Nephew of the lawyer Giuseppe Antonio Tovini, Moses Tovini sensed his priestly vocation during his studies in boarding school, on the occasion of the celebration of the tercentenary of the death of Saint Louis. At the end of the third year of high school, the seminarian Tovini is admitted to the tonsure and also receives the first two minor orders; on June 9, 1900, at the age of twenty-two Moses Tovini was consecrated a priest in the cathedral of Brescia. The next day he solemnly celebrates the first mass in Cividate Camuno. The bishop assigned him to continue his studies in Rome. In 1904, he concluded his studies, earning several degrees: mathematics, philosophy and licentiate in theology.
He is a professor in the seminary: his style was made up of punctuality at the timetables, serious preparation for each lesson, clarity and order in the exposition, discretion and goodness in questioning and judging the students, adherence of mind and heart to the truths he taught, absolute obedience to the directives of the Church, the Pope and the bishop. But his commitment was not limited to doctrine, he was above all a teacher of life. During the holidays he organized religious courses for teachers, catechetical weeks in various centres, as well as ministry commitments on holidays.
When Spanish fever breaks out, Tovini is at the bedside of every sick person, regardless of the danger. After the war he has a mission to accomplish: to help the clerics returning from the war to complete their theological and priestly training.
In 1921, he was appointed assistant to the diocesan council of Catholic Action and collaborated in the training of Catholic Action youth, hosting the festive courses at the Clergy House of the Oblate fathers. Tovini extends the holiday courses for Catholic Action propagandists to the diocese, printing a small guide for them, which is very valuable. In 1922, under his impetus, with the collaboration of Don Giuseppe Schena, the Movement of men of Catholic Action was launched in the diocese.
The history of your Association
it is made up of many “saints next door” – many! –,
and it is a story that must continue:
holiness is a heritage to be guarded and a vocation to be welcomed.