Brother Massimo Mancini, OP, was recently appointed the new Postulator General of the Order of Preachers by Brother Gerard Timoner III, OP, Master of the Order of Preachers. The appointment received the necessary ratification by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Br. Massimo is the successor of Brother Gianni Festa, OP, who has held the office for the past six years.
Brother Massimo was born in La Spezia, Italy, in 1966. After graduating in law, he made his religious profession in 1994, entering the Order in the Province of St. Dominic in Italy. Br. Massimo was ordained a priest in 2000.
After completing his institutional studies of philosophy and theology, Br. Massimo obtained first a license and then a doctorate at the Faculty of Ecclesiastical History of the Gregorian University of Rome, Italy. Subsequently, he taught in the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome and in the Theological Faculty of Triveneto in Venice and Padua, Italy. Br. Massimo is currently a Permanent Extraordinary Professor of Church History at the Theological Faculty of Emilia-Romagna in Bologna, Italy.
Brother Massimo has been a promoter of Dominican Youth, an assistant to youth groups linked to the Order and involved in university pastoral care among teachers. He has also been engaged in the formation of young religious, especially in recent years as Master of Students in the Province of St. Dominic. He has been a provincial archivist and still collaborates with the Dominican Historical Institute. In addition, for several years, he has been working with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints as a historical consultor.
As Postulator General of the Order, Br. Massimo must reside in Rome. Among his main tasks include the following: to promote, study and follow the progress at the Holy See of the causes of beatification and canonization promoted by the Order; to maintain contact with the Apostolic See, especially with the Congregation for the Causes of Saints; to promote the knowledge of, study of and devotion to the servants of God and blessed and saints of the Order; and to deal with everything concerning causes of beatification and canonization of the servants of God of the Order, including causes for the proclamation of doctors of the Church.
We commend to your prayers our brother’s service to the Order and to the Church.
