I was born in Venice, in the north of Italy, on March 22, 1917. At the age of ten, I was sent to a Roman Catholic Seminary in Piacenza and ordained a priest after 12 years of study, on October 22, 1939.

Two months later Cardinal R. Rossi, my superior, sent me to America as assistant pastor of the new Italian Church of Blessed Mother Cabrini, in Chicago. For four years I preached in Chicago, and later in New York. I never questioned if my sermons or instructions were according to the Bible. My only work and ambition was to please the Pope.