Listening, Sharing, and Fraternity: A Dominican Mission Story from Tuscany
The Dominican Family of the Roman Province of Italy organized a popular mission in the town of Pratovecchio, which has about 6,000 inhabitants, from September 27 to October 4, 2026, under the theme “Reconciled in Christ”.
Indeed, this mission is part of the schedule of activities of the Dominican Family, which meets four times a year. The first meeting is a general assembly for planning the year’s activities, the second is a time for formation together, the third is an excursion or pilgrimage, and the fourth is a joint mission.
I am going to share with you here in a few words our experience of the popular mission lived during a week in Pratovecchio, a small town in the Tuscany region of Italy.
After months of preparation and organization both in person and online, we gathered at the Monastero delle Suore Domenicane della Neve e san Domenico in Pratovecchio, invited by the parish priest, Don Massimo, and a small group from the Dominican Laity Fraternity of the parish. The sisters’ monastery, as in the first community of Prouille, was our point of spiritual, physical, and moral renewal. The entire family was represented. Surrounding our monastery sisters, we came together from different parts of the Province: brothers, laity, and apostolic sisters.
Our program, under the leadership of the parish priest and the coordination of Fr. Salvatore, provided for Mass and Lauds at the monastery with the nuns, perpetual adoration at the chapel of the Camaldolese nuns, visits and communion to the sick in their homes, the recitation of the Rosary, visits to various establishments (supermarkets, bars, shops, companies, businesses, farms, the stadium, training and rehabilitation centers…), and meals for the missionaries in family homes, parishes, or at the monastery. We experienced a week rich in exchanges, sharing, listening, and prayer. Every moment was unique, and I will mention a few: we had the solemn opening Mass of the mission with the presence of the Mayor, his council, the Marshal of the Gendarmerie, and several gendarmes. A meal was offered, prepared, and served by the city’s Gendarmerie corps. There were meals in family homes, moments of listening and sharing the Word of God, the Mass for the sick in the parish with those who could make the journey, and a beautiful prayer vigil with the parish priest playing the drums. We had meetings with civil authorities, parents of children in catechesis, and a testimony from two men on restorative justice. One of the two men was a former member of the Red Brigades and had killed the other’s father in cold blood. After years of inner struggle for one, and prison and remorse for the other, they succeeded with the help of intermediaries in walking a path of forgiveness and reconciliation. Today they are friends and share their experience.
And finally, the closing evening of the Beer Festival, where you could see the Brothers and Sisters with large glasses of beer – it was spectacular!
In short, this mission was not only beneficial for the population of Pratovecchio; it was even more so for us, the missionaries. We returned more edified and joyful from a mission in which the Lord Himself had already gone before us. We have sown; it is up to Him to make it sprout, and may it bear fruit for the salvation of souls. Blessed be His name.
Sr. Scholastique Nibana – Dominican Sisters of Blessed Imelda
