Friar Leonard M. Testa, now residing in Kellyville, Australia, remembers meeting then Prince Charles, now King Charles III, and other notable visitors while serving in Assisi. He shared some of his photos with Franciscan Voice.
On April 8, 1986, Prince Charles visited the Shrine of St. Francis in Assisi. Friar Leonard Testa was one of the friars who escorted the prince on his tour of the Shrine. Friar Leonard remembers Prince Charles admiring St. Francis and saying that Francis and his way of life still speaks to our contemporaries. Prince Charles also admired the pre-Renaissance art and religious life.
On the World Day Prayer for Peace in Assisi, Russian nuclear physicist Andrei Sakharov visited the Shrine of St. Francis. Friar Leonard escorted him as an interpreter, along with Fr. Nicola Giandomenico, the Custodial Vicar.
Friar Leonard also had many opportunities to meet the Holy Father, Pope (St) John Paul II.
