Father RUGGIERO “KNIGHT”

This is "a Church" recognition for Catholic men and women, who distinguish themselves by their exemplary lives and their availability to defend and promote the Catholic faith in Holy Land, and places where Jesus lived.

Father Ruggiero was born on October 5, 1962 in Barletta, province of Bari, in Italy; he was the third of four children. After completing his studies at the University of Rome, he was ordained Priest on September 23, 1989. Immediately after his ordination, F. Ruggiero fulfilled his pastoral ministry in Toronto, Ontario, in Valencia, Venezuela, and mainly in Montreal, as a Vice parish priest in Pompeí Parish. Since September 1998, he serves as a parish priest at the Madre dei Cristiani Church in LaSalle.

And it is mainly in LaSalle that Father Ruggiero has lived his most beautiful and edifying experiences as a priest. In fact, newly arrived in September 1998, he took care of the construction of the new Church. Under his direction, and with the generous and constant collaboration of many volunteers, he carried out the New Church project execution, which saw the light in the year 2000. Later on, under his leadership and impulse, in only five years the accumulated debt with the diocese was paid, and the interior decoration of the church was provided and paid, particularly thanks to the pictorial and artistic work of Francisco Santoro, an Italian artist living in Venezuela. Later on, the bell tower was added (on Lefebvre street), to complete the original design of the Church. One of the latest projects our father is personally involved in as a guide, is the welcoming of the Latin American community of LaSalle-Verdun-Lachine and Dollard-des-Ormeaux localities to our church. Until now, the response has been very positive.

For this, we are very proud of our priest, who is a father, a son, a brother and a friend to all of us. We are sure that his sacerdotal life and his pastoral and spiritual fervour towards all, particularly towards the immigrants (especially of Italian origin), will continue to bear fruit, now among us, and where God, by the means of his Scalabrinian superiors, sends him in the future. Long life and many congratulations, Father Ruggiero, Knight !