Br Dario Pili, OFM, member of the Seraphic Province of the Friars Minor of Umbria and Sardinia, Italy, returned to the House of the Father at the age of 93, 75 years of religious profession and 68 years of priesthood. The Order remembers him as General Delegate pro Monialibus (for nuns), Provincial, General Visitator and editor of the periodical "Fraternitas".
Br Dario Pili (born Liberato) was born in Aritzo on 30.11.1929. On 20 October 1946, he received the habit of St Francis at the friary of St Anthony in Quartu Sant'Elena (Cagliari), where he made his novitiate and made his First Profession on 26 October 1947. On 8 December 1950, he made his solemn profession in the friary of St. Mauro in Cagliari. He was ordained a priest on 8 September 1954 in the crypt of Cagliari Cathedral.
From 1954 to 1960, he was in Sassari as Master at the Seraphic College of St. Peter in Silki and editor of the magazine "Mater Gratiarum". From 1961 he was in Rome at the OFS National Centre as editor of the magazine "Fiamma Nova"; from 1963 to 1966, he was also OFS Vice National Assistant. At the same time, he obtained a Licentiate in Theology at the Pontifical Urbanian University in Rome. From 1966 to 1968, still in Rome, he was chaplain at the Morelli Clinic and consultant to the General Chapters of the Elizabethan Sisters of Padua.
In 1968 the Minister General called him to serve in the General Curia as editor of "Fraternitas", and in this role, he participated in the Special General Chapter in Medellin in 1971.
From 1972 to 1981, he was Minister Provincial of the Friars Minor of Sardinia. He was responsible for the structural restoration of the friary complex in the Basilica of Fonni.
At the end of his term of office, he was parish priest in Fonni from 1981-1985, where he was also Guardian in 1984-1985. He was Visitator General three times: in Benevento (1982), in Tuscany (1985) and in Naples (2000).
From 1985-1991 he was in Rome as General Delegate pro Monialibus, and from 1991 to 1995, he served in the Holy Land, where he was elected Discrete and was editor of the Italian edition of the Custody's magazine.
He then returned definitively to Sardinia, first to S. Antonio Abate in Sassari, where he was guardian, then to Bonorva and S. Pietro in Silki in Sassari. In 2011 he returned to Fonni until 2014. Then he went as confessor to the Sanctuary of S. Salvatore da Horta in Cagliari until 2017, when he was transferred to the Infirmary of Quartu S. Elena.
He died of pneumonia at the SS. Trinità Hospital of Is Mirrionis (Cagliari) on 2 June 2023 and rests in the cemetery of his native town of Aritzo (NU).
We entrust him to the Lord, praying for his soul to be received into the eternal peace of good and faithful servants.
