Thirteen-year-old Fernando Bejarano Calvo \u2014 the second of seven children \u2014 felt the desire to become a priest in preschool. \u201cHe started talking about the seminary when he was 6,\u201d recalled his mother, Nerea Calvo.<\/p>\n
At first, she thought it was just a passing childhood whim. \u201cWe thought he was saying it somewhat unconsciously,\u201d she explained in a phone conversation with ACI Prensa, the Spanish-language sister service of EWTN News. However, that early vocational fervor remained burning in his heart. In fifth grade, at the age of 9, he entered the minor seminary in Toledo, Spain.<\/p>\n \u201cWe neither pushed him nor held him back,\u201d explained his father, also named Fernando. \u201cIt\u2019s not our decision, it\u2019s his,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n This seminary isn\u2019t very different from other schools, except that it operates as a boarding school and places great importance on spiritual life. Prayer marks the hours of the day, during which academic formation is also very important.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have their teachers, their school hours, and when school is over they have their time for prayer and various activities,\u201d Nerea explained.<\/p>\n Fernando returns home one weekend a month and receives visits from his family every Sunday. \u201cWe talk to him every day. Even though they live at the seminary, obviously it\u2019s not like the family suddenly disappears,\u201d his father emphasized.<\/p>\n In any case, his mother doesn\u2019t deny that the physical separation has an emotional cost: \u201cIt\u2019s a kind of heartbreak, so to speak, that is both beautiful and difficult, but you share it with other families.\u201d<\/p>\n At the seminary \u2014 which has just celebrated its 100th anniversary \u2014 they have found a support network among parents and formators. Nerea experiences it as a gift: \u201cYou don\u2019t lose your son, you gain 40 more, and 40 more families.\u201d<\/p>\n This family accompanied their son Fernando and 46 other young men from the minor seminary in Toledo to an audience with Pope Leo XIV at the Apostolic Palace on Feb. 28 \u2014 along with other families whose sons have also experienced an early vocation.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had been waiting for this moment for many months. We wanted to receive what the Holy Father had in store for the seminarians and also for the families who accompany them,\u201d the boy\u2019s father explained.<\/p>\n For the young men of St. Thomas Villanova Minor Seminary in Toledo, this pilgrimage was especially significant, as it coincided with the centenary celebration of the diocesan institution, whose patron saint, an Augustinian friar, holds a very special place in the heart of Pope Leo XIV.<\/p>\n At the end of the meeting, the pope greeted the family and held the youngest of the siblings, whom they had named Leo (Le\u00f3n in Spanish) after the pope. Nerea\u2019s husband, Fernando \u2014 to whom she has been married for 17 years \u2014 already had the name in mind. \u201cI already had the name,\u201d he said. \u201cI hadn\u2019t thought about it like some strategy. It was simply clear to me.\u201d<\/p>\n The boy was born after a difficult pregnancy, which his mother offered for the Church, vocations, and the pontificate of the new pope.<\/p>\n \u201cI was vomiting from Day 1 until the very last day. It was very difficult. I practically didn\u2019t leave the house except to go to Mass. Very confined, very limited,\u201d Nerea recounted.<\/p>\n The pope thanked them \u201cfor praying for the Church\u201d and blessed the little boy in an unexpected gift that extended to their entire family. <\/p>\n Bishops, formators, seminarians, and family members from other Spanish seminaries \u2014 Alcal\u00e1 de Henares and the Interdiocesan Seminary of Catalonia and Cartagena \u2014 participated in the audience.<\/p>\n Among them was the rector of the Conciliar Seminary of the Immaculate Conception and the Holy Children of the Diocese of Alcal\u00e1 de Henares, Father Luis Eduardo Morona Alguacil, who shared with ACI Prensa that the meeting was \u201can experience of catholicity\u201d and \u201ca moment of great inner joy.\u201d<\/p>\n Currently, the diocesan seminary he directs has seven seminarians, representing a diversity of ages and backgrounds. \u201cThere\u2019s a bit of everything; there are young men, and then most are between 25 and 35 years old. Almost all of them have already had professional experience and university studies.\u201d He indicated that all of them maintain a close connection with the Diocese of Alcal\u00e1 de Henares, either by coming from its parishes or by having been mentored by diocesan priests.<\/p>\n The trip to Rome had been long awaited. According to the rector, the audience had already been requested and granted during Pope Francis\u2019 pontificate, but it could not take place due to the worsening of his illness. \u201cIt was at that time that he was already hospitalized and with a fairly advanced illness, and he was unable to receive us,\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n A year later, the meeting with Leo XIV finally took place. \u201cIt was an experience, as always when one goes to Rome, to be with the pope, an experience of catholicity, of savoring and experiencing the mystery of the Church and of being close to the successor of Peter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Morona also highlighted the ecclesial communion dimension of the meeting, given the presence of several Spanish seminaries.<\/p>\nAn unexpected gift during the papal audience<\/h2>\n
\u2018A much-desired experience\u2019<\/h2>\n
\u2018Deeply moved\u2019<\/h2>\n