Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M. Cap. was born in Colli del Tronto, in the province of Ascoli Piceno, Italy in 1934. In 1945, he made his first religious profession in the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin. He was then ordained as a Franciscan priest in 1958. He got the degree of Doctor in Divinity in 1962 from Fribourg University, Switzerland and in 1966, doctorate in Classical Literature from the Catholic University of Milan, Italy. Later from 1967, he taught History of Ancient Christianity at the Ca…