Fraternity Fra Elia from Apostles of God

A man who dedicates his life to God and to helping others

Who is Fra Elia

Fra Elia (alias Cataldo Elia), was born in Francavilla Fontana (Brindisi) on 02/20/1962. At the age of 18 he moved to Milan in search of work. In the spring of 1985 he entered the order of Capuchin Fathers of the Province of Lombardy, where he remained until the fall of 1994. During this period, after the regular course of the novitiate, he made the vows of simple religious profession, and later in February 1990 he received the visible stigmata.

These are very important years for his spiritual and religious formation, during which Fra Elia undertakes a serious (journey) WAY of discernment in order to understand the path God has set out for him and the relative choices to be made. In the years that followed he settled in the Bergamo area, relying on his own work to support himself. From September to December 2000 he entered the monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore (SI) for a new but brief experience of religious life, necessary to gain clarity once and for all on the path he must take. In the following months she began her mission of hospitality and evangelization.

In July of 2003 Fra Elia relocates in Calvi dell’Umbria in the ancient franciscan convent which had been abandoned for many years, where he currently lives together with the male and female Fraternity that has joined him in these years. Here he continues his evangelizing and welcoming mission, in obedience to the Bishop of Terni, who receives his private consacrating vows each year till the process of recognition of his Foundation is finalised and is officially recognised as the “Private Association of the Faithful”.

Fra Elia’s Charisms

Through the experiences of his early childhood, humanly and rationally inexplicable, but abundantly witnessed and documented, Fra Elia gradually became aware that he had been chosen by God to undertake a special mission in the name of the Lord Jesus for the benefit of the Church and the the world, in this time particularly contaminated by the hegemony of a secularized mentality, where God is in fact absent, in part or totally, from human consciousness and existence.

The two most important moments in the evolution of this awareness were:

On Feb. 11, 1990, the appearance of the stigmata on his wrists, feet, and side, and subsequently from that time, the annual recurrences of reliving on his body on the days of the Easter Triduum the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus visible evident to all and documentable. Fra Elia, “marked in blood” by his pain sustained by love, is for the Church and the world an authentic and credible sign of the living presence of the Lord Jesus among us and of his compassionate love for all humanity.
In January 2001, the decision was made to begin his mission of welcoming and evangelization, making himself a pilgrim in the world and for the world following the example of the first Apostles, to meet men and women in need of his help and intercession for their problems both spiritual and material, of health and moral support, to proclaim the Word of the Lord, first welcomed and embraced by Fra Elia in his heart at the moment he said his unconditional “Yes” to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This decision coincides exactly with the invitation addressed to the whole Church by the Holy Father Pope John Paul II, today elevated to the glory of the altars, at the end of the Great Jubilee of 2000 to take up with new impetus his evangelizing mission.

As the “donkey of God,” to whom Fra Elia often compares himself with his humble life and the simplicity of his word he invites those he meets on his path to open their hearts and welcome the mystery OF THE LOVE THAT SAVES to replace the selfishness generated instead by a stingy heart, which today destroys human life and is the cause of so much individual sadness.

Along with this particular charism, which associates him every day with the passion of the Lord Jesus, accompanied by a superhuman ability to endure pain and suffering, hunger and thirst, like the petals of a flower, Fra Elia received other gifts such as the apparition of various Heavenly Characters, visions far away in space and time, the power to read hearts and consciences, the power of bilocation, the power to intercede for the physical and/or spiritual healing of people and the power to free them from all relationships and compromises with the devil, and above all a gaze that penetrates the depths of the soul and moves and induces conversion.

All these gifts of unequivocal supernatural origin were offered freely and exclusively in obedience to the Church, for her benefit and edification, helping all over the world anyone in need of relief from their physical, moral and spiritual problems and/or pains, always making no distinctions of gender, census, or social and cultural status, race and religion.

Fra Elia’s Mission

Synthesized as: a pilgrim in the world for the world, also included in the consecration formula of GOD’S APOSTLES, Fra Elia embraced the same mission as the Church, to be a witness of the risen Lord “to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8) and to preach the Gospel to all men (Mt 28:18).

Invested with the power of the Holy Spirit and in the name of the Lord Jesus, through the gifts he received, with humility and simplicity Fra Elia attracts without distinction all the men and women of our time, in all places of the world, to evangelize them , announcing to them the joy of the Gospel, giving them the peace of the risen Lord Jesus and inviting them to live as true children of God.

Fra Elia listens, counsels, comforts, encourages, confirms and shakes the consciences of all those who come to him, proclaiming to them the Gospel of Jesus.

Like the crowds in Galilee two thousand years ago, more and more sheep without a shepherd flock to Fra Elia, men and women of all ages and social conditions tried and intimidated by the many difficulties and labors they experience every day, or disappointed, disoriented and embittered by the deceptive enticements of the world of our times.

The propelling centre of the mission is the Convent of Calvi of Umbria, where he relocated in July 2003. Here, periodically, according to the calendar published from time to time on the official website of the Foundation of Fra Elia of the Apostles of God (www.apostolididio.it), he welcomes the pilgrims from all parts of Italy and from all the world.

In different times and different occasions Fra Elia has already visited all five continents. He carries out his mission in Italy and overseas in obbedience to his Bishop.

For the missions outside of Calvi, the Bishop of the places where the presence of Fra Elia is required, must give explicit and written consent and inform the Bishop of Terni or his Delegate Don Marco Beladelli, at the Convent of Calvi. Only after both the Bishops have given favourable assence to his mission, will it be possible to move to the organizational phase of the same.

Fra Elia’s Hospitality

Fra Elia says: “the Lord wants the Convent of Calvi to become first of all an IMPORTANT CENTRE OF PRAYER where it is possible to pray day and night, where spiritual retreats are held, where all can come for the healing of their soul.. We must always remember that we are Children of God on a path towards conversion. Prayer is necessary to get close to Him again. We cannot live without God.. What is man without God?”

THE CENTER OF SPIRITUALITY AND PRAYER develops in two fundamental modalities:

The periodic welcoming of pilgrims from all parts of Italy and the world as individuals or organized in groups. Fra Elia initiated this welcoming activity before establishing in Calvi of Umbria. In the last few years this activity with the assistance of the Fraternity and Volunteers of the “Fraternity of the Queen of the Apostles”, has been further implemented and developed to reach 1,200/1,300 people monthly.
The reception at the guest house of the Convent of groups of 30/40 people at a time, to offer them 2/3/4 days of spirituality through courses of prayer, retreats or days of thematic comparison(i.e. family life, forgiveness and peace, prayer, who is Jesus, meeting with Mary, the Mother Church, death and hope, physical and spiritual healing, etc.) in accordance with the particular needs of the group. These appointments will be guided by Fra Elia, in collaboration with trusted priests, with the help of the Comunity of the Apostles of God and the volunteers of the Fraternity of the QUEEN OF THE APOSTLES. (To date it has not been possible to initiate this specific activity due to the obstacles placed by the Council Authorities at the conclusion of the work carried out on the guest house on the east side of the Convent for the reception of groups)

Clarifications between Fra Elia and the Church

. . . taken from the second book by Fiorella Turolli “The mystery of light” . . .

I remember 19 years ago, even before he found a convent, when Fra Elia told me that he didn’t know what to call the fraternity he wanted to found…I tried to help him…we found many names like Holy Family and more but then one day he told me: He told me that we must call ourselves Apostles of God, because like the Apostles we will have to open the doors of our homes, let people in and also return to the squares, on the streets of the world, to bring his word. He also told me not to be afraid because he will always be with me.

RETURNING TO THE CONVENT
Despite the precariousness of that pile of debris, the first three brothers settled into a less dusty corner of the convent and STARTED TO CLEAN. Fra Elia’s first job was to cut the branches of the fig tree that had forcefully entered that single room still intact, through the window without glass.

As usual, Fra Elia immediately asked the Bishop of Terni to allow him to follow his vocation together with his confreres as the founder of a religious fraternity. The Bishop of that time Mons. Vincenzo Paglia, now President of Pontifical Council for the Family, he agreed and immediately sent him a first observer, the Capuchin Father Paolo Bini who, at the end of the first Sunday Mass in that convent, concluded his speech with the following words:

“It is a historic event, we are participating in the birth of a new religious community, which intends to live according to its own rule, that of the Apostles of God. Welcome and blessed be it.“

Every year Fra Elia has renewed the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience in the hands of his Bishop and for some years in the hands of his delegate DON MARCO like his brothers and sisters. Why every year?
Fra Elia cannot make the perennial vows which will only take place when the church RECOGNIZES the new congregation of the Apostles of God founded by him.
Even the new Fraternity of SAINT TERESA OF CALCUTTA was recognized after 16 years!

In the years that followed, the Bishop of Terni also periodically sent his doctors to the convent to examine his wounds, his visions, his ecstasy and also in these cases THE REPORTS OF THE SPECIALISTS were delivered to the CURIA OF TERNI and to the SACRO UFFIZIO

Fra Elia never said he had stigmata, it is the scholars who CONFIRMED it for him.

The question we are often asked is: Why does Fra Elia travel?
Because FOLLOWING THE WILL OF THE LORD, on the rule of the Fraternity of Fra Elia of the Apostles of God we read: we are pilgrims in the world and for the world, like the Apostles, ready to welcome whoever knocks on our door… and to go where God calls us…
… thus we see that on all these occasions the Lord leaves signs through Fra Elia and that the charity offered to all the needy in body and spirit that the Lord sends them and brings them together, in need of being healed and enlightened by his Word, is implementation of God’s will and root of truth and faith…”.

As Fra Elia says: ” The Lord wants the convent of Calvi to become above all aimportant prayer center … where one can always pray, where spiritual exercises are held, where everyone can come, for the “restoration of their soul …THEY WILL BE ABLE TO STOP FOR DAYS AND LIVE WITH US IN THE BUILDING THEY ARE COMPLETING. “

And then there is the world. It is not Fra Elia who organizes the trips abroad, but a series of unsought circumstances which induce the Bishops to invite him to their Churches, with the prior permission of the Bishop of Calvi… and is always accompanied by Don Marco, by a brother and, before the arrival of Don Marco, by myself who documents and writes down everything she sees and hears.
Of course, even books that speak of him have done their job and have also been translated into unthinkable languages such as Maltese, Romanian, Indonesian, Polish while THOSE IN FRENCH HAS REACHED 100 COUNTRIES OF THE WORLD.

But Fra Elia went further, he has already visited all 5 continents throughout Europe, 4 times, in various states of Asia, 3 times in Australia, in the United States, in Africa… HE HAS VISITED LEBROSARIARIES, HOSPITALS, ORPHANATROPHIES, HOSPITIES.