out your grandfather’s cow barn. Yet this contact with nature, through my family and the Scouts, was fundamental. And it still is.

The Search for My Mission

As a child, I knew what I was going to do when I grew up: be a farmer. Then came a curiosity for all kinds of knowledge, reading, LEGOs, mathematics. I ended up attending scientific high school and then studying mechanical engineering. And that wasn’t all: I was part of the local Scout group, very active in the parish, a helper in the family shop, a musician, doing service for others (such as in Lourdes)… So many facets, so many fragments of myself scattered across the world and in relationships, with strengths and limitations. What to do with them? Perhaps give time to others in service, perhaps continue scouting. Or else…

Qualcuno bussa alla mia porta

When I was twelve, someone suggested the seminary, but I didn’t really understand what it was, and the idea was turned down by my family: ‘if the Lord wants it, you can go back later.’ And He did return! During my university years in Padua, while on the outside everything seemed ordinary, inside I felt restless, not really knowing what to do with my life. I got to know the Jesuits through service with refugees, and their spirituality through a diocesan guide. I also had a beautiful relationship with a girl. But that restlessness, by then obvious, was pushing me elsewhere. And not without causing pain.

Attracted to the Society

I therefore entered my diocese’s seminary propedeutic year—truly a time and place of grace, even though I was forced to slow down my intense rhythm. I felt so well there that I could realize my heart was pushing me toward the Jesuits. The real ones, not so much the ones from the heroic books that fascinated me. It was also a time of reconciliation with my family and with other people, as well as with myself. And a time of gratitude toward a world of love that had always been present: now we would be physically distant.

Vocation Within a Vocation

Having entered the novitiate, after the Month of Spiritual Exercises, came a new push: why not become a Jesuit “brother”? Discernment over the following period allowed me to savour a form of life more attuned to my history and my background. Serving the Lord, alongside others, as equals, acting as a bridge. And in the subsequent formation period (it had been years since there was a brother!), I felt more and more confirmed in this path within the Society. I studied philosophy, entered the school world in Palermo, and then in Rome, where I resumed my studies.

I wonder if the village ladies would still call me a “good tosatel.” But I have certainly found a way to unify the many facets of my life. Or at least, I’m trying!