In the footsteps of Francis of Assisi " I want to be a friar " (Ven. Fr. Gregory OFM)

Last week we left the story of Father Gregorio Fioravanti (Ludovico) with the blossoming of the vocation. He had told his father Antonio: "I want to be a friar ". Here is that fifteen-year-old boy, in the early days of 1838, who knocked at the doors of the Franciscan Convent of the "Holy Trinity" near Orvieto. Here, on 5 February 1838, he was dressed in the Franciscan habit and invited to leave his baptismal name, Ludovico, assuming that of Brother Gregorio from the Grotte di Castro.

After the novitiate period, on 5 February 1839 he celebrated his solemn profession, reaffirming his desire to make the Gospel his form of life, following the example of Saint Francis of Assisi. After Orvieto, obedience called him first to Rome, to the Convent of " Santa Maria d'Aracoeli " and then to Viterbo, to " Santa Maria del Paradiso ". To complete his studies, he alternated the periods of stay between the two convents. On 17 May 1845, having just turned 23, Fra Gregorio dalle Grotte di Castro was consecrated a priest in Viterbo in the Cathedral of San Lorenzo. He celebrated his first Mass at Grotte di Castro. He returned to the Aracoeli Convent to further deepen his cultural preparation and also to practice teaching.

After passing the general competitions of philosophy and theology, which enable him as a teacher, to the direct dependence of the Minister General, Father Gregorio is called to pass another " passage". (Cfr. M. Antonietta Pozzebon – “Il Servo di Dio Padre Gregorio Fioravanti, ofm”, Editrice VELAR, 2012)