FOREWORD
1. The title of the book
Ut perfectus sit homo Dei (UPS) are words taken from 2 Tim 3:17 - ut perfectus sit homo Dei ad omne opus bonum instructus. They are in a context which sees the reading of the Bible as a way to Timothy's pastoral perfection. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. The formation, or the complete preparation, of the disciple of Paul to man of God, or to religious pastor, seems the reason why this verse was chosen as a title for this collection of instructions, meditations and conferences given to Paulines by the Founder, and by other Paulines, during the month of April 1960 at Ariccia (Rome).
In a letter of 12 March 1982, in reply to one from Fr Andrea Damino, Giuseppe Mariani SSP said that the title for the four volumes, published between 1960 and 1962, was suggested by him.1 Fr Alberione, having always regarded the religious as a man fully equipped in a dynamic sense, had no difficulty in summing up the extraordinary longer exercises, held at Ariccia in April 1960, with these words of Paul to Timothy.
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2. The month's meeting at Ariccia
This single volume includes the 50 instructions of Fr Alberione, together with an introduction written by him,2 a conclusion with the address of the Founder to Pope John XXIII, and the Pope's reply to all the participants at the Ariccia meeting.
UPS IIV (19601962) contained much more material, such as the 54 meditations (given in turn by Frs Giovanni Roatta, Desiderio Costa, Pierino Marazza, Stefano Lamera and Guido Paganini) and about 18 conferences of a practical nature, given also by various speakers, all of them Paulines.
The 1960 meeting had been well prepared and on time.3
A close-to-definitive program had appeared in the February 1959 San Paolo.4 Even then there was talk of special longer exercises, in view of a more perfect Pauline life, as set out in the Constitutions. These were to be days of prayer and updating, with the aim of living the genuine Pauline spirit. In that same issue of San Paolo, moreover, it was made clear that this updating concerned the practice of the Constitutions in the circumstances of life, time and place; in relation to, and in the implementation of, the apostolates. The Founder was concerned then of the danger of being misunderstood about updating. He explained straightaway that the Pauline Family is now complete; it has not to be updated as do some praiseworthy centuries-old Institutes. He went on to emphasize that The Institute has not to be updated to the times because it somewhat precedes them; rather, we have to be updated to the Institute, in knowledge, love, life and apostolate.
The Institute was the Society of Saint Paul, but grouped within the Pauline Family: Updating - therefore - as becoming fully aware of our specific vocation, within the completed pauline family… (sic, lower case.) In truth it pleased the Lord to complete the Pauline Family, in accordance with his grace and wisdom, and in accordance with the design whereby it came into being.
The main points to be examined were the cart's four parts or the four wheels: a) spiritual life; b) study; c) apostolate (writing, technical, and distribution); d) poverty.
Among the topics included for the periods of free time were internal and external relations, and those among the Pauline Families, that is, among the Congregations and Institutes and with the Society of Saint Paul. Government, as an important and distinct topic would be set out in nine points.
Practically the whole of the April-May 1959 San Paolo5 was dedicated to the April 1960 Meeting. Special longer Spiritual Exercises, to give more boost to our take-off and to stay airborne; to revive our efforts; to root our life definitively in Jesus Christ Way, Truth and Life; so that ibi fixa sint corda ubi vera sunt gaudia; to advance under the protection of the Regina Apostolorum; to follow in the footsteps of Saint Paul in holiness and apostolate.
Fr Alberione justified this program with a presage of death: I am at the end of my life; in proximate preparation for my death; consummatum est. His exhortation to the worldwide Society of Saint Paul was a wish: For most of you, there is still a long road ahead: my wish and prayer is for you to achieve Paul's cursum consummavi [2 Tim 4:7].
The longer Exercises were to be a kind of final report on what the whole Congregation had done up to then, with the fully alert 76-year-old Founder at its head, indeed at the helm of the whole Pauline Family. The purpose of the Ariccia meeting was clear. A pause in response to the gospel requiescite pusillum, in a house completely, solely, for the Spiritual Exercises,6 it would be the right time to integrate, specify and develop those various charismatic elements which, from the outset, had been shaping the Society of Saint Paul in particular and, at last, were now channeled into his Constitutions7 of 1957.8
This extraordinary retreat, the first of three scheduled for 1960, 1962 and 1964 to allow all Pauline priests and brothers to be present and take part,9 can be considered a charismatic heritage, to which all Paulines, those of the first hour and those of the last, had to update their life so as to press on without second thoughts about the road embarked on.
The April-May 1959 San Paolo opened with the words: In the course of 45 years (1914-1959) we have travelled far (CISP 190). Further on, however, Fr Alberione made clear that it was now necessary to travel together, in the same spirit; no longer simply as Society of Saint Paul but as an enlarged family. In fact, another purpose of the retreat was the updating of the members to the Congregation and to the Pauline Family; and my definitive, spiritual, testament of the mission that the Lord imposed on me.
People learn to journey together walking forwards and not backwards. In truth, the Lord lights the lamps on the road ahead, as and when they are needed; he does not light them all, immediately, in the beginning, when they are not yet needed. He does not waste light; but he gives it always tempore opportuno.
We learn from a guidebook given to the participants - Pauline Meeting, April 1960, Retreat House 1960 - that those taking part in this special retreat came from Italy,10 the majority, and from abroad.11 There were 77 members expected from Italy, 56 priests and 21 brothers, while 48 priests and 11 brothers, mostly Italians, were expected from abroad.
The presence of so many Paulines (125-126)12 at Ariccia, learning from the Founder and from other members, specialists in matters Pauline, highlights the importance of this gathering.
The day was structured in a spiritual way typical of a retreat. It began at 5.30. Prayers were at 6.00, followed by the first meditation. Low Mass was celebrated individually from 7.00 to 8.30, while at 9.00 everyone was present for the solemn Mass, followed by the first instruction of the Founder and personal reflection. The Visit was at 11.30, in common, with lunch at 12.30. At 3.30 p.m. the Founder gave the second instruction, followed by reflection, and a coffee break. At 5.00 p.m. the Via Crucis was made in the grounds, while the Rosary, followed by a second meditation, was at 6.30 p.m. At 7.30 p.m. Benediction was preceded by Pauline prayers and hymns. The evening meal followed. During the second, third and fourth week, the Visit was anticipated by a half hour to make room, at midday, for an hour's conference - a half hour for the talk and a half hour for discussion. Lunch was moved to 1.00 p.m. and the rest of the timetable remained mostly unchanged. Sundays were free. The celebration of the Easter Triduum, however, brought some minor changes to the intense work and prayer program. The time for the recitation of the Divine Office was left to each one's free choice. During the first week (1-9 April) there was absolute silence, as required for the ordinary eight day retreat. In the following three weeks some talking (or muttering) was allowed, but only after lunch, and moderate, submissa voce. During meals there was reading of the Bible. Immediately after lunch a short visit to the Blessed Sacrament was recommended with the recital of the Pange lingua.
Even this sub-division of time, while testifying to how Fr Alberione then thought and acted and what he demanded from his own, can provide a clue as how to interpret - or implement - the collection of instructions in this volume.
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3. The ecclesial environment in which to place this book
The date to keep in mind when reading these texts is April 1960.
Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (born on 25 November 1881, a few years before Fr Alberione) was elected Pope on 28 October 1958, took the name, John XXIII, and on 25 January 1959 announced the celebration of a forthcoming Ecumenical Council.
In the immediately preceding years, especially after the publication of the Miranda prorsus, of 1957, there had been a lively discussion of Catholic films, but also of radio and television.13 As formerly for the press, so now the limits and the pastoral and apostolic potential of the new means offered to the Church to express itself, were openly acknowledged.
In his instructions on the apostolate, on the formation of young candidates and on the ongoing formation of all the Institute's members, Fr Alberione welcomes the documents with the Church's teaching in this regard.
But in this April meeting, it is too early to perceive the radical and profound changes about to take place with the Council. What is perceptible is the struggle to be updated together, in tune with the rest of the ecclesial community.
On the Sunday afternoon of 25 January 1959, feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul, and the final day of the Octave for Christian Unity, the Pope had convoked a secret consistory in Saint Paul's Basilica outside the Walls. L'Osservatore Romano (26-27 January 1959) published a brief report and a précis of the Pope's talk on that occasion. To meet the present-day needs of the Christian people, the Holy Father, drawing inspiration from the centuries-old customs of the Church, announced three very important events: a Synod for the diocese of Rome, the celebration of an Ecumenical Council for the whole Church, and the updating of the Code of Canon Law, preceded by the imminent promulgation of the Code for the Eastern Churches. As regards the celebration of the Ecumenical Council, its aim, in the thinking of the Holy Father, is not only the edification of the Christian people, but also an invitation to the separated communities in the quest for unity, which is desired by so many people today from all parts of the world.14
According to a testimony of Fr Renato Perino, the perception of a Church under siege, on the defensive, changed to that of a house open to the whole world, ecumenical in the most universal sense. Fr Alberione, while unwavering in his devotion and fidelity to the Pope, had, for some time, felt the Church needed a profound renewal. Talking confidentially with a Pauline,15 it was apparent that while he valued the magisterium of Pius XII for his almost daily interventions on the most disparate spiritual and human situations, he was resolute in hoping for concrete and incisive 'reforms' for the Church.
When John XXIII, for his part, summons the Ecumenical Council and invites our Founder to take part, Fr Alberione does so enthusiastically both in the sessions and in the great undertaking of the updating of the Church.16 He does so, not in any theoretical or abstract way, but by small stages and along his Way, the straight line, which for all Christians is always Christ the Teacher and chief Shepherd of the Church. The full force of this gospel method makes him see the need for new impetus, and to insist again on the effectiveness of concrete apostolic initiatives, consonant with the new needs and the signs of the times, and employing the quickest and most effective means.
The ecclesiastical world now addresses the separated brethren no longer to condemn them as Protestants, but to invite them on a journey towards unity, and talks of an ecumenical council. Before its celebration, however, Fr Alberione has in fact assembled from around the world his own little UN17 at Ariccia, to instil in his own a renewed spirit of Family, which is universal as regards time, place, means, and the content of the great mission received from the Lord.
Of particular significance in this new way of dealing with things was perhaps the Founder's taking part in the First General International Congress of Religious Institutes, held in Rome from 26 November to 8 December in the 1950 Holy Year.18 In fact, the theme of this meeting was the updating of the Institutes of Perfection to the present times and circumstances as regards their life and discipline, the instruction and formation of members, and the apostolate, ordinary and extraordinary. The Second General Congress, from 8 to 14 December 1957, was instead charged, as Pius XII said in his closing speech, to draw up a balance sheet of the progress made everywhere in the drive to organize and renew the Institutes themselves.
At Ariccia, besides the themes of universality and unity, Fr Alberione also brought international organization to the surface. He reflected on the need to speak the language of all modern-day media, so as to reach, in reality, all of today's human beings with the Gospel of old. Synodality - soon to be extolled by the forthcoming Council - seen as a necessity for the Church to journey together to meet God and to meet the world of its own time, appears also to Fr Alberione a method worthy of merit. He makes it his own through the completion of his Family which ranges as wide as the Pope's parish, the whole world.
Journeying together can renew us.
The very complexity of mission, one open to all and using all the means, new and old, develops into a principle of continuous updating,19 if this is perceived as spiritual growth and, at the same time, as pastoral adaptation to time's changing circumstances.
When Fr Alberione takes up another topic of the retreat, which he knowingly passes on to his heirs, and one which is open to interpretation, he speaks of progress as being a duty, looking for the best for the apostolate.
The Pauline religious he said in an instruction has chosen the better part, that is, perfection.20 By perfection he means that steadfast inner drive at the core of each individual's formation, brother or priest, as well as of the Institute and the Family.
History is life's teacher. We can benefit from other people's experiences, but our own experiences teach us much more. Keep the company of learned persons, seek out opportunities for discussing and communicating, for advice and guidance. The wise person favors the best talks, conferences and books. He chooses the best schools, the best teachers, the best centres of learning.21
In Fr Alberione's thinking, improvement is ongoing. It is achieved not by isolating oneself but by learning also from others.
Fr Alberione was, as always, very sensitive to pastoral renewal.22 It would be a leitmotif of the forthcoming Council. The third edition of his Appunti di Teologia Pastorale was published in 1960.23 Fr Domenico Grasso S.J., had this to say:
The publication of the Constitution Sedes Sapientiae on 31 May 1956, integrated by another no less important one on 3 June 1958, whereby Pius XII established the Pontifical Pastoral Institute at the Pontifical University of the Lateran, induced Fr James Alberione to edit an updated version of his 1912 Appunti di pastorale. Pastoral science is, at present, a 'buzz' word. Every book published on this topic stirs up interest and discussion. The idea, therefore, to revise a book which in its time enjoyed great success, was more than opportune. Fr Alberione entrusted the task of revision to Monsignor G. Pistoni of the seminary in Modena. The result is a study which every priest in pastoral care should be aware of, because it is an authentic mine of practical advice and initiatives on how to make our apostolate more fruitful (Civiltà Cattolica, 1961, II, 408).
What Fr Alberione shows with this 1960 meeting, apart from his other writings, is his wish for the Family to move more and more with the Church and the times, aiming at the essence of its religious and apostolic life.
As a man of his time, Fr Alberione adopts an ongoing modernity, making the Gospel topical and adaptable to every age, to all places, to all people, with all the languages that man uses and understands today.
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4. Background to this collection
In reading these fifty instructions one must necessarily bear in mind the background to UPS. A complex work, it came into being in various stages, prior and successive to what was said in April 1960 at Ariccia.
We have already mentioned that a program and the description of the content and purpose of the meeting had been published at least a year before in two issues of San Paolo.
According to the testimony of Br Silvano De Blasio (Fr Alberione's personal secretary) to Fr Antonio Da Silva, Fr Alberione followed handwritten notes,24 contained in his notebook, when dictating his talks.
In doing so, he drew inspiration from the four-part program published in the February 1959 issue of San Paolo, and in general following the Way, Truth and Life method (dogma-morals-worship; mind-will-heart).
Just prior to the retreat, the aforementioned booklet25 was published. This detailed the list of participants, the daily and weekly timetable, as well as the titles of the instructions (of the Founder) and the meditations and conferences (to be given by other Paulines).
In setting out his arguments Fr Alberione did not follow to the letter either the program or the booklet, and probably not even his own notes. Fr Damino writes:
Usually [Fr Alberione] began by reading some articles of the Constitutions. These acted as a starter for the Instructions he had carefully prepared. Every so often, putting aside his text, he made observations and additions of a practical and very lively nature. His talks were recorded, then typewritten. Not everything that was said in the instructions went to press. On the other hand, the Founder admitted, almost with a sense of deep regret, that many other things remained to be said, even on important topics like the apostolate and the government of the Congregation: '…and I cannot even say everything in this retreat!'26
He had personally charged Fr Paganini to record all the instructions on tape.27
The typewritten transcript itself of the recordings contains corrections, cancellations and handwritten additions by Fr Alberione. Even the four printed volumes have further changes with respect to the corrected typed manuscript, evident signs of successive and laborious revisions by several people, before the final approval of the Founder.
In the edition we present here, we have considered as definitive the text printed between 1960-1962.28
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5. Principal ideas
Among the important arguments in this present edition the following should not be overlooked:
1. The Constitutions (obviously the 1957 edition), almost a spiritual encyclopedia of the Pauline, a charismatic synthesis approved by the Church. We wanted the maximum. Well then, let us joyfully embrace the book of the Constitutions, kiss it and meditate on it, for herein are set out the best means to achieve the optimam partem, which is holiness.29 Our Constitutions are among the best; from the finest that were consulted we took what was best… and the Holy See has given its highest seal.30 The Constitutions describe our Pauline spirituality in an authoritative way. The leges credendi, orandi et agendi are intertwined and form basically a single law; just as a human being, although he has three faculties (intellect, feeling, will), is a single person. This is the spirit that has guided everything in setting up the Institute [the body corporate] of the Pious Society of Saint Paul: the Pauline Constitutions, the Pauline prayer life, the Pauline apostolate. The canons and articles are as cold as marble. But they have been infused with spiritual life. The introductions to the acts of devotion in our prayer book - its spirit - are more important than the formulae. At the beginning there is… a special introduction that explains how prayer breathes life into the rules and individual articles; it communicates the spirit that shapes the Pauline day and the apostolate. In this way everything is directed to the goal of the glory of God and the peace of men. Above all, there is the grace of the Holy Spirit, which is the soul of the soul.31
2. Our spirituality is then clearly enunciated in the description of Jesus Christ Master, Way, Truth and Life, as the method for our spiritual life, studies and apostolate; then comes the description and exaltation of Mary, Mother, Teacher and Queen of the Apostles, to whom belongs the present time; finally there is the presentation, but not in any systematic way, of Saint Paul, Apostle of the Gentiles, who lives of Christ, with Christ, and for Christ.
3. The four wheels, or four parts into which the whole retreat is divided (spiritual life, study, apostolate, poverty) must all be taken care of by superiors, and work as a unit, on a level keel, at top speed, so that the cart, which is the community but also the whole Pauline Family, moves forwards and not backwards.
4. The Pauline Family is now complete,32 with its ten institutions, of which the Society of Saint Paul is the altrice.
5. The Apostolate, considered the special end by the second article of the (1957) Constitutions: that its members expend their energies for the glory of God and the salvation of souls, in propagating Catholic doctrine, by the apostolate of communications - that is, the press, motion picture, radio, and television - as well as by other more effective and expeditious media or inventions of the age which human progress may make available, and the necessities and conditions of the times may require. Therefore, Superiors should take care that whatever advancements, by divine disposition, the progressing age shall introduce into the field of human disciplines and the technical arts… be utilized and truly made to serve the glory of God and the salvation of souls in spreading Catholic doctrine. Fr Alberione's thinking on apostolic progress is expressed also in articles 242-243: In accordance with the special purpose of the Pious Society of Saint Paul, the apostolate requires appropriate technical means which become, as it were, sacred instruments in the spreading of the Gospel and the doctrine of the Church. Therefore The machinery and the other equipment of the apostolate are to be of the best that the progress of the technical art supplies in this field. Common life is also geared to the apostolate: The state of perfection indisputably implies common life… Thus the Church wants to point out publicly the importance of community for the work of Christian sanctification. 'Common life' does not always have the same deep meaning. For example, in the Benedictine abbey it has a wideranging and important task and shapes the Christian life itself of the members, both as regards their personal holiness and the sweep of their apostolate. Instead, for many clerics regular, as well as for us, 'life in common' stems from the apostolate and in view of the apostolate. This type of society characterized by a purpose includes, to be sure, the common good of the members; at the same time, however, the very observance of conventual life has an organization which takes into account that 'we are at the service of people's souls': we are religious-apostles; we have to pass on what we have acquired, following on the example of the Divine Master.33
Other important topics are listed in the indices at the end of the book.
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6. Reading suggestionsThe reading of a work such as this, no longer immediately appreciated as actual, presents not a few problems.
Fr Alberione speaks and writes before the second Vatican Council, before that radical change in the customary way of seeing the realities of the world we live in; before the promulgation of the new Code of Canon Law and before the new Constitutions of the Society of Saint Paul (1984). He was quoting the 1957 Constitutions which have since been updated. Is there therefore anything valid in the things that he said in 1960?
A Pauline approach to these texts may help.
Paul, apropos the Scriptures, speaks of a letter that kills and of a spirit that brings to life. He has in mind the Old Testament that he knew, observed and enthused over. After Damascus, however, he considers such a Law as a loss vis-à-vis his personal encounter with the crucified but living Messiah.
For us, too, the interpretation of a charismatic work such as this cannot, in the main, be simply or chiefly a return to 1960. It has to be a rereading starting from the Teacher who is always alive and present, today.
From a Pauline point of view a fidelity to the letter, which would take us backwards rather than forwards, would not be valid.
Another danger to be avoided is to regard as false, or of no concern to today's readers, what is old. To be sure, we can presume that Fr Alberione would not use the same language today as of old. He was certainly conditioned by his times, as we are, by ours, today. Perhaps he would no longer say
certain things, while he would talk about other things as, for example, the situation of women,
34 or the use of the quickest and most effective means of apostolate. The awareness of women's dignity and the progress of technology have moved on since the 1960s, in both society and the Church. Post-conciliar theology itself has developed in other directions. People's way of seeing the Church has, in general, changed.
And yet, if we are to avoid the risk of fundamentalism, scepticism is not the right approach either when we are faced with a text which, albeit of 1960, because of its very charismatic character, transcends our time as well.
Behind this work there is the authority of the Founder. It is, as it were, like a root which, although invisible to the human eye is always present and active, life-giving, making the tree grow, producing blossom and fruit. Dig up the roots and the tree dies. To lose one's past is to lose one's identity and one's projection into the future.
What direction then should we take, from these instructions of April 1960, for our Pauline life today?
Descriptive of a creative fidelity to the Pauline charism, these talks, as do so many other texts, highlight words and expressions - signposts on a reading journey - that signal movement, a stress on drive and ongoing perfection. They are implied by the very image of the four wheel cart, the reference to today, the stimulus to push even further ahead, to progress in everything; the indication of the Way, Truth and Life method; the necessity to move with the times, that is, with the Church and with the world; to move together, in a synodal way, as an Institute or Congregation and now, even more, as Pauline Family, in unity, with an ever greater and better organization; embracing the most modern, the quickest and most effective means necessary for the apostolate; aiming at that universality of content, receivers, and setting; bettering oneself right on up to perfection, made definitive only with the endorsement of the crown of glory.
Fr Alberione thus moves the stages and the target over and beyond what we have achieved up to now. Even with these instructions, he gives sure guidance for the journey ahead; he proffers a method for working with a spirit of initiative as well as with a spirit of conservation. What he sets before us is an enduring spirituality which is made new in a perception of the Way of the Master, and which becomes Pauline through
vivit in me Christus.
* * *In conclusion, the fifty instructions given by our Founder in the 1960 'meeting' have a charismatic relevance that integrates and, to a certain degree, surpasses
Abundantes divitiae. Here there is his anxiety to pass on to his sons his spiritual and institutional heritage with assurances of fidelity and dynamism. Over and over, in fact, he makes known his testamentary concern and insists repeatedly on the unity, completeness and complementarity of the Pauline Family.
35Those who read these texts bare their mind, will and heart to a synthesis of Fr Alberione's thinking, perhaps his most mature and authoritative; they can also end up going into rapture over his modernity and surpassing merit.
Rome, 1997THE CENTRE OF PAULINE SPIRITUALITY
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1 Fr Rosario F. Esposito ssp regards Mariani's suggestion as of little consequence. Such a title was already in Fr Alberione's order of ideas, and he made it his own (From a 10 June 1995 written testimony).
2 Published also in the San Paolo n. 3, 1960 (cf. Carissimi in San Paolo [CISP] 197-198).
3 Concerning this, Fr Esposito gives a personal testimony (10 June 1995): “The 1960 'Ignatian exercises' marked a turning point in the history of Pauline spirituality; the following two retreats [of 1962 and 1964] had neither the same pentecostal charge at the time of their planning and preparation, nor the same creativity, inventiveness and fervor in their celebration. Fr Alberione steered clear of rather large assemblies, unless it was simply to give a talk. If it was a matter of taking part in a community “work” he felt rather out of place. While dialectic was not his strong point, his reflection, intense interior work and direct conversation highlighted a sensibility and exceptional charge. And yet, what was experienced in that hall, then known as the 'cinema hall', anticipated to a degree, at a domestic, cenacle, level, some events soon to be discussed in the Council Hall.” Fr Esposito then lists some “evocative demands that effectively came out of this gathering”: 1) a strengthening of brotherly solidarity and a reclaiming of the apostolate in its threefold dimension - writing, producing, distributing - with specific emphasis on the first dimension; 2) an organizational link-up multinational in character; 3) focus on the anthropological aspect of “recruitment” and especially on the formation of vocations; 4) emphasis on the Pauline membership of all the Congregations, Institutes, and Cooperators living in the world. Fr Esposito concludes with some advice for the reader: “I wouldn't say that the level of Fr Alberione's talks was always very high. But there are so many pages of such intense inspiration that they repay in abundance the little bit of patience needed at times to cross some rather arid plains.”
4 Cf. CISP 193-195.
5 Cf. CISP 190-193.
6 Cf. San Paolo, April-May 1959.
7 The exercises were to have been a reading and explanation, as well as a free commentary on the articles of these Constitutions, perceived as the Pauline summa, approved by the Holy See. Fr Alberione promoted something similar for the Daughters of Saint Paul: cf. Spiegazione delle Costituzioni, Instructions for the Longer Exercises (Ariccia, 15 May - 6 June 1961), Rome, Daughters of St Paul, 1962; as well as for the Pious Disciples from 12 May to 1 June 1963: the Instructions of the Founder are contained in Alle Pie Discepole del Divin Maestro, vol. VIII, 1963. In the Foreword to UPS I (1960) pp. 7-10, carried also by the n. 3 April-May 1960 San Paolo (CISP 197-198), Fr Alberione wrote: “They will be held for all [Paulines]. The longer Spiritual Exercises have already been announced for 1962 and 1964.” In the August 1961 San Paolo, page 4, we read: “As announced already several times, the longer Spiritual Exercises will be celebrated in 1962. They will start on the evening of 30 June and close on the afternoon of 30 July.” To take part were all those priests ordained up to 1945 and the Brothers who had made their perpetual profession up to 1945. In the n. 8 June-July-August 1962 San Paolo, we read: “There have been two meetings this year in the Divine Master House; everyone was moved by the lively desire for Pauline holiness, love of the Congregation and generosity in the apostolate… We then gathered for the longer Spiritual Exercises, lasting the whole month of July, 130 Religious, counting priests and brothers” (cf. CISP 201).
8 The Constitutions which Fr Alberione used and read during the retreat were those which were printed on 9 March 1957, with changes and additions regarding especially the juridical status of the Brothers. Such changes had been approved with a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Religious on 18 April 1956.
9 Cf. the August-September 1959 San Paolo (CISP 195-196). Here Fr Alberione used a kind of catechism question and answer style. “What is this 1960 meeting? It is an extraordinary retreat, four weeks of Spiritual Exercises. What is its principal aim? Updating of the life of each one and of the houses in accordance with the Constitutions… Will there be other gatherings like that of 1960? Yes, as stated: a second one in 1962 and a third in 1964, so as to give everyone, as requested, the possibility of making similar Spiritual Exercises and for the same purpose.”
10 From the General House, Alba, Albano, Bari, Catania, Florence, Milan, Modena, Ostia, Pescara, Rome Vocation House, Rome Good Shepherd Parish, Rome Sampaolo Film, Sanfrè, Turin, Vicenza, Vatican City.
11 From Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, [the then] Belgian Congo, Cuba, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, United States.
12 Recorded in the Register of the Divine Master House in Ariccia, for the month of April 1960: “1-30 - Special long retreat for Pauline Priests, and Brothers of the Divine Master (95 Pr. and 30 Bros.).”
13 Cf. G. Pasquali, Stampa, cinema, radio nella parola di Pio XII, Rome, Edizioni Paoline, 1953, pp. 158; Le cinèma dans l'enseignement de l'Eglise, Vatican City 1955, pp. 548. The teachings of the Church on the cinema are the 1957 encyclical Miranda prorsus of Pius XII, which replaced the 1936 encyclical Vigilanti cura of Pius XI, and the motu proprio Boni Pastoris of John XXIII, 22 February 1959, on the cinema, radio and television, the first solemn document of his pontificate.
14 Cf. Civiltà Cattolica, 1959, I, 316. Edited by the Secretariat of the Pontifical Preparatory Central Commission of the second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican. In 1960, at the same time as the Paulines' retreat in Ariccia, the Acts of the Supreme Pontiff John XXIII, which refer to the Council were published (Acta et Documenta Concilio Oecumenico Vaticano II apparando, Rome, Vatican City Press 1960, pp. 168).
15 Fr Perino himself.
16 See, in this regard, Don Alberione al Concilio Vaticano II, Proposte, Interventi e Appunti, (ed.) Andrea Damino SSP, Edizioni dell'Archivio Storico della Famiglia Paolina, Rome 1994.
17 Cf. the article which appeared in Orizzonti, n. 8, 1960 on “L'ONU dei Paolini”, written by Fr Eugenio Fornasari and picked up by San Paolo n. 3, 1960.
18 The meditation given by the Founder on the morning of 6 December in the Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, in Rome, to religious coming from the whole world, was entitled “Jesus Christ is the Apostle.” Its points were: a) zeal; b) the apostolate of Jesus Christ Way, Truth and Life; c) some practical principles. It concluded with a list of the principal apostolates to answer the needs of the modern world. Cf. San Paolo, January 1951 (CISP 557-563). For this gathering, the fact is that Fr Alberione felt himself authorized to commission interventions from other Paulines. He did so with Fr Federico Muzzarelli and Fr Esposito. He entrusted the latter not only with the topic of the Catholic press, but gave him the outline of the subject to be treated, discussing it then with him and correcting the text. The Acts were edited by Fr Muzzarelli and practically by the Pauline Family (Fr Esposito, 10 June 1995).
19 Fr Alberione was already reflecting, in 1953, on how up to date our Constitutions were: “There are articles in the Constitutions which do not allow the Pauline Family to grow old or to be useless in society”, cf. AD 130.
20 Cf. III:58
21 Cf. II:213.
22 Cf. the “Pastoral Year” program in San Paolo, December 1957, II.
23 Alba, Edizioni Paoline, 1960, pp. 422.
24 Fr Esposito testifies to this: “It is a fact that Fr Alberione wrote out his sermons and instructions in long hand. I saw the texts when I was preparing CISP; I have never seen such torturous, modified, and muddled writings of Fr Alberione as those of the '1960 Meeting'.” However, up to now, no trace has been found of these manuscripts in the SSP Archives.
25 The Pauline Meeting booklet was tracked down by Fr Antonio Da Silva, listening over and over to the recording of the instructions of Fr Alberione. The Founder mentions it in one of his instructions: “Now then, let us put aside other things to mention what concerns these days. A week of total silence, the present week which we have started, that is, yes, the first. In the guidebook it is written… So let us thank the Lord for this particular retreat, this grace, perhaps the only one in a lifetime, to think about our soul… And to think about our Pauline life, with its four wheels: spirit, study, apostolate and poverty…”. Cf. A. DA SILVA, Il Cammino degli Esercizi spirituali nel pensiero di Don G. Alberione, Pauline Spirituality Centre, Divine Master House, Ariccia, 1981.
26 Cf. A. DAMINO, Bibliografia di Don Giacomo Alberione, Rome 1994
3 , 34.
27 In the April-May 1959 San Paolo, Fr Alberione wrote about the retreat: “Everything is to be recorded for the future and for those who are absent” (Cf. CISP 192).
28 In the multimedia process which the Pauline Spirituality Centre is preparing of this and all the other works of Fr Alberione, it is possible to compare simultaneously the voice of the Founder, when available, with the manuscript, the typescript or the printed text.
29 Cf. I:43.
30 Cf. I:52.
31 Cf. I:310-311.
32 Although Fr Alberione says, several times, in his instructions that the Pauline Family is complete in April 1960 (cf. I:19; 357; III:184), we probably do not have to take this adjective as meaning that the Pauline Family has been brought to its close. From a piece of paper inserted in the flap of his personal diary which he starts in October 1957 and finishes in 1963, there is a declaration signed in full by the same Fr James Alberione (with the date: Ariccia, 10 August 1963) in which he states: “This the holy heritage to my successors to complete the work”, with a reference to all the female institutes which should have “at their side a respective male institute with a parallel goal.”
33 Cf. I:285.
34 However, to charge Fr Alberione with paying little attention to the women's movement seems quite out of place.
35 Written testimony of Fr Renato Perino, 10 June 1995.