“I joined the Institute as an adult, and this year I celebrated my 25th anniversary of priestly ordination. I had a missionary experience in Africa with a diocesan priest, and from that experience my vocation was born. I was searching for my own identity, and there the idea of becoming part of this Institute took shape,” explains Father Giuseppe Galeone, IMC, in this video recorded in Rome in May 2025 during a continuing formation course, an occasion on which he shared his life story as part of his Jubilee of consecrated life.
By Jaime C. Patias *
Born in San Vito dei Normanni, in the province of Brindisi (Italy), on December 13, 1963, son of Donato and Grazia Santoro, before becoming a missionary Giuseppe Galeone was a cook and had to resume his studies at the seminary in Bedizzole. He then studied philosophy in Turin and completed his novitiate in Vittorio Veneto (from August 1994 to August 1995). He made his first religious profession on August 19, 1995, in Fatima, Portugal.
He continued his theological studies at the Bravetta seminary in Rome, where he obtained a licentiate in dogmatic theology. He made his perpetual profession on June 26, 1999, and was ordained a deacon on December 11, 1999, in Rome. His priestly ordination took place on October 7, 2000, in his hometown of San Vito dei Normanni, celebrated by Monsignor Francesco Gioia.
Father Giuseppe Galeone wished to depart for mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, but due to a health problem he had to change his plans and remained in Italy, where he has carried out various services during these 25 years of priesthood. He currently works at the Missionary Center of Martina Franca.
“I had to rethink myself as the missionary who does not leave. That’s why my fellow missionaries make fun of me. But one must also be a missionary where one is. It is not so much a matter of leaving as of being a missionary at heart, as our Founder used to say: ‘You must be missionaries in your head, on your lips, and in your heart.’”
“What truly matters in life is to give it meaning. To choose the path to follow and to walk it with the Lord’s help, despite the difficulties,” says Father Galeone.
* Father Jaime C. Patias, IMC, Communications Office
