Felix (Fra Bertoldi) Cantiriani

This is Fra Bertoldi as I met him at the ancient church of Santa Maria Delle Grazie. He lived for 28 years as Felix Cantiriani, a quiet, bookish slightly religious young man with obsessions and fears (mostly of fear itself) on via Melloni, in a small apartment on the fourth floor of a five-floor building. His door had two locks and two deadbolts that could only be worked from inside, the windows had solid iron bars. Felix always made sure he took the elevator alone or only with neighbours he knew and, once at home, he shut both locks leaving the keys in and pushed the deadbolts in place. One late night, about four and a half years ago, Felix woke up and only half opened his eyes, his bedroom was cold, there was a faint smell that he could not identify. In the corner he could see a tall dark shape, like a man with a hood. He quickly closed his eyes again and pretended to be asleep but still peeked. The shape moved closer, he felt the air move and heard a deep voice, more like a grunt, saying "I am dangerous". Felix shut his eyes tight and lay there for a long time prepared to die. The dawn broke and nothing further happened. He got up and checked the apartment, windows: locked, door: locked! He was even more terrified now than he was when it happened, in the night - he knew it had not been a dream. He got dressed and ran to see Padre Paolo. The father heard him out, was silent for a long time and then told Felix to go pray and come back the next day. Not many of his friends and relatives were surprised when Felix became a novice for the "White-Robed Monk of St. Benedict" and was ordained a year and a half later as Fra Bertoldi. Now he gets up at the 3:10 wake-up bell and has a small cup of coffee followed by prayers followed by more readings and prayers and cleaning and cooking and his general purpose in life is to let the world be a more compassionate place, inviting peace and joy. He sleeps well.