DON ANDREA SANTORO
(1945-2006)

Don Andrea Santoro was born in Priverno (Italy) on September 7, 1945.

 

In 1956, his family moved to Rome. Two years later, in 1958, he entered the seminary. He was ordained a priest in 1970.

 

He began his pastoral career at the Church of Santi Marcellino e Pietro in Rome; he then served as assistant pastor at the Church of Trasfigurazione. In 1981 he was ordained as pastor of the Gesù di Nazareth parish, and in 1994 of the Santi Fabiano e Venanzio parish.

 

Don Andrea's extensive contacts with the Middle East (beginning with a six-month stay in Jerusalem in the late 1980s) and numerous pilgrimages to various countries in the region strengthened his belief that the Church owed a debt of gratitude to the Middle East, which he considered the place where God revealed himself to humanity. Driven by this feeling of gratitude, he requested to be sent as a fidei donum missionary from his diocese. This request was granted in 2000, and Don Andrea was sent to Turkey.

 

Don Andrea, who served first in Şanlıurfa-Harran and then in Trabzon for five years, was murdered on February 5, 2006, while praying at the church where he served.

 

This is taken from a biographical note in the book "Lettere dalla Turchia" (Letters from Türkiye).

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