Italy's 'most handsome man' abandons modeling career to pursue priesthood
A young man who was dubbed "the most handsome man in Italy" at age 17, recently announced he has decided to give up the glamor of his modeling career to pursue God by entering seminary.
Edoardo Santini said in a video posted to Instagram on Nov. 23 that as he turned 21, he has found himself "on the path towards becoming a priest, God willing," as noted by the Spanish-speaking Catholic outlet ACI Prensa.
Santini, a native of Tuscany who also studied dancing and acting, said he has decided to "give up modeling work, acting and dance, but I won't abandon all my passions, I'll just live them differently, offering them up to God."
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During a national pageant put on by the fashion group ABE in 2019, Santini was awarded "Il Bello d'Italia," an accolade distinguishing him as the most handsome man in his country.
Santini noted in his Instagram video that he had wrestled with questions about the Catholic Church since he was young, but that he has met people in recent years who have shown him "what it means to 'be Church,'" which he said has given him "the strength to investigate this question that I've taken with me from childhood, but various fears stopped me from studying it at a deeper level."
"Last year, I took the first step," he continued, explaining how he went to live with two priests in what he described as the "best experience of my life."
He noted that living with the priests helped him to "find in everyday life the answer that I hoped for, which has come to me from above."
“At the end of the year, it was natural for me to ask the bishop to enter the preparatory course, the year preceding life in the seminary," he continued. "And here I am, studying theology and serving in two parishes of the Diocese of Florence."
Santini also cited his grandmother's desire that he pursue something deeper in life, and reflected on how he became "tired of satisfying the will of others and posting photos where I am apparently secure and happy."
Santini concluded by noting while he does not know if he will become a priest, he is "here to discover."
"But I have taken the step that terrorized me, that stopped me finally being myself," he said. "I am ready to say I made a mistake. I am certain I won't regret it, because now I can shout: 'I am Edoardo, I am 21, and I am happy.'"
Santini, who has more than 27,000 Instagram followers, describes himself on his page as "a Christian, priest wannabe," and cites 2 Samuel 14, which notes that no one in Israel was more handsome than David's son Absalom.
The Catholic Church in Italy has been hemorrhaging clerical recruits, having trained only 2,103 new priests in 2019 compared to 6,337 in 1970, according to The Times of London.
