by Ivana Zuliani
In 2019 he won the competition that honors models and actors: As a former swimmer, he was a dancer and actor. Then meeting some young people who went to church and discovering his calling: “I had unspoken questions about myself, now I find the answers.”
His biggest fear was not being accepted for his choice. But Edoardo Santini, 21 years old from CastelfiorentinoWinner 2019 of the national competition “The Most Beautiful in Italy”, followed her: He began his journey to becoming a priest.
And especially these days he is in retreat in Fiesole.
«Will I become one? I don’t know, I’m here to find out. I took this step that scared me, that prevented me from being fully myself, I am ready to say: “No, I was wrong.” However, I am sure that I will not regret this trip, because now I can shout: I’m Edoardo, 21 years old and happy».
A past as a swimmer, aspiring actor and dancer (in 2022 he obtained the title of Italian champion in the discipline Boogie Woogie in Massa Carrara).), Edoardo talks about his journey in a heartfelt, happy and smiling video on social media.
“When I was 21, my father made the decision to marry my mother because she had become pregnant. My mother became a mother at the age of 21, while I am on the path to becoming a priest, God willing. Over the last few years I have had the opportunity to meet some young people who have shown me what it means to be a church. They gave me the strength to pursue this question that had bothered me since childhood, but which I was unable to explore in depth due to various fears».
“Last year,” he continues, “I took a first step.” I lived with two priests and it was the best experience of my life, an experience that allowed me to meet brothers and sisters in everyday life who gave answers I was waiting for from above. At the end of the year it was natural for me to ask the bishop to enter the preparatory year before the seminary. Now I study theology and work in two parishes of the Florentine diocese».
Edoardo has put “modeling, acting and dancing, because yes inevitably means no” aside for now. But he doesn’t deny anything: “In the last few years I have met wonderful people who have given me so much and enabled me to experience art.” I am not giving up everything, because my passions are part of me, but I will live them and express them again in different contexts».
Be It wasn’t an easy decision, especially because of fear of others’ judgment. «But I have to say that I had built more walls for myself than there actually were. There are those who talk behind my back, those who have no problem telling me that I am a disappointment even in my family, but there are also those who support me. Believers and unbelievers.
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December 2, 2023 (modified December 2, 2023 | 4:24 p.m.)
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