Divine Will – 2023

Born in Newark, NY, Fr. Tom Celso entered St. Bernard Seminary in 1974 and was introduced to the Divine Will during Clinical Pastoral Study in 1976.  Ordained to the Holy Priesthood in 1979, he faithfully served parishes throughout upstate New York. In 1994, Fr Celso was given permission to work with the Secretariat of the Cause in Italy for the promotion of the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta. He was present for the opening of the Cause of Luisa in 1994. In 1996, he was asked to help to copy the original writings of Luisa in the Secret Archives of the Vatican, under the Direction of then-Cardinal Ratzinger. He also attended the closing of the Cause of Luisa Piccarreta in 2005, in which the Diocese of Trani asked the Vatican for approval to have Luisa Canonized.

Fr. Celso gives Retreats and days of Recollection throughout the US and Europe focusing on the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta and the Divine Will.  He became a Third Order Benedictine Oblate of the Divine Will in 2016.  Now a retired senior priest, he helps out weekly at local schools in East Rochester, NY, offering Holy Mass and Confession for faculty and students. 

Mother Superior and foundress of the Benedictine Daughters of Divine Will, Mother Gabrielle began her religious life as a Poor Clare of Perpetual Adoration in the US. For thirty-three years she worked under the guidance of the late Abbess Mother Angelica, foundress of EWTN. During that time she fell in love with the Divine Will writing of the Servant of God, Luisa Piccarreta from a book received from her Grandmother.

In 2009, Mother Gabrielle received a sabbatical during which time she made a retreat at a Benedictine monastery with her friend and spiritual director, Fr. Jacques Daley, OSB.  While on retreat, they felt God placed a call on their hearts to found a new monastic community in Italy dedicated to Eucharistic Adoration and Luisa Piccarreta’s writings on how to live in God’s Most Holy and Divine Will.

In 2011, this became a reality when Msgr. Luigi Negri accepted the Benedictine Daughters of Divine Will in the Diocese of San Marino-Montefeltro. The Benedictine Monks followed later under Bishop Andrea Turzaai. In 2016, the family was completed when their bishop gave permission to found the Third Order of Benedictine Oblates of Divine Will.

Father James Blount is a priest of the Society of Our Lady of the Trinity, Georgia Mission. A very gifted spiritual director and confessor, FatherJim is a bold, charismatic preacher endowed and empowered with the gifts of the Holy Spirit. He speaks of living a life in relationship with each of the Persons of the Holy Trinity: The Father, The Son and the Holy Spirit. His humble boldness and untiring drive to minister to the lost and ill are particularly noteworthy.

Dedicated to his healing and deliverance ministry, Father travels preaching and proclaiming the Gospel whenever and wherever he can, in the United States and abroad.