Regina Coeli

Father Antonino Maugeri was born in Randazzo on 4 September 1918, the first of nine children. The very religious family favored his inclination and that of his brother Rosario, to devote himself to religious and spiritual life.
At the age of thirteen he entered the Episcopal Seminary of Acireale and in 1941 he was ordained a priest.
In 1962 he became Rector of the Basilica of Sts. Peter and Paul of Acireale where he remained for almost 40 years, esteemed and loved by the Aces not only for the priestly mission, but above all for intelligence and culture.
A music lover, he obtained the choral singing and organ diploma at the Diocesan School of Sacred Music in Como.
Pianist, organist, composer wins several sacred music competitions.
Father Antonino Maugeri was a solar priest full of hard-working initiatives in his ministry and teaching.
Alongside this pastoral activity his passion for music also emerges.
It was said that "The musical ladder was for him capable of uniting the earth and the sky, to favor a more intimate contact between the human and the divine".
According to all those who knew him he was "witty, very pleasant in his speech, where he could also put philosophy, theology, poetry, literature, music (" his "!) Quotations in Latin and lines in Sicilian.
He was President of the FUCI of Acireale.
In 1990, "La Corale Polifonica don Antonino Maugeri" was established and dedicated to him, making his music known everywhere.
In 2000 he resigned as Rector of the Basilica in the hands of the Archbishop.
He died on February 22, 2008 at the age of ninety in the arms of his brother who, he says, ended his music at the last minute.