Multiple Vocations in Families

Here are three short posts from Aleteia about multiple vocations in a family, three Priests in one, ordained on the same day, twins in another, and two 'sister Sisters' in yet another.

Three brothers ordained priests on the same day in the Philippines

By Agnès P. Legry

Jessie, Jestonie, and Jerson Avenido were ordained on the same day and in the same religious congregation.

This is an unprecedented event for the Church in the Philippines: Three brothers were ordained priests on the same day and in the same religious congregation.

Jessie, Jestonie and Jerson Avenido were ordained on Wednesday, September 8, the day of the Nativity of the Virgin, for the Congregation of the Sacred Stigmata (known as Stigmatines), an Italian order. The celebration, presided over by Bishop José Cabantan, took place in the Cathedral of Cagayán de Oro, Philippines, and was reported on in an article in UCA News.

“It is a blessing to have a priest in the family, but three is special,” rejoiced the priests’ parents. Their father, a farmer and security guard, and their mother, a babysitter, come from a very modest background, but they have never lacked love.

Although they were ordained together, the three brothers’ paths were separate. The oldest, Jessie, 30, entered the seminary in 2008, followed by Jestonie, 29, and Jerson, 28, in 2010.

Jessie originally wanted to become a police officer or an electrical engineer, and even enrolled in an engineering school before entering the seminary. Jestonie wanted to become a teacher, while Jerson dreamed of becoming a doctor.

“We’ve chosen this vocation neither by chance nor force but of our own free will,” they said after their ordination.

“We did not come from a rich family but we are very rich in our love for the Lord and his Church,” Fr. Jessie Avenido said after the ordination ceremony. The three brothers also revealed after the celebration that they have a younger brother … who is also considering the priesthood!

26-year-old twins ordained to the priesthood side by side on the same day

Their decision was "personal, autonomous, and free," but it led to the same path.

Twin brothers Giacomo and Davide Crespi have always been together, and May 25, 2019, was no different: side by side, along with three other seminary classmates, they received the sacrament of holy orders from their bishop, Gianfranco Agostino Gardin, in the diocese of Treviso, northern Italy.

Fr. Giacomo relates how when they were 11 years old and in 5th grade, the twins came into contact with the vocational ministry of the seminary of Treviso along with other classmates in their catechism class. At the time, neither of the brothers had considered the priesthood. In an interview with Famiglia Cristiana, Fr. Giacomo says, “Certainly, at the age of 11, you don’t ask yourself if you want to become a priest or not. It begins a bit like a new adventure. Then as we grew up, each of us reached the time to start the path of discernment, of moving on to the period of studying theology, and the choice to become priests.”

Although it’s a path they walked together, they both emphasize that each one’s discernment was “personal, autonomous, and free.” Fr. Giacomo explains, “My brother David and I never confronted each other, asking, ‘What are you going to do?’ We simply shared the same path.”

They also acknowledge the fundamental role of the support they received from their parents, Agnese and Giampietro, and their sisters, Irene and Maria. According to the newly ordained priests, “Throughout these years, we always felt that we weren’t alone, that we were accompanied and sustained, especially by our parents. Thanks to their first ‘yes’ and to their witness, we’ve been able to say our own ‘yes’” each step of the way.

That support was very concrete. In an interview with the SIR news agency, their father explains, “[The seminary] was 26 miles away, which was very far for us. I bought a new car so we could visit them every week, and so we could participate in the formation and spirituality events designed for parents, because in a certain sense, the entire family ‘enters’ the seminary.”

Although they entered the seminary program very young, their high school studies were typical of ordinary teens. In Italy, high schoolers already chose a specialization; Giacomo focused on science, and Davide on communication.

Fr. David says that now, at the end of the path that led them to priestly ministry, their “yes” to the Lord has brought them great interior peace:

“Now, I have a feeling of interior peace I’ve never experienced before, thanks to this definitive ‘yes.’ … I know I’m where God has placed me. And I have the fortune of having my brother at my side, who understands perfectly the depth and the importance of everything we are experiencing.”

In his homily during the ordination Mass (quoted by SIR), Bishop Gardin expressed his confidence that the newly ordained priests will be “normal and happy priests. Indeed, in their search for happiness, they’ve discovered that it is found in an intense and fascinating relationship with Jesus, in giving of themselves to help others to get to know Him.”

After their first Mass, concelebrated by the twins at their home parish, Fr. Giacomo thanked his brother in words that reveal the strength of their bond as twin brothers and as priests: “[Thank you,] because for me, you are a brother, my twin, my companion on the road, and my true friend; because if, as [Blessed] Fr. Pino Puglisi said, ‘God loves, but always through someone in particular,’ for me you are one of those people. Thank you, because you’ve walked beside me with discretion and freedom throughout these years. I’ve prayed for you during this, our first Mass. Look to the Lord, the only rock: it is He who lives in you, and it is for Him that you are called to live, with all of your might.”

Two sisters become nuns at the same time in Spain

These two young women answered God's call for them to join religious life.

Lourdes and Gloria Salgado are from Ciempozuelos, Spain (near the city of Madrid). They’re the youngest of a large family (7 siblings) and they’re part of Generation Z, the generation born around the year 2000 who are digital natives.

These young women have discovered their call to religious life, and in just over a month’s time they’ll both have entered their respective orders. Although Lourdes and Gloria both have a religious vocation, they’re not on the same vocational path: Gloria—who is 18 years old—entered the novitiate of the Order of Our Lady on September 8, whereas Lourdes will begin as a postulant, at the age of 20, at the Iesu Communio convent of La Aguilera in Burgos.

The Diocese of Getafe has just released the news on its website, where the two sisters give testimony of what has happened in their lives.

“Jesus called me from a very young age”

Lourdes explains her decision:

Everything has happened in one summer, in three months; two of us are leaving home with the sole purpose of following Jesus wherever He may be. I say that everything happened in three months, but really it’s not like that, not in my case. The vocation has always been within me, and Jesus called me since I was very young, but in life not everything always goes as we expect, and for three years or so I forgot and abandoned my call and Jesus for worldly things that attracted me.

“Simply to be with Him, contemplating Him”

She continues:

Over time, Jesus has not stopped seeking me, and He has been committed to me every day of my life. After meeting Jesus again and rediscovering that He wanted me for Himself, I can do nothing else but give myself to the contemplative life, together with Jesus and with my sisters, who are called to live the same as I do: simply to be with Him, to contemplate Him, and then to share with those who do not know Him “what we have seen and heard.”

“I wish to live always surrendered to Him”

Lourdes says, “I cannot say anything but ‘thank you.’ I’m infinitely grateful to God and His Church. I don’t deserve this life; it’s only by His mercy that I can live my religious vocation. I want to live forever serving Him.”

Her sister Gloria, who has just finished high school and reached legal adulthood, explains how her vocational process has been and what motivates her to become a religious. She declares that “the best part of my life is for Jesus.”

Gloria: “Jesus has been making me fall in love with Him”

On September 8 I entered the novitiate of the Order of the Daughters of Our Lady Mary, in Valdemoro. It’s an Order of teaching nuns that unites the contemplative life with the active life, that is to say, self-giving to Jesus in the Eucharist and self-giving to the souls He came to save. I have done all my secondary and high school studies in this school and I’ve seen Jesus in these nuns. 

When they tell me to tell my vocation story, I’m surprised, because it’s something very simple, and I like that it’s this way. It’s something simple but great at the same time. Jesus has been making my heart fall in love with Him simply, little by little. I’ve seen how Jesus thirsts for me and how I thirst for Him. My heart has never rested in anything else but Him.

“I’ve seen how Jesus thirsts for the world”

I’ve also seen how broken the world is, how shattered the heart of man is without Jesus, how the world thirsts for Jesus and how Jesus thirsts for the world. And I give my whole life to quench that “I thirst,” I give my life for souls, “so that they may have Life.” I know why I live. 

And I never cease to be surprised at how good the Lord is: I’m surprised that every day He chooses me, as small as I am. And sometimes I ask myself: “How did we get here?” and I realize that He has done everything, that He has carried everything forward …

Both Gloria and Lourdes see that their family, the school where they studied, and the Neocatechumenal Way have helped them discover their personal vocation.

Lourdes says, “My family has been very important in my life: my mother, who’s happy with the life I’m starting, my siblings, my parish and my youth group, those with whom I’ve shared my faith during recent years, and the school where I was educated for the last 5 years, a school of nuns in which my younger sister is enrolled.” Gloria says the same is true in her case.

Our Lady in their vocation

Gloria adds that the decision they’ve made to give themselves totally to the Lord in religious life wouldn’t be possible without the help of Our Lady.

The Virgin Mary is the easiest, shortest and quickest way to Jesus. She’s the one who brings me to Jesus every day; to her I give everything so that she can give it to my Lord.

Gloria echoes Mary’s ‘yes’ in a concrete way, quoting the late UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjold: “I can only say: ‘For all that has been, THANK YOU; for all that will be, YES.'”