On 27 December in the Year of Our Lord 2025, after a long period of illness borne with faith and patience, surrounded by the affection and care of his confreres, Father Fausto (Pasquale) D’Antimi, TOR, passed away in the convent of Saints Quiricus and Julitta in Rome.
From documents preserved in the archives of the Province of St. Francis of Assisi and the General Curia, it appears that Fr. Fausto—born Pasquale—was born in Arsoli (Rome) on 10 August 1937 to Umberto D’Antimi and Anna Piacentini. He was baptized on 22 August of the same year and received the sacrament of Confirmation on 27 August 1945.
He entered the Order with the friars of the entity ex dictione Ministri Generalis, a jurisdiction that emerged following the suppression of the Roman Commissariat in 1936. He began his postulancy at the Convent of San Sebastiano in Ponzano Romano, completed it at the Convent of Santa Maria al Giglio in Sciacca. At the start of his novitiate on 3 October 1954, he was invested with the religious habit by Fr. Vincenzo Grosso at the community of Gesù Ecce Homo in Calvaruso. In that same community, he professed his first vows into the hands of Fr. Alberto Mobilia on 4 October 1955. Following his formation at the Convent of Saint Anthony of Padua in Assisi, he made his solemn profession into the hands of Fr. Pietro Chioccioni on 4 October 1959, in the Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian.
In 1961, after receiving the tonsure on 25 February from Archbishop Pericle Felici, according to the practice then in force, he was admitted to the minor orders: to the office of porter and that of lector on 18 March by Cardinal Luigi Traglia, and to those of exorcist and acolyte on 9 April by Archbishop Ettore Cunial. On 13 October of that same year he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Sacred Theology from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum). On 18 November 1962, in the church of Santa Maria della Salute in Primavalle (Rome), he was ordained to the subdiaconate by Anthony John King Mussio, first Bishop of Steubenville. On 2 December he was ordained deacon by Bishop Filippo Pocci in the church of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, and finally, on 30 March 1963, he was ordained a priest by Archbishop Ettore Cunial in the Basilica of the Twelve Holy Apostles in Rome.
From 1963 to 1965 he was in charge of the Minor Seminary of San Ludovico attached to the fraternity of San Gordiano in Civitavecchia. From 1965 to 1977 he carried out his priestly ministry at the convent of Saints Cosmas and Damian at Fori Imperiali, Rome, devoting himself in a particular way to accompanying engaged couples in preparation for marriage.
In 1977 he obtained a diploma in Organ performance and Organ composition from the Licinio Refice Conservatory of Music in Frosinone. In that same year, within the reorganization of the Roman entity of the Order ex dictione Ministri Generalis, he requested and obtained transfer to the Province of St. Francis of Assisi. His first assignment in the Province was to the convent of Sant’Achille in Rome, where he remained until 1995, serving as parochial vicar from 1977 to 1979, parish priest from 1979 to 1991, and again as parochial vicar until 1995.
At the same time, he continued his teaching work as a professor of organ and Gregorian chant, first at the Licinio Refice Conservatory in Frosinone and later at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory in Florence. In the final years of his ministry at Sant’Achille, he devoted himself with loving care to his father Umberto, who was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. For this reason, after 1995, he lived for about three years in Vicovaro with the permission of his superiors.
From 1999 to 2007 he resided at the convent of Saints Quiricus and Julitta in Rome, serving during the first four-year term as bursar, and later also as vicar of the fraternity and rector of the church. From 2007 to 2011 he was again assigned to the convent of Sant’Achille, before returning to Saints Quiricus and Julitta as local minister and collaborator for the Basilica of Saints Cosmas and Damian, where he was responsible for the Marriage Office. From 2015 to 2019 he served as rector of the church of Saints Quiricus and Julitta. During these years he also assisted the local OFS fraternity of Saints Cosmas and Damian.
At the rectory of Saints Quiricus and Julitta he dedicated himself with particular care and attention to service of the poorest—organizing the collection and distribution of basic necessities and clothing, coordinating volunteers, and listening to those in need—fully embodying the words of our Rule: “they should rejoice when they live among people who are lowly and despised, among the poor and the weak, the sick and the lepers, and those who beg by the wayside.”
Fr. Fausto was a beloved pastor, a welcoming and wise priest for the communities he served, and a father and guide to many couples who prepared for marriage with him. As a teacher, he was able to convey with pedagogical skill both his musical knowledge and his passion for beauty. His contributions to Analecta TOR and his other publications testify to his work in deepening the liturgical role of the musician and the theological foundations of the use of music in worship.
In his final years, he accepted the decline of his health without losing his cheerful disposition, living with a spirit of faith and self-offering, often meditating on and reminding his confreres of the Pauline motto: “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church” (Col 1:24).
The funeral rites for Fr. Fausto were celebrated in the church of Sant’Achille on 30 December 2025, presided over by Very Rev. Fr. Paolo Benanti, Provincial Minister, with Most Rev Fr. Amando Trujillo Cano, Minister General, concelebrating, and attended by many confreres of the Province and the General Curia, as well as by his sisters, relatives, friends, and numerous faithful.
Fr. Fausto now rests in the cemetery of Vicovaro, in accordance with his wishes, beside his father. May his soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, rest in peace.