The spirituality of Don Dante was at the center of a meeting yesterday at the Palazzo dei Papi

by WANDA CHERUBINI-

VITERBO – An important conference on the Spirituality of Msgr. took place yesterday afternoon in the Alessandro IV Hall of the Palazzo dei Papi in Viterbo. Dante Bernini, pastor in the spirit of Vatican II. The event saw the presence of numerous military, civil and religious authorities. The meeting was moderated by the journalist Wanda Cherubini, president of Ucsi of Viterbo.
Monsignor Dante Bernini, who died five years ago, on 27 September 2019, at the age of 97, with the title of the oldest bishop in Italy, was a professor of physics and mathematics, rector of the La Quercia regional seminary, bishop of Albano and Segni, vice president of the Commission of the Episcopal Conferences of the European Community and president of the CEI Commission for Justice and Peace.
On 13 April 2015, on the anniversary of the promulgation of the encyclical Pacem in Terris, it was a “Day for Peace” was held in his honor in Viterbo.
Speakers included his Eminence, Cardinal FRANCESCO MONTERISI, his Eminence Cardinal FERNANDO FILONI, the bishop of Viterbo, Monsignor ORAZIO FRANCESCO PIAZZA, the prof, CIRO ROMANO, rector of the Montemurro D’Ippolito University, the prof. DON DARIO VITALI, of the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, don GIANNI CARPARELLI, prof. AURELIO RIZZACASA. Also present were the Bishop of Albano, Mons. VINCENZO VIVA, of which Mons. Bernini was diocesan bishop for several years, and the Bishop emeritus Mons. Lino Fumagalli.

The meeting began with the screening of the video “Il giorno ightto”, text by Don Gianni Carparelli and music by Marco Sensi. Then followed the intervention of Cardinal Francis Monterisi, archpriest emeritus of San Paolo Fuori le Mura, dean of the Montemurro D’Ippolito University.
He then took the floor prof. Don Dario Vitali, of the Pontifical Gregorian University of Rome, ordained priest by Don Dante, who in his long report emphasized the figure of “Don Dante in the spirit of Vatican II” highlighting how in the assembly that gathers the Church, the participation activity of the people of God around the altar over which the Bishop presides surrounded by his presbytery and ministers.
Don Gianni Carparelli he then presented the book “Don Dante, father, master and light”, a book whose sales proceeds will go to support Don Dante’s missions in Africa. In doing so he has told a parable that wanted to trace the story of Don Dante.
The prof. Aurelio Rizzacasaprofessor of Ethics and philosophy at the University of Arezzo, also a student of Don Dante, told some anecdotes about his teacher, highlighting how Don Dante gave him the gift of freedom, making him be himself and making him understand that limits do not Our physical conditions, but we ourselves, pose it to us.
A video was then shown with Don Dante’s last reflections, touching words in which Don Dante urges us to believe in God and to stop crying out of desperation.
He then took the floor Bishop of Viterbo Orazio Francesco Piazzawho, having not met Don Dante in person, said he had found points of similarity with the Bishop who ordered it. “I see characterizing signs in these figures – said Monsignor Piazza – What I have grasped is the great suffering of knowing how to grasp the changes with humility. In this updating we have the gift of reviewing the meaning of the Episcopate. Don Dante’s final cry of hope urges us to put an end to the church of complaints in this society that has gone from indifference to annoyance. In the unifying principle of hope we ensure that the Bishop can build his role, this ministeriality at the service of love constitutes the path with the Bishop who must rekindle hope in men and make them move from lamentation to action”.

The meeting continued with the greeting address of prof. Ciro Romano, rector of the Montemurro-D’Ippolito University, who recalled how he became aware of the figure of Don Dante in Canada, in Toronto, in the meeting with Don Gianni Carparelli, present there on a mission. “I proposed to Don Gianni to remember Don Dante because he fully falls within the institutional purposes of our young university. From Don Dante’s teaching I like to underline the interest in young people, in the church which he considered as a sacrament, daughter of God. For Don Dante, young people are not and must not be considered a sociological category, but a component of the Church. He defined them as attentive sensors of the times and indicated the importance of educating them for peace”. He has, therefore, delivered with Cardinal Monterisi the diploma of nomination in memoriam for His Excellency Don Dante Bernini.
The meeting concluded with the spiritual reflection of Cardinal Fernando Filoni, grand master of the equestrian order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem and former student of the Santa Maria della Quercia Seminary in Viterbo. Cardinal Filoni placed emphasis on the passing of a man like Don Dante, who aroused much affection and esteem. “He, a shy man – he said – has evidently left a trace in us, a luminous trail of virtue and life, which we do not intend to neglect and see disappear. Forgetfulness in his case would be an unforgivable mistake. Don Dante continues to live in the gift of a human and spiritual legacy.” The event concluded with prayer led by Cardinal Filoni.