Marco Roberto Bertoli, in Brazil since 1995 to carry out social activities, experiences the discomfort of street children victims of abandonment and violence and plans to create a center for their reception. In March 1998, the Government of the Minas Gerais region offered him the use of an old building in the municipality of Antonio Carlos. It is a building used as a dairy factory at the end of the 19th century, then transformed into an agricultural school and finally into a juvenile reformatory. In the meantime, the Padre Pellegrino Association was founded in Italy with the aim of collecting the necessary aid for the organization and management of the mission.

An ever-increasing number of children and adolescents, making the spaces of the former prison insufficient and the uncertainty about the renewal of the contract with the local administration, induce Roberto to seek a new, larger, and more functional location. In year 2000, a 320-hectare agricultural property was purchased on the outskirts of the city of Barbacena where, the following year, construction of the buildings for the activities of San Michele Arcangelo began.

On September 29, 2003, in the presence of Brazilian authorities, the new building of the Opera San Michele Arcangelo is inaugurated, initially accommodating a hundred children. The buildings, already well-structured and organized, consist of a refectory, the school building, and four houses for the residence of the internal boys. Subsequently, the available spaces increase with the addition of the gym, a second school building, the house for adolescents, and an area for vocational courses.

Launch of fundraising campaigns to expand the activities of the Opera del San Michele Arcangelo:

• Campaign for the reception of kindergarten children, for whom a specific school building was planned
• “Food to Rebirth” campaign for the purchase of cattle

Launch of the “Healthy as a fish” campaign to introduce the breeding of Tilapia fish in the lake located in the agricultural area of the mission.
Once completed, this project will offer the community, in addition to greater food autonomy, the opportunity to set up a local professional school on fish farming and thus offer a future job to young people who, now of age, leave the mission.

Commencement of the construction of the Church, based on the design of the medieval Church of Fontanella, a town not far from Sotto il Monte (BG). Maintenance and repair of existing structures and equipment. Replacement of the cow breeding with buffalo breeding, which produces higher quality and more marketable milk.

Start of a music education course with a violin school and choir.

Completion and furnishing of the gymnastics gym. Commencement of the “grandparent-grandchild” project aimed at reconstructing the historical bond between the two generations and transmitting experience and knowledge to the younger ones. Start of the food transformation project: a small food factory for processing fruits, vegetables, and legumes in collaboration with local small farmers. Entrustment of the school management to the Franciscan Sisters of St. Paul with an improvement in the academic level.
Completion of the works and consecration of the new Church.