Camisasca Massimo

Bishop Massimo Camisasca was born in Milan on 3 November 1946.
He spent his childhood in Leggiuno (VA). In 1953, he moved to Milan with his parents. He attended the Liceo Berchet, where he met Don Luigi Giussani. In 1960, he joined the Gioventù Studentesca community. Between 1967 and 1972, he was appointed president, first at city level and then at diocesan level, of the Catholic Action youth group of the Diocese of Milan.
Between 1965 and 1970, he studied at the Faculty of Philosophy at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan. He graduated with a thesis on Yves Congar, supervised by Prof. Mons. Carlo Colombo. Between 1970 and 1974, he attended courses at the Department of Religious Studies at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan. From 1970 to 1978, he was also assistant to Prof. Don Giuseppe Cristaldi on the Chair of Philosophy of Religion, and taught in the same department.

In 1973, he entered the seminary of the Comunità del Paradiso in Bergamo. He was ordained a deacon on 10 April 1974 and a priest on 4 November 1975, the feast day of St Charles Borromeo.
During the 1975–1976 academic year, he was headmaster of the Collegio Sant’Alessandro in Bergamo. During those years, he was also responsible for the Communion and Liberation community in the same city. He taught philosophy in several secondary schools in Lombardy.
In 1978, he moved to Rome and, until 1991, was responsible for public relations between the ecclesial movement of Communion and Liberation (which received papal recognition on 11 February 1982) and the Holy See.
From 1982 to 1993, he hosted a radio programme for RAI for part of the year. In 1987, he obtained a Licentiate in Theology from the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family in Rome.

On 14 September 1985, together with five other priests, he signed the act of canonical establishment of the Priestly Fraternity of the Missionaries of St Charles Borromeo, of which he was appointed Superior General and Rector of the House of Formation. The Fraternity, founded as a Private Association of the Faithful, was recognised as an Association of Apostolic Life under Diocesan Law by Cardinal Ugo Poletti on 18 March 1989, and as a Society of Apostolic Life under Pontifical Law by John Paul II on 19 March 1999. In 1995, Camisasca was recognised as its Founder.

In 1990, he was a Lecturer at the John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage and the Family. From 1993 to 1996, he also served as Vice-Dean of the same Institute (for two years alongside Monsignor Carlo Caffarra, and for one year with Monsignor Angelo Scola). On 5 December 1990, he was also appointed Chaplain to His Holiness; on 14 October 1996, he was appointed Honorary Prelate to His Holiness. Between 1985 and 2012, as Superior of the Fraternity of St Charles, he travelled to many countries, accompanied more than a hundred young men to priestly ordination, and founded more than thirty missions in various parts of the world.
He took part in the 8th and 9th General Assemblies of the Synod of Bishops: in 1990 as Adiutor secretarii specialis; in 1994 as Auditor. From 2003 to 2008 he served as Consultor to the Congregation for the Clergy; from 2006 to 2011 as Consultor to the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

He held the office of Superior General of the Fraternity of St Charles without interruption from its foundation until 29 September 2012, the day on which Pope Benedict XVI made public his appointment as Bishop of Reggio Emilia–Guastalla.

In 2021, to mark the 75th birthday of Monsignor Camisasca, Marcianum Press published a comprehensive collection of writings in his honour: Dilexit Ecclesiam. Servitore della comunione.

He is the author of numerous articles and some seventy books, some of which have been translated into various languages. Among his published works:
Volti e incontri, Jaca Book 1996
Comunione e Liberazione. Le origini, San Paolo 2001
La sfida della paternità, San Paolo 2003
Comunione e Liberazione. La ripresa, San Paolo 2003
Il segreto condiviso, Ares 2004
Questa mia casa che Dio abita, San Paolo, 2004
Passione per l’uomo, San Paolo 2005
Comunione e Liberazione. Il riconoscimento, San Paolo 2006
Il vento di Dio, Piemme 2007
Una voce nella mia vita. L’uomo chiamato da Dio, Human Adventure Books, 2008
La luce e il silenzio, Rubettino 2008
Don Giussani. La sua esperienza dell’uomo e di Dio, San Paolo 2009
Padre. Ci saranno ancora sacerdoti nel futuro della Chiesa?, San Paolo 2010 (2017)
La casa, la terra, gli amici. La Chiesa nel terzo millennio, San Paolo 2011
Amare ancora. Genitori e figli nel mondo di oggi e di domani, Il Messaggero 2011
Dentro le cose, verso il mistero. La mia vita come un albero, Rizzoli 2012
Benvenuto a casa. Le ragioni dell’accoglienza, San Paolo 2013
L’isola rossa. Diario di un viaggio in Madagascar, Edizioni San Lorenzo 2015
Il nostro volto. La vita della Fraternità San Carlo, San Paolo 2016
La straniera. Meditazioni sulla Chiesa, San Paolo 2017
Le dieci parole di Tullio. I 10 comandamenti raccontati da un bambino, Mondadori – Electa Junior 2017
L’avventura di Gioventù Studentesca, Mondadori – Electa 2018
Perché mi cercate? Incontri con Gesù nel Vangelo, San Paolo 2018
Oltre la paura. Lettere sul nostro presente inquieto, Lindau 2018
Tullio un anno dopo. 10 parabole raccontate da un ragazzo, Mondadori – Electa Junior 2019
Abita la terra e vivi con fede. Costruire il futuro attraverso le sfide del nostro tempo, Piemme 2020
Il giorno senza tramonto. Liturgia e misteri della vita di Gesù, San Paolo 2020
Accendete l’eternità senza spegnere la vita, Cantagalli 2021