13 DECEMBER

 

 

ARISTIDE BELLI (priest)

 

BORN:  Mezzano Inferiore, Parma - 31.5.1913

ORDINATION: 5 .6. 1938

DECEASED:  Roma - 13.12.1990

AGE: 77

 

  He entered as a boy in our congregation. He spent the first years after his ordination in the Stigmatine community of San Severino Marche, that was in charge of the formation of the diocesan priests. Then he was sent to the parish of S. Croce in Rome where he lived almost continually until his death. He lived his priesthood with joy and passionate zeal.

As a young priest he was the formator and facilitator of the young university students. He celebrated their marriages, he followed them in their family vicissitudes as a counsellor and a friend.

Attentive to the less privileged, he maintained a special inclination and interest towards the foreign missions, which he managed to communicate to the whole parish community supporting several initiatives.

 He was the spiritual assistant of the “Fr Emilio Recchia” club, that he supported and instructed with fortnightly conferences and his constant work of motivation.

The last weeks of Fr Belli’s life were perhaps the most rich in pain and faith. He prepared himself for his death with great tranquillity of spirit, offering to God, in his prayer, all his life and priestly activity, together with the people for whom he toiled with faithfulness and love.

 

Italian version