Mons. Luigi de Magistris and Fr.. Antony Sortino, L.C.

Fr. Anthony was born in New York, but his family moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, where his parents (Tony and Rosemarie) and sister still live. Every Sunday they participated in the Eucharistic Celebration at St Maria Goretti Parish, in the Dioceses of Phoenix. He was confirmed when he was 19 years old and started teaching catechism to a youth group in his parish.

“It was in this way that I started to grow in love for souls and enjoy doing apostolate,” Fr. Anthony said.

Fr. Anthony attended Chaparral High School, Scottsdale. He played soccer and worked in several outreach club projects. He also supported a parish-based youth group.

After several semesters studying architecture and arts at Arizona State University, in 1994 he left everything to enter the novitiate and start his ecclesial studies.

“When God called me,” Fr. Anthony said, “I started sweating and getting nervous, but I reached the conclusion that God only wanted the best for me and if He was calling me to the priesthood, it would be for my greater happiness and His greater happiness; and that’s what happened: I am the happiest man in the world.”

Fr. Anthony studied philosophy and theology at the Atheneum Regina Apostolorum in Rome. The years he dedicated to study where: “intense but went by very fast, because you always want to prepare yourself more to be able to serve better”.

In addition to his studies of philosophy and theology, he dedicated three years to vocation work in Córdoba, Argentina, and three years as a seminary instructor.

His parents, who accompany him in Rome for his priestly ordination, are Tony and Rosemarie Sortino.