Juan Vicente Picca was born on 11 October 1938 in San Luis to Juan Domingo and María Cioffi, parents of five children. He entered the Salesian aspirantate of Bernal in 1950, undertook the novitiate in 1956 and made his first profession as a Salesian on 31 January 1957.
He was sent to study in Rome during the years of the Second Vatican Council, a privileged witness of that fundamental event of the Church and a listener of the Council Fathers who used to visit the Roman universities to present their first concise summaries.
Ordained priest in March 1966, Fr Picca continued his theological studies in the then Salesian Pontifical Athenaeum (PAS), subsequently obtaining a Doctorate in Biblical Studies at the "École Biblique" of Jerusalem. After returning to Rome, he obtained a doctorate in Theology at the Salesian Pontifical University (UPS), and became a teacher of Sacred Scripture for 39 years at that same University, between 1968 and 2008, while hold various positions within the same institution - a catechist of the students of theology, community counselor, and he served in the Deanery of the Faculty of Theology.
From 1985 to 2008, he was also Prefect of the UPS Central Library, which in the last years of his administration was completely computerized and became one of the most modern and technological of its kind. In 2009, he returned to Argentina to serve at the "ISET" center. From 2011 to 2015, he was Director of the "San Carlos" Salesian community in Buenos Aires, and in 2016 he was awarded the "Divino Maestro" prize.
Fr Picca was also a scholar of Salesianity and knew how to transmit his love for the Congregation to his students. He is remembered by all as a laborious, simple, austere and merciful man, and a good priest, always willing to serve when and where asked.
