INSTRUCTION III
VOCATIONS: CROSS AND FATHERHOOD
The understanding of the cross
Someone said: We die because we are born; Jesus Christ was born to die. The religious has a twofold mission in common with all human beings which is to renounce oneself and to follow Jesus Christ. But it is more typical and complete in the religious. Saint Paul, reflecting on the obstinacy of his fellow countrymen, wrote: Tristitia mihi magna est et continuus dolor cordi meo: optabam enim ego ipse anathema esse a Christo pro fratribus meis.1 Mortify ourselves for the salvation of our brethren. A quite simple and suitable mortification during the Exercises is silence; complete silence; silence in view of speaking with God. And also punctuality. Every sacrifice, even the least, will be rewarded with some grace. Let us trust God to give us understanding and love of the cross as well - a knowledge and practice of which is always necessary for the apostle. He has specifically to make his own the text of Saint Paul: Adimpleo ea quae desunt passionum Christi in corpore meo, pro corpore eius, quod est Ecclesia.2 I make up for what is lacking in the Passion of Christ, for his mystical body, that is, the Church. What can be lacking in the Passion of Christ? Is perhaps the Redemption insufficient? Of course not; indeed, in
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se, it is more than sufficient, it is superabundant. What is lacking is its application; and its application is everything for us, for all of the two billion nine hundred thousand people in the world. May this Redemption reach everyone! Faced with this problem everything else is secondary. What matters is to save ourselves and to save others!
Prayer and humility
A further thought. The advice often given in retreat houses is that when priests are serving each other's Mass they should mutually correct each other about defects that come to light in the celebration. That should be easy enough for us. Moreover, see that the Breviary is recited, digne, attente ac devote.3 A retreat master who had given hundreds of retreats to the clergy, said that so many errors are committed in the recitation of the Breviary! He insisted that it be recited together, because each one can then notice the mistakes. Since our breviaries have not the same translation, and the Brothers, instead, recite the Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary, communal recitation is out of the question. But in the peace and quiet of these holy days, each one will be able to recite everything slowly, and improve this great prayer. We are persons consecrated and appointed to represent the needs of the Church and its members; we join in union with the heavenly choir which proclaims: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord; the heavens and the earth are full of his glory, work of his might and his love.
When I went to see the Pope a few days ago, he welcomed me with such paternal affection that I felt moved to say: Your
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Holiness, I had not yet come, having to give way to the seniors; we are the least in the Church of God. Continue to be the least! he answered. That way you will fill the world with your word.
How right and true, to stay in our place: Non plus sapere quam oportet sapere, sed sapere ad sobrietatem;4 not to think of ourselves more highly than what we are. Our glory is to be Christians, Catholics, Paulines; but let us always hold on to the last place: Ego sum minimus apostolorum.5
God is great. We are lowly offspring of his wisdom and mercy: Misericordia Domini quia non sumus consumpti.6 To him alone belong all honor and glory; justice, truth and order demand it be so. Therefore ut sint minores7 should also be our thinking. Each one of us can and must believe himself the least if he wants to be holy and effective in the apostolate. But no stupid humility! The teacher cannot sit at the desk and have the pupil give the lesson. Let it be the humility the Teacher shows: Learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart [Mt 11:29]. Unless you turn and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven [Mt 18:3].
Admission to the Congregation
Articles 17 to 29 of the Constitutions concern admission to the Congregation.
Art. 17. Any Catholic capable of fulfilling the obligations and of carrying out the works of the Society, who is motivated by a
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right intention and is free of any impediment, can be admitted into the Society. Let those be excluded, therefore, who seek admission motivated by some intention other than that of pursuing their own sanctification and devoting themselves to the good of the Church according to the present Constitutions.
Art. 18. Admission into the Novitiate is invalid in the case of:
1. Those who have lapsed from the Catholic Faith into a non-Catholic sect; - 2. Those who have not completed their fifteenth year; - 3. Those who enter religion under the influence of violence, grave fear, or fraud, or who are admitted by a Superior thus constrained; - 4. Married persons, as long as the marriage bonds last; - 5. Those who are or who have been bound by the bonds of Religious Profession; - 6. Those who are menaced with punishment for the commission of a grave crime of which they have been or can be accused; - 7. A bishop, either residential or titular, even though only designated by the Roman Pontiff; - 8. Clerics who by the law of the Holy See are bound by oath to serve their diocese or the missions, for such time as the obligation of the oath lasts.
Art. 19. Admission into the Novitiate is illicit, but valid in the case of: - 1. Clerics in Sacred Orders, without the knowledge of the local Ordinary or against his will if his objection is based on the serious loss to souls that their withdrawal would impart, when that loss cannot by any means be otherwise avoided. - 2. Those who have debts to pay and cannot settle their obligations. - 3. Persons who are under the obligation of giving an account,
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or who are implicated in other secular affairs, which might involve the Society in lawsuits and other annoyances. 4. Children who are necessary for the support of their parents (i.e., father, mother, grandfather, grandmother) who are in grave need; and parents whose help is needed for the support and education of their children. - 5. Those who in the Society would be destined for the Priesthood, from which, however, they are excluded by an irregularity or other canonical impediment according to the norm of Canons 984-987 of the Code of Canon Law. - 6. Those who belong to an Oriental rite without the written permission of the Sacred Congregation for the Oriental Church.
Art. 20. Only the Apostolic See can dispense from the impediments listed in articles 18 and 19.
Art. 21. Since it is the intent of the Society to train its own future cleric members as set forth in article 183, as a rule, Aspirants already in Sacred Orders are not to be admitted; especially does this apply to the prescript set forth in articles 18, 8, and 19, 1.
Art. 22. Not without grave reasons and mature deliberation can the following be admitted to the Novitiate by the Superior General with the consent of his Council: - 1. Those of illegitimate birth, and those who at one time were married, without prejudice to the prescript of article 19, 5. - 2. Those beyond the age of twenty-three. - 3. Those dismissed from a Seminary or College.
Art. 23. Before Aspirants are accepted, they must submit certificates of Baptism and Confirmation. In addition they must furnish testimonial letters from the Bishop
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of the place where they were born, and from the Bishops of any other place where, after completing their fourteenth year, they have resided for more than one morally continuous year.
Art. 24. If there is a case concerning the admission of those who have been in a Seminary or College, or in a Postulancy or Novitiate of another Institute, there are required, in addition, testimonial letters properly given under oath from the rector of the Seminary or College, issued after consulting the local Ordinary, or from the major Superior of the Institute, as the case may be. These letters are to be directly transmitted to the Superiors of the Society.
Art. 25. For admitting Clerics, in addition to the testimony of ordination, it suffices to have the testimonial letters of the Bishops of the dioceses in which they have lived for more than one morally continuous year after ordination, the prescript of article 24 being observed.
Art. 26. A Religious who was professed in another religious Institute and who in virtue of an apostolic indult passes over to our Society, needs only the testimonials of the major Superior of the religious body to which he first belonged.
Art. 27. In addition to the testimonials required by the preceding articles, Superiors should diligently seek such other information as the situation warrants, to this end, that they may become fully acquainted with the Aspirant's disposition, endowment, and will, in so far as it is possible to do so.
Art. 28. Superiors who have received the aforementioned information are strictly obliged to keep
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secret both the contents of the letters and the names of their informants.
Art. 29. Superiors who have accepted unsuitable candidates without regard to the prescript of Canon 542, or who have received candidates into the Novitiate contrary to the prescript of Canon 544, or who have admitted them to Profession without the requisite testimonial letters contrary to the precept of Canon 571, §2 must be punished according to the gravity of their fault, and may even be deprived of their office.
A particular provision of ours, to be noted immediately, is that for admission to the Novitiate the candidate must have completed his seventeenth birthday.
Vocational commitment and holiness
First of all, everyone has to have a resolute commitment to the recruitment and formation of vocations. It is not something that depends on the Superior alone; it concerns, obliges and depends on everyone. Let us not forget the Brother who lays claim to twenty-five vocations; twenty-five who have already made their profession and reached their field of apostolate. It depends a great deal on God's grace, but also a great deal on one's zeal. This is one of the clearest signs of love for the Congregation.
How essential it is to train a Christian! How much more essential it is to train a person consecrated to God! because that person will better promote the glory of God and the salvation of people's souls.
Holiness is to give God everything. This is the euge, serve bone et fidelis, quia in pauca fuisti fidelis, super multa te constituam.8 The Divine Master praised the woman who had given two small coins, because that was all she had; unlike others who offered
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larger sums, but not all they had. Besides, do we or do we not have an understanding of our fatherhood? Now, fatherhood is immensely sublimated when we give new lives to God. For a very good reason people call us fathers. Let us hold dear in our hearts those many people that God calls and waits for, but who often encounter many difficulties. There are vocations who are ambushed: most are snuffed out in the environment of school social life, often in the family circle. The devil combats to snatch these elect souls from the grasp of Jesus: Expetivit vos ut cribraret sicut triticum….9 Let us identify with these persons, extending them a helping hand, by means of prayer and action.
Among commitment-initiatives the issue of vocations has to be in the foreground. Preaching was not the first thing Jesus did in his public life. He started by calling disciples. He sought them out by the lakeside and invited them. James, John, Andrew, Peter, Philip, and the others all accepted. Thus, when they saw the water turned into wine, at the wedding feast of Cana, they believed in him: crediderunt in eum discipuli eius.10
If we do indeed love our neighbor as ourselves, we would want many others to have what we possess - the great gift of a vocation. If we are happy with the grace we have received, we should want everyone else to share in it. If our mind is geared to holiness, our desire should be for others also live out this ideal.
In the December 1958 San Paolo,11 I wrote: The basic issue is the vocation house. I set out the following table which explains the contribution expected of the various houses.
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ANNUAL CONTRIBUTION OF PROFESSED PERSONNEL
EXPECTED FROM THE VOCATION HOUSES BY 1963
ITALY:
Rome n. 20 for 5 years = 100
Alba n. 20 for 5 years = 100
Milan n. 10 for 5 years = 50
Catania n. 8 for 5 years = 40
Bari n. 6 for 5 years = 30
Modena n. 6 for 5 years = 30
Pescara n. 4 for 5 years = 20
Vicenza n. 8 for 5 years = 40
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Total: n. 82 for 5 years = 410
ABROAD:
Australia n. 2 for 5 years = 10
Colombia n. 6 for 5 years = 30
France n. 2 for 5 years = 10
Germany n. 1 for 5 years = 5
Great Britain n. 3 for 5 years = 15
Ireland n. 3 for 5 years = 15
Venezuela n. 2 for 5 years = 10
Argentina n. 4 for 5 years = 20
Chile n. 1 for 5 years = 5
Brazil n. 15 for 5 years = 75
Japan n. 6 for 5 years = 30
Portugal n. 4 for 5 years = 20
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Spain n. 20 for 5 years = 100
U.S.A. n. 8 for 5 years = 40
Canada n. 3 for 5 years = 15
India n. 4 for 5 years = 20
Philippines n. 4 for 5 years = 20
Mexico n. 4 for 5 years = 20
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Total: n. 92 for 5 years = 460
82 a year in Italy and 92 a year abroad over five years totals 870. The other houses, non-Vocation Houses, are each to give at least three professed over five years.
There are greater possibilities now compared with 1915 and even 1935:12 more houses, more stability, more professed who can devote themselves to recruitment and formation, even if still below the number needed.
When I was in high school people would talk of Saint John Bosco's work as being like a ships' harbor; a continuous coming and going. Little wonder, because in the beginning every Institute has to find its feet. Consequently, neither the boys nor their parents are yet convinced of its stability. It was the same for the Pious Society of Saint Paul in the beginning; now, however, it has acquired its own distinct features and characteristics, in many nations. Therefore the percentage of successful vocations has to increase, as it did, a great deal, for the Salesians.
Only those called
Our vocation houses, apostolic schools would be a better term, are to accept only genuine Aspirants;
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in other words, youngsters who aspire to the religious life, to the degree possible at their age. In no way are we talking of a shelter, a diocesan seminary, a stepping stone to a position, or of a college. It is always and only a vocation house of the Pious Society of Saint Paul. If it comes to light that candidates or their close relatives have other intentions they are to be dismissed. Clarity is to be the hallmark of recruitment.
Regarding age. Here there is disparity regarding acceptance. There are pre-vocation houses, directed mostly by Sisters, where children of 8 to 9 are accepted. At 15 years of age these boys are then sent to religious Institutes or to seminaries. In some countries there are good results. A pre-vocation house in Rome has nurtured 40 priests in a few decades.
Elsewhere, either because of particular circumstances or because civil law obliges children to frequent school up to a set age, young men are accepted at 17 to 18 years of age, or even older. Religious Institutes and bishops have established houses for the formation of late vocations. Here too there are consoling results.
The Pious Society of Saint Paul has an article where it states that it intends to train religious from a young age. The aim is to accustom them more easily to its characteristic lifestyle, which requires its own particular mentality, customs and spirit. Thus the choice of religious life will be more discerning.
Nonetheless, the Society of Saint Paul adapts itself to particular circumstances. From the outset it accepted late vocations, under certain conditions; that is, when they are quite docile and malleable and, although no longer young, they manifest
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simplicity, fervor, a spirit of sacrifice and complete dedication. Although adults, they do sometimes have the compliant mind of the child. It is a great asset if the candidate has already decided on his life's choice.
In the November-December 1959 San Paolo, we read:
Article 22 of the Constitutions says that 'Only for grave reasons and after mature deliberation, can the Superior General with the consent of his Council admit to the Novitiate… (n. 2) those beyond the age of twenty-three.'
The criterion for our Pauline vocation houses is to show great love for late vocations up to 23 years of age; however, let us do much more to look for young candidates when they show positive signs of the Lord's call.
The Constitutions require serious reasons and the consent of the general Council (not just its opinion) for accepting those over 23 years of age. It follows that even more serious motives are required to admit them after thirty years of age. Therefore, as a general rule, it is better not to ask.
There are cases today where it is advisable to suggest secular Institutes, whose members carry out our apostolate in the world. It is rarely advisable to suggest the contemplative life.
The members of secular Institutes need to have already settled on their life's choice, and be able to count on a sound financial future, given the eventuality of sickness and old age.
Let us not accumulate old people who have spent their best energies elsewhere! For our activities and battles we need brand-new recruits whose minds, hearts, and bodily and spiritual assets are unspoiled. People who have
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adored one God only! Are there some Augustines? Undoubtedly, but these are exceptions. We have to count on the ordinary. But if real Augustines are found let us accept them wholeheartedly. Those who have had full sexual relations with a woman are to stay in the world. Those whose shortcomings lead to sins against nature or with persons of the same sex are to remain in the world, since they would be unable to amend their ways permanently. Those who are close to Profession or Ordination and unable to master self-abuse are to choose another way of life.
The Redemption was accomplished and accompanied by three lilies: Jesus, Mary and Joseph. The application to be drawn from this is apostoli vel virgines, vel post nuptias continentes.13 By and large, the same norms hold good for acceptance into the secular Institutes as well.
Help God and seek help
The desire to increase the number of the Institute's members is a praiseworthy one. At the same time, however, there must be a guiding principle, since love of the community has to stand above love of the individual. The practice of charity, in this sense, is to be first of all to the Institute, then to the aspirant.
To help make a wise choice of candidates read the February-March 1959 San Paolo14 regarding The psychological and neuropsychiatric problems that can come to light in formation. Intellectual, moral, spiritual and physical qualities; taking due account of inheritability and the family background. It is thus necessary
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to consider all the circumstances. It is a matter of concern to Superiors, group Masters, Confessors, and Spiritual Directors, who not only are masters of discipline but responsible especially for moral formation.
May the Lord grant us his wisdom. We should not pretend that candidates be without defects. We all have them - more defects than virtue. But what must effectively be required is the good will to seek correction and perfection, the true ideal of the religious.
First of all we need to look for vocations; a wide-ranging search in order to make a choice. If there are ten candidates in the first intake, how many will reach Profession or Ordination? Among his many followers Jesus chose twelve, whom he called apostles, ut essent cum illo,15 to live with him, to learn what he was teaching, and to imitate his most holy virtues, in order, then, to pass on what they had seen and heard: eritis mihi testes.16
Let us invoke this Divine Teacher who is the Way for us even here.
Invocations for the Vocation Director:
O Jesus, our light: Show us who you have chosen among these.
O Jesus, our hope: Let your chosen ones experience your confortare et esto robustus.17
O Jesus, grant your grace so that their response may be: relictis omnibus et patre secuti sunt eum.18
Jesus, Divine Teacher, you said that the harvest is great but the laborers are few. We
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lovingly take up your invitation: Pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.
Raise up a holy crusade for vocations: All the faithful for all vocations. More priests! May they be salt of the earth, light of the world, the city posted on the hilltop, for the salvation of humanity redeemed by your blood. More women and men religious! filling the land with institutes and houses which welcome your favored sons and daughters, and become hearths of light and warmth, sources of prayer life, gardens of saints, singing Glory to God and good will among men.
Mary, God's chosen one, Mother and Guardian of holy vocations, pray with us, pray for us, pray for all who are called by God.
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1 “I have a great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren” (Rom 9:2-3)
2 “In my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church” (Col 1:24).
3 “In a worthy, attentive and devout manner.”
4 “I bid everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgement” (Rom 12:3).
5 “I am the least of the apostles” (1 Cor 15:9).
6 “It is through God's mercy that we have not been consumed” (cf. Lam 3:22).
7 “To be the least.”
8 “Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much” (Mt 25:23).
9 “Satan has demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat” (Lk 22:31).
10 “His disciples believed in him” (Jn 2:11).
11 Cf. CISP 736-738.
12 1915 and 1935. These two dates are highlighted by Fr Alberione, probably because they mark respectively the first and the second expansion of his foundation. Meanwhile, in 1915, two important books which postulate future Pauline institutions are published: G. ALBERIONE, Appunti di teologia pastorale (Practice of priestly ministry for young clergy), 2nd revised edition, corrected and enlarged. Turin, Pietro Marietti, 1915, and G. ALBERIONE, La donna associata allo zelo sacerdotale (For the Clergy and Women) Alba, Scuola Tipografica “Piccolo Operaio”, 1915. - On 5 May 1915 the little community of Piazza Cherasca moved to a locality called “Regione Monfreddo Solano e Moncaretto”, on the outskirts of Alba. Between March 1915 and March 1916, the printing plant in via Baluardi continued to print books, parish bulletins, L'Avvisatore Ecclesiastico, the Foglio dei Giovani, as well as starting on the Class Catechisms, edited by the theologian Giuseppe Priero. - Canon Chiesa was also the spiritual director of Angela Maria Boffi. Seeing in his wish an invitation of the Lord she accepted to manage the Women's Workshop which Fr Alberione wanted to open. The Workshop (of the future Daughters of Saint Paul) started on 15 June 1915. Since Italy had entered the war on 24 May 1915, the first girls had to tailor clothes for the soldiers. At the end of the 1914-1918 war the San Cassiano locality became Borgo Piave. Fr Alberione asked the bishop for permission to build a church there. However, it was only on 25 October 1936 that the church of the Daughters of Saint Paul in Borgo Piave, dedicated to Jesus the Divine Master, could be blessed and opened for worship. - The second expansion of the Society of Saint Paul took place in 1934-1935. The first foundation in Japan goes back to 1934; the first in China to 1934; the first in India to 1935, as does the foundation in the Philippines. In 1931 there are the first houses in Argentina, Brazil, and the United States. The foundation of the Society of Saint Paul in France goes back to 1932; that in Spain and in Poland to 1934. The attempt to open a house in Belgium fails. In 1938 there were the following Pauline houses in Italy: Alba (1914); Rome (1926); Sanfré (Cuneo) (1930); Milan (book shop) (1935); Messina, (1931-1936, when it was transferred to Catania); Rome, Parish of Jesus the Good Shepherd (1937).
13 “Apostles: either virgins, or capable of continence after marriage.”
14 A slip. It is actually the February-March 1960 San Paolo (cf. CISP 763-771).
15 “To be with him” (Mk 3:14).
16 “You shall be my witnesses” (Acts 1:8).
17 “Be strong and of good courage” (Deut 31:7).
18 “Having left everything and their father, they followed him” (cf. Mt 4:22).