This event, which has been repeated for nine years or on the day of the birth or baptism of Fr Francesco Convertini, this year involved Bishop Nirmol Vincent Gomes, SDB, Bishop of Krishnagar, Diocese of Bengal, where Fr Convertini spent his missionary life.
The torchlight event was held in the square of the Serafina district, located in the municipality of Locorotondo. It was in this district that the little "Cicciluzzo", as Father Convertini was familiarly called, spent a short period after the death of his mother, together with a local family. To support himself in that family he looked after the sheep, plowed, hoed and before going to the fields he peeled a portion of dried beans that would be his meal.
On the way to the Marinelli district of Cisternino, contemplating the painful mysteries of the Holy Rosary, we meditated on the Passion of Jesus and the troubled life of the Venerable Convertini, praying for peace. Father Francis lived his missionary life for the proclamation of the kingdom and the conversion to Christ of Hindus and Muslims, as a man of peace and fraternity.
Several testimonies underline how this Salesian missionary has been a peacemaker between religious groups and families in discord. "With his word he brought peace to families and sometimes even through some small gift, like a flower, a little food, he was able to bring joy".
