At 07.45 in the morning of April 17 of the year of the Lord 2021, at the age of 50, after a long period of illness, lived with faith and hope, Fr. Sergio Dominici has made his transitus.
Fr. Sergio was born in Terni (TR) on January 23, 1971 to Quinto Dominici and Agnese Gennari. He was baptized on February 28, 1971 in the parish of Saints Giuseppe and Bernardino in Colpetrazzo (Massa Martana) and received the sacrament of confirmation on May 20, 1984.
Before entering the convent he attended the University of Perugia, in the department of Political Science and held the position of Assessor for Social Services in the municipality of Massa Martana (PG).
He began the postulancy in 1995 at the convent of Saints Quirico and Giulitta, under the responsibility of Fr. Angelo Gentile. The letter with which he asks to begin his journey of following the Lord in our fraternity bears the date of January 23 of the same year. In this first year of formation, he already collaborated with the diocesan Caritas of Rome. He entered the novitiate in the convent of Santa Maria della Pace in Massa Martana on September 16, 1996, under the responsibility of the novice master, Fr. Alfredo Federici. On September 17, 1997 he made his first religious profession in Massa Martana into the hands of Very Reverend Father Raffaele Pazzelli, Minister Provincial. He lived the time of initial formation in the convent of Sant’Antonio di Padova in Assisi (PG), where he successfully completed his studies in sacred theology at the Theological Institute of Assisi and carried out, among other services, that of pastoral care for the young people of the Convito Nazionale of Assisi. In these years, Very Rev. Fr. Alessio Maglione and Rev. Fr. Alceo Grazioli were responsible for his formation. He received the ministry of lector on April 29, 2000 and that of acolyte on February 25, 2001. On November 17, 2001 he solemnly professed the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the Third Order Regular of St. Francis, into the hands of Very Reverend Fr. Lino Temperini, Minister Provincial. After a time at the oratory of our parish of Sant’Achille in Rome, he was assigned to the fraternity of Santa Maria della Salute in Rome, in the Primavalle district.
He was ordained a deacon on October 19, 2003 by His Excellency, Vincenzo Apicella, titular bishop of Gerafi and auxiliary for the West Sector of Rome, and, by the same prelate, a priest on October 23, 2004. In this period, while experiencing the fragility of his body due to the emergence of some chronic illnesses, he obtained a Licentiate in the Social Doctrine of the Church at the Pontifical Lateran University. In the years of his pastoral service at the parish of Santa Maria della Salute, he held various positions, including that of parochial vicar and assistant to the local fraternity of the Secular Franciscans. His pastoral attention was directed above all to the most needy, through the parish Caritas, and to the most distant. To his concern we owe the growth of the Christian community in the Torresina district, a distant offshoot of the parish territory, now an autonomous parish under the title of Santa Faustina Kowalska.
After the Provincial Chapter of 2011, as the first Provincial Definitor, he was assigned to the community of Sant’Antonio di Padova in Assisi, as local treasurer, rector of the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva and assistant of the Secular Franciscan fraternity of Massa Martana. On 1 October 2012 he was appointed Parish Vicar of the Parish of San Rufino in Assisi, with the task of looking after the life of the parish of San Vitale in Viole, which is part of the same pastoral unit. At the same time he was also appointed Spiritual Director of the Prayer Group of Padre Pio “San Vitale Eremita”. In 2015 he was confirmed as Definitor, assumed the office of Provincial Treasurer and began attending the Higher Institute Course for formators.
In 2019 he was assigned to the fraternity of Santa Maria della Pace in Massa Martana, where he held the positions of parish vicar of the parish of San Felice in Massa Martana and was a member of the Council for Economic Affairs of the Province. Since 2020, his health gradually and inexorably worsened.
This last year saw Fr. Sergio surrender to the will of the Father with faith and hope. As he himself shared, this abandonment was possible thanks to having experienced the closeness of God in the affection and caring care of the confreres of the community and his loved ones.
The fruits of good and the evangelical witness that Fr. Sergio gave in his consecration, with his ministry and with the faith with which he lived the fragility of his flesh are testified by the large number of people who continuously paid homage and offered prayers in the funeral parlor set up in the convent.
The funeral of Fr. Sergio, chaired by Most Reverend Fr. Paolo Benanti, Provincial Minister, with the assistance of His Excellency Gualtiero Sigismondi, Bishop of Orvieto-Todi, was celebrated on 19 April 2021 at the parish church of San Felice in Massa Martana, with the participation of numerous confreres, priests and his family, as well as a large number of faithful and friends, who in addition to the pews, crowded the square in front of the church, grateful for the gift that the life of Fr. Sergio was for each of them.
Fr. Sergio rests in the cemetery of Colpetrazzo and, in the intercession of his loved ones and brothers, he can present himself to the embrace of the Eternal Father giving him glory: “Lord, thanks to you, I have persevered in Your name”.