Abbot Donato Ogliari

Abbot Donato Ogliari, O.S.B., Abbot of San Paolo fuori le Mura, was born on December 10, 1956, in Erba, in the province of Como and the Archdiocese of Milano. He entered the Consolata Missionaries as a boy and followed their course of formation to the priesthood. After classical secondary school he completed two years of philosophy at Turin and three years of theology in London, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in theology and a master of arts in religious studies. He made his first profession as a member of the Consolata Missionaries at Turin on September 3, 1978, and was ordained a priest on July 3, 1982. After a brief period in formation work he continued his studies at the Katholieke Universiteit of Leuven, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in philosophy and a licentiate and doctorate in sacred theology. In 1988 he asked to enter the abbey of Praglia to begin monastic life, and was then assigned to the abbey of Madonna della Scala at Noci, which he entered in 1989 and where he made his solemn vows in 1992. There he served as editorial director of the review La Scala from 1990, master of novices (1993-1999) and prior administrator (2004-2006). In 2006 he was elected abbot of that community, receiving the abbatial blessing on October 7, 2006. Within the Italian province of the Subiaco Benedictine Congregation he served as councillor (2003-2012) and president of the commission for formation (2003-2008). From 2008 he was vice-president of the Italian Monastic Conference, and from 2012 visitor of the Italian monasteries of the Subiaco-Cassinese Benedictine Congregation. He is the author of several books and numerous articles, chiefly theological and spiritual. On October 23, 2014, he was appointed Abbot of Montecassino, and he was installed on November 22, 2014. On June 8, 2022, he was appointed Abbot of San Paolo fuori le Mura and Apostolic Administrator of Montecassino, ceasing to hold both the abbacy of Montecassino and that administratorship on March 16, 2023.