Aid Danny Mellino in his Journey to the Priesthood

Thank you for visiting my fundraiser! My name is Danny Mellino, I am 24 and live in Olivet, Michigan. I attended Christendom college for two years and was planning to return for my junior and senior year. I worked on a commercial fishing vessel in Kodiak, Alaska, hoping to make enough to pay off my student debt with Sallie Mae or to significantly decrease it. While there, I decided to respond to the call I heard from God and enter Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary with the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter. The Fraternity is a society of apostolic life whose goal is the sanctification of its priests through the Sacred and Traditional Liturgy, especially the celebration of the Mass. However, due to a poor season, I did not make enough money to pay off my student debt nor to decrease it, leaving me with approximately $24,264 to pay off. I applied to Mater Ecclesiae whose goal is to aid seminarians and religious who have student debt, but without success.


Seminary life goes by quickly, the First Year was very difficult. It is called the “Year of Spirituality” for a reason – you grow closer to God than you could have imagined. The formation we receive as Seminarians is excellent, I would not trade it for any other. The quality of priest which the FSSP produces is outstanding, God is truly at work at Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary. At the end of First Year, the General Council decides who will continue onto 2nd Year (Philosophy I) and who will receive First Clerical Tonsure. I was approved along with seven others in my class to receive tonsure, out of the fifteen we started with back in September. On October 19, 2019, we began wearing the cassock and received First Clerical Tonsure. It is both very exciting and immensely humbling. “Magnificat anima mea Dominum. My soul doth magnify the Lord.” (Luke 1:46) 



With regards to my debt, I must pay off the loans before I can enter theological studies in the fall of 2021 or I will not be able to continue in the seminary. Payments on my college loans begin November, 2020. I would like to ask you to please keep me in your prayers as I follow God’s call in my life, and I also ask that you would please prayerfully consider donating to my campaign, that I may continue to pursue the priesthood, if it is God's will. You are in my prayers, and I thank you so much for all you do!

God Bless!