Antonio Celona

In 1910, deeply affected by the consequences of the terrible 1908 earthquake that devastated Messina, Father Celona decided to return to his home diocese to participate in the moral and spiritual reconstruction of the affected population. Appointed penitentiary canon of the Cathedral of Messina, he devoted himself tirelessly to the poor, orphans, and the disoriented. From 1910 to 1917, he collaborated closely with Saint Annibale Maria di Francia within the Antonian Works. This collaboration strengthened his desire for consecration. In 1915, he even entered the Rogationists (founded by Saint Annibale), completed his novitiate there, and took his vows. However, faced with the spiritual and material distress of Messina, he felt the call to found a specific work dedicated to reparation. On March 25, 1915, he created the Pia Unione delle Piccole Ancelle (Pious Union of the Little Servants), a group of young women dedicated to teaching the catechism. With the agreement of the Archbishop of Messina, Msgr. Letterio D'Arrigo, he officially founded the Congregation of the Reparative Servants of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (Ancelle Riparatrici del Sacratissimo Cuore di Gesù) on September 8, 1917. The first house of the institute opened its doors on February 2, 1918, in Messina. He was assisted in this foundation by the first superior general and co-founder, Mother Serafina Palermo (1884-1970). The institute developed rapidly, dedicating itself to perpetual Eucharistic adoration in a spirit of reparation and to the Christian education of youth. In 1928, Father Celona had the Temple of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament (Tempio a Gesù Sacramentato) erected in Messina, adjacent to a modest two-room rectory where he chose to reside.

The life of Father Celona was marked by a profound union with God, but also by painful trials. In the early 1930s, divisions and misunderstandings arose within the community he had founded. Falsely accused and slandered, he was removed and exiled from his own institute. He accepted this painful exclusion with heroic patience, seeing it as a mystical participation in the Passion of Christ and an opportunity to fully embody the spirituality of reparation that he taught.

From 1934 to 1943, he served as rector of the sanctuary of the Madonna di Montalto, on the Caperrina hill in Messina. On August 21, 1935, he was also appointed dean of the chapter of the Cathedral of Messina. In 1943, the bombings of the Second World War forced him to leave the Montalto sanctuary. Deprived of his position as rector and still facing misunderstanding, he retired to his small childhood home in Ganzirri. There, he lived his final years in great destitution and a solitude similar to that of a hermit, dedicating himself to prayer, writing, and study, while continually blessing his spiritual daughters. He passed away holily on October 15, 1952, in Ganzirri.

The reputation for holiness of Father Antonio Celona continued to grow after his death. In 1965, his mortal remains were transferred to the Temple of Jesus Sacrament, near the motherhouse of the Reparator Servants in Messina, where they now rest alongside Mother Serafina Palermo. The cause for beatification was officially opened at the diocesan level on April 24, 1984, in Messina. The diocesan inquiry, which collected numerous testimonies and documents, concluded on February 3, 1997. On June 5, 2015, Pope Francis authorized the Congregation (now Dicastery) for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thus conferring upon him the title of Venerable.

The spirituality of the Venerable Antonio Celona is centered on the mystery of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the requirement of reparation. For him, reparation is not merely a practice of piety, but an attitude of life consisting of offering one's own sufferings, misunderstandings, and sacrifices in union with the sacrifice of Christ to atone for the sins of the world and to console the Heart of Jesus. His exile from the congregation he had founded was the pinnacle of this life of personal immolation.

Today, his spiritual legacy is perpetuated by the Congregation of the Servant Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This institute of pontifical right (which received the decree of praise on June 10, 1941, and definitive approval on April 21, 1951, from Pope Pius XII) is active not only in Italy and Poland, but has also spread to America (Brazil, United States) and Africa (Ivory Coast), working in education, Eucharistic adoration, and support for parishes.