Born at Moïta (Corsica), February 24, 1816.
Taking of the habit at Marseilles, November 26, 1836.
Oblation at Marseilles, November 27, 1837 (no. 71)
Died at Aix, December 27, 1838.
Ferdinand Louis Camille Morandini was born at Moïta, diocese of Ajaccio, February 24, 1816, the son of Baron Antoine François Morandini and Marie Angèle. During his childhood, he manifested a vivacious personality and a violent temper. In the course of the year 1835-1836, he broke himself off this habit at the major seminary of Ajaccio under the direction of the Oblates. He received the tonsure on June 24, 1836 and, November 26 of that same year, he entered the Oblate novitiate in Marseilles with Father Casimir Aubert as his novice master. He made his oblation November 27, 1837 and then went to the major seminary in Marseilles where the Oblate scholastic brothers were studying at the time. After the feast of Easter, 1838, too exhausted to continue taking classes, he was sent to take some rest at Aix. The illness did not let up and Bishop de Mazenod sent him on to Notre-Dame du Laus with a short message for Father Mille, the superior: “I am sending you one of our most accomplished Oblates. He is an angel of virtue whom God has endowed with many talents. Unfortunately, his health has taken a turn for the worse due to too much concentration on supernatural things. We believe that the air at Notre-Dame du Laus will help him. I entrust him to you as I would a precious treasure. Take care of him and give him all the means he needs to recover the health which he will use so well in the future.”
The trip exacerbated his illness. While traveling through Gap, Brother Monandini vomited blood. The Founder then asked all of the Oblate communities in the Congregation to pray for him. As a result of an improvement in health in September, they brought the patient back to Aix. The illness became more serious and Brother Morandini died December 27, 1838. In 1837 and especially in 1838, Bishop de Mazenod often mentioned Brother Morandini in his letters and his Diary. On December 28, he wrote: “A letter from Father Courtès which informed me of the saintly death of Brother Morandini, gone to a better life yesterday about four o’clock in the afternoon. This is a palpable loss for the Congregation which was expecting great things from this excellent individual who along with many talents possessed outstanding virtues, with a most kindly character and a family name which because of the respect it inspired smoothed the way for the ministry he would have probably exercised in Corsica, his native land. God judged otherwise; may his holy will be done. Nevertheless, may it be permitted for us while submitting ourselves to the severity of his decrees, to mourn so holy and so beloved a son. There he is united in the bosom of God with the eight others who went before him into glory. They know my needs. I call upon them so that they can obtain from the sovereign Master the strength to carry out all the good that they were called to accomplish on this earth and all the virtues they constantly practised so that we too may be able to obtain as holy a death as theirs and as fine a reward…”
The remains of Brother Morandini are in the Oblate cemetery in Aix where he was laid to rest in April 1845.
Yvon Beaudoin, o.m.i.
