Fr. Gabriele Amorth (1925-2016) was 17 years old when he asked the Lord for the first time, "What do you want from me?" We know him as an exorcist now, but he only took on this assignment when he was already a mature priest.
Fr. Amorth’s vocation first took shape when he was a young man fascinated by the Passionists and the charism of Fr. James Alberione, founder of the Society of St. Paul, the Daughters of St. Paul, and the other communities in the Pauline family. A trip to Rome changed his life. This is told in the book Don Amorth -- La biografia ufficiale (Fr. Amorth -- The Official Biography) by Domenico Agasso.
In the summer of 1942, in the middle of World War II, before starting his last year of high school, Amorth went to Rome with his parish priest to get to know the order of the Passionists ("I liked the Passionists," he explained).
For some time he had already had the idea of entering a congregation, but without any clear preference, as he did not yet have any direct knowledge of them.
"I felt inclined for community life, for life in some religious order," he told journalist Paolo Rodari.
That trip to Rome changed the course of his life through a decisive encounter. It happened that the Passionists had no place to offer hospitality to Amorth and his parish priest, who were looking for a bed for the night. They advised them to knock on the doors of another congregation, Fr. Alberione's Paulines.
There were no rooms available there either, but they let them sleep on the two beds in the infirmary. Thus, Gabriele Amorth met Fr. Giacomo Alberione, a diminutive Piedmontese priest who founded the Society of St. Paul and entrusted it with the task of announcing the Gospel using modern means of communication. It was this encounter that decided the future of the young candidate for the priesthood.
Amorth told Fr. Alberione about his desire to become a priest. This is how he recounted his encounter with the apostle of the press to Elisabetta Fezzi in her book La mia battaglia con Dio contro Satana (My Battle with God Against Satan):
He adds other details about Fr. Alberione in Saverio Gaeta's book L'eredità segreta di don Amorth (The Secret Inheritance of Fr. Amorth):
Fr. Alberione was beatified on April 27, 2003 by Pope John Paul II, and members of the various communities that make up the Pauline Family continue to spread the Good News in countries around the world. Fr. Gabriele Amorth, through his ministry as an exorcist (and his sometimes controversial statements), brought to the limelight the reality of the devil and demonic influence in the world.