Brother Anthony Ariniello is one of the most recognizable and
intriguing figures to hit the streets of Rome in recent years.
But the
monk with a high-speed habit is about to leave the Eternal City.
“When I pass by, people often exclaim, ‘Wow, now that’s a modern
monk!’” laughs the 32-year-old, originally from Boulder, Colorado.
Br. Ariniello uses his rollerblades as a practical way of getting to
school and to pray at St. Peter’s Basilica.
“They're practical,
economical and ecological,” he said of the skates that have earned him
his Roman persona—“the rollerblading monk.”
His modern appearance aside, Br. Ariniello thinks there’s more to the
surprised looks he gets when he tears through Rome’s streets.
“Perhaps they've never been face to face with a disciple of Christ
before, let alone a religious. I myself once stereotyped the Church as
outdated. Then I had my first personal encounter with a bishop and that
was one-on-one for a game of racquetball! Then I began to really listen
to the Church, and I found it full of life.”
That game of racquetball began a journey for Br. Ariniello that finds
him on the verge of becoming a priest with one of the Church’s newest
communities, The Community of the Beatitudes.
“It was in 1997 at World Youth Day in Paris that I first heard the
Lord’s voice calling me to priesthood. That’s something I’d never
considered before because of my desire to be married. But I then
realized that the priesthood is another kind of marriage,” Br. Ariniello
told CNA.
So a year later, Br. Ariniello left his philosophy studies at the
University of Notre Dame to enter the new archdiocesan seminary in
Denver, Colo. After four years of discernment, though, he said he felt
God calling him in a slightly different direction.
“As a diocesan seminarian I was growing with the new intuitions of
the Church. For example - the role of the family, the call of the poor,
the rediscovery of the Jewish roots of our faith, as well as our
relationship with eastern Orthodox churches.”
“So, for example, I learned that we can rediscover not only the Old
Testament but the living Jewish people in their personal prayer. We can
discover an icon not just as something beautiful but also how Orthodox
people relate to an icon. These were the things I was discovering.”
And it was those insights which led him to join the Community of the Beatitudes in 2002.
Founded 29 years earlier in France, the community grew out of the
Charismatic movement.
It gathers together priests, nuns, married couples
and single people into local groups that share a common prayer and
community life.
“Even if members of the community have a job outside, the first thing
in their life is the time of liturgical prayer, of personal silent
prayer and a time of brotherly sharing or welcoming guests, or of going
out on mission to proclaim the Gospel,” explained Br. Ariniello.
The community’s spirituality is Eucharistic and Marian, while also drawing inspiration from the Carmelite tradition.
Indeed, Br. Ariniello has a particular fondness for the 19th century
French Carmelite nun, St. Therese of Lisieux, and is studying
theological anthropology at the Carmelite’s institute in Rome, the
Teresianum.
While in Rome he’s also witnessed the community’s attempt to find an
appropriate place within the existing structure of the Church.
“New communities have borne much fruit for the Church, but they can also bear problems,” he observed.
“For example, where do some new communities fit into the canons of the new code of Canon Law?”
After requesting some adjustments to their structures, such as
creating distinct branches for women and men, the Vatican now classifies
the Community of the Beatitudes under the category of “new forms of
consecrated life.”
As for Br. Ariniello, he has completed his Roman studies and will be
ordained a deacon in France later this year. He’ll then return to Denver
to the community’s parish and school, before his priestly ordination
back in France next June.
Rest assured, he’ll be taking his rollerblades with him wherever he goes.
“The Spirit makes all things new! Witnessing to that new life can
begin with simple signs. Church bells and facades are nice, but the
post-modern plaza needs personal faces … a nun with a smile, a family
with four kids or a monk on skates!”