CONCLUSION
It has been a happy time. Holy joy reflected on every face and in the good talks. The longer exercises, the most extraordinary of our lives; the solemn conclusion with the loving and confidential words of Pope John XXIII.
The revered words of the Holy Father
The audience, which lasted about half an hour, took place in the Consistory Hall, where the participants of the Spiritual Exercises welcomed the Holy Father, radiant and paternal, with loud applause.
The Primo Maestro paid his respects to the Holy Father with the following filial address:
Holy Father,
We have come from various countries, like Saint Paul, videre Petrum,1 happy to contemplate in the person of the universal Shepherd of the flock Jesus Christ himself.
After a month of spiritual exercises we ask for your Apostolic Blessing on our resolutions, so that we may live our religious life faithfully. We are bound to the Pope by a special fourth vow with the commitment to bring Your name everywhere, centre of the unity of
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faith, morals and worship, with the means characteristic of the Institute: the publications' apostolate.
Holy Father, just one word: we believe, we live, we love, and we pray in accordance with your intentions, especially for that which is closest to your heart: the Ecumenical Council.
We ask your Apostolic Blessing on all those whom we represent.
* * *
This is the reply of the Holy Father, taken down in shorthand.
Revered Father Founder and beloved Priests and Brothers of the Society of Saint Paul.
First of all, I wish to apologize for not being able to grant your request to assist at the celebration of my Mass. I was quite disposed to honor this Meeting of the Priests of the Congregation of Saint Paul with a Mass of mine, but I was unable to do so. It does not always depend on me. As for myself I am rather inclined to say yes rather than no, but I was told (and here the Holy Father nodded to the prelates who accompanied him): Let us not start with these concessions; let us not create precedents; otherwise who knows where we will end up. And We patiently resign Ourself, and bless the Lord always!
And now, dear Priests, allow me to recall some dear recollections from my youth; impressions
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that I drew from the life of Saint Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo. Later on those same impressions were revived in a visit I made to the Little House of Divine Providence in Turin. That small, but great House, with so many wards for every kind of sickness. And how many families to alleviate these sicknesses. Wonderful things! Wonders that only the Piedmontese can achieve. Saint Giuseppe Cottolengo, urged on by the charity of Christ, began his work destined not to stop. The Salesians, too, were already on the march. Those works of God developed, and spread not only in Italy but also in many other countries, wherever they put down strong roots and produced abundant results. There is always abundance and never a crisis of good. Their houses and their seminaries increased.
Actually, this word Seminary, in the sense intended by the Fathers of the Council of Trent, points to the Institutes of formation for the secular Clergy destined to serve in the diocese. Later on its meaning was broadened and the Religious, always more formidable than the secular Clergy, took up the name for their institutions; thus we have the seraphic Seminaries, the cherubic Seminaries, the juridic Seminaries, and so on. We have to agree however that, in the Council of Trent's meaning, only the Diocesan Seminary is properly called the Seminary.
And the marvels of these works flower and grow with the passing of time.
The works of the Society of Saint Paul follow in the wake of those of Cottolengo, with the difference that, whereas the latter found their inspiration in charity, the former are geared more to the mind.
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Such works are inspired by love for the truth. They are destined to honor the eighth commandment which, of all the Lord's commandments, is the most in danger. See how lies are at the bottom of relations between human beings. In the world everything is resolved in a betrayal of the truth. The eighth commandment calls us back to reverence for the truth, and you, beloved priests of the Society of Saint Paul, your aim is straight, you hit the target in this battle for the triumph of the truth, which is the battle for God, for Christ, who is the Truth, the incarnate Word of God.
What a joy it is for me to have an overall view of your work. In the past I was not in particular contact with you given the circumstances that providentially guided my life and led me far away, but the few contacts I did have gave me the opportunity to appreciate, as does the Church, the good work you do.
Already the Blessed (and future Saint) Gregorio Barbarigo, bishop of Padua and founder of the Seminary and of the printing plant that bears his name, used to say that books are a great means for spreading knowledge of God, and defending the truth among the people, especially if it is proffered in a suitable form.
May it please the Lord to bless these worthy Fathers gathered here, under the insignia of Saint Paul, with a special blessing!
Ecce odor filii mei, sicut odor agri pleni, cui benedixit Dominus2 (Gen 27:27).
The blessing of the patriarch Isaac on his son Jacob.
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Your revered Father Founder's words has enlightened us on the many and wonderful manifestations of your apostolate, allowing us to ascertain the effective help that you give to the truth. What an immense flowering of good in the field of the apostolate of the press which responds so well to modern needs. I congratulate you!
Now you have completed a month of spiritual exercises with your soul filled with God's grace and light. It is right for holiness to be at the base of this great sowing. Odor agri pleni!3 so that it may produce its abundant and long-lasting fruits. And of that I am sure. When we are one with Jesus Christ, source of charity and of truth, all our activities have a good beginning and achieve great success. You have the ability and the strength to undertake works of apostolate befitting the demands of the times and capable of renewing the world. Cui benedixit Deus!4
In France I was able to follow a little the workings of your apostolate. The work undertaken by the Bonne Presse in the various parts of that country is praiseworthy, as the work that the Pious Society of Saint Paul carries out in the whole world in collaboration with the associated Female Families, since even for Eve's good daughters there is reserved a wide field of activity and satisfaction in doing good.
At the Little House of the Cottolengo they told me that, in the various wards, eight families dedicate themselves to the care of the sick. You did not want to work alone either; you too have eight families who work with you, in religious life and in the world, and as your travelling companions you have such heavenly Protectors
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as Gabriel the Archangel. How vast and meritorious this spiritual sowing! The writer, through the pages of a book, like the preacher through the word, brings the truth to life in people and it is with holy satisfaction that he discovers himself in the good done. Not out of any vain glory but to delight in a supernatural joy. To be able to say: I have given the truth! This truth came from my heart. Certainly, this outcome is the fruit of humility and of persevering faith. We are all servants, all united and compact in the service of the Church.
It is your revered Father Founder's wish to offer your prayers for the upcoming Council. I thank you. Let all of us pray. Here, too, in the Vatican we have our devotions. This year too we shall make the month of May and every day the Apostolic Preacher will offer a thought to the noble residents in Vatican City and to all those who wish to take part in the function which will be held in the Pauline Chapel dedicated to Mary, Mater Boni Consilii. Last year's intention was for the Roman Synod. It was celebrated and was successful, with God's grace. The intention this year will be to invoke God's blessings on the preparatory work of the world-wide Council. In spite of the intense work involved preparations are well in hand. Our invitation has resulted in a favorable response both among Catholics and among our separated brethren, in all parts of the world.
When Leo XIII issued an invitation of reconciliation to the dissident Oriental Christians there were only hurtful replies. Today instead the response is good and fills our heart with hope. We have to open our
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arms to these brethren of ours and listen to them because not all the wrong is on their side. We too must recognize our wrongs. This invitation is, however, not for the Council. It is reserved for the bishops of the Catholic world, for an updating of matters that concern us, without others coming in to discuss things and causing greater confusion. Therefore first we shall celebrate our Council and then we can discuss later on.
Meanwhile work is going ahead briskly and is indeed blessed by the Lord. It is an intention I entrust heartily to your prayers. Be like the consistorial lawyers in Consistory sittings who petition for the causes of Saints. First they ask instanter for proceedings to start, then their appeal is instantius and finally instantissime.5
I entrust the Holy Catholic Church to you. Pray for its unity. Ut unum sint!6 Continue in your generous efforts for ushering in a better world.
This is my greeting, my encouragement. With this wish I bless all of you here present for this meeting of priests; I bless your resolutions, your Congregations, the persons and matters dear to your heart.
The Holy Father imparted his Apostolic Blessing.
In the afternoon before the Te Deum
Three commitment-prayers:
1. To renew our life-long commitment-contract set out in the rite of Baptism, which began: What
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do you ask of God's Church? And the answer: Faith.
Another question: What do you expect from faith? And the answer: Eternal life.
Again the celebrant: If you would achieve eternal life observe the commandments.
Then followed the renewal of baptismal vows.
2. But since we wanted something more, we embraced the more perfect life, to which we felt called by God: If you would be perfect, renounce all; and come, follow me [Mt 19:21].
Then the commitment-promise of Jesus Christ: You who have left all and have followed me, will receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life [cf. Mt 19:29].
Then the formula of religious Profession was recited.
3. The final resolutions of the spiritual exercises presented to Jesus Master by means of the Regina Apostolorum, and Saint Paul.
Let each one, in silence, humility and faith, express them as he has prepared them and experiences them in this moment.
These are our commitment-resolutions for the rest of the life the Lord wills to grant us. We shall indeed be blessed if, at death's door, we can say that we have kept them.
Then the recitation of the Pact or Secret of Success, as set out in our Prayer Book.7
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1 “To visit Peter” (cf. Gal 1:18).
2 “See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed!”
3 “The smell of a fertile field.”
4 “Which the Lord has blessed.”
5 “Insistently; more insistently; most insistently.”
6 “That they may all be one” (Jn 17:21).
7 The Prayer Book is mentioned a couple of times in UPS: cf. I, 183 and 320. It has a long history. Cf. I.M.I.P. Preghiere della Pia Società San Paolo. Alba - 1922. Scuola Tipografica editrice. 36 [2] p., 16 cm. This is the first edition, in yellow color paper board. Added to the ordinary prayers, our Pauline prayers were published, revised and enlarged several times. Particularly noteworthy the 1953 changes. Among other things was the addition of three new chaplets for the first week of the month: the Chaplet to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Chaplet to Saint Joseph, and the Chaplet to the Guardian Angel. All three were published first in the San Paolo, respectively in the issues of January, February and March, and then placed in the Prayer Book. The whole book, moreover, underwent a new restructuring, as Fr Alberione himself states in the Sept.-Oct. issue of San Paolo (1953, p. 7). New additions and changes were made afterwards by Fr Alberione and collaborators, up to the 1970 edition which marks the final prayer formulations approved by the Founder (Le preghiere della Famiglia Paolina, Rome, E.P., 1970; 397 [1] p., 12.5 cm). The various editions are, in order: Le Preghiere della Pia Società San Paolo: 1922 (38 p.); 1927 (56 p.); 1928 [?] (52 p.); end of the 1920s (123 p.); beginning of the 1930s (148 p. with the Method of Examination of Conscience); 1934 (192 p.); 1944 (174 p.); August 1944 (236 p.); 1946 (235 p.); 1952/1956 (314 p.). Le Preghiere della Società San Paolo: 1957 (384 p.); 1957-1960 (387 p.). Le Preghiere della Famiglia Paolina: 1960 (365 p.); 1962 (365 p.); 1965 (380 p.); 1968 (365 p.); 1970 (376 p.); 1971 (376 p.). The 1975 and 1976 editions copy the latter. Examining the various editions one can see the great care the Founder took with the Book of Prayers. Already in 1922 - which seems to be the first edition - he gets away from the devotions of the time (Il fanciullo provveduto, Massime eterne). As well as the general prayers of the Church he adds something “Pauline”: the first chaplets, the “Secret of Success” or “Pact”, and so on. The 1927 edition - changed with respect to the previous one - will be the basis for the following editions up to 1944. This August 1944 edition shows further substantial changes in structure and content. It will be the basis for the following editions. In the 1950s and 1960s the Founder brings to completion the legacy of devotions to be left to his sons and daughters (cf. above the changes of 1953). In November 1978, the SSP circulated an inquiry among some members of the various Congregations. The result of this inquiry is the 1985 edition.