“When you look for me, you will always find me at the foot of the tabernacle.” Where he was buried after his murder.
Nazareno was born on March 3rd, 1940, in Rome to his father, Giacomo Lanciotti, a bricklayer, and his mother, Antonietta, a housewife. He had 2 other siblings.
As a child he entered the Minor Seminary in the city of Subiaco, Rome. When he entered the Major Seminary, he studied Philosophy and Theology and was ordained a priest at the age of 26. Following, he became Vicar of the Parish of S. Giovanni Chrysostom in the center of Rome, but he had another calling.
He became familiar with “Operation Mato Grosso”, a mission located in the Central-West region of Brazil, and in 1971, he requested and obtained a mission space from the local bishop, arriving the following year.
He was assigned to monitor the parish of Jauru, a difficult cause as it made up many scattered communities in a forest that was along the routes of drug traffickers on the border with Bolivia. He did not lose heart, and on the back of a mule, he arrived by night and found his church-hut demolished with the walls propped up. He was immediately consoled by a vision of the Virgin Mary who said, “I was waiting for you.” Through his hard work and devotion, the area of the Jauru became a model and center of diocesan activities.
in 1975 a large parish church was inaugurated. He then built a hospital with 50 beds, an assisted living facility for the elderly, a community school for 400 students, and a seminary.
At the age of 48, he took on the responsibility of providing for the Marian Priestly Movement of Brazil, traveling throughout the country, and founding faith-sharing groups of Mary.
His parish eventually grew to encompass more than 20,000 faithful becoming a true frontier of evangelization.
On February 11, 2001, in the dining room of the parish house, he was gathered with 8 others when 2 hooded men armed with revolvers broke in. They demanded money and access to the rectory safe. Father calmed them down, and offered himself, instead of the guests, as he noted the safe did not contain anything valuable and the combination had been lost long ago.
The armed men grew frustrated over time, had them sit at the table, and decided to torture them by practicing Russian roulette. One of the men approached the priest’s left ear and in a shrill whisper said, “I am the devil. I have come to kill you because you bother us too much.”
As the other robber went around the table clicking the gun at their temples, Father was shot. The assailants fled and Father was rushed to the hospital on site. He was then transported to Cuiaba by plane and then onto Sao Paulo after much suffering. He was paralyzed, received sacramental absolution, renewed his consecration to Our Lady, and forgave his murderers before his death on February 22.
The Cause of Beatification of Father Lanciotti is advancing.
For God’s Glory.
