In this interview they tell us about the importance of pilgrimages in their lives and how the Lord led them on their way to becoming priests.
Vianney was born in Poitiers, France, on August 28, 2000 and is in the first cycle of Theology, the first year of the Baccalaureate.
Vianney (V): That's right! I am 23 years old and the first of four siblings. We grew up in a family where there was no lack of Sunday services, and I thank my parents for passing on the faith to me as a child. I was always curious about my religion and I was nurtured by the formation at the various summer camps I did with the Legionaries of Christ and the Franciscans.
However, when I reached adolescence, the school environment and friendships did not favor my relationship with the Lord, which I put aside.
His brother, Emmanuel-Marie was born on December 21, 2002, in Poitiers, and is in the second year of the first cycle of Philosophy, the so-called propaedeutic, to then continue his studies in Theology, the formation that every seminarian needs.
Emmanuel-Marie (E): Yes, as Vianney said, we were raised in a Christian family that gave us the grace of being baptized as children. In our family, we went to Mass every Sunday, it was our appointment of faith. The Lord guided me on this path, and I must say that my father and mother played an important role in the development of my personal faith and my relationship with Jesus.
I made my First Communion at the age of eight and in our home we prayed the rosary and often talked about the faith. However, I must say that I had not yet had that personal encounter with the Lord.
When I was young, we made a pilgrimage to Medjugorje with the whole family. and there I felt especially the presence of the Virgin Mary. But when I returned, when I was about 12-13 years old, I immersed myself in the world, in music and parties. I soon abandoned my relationship with the Lord and let myself be carried away by the world.
I still had the desire to receive Confirmation, and during all that time I was looking for myself; so it was as if I was playing a double role, at home I was myself, I had a relationship with Jesus, I was interested in the faith, and, when I was in high school, I went back to the world. I started going to Mass out of habit and it became more and more of a sacrifice.
V: Absolutely. Up to the age of 18, I was greatly helped by the various pilgrimages to Marian shrines, which were a 'fuel' for the whole year, in the midst of so many worries and diversions. However, the call to become a priest grew in me from the age of 13, when a person from the prison ministry came to the school.
This encounter impacted me because I saw the beauty of bringing the Gospel message to those who no longer had hope or a horizon or meaning in life. I also asked myself what I would like to do with my life.
When I started college at 17, I found myself alone in a new city. Making new friends was not easy and the party atmosphere no longer suited me. That year I found comfort in prayer and sacramental life, which I lived much more intensely.
E: The same for me... An important moment in my adolescence that marked me very much was when I went for the first time to the youth festival in Medjugorjeat the age of 13. For a week I experienced the festival program, the Mass, the conferences, and what especially marked me during the festival were the moving testimonies, true miracles of God's mercy, especially the power of the Rosary prayer.
At that time, the Lord touched my heart and put this seed in me, which he allowed to sprout little by little. But then I returned to the world and there was a year-long battle with the world, parties, alcohol..., and on the other hand my relationship with the Lord.
The following year, when I was 14 years old, I returned to the festival and again Jesus made the seed that he had put in me sprout. But I must say that I never thought of being priestI had neither the idea nor the desire.
Those moments spent there were for me a source of peace and joy, but soon, when I returned home, I gave it all up for lack of desire. I no longer prayed, I no longer went to Mass on Sundays.
Finally, the vocation was a call among many difficulties.
VYes, and yet this call to be a priest was growing stronger. But I had to discern it among the thousand noises of the world. So at the end of my first year of high school, I decided to spend a whole month with my godmother, who is a nun of the community of the Beatitudes. She has always been for me a model and a reference in my spiritual life.
I wanted to find an answer to this intuition that was growing in me, that of giving my life to the Lord by becoming a priest. After this period of discernment, I decided to leave university studies and enter the seminary. I then became acquainted with the community of the Work of Jesus the High Priest to which I belong.
E: Well, for me a great impulse were the young people I saw on pilgrimages, at summer camps, at festivals... And of course, my brother!
After going with my family, at the age of 16 I went to Medjugorje alone for the first time, to the youth festival. And at that very moment of my adolescence, the Lord made this prayer grow in me: "Make me your servant". I remember that when I was in front of the Blessed Sacrament and received Communion, I would repeat this prayer that accompanied me and flowed in me.
I believe that at that moment Jesus put in me that desire to give myself more to Him, and I felt it in me with my friends, I prayed more, I went to Mass more often, sometimes to Adoration during the week. That meeting alone with Jesus in Medjugorje really changed my heart. And yet I was afraid... I was afraid that the Lord would call me to the priesthood and I would have to give up getting married, to have a life of my own, let's say....
I was 16 years old and I was entering the last year of high school, the last year in which I had to think about my future. And I wanted to go into marketing and fashion.
But your brother entered the Work of Jesus the High Priest and something changed in you....
E: Exactly. That same year my older brother entered the Work of Jesus the High Priest and made the decision to enter the seminary. I was very touched by his choice and I was very happy for him. And, even though I did not have him at home with me, every time I called him and had questions about God, he answered me and helped me in my daily life through prayer.
At that time, I remember that one day in December I went to Mass. When I entered the chapel I looked at Jesus and said: "What do you really want for me, what do you want me to do with my life?". I made this request with great intensity and nothing, no response in my heart.
However, the Mass began and when the priest lifted the host and said the words This is my body, which will be given for you, I felt in my heart that Jesus was telling me: your answer is before you, and I saw that the priest was holding the host. In that moment, so intense, but impossible to describe, even with the most beautiful words, I felt in my heart that Jesus was calling me to be a priest, as if he was saying to me interiorly: I would like you to give yourself totally to me, but you are free. It was a new feeling for me, a new desire.
I remember when we left, in the car I told my father: "Either I am cured or nothing". In the following months there was an enclosure because of the Covid, so I was able to pray more at home, but I was deprived of Mass and this was a great pain for me.
Being connected with the Franciscans through summer camps, I was thinking of joining their order, so I asked Jesus to guide me to a seminary. I told Him that the most important thing was for me to feel joy and peace when I entered the seminary, to know that it was His will. And after a few months I entered the Work of Jesus the High Priest, where my brother was already there.
And with the decision for religious life came formation in Rome for both brothers.
V: After a propaedeutic period, I began to study philosophy at the University Pontifical University of the Holy Cross. In October 2023 I started attending the first year Theology course. I am very happy to be able to study at Holy Cross, where I can deepen my study of Theology, thanks to the help of our benefactors at the CARF Foundation.
E: I am very happy too! I arrived in Rome on September 9, 2020. I did two years of propaedeutic studies before entering the University of the Holy Cross, where this year I have started my second year of Philosophy.
With my brother, we would like to thank all our dear benefactors of the CARF Foundation, because thanks to their support, we are very grateful to donationsWe seminarians can support our studies so that one day we can become priests. We keep you in our prayers every day with your intentions and we thank you.
Gerardo Ferrara
BA in History and Political Science, specializing in the Middle East.
Head of the student body at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome.
