On 13 August 2016, Ettore Bernabei, one of Italy’s best-known and best-loved communicators, passed to eternity at the age of 95. Bernabei was a media professional of great depth on both the human and Christian levels. A Catholic who was convinced of the strategic role the instruments of communication play in the integral formation of the human being, he always sought to place his competence in the world of the media at the service of God and his country, first as a journalist and then as a television manager and producer.
He served as Director General of RAI (Italy’s foremost TV broadcasting station) from 1961-1974, after which he undertook the arduous job of producing TV programs. In 1992, he founded the Lux Vide TV Production Company, which is famous for its 21-episode Bible series (drawn from both the Old and New Testaments), Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth, and Rossellini’s Acts of the Apostles. Among the many films on the lives of the saints produced by Lux Vide, the public remembers with special appreciation Chiara e Francesco, Maria Goretti, Don Bosco, Rita da Cascia, Padre Pio, San Filippo Neri, Madre Teresa, Paolo VI, Giovanni Paolo II, Fatima and Lourdes.
The Daughters of St. Paul of many different countries have taken advantage of the DVDs of these films as important means for diffusing Gospel values and the testimonies of men and women who have helped to give a more human and fraternal face to the societies in which they lived.
We want to thank God for the life of this tireless communicator and ask him to intercede for us so that, as Paulines, we will use the languages of faith and culture to respond to the great questions of contemporary humanity.
