Saint Louis Orione, prêtre
Saint Louis Orione
Prêtre italien (+ 1940)
Disciple de saint
Jean Bosco, il est le fondateur de plusieurs instituts religieux dont
les vocations sont fort différentes: les Fils de la Divine Providence, les
Petites Sœurs missionnaires de la Charité, les Sœurs aveugles du
Saint-Sacrement et les Ermites de saint Albert. Cet apôtre de la miséricorde
voua sa vie aux malchanceux et aux souffrants. Il mourut à San Remo en Italie.
Fondateur de la Petite Œuvre de la Divine Providence (approuvée en 1903), il passa trois ans à secourir les victimes du séisme de 1908 qui ravagea Messine et Reggio Calabria. Le développement de la congrégation coïncide avec la fin de la première Guerre Mondiale, avec la création de nombreux collèges et centres de formation et d'assistance. L'activité missionnaire débuta au Brésil en 1913."Don Orione" a été béatifié par Jean-Paul II le 26 octobre 1980, puis canonisé le 16 mai 2004.
Source: VIS 080625 (210) le 25 juin 2008, le Pape a
béni la statue du saint italien Luigi Orione (1872-1940), placée dans une niche
extérieure de la Basilique vaticane.
À San Remo en Ligurie, l’an 1940, saint Louis Orione,
prêtre, qui fonda la Petite Œuvre de la divine Providence, pour le bien des
jeunes et de tous les abandonnés.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/793/Saint-Louis-Orione.html
Alojzy Orione - from outside wall of Orionist Sisters House in Kolo (Poland)
Saint Louis ORIONE
Nom: ORIONE
Prénom: Louis (Luigi)
Pays: Italie
Naissance: 23.06.1872 à Pontecurone
Mort: 12.03.1940 à San Remo
Etat: Prêtre - Religieux - Fondateur
Note: Prêtre le 13.04.1895. Il fonde la Petite Œuvre de la divine Providence, les Petites Sœurs missionnaires de la Charité, les sacramentines aveugles et les ermites de S. Albert. Grande dévotion envers le Siège Apostolique. Il parcourt l'Italie, l’Europe et l'Amérique latine, soulageant ceux qui souffrent.
Béatification: 26.10.1980 à Rome par Jean
Paul II
Canonisation: 16.05.2004 à Rome par Jean
Paul II
Fête: 12 mars
Réf. dans l’Osservatore Romano: 1980 n.43 p.16 -
n.45 - 2003 n.14 p.5 - 2004
n.20 p.1-2.8-9 - n.21 p.2
Réf. dans la Documentation Catholique: 1980
p.1128 46 - 2004 n.12 p.555-556
Notice brève
Né pauvre, don Orione a eu toute sa vie le souci
d’aider les pauvres et de donner aux milieux populaires souvent hostiles
l’amour de l’Église et spécialement du Pape, et cela au moyen de la charité,
une charité qui l’a poussé à entreprendre de multiples œuvres et à fonder
plusieurs congrégations. A sa mort, le 12 mars 1940, Pie XII l’a appelé
"père des pauvres et grand bienfaiteur de l’humanité souffrante et
abandonnée".
Notice développée
Luigi (Louis) Orione naît dans une famille pauvre en
1872 à Pontecurone dans le diocèse de Tortona (au nord-ouest de l’Italie). Son
père, un simple paveur, est partisan de Garibaldi, donc peu favorable au pape,
mais sa mère est très pieuse. En 1886, il est élève au Valdocco, dans
l’institution fondée par saint Jean Bosco pour les enfants pauvres. A son
arrivée, il demande et obtient la faveur de se confesser au vénéré vieillard,
privilège normalement réservé aux plus âgés. Comme il le raconte lui-même, il
prépare fébrilement sa confession à l’aide de questionnaires et il remplit
plusieurs feuilles de papier. Puis, à genoux, il attend son tour en tremblant,
une main sur le cœur et l’autre dans sa poche, serrant les papiers. Don Bosco
lui dit seulement : « As-tu tué ? » Puis il lui demande ses
papiers et les déchire sans même les lire. Il lui dit : « Maintenant,
oublie tout cela » et il lui fait un sourire comme lui seul savait le
faire. Par la suite, quand il le rencontre, il lui dit :
« Souviens-toi que nous serons toujours des amis ». Le miséricordieux
don Bosco meurt en 1888. Louis reste au Valdocco encore une année. Puis, il
entre au séminaire de Tortona où, déjà, il se lance dans les œuvres de charité,
ouvre un premier patronage pour s’occuper des enfants pauvres et fonde un
collège pour les séminaristes qui ne peuvent payer leurs études. Il n’est
encore que diacre ! Déjà l’évêque lui confie des prédications dans telle
ou telle paroisse.
Il est ordonné prêtre le 13 avril 1895 et ouvre de
nouvelles maisons. Autour de ce “stratège de la charité” (Jean Paul II) se
groupent des clercs et des prêtres. Il lance en 1899 la branche des Ermites de
la Divine Providence, puis il fonde son œuvre principale la ‘Petite œuvre de la
Divine Providence’ (Piccola Opera della Divina Providenza). Imitant saint
Joseph Cottolengo, don Orione entreprend ses œuvres sans ressource aucune, en
s’appuyant uniquement sur la Providence. En 1903, l’évêque de Tortona reconnaît
les “Fils de la Divine Providence” (prêtre, frères, coadjuteurs et ermites),
Congrégation consacrée à “porter les petits, les pauvres et le peuple à
l’Église et au Pape, par les œuvres de charité”. Les membres de la congrégation
font un quatrième vœu de “fidélité au Pape”. En 1915, il fonde les Petites
Sœurs missionnaires de la Charité. Il leur joint les Adoratrices Sacramentines pour
accueillir mal-voyantes ou aveugles (une première dans l’Église), auxquelles
s’ajoutent par la suite les Contemplatives de Jésus crucifié. Il organise les
laïcs dans des associations, notamment, les “Petits Cottolengo” et forme
l’Institut séculier Don Orione et le Mouvement laïc Don Orione. Le fondateur
écrit :"Notre credo est le Pape, notre morale est le Pape; notre amour,
notre cœur, l’assise de notre vie est le Pape. » Pour lui, ce serait un
rêve de pouvoir faire ses vœux perpétuels dans les mains du Pape. Il le demande
comme une grâce très spéciale lors d’une audience avec Pie X, s’attendant à ce
que celui-ci lui fixe un jour pour la cérémonie. Mais il lui répond en
souriant : "Maintenant". "Saint-père, lui dit le fondateur,
comme Sa Sainteté le sait, au moins deux témoins sont exigés…" Et le Pape
de sourire : "Comme témoins nous prenons mon ange gardien et le
vôtre."
Don Orione est un prédicateur fascinant, “un véritable
volcan”. Il est aussi confesseur, organisateur de pèlerinages, de missions, de
processions et autres manifestations populaires de la foi. Il utilise aussi
l’écrit, voire la radio. Dévot envers la Madone, il encourage le culte de la
Vierge Marie par tous les moyens et, grâce au travail manuel de ses
séminaristes, il construit les sanctuaires de Notre-Dame de la Garde à Tortona
et de Notre-Dame de Caravaggio à Fumo. Il proclame : « Seule la
charité sauvera le monde » ; il la vit de façon héroïque en allant au
secours des populations sinistrées par les tremblements de terre de Reggio en Calabre
et de Messine en Sicile (1908). Saint Pie X en fait le vicaire général du
diocèse de Messine pendant trois ans pour aider les populations sinistrées à se
relever. Le 13 janvier 1915, veille de l’entrée en guerre de l’Italie, un
séisme secoue la région de Rome, jette bas le bourg de la Marsica et coûte la
vie à 30’000 personnes. Le roi, avec toute une suite en six voitures, vient
visiter les sinistrés. Le bruit d’une altercation attire son attention. Un
prêtre a l’air de discuter avec les carabiniers pour faire admettre dans l’une
des voitures une douzaine d’enfants dépenaillés et grelottants. Le souverain
s’approche, questionne. Avec une ferme douceur le prêtre lui dit :
« Ces orphelins meurent de froid, sire. Il faut qu’on les ramène au plus
tôt à Rome. » Le roi accepte de prêter une voiture et demande le nom du
prêtre. C’est don Orione, bien sûr ! Dès la première nouvelle du
tremblement, il était accouru pour prendre part aux secours. Cet épisode le
dépeint parfaitement.
Don Orione répète à tous : « la joie
parfaite ne peut se trouver que dans le parfait dévouement de soi-même à Dieu
et aux hommes, à tous les hommes ». Son zèle missionnaire qui s’est déjà
manifesté par l’envoi de ses premiers religieux au Brésil en 1913, s’étend
ensuite à d’autres pays. Lui-même effectue deux voyages missionnaires en
Amérique latine.
Au cours de son ministère apostolique, don Orione
connaît des souffrances physiques et morales et bien des épreuves. Il
écrit : « On aime et on sert le Christ, l’Église et les âmes si l’on
est en croix et crucifié ou bien on ne les aime pas et on ne les sert pas du
tout ». Il meurt en 1940 en soupirant : « Jésus !
Jésus ! Je viens vers toi ». Son corps, retrouvé intact lors de
l’exhumation de 1965, repose au sanctuaire de Notre-Dame de la Garde de
Tortona, élevé au rang de basilique par Jean-Paul II.
Actuellement, la Petite Œuvre de la Divine Providence est présente dans plus de trente Nations, en Europe, en Asie, en Amérique, et en Afrique. Elle comprend les Congrégations religieuses des Fils de la Divine Providence (1.100 membres), des Petites Sœurs Missionnaires de la Charité (900), l’Institut Séculier Orionien (170), et un vaste Mouvement Laïc Orionien qui répand dans le monde et surtout chez les pauvres l’esprit et les oeuvres du Fondateur.
SOURCE : http://www.abbaye-saint-benoit.ch/hagiographie/fiches/f0219.htm
CHAPELLE PAPALE POUR LA CANONISATION DE 6 BIENHEUREUX
HOMÉLIE DU PAPE JEAN-PAUL II
VI Dimanche de Pâques, 16 mai 2004
1. "C'est ma paix que je vous donne" (Jn 14, 27). Au cours du temps pascal, nous entendons souvent cette promesse de Jésus à ses disciples. La paix véritable est le fruit de la victoire du Christ sur le pouvoir du mal, du péché et de la mort. Ceux qui le suivent fidèlement deviennent les témoins et les artisans de sa paix.
Sous cette lumière, j'ai plaisir à contempler les six nouveaux saints, que l'Eglise présente aujourd'hui à la vénération universelle: Luigi Orione, Hannibal Marie di Francia, Josep Manyanet y Vives, Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini, Paola Elisabetta Cerioli, Gianna Beretta Molla.
2. "Ces hommes qui ont voué leur vie au nom de notre Seigneur Jésus Christ" (Ac 15, 26). Ces paroles des Actes des Apôtres peuvent tout à fait s'appliquer à saint Luigi Orione, homme entièrement voué à la cause du Christ et de son Royaume. Des souffrances physiques et morales, des épreuves, des difficultés, des incompréhensions et des obstacles en tous genres ont marqué son ministère apostolique. "On aime et on sert le Christ, l'Eglise, les âmes - disait-il - si l'on est en croix et crucifié ou bien on ne les aime pas et on ne les sert pas du tout" (Ecrits, 68, 81).
Le coeur de ce stratège de la charité fut "sans frontières, car il était dilaté par la charité du Christ" (ibid., 102, 32). La passion pour le Christ fut l'âme de sa vie audacieuse, l'impulsion intérieure d'un altruisme sans réserve, la source toujours fraîche d'une inébranlable espérance.
Cet humble fils d'un paveur proclame que "seule la charité sauvera le monde" (ibid, 62, 13) et il répète à tous que "la joie parfaite ne peut se trouver que dans le parfait dévouement de soi- même à Dieu et aux hommes, à tous les hommes" (ibid.).
3. "Si quelqu'un m'aime, il gardera ma parole" (Jn 14, 23). Dans ces paroles évangéliques nous voyons se dessiner le profil spirituel d'Annibale Maria di Francia, que l'amour pour le Seigneur poussa à consacrer son existence tout entière au bien spirituel de son prochain. Dans cette perspective, il ressentit en particulier l'urgence de réaliser le commandement évangélique: "Rogate ergo... - Priez donc le Maître de la moisson d'envoyer des ouvriers à sa moisson" (Mt 9, 38).
Il laissa aux Pères Rogationnistes et aux Soeurs Filles du Divin Zèle la tâche de se consacrer de toutes leurs forces à ce que la prière pour les vocations soit "incessante et universelle". C'est cette même invitation que le Père Annibale Maria Di Francia adresse aux jeunes de notre temps, en la résumant dans sa célèbre exhortation: "Tombez amoureux de Jésus Christ".
De cette intuition providentielle est né dans l'Eglise un grand mouvement de prière pour les vocations. Je souhaite de tout coeur que l'exemple du Père Annibale Maria Di Francia guide et soutienne cette action pastorale également à notre époque.
4. "Mais le Paraclet, l'Esprit Saint, que le Père enverra en mon nom, lui, vous enseignera tout et vous rappellera tout ce que je vous ai dit" (Jn 14, 26). Depuis le début, le Paraclet a suscité des hommes et des femmes qui ont rappelé et diffusé la vérité révélée par Jésus. L'un d'entre eux fut Saint Josep Manyanet y Vives, véritable apôtre de la famille. S'inspirant de l'école de Nazareth, il réalisa son projet de sainteté personnelle et se consacra, avec un dévouement héroïque, à la mission que l'Esprit lui avait confiée. Il fonda à cette intention deux Congrégations religieuses. Un symbole visible de son aspiration apostolique est également la cathédrale de la "Sagrada Familia" à Barcelone.
Que saint José Manyanet bénisse toutes les familles et vous aide à apporter les exemples de la Sainte Famille dans vos foyers!
5. Homme de prière, amoureux de l'Eucharistie
qu'il aimait adorer longuement, saint Nimatullah
Kassab Al-Hardini est un exemple pour les moines de l'Ordre libanais
maronite comme pour ses frères libanais et pour tous les chrétiens du monde. Il
s'est donné totalement au Seigneur dans une vie de grand renoncement, montrant
que l'amour de Dieu est la seule véritable source de joie et de bonheur pour
l'homme. Il s'est attaché à chercher et à suivre le Christ, son Maître et
Seigneur.
Accueillant à ses frères, il a soulagé et guéri beaucoup de blessures dans les coeurs de ses contemporains, leur témoignant la miséricorde de Dieu. Puisse son exemple éclairer notre route, susciter chez les jeunes en particulier un vrai désir de Dieu et de la sainteté, pour annoncer à notre monde la lumière de l'Évangile!
6. "L'ange... me montra la Cité sainte, Jérusalem, qui descendait du ciel" (Ap 21, 10). L'image splendide proposée par l'Apocalypse de Jean exalte la beauté et la fécondité spirituelle de l'Eglise, la nouvelle Jérusalem. Paola Elisabetta Cerioli, dont l'existence porta d'abondants fruits de biens, est un témoin singulier de cette fécondité spirituelle.
En contemplant la Sainte Famille, Paola Elisabetta eut l'intuition que les communautés familiales réussissent à rester solides lorsque les liens de parenté sont renforcés et cimentés par le partage des valeurs de la foi et de la culture chrétienne. Afin de diffuser ces valeurs, la nouvelle sainte fonda l'Institut de la Sainte-Famille. En effet, elle était convaincue que les enfants ont besoin d'une famille saine et unie, généreuse et stable pour grandir sûrs et forts. Que Dieu aide les familles chrétiennes à accueillir et à témoigner en toute circonstance l'amour de Dieu miséricordieux.
7. Gianna Beretta Molla fut une simple messagère de l'amour divin, mais elle le fut de façon profondément significative. Quelques jours avant son mariage, dans une lettre à son futur mari, elle écrivait: "L'amour est le plus beau sentiment que le Seigneur ait placé dans l'âme des hommes".
A l'exemple du Christ, qui "ayant aimé les siens... les aima jusqu'à la fin" (Jn 13, 1), cette sainte mère de famille resta héroïquement fidèle à l'engagement pris le jour de son mariage. Le sacrifice extrême qui scella sa vie, témoigne que seul celui qui a le courage de se donner totalement à Dieu et à ses frères se réalise lui-même.
Puisse notre époque redécouvrir, à travers l'exemple de Gianna Beretta Molla, la beauté pure, chaste et féconde de l'amour conjugal, vécu comme une réponse à l'appel divin!
8. "Que votre coeur ne se trouble ni ne s'effraie" (Jn 14, 28). Les existences terrestres de ces six nouveaux saints nous poussent à persévérer sur notre propre voie, en nous en remettant à l'aide de Dieu et à la protection maternelle de Marie. Du ciel, puissent-ils à présent veiller sur nous et nous soutenir à travers leur puissante intercession.
© Copyright 2004 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
MESSAGE DU PAPE JEAN-PAUL II
1. J'ai appris avec joie que votre Institut commémore le centenaire de son approbation canonique par l'Evêque de Tortona, Mgr Igino Bandi. En cette heureuse circonstance, je suis heureux de vous adresser, ainsi qu'au Conseil général et aux membres de toute la Congrégation, une pensée cordiale, en vous assurant de ma proximité spirituelle à chacun des divers moments de la célébration qui contribueront certainement à faire revivre la ferveur des origines, pour poursuivre avec un enthousiasme immuable le chemin entrepris par le Fondateur il y a plus de cent ans.
2. Le clerc Luigi Orione, ancien élève de dom Bosco à Turin, n'avait que vingt ans lorsqu'il ouvrit la première Aumônerie à Tortona, et l'année suivante, en 1893, il devint fondateur en donnant vie à un "petit collège", avec en son sein une école pour les enfants pauvres. C'est dans les événements quotidiens, vécus avec foi et charité, que se développa le programme auquel le destinait la Divine Providence. Au futur Cardinal Perosi, son concitoyen et ami qui lui demandait quelle était son "idée", il écrivit une lettre en date du 4 mai 1897: "Il me semble que Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ m'appelle à un état de grande charité,... mais c'est un feu grand et doux qui a besoin de se diffuser et d'enflammer toute la terre. A l'ombre de chaque clocher s'élèvera une école catholique, à l'ombre de chaque Croix un hôpital: les monts feront place à la grande charité de Notre Seigneur Jésus et tout sera instauré et purifié par Jésus" (L'esprit de Dom Orione, I, 2).
Précisément parce qu'il était enflammé par ce feu mystique, dom Orione surmonta les obstacles et les difficultés des débuts et devint un apôtre inlassable, créatif et efficace. Certains compagnons de séminaire suivirent ce clerc fondateur; de nombreux élèves voulurent être prêtres comme lui. L'Oeuvre, qu'il dénomma dès le début de la Divine Providence, s'accrut en membres et en activité. L'Evêque de Tortona suivait avec intérêt l'évolution de ces initiatives si hardies et humainement fragiles, mais sut y reconnaître l'action de l'Esprit. A travers le Décret du 21 mars 1903, il en garantit le charisme et décréta la constitution de la Congrégation religieuse masculine des Fils de la Divine Providence, comprenant des prêtres, des frères ermites et coadjuteurs. Par la suite apparurent les Petites Soeurs missionnaires de la Charité, parmi lesquelles fleurirent deux branches contemplatives, les Sacramentines adoratrices non-voyantes et les Contemplatives de Jésus crucifié, tandis que, plus récemment, sont apparus l'Institut séculier de Dom Orione et le Mouvement des Laïcs de Dom Orione.
3. En cet anniversaire jubilaire, il m'est agréable d'exprimer ma profonde reconnaissance à vous tous, membres de la Famille de Dom Orione, pour la précieuse contribution apportée au cours de ces années à la mission de l'Eglise. Dans le même temps, il m'est agréable de rappeler ce que j'écrivais dans l'Exhortation apostolique Vita consecrata: vous aussi "vous n'avez pas seulement à vous rappeler et à raconter une histoire glorieuse, mais vous avez à construire une grande histoire!" (n. 110). C'est pourquoi je vous invite à regarder vers l'avenir, "où l'Esprit vous envoie pour faire encore avec vous de grandes choses" (ibid.).
Chers Fils de la Divine Providence, l'Eglise attend de vous que vous raviviez le don qui est en vous (cf. 2 Tm 1, 6), en renouvelant vos intentions, et, dans un monde qui change, que vous promouviez une fidélité créative à votre vocation. Je soulignais dans l'Exhortation apostolique susmentionnée: "Les Instituts sont donc invités à retrouver avec courage l'esprit entreprenant, l'inventivité et la sainteté des fondateurs et des fondatrices, en réponse aux signes des temps qui apparaissent dans le monde actuel. Il s'agit là surtout d'un appel à persévérer sur la voie de la sainteté, à travers les difficultés matérielles et spirituelles rencontrées dans les vicissitudes quotidiennes. Mais c'est aussi un appel à acquérir une bonne compétence dans son travail et à garder une fidélité dynamique dans sa mission, en adaptant lorsque c'est nécessaire les modalités aux situations nouvelles et aux besoins différents, en pleine docilité à l'inspiration divine et au discernement ecclésial" (n. 37).
Ce n'est qu'en demeurant solidement enracinés dans la vie divine et en con-servant intact l'esprit des origines que vous pourrez répondre de façon prophétique aux exigences de l'époque actuelle. L'engagement principal de chaque baptisé et, à plus forte raison, de chaque consacré, est de tendre vers la sainteté; et ce serait sans aucun doute "un contresens que de se contenter d'une vie médiocre vécue sous le signe d'une éthique minimaliste et d'une religiosité superficielle" (Novo millennio ineunte, n. 31). Dans le style de votre bienheureux fondateur, et selon la nature propre de la vie religieuse que vous avez embrassée, n'ayez pas peur de rechercher avec une constance patiente "ce "haut degré" de la vie chrétienne", en ayant recours à "une vraie pédagogie de la sainteté" (ibid.), personnelle et communautaire, solidement ancrée dans la riche tradition ecclésiale et ouverte au dialogue avec les temps nouveaux.
4. Fidélité créative dans un monde qui change: Que cette orientation vous serve de guide pour marcher, comme aimait le répéter dom Orione, "à la tête des temps". Si les célébrations du centenaire de l'approbation canonique poussent à "rappeler", en le revivant, le climat des origines, elles vous encouragent dans le même temps, en vue notamment du prochain Chapitre général, à "programmer" de nouvelles et courageuses interventions sur les frontières de la charité.
Que l'esprit de la première heure demeure intact! Je voudrais, à ce propos, souligner un aspect significatif de l'intuition charismatique du clerc dom Orione: son amour supérieur et unifiant pour la "Sainte Mère l'Eglise". Aujourd'hui comme hier, il est fondamental pour votre Oeuvre de cultiver cette passion intime pour l'Eglise, afin que vous puissiez "contribuer modestement, au pied du Siège apostolique et des Evêques, à renouveler et à unifier en Jésus-Christ, notre Seigneur, l'homme et la société, en apportant à l'Eglise et au Pape le coeur des enfants les plus abandonnés, des pauvres et des classes ouvrières: ad omnia in Christo instauranda, ut fiat unun ovile et unus pastor" (Constitutions, art. 5).
Que dom Orione continue de vous accompagner du ciel, avec les nombreux confrères qui, tout au long de ces cent ans, ont consacré leur existence au service du Christ et des pauvres. Que sur chacun de vous veille la Vierge Marie, Mère du Christ et Mère de l'Eglise et qu'elle fasse en sorte que, comme le priait dom Orione, toute votre vie soit "sacrée pour donner le Christ au peuple et le peuple à l'Eglise du Christ; qu'elle brûle et resplendisse du Christ et qu'elle se consume dans le Christ en une lumineuse évangélisation des pauvres; que notre vie et notre mort soient un cantique très doux de charité, un holocauste au Seigneur" (L'esprit de Dom Orione, IX, 131).
Je vous assure avec affection de mon souvenir constant dans la prière, tandis que je bénis de tout coeur toute votre Famille spirituelle et tous ceux qui sont au centre de vos préoccupations quotidiennes.
Du Vatican, le 8 mars 2003
IOANNES PAULUS II
© Copyright - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Il fut alors accepté dans le collège de Valdocco, où il connut Don Bosco, déjà âgé. Il parvint à obtenir le privilège de se faire Confesser par lui et, après avoir préparé trois cahiers entiers de péché, il vit le Saint les déchirer, qui lui dit, entre autres choses:
En 1889 il commença ses études de philosophie au séminaire de Tortona. En 1892, alors qu'il est encore clerc, il ouvrit un Oratoire, et l'année suivante un collège.
Il commença à ouvrir des œuvres dans toute l'Italie et en 1903 l'Évêque de Tortona reconnut la Congrégation Religieuse masculine de la « Petite Œuvre de la Divine Providence », composée de Prêtres, de Frères coadjuteurs et d'Ermites, avec le charisme apostolique de « collaborer pour porter les petits, les pauvres et le peuple de l'Église au Pape, moyennant les œuvres de Charité. »
Après le terrible tremblement de terre de 1908, il secourut Messina e Reggio Calabria, assistant les orphelins et la population.
En 1915 il fonda la branche féminine: les « Petites Sœurs Missionnaires de la Charité », à laquelle vinrent s'ajouter, en 1927, les « Adoratrices Sacramentines » pour les non-voyantes et, successivement, les « Sœurs Contemplatives de Jésus crucifié ».
Les Fondations s'étendirent dans une grande partie du monde, en Amérique latine, dans les États-Unis d'Amérique, en Angleterre, en Albanie.
Au cours de l'hiver 1940, pour essayer de soulager les problèmes de cœur et de poumons, dont il souffrait, il se rendit à la maison de San Remo même si, comme il disait, « ce n'est pas entre les palmiers que je veux vivre et mourir, mais entre les pauvres qui sont Jésus-Christ ».
Luigi Orione a été Béatifié le 26 Octobre 1980 et Canonisé le 16 Mai 2004, par le Pape Saint Jean Paul II (Karol Józef Wojtyła, 1978-2005).
Also known as
Aloysius Orione
Profile
Joined the Franciscans at Voghera, Italy as
a young man, but developed severe health problems and returned to his
family. Studied under Saint John
Bosco at Turin, Italy,
was present at Saint John‘s death,
and was cured of
his illness during Saint John‘s
funeral.
Studied at
the seminary in
Tortona, Italy.
While still a layman and student,
he opened San Luigi House at San Bernardino in 1893,
a home for the poor, homeless and
abandoned. Ordained on 13 April 1895.
Founded the Hermits of Divine Providence congregation,
the Ladies of Divine Providence, and an orphanage in Rome, Italy in 1899.
Under the patronage of Pope Saint Pius X,
he founded the Little Missionaries of Charity. Constructed the Marian shrine at
Tortona, a site that became a rallying point for people during times of
political unrest. To administer the houses of his congregations, Luigi travelled the
world, visiting houses in Wales, Brazil,
the United
States, and throughout Italy.
Born
23 June 1872 at
Pontecurone, Allessandria, Italy
12 March 1940 at
San Remo, Imperia, Italy from heart disease
body found intact when exhumed in 1965
interred at the shrine of
Our Lady of Safe Keeping, Tortona, Italy
5 February 1978 by Pope Paul
VI (decree of heroic
virtues)
26 October 1980 by Pope John
Paul II
16 May 2004 by Pope John
Paul II
Additional Information
other sites in english
images
video
sitios en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti in italiano
Calendario Francescano Secolare
Portraits
of Saints, by Antonio Sicari and Jaca Book
nettsteder i norsk
Readings
Engage always in good works to everyone but never do
harm to anybody. – Saint Luigi’s
life motto
Without Prayer nothing good is done. God’s works are
done with our hands joined, and on our knees. Even when we run, we must remain
spiritually kneeling before Him. – Saint Luigi
MLA Citation
“Saint Luigi Orione“. CatholicSaints.Info. 27
July 2020. Web. 12 March 2021.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-luigi-orione/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-luigi-orione/
Saint Luigi Orione is the founder of The Little
Work of Divine Providence, which is made up of two religious Congregations: the
Sons of Divine Providence, consisting of Priests and Brothers and the Little
Missionary Sisters of Charity. These two Congregations are supported by two
Contemplative orders: the Hermits of Divine Providence and the Blind
Sacramentine Sisters. New branches have begun recently and Don Orione's charism
has been embraced by thousands of lay people, men and women who have formed the
Don Orione Lay movement.
Don Orione died in 1940 but the family he started goes
on in more than 300 foundations in different parts of the world: in England,
Ireland and other European countries, in the North and South America, in Asia
and in several African Countries.
Saint Luigi Orione was born in Piedmont, Northern
Italy, at Pontecurone, a village near Tortona on 23rd June 1872. The young
Luigi felt he wanted to be a priest and joined the Franciscans, but had to
leave due to ill health. He was welcomed by St. John Bosco, but left the
Salesians after a few years to become a seminarian in his own Diocese of
Tortona.
While still a student, he started his life long work
for those he loved most, namely the poor. He catechised a small group of boys
and they followed him very much as children now follow priests, brothers and
sisters as they go about their work. Don Orione drew people to himself
throughout his life. They came to be with him; some to help him, others to be
helped.
Don Orione loved everybody; but the poor, the young,
the elderly, the sick and people with disabilities were his special friends.
His apostolate embraces different types of work. In
the British Isles at the time of his Canonisation in 2004 the Sons of Divine
Providence ran: several care homes for the elderly and people with learning
disabilities, day centres and supported independent housing establishments.
They have also founded and run missions in Kenya and Jordan for a number of
years. In 2002 they founded a mission in India.
Throughout the world the apostolate includes schools,
hostels for workers, hospitals, homes for the elderly, the disabled, the sick
and the blind, learning centres, Parishes and Missions.
The ideal of Don Orione's life was to live and to die
for the spiritual welfare of people, serving Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Mother
Church and its head, the Pope. His motto was, "Do good always, to all,
evil to none".
He travelled far and wide, started new foundations at
home and abroad and followed their progress. He died in Italy on 12th March
1940 after sending a loving message to the Pope: His last words were:
"Jesus.. Jesus.. Jesus."
His body is incorrupt and can be venerated in Tortona.
He was beatified in Rome on 26th October 1980 by Pope John Paul II. The same
Pope declared him a Saint on 16th May 2004.
Miracle attributed to Blessed Don Orione
The official publication of the Decree formally
recognising the miracle attributed to the intercession of Blessed Luigi Orione
was held in Rome on 7th July 2003, in the presence of the Holy Father, John
Paul II.
The miraculous cure occured in Pierino Penacca, a man
from the diocese of Tortona (Alessandria). He was born at Momperone on May 14th
1912. As a young man, Pierino knew Don Orione.
In November 1990, Pierino became very ill and found
that he was spitting blood. A lung tumour was diagnosed and confirmed. His
general health worsened and on 28th November he was admitted to the San
Raffaele Hospital, Milan. There, two further cytological tests detected the
presence of a “lung carcinoma”. He was aged 78 years old and the doctors
declared that neither chemotherapy nor radiotherapy would diminish the
tumour so he was discharged from hospital to be with his family.
It was at this stage that Pierino, his sons, some of
the Don Orione priests, friends and even the disabled people at the Cottolengo
turned to Don Orione in prayer asking for his intercession. Surprisingly and
without any explanation there was a speedy recovery and no traces of the deadly
tumour could be found. Various tests were carried out in the the following 11
years and the findings were all clear. This healing could not be
explained scientifically, but the Church recognised it as a miracle attributed
to the intercession of Blessed Luigi Orione.
Pierino himself says “I remember only that I was very
ill, blood was coming out of my mouth and I was feeling very worn out. I
remember very little of being admitted to hospital; I find it easier to recall
far away things, of my youth, rather than recent years.
After being discharged from hospital I started to feel
well. I have always had a great trust in Don Orione and I pray for his
intercession always. Since I recovered I must thank the Lord and Don Orione.”
The Canonisation May 16th 2004
Sunday May 16th 2004 was a very historic day in the
life of the congregation of the Sons of Divine Providence. This was the day
when its founder Luigi Orione was canonised.
Here is an account written by one of the pilgrims about that day.
This day sees 63 pilgrims of Divine Providence from
Britain and Ireland waking up in the Mondo Migliore centre, near Castel
Gondolfo just outside Rome, planning to leave early so as to secure good seats
in St Peters square.
The coach dropped us off on the Via della
Conciliazione at 7:30am on Sunday. Most of us made our way into the seating
area in St Peters square hoping to get close to the outside altar. A few of us
were privileged to go as helpers with those in wheelchairs into the disabled
persons section at the front of the congregation. The weather was glorious. The
sun rolled over us like a huge natural spotlight. As well as Don Orione, five
other men and women were to be canonised that day. Long before John Paul II
came out banners and songs filled the air, as they did during the whole
ceremony. You could sense an infectious enthusiasm together with a deep
appreciation for the lives of the holy men and women whose faces smiled down on
us from the banners set up on the facade of St Peters basilica. When John Paul
II finally appeared to start the celebrations at about 9:30, he was greeted
with loud cheers and long applause. He was flanked on his left with rows of
cardinals and dignitaries, and on his right with rows of priests who helped him
in concelebrating the mass.
Don Orione, the Father of the poor, is now a Saint who
intercedes for us in heaven. Pope John Paul said of him ... “His witness is
alive still today. The world, all too often dominated by indifference and
violence, needs persons like him who ‘fill with love the furrows of the earth
(that are instead) so full of selfishness and hatred” (Writings, 62, 99).
Not everybody could go to the canonisation. Some of
the “family” had to make the sacrifice of staying at home! The canonisation was
broadcasted on two major private networks, EWTN from the United States and
Telepace from Italy, and so many got the chance to see it from the armchair
rather than the obelisk!
Don Orione would be the first to use the media to his
advantage had he lived today. He said we needed to be “ahead of the times”, and
use all at our disposal to proclaim the good news of the gospel.
May Saint Orione help us to be “Oriones” in today’s
world.
On 25 June 2008, Pope Benedict XVI unveiled and
blessed a statue of St. Luigi Orione, sculptured from white Carrara marble by
Alessandro Romano. The statue, standing in one of the Michaelangelo niches of
St. Peter’s basilica in the Vatican, portrays Don Orione’s active life. He
holds a bible in his right hand with the phrase “ONLY CHARITY WILL SAVE THE
WORLD”. With his left hand Don Orione embraces a boy he has rescued from an
earthquake. The embrace is paternal, kind and comforting. The boy is promised bread
and the Word of God for the future.
SOURCE : http://www.sonsofdivineprovidence.org/LuigiOrione.html
ST LOUIS ORIONE
Meeting Don
Bosco as a boy
Imbibing
Salesian spirit
Founder of
Religious Congregations
"We
will always be friends"
.jpg)
.jpg)
CANONIZATION OF SIX NEW SAINTS
HOMILY OF JOHN PAUL II
Sixth Sunday of Easter, 16 May 2004
1. "Peace I leave with you" (Jn 14: 27). During the Easter season, we frequently hear this promise of Jesus to his disciples. True peace is the fruit of Christ's victory over the power of evil, sin and death. Those who follow him faithfully become witnesses and builders of his peace.
It is in this light that I wish to contemplate the six new Saints, offered to us today by the Church for universal veneration: Luigi Orione, Hannibal Mary Di Francia, José Manyanet y Vives, Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini, Paola Elisabetta Cerioli, Gianna Beretta Molla.
2. "Men who have risked their lives for the sake of Our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 15: 26). These words taken from the Acts of the Apostles can be well-applied to St Luigi Orione, a man who gave himself entirely for the cause of Christ and his Kingdom. Physical and moral sufferings, fatigue, difficulty, misunderstandings and all kinds of obstacles characterized his apostolic ministry. "Christ, the Church, souls", he would say, "are loved and served on the cross and through crucifixion or they are not loved and served at all" (Writings, 68, 81).
The heart of this strategy of charity was "without
limits because it was opened wide by the charity of Christ" (ibid.,
102, 32). Passion for Christ was the soul of his bold life, the interior thrust
of an altruism without reservations, the always fresh source of an indestructible
hope.
This humble son of a man who repaired roads proclaimed that "only charity will save the world" (ibid., 62, 13), and to everyone he would often say that "perfect joy can only be found in perfect dedication of oneself to God and man, and to all mankind" (ibid.).
3. "Whoever loves me will keep my word" (Jn 14: 23). In these words of the Gospel we see illustrated the spiritual profile of Hannibal Mary Di Francia, whose love for the Lord moved him to dedicate his entire life to the spiritual well-being of others. In this perspective, he felt above all the urgency to carry out the Gospel command: "Rogate ergo... Pray then to the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest!" (Mt 9: 38).
He left to the Rogationist Fathers and the Daughters of Divine Zeal the task to do their utmost with all their strength so that prayer for vocations would be "unceasing and universal". This same call of Fr Hannibal Mary Di Francia is directed to the young people of our times, summed up in his usual exhortation: "Fall in love with Jesus Christ".
From this providential intuition, a great movement of prayer for vocations rose up within the Church. I hope with all my heart that the example of Fr Hannibal Mary Di Francia will guide and sustain such pastoral work even in our times.
4. "The Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you" (Jn 14: 26). From the beginning, the Holy Spirit has brought forth men and women who have remembered and spread the truth revealed by Jesus. One of these was St José Manyanet, a true apostle of the family. Inspired by the school of Nazareth, he carried out his plan of personal sanctity and heroically devoted himself to the mission that the Spirit entrusted to him. He founded two religious congregations. A visible symbol of his apostolic zeal is also the temple of the Holy Family of Barcelona.
May St José Manyanet bless all families and help them follow the example of the Holy Family in their homes!
5. A man of prayer, in love with the Eucharist which he adored for long periods, St Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini is an example for the monks of the Order of Lebanese Maronites as he is for his Lebanese brothers and sisters and all Christians of the world. He gave himself completely to the Lord in a life full of great sacrifices, showing that God's love is the only true source of joy and happiness for man. He committed himself to searching for and following Christ, his Master and Lord.
Welcoming his brothers, he reassured and healed many wounds in the hearts of his contemporaries, witnessing to God's mercy. May his example enlighten our journey and bring forth, especially in young people, a true desire for God and for holiness to proclaim to our world the light of the Gospel!
6. "The Angel... showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven" (Rv 21: 10). This marvellous image in the Apocalypse of John exalts the beauty and spiritual fruitfulness of the Church, the new Jerusalem. A unique witness to this spiritual fruitfulness is Paola Elisabetta Cerioli, whose life was full of good fruits.
Contemplating the Holy Family, Paola Elisabetta understood that families remain strong when the bonds among their members are sustained and kept together by sharing the values of faith and a Christian way of life. To spread these values, the new Saint founded the Institute of the Holy Family. She was convinced that in order for children to grow up sure of themselves and strong, they needed a family that was healthy and united, generous and stable. May God help Christian families to welcome and witness in every situation to the love of the merciful God.
7. Gianna Beretta Molla was a simple, but more than ever, significant messenger of divine love. In a letter to her future husband a few days before their marriage, she wrote: "Love is the most beautiful sentiment the Lord has put into the soul of men and women".
Following the example of Christ, who "having loved his own... loved them to the end" (Jn 13: 1), this holy mother of a family remained heroically faithful to the commitment she made on the day of her marriage. The extreme sacrifice she sealed with her life testifies that only those who have the courage to give of themselves totally to God and to others are able to fulfil themselves.
Through the example of Gianna Beretta Molla, may our age rediscover the pure, chaste and fruitful beauty of conjugal love, lived as a response to the divine call!
8. "Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid" (Jn 14: 28). The earthly events of these six new Saints spur us to persevere on our own journey, confiding in the help of God and the maternal protection of Mary. From Heaven, may they now watch over us and support us with their powerful intercession.
© Copyright 2004 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Luigi Orione church in Ostojów,
Poland.
Kościół p.w. Alojzego Orione we wsi Ostojów, woj. świętokrzyskie.
Blessed Luigi Orione
Form the book: "Portraits of Saints" (Ritratti di Santi) of Antonio Sicari ed. Jaca Book
"It was few days after the earthquake (1915, in
Marsica, in Abruzzo). The most part of the victims was still under the rubbles.
The rescues were hardly able to start. The frightened survivors lived in the
vicinity of the destroyed houses in makeshift shelters. It was full winter,
particularly cold that year. New tremors and snow storms threatened us (...).
During certain nights, the cries of the wild beasts
did not let you sleep (...). One of that grey and freezing morning, after a
sleepless night, I saw a very strange scene. A dirty and in bad condition small
priest, with ten day's growth of beard, hanged about the rubbles, gathered
round a band of children and boys, become without family. In vain the small
priest asked whether there was a mean of transport to take that boys to Rome. The
railroads were interrupted by the earthquake, there were no other vehicles for
a so long trip.
In the meanwhile five or six cars arrived and stopped.
The King (Vittorio Emanuele III), with his retinue,
was visiting the destroyed communes. As soon as the famous characters had gone
down their cars and had gone away, the small priest, without asking permission,
began to hoist on one of them the boys by him taken. But, foreseeable as it
was, the Carabinieri stayed to guard them objected, and since the priest insisted,
a lively squabble born, to the point to catch the eye of the same Sovereign.
Not at all frightened, the priest came forward and, with the hat in the hands,
asked to the King to let him for a few time the free disposal of those car to
take the orphans to Rome, or at least to the nearest railroad station still in
activity. Given the circumstances, the King could not deny.
Together with the others, I saw with surprise and
admiration the whole scene. As soon as the priest, with his load of boys, had gone
away, I asked around me «Who is that extraordinary man?». And an old man, who
had entrusted to him his little grandchild, answered me: «A certain don Orione,
a rather strange priest.»".
In this way the writer Ignazio Silone had told in
"Uscita di sicurezza" his first meeting with don Orione, happened
when he, only fifteen-year old, missed home and family just during that
terrible earthquake we are talking about.
Then, in 1915, that strange priest was already the
beloved and respected founder of a religious institute that was concerned with
the poor men of each kind. Nevertheless he had immediately come personally,
among the Apennines, to look for the lost orphans among the cottages.
Sometimes he had to compete with the wolves that poor
half-naked orphans whom he looked for, taking with him clothes, biscuits and
gianduiotti, staying days and days soaked of water, running through paths full
of snow to reach tumble-down villages on their mountains.
"Oh, these curs do not want just stop..."he
explained to the children gathered on chance little truck that had scrambled up
on Monte Bove, up to 1,300 metres, but there were just wolves that jumped
around, trying to bite the terrified children.
It seemed a scene form a fairy-tale, to tell around
the fire. It was, instead, the tragic reality: to rescue about ten children,
don Orione wore out without food, in the cold, in the inhuman hard work, until
he fell exhausted.
When other collaborators of his same institute came,
they found him painfully feverish. He relied on their care murmuring: "In
these days, two years of my life went away".
An other famous scholar of that time, baron Von Hùgel,
had the occasion to listen about these deeds from the mouth of his own
daughter, who was an eye-witness. As a conclusion of his "Essay and
Addresses on Philosophy and Religion" he remembered the experience of his
daughter, already dead. He wrote: "When my older daughter, about eight
months before her death, was able from Rome to arrive to the centre of the
terrible devastation, just caused by an exceptionally violent earthquake, an
impressive contrast stroke her spirit.
Among the death and the disorder don Orione moved,
completely absorbed in the misfortune of that poor, a humble priest, a man to
whom many looked to as a saint, come from the humbles and the poor, for the
humbles and the poor.
He carried two children, one for each arm, and
everywhere he went, he brought order, hope and faith in the middle of all that
confusion and that desperation.
My daughter told me that this let everyone feel that
Love was at the bottom to every things, a Love that just there, in that places,
revealed through the full up, loving gift of himself, of that humble
priest..."
To say the truth, don Orione had already a long
experience of in which way to bring love in such calamities.
Just seven years before, an other earthquake had razed
to the ground in few minutes the cities of Messina and Villa San Giovanni. Only
in the Sicilian town, on 150,000 inhabitants, 80,000 of them died.
Already then he was in front line, organising the
helps, installing his first headquarters in Reggio Calabria, in an abandoned
wagon on the dead railroad line.
But well soon all the net of the help passed through
his hands and it was him who co-ordinate the helps coming from the Pope and
from the Royal Family.
He worked to the point that Pio X decided to appoint
temporarily him, a little priest from Piedmont, general of a just formed
religious Congregation: General vicar of the diocese of Messina.
As a consequence, he lived for two years in the
archiepiscopal curia of that disaster-stricken city.
He was not the kind for the compromises and he was
obliged to work in a region where the agreements were continually solicited and
requested. There were therefore not missing of tribulation, harassments and
attempts to slander him.
But don Orione was not the kind to give up. On the
coat of arms of a bishop, he had read the ancient and ambitious witticism taken
form the poems of the Latin poet Orazio: "Frangar nec flector"
("Also if broken, I will not let me subdue!"). He had commented:
"I will not will let me neither break nor subdue!".
Pio X, who had entrusted to him that onerous
commitment, sent him form Rome grieved messages: "Take to don Orion my
benediction and say him to have patience, patience, patience, and that with the
patience you can do miracles.".
The miracles of don Orione were, in the meantime, the
orphanage that he was able to open in Calabria and in Sicily.
Bu it is time to go to the origins of this adventure.
Who was defined as "father of orphans and of
poor" born in Pontecurone, near Alessandria, in the 1872, from a vary
humble family, that used to live in a rustic cottage, seized to the villa of
Urbano Rattazzi, then famous politician.
His dad was a streets piver and boasted to be a
"garibaldino" and also a little bit anticlerical; his mum earned a
little money during the harvest-time when, at three a.m., she started to go to
glean in the fields, bringing the little Luigi enveloped in a shawl.
He was the youngest of four children and the clothes
arrived to him when the other three brothers have already well used them. It
was, however, a honest poverty.
“That poor old countrywoman of my mother, don Orione
will tell afterwards, got up at three in the morning and straight to work, and
she seemed a spindle that worked, always she worked, she acted as a woman and,
with her children, she could also acted as a man, because our father was away,
working in Monferrato.
She sharpened the sickle for grass and she did this,
without talking it to the grinder, she wove the cloth with hemp spinned by her,
and my brothers shared so many sheets, so much beautiful linen, poor my mother…
When she died, we put on her bride dress, after fifty-one years she was
married; shed had it dyed black and it still cut its fine figure, and it was
her most beautiful dress. You see, dear my children, how did our saint and
beloved olds?”
But his mum was, above all, very much believer, and
don Orione will always remember with emotion not only that she often went to take
Eucharist, but that when she came back, she always said her children: “I prayed
first for you and then for me. I received my Lord for you and for me.” To the
little Luigi seemed as his mum starved herself to give I to him, even when she
take the Holy Communion!
He will also remember:
“My mother, also when me and my brother were already
grown up, used to fix for us the seats in the church: “Because I want to see
you all…” She wanted to know where we were in church and wanted to hear our
voices praying. “My mother let us pray sitting down only when we will ill”.
These are sketches of other times, but they make us
breath the climate of unity, force and faith from which Luigi took that
incredible resistance to the hard work that was characteristic of him, and that
“Christian” passion for the poor men that never abandoned him.
When, at the end of his life, they obliged him to go
in a boarding-house for convalescent in San Remo after different heath attacks,
and after he had already received the last Sacraments, he will grumble: “It is
not among the palms I want live and die, but among the poor that are Jesus
Christ.”
Form many Christians, this love “to the poor that are
Jesus Christ” born later, as maturation of the grow-up faith and not without an
effort. For him it started naturally, as a never forgotten attachment, respect
and veneration, to those poor Christians that were dad, mum and his brothers.
He himself, besides, from ten to thirteen years old had helped his father in
paving streets and carrying wheelbarrows, wandering far from home.
He already dreamed to join the Franciscans, because he
used to consider them as the monks of poor and humbles that they wanted to
help.
He tried in fact, at thirteen years old, but a strong
pneumonia forced him to come back home.
They were able to find a place for him in the college
of that Turinese priest that all used to consider as the apostle of abandoned
youth. I refer to don Bosco to whom at the end of 1886, had a few more than one
year of life..
When the little Orione arrived, he asked for a special
permission in order to be able to be confessed by don Bosco, who usually
devoted himself to the older boys, form fifteen years old.
To be sure of doing a good and complete confession, he
had consulted some “forms” of “searching of soul” and he had copied almost in
full. Only to the question: “Do you have killed?” he reply in the negative. He
had copied all the other sins, filling up some notebooks.
But it is worth listening the story from his own
mouth:
“With a hand in the pocket of the notebooks and the
other to the chest, I was waiting, on my knees, trembling, my turn. « What will
don Bosco tell, I was wondering, when I will read to him all this stuff?». My
turn came. Don Bosco looked at me for a while and without I opened my mouth,
stretching out a hand he said: «Give me then these your sins». I stretched one
notebook, pinched on rolled up from the bottom of the pocket. He took it and
without not even open it, he lacerated it.
«Give me the others». They suffered the same fate.
«and now, he finished, your confession is made, do not think to what you have
written and do not turn back no more to contemplate the past», and he smiled,
as only him could smile”.
To outline don Bosco’s personality and the genius of
his pedagogical method, a similar episode worth than many volumes.
There is no wonder if when the saint was taken
seriously ill, there were six boys of the oratory that during a solemn Mess, in
an explicit way, that offered their lives. Among them, there was the little Orione.
Also the mystery of the church emerges in all its
beautiful when you look together, in an unique quick glance, the old and wise
priest that confesses and educates the shy and scrupulous boy. Both of them had
their hearts ardent of love for God and for the neighbour, both of them were
decided for the sanctity. Now both of them are equally saints and venerated in
the Church.
It was logic to wait then that Orione stayed with the
Salesiani and he became, with the time, one of the most faithful and brilliant
collaborators.
More than once don Bosco, after that famous
confession, told him with intention looking him fixed in the eye: “Remember
that we will always be friends.”
Luigi, besides, was already preparing with a course of
spiritual exercises to enter in the novitiate of the Salesiani, following a
calling of which he had never doubted.
He started to have doubts during his prayers, when the
possibility to joint the diocesan seminary occurred. He turned out those doubts
as a temptation, they became more twisted. He spent an entire night crying and
praying, leaned to the grave of don Bosco, that was in the centre of the garden
asking him three signs (“It was a boyish prank, he would have said later, but
however…!”). One of the signs however, was very important: it concerned the
return of his dad to the religious practice. All three came true.
The last anxieties disappeared the next might, when he
dreamed don Bosco that helped him, smiling with much paternal tenderness, to
wear to cassock that he would have had to wear in seminary.
Now we can say that don Bosco, from the sky, knew why
don Orione did not have to become a Salesiano: his work, in fact, was devoted
only for the young people, that of don Orione, instead, had to be devoted the
poor of each kind and the relief of every possibly poverty.
He would have been busy with all the “work of mercy”
that, according to the catechism, are fourteen!
Something of all the other founders of religious
institutes, also of the greatest, will be in him and in his activity. We will
see it.
He had gone then to the seminary in Tortona, where he
have completed grammar-school studies, showing, to said of all, a really model
student: he used to excelled in studying, in charity, and in that contagious
enthusiasm that would have been characteristic of him. “I was good, then!”, he
would tell years later, remembering always with nostalgia those years, during
which he had learned to become grand of Christ and of Church.
When he started studying theology, his father died,
and he lost also the little economic grant that his family could give him.
Fortunately, in Alessandria there was the use to
offer, to the three poorest seminarists, the possibility to work as attendants
in the Cathedral. They could attend to the lessons in the seminary, but they
lived in some little rooms under the vault of the Cathedral near the bell
tower. They served two or three Masses a day, they took care of the vestments
on of the candles and they received a little salary, beyond same tips from the
canonical.
It was not much, but it was enough to live; they need
only to study more intensively, because the time flow away more speedily. In
that attic, don Orione studied, prayed and worked… and he was preparing for his
mission. He did not use the freedom to the strong discipline of the seminary to
be dispelled, but to incite the fire that don Bosco had put in his heart. The
little rooms under the vault became a rendezvous of urchins that Orione
searched and took home in large number. Here he did some catechism, he amused
them, playing hide-and-seek in the wide attics, and he did not missed the time
of toasted chestnuts. In conclusion he did what he had seen doing in the don
Bosco’s oratory, but he did it in high, among the old wooden saints put on rest
among the dust.
There was some problem obviously. Some time the old
canonicals, from over there, heard In high some strange trampling; moreover,
the sacristy had become very popular, not for devotes or penitents, but for
queues of urchins that asked the way to “go up to Orione”.
It could not last. Also in town, when he was seen
walking with his noisy going, many used to look at him really perplexed, some
also with annoyance and suspicion. There was also many problems: the little
salary as a sacristan was no more enough since when he had started to help the
more serious poverties of his boys.
However, on orders form above, that makeshift oratory
on the vault of the Cathedral had to finish.
The boys used to meet in the street. They gathered on
a little square and there Orione used to wait for them: then he took them up
toward the ruined castle, playing and on the grass he did his catechism
lessons: a travelling oratory.
It was Holy Week, a real time of passion for the poor
seminarist that did not know how to do, but he knew that God asked him exactly
that exceptional work.
Luckily the bishop of the city was a real father. From
several time he had watched the strange apostolic creativeness of that young
seminarist and he thought that the priests should have taken example and realize
in their turn some oratories.
So he called Orione and put at his disposal the garden
of the bishopric. To suffer, a little, was the old mother of the bishop that
saw destroyed, in a Sunday, all her flowers, her flowerbeds, the well taken
paths. Now there was only a playground, well flat and about ten shouting boys.
As green there was only an old pine, because they said that over it the Virgin
Mary appeared. But there was a need of swings and also the pine finished to
give excellent boards.
Orione was sure that also the Virgin Mary were happy,
she that now smiled form a beautiful statue, as a mum that looks pleased her
children playing.
“And there was who grumbles, who found fault with, who
laughed and laughed at and who said I was crazy”, he would have remembered many
years later.
Criticisms do not leave bruises, but ruin good will
and trust. Little more than one year later, the bishop communicated him the
need to close the oratory, even if the boys were hundreds.
There was the politics and also the juvenile
impulsiveness of our saint (“When I was young, he would tell nicely, I was also
a little politic…”). To defence the Pope, attacked by anticlericals, the young
had made a speech, in which, he tells. “I quoted Vittorio Emanuele II and I
said what was not wise saying. They set the police on my tracks…”.
And now the Prefect, to silent the matter, demanded
the closing of that oratory that, according to what he said, could become a
haunt of rebels.
Luigi received the news with bowed head, he took the
key and to put it in the hands of the statue of the Virgin Mary. Then he went
up in his little room to cry. He stayed in the dark, with his forehead against
the glasses of a little window that opened on to the courtyard, in front of the
Virgin Mary. Let’s listen to his own account: “I stayed watching at the oratory
that would not be opened any longer; crying and praying, because it seemed that
all was over. I cried, like a child cries, with the abandon, the innocence and
the faith of a child… and I rayed the Virgin Mary and I put me and the oratory
in her hands…
And so, crying and praying and making sacrifice f all,
and giving everything to the Virgin Mary, without knowing I put my arms on the
window-sill… and I fall asleep… and I dreamed this great and saint dream that I
have never forgotten any more…
The description of the dream is wide, beautiful and it
is a pity now to have to summarise it. He saw the walls of the garden
disappear, the houses disappear, and make a big plain.
Of the walls of the garden stayed only a poplar over
which there was a Virgin Mary of indescribable beauty, with her Baby in her
arms, and her cloak, more light blue than the sky, were enlarging, until it had
covered that huge plain in which there were thousand and thousand of boys, of
every race and colour, as far as the eye can see, and their number increased,
increased and among there were clericals, priests and nun…
We follow his account:
“The Virgin Mary turned to me showing me them. And I
heard from that crowd the sweetest song of “Magnificat”… and all the boy were
singing, everyone in his own language, but the different idioms had fused in
one only wonderful choir. The Virgin Mary started singing… and I waked up.”.
He had his heart full of peace.
The fact that that oratory had to close was not a
problem any linger. It meant that he had to open another one bigger and with
new prospects.
The occasion arrived very soon.
The bishop had just made build a good seminary that
was revealed as too small for the large mount of requests.
There was also the problem of whom that were to poor
to pay the charge.
Orione offered to open a kind of branch: a college in
which to let study the poor boys, who in case could prepare there for the
priesthood.
The bishop gave a generic permission, thinking that
that clerical had no money, no house neither a college!
To be prudent, he took back the permission before the
day ended. When, nevertheless, he called Luigi to tell him not to think any
more to it, he was told that it was a pity. Everything was ready; the house had
been found and the rent had been already paid for one year
How did he do? Just out the bishopric, a friend of him
told him that his father let a house just out Tortona, for 400 Lire a year.
Orione had “stopped” it immediately, time to pay one week. On the way home he
had met an old woman he knew; they have talked of this and that, the idea of
the college came out.
“A college? I put my grandson! How much do you take?”
“A little, what you give me”
“If I give you 400 Lire (all her savings), how long
will you take him?”
“For all the grammar school!” exclaimed Orione
starting for the joy for that evident symbol of Providence.
And the bishop stayed so thoughtful that he did not
want to risk to opposing the sky.
One year later the house became inadequate and Orione
took in the centre of Tortona, an abandoned convent. There was never money.
They provided to the food with the fees, every family gave what they could, and
with the offers that often arrived as miracles. As teacher there were the same
founder who taught Italian, Story and Geography, and some theology students
given by the diocesan seminary.
In the meantime, even if he was only a deacon, the
bishop often sent him to preach in the parishes of the diocese.
At the end, in 1895, Orione became priest. In the
history of the Church he represents a case rare to the point of being unique of
a seminarist that becomes a founder of a religious institute. And this he was
already, it you think that even some students from Turin and Genoa referred to
that cleric.
The day of his ordination, the bishop let him to dress
with the cassock six boarders that wanted to became priests “under the guide of
don Luigi”.
Moreover, monsignor authorized some seminarists that
were attracted by Orione’s job to leave the seminary and to start with him a
kind of common life.
The “Little Work of the Divine Providence” born in
this way.
Around this group of “sacred”. Lived, as an unique
family, both some poor boys that could not effort the fees of the seminary, and
those who wish to take part of the nascent institute.
The manager’s office, that of don Orione, was the
entrance hall of the building!
It had not passed much time and it was necessary to
move. A group went then of the Voghera hills, where it was organised as a
“farming colony”, this time with the aim to educate with the work those boys
that do not have liking with the studying.
In 1989 the bishop of Noto, in Sicily, that had read
an informative bulletin of the new Institute, wrote to don Orione, a
twenty-seven-year-old little priest, ordained from just three years, to offer
him a house where to open an Episcopal college for a least sixty students. He
went personally in the island to organize the foundation; when he leaved to
Tortona he took with him twelve clerics of the Sicilian diocese that wanted to
take part of his Congregation.
In the same year he founded the “Hermits of the Divine
Providence”. In a very old abbey on the Pavese Apennines, he took some
non-religious used to the work in the country, that wanted to devote themselves
to the Lord, in the contemplation and in the work, ad the Benedictine.
In short, similar communities born, always positioned
in the hermitages in the farming colonies, as a bearing group of prayer and
work.
Similar communities opened in Piedmont, in Lombardy,
in Umbria, in Lazio, in Sicily, where the disciples of don Orione broke up and
let bloom again waste areas for some time unfruitful.
Among these sacred hermits there were also some
blinds: the process of beatification is in process for one of them, the famous
“Frate Ave Maria”.
In 1915, Orione started to scatter Italy with nursing
homes called “little Cottolengo”. What that Cottolengo did in Turin on a large
scale, he scatters in a smaller scale in all of Italy and in the world (mine
foundation before his death!), to accept the most repulsive miseries, those who
the society wants at all costs get out of its sight.
The sick people had to be organized in “different
families”, according to the kind of illness, while the “Little Cottolengo” had
to welcome only these who could not find in any other hospital or nursing home:
the last of the lasts “of every nationality they are, of every religion they
are, and even if they are without religion, because God is Father of everyone”.
Still in 1915, don Orione founded the “Little
missionary nuns of Mercy”, as female branch of all his works: to the nuns were
entrusted to kindergartens, the orphanages, the parish works, the girl’s
education, the assistance to the poor and to the sick people, as well as the
dealing with the female’s works in all the other institutes.
The first three girls to whom he gave the cassock, he
called: Sister Faith, Sister Hope and Sister Charity.
Later he started a different female congregations,
devoted to the care of the Sanctuaries and for the activities connected to the
worship.
In 1927 he founded the “Sacramental Blind Nuns”: for
the perpetual adoration and the endless prayer, to which he entrusted the aim
to be support and root of all the other works.
We have already talked about the orphanages and the
two earthquake we talked about gave a great impulse to their diffusion. Now we
add: parishes, sanctuaries, schools, printing-works, nursing homes.
The foundations of houses and works to which don
Orione turned his hands to before to die at sixty-eight years old were more
that a hundred, not only in Italy but also in Brazil, in Argentina, in Uruguay,
in Chile, in the USA, in England, in Greece, in Poland, in Albania and in
Palestine.
He accepted also to go in the “roman Patagonia” as he
as a joke called the suburb of Rome in the Appio neigh borough, where Pio X
asked him to build a parish and a big school.
At the time of his death about 820 religious and
several hundreds of nuns belonged to the different branches of his “Little Work
of the Divine Providence”.
He defined everything “a humble congregation”, because
he himself was humble.
He went all around the world dressed as the last of
the poor, with the cassock mended and the shoes shapeless, without having
neither a clock or a wallet, managing floods of money, without knowing whether
there was money for the day after, feeling only a “servant of Providence”.
The name of his congregation was for him a son deep
conviction that eh waited answers and gifts from the Providence like a child
waits from his mother.
Visitors arrived with huge amount of money just when
the bill were to pay, and they talked about strange internal impulses to which
the cannot deny, and the good Orione smiled, because he had just finished to
quarrel with the Virgin Mary’s or Saint Joseph’s statue.
Or, during the Mess, he occurred to think about the
problems he had and to add in the liturgy the expression “Holy Virgin, pay at
least some rent!”. After the Mess the exact sum, taken by an unknown, was in
the sacristy waiting for him.
Or an ministerial inspector comes, sent by the
anticlerical enemies to check the low economic entrusting of that school of
priest; but he goes way without moving a finger, humiliated. He referred to the
senior that he felt as pulling his legs, because on Orione’s desk he has seen
parcels of banknotes. Don Luigi, instead, tells laughing to his collaborators
that on that table there was no money at all.
There is one entire book full of his “sacrifices”,
included the simplest and most delicate ones.
The miracles blossomed in his hands. He himself told
the listeners with quite candour, timorous only that the listeners were so fool
to give to him the merit, who had get nothing to do with…
He hoped in this way that his collaborators learned to
trust in the tender goodness of God.
In fact there were also miracles of tenderness.
He confided to his closes: “I tell you something I
never told to anyone else and that I am ashamed in telling, but it is told to
major glory of God: when, in the first time of the congregation, after long
walking to go to preach in the villages, I went back home exhausted, and often
I used to lie down on a strong bench of wood, God made me a special favour;
sometimes the never-ending goodness of God made me have the impression, or gave
me the sensation, that the bench sank, becoming smooth and tender, like a very
smooth bench of rubber, like if I plunge a soft, soft mattress, in which my
tired bones sank, receiving a very sweet rest.”
God Himself gave him the consolation that he never
looked for, because it seemed to him to steal it to the poor.
He was very sad a summer afternoon, when he went in
the house of novitiate and he found two novices that take a rest on an old
sofa.
He make put in middle of the courtyard that “luxury
object” and make it burst in presence of all.
He used to say that in his houses you need to “drudge
from an Ave Maria to another”.
There were hundreds of youth that asked to joint his
Congregation. And yet the “life’s program” that he embodied and offered did not
leave space for illusions: “these little and very poor Congregation is the rag
of the Virgin Mary and of the Church of Rome…, it is the Congregation of the
ragamuffin of God. Do you know what does people do with the rags? With the rags
people dust, wash and rub the floors, remove the cobweb and polish shoes… Well,
if you like to b a rag of God, a rag under the feet of God, under the pure feet
of the Virgin Mary; if you like to be a rag under the feet of the Holy Mother
Church and in the hands of your seniors, this is your place”.
But he could use these expressions, because no one
could misunderstand their meaning: don Orione described first of all himself,
his unlimited desire to be used for the good of the Church and of the world,
his dream to be managed by the hands of God and of the Holy Virgin without
offering any resistance, it did not describe humiliation, but a dignity.
Then he never shrank to humiliate, even if he
sometimes did it joking. Showing a photo that portrayed him astride a humble
and patient donkey, he said with wit: “He and me, we are in two!”. And the
present were moved thinking to his patient perseverance that never abandoned
him.
But the thing that struck and impressed was his love,
without any reservation nor bound, to the vicar of Christ on the earth.
He wrote:
“Our creed is the Pope, our moral is the Pope; our
love, our heart, the ground of our life is the Pope. For us the Pope is Jesus
Christ: loving the Pope is the same thing; listening and following the Pope is
listening and following Jesus Christ; giving the life for the Pope is giving
the life for Jesus Christ.”
And he asked to add the three vows of chastity,
poverty and obedience, a special forth vow of “loyalty to the Pope”. At that
age it was not allowed to him. Now, instead, the sons of don Orione, as the
Jesuits, let out a forth vow of loyalty to the Pope.
Their founder claimed that all his work for the poor
and among the poor had this aim: to let born in the heart on the miserables “a
very sweet love for the Pope”.
He used to say: “The Congregation could not live,
should not live except for the Pope: it must be in the hands of him, it must be
a rag under the feet of him. Living, working and dying for love for the Pope…”.
When he was asked the distinctive aim of his
Institute, given that many were devoted to the mercy woks, he answered that its
special aim was to pull and join with a very sweet and a very strong bond of
all the mind of the heart the sons of people and the working class to the
Apostolic Seat”.
He certainly helped personally the poors and the
forlorns; but if they would have loved him and not the Pope, he would have
considered a great foolish thing, because he, Orione, was nothing but a
chartable hand that acted in the name of the Pope and addressed to him.
The Pope, for that matter, knew he could ask him
everything, every sacrifice and every enterprise.
A so clerical conscience, absorbed on the ministry of
Peter in the Church, had been never seen before, moreover in a founder so
involved in the social needs.
This witness is still waiting to be understood and
valued in the right way, moreover by those religious that find in their
involvement with the poors a justification to keep their “anti-roman complex”.
Someone now would twist their mouth in subscribing
what that don Orione airily taught: “First of all the Pope and the Church… and
then, a lot after, the bread and the life”.
For him it was a dream being able to do the perpetual
vows in the same hands of the Pope. He asked him as a very special grace during
an audience, prepared to wait that the Pope would be kind enough to fix one day
for the ceremony.
“Also now”, answered smiling Pio X.
“Holy Father, as His Holiness knows, at least two
witnesses are required…”
And the Pope smiling: “As witnesses we take my
guardian angel and yours.”
We have still to talk about his activity of preacher
and of confessor that don Orione performed always gladly and with certain
fantasy.
When it was about God and souls he knew even because a
play-actor.
One evening he was invited in a village where the
priests were particularly hated and mocked. It was raining and he arrived with
muddy shoes and with dropping cassock. He went upstairs to the pulpit learning
heavy as a drunk and mumbling in dialect, but in a way in which everyone could
hear, the most common insults against priest, and making the gawky cry of a
crow.
The priest tore his hair out, thinking he was become
crazy.
But when he was on the pulpit, that humble priest, and
everyone knew who he was he looked at them with unbelievable pride. Then he
started: “So, in this way here you greet the priest, the minister of God, when
he passes.” At the end he spoke about the priesthood in a way to let them cry.
In another parish the popular missions were preached
and the result was little.
For the conclusion don Orione asked to call ten
confessors to the discouraged parish, only one priest seemed enough. He obeyed,
anyway.
That last evening, when the church of the village had
difficulty in filling, and the sacristan ringed resigned the bells, they saw suddenly
coming in someone enveloped in a worn-out heavy-cloak, with a bad hat on his
head; he flung himself at a bench and started moaning speaking up: “Look how I
am! And try think that in my father’s house I missed nothing…”.
To cut a long story short: he was don Orione that was
playing the parable of the “Prodigal son”, and the people run, and someone went
to call the absents.
When the church was full of people, that original
priest form the pulpit talk about the forgiveness of God until make cry all of them.
Also the ten confessors, among all, cried, whose
seemed anyway to small. All the village confessed that time.
We have arrived at the end of our story.
It was the 1940, and don Orione was in San Remo, a
little sad because he had to die among the palms, instead among the poors.
He had arrived the 9th March and he was very
restless: the room, even without all the needless furniture, seemed to him too
much luxury! “I do not feel, I cannot stay here: make me the favour, look at
the train timetable!” he said to a bother.
Then he calmed down, luckily in an angle there was a
little statue of the Virgin Mary.
“Look how beautiful she is! – he said – do not you
think the only thing I have to do is to close my eyes?”.
He closed them three days later, saying: “Jesus,
Jesus, I go!”. For the last time he felt himself sent in a mission, stretched
to a ready obedience.
The coffin was taken, in a real triumph, to Tortona,
in a sanctuary he had built to the “Madonna della Guardia”. In every city the
funeral procession went through, Genoa, Novi, Alessandria, Milan, there was
waiting for him a huge crowd.
In saint Ambrogio in Milan waiting for the coffin
there was the saint cardinal Schuster.
A Franciscan writer that went on a bus through those
streets, heard a dialogue between two workers that were working lying on the
ground, and referred it to a newspaper:
“What’s happened? Who is dead?”
“Don Orione”
“And who is don Orione?”
“He was a priest, but he was a good man”.
Don Orione, certainly, would have smiled.
SOURCE : http://users.libero.it/luigi.scrosoppi/santi/orioneing.htm
Luigi Giovanni Orione nacque a Pontecurone nella diocesi di Tortona il 23 giugno 1872 da onesti e semplici genitori, in particolare la madre fu una saggia educatrice e gli fu di valido aiuto nelle sue future attività con i ragazzi.
Lavorò nei campi nella sua fanciullezza, frequentando un po’ di scuola e dedito alle pratiche religiose. A 13 anni entrò fra i Frati Minori di Voghera, purtroppo a causa di una grave polmonite, dovette ritornarsene in famiglia.
Ristabilitasi, aiutò il padre nella selciatura delle strade, esperienza che gli risulterà molto utile per comprendere le sofferenze e la mentalità degli operai. Nel 1886 entrò nell’oratorio di Torino diretto da s. Giovanni Bosco, ove rimarrà per tre anni, l’insegnamento ricevuto e l’esperienza vissuta con il santo innovatore, non si cancellò più dal suo animo, costituendo una direttiva essenziale per le sue future attività in campo giovanile.
Inaspettatamente lasciò i salesiani e nel 1889 entrò nel seminario di Tortona per studiare filosofia per due anni, al termine del corso, proseguì gli studi teologici, alloggiando in una stanzetta sopra il duomo, nel quale prestava servizio per le Messe; riceveva anche un piccolo compenso per le sue necessità.
Nel duomo ebbe l’opportunità di avvicinare i ragazzi a cui impartiva lezioni di catechismo, ma la sua angusta stanzetta non bastava, per cui il vescovo, conscio dell’importanza dell’iniziativa, gli concesse l’uso del giardino del vescovado.
Il 3 luglio 1892, il giovane chierico Luigi Orione, inaugurò il primo oratorio intitolato a s. Luigi; l’anno successivo riuscì ad aprire un collegio detto di s. Bernardino, subito frequentato da un centinaio di ragazzi.
Il 13 aprile 1895, venne ordinato sacerdote, celebrando la prima Messa fra i suoi ragazzi, che nel frattempo si erano trasferiti nell’ex convento di S. Chiara.
Attorno a lui si riunirono altri sacerdoti e chierici, formando il primo nucleo della futura congregazione; si impegnò con tutte le sue forze in molteplici attività: visite ai poveri ed ammalati, lotta contro la Massoneria, diffusione della buona stampa, frequenti predicazioni, cura dei ragazzi.
Si precipitò a soccorrere le popolazioni colpite dal terremoto del 1908 a Messina e Reggio Calabria, inviando nelle sue Case molti orfani, divenne il centro degli aiuti sia civili che pontifici. Papa Pio X gli diede l’incarico, che durò tre anni, di vicario generale della diocesi di Messina.
Stessa operosità dimostrò negli aiuti ai terremotati della Marsica nel 1915, accogliendo altri orfani, a cui diede come a tutti, il vivere, l’istruzione, il lavoro.
Se s. Giovanni Bosco fu l’esempio per l’educazione dei ragazzi, san Luigi Orione fu l’esempio per le opere di carità; girò varie volte l’Italia per raccogliere vocazioni e aiuti materiali per la sue molteplici Opere. Per curare tante attività, fondò la Congregazione dei Figli della Divina Provvidenza e le Piccole Missionarie della Carità; dal lato spirituale e contemplativo, fondò gli Eremiti della Divina Provvidenza e le Suore Sacramentine, a queste due Istituzioni ammise anche i non vedenti.
Ancora lo spirito missionario lo spinse a mandare i suoi figli e suore nell’America Latina e in Palestina sin dal 1914; ben due volte per sostenere le sue opere, si recò egli stesso nel 1921 e nel 1934 a Buenos Aires, dove restò per tre anni organizzando scuole, colonie agricole, parrocchie, orfanotrofi, case di carità dette “Piccolo Cottolengo”.
Sempre in movimento conduceva una vita penitente e poverissima, sebbene cagionevole di salute, organizzò missioni popolari, presepi viventi, processioni e pellegrinaggi, con l’intento che la fede deve permeare tutte le fasi della vita.
Gli ultimi tre anni della sua vita li trascorse sempre a Tortona, facendo visita settimanale al ‘Piccolo Cottolengo’ di Milano ed a quello di Genova; cedendo alle pressioni dei medici e dei confratelli, si concesse qualche giorno di riposo a Sanremo nella villa di S. Clotilde, dove morì dopo pochi giorni, il 12 marzo 1940.
I funerali furono solennissimi e ricevé l’omaggio di tutte le città del Nord Italia da dove passò il corteo funebre; venne tumulato nella cripta del Santuario della Madonna della Guardia di Tortona, da lui fatto edificare. Venticinque anni dopo nel 1965, fu fatta la ricognizione della salma che fu trovata completamente intatta e di nuovo tumulata.
In queste brevi note biografiche, non si riesce a descrivere l’importanza che l’Opera sociale e spirituale di don Orione, come da sempre è chiamato così, ha avuto nel contesto umano, prima con le conseguenze di disastri naturali e poi con i disastri provocati dalla follia umana delle due Guerre Mondiali.
Personaggi di ogni ceto sociale e culturale lo conobbero e contattarono, dai papi s. Pio X e Benedetto XV al maestro Lorenzo Perosi, dalle autorità politiche nazionali e locali, ai santi del suo tempo. Il fondatore della ‘Piccola Opera della Divina Provvidenza’ è stato beatificato il 26 ottobre 1980 da papa Giovanni Paolo II, in un tripudio di tanti suoi figli ed assistiti provenienti da tanta Nazioni.
E' stato proclamato santo da Giovanni Paolo II il 16 maggio 2004, data di culto in cui lo ricordano ogni anno la sua Congregazione e la diocesi di Milano.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
CAPPELLA PAPALE PER LA CANONIZZAZIONE DI 6 BEATI
OMELIA DI GIOVANNI PAOLO II
Sesta Domenica di Pasqua, 16 maggio 2004
1. "Vi do la mia pace" (Gv 14,27). Nel
tempo pasquale ascoltiamo spesso questa promessa di Gesù ai suoi discepoli. La
pace vera è frutto della vittoria di Cristo sul potere del male, del peccato e
della morte. Quanti lo seguono fedelmente diventano testimoni e costruttori
della sua pace.
In questa luce mi piace contemplare i sei nuovi Santi,
che la Chiesa addita oggi all’universale venerazione: Luigi
Orione, Annibale
Maria di Francia, Josep
Manyanet y Vives, Nimatullah
Kassab Al-Hardini, Paola
Elisabetta Cerioli, Gianna
Beretta Molla.
2. "Uomini che hanno votato la loro vita al nome
del nostro Signore Gesù Cristo" (At 15,26). Queste parole degli Atti
degli Apostoli ben possono applicarsi a san Luigi
Orione, uomo totalmente donato alla causa di Cristo e del suo Regno.
Sofferenze fisiche e morali, fatiche, difficoltà, incomprensioni e ostacoli di
ogni tipo hanno segnato il suo ministero apostolico. "Cristo, la Chiesa,
le anime - egli diceva - si amano e si servono in croce e crocifissi
o non si amano e non si servono affatto" (Scritti, 68,81).
Il cuore di questo stratega della carità fu
"senza confini perché dilatato dalla carità di Cristo" (ivi, 102,32).
La passione per Cristo fu l'anima della sua vita ardimentosa, la spinta
interiore di un altruismo senza riserve, la sorgente sempre fresca di una
indistruttibile speranza.
Quest’umile figlio di un selciatore proclama che
"solo la carità salverà il mondo" (ivi, 62,13) e a tutti ripete che
"la perfetta letizia non può essere che nella perfetta dedizione di sé a
Dio e agli uomini, a tutti gli uomini" (ivi).
3. "Se uno mi ama, osserverà la mia parola"
(Gv 14,23). In queste parole evangeliche vediamo delineato il profilo
spirituale di Annibale
Maria di Francia, che l’amore per il Signore spinse a dedicare l’intera
esistenza al bene spirituale del prossimo. In questa prospettiva, egli avvertì
soprattutto l’urgenza di realizzare il comando evangelico: "Rogate
ergo… - Pregate dunque il padrone della messe che mandi operai nella
sua messe!" (Mt 9,38).
Ai Padri Rogazionisti e alle Suore Figlie del Divino
Zelo lasciò il compito di adoperarsi con tutte le forze perché la preghiera per
le vocazioni fosse "incessante e universale". Questo stesso invito
Padre Annibale Maria Di Francia rivolge ai giovani del nostro tempo,
sintetizzandolo nella sua abituale esortazione: "Innamoratevi di Gesù
Cristo".
Da questa provvidenziale intuizione è sorto nella
Chiesa un grande movimento di preghiera per le vocazioni. Auspico di cuore che
l’esempio di Padre Annibale Maria Di Francia guidi e sostenga anche in questo
nostro tempo tale azione pastorale.
4. "El Espíritu Santo, que enviará el Padre en mi
nombre, será quien os lo enseñe todo y os vaya recordando todo lo que os he
dicho" (Jn 14, 26). Desde el principio el Paráclito ha suscitado
hombres y mujeres que han recordado y difundido la verdad revelada por Jesús.
Uno de éstos fue San
José Manyanet, verdadero apóstol de la familia. Inspirándose en la escuela
de Nazaret, realizó su proyecto de santidad personal y se dedicó, con entrega
heroica, a la misión que el Espíritu le confiaba. Para ello fundó dos
Congregaciones Religiosas. Un símbolo visible de su anhelo apostólico es
también el templo de la Sagrada Familia de Barcelona.
[in lingua catalana]
Que sant Josep Manyanet beneeixi totes les famílies i
us ajudi a portar els exemples de la Sagrada Família a les vostres llars".
[ ¡Que San José Manyanet bendiga a todas las familias
y os ayude a llevar los ejemplos de la Sagrada Familia a vuestros hogares!]
Traduzione italiana delle parti pronunciate in
spagnolo ed in catalano:
[4. "Lo Spirito Santo che il Padre manderà nel mio nome, egli v'insegnerà ogni cosa e vi ricorderà tutto ciò che io vi ho detto" (Gv 14, 26).
Sin dall'inizio il Paraclito ha ispirato uomini e donne che hanno ricordato e diffuso la verità rivelata da Gesù. Uno di questi è stato san José Manyanet, vero Apostolo della famiglia. Ispirandosi alla scuola di Nazareth, ha realizzato il suo progetto di santità personale e si è dedicato, con sollecitudine eroica, alla missione che lo Spirito gli ha affidato. A tal fine ha fondato due Congregazioni Religiose. Un simbolo visibile del suo anelito apostolico è anche il tempio della Sacra Famiglia di Barcellona.]
Que sant Josep Manyanet beneeixi totes les famílies i us ajudi a portar els
exemples de la Sagrada Família a les vostres llars".
[¡Que San José Manyanet bendiga a todas las familias y os ayude a llevar los
ejemplos de la Sagrada Familia a vuestros hogares!]
[Che San Giuseppe Manyanet benedica tutte le famiglie e vi aiuti a portare gli
esempi della Sacra Famiglia alle vostre case!]
5. Homme de prière, amoureux de l’Eucharistie qu’il
aimait adorer longuement, saint Nimatullah
Kassab Al-Hardini est un exemple pour les moines de l’Ordre libanais
maronite comme pour ses frères libanais et pour tous les chrétiens du monde. Il
s’est donné totalement au Seigneur dans une vie de grand renoncement, montrant
que l’amour de Dieu est la seule véritable source de joie et de bonheur pour
l’homme. Il s’est attaché à chercher et à suivre le Christ, son Maître et
Seigneur.
Accueillant à ses frères, il a soulagé et guéri
beaucoup de blessures dans les cœurs de ses contemporains, leur témoignant la
miséricorde de Dieu. Puisse son exemple éclairer notre route, susciter chez les
jeunes en particulier un vrai désir de Dieu et de la sainteté, pour annoncer à
notre monde la lumière de l’Évangile !
Traduzione italiana della parte pronunciata in
francese:
[5. Uomo di preghiera, innamorato
dell'Eucaristia, che gli piaceva adorare a lungo, Nimatullah
Kassab Al-Hardini è un esempio per i monaci dell'Ordine libanese
maronita, come pure per i suoi fratelli libanesi e per tutti i cristiani del
mondo. Egli si è donato totalmente al Signore in una vita di grande rinuncia,
mostrando che l'amore di Dio è l'unica fonte autentica di gioia e di felicità
per l'uomo. Egli si è dedicato a cercare e a seguire Cristo, suo Maestro e
Signore.
Accogliendo i suoi fratelli, egli ha dato sollievo e ha curato molte ferite nel
cuore dei suoi contemporanei, testimoniando loro la misericordia di Dio. Possa
il suo esempio illuminare il nostro cammino, suscitare, in particolare tra i
giovani, un desiderio autentico di Dio e di santità, per annunciare al mondo
presente la luce del Vangelo!]
6. "L’angelo… mi mostrò la città santa,
Gerusalemme, che scendeva dal cielo" (Ap 21,10). La splendida
immagine proposta dall’Apocalisse di Giovanni esalta la bellezza e la fecondità
spirituale della Chiesa, la nuova Gerusalemme. Di questa fecondità spirituale è
singolare testimone Paola
Elisabetta Cerioli, la cui esistenza fu copiosa di frutti di bene.
Contemplando la Santa Famiglia, Paola Elisabetta intuì
che le comunità familiari restano solide quando i legami di parentela sono
sostenuti e cementati dalla condivisione dei valori della fede e della cultura
cristiana. Per diffondere questi valori la nuova Santa fondò l’Istituto della
Sacra Famiglia. Era infatti convinta che i figli, per crescere sicuri e forti,
hanno bisogno di una famiglia sana e unita, generosa e stabile. Aiuti Iddio le
famiglie cristiane ad accogliere e a testimoniare in ogni circostanza l’amore
di Dio misericordioso.
7. Dell’amore divino Gianna
Beretta Molla fu semplice, ma quanto mai significativa messaggera.
Pochi giorni prima del matrimonio, in una lettera al futuro marito, ebbe a
scrivere: "L’amore è il sentimento più bello che il Signore ha posto
nell’animo degli uomini".
Sull’esempio di Cristo, che "avendo amato i suoi…
li amò sino alla fine" (Gv 13,1), questa santa madre di famiglia si
mantenne eroicamente fedele all’impegno assunto il giorno del matrimonio. Il
sacrificio estremo che suggellò la sua vita testimonia come solo chi ha il
coraggio di donarsi totalmente a Dio e ai fratelli realizzi se stesso.
Possa la nostra epoca riscoprire, attraverso l’esempio
di Gianna Beretta Molla, la bellezza pura, casta e feconda dell’amore coniugale,
vissuto come risposta alla chiamata divina!
8. "Non sia turbato il vostro cuore e non abbia timore" (Gv 14,28). Le vicende terrene di questi sei nuovi Santi ci spronano a perseverare sulla propria strada, confidando nell’aiuto di Dio e nella materna protezione di Maria. Dal cielo ora veglino su di noi e ci sostengano con la loro potente intercessione.
© Copyright 2004 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
The body of Saint Luigi Orione, in Tortona, Italy
Den hellige Aloisius Orione (1872-1940)
Minnedag: 12.
mars
Den hellige Aloisius Johannes Orione (it: Luigi
Giovanni) ble født den 23. juni 1872 i landsbyen Pontecurone nær Alessandria i
bispedømmet Tortona i Piemonte i Nord-Italia. Hans far Vittorio Orione var
veiarbeider og ofte borte i lange perioder, men hans mor Carolina Feltri
oppveide for dette i rikelig monn gjennom sin effektive organisering av
husholdningen. Vittorio hadde tjent i Piemontes hær under kong Karl Albert
(1831-49), men Garibaldi var hans helt. Som en som nøt godt av rundhåndenheten
til den liberale ministeren Rattazzi, som eide en eiendom i Pontecurone, fulgte
Vittorio den herskende antiklerikalismen, men han var en ærlig mann.
Carolina var analfabet, men en kvinne med en dyp tro,
usedvanlig intelligens og energi. Beskrivelsen som sønnen senere ga av henne,
minner i overraskende detalj om den perfekte hustru i Ordspråkene. Ekteparet
hadde fire barn. Den andre sønnen, som ble døpt Luigi, døde som spedbarn, og
hans navn ble gitt igjen til den fjerde sønnen. Carolina var redd for sin
yngste sønn. Han hadde en formidabel energi, og med stor stahet fulgte han sine
egne veier uansett konsekvenser. Hun ba inderlig om at en slik energi måtte
kanaliseres for Guds sak.
Hun mente at hennes bønner var hørt da han annonserte
at han ville bli fransiskaner (Ordo Fratrum Minorum – OFM). Etter å
ha fått en grunnleggende opplæring i latin og andre elementære emner av
sognepresten, syntes det sannsynlig at han ville bli en god ordensbror. I
september 1885 begynte han hos fransiskanerne i Voghera, knapt 13 år gammel.
Men et lite lovende postulat kulminerte med et angrep av lungebetennelse som
etterlot ham svak og apatisk. Hans helse ble erklært uforenlig med et
fransiskansk liv, og han ble sendt hjem etter et år. Det ble da foreslått at
han skulle dra til den hellige Johannes Don Bosco.
Aloisius dro til det salesianske kollegiet i Valdocco
ved Torino i september 1886. Don Bosco, som hadde bare to år igjen å leve,
aksepterte den 14-årige gutten i den gruppen han regelmessig hørte
skriftemålene til. Den 8. desember 1886 tillot den salige Don Rua, Don Boscos
etterfølger, at Aloisius avla kyskhetsløfte. Han skrev senere: «Jeg har alltid
tenkt at det ikke var for ingenting at Herren tillot meg å dra til Don Bosco og
lære ham og den første generasjonen av salesianere å kjenne. Hvis det er noe
godt i denne kongregasjonen vår, skyldes det Don Bosco». En tåpelig prest blant
salesianerne fikk ham imidlertid fra å slutte seg til dem, noe som førte til
hans beslutning om å begynne på bispedømmets seminar i Tortona.
Han begynte på seminaret den 16. oktober 1889. Hans
ungdommelige intoleranse ble satt på ytterlige prøve på seminaret, hvor det var
en god del slapphet og mangel på disiplin, og uunngåelig var det en del
sammenrotting mot ham på grunn av hans antatte snerpethet. Han holdt resolutt
fast på sin kurs til tross for smålig forfølgelse, og med tiden fant han at de
best disponerte seminaristene ble vunnet over til ham. Blant disse var Carlo
Sterpi, som skulle bli hans medarbeider i femti år og senere hans etterfølger.
Aloisius gjorde det bra med studiene og ble til og med
en ivrig leser av klassisk italiensk litteratur. Han hadde fått tillatelse til
å bli boende på seminaret i ferien, og han begynte på dette tidlige stadiet å
oppsøke de underprivilegerte og de syke og lidende. Han besøkte sykehusene som
han en gang hadde gjort sammen med sognepresten i Pontecurone. Han fikk ikke
lov til å besøke fangene i det lokale fengselet, så han bestemte seg for å lyse
litt opp i deres tilværelse ved å spille mandolin for dem utenfor murene i
stedet. Hans ukonvensjonelle veldedighet ble snart anmeldt til biskopen – og
ikke for siste gang.
Hans far var nå utslitt av det harde arbeidet og kunne
ikke lenger forsørge ham på seminaret. En jobb som sakristan i den lokale
katedralen og bosted på et rom på loftet i katedralen sørget for hans behov og
ga ham også sjansen til å bli kjent med de unge gateguttene i nabolaget. Snart
hadde han organisert katekismeklasser, turer til helligdommer rundt byen og
ulike idrettsaktiviteter for sine gutter. Disse hadde en tendens til å betrakte
katedralen som sin naturlige lekeplass, og snart måtte biskopen påkalles for å få
en slutt på deres viltre lek. Biskopen ga Aloisius en bygning som ikke var i
bruk, og den 3. juli 1892 grunnla han «Helligdagsoratoriet San Luigi» med
tillatelse fra biskopen og seminarets rektor, og alt burde ha vært bra.
Men tilfellet ville at Aloisius holdt en åpenhjertig
tale som støttet pavedømmets verdslige makt, noe som var å be om bråk i det
politiske klimaet på den tiden. Biskopen ble bebreidet av prefekten, som krevde
at seminaristen avbrøt sitt arbeid med guttene. Oratoriet måtte stenges før det
var et år gammelt, og Aloisius var knust.
Hans neste prosjekt var en skole for fattige gutter i
området San Bernardino i Tortona. Biskopen, som i prinsippet var en fast
tilhenger av Katolsk Aksjon, tillot ham å sette i gang i oktober 1893, men så
ble han redd for konsekvensene fra en verdslig regjering fast bestemt på å
holde undervisningen under sin egen kontroll, så han var tilbøyelig til å
trekke seg. Men Aloisius hadde allerede funnet lokaler og hadde en elev, så
biskopen lot ham fortsette. Med enda tretti elever tenkte han til og med at han
kunne legge inn et bud på et tomt kloster som tidligere var brukt som brakker.
Saken ble lagt frem for borgermesteren, prefekten og så for regjeringen i Roma,
som uventet gikk med på prosjektet. Collegio Santa Chiara åpnet i
1891 med 150 kostskolelever og dagelever.
Allerede som subdiakon fikk Aloisius av biskopen
tillatelse til å preke i hele bispedømmet. Don Luigi Orione ble presteviet den
13. april 1895, ennå ikke 23 år gammel. Han feiret sin første messe assistert
av guttene fra skolen, som etter spesiell tillatelse var kledd i det som senere
ble drakten til den kongregasjonen han grunnla. Mønstret for hans liv begynte
allerede å bli klart. Hans «Lille verk av Det guddommelige forsyn» var verken
en kirkerettslig størrelse eller engang en plan i hans eget hode, men likevel
var det i ferd med å bli til. Planen skulle bli bestemt av de kravene som ble
stilt til hans tilsynelatende uoppslitelige nestekjærlighet og like
uoppslitelige ressurser.
Don Oriones besøk til Sicilia på invitasjon av
biskopen av Noto skulle gi ham enda en inspirasjon. Biskopen ønsket å tilby ham
noen bygninger som var ment for et teologisk seminar eller en skole. Han tilbød
ham også dyrket jord for et jordbrukssenter, en utviklingslinje Don Orione
allerede hadde slått inn på med de studentene på Santa Chiara som viste mindre
evner for boklig lærdom. Men på Sicilia møtte han to eremitter som ga ham den
ideen at hans svært aktive kongregasjon kunne profitere på å ha en kontemplativ
gren av eremitter.
Uventet nok syntes hans biskop også at det var en god
ide, men han foreslo at eremittene kunne brukes til å lære opp gode bønder. Han
hadde også reservasjoner når det gjaldt Don Oriones mange planer. Skulle han gå
løs på så mye? Hvorfor ikke bare konsentrere seg om for eksempel eremittene og
deres nytte som bønder? Dermed grunnla Aloisius kongregasjonen «Eremitter av
Det guddommelige Forsyn» (Eremiti della Divina Provvidenza), senere
Eremitter av St. Albert (Eremiti di Sant'Alberto).
Jordbruksskoler var vel og bra, men Aloisius hadde
ingen ressurser til å drive dem. Han hadde startet en avis for å publisere
arbeidet til Katolsk Aksjon, og nå arbeidet han med et senter for høyere
studier i San Remo. I tillegg var Dan Orione, som var blitt en populær predikant,
alltid borte. Siden det var slik, trengte «verket» ikke å binde opp noen
prester. Biskop Igino Bandi av Tortona sendte ut Oriones hjelpere til sogn og
ønsket prestestudentene i hans varetekt om å absorberes i bispedømmets seminar.
Arbeidet ble lammet. Biskopen ba Don Orione komme til
en samtale og ønsket at han skulle anerkjenne at han som biskop hadde rett.
Aloisius gjentok sin villighet til å adlyde sin overordnede. Det var ikke det
biskopen hadde bedt om, og igjen presset han sin prest til å gå med på at han
handlet rett. Aloisius svarte at når biskopen handlet som han gjorde, skulle
han ærlig talt ikke lese messe neste dag. «Verket» var Guds verk, og beviset på
det var Don Orione selv, et uverdig instrument. Seks uker senere, den 21. mars
1903, undertegnet biskopen dekretet som approberte kongregasjonen «Det lille
verk av Det guddommelige forsyn», på italiensk Piccola Opera della Divina
Provvidenza (Parvum Opus Divinae Providentiae – FDP), som også
kalles Figli della Divina Provvidenza (Sønner av Det guddommelige
forsyn), for prester, legbrødre og eremitter.
Don Orione skrev senere at arbeidet skulle settes inn
i arbeiderstrøk, helst i de mest nedslitte kvartalene i de store industribyene.
Kongregasjonens medlemmer skulle vie sitt arbeid i offer til Kristus av
kjærlighet og for sine brødres frelse. De skulle heller ikke glemme sannhet og
rettferdighet, som naturlig kommer fra kjærlighet. «Det lille verk» eksisterte
for tjenende arbeid utført av kjærlighet. Det stolte på at Gud ville hjelpe dem
med å fortsette arbeidet for den moralske og materielle velferden til de mest
utstøtte. Dets motto var Paulus' «Kristi
kjærlighet driver oss» (2.Kor 5,14) og dets program var Dantes «Vår kjærlighet ekskluderer
ingen». Det mottok med åpne armer alle dem som ikke kunne finne noen som ville
gi dem noe å spise, en seng eller ord til trøst. Det ønsket med alle midler å
tjene alle for å føre dem til Kristus.
Det var Don Oriones nestekjærlighet, ikke intellektuelle
diskusjoner, som vant modernisten Alfieri tilbake til Kirken. Orione var ikke
interessert i å vite hvorfor en prest eller noen andre var i vanskeligheter,
hans eneste anliggende var å holde ut en hjelpende hånd. I dette var han godt
innenfor tradisjonen til Kirken i Piemonte slik den var formet av slike kjemper
som de hellige Frans
av Sales, Don Bosco, Leonard Murialdo og Josef Cottolengo,
og som han selv skulle gi sitt eget spesielle bidrag til.
I 1906 hadde Aloisius skrevet en regel for sin
kongregasjon, og han dro til Roma for å presentere den for den hellige
pave Pius X (1903-14).
På veien bekymret han seg for en episode fra sin tid som seminarist, og han
håpet at paven hadde dårlig hukommelse eller ikke bar nag for den. Den gangen hadde
Aloisius spurt om hvordan det gikk med en venn og medstudent på seminaret, som
var en talentfull musiker og gikk på en musikkskole drevet av kardinal Giuseppe
Sarto, patriark av Venezia og fremtidig pave. Guttens far var bekymret for at
kardinalen hadde gjort gutten til en spesiell venn. Faren følte at kardinalen
skjemte bort gutten ved å overøse ham med sin gunst.
Aloisius ble også opprørt og skrev et sint og
ubesindig brev til kardinalen hvor han på det skarpeste uttrykte sin misnøye.
Han sendte brevet før han roet seg ned igjen og skjønte hvilken frekkhet han
hadde oppvist. Tanken på at han som en ung seminarist skulle skjelle ut en av
kardinalene, sjokkerte ham dypt. I flere uker ventet han på reaksjonen, men den
kom aldri. Han konkluderte til slutt håpefullt med at brevet var kommet på
avveie. Ikke et ord kom fra Venezia før rett før hans prestevielse, da han
mottok som anonym gave stoff til en prestekjole. Han antok at det var sendt fra
hans unge musikervenn.
Audiensen med paven gikk bra. De to mennene hadde mye
til felles, og instinktivt beundret de hverandre. Paven godkjente Aloisius'
regel og ga ham en pengegave og løfte om hjelp. Aloisius snakket om sin
intensjon å sende misjonærer utenlands, men paven ba ham om heller å drive
misjonsarbeid blant de forsømte slumboerne utenfor Porta San Giovanni. Da
audiensen nærmet seg slutten, reiste paven seg og rakte sitt breviar til Don
Orione og ba ham se hva som lå inne i det. Aloisius kjente straks igjen sin
egen sprikende håndskrift. Paven sa: «Du vet at selv paven ofte trenger å bli
minnet om behovet for ydmykhet. Av den grunn har jeg beholdt ditt brev og har
det alltid med meg. Forresten, fikk du det stoffet jeg sendte til din første
soutane som prest?»
Det var ikke før i 1913 at Don Orione sendte misjonærer
til Sør-Amerika. To år etter hans første besøk tilkalte paven ham igjen. Hadde
han blitt mistenkelig, ettersom han hadde mottatt i sine hus de hjemløse
prestene som var anklaget for modernisme eller på annen måte fratatt kappe og
krage? Han var med sikkerhet ikke i nåde, verken hos de klerikale eller de
anti-klerikale. Det endte imidlertid med at paven sendte ham bort med sin
velsignelse.
De vanskeligste årene i Don Oriones liv var mellom
1909 og 1912. De tilbrakte han i Messina på Sicilia etter det forferdelige
jordskjelvet i desember 1908 som drepte nesten 100.000 mennesker. Paven gjorde
ham i den anledning til generalvikar for bispedømmet Messina for en periode på
tre år. Han var spesielt opptatt av de foreldreløse og hadde gjort enorme
anstrengelser for å samarbeide med alle – katolikker, ikke-katolikker,
frimurere – for å gjenoppbygge byen, men hans tilstedeværelse som norditaliener
ble aldri virkelig forstått eller akseptert. Til slutt følte han at han måtte
trekke seg fra sin stilling. Men regjeringen ga ham en medalje og paven ga ham
et nytt hus nær Roma til bruk som barnehjem.
Aloisius fant seg snart igjen i en annen ødelagt
region, denne gangen i Abruzzi i 1915, hvor 30.000 døde og svært få overlevde
et nytt ødeleggende jordskjelv i Marsica. Forholdene var umenneskelige. Det
falt på ham å finne et sted for rundt 5.000 foreldreløse. Han var så utslitt at
han kollapset, men han vendte tilbake etter en ti dagers pause. Igjen var det
spenninger mellom hjelpearbeiderne. Han så på seg selv som et lastedyr som var
der for å gi hjelp av simpleste slag: «Mitt kall i livet er å lære hvordan jeg
skal leve som et av Guds små esler, et virkelig lite esel av Det guddommelige
forsyn».
Hittil hadde Aloisius alltid lånt nonner fra andre
kongregasjoner for spesielle prosjekter, men nå følte han behovet for å ha sine
egne nonner til å gjennomføre sitt veldedige arbeid. Han rekrutterte to kvinner
så ulike hverandre at planen syntes dømt til å mislykkes: en ung
aristokrat, Contessa Giuseppina Valdettaro, og Catarina Volpini, en
vaskedame som brakte med seg sin vanføre bror. De begynte i San Bernardino og
skulle bli kjent som «Små barmhjertige misjonssøstre» (Piccole Suore
missionarie della Carità – PSMC), som ble grunnlagt av Don Orione den 29.
juni 1915 i Tortona. Etter ti år forlot grevinnen kongregasjonen for å starte
sin egen, men da talte de små misjonssøstrene allerede 200.
En cisterciensernonne som Don Orione hadde konsultert
om muligheten til å ha sine egne nonner, hadde sagt til ham: «Ja, men de bør
være som filler i Guds hender, filler til å tørke tårene til den lidende
menneskeheten». Kongregasjonen tok på seg det enkleste arbeid: vasking,
matlaging, sying, lapping, undervisning av små barn og pass av foreldreløse,
syke, gamle, blinde og mentalt handikappede. Som Don Orione selv eksisterte de
bare for å reagere på hver form for menneskelig elendighet. I 1926 opprettet
han en kommunitet av nonner som alle var blinde, kjent som
Sakramentssøstrene (Suore Sacramentine), som skulle være viet til bønn og
evig tilbedelse. På den tiden var det den eneste kongregasjonen i sitt slag.
Senere ble også «Kontemplative søstre av Den korsfestede Jesus» (Suore
Contemplative di Gesù Crocifisso) grunnlagt.
For legfolk grunnla han organisasjonene «Kvinner av
Det guddommelige Forsyn», «Tidligere elever» og «Venner». I nyere tid har «Don
Orione Sekularinstitutt» og «Don Orione legbevegelse» kommet til.
Don Orione besøkte ikke Latin-Amerika før etter Første
verdenskrig, i 1921. Nøden blant de 200.000 italienske immigrantene i Brasil var
enorm, og som vanlig var han mest opptatt av barna. Han fortsatte til
Argentina, hvor han ble tilbudt land og lokaler i Buenos Aires for sogn,
barnehjem og jordbruksskoler. Han vendte tilbake til Buenos Aires i 1934 for å
se på den ekspansjonen som hadde skjedd og oppmuntre til grunnleggelse av flere
hospitaler, barnehjem og en ny kirke. Han grunnla også hus i Polen (1923), USA
(1934), England (1935), Albania (1936), Cardiff i Wales (1936), Chile og
Uruguay.
Første verdenskrig og mellomkrigstiden i Italia var
ikke enkle år. Men Don Orione ville ikke tolerere noen avhengighet av
fascistene. En gang prøvde en høyt plassert tjenestemann å megle hos Mussolini
for å redde et av kongregasjonens hus i Genova, men Don Orione gikk ikke med på
det, siden det ikke var «Herrens vei». Det var nettopp hans ubøyelige valg av
«Herrens vei» som gjorde Don Orione så bemerkelsesverdig. Han var av natur
lidenskapelig, opprørsk, egensindig, utålmodig, til og med eksplosiv, svært
intelligent og dynamisk. En gang da han hørte en melding om urettferdighet
begått av Mussolini, utbrøt han: «Hvis jeg ikke hadde gått i soutane, ville jeg
ha ledet en hær og avsatt den mannen».
Han fikk ikke oppleve slutten på Andre verdenskrig og
heller ikke den pavelige approbasjonen av hans institutt, som ble gitt i 1955.
I 1940 ga han langsomt slipp på sitt grep over kongregasjonen han hadde
grunnlagt, men uten å miste sin prestelige omsorg for andres frelse. En bønn
som ble oppdaget i en av hans notatbøker etter hans død, er typisk for den ånd
som fylte hans varierte apostolat: «Herre, før meg ned til helvetes porter,
slik at jeg ved din nåde kan holde dem stengt for alle som kommer dit».
Don Orione hadde lenge hatt diabetes, og i 1929 og
1940 ble han rammet av to slag. Medbrødre og leger fikk ham til å hvile ut noen
dager i villaen Santa Clotilde i San Remo i Imperia, men det viste seg at alle
hans fysiske krefter var brukt opp. Han døde der den 12. mars 1940, 67 år
gammel etter et tredje og dødelig slag. Det var helt mot hans vilje, for han
hadde kort før erklært at han ikke ville «dø under palmer, men midt blant de
fattige». Ved hans død var det 820 medlemmer av hans kongregasjoner, derav 220
prester, i 102 hus i Italia, Albania, Rhódos, Polen, England, Argentina,
Brasil, Chile, Uruguay og USA. Hans legeme ble først i et triumfartet opptog
gjennom mange byer i Nord-Italia til Tortona, og det ble bisatt i krypten i
Maria-helligdommen Madonna della Guardia som han selv hadde bygd i Tortona.
Da graven ble åpnet i mars 1965 for en kanonisk
identifikasjon 25 år etter hans død, fant man at hans legeme var fullstendig
bevart, noe det fortsatt er. Etter saligkåringen har det vært utstilt for de
troende. Hans kongregasjon teller nå rundt 4.000 og finnes overalt i Italia og
på alle fem kontinenter.
Den 6. februar 1978 anerkjente Vatikanet hans
«heroiske dyder», og han fikk dermed tittelen Venerabilis, «Ærverdig». Den
29. april 1980 undertegnet paven dekretet fra Helligkåringskongregasjonen som
anerkjente et mirakel på hans forbønn. Den 26. oktober 1980 ble han saligkåret
av pave Johannes Paul II på Petersplassen i Roma. Den 7. juli 2003 undertegnet
pave Johannes Paul II dekretet fra Helligkåringskongregasjonen som godkjente et
nytt mirakel på hans forbønn. Han ble helligkåret den 16. mai 2004 av pave
Johannes Paul II på Petersplassen i Roma. Hans minnedag er dødsdagen 12. mars,
men 8. mars nevnes også.
Kilder:
Attwater/Cumming, Butler (III), Benedictines, Bunson, Ball (1), Holböck (1),
Resch (B1), Index99, Patron Saints SQPN, Infocatho, Bautz, vatican.va,
sonsofdivineprovidence.org, users.libero.it, salesianmissions.org,
avemaria.bravepages.com - Kompilasjon og oversettelse: p. Per Einar Odden -
Sist oppdatert: 2004-05-18 15:08
http://www.saintjosephduweb.com/Saint-Don-Orione-fondateur-d-une-famille-spirituelle-complete-Fete-le-12-mars_a425.html
http://www.sonsofdivineprovidence.org/
