Dear friends of the Congregation of the Mission,

Since the beginning of 2024, I have taken on the role of Postulator General of the Congregation of the Mission and the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul. In this short but intense period, I am discovering the immense beauty of the charism of the Vincentian Family, embodied in the examples of the lives of our Saints, Blesseds, Venerables and Servants of God. For me, they are the best promoters of our charism. However, in order for this witness to reach further, our collaboration is also necessary.

For this reason, it has been decided to assign me a close collaborator who will assist me in the service of the Office of General Postulation. I would therefore like to take this opportunity to introduce my secretary, Antonino Cottone.

Interview with Antonino Cottone

Dear Antonino, to begin with, can you tell us something about yourself? Where does your passion for relics come from and how long have you been involved with them?

My name is Antonino Cottone, I am 44 years old and I come from Misilmeri, a town on the outskirts of Palermo. My passion for the sacred world began when I was a child, attending my home parish and participating in various parish groups. I started by collecting holy cards, a collection I still maintain today. Later, I worked for a long time with a restoration workshop in my town, where I first encountered reliquaries and paperoles, the wonderful art of paper filigree. I became so passionate about it that I turned it into my job.

What is a relic for you? What is the meaning of your work? Does the cult of relics still have a reason to exist today?

A relic is what remains of a saint or blessed person: for me, it is something precious. Having the privilege of touching and preserving them means feeling those saints and blessed people close to me, establishing a confidential relationship with them, entrusting myself to them in the most important moments and praying often for those in need.

I am convinced that the cult of relics still exists: in some countries it is very much alive, in others less so. In Italy, it often depends on the sensitivity of the parish priests. There are communities where relics are valued and used as tools of evangelisation, displayed for the veneration of the faithful; and others, on the other hand, where they remain abandoned in dusty attics, waiting to be rearranged and placed in more suitable locations.
My job is precisely this: to make reliquaries presentable, to prepare display cases and reliquaries for beatifications and canonisations, to arrange the lipsanotheques, and to take care of the treatments and canonical recognitions.

Is there a special memory related to your work that you would like to share?

I have many memories, but some are particularly dear to me. For example, the packaging and arrangement of the relics of Blessed Giuseppe Puglisi, martyr of the Church of Palermo, whom I had the honour of meeting personally on a few occasions. I also remember the reliquary with a fragment of the Holy Crib donated by Pope Francis to the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem; the packaging of the interior of Pope Leo XIV’s cross, with relics of Augustinian saints and blessed; and the numerous reliquaries with relics of St. Pio, St. Rita, St. Thérèse and many others, prepared for canonisation celebrations.

How do you see your new position at the General Postulation of the Congregation of the Mission?

I consider it the achievement of an important goal. In addition to caring for the relics of the saints and blessed of the Congregation, thanks to the Postulator General, I have the opportunity to deepen my knowledge of the procedures of the Causes, a subject I studied through the Studium of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints. In addition, I participate in the management of the Office of General Postulation, assisting the Postulator in the fundamental steps for the continuation of the Causes.
For me, it is also a valuable opportunity to discover and learn about Christian holiness in its Vincentian form, meeting many people who have embodied the charism of St Vincent, patron saint of charitable works in the Church.

So, can we look forward to a good and fruitful collaboration?

Certainly, with gratitude.

Fr. Serhiy Pavlish, C.M.
Postulator General