Inauguration Evening of the Auditorium Antonianum

On December 21, 2009, at 20:00 the Auditorium Antonianum in Rome will be inaugurated. The evening is entitled, “Saint Francis, the Little Friar” and will be televised via Raiuno, who will tell the extraordinary experience of both life and faith realized in Saint Francis of Assisi and handed down by him to his Friars Minor.

The show will be hosted by Arianna Ciampoli, one of the main T.V. faces of our day. The signature tune or theme song will be played by Br. Renato Beretta, ofm, and his Baroque Orchestra. Ricky Tognazzi and Simona Izzo will read some of the writings of Saint Francis and will perform the Canticle of the Creatures as a duet with the Orchestra. Roberto Vecchioni will sing two of his greatest hits. The evening will also be enlivened by an American Gospel group, the Chicago Sisters, the Clusters (finalists at the X Factor 2), and Veronica Liberati.

There will also be stories told from Guinea Bissau, where for the last two years the Friars have been managing a leprosarium; from Kazakistan as well, where they have a guest house for abandoned children or with special needs, and where you will meet Br. Eligio Gelmini, the founder of the community, “Mondo X”. We will also be linked-up with Chiara Frugoni at the Church of Ara Coeli in Rome.