Only seven months have passed since the diocesan Church of Grosseto rallied around Claudio Bianchi and Simone Castellucci, who became priests, and Alessandro Ortalli, ordained deacon, and that joy is ready to repeat itself.
Saturday 29 JuneSolemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, iBishop Giovanni will ordain the seminarian Ciro Buonocunto as a deacon.
The Eucharistic celebration with the ordination rite will take place at 10.30 am in the Cathedral of Grosseto.
Seven months of distance between these two moments denotes the good state of health of the Episcopal Seminary: currently there are two seminarians (Zeno Bonato, who received the ministry of Lectorate on 15 June; and Andrea Bussi) while a young man is concluding the year preparatory.
25 years old, originally from Naples, Tuscan by adoption (he arrived in Grosseto when he was one year old), Ciro Buonocunto completed his entire growth and education path in the Maremma capital and has always been close to the ecclesial reality, attending groups youth of his parish of origin – Mother Teresa of Calcutta – always remaining linked to the dimension of faith.
In October 2017, at the age of 19, having obtained his high school diploma at Isis Fossombroni a few months earlier, he entered the Episcopal Seminary “GD Mensini” in Grosseto, beginning his training and theological studies at the Theological Faculty of Central Italy (Florence). He is currently completing the so-called “pastoral year”, a period that follows the end of his studies and prepares for diaconal ordination.
This is how Ciro talks about his vocation in an interview published in the diocesan weekly Toscana Oggi: “During high school there was a lot of internal reflection. Obviously I had also taken other paths into consideration, for example the university path, so mine was not a decision taken on the spot, but I evaluated various different possibilities. What finally decided me for the Seminary was the acknowledgment of a deeper call that I felt in my heart and which pushed me to make the decision to ask to enter, because I considered it and consider it appropriate for my life. Naturally, I explored this perception of mine not alone and I had confirmation that it corresponded to my desire for the future and the desire to be ‘full’, happy”.
A curiosity: Ciro, Neapolitan by origin, is a huge Juventus fan. Football is one of his great passions, so much so that in 2022 he had a unique experience together with the seminarian Zeno Bonato: the national sports and prayer gathering in Rho, organized by the Preti national football team. A three-day full immersion between training sessions, practice matches, beach tennis training at the Comasina sports centre, a friendly five-a-side football match on the “Stellanda” gym pitch with the Italian national Fifs veterans. Ciro and Zeno on that occasion stood out for having scored a total of five goals. “It is important – says Ciro – to convey to young people the message that priests are not people detached from the world and from concrete situations and therefore even sport, an ordinary activity like others, can make a breakthrough and convey a message about us and our life choice.”
