88 – “But why did the Scout Centre have to be established exactly at Sant’Antimo?”
“Well, let’s say that in a certain way the DNA of our community is also Scout! As a matter of fact, Father Andrea and the other founders of the community originally belonged to a group of Scouts named ‘The Scouts of Caen’, in Normandy, founded in 1969. It ‘donated’ 10 priestly vocations to the Church. Some of them remained in the Diocese as priests, while another 3, together with their spiritual assistant, Father Andrea, dared to set up a community of Regular Canons. At that time Sant’Antimo was already in a state of abandon for more than 530 years! The Bishop of Siena, mons. Ismaele Castellano was thus searching for some religious brothers to give it a new spiritual impact. The assistant Bishop of Siena (ex Bishop of the Laos Missions), was entrusted with the task of encountering us. For us, this was a sign of Providence, because the church where we now carry out our priestly service was thus committed to us.
“We arrived here in October 1979 - a real adventure - but on account of a sound scout experience attained, nothing was able to frighten us! On 8th December 1979, precisely at Sant’Antimo, the community was instituted. Useless to say, the place was not in the same condition as one sees it today! A lot of patience and much work were necessary, before it was possible to settle down in the actual convent. We roamed about for 12 years. First we stayed at Montalcino, then at Vignoni (at San Quirico d’Orcia) and finally at Castelnuovo dell’Abate. Only in the year 1992 did we enter our new dwelling place next to the church. After this, a great deal of work was necessary to put the church and the surroundings into order. The manual labour of an immense number of Scouts played a very important role in this, as they lent us their hands and also their hearts.”
