Prato, 15 September 2021 – «I understood that, despite my limitations, the Lord was calling me. So I decided to become a priest. “He was only 26 years old, Francesco Spagnesi, when he was ordained a diocesan priest in June 2007 by the then bishop Gastone Simoni and thus spoke of his vocation in an interview with La Nazione.
“He bought drugs with the bidding money”
“Already in the last years of high school I found this fullness and this joy in making myself available to others. This inevitably involves sacrifices, but I see the beauty in the path I have taken”.
Spagnesi, born in 1981, had attended the Livi high school and then he enrolled in medicine at the University of Pisa, precisely during the first year his vocation had become stronger and stronger and he had decided to leave and enter the seminary. The ordination came after five years of studies as a seminarian, desired with deep and thoughtful awareness.
He chose the mission that foresees obedience to the bishop, the promise of celibacy and sobriety. Two years passed during which, don Francesco he was chaplain of the Misericordia e Dolce hospital and corrector of the brotherhood of Misericordia, an institution to which he is very close, he was also appointed by bishop Simoni pastor of the church of the Annunciation at Castellina: it was October 2009 and Don Spagnesi immediately went to live with his mother in an apartment belonging to the parish.
The rectory in via Pagano has remained still his residence, where he is serving under house arrest ordered by the investigating judge of the Court of Prato.
Tall in stature, always smiling and popular with everyone, he has held his position for the past twelve years with great dedication and commitment. So much so that his parishioners were taken aback by the news of his arrest, by his involvement in alleged parties financed with money from the donations of the faithful and by the accusations of drug dealing.
Many remember children’s carnival parties, charity dinners and performances in the parish theater. Shortly after his appointment to the Castellina, the celebrations concerned his family. In fact, it was he himself who celebrated the wedding of his sister Elena in the church of the Annunciation: it was a day of happiness and celebration for everyone.
During his commitment first as a corrector of Mercy and then as a parish priest he made faith to his promise to help others, always being available. In June 2014, seven years after his ordination as a priest, Fr Francesco Spagnesi was part of the delegation that left Prato – with other 500 confreres and sisters of the Misericordie and Fratres groups – which he met in Rome with Pope Francis. The Prato group was led by the bishop, monsignor Franco Agostinelli, who at the time had been the corrector of the Misericordie d’Italia for 8 years and who had also wanted with him the corrector of the Prato Archconfraternity, precisely Don Spagnesi.
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