In the Basilica of Santi Medici on Sunday 15 January at 18:30 mons. Giuseppe Satriano archbishop of Bari-Bitonto will preside over the Eucharistic liturgy at the entrance of the new ministry of parish-rector of don Gaetano Coviello (he is the fifth parish-rector in the history of the Basilica), while the former parish-rector Msgr. Vito Piccinonna leaves for election as bishop of Rieti. The priests of the co-cathedral chapter, the parish priests of the churches of Bitonto and Bari will concelebrate in the solemn canonical liturgy, the family, the faithful of the communities of Saints Doctors and the Good Shepherd will participate with joyful sentiments with friends of the many ecclesial and pastoral realities. Don Gaetano Coviello born in Bitonto on February 25, 1957, baptized in the church of San Leucio on April 14, 1957, he obtained his high school diploma at the Galileo Galilei Scientific High School in Bitonto, on July 17, 1975 he completed his theological studies at the Puglia Regional Seminary “Pio XI” of Molfetta, obtaining a degree in theology, with a bishop’s bull dated November 1, 1975, Msgr. Aurelio Marena appointed him to the Cathedral Chapter, on August 7, 1977 he was admitted to the clergy of the diocese of Ruvo-Bitonto in the church of San Leucio, receiving the instituted ministries of lector (April 30, 1978) and acolyte (December 8, 1978). From Msgr. Aldo Garzia was ordained a deacon on 21 June 1980 and by the archbishop mons. Salvatore Isgrò apostolic administrator of the diocese of Bitonto on 11 April 1981 he was ordained a priest in the Cathedral of Bitonto, who appointed him deputy director of the interdiocesan seminary. With episcopal decree of 19 July 1986 for the erection of the new parish of SS. Sacramento in Bitonto there was the canonical entry of the first parish priest who was entrusted to Don Gaetano Coviello by Msgr. Mariano Andrea Magrassi archbishop of Bari-Bitonto (remained parish priest until 2000), with the imprimatur of the archbishop on 5 May 1996 welcomed for the first time in the church of SS. Sacramento the effigy of the Madonna of Loreto which was venerated in the ancient church of San Pietro in Vincoli the parish priest at the time was don Vincenzo Mundo, he taught Religion in state schools. In the archiepiscopal curia of Bari the archbishop mons. Francesco Cacucci entrusted him with the position of director of the diocesan administrative office, in 2005 he received a prestigious position with the appointment of president of the diocesan Eucharistic committee on the occasion of the XXIV National Eucharistic Congress, he meticulously supervised the organizational apparatus of the visit of Pope Benedict XVI in Bari which took place on 28 May 2005 in presiding over the Holy Mass and the recitation of the Angelus broadcast live on television in the presence of authorities, cardinals, bishops, priests, deacons, religious and 300,000 people, leaving an indelible historical memory. In September 2010 he was appointed parish priest of the church of Sant’Alberto in Bari-Palese, then with an archiepiscopal decree of 18 October 2015 the archbishop Cacucci gave him the appointment of prior parish priest of the church of the Good Shepherd in Bari, he is a councilor of the San Nicholas and Santi Medici di Bari. With an archiepiscopal decree of 15 January 2023, Msgr. Giuseppe Satriano archbishop of Bari-Bitonto will give him the new mandate of parish rector of the Basilica of Santi Medici di Bitonto, certainly Don Gaetano Coviello will dive with enthusiasm and dedication into this new ministerial and pastoral service, also welcoming the very numerous Catholic and Orthodox pilgrims . A note is reported by the theologian prof. Giuseppe Cannito president emeritus of the Archconfraternity of the Immaculate Conception Patroness of Bitonto, who expresses heartfelt congratulations and best wishes: “Don Gaetano Coviello is a priest endowed with a farsighted evangelical charism towards the church, he is rich in spirituality, with a slight smile he always greets everyone with grace, his acts always dictated by the marked human, moral, social and religious sensitivity, generating feelings of affection and esteem in the hearts of the faithful”.