Silvio Mantelli (born 22 May 1944) is an Italian Salesian

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

priest, whose principal ministry is that of a Gospel Magician. His stage name is "Mago Sales". He was born in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. Th ...

. He is currently the Director o
Fondazione Mago Sales
an organization dedicated to Gospel Magic. He travels throughout Europe and the Third World to perform magic for children.Maghi salesiani
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Gospel Magic

He is the world's principal exponent of Gospel Magic, that is, the use of magic for cathetical purposes. Silvio Mantelli presented a magic wand to the

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in 2002 and petitioned the Pope to proclaim St. Don Bosco the Patron of Stage

Magicians Magician or The Magician may refer to: Performers * A practitioner of magic (supernatural) * A practitioner of magic (illusion) * Magician (fantasy), a character in a fictional fantasy context Entertainment Books * ''The Magician'', an 18th-ce ...

to which the Pope responded "You'll need a lot of magic wands to change our world; but let's make a start with this one!" He is a member of the

Society of American Magicians The Society of American Magicians (S.A.M.) is the oldest fraternal magic organization in the world. Its purpose is "to advance, elevate, and preserve magic as a performing art, to promote harmonious fellowship throughout the world of magic, and ...

, the Catholic Magicians' Guild and London's famed

Magic Circle A magic circle is a circle of space marked out by practitioners of some branches of ritual magic, which they generally believe will contain energy and form a sacred space, or will provide them a form of magical protection, or both. It may be mark ...

Magicians' Mass

Don Silvio invites magicians and other performers from around the world to attend a special Magician's

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

on the St. Don Bosco's feastday (January 31), held in Colle Don Bosco. They are invited to entertain the congregation.

A Peaceful Christmas

Mantelli also runs a "magic tricks for guns" program entitled ''A Peaceful Christmas'', where any child who turns in a toy gun will receive a magic kit in return. The idea has spread to many Italian cities involving more than 22,000 children.Salesian News Around the World

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mantelli, Silvio 1944 births Living people Entertainers from Turin Italian magicians Salesians of Don Bosco 20th-century Italian Roman Catholic priests Clergy from Turin