Saint Vincent Pallotti
Fondateur de la Société
de l'Apostolat Catholique (+ 1850)
Prêtre romain qui fonda la Société de l'Apostolat Catholique. Après une brève période comme professeur de théologie, il se voua au travail pastoral à Rome et fonda la Congrégation des Pallotins.
En 1836, il créa une semaine de Prière en faveur de l'unité des Églises orientales, dans l'octave de l'Épiphanie.
Il s'intéressa également à l'union avec la Communion anglicane. Il fut Canonisé
en janvier 1963.
Le Pape Paul VI a pu dire
de lui: ”Vincent Pallotti a été un précurseur…Il a devancé de près de cent ans
la découverte du fait suivant : dans le monde des laïcs, jusqu'à présent
passif, somnolent, craintif et incapable de s'exprimer, il existe une
prodigieuse énergie au service du bien.
Saint Vincent a frappé à la conscience des laïcs comme on frappe à une porte.” (1er septembre 1963 à Frascati)
Voir aussi le site des Pères
Pallottins en France qui fêtent le cinquantenaire de la Canonisation
de leur Fondateur.
À Rome en 1850, Saint Vincent Palloti, Prêtre, Fondateur de la Société de l’Apostolat Catholique, qui stimula, par ses écrits et ses œuvres, la vocation de tous ceux qui sont Baptisés dans Le Christ à travailler activement en faveur de l’Église.
Martyrologe romain
Saint Vincent Pallotti
affirme: "La règle fondamentale de notre petite Congrégation est la vie de
Notre Seigneur Jésus Christ pour l'imiter avec toute la perfection
possible".
SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/485/Saint-Vincent-Pallotti.html
Pomnik
św. Wincentego Pallottiego na terenie Ośrodka Animacji Misyjnej w Skolimowie,
ul. Leśna, Konstancin-Jeziorna, Polska
The
monument of Saint Vincent Pallotti in Ośrodek Animacji Misyjnej in Skolimów,
Leśna Street, Konstancin-Jeziorna, Poland
Saint Vincent Pallotti
Prêtre et Fondateur de la
« Societas Apostolatus Cattolici »
Vincent (Vincenzo)
Pallotti nait à Rome, le 21 Avril 1795, troisième de dix enfants de
Pietro Paolo et Maria Maddalena De Rossi.
Ses premières études eurent lieu à l'école de San Pantaleone, puis il alla au
collège à Rome.
C'est à l'âge de 16 ans qu'il souhaita devenir Prêtre. Le 16 mai 1820, il était
ordonné et célébrait sa première Messe dans l'église du Gesù (Frascati) à l'autel de Notre-Dame-Refuge-des-Pécheurs (Refugium
peccatorum).
Le 25 Juillet, il devenait docteur es théologie, et fut nommé professeur
de théologie. Il était un excellent théologien, et aurait pu faire une
brillante carrière dans l'enseignement de cette discipline, mais sa vocation le
porta plutôt vers l'apostolat.
Il parcourait la ville de Rome, apportant aide matérielle et réconfort à la
population misérable, prêchant l'évangile, vivant de peu, et partageant le peu
qu'il avait, écoutant les confessions, et aidant spirituellement tous les
fidèles qui venaient à lui.
Parallèlement, dans le contexte qui était celui où il vivait, avec l'aide de
quelques collaborateurs, il œuvrait à la coordination de toutes les initiatives
apostoliques qui impliquaient les Chrétiens, Religieux et laïcs, afin que la
mission et l'action de l'Église se propagent partout.
Le Père Pallotti était persuadé de l'importance de la Charité et de sa mise en œuvre par tous les Catholiques afin d'apporter la Bonne Nouvelle à tous.
C'est ainsi qu'en 1835, il fonda la Pieuse Société des Missions qui deviendra
la « Societas Apostolatus Cattolici » (Société de l'Apostolat
Catholique - Congrégation connue sous l'appellation des Pallottins), mise
en place pour animer des groupes de Prêtres et de laïcs œuvrant à l'action
Catholique.
Par ailleurs, le Père Pallotti, dès 1836, a commencé à promouvoir l'observance
de l'octave de l'Épiphanie, qui est toujours célébrée ; son but étant d'être un
signe de rapprochement avec les Églises orientales.
Le 14 août 1844, le Pape Grégoire XVI confie l'église San Salvatore in Onda de Rome à la jeune Communauté.
C'est dans ces lieux que Vincent Pallotti meurt prématurément d'un refroidissement, le 22 Janvier 1850; il était âgé de 55 ans.
Son œuvre est continuée par ses collaborateurs, et les pères pallottins sont actuellement environ 2 300 de par le
monde.
Déclaré Vénérable en 1887 par le Pape Léon XIII (Vincenzo Pecci, 1878-1903),
qui le considérait déjà comme un Saint, Vincenzo Pallotti fut
Béatifié le 22 Janvier 1950 par le Vénérable Pie XII (Eugenio Pacelli,
1939-1958), et Canonisé le 20 Janvier 1963 par Saint Jean XXIII
(Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, 1958-1963).
Les Pallottins sont voués aux Missions, à l'apostolat de la jeunesse à travers
des œuvres d'éducation, à l'apostolat de la presse et à diverses œuvres
d'assistance.
Ils attachent de l'importance à la participation commune des Prêtres, des laïcs et des Religieux et à la promotion du laïcat.
Des Missions existent notamment en Amérique du Sud, Australie, Inde, Afrique,
Océanie. La Congrégation compte 2391 membres en 2008, dont 1640 Prêtres en
2005, répartis en 407 maisons.
Il existe aussi une Congrégation des Sœurs de l'Apostolat Catholique,
appelées Pallottines.
Les Pères Pallotins œuvrent en France à la diffusion des messages reçus par
Sainte Faustine Kowalska.
Ils éditent une très belle petite revue trimestrielle le « Messager de la Miséricorde Divine ».
Vincent Pallotti
prêtre, fondateur, saint
1795-1850
PAULETTE LEBLANC
Vincenzo Pallotti, prêtre
romain, fonda la Société de l’Apostolat Catholique. Après une brève période
comme professeur de théologie, il se voua au travail pastoral à Rome et fonda
la Congrégation des Pallotins. En 1836, il créa une semaine de prière en faveur
de l’unité des Églises orientales, dans l’octave de l’Épiphanie. Il s’intéressa
également à l’union avec la Communion anglicane. Il fut canonisé en janvier
1963.
Vincent Pallotti est né à
Rome le 21 avril 1795. Il y vécut, sans interruption, jusqu’à sa mort le 22
janvier 1850. Sa famille qui appartenait à la bourgeoisie de Rome fut, pour
lui, l’endroit où il expérimenta les richesses de l’amour. Il reçut une
excellente formation intellectuelle et religieuse. Jeune homme calme et
réfléchi, Vincent s’unissait de plus en plus profondément à Dieu dont il
découvrait l’Amour et la Miséricorde infinis. Il entra au séminaire pour
devenir prêtre diocésain à l’âge de seize ans, et fut ordonné le 16 mai 1818:
il avait 23 ans.
C’est vers cette époque
qu’il écrivit ce qui devait caractériser toute sa vie: “J’implore Dieu
qu’Il daigne faire de moi un ouvrier infatigable.” Il désirait “être
nourriture pour rassasier les affamés, vêtement pour revêtir ceux qui sont nus,
boisson pour rafraîchir les assoiffés, remède pour fortifier l’estomac de ceux
qui sont faibles, soin pour soulager les souffrances des malades, des
estropiés, des muets et des sourds, lumière pour éclairer ceux qui sont aveugles
physiquement et spirituellement, vie pour ressusciter les morts par la grâce de
Dieu.”
Autant que l’on puisse en
juger, il fut pleinement exaucé, et l’énoncé de ce qu’il a pu réaliser au cours
de ses 32 ans d’activité pastorale, à une époque très tourmentée, est
absolument incroyable.
Le cœur de Vincent
brûlait d’amour pour Dieu et du désir de ranimer la foi et l’amour dans le
peuple de Dieu. Ce fut le but de l’Union de l’Apostolat Catholique qu’il
créa en 1835. “Souvenons-nous, écrit-il que de toutes les œuvres
divines, la plus sainte, la plus noble, la plus auguste et la plus divine, est
l’œuvre de coopération au dessein miséricordieux, aux souhaits de Dieu pour le
salut du monde.” Par l’Apostolat Catholique, l’engagement des chrétiens
devait devenir universel. L’Union de l’Apostolat Catholique fut le point de
départ d’un nouvel Ordre religieux: les Pallotins.
Les divisions dans
l’Église du Christ brisaient le cœur de Vincent. C’est lui qui institua les
premières semaines de l’unité, durant l’octave de la fête de l’Épiphanie.
Sur le plan personnel il
s’engageait pleinement sur le chemin de la sainteté, tout en ayant conscience
de son état de pécheur. Il regrettait que les vies de saints ne parlent jamais
de leurs faiblesses, et à ce propos il écrivit: “Remarquez que dans les
biographies des saints, on ne trouve aucun chapitre sur leurs fautes. Si on
ajoutait cependant ce chapitre, il serait certainement le plus long.”
Étonnant homme d’action,
et mystique authentique que Vincent Pallotti, professeur et répétiteur
d’université, confesseur recherché, aumônier de séminaire et prédicateur,
défenseur des ouvriers et des paysans sans défense, prédicateur apprécié,
auteur de nombreux livres et d’articles, promoteur de missions et fondateur de
communautés religieuses.
Il convient d‘insister
ici sur le fait que Vincent Pallotti se consacra à la confession durant toute
sa vie, car la confession est une réponse à l’Amour et à la Miséricorde de
Dieu. Que de gens vinrent à lui, même des cardinaux ou des papes, car il était
devenu un grand maître dans ce service tellement difficile.
L’œuvre de Vincent
Pallotti fut immense et ses idées, révolutionnaires à l’époque, sont plus que
jamais actuelles. Comme la plupart des grands saints en firent
l’expérience, l’œuvre de Vincent fut souvent critiquée, jalousée, et soumise à
de sourdes oppositions. Vincent lui-même eut à subir de nombreuses
tracasseries et des calomnies... On alla jusqu’à amener le pape à dissoudre son
œuvre.
Vincent Palloti souffrit
beaucoup de l’incompréhension d’une partie de l’Église romaine à son égard.
C’est seulement en priant longuement devant la représentation du Calvaire
qu’il avait établie chez lui, dans sa chambre, qu’il trouvait un peu de force
et de réconfort: “Le Chemin le plus sûr est celui de la souffrance. Notre
Sauveur, sa Mère et tous les saints ont emprunté ce chemin.”
On peut dire que Vincent
Pallotti fut un martyre de la confession, puisque c’est en confessant un pauvre
sur les épaules duquel il avait mit son manteau, qu’il contracta la pleurésie
dont il mourut le 22 janvier 1850, âgé d’à peine 54 ans.
En 1950, cent ans après
sa mort, Vincent Pallotti fut béatifié par le pape Pie XII. Le pape Jean XXIII
le canonisa en 1963, pendant le Concile, consacrant, en quelque sorte, les
idées de ce précurseur.
Il est clair, dans
l’esprit de Vincent Pallotti, qu’il est urgent de”ranimer la foi et de raviver
la charité parmi les catholiques”. Cette expression reviendra souvent sous
la plume de Vincent Pallotti, comme un leitmotiv. C’est pour répondre à cet
appel profond et insistant que Vincent Pallotti s’appliquera, pendant des
années, à la réalisation de son œuvre essentielle: la fondation de la Société
de l’Apostolat Catholique.
1 La Société de l’Apostolat Catholique
1-1-Qu’est-ce
que la Société de l’Apostolat Catholique?
C’est le 21 septembre
1816 que Vincenzo commence la rédaction de son journal spirituel appelé plus
tard Illuminations.
Le vendredi 9 janvier
1835, après la célébration eucharistique: Vincent Pallotti prend conscience,
d’une manière irrévocable, du projet général de ce qu’il veut faire. Sa Société
comprendra:
– Une œuvre missionnaire universelle.
– Un mouvement de renouveau religieux et moral pour le peuple chrétien.
– Une œuvre universelle d’amour.
Entre le 14 et le 17
juillet et le 26 mars 1840, cette illumination, ou inspiration, se fait
décisive. Cette Société sera d’abord nommée L’Union. Plus tard, elle
s’appellera La Société de l’Apostolat Catholique. Son but principal sera
de ”ranimer la foi et raviver la charité parmi les catholiques, en vue de
les propager dans toutes les parties du monde... afin qu’il n’y ait plus qu’un
seul troupeau et un seul pasteur.”
Comme tous les fondateurs
d’œuvres qui viennent de Dieu, Vincent Pallotti eut à subir de nombreuses
contradictions, même de la part de ceux qui auraient dû le soutenir. Nous en
parlerons plus loin.
À l’origine, il y a le
désir d’un prêtre romain (Vincenzo Pallotti), de faire imprimer, en langue
arabe, le livre de Saint Alphonse de Liguori sur “Les Vérités chrétiennes”. Ce
prêtre romain encouragea vivement un laïc pieux à se procurer, par des aumônes,
l’argent nécessaire pour couvrir les frais d’impression. Afin de
poursuivre l’œuvre commencée, et de faire face aux multiples besoins de
l’Église, tout en évitant les malveillances qui déjà se faisaient jour, il
convenait d’instituer une société religieuse qui aurait la “tâche de
multiplier les moyens spirituels et matériels nécessaires et appropriés pour
ranimer la foi parmi les catholiques, ranimer l’amour et répandre l’un et
l’autre dans le monde entier.” Et cela, d’une part en s’efforçant
d’unir les clergés séculier et régulier, et, d’autre part, en incitant les
laïcs de toutes conditions à collaborer à l’œuvre commune. C’est la
Congrégation des Prêtres et des Frères qui aura pour tâche de diriger et
répandre la Société de l’Apostolat Catholique.
En effet, constate
Vincent Pallotti, des personnes dispersées perdent facilement leur
persévérance, leur énergie et leur zèle dans les œuvres de charité. D’où la
nécessité de créer une association de prêtres et de frères réunis dans un état
de vie commune. Les prêtres ne seront pas appelés des clercs réguliers: “ils
devront tout simplement s’appeler prêtres de la Congrégation de l’Apostolat
Catholique.” Marie sera leur modèle, car ”bien que Marie n’ait pas
été prêtre ni apôtre, elle s’est vouée à ces œuvres avec une telle perfection
et une telle plénitude, qu’elle s’est mérité, dans le ciel, une gloire plus
grande que celle des apôtres.”
2 La Congrégation de prêtres et de frères de l’Apostolat Catholique [1]
Après bien des
vicissitudes, des contradictions, des oppositions, Vincent Pallotti put enfin
réaliser, dans son intégralité, ce qui sera son œuvre: la Société de
l’Apostolat catholique, dont la base reposera essentiellement sur la
Congrégation des Prêtres et des frères qui sera “en quelque sorte l’âme et
la partie animatrice de toute la Société, et en même temps une sorte de trait
d’union ou de membre médiateur entre le clergé séculier et le clergé régulier.”
2-1-Le
contrat avec la Congrégation
Les prêtres et les frères
de la Congrégation sont liés par un contrat et non par des vœux. L’acte
essentiel de celui qui s’engage dans la Congrégation, est la consécration à
Dieu: “Après leur noviciat, les membres posent l’acte formel de leur
consécration qu’ils font d’eux-mêmes à Dieu, non en se liant par un vœu, mais
par le lien d’un contrat, se faisant ainsi un devoir de demeurer dans la
Congrégation jusqu’à la mort... Dès lors ils s’obligent à vivre jusqu’à leur
mort dans la Congrégation, dans l’obéissance, la pauvreté, la chasteté et
l’observance des saintes Règles pour coopérer à tous les saints objectifs de
cette Congrégation de la Société.”
Il convient de préciser
ici que la règle fondamentale de la Société est l’Esprit de l’Amour. La
charité, en effet, résume tout l’esprit de la Société de l’Apostolat
Catholique.
2-2-L’agrégation
à la Congrégation des prêtres et des frères de l’Apostolat catholique
L’agrégation des
personnes individuelles constitue trois groupes:
– Le premier groupe comprend les fidèles désireux de collaborer dans
l’apostolat.
– Le deuxième groupe comprend les clercs, les religieux et les laïcs
coopérant dans une communauté de vie, avec la Congrégation, de façon durable ou
occasionnelle: ce sont les missionnaires de la société.
– Le troisième groupe comprend ceux qui sont désireux de mener une vie
religieuse dans le monde.
Outre les personnes
individuelles, des corps constitués peuvent également être agrégés à la
Congrégation. Pour réunir dans un même esprit tous les membres des corps
agrégés, des Procures assureront la direction de la société.
2-3-Le
mémoire pratique quotidien
Le mémoire Pratique
quotidien, c’est le moyen donné par Pallotti aux membres de sa Société pour que
leur vie devienne une imitation constante de la vie de Jésus, spécialement de
sa vie à Nazareth, au sein de la Sainte Famille. C’est aussi la spiritualité de
Vincent Pallotti qui s’y exprime. “...En mangeant, en buvant, dans l’usage
des vêtements et dans toute autre chose créée et nécessaire à la vie, nous
devons considérer comment il (Jésus) se laisserait guider par sa pureté
d’intention et sa modération... En un mot, il nous faut en toute chose nous
imaginer voir Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ... devenu notre exemple et modèle et
la règle pratique de toute notre vie intérieure.”
Parmi les opérations
intérieures principales conseillées par le fondateur de la Société de
l’Apostolat Catholique, nous pouvons retenir: l’esprit de sacrifice, l’humilité
et la mansuétude du cœur, l’esprit de l’oraison continuelle et de l’union à
Dieu.
3 Le Testament spirituel de Vincent Pallotti
En 1840, Pallotti est
gravement malade. C’est alors que, secouru par de grandes grâces, il donna ses
derniers conseils à ses collaborateurs, conseils que l’on peut considérer comme
son Testament spirituel bien qui ait encore près de dix ans à vivre. On peut
lire, entre autres: “Pères et Frères bien-aimés en Notre seigneur
Jésus-Christ, je dois maintenant et toujours le confesser devant vous et toutes
les créatures: je suis intimement convaincu... que la fondation et l’expansion
de la Société répondent bien à la volonté divine... En outre, Notre Seigneur
Jésus-Christ a daigné révéler à une de ses âmes bien-aimées, que c’est lui-même
qui avait inspiré tout ce qui a été écrit sur la Société et que je la verrais
suffisamment instituée et répandue; l’œuvre contribuera à sa plus grande
gloire.”
Vincent Pallotti rappelle
aussi la vocation de la Société: “La fin principale et spécifique,
particulière aux circonstances actuelles est la formation d’un clergé séculier
et régulier édifiant, rempli de zèle pour la gloire de Dieu au profit des
âmes... Que Dieu demeure glorifié comme il mérite d’être glorifié; que les âmes
soient sanctifiées dans le monde entier comme elles peuvent être sanctifiées
par la puissance infinie des mérites de Notre-Seigneur Jésus-Christ. Que soit
répandu le culte de la très Sainte Vierge Marie, des Anges et des saints, comme
Dieu mérite d’être glorifié dans sa très Sainte Mère, sa Fille et son Épouse.”
4 La Congrégation féminine de l’Apostolat Catholique
Les nombreuses missions
de Vincent Pallotti lui montrèrent la détresse des jeunes filles en péril et
l’urgente nécessité d’y apporter remède. Un premier foyer éducatif fut ouvert
en 1838. Avec lui naissait la Congrégation des Sœurs de l’Apostolat Catholique.
Le but de la Congrégation féminine, sa spiritualité et sa Règle, sont
comparables à celles de la Congrégation des Prêtres et des Frères.
5 Les vissicitudes de la fondation
Les points qui suivent
montrent, à travers les différentes étapes de la fondation, l’évolution de la
pensée de Vincent Pallotti.
5-1-Les
premières approbations (1835)
Le 4 avril 1835 sera la
date officielle de la Fondation de la Société de l’Apostolat Catholique. Puis,
à travers trois requêtes adressées aux autorités ecclésiastiques, puis au pape,
les buts de la société sont clairement exposés:
Première
requête (4 avril 1835)
“Nous avons entrepris de
nous rassembler par le lien d’une charité chrétienne d’émulation pour chercher
à accroître les moyens spirituels et matériels en vue de répandre la foi
sacrée... et hâter le temps désiré par tous les hommes de bien, et prédit par
Jésus-Christ, où il n’y aura plus qu’un seul troupeau et un seul pasteur.”
Deuxième
requête approuvée le 29 mai 1835
“Quelques prêtres ainsi
que de pieux laïcs, les requérants très dévoués de votre révérendissime
excellence, ont examiné avec soin le fait que personne ne s’aime soi-même, s’il
ne pense pas selon ses possibilités à son salut éternel. L’idée s’est alors
imposée à eux que personne n’observe le commandement divin d’aimer notre
prochain comme nous-mêmes, s’il n’œuvre pas selon ses possibilités autant au
salut éternel de son prochain qu’au sien propre.”
Troisième
requête (11 juillet 1835)
“En l’honneur, et sous la
protection de la Reine des Apôtres, la Vierge Mère très sainte et immaculée,
une association religieuse a été fondée à Rome, qui porte le nom d’Apostolat
Catholique. Elle a pour but d’augmenter les moyens spirituels et temporels nécessaires
et adéquats pour ranimer la foi et raviver l’amour parmi le catholiques en vue
de les répandre partout dans le monde afin de constituer le plus vite possible
sur toute la terre un troupeau et un seul pasteur suprême.
5-2-La
première Assemblée générale de la nouvelle fondation eut lieu le 14 juillet
1835
Voici quelques-uns des
principaux points du programme fixé par l’Assemblée du 14 juillet 1835:
“1° Qui considère la
situation actuelle du monde relative à la religion, ressent nettement que
malgré les scandales de toutes sortes dont notre temps de malheur a été et est
encore le témoin, se manifeste partout un besoin religieux intense pour les
questions de la foi, et que même des peuples non chrétiens révèlent une
aptitude particulièrement favorable pour l’adoption de la religion catholique.
2°Aussi peut-on même dire
que les champs de moisson blanchissent et attendent avec impatience la main qui
en assurera la moisson. Mais malheureusement on doit dire aussi: plus la
moisson est abondante et mûre, d’autant moindre est le nombre d’ouvriers qui
doivent engranger.
3°Les professions
ecclésiastiques sont peu nombreuses et deviennent de plus en plus rares. Les
ordres religieux qui pourtant témoignent activement du zèle pour les âmes, sont
tombés, à la suite des événements passés dans un état de grande détresse...
4°Cependant, pour
recruter des ouvriers compétents pour la vigne du Seigneur, Jésus-Christ nous
recommande lui-même, dans son saint Évangile, deux moyens: à savoir une prière
intense et des dons volontaires...
5°Ces réflexions ont
inspiré à quelques personnes pieuses, l’idée de se réunir et d’inviter le plus
grand nombre possible de fidèles à s’associer, afin de demander ensemble au
Père du Ciel d’envoyer un grand nombre d’ouvriers à sa vigne et, en outre, pour
contribuer à leur formation par des dons volontaires... Ainsi en est-on venu à
décider... que cette grande foule de chrétiens se rassemble pour former une
société religieuse.
6°Telle est donc l’idée
et le but de cette association qui se présente ici sous le nom d’Action
Catholique, pour le progrès et l’expansion de la foi catholique...
8°Le Sauveur considère la
conversion des âmes comme l’œuvre de Dieu par excellence, l’objectif de son bon
vouloir.
9°Cette œuvre doit être
en outre particulièrement agréable à la Mère de Dieu...
11°Puisque la divine
Providence nous fait un devoir de secourir notre frère dans sa détresse
temporelle, à combien plus forte raison nous faut-il le secourir dans sa
détresse spirituelle...
12°... Finalement
beaucoup d’ermites austères, de timides vierges et de zélés gens du monde se
verront à leur étonnement et à leur stupéfaction honorés et récompensés dans le
ciel comme les médiateurs de la foi de beaucoup d’âmes. Car, quand sur la terre
ils portaient témoignage en leur faveur, sans même annoncer l’Évangile, ils ont
pourtant préparé leur conversion qu’ils ont obtenue par la profondeur de leurs
prières et la présentation de leurs sacrifices...”
5-3-La
tâche principale de l’Union
“La société qui a pour
tâche principale la propagation de la foi en Jésus-Christ, doit prendre en
considération le fait qu’il faut accroître le nombre d’ouvriers de
l’Évangile... Prions donc et sans relâche faisons prier autant qu’il est
possible, avec humilité, confiance et constance...
... Celui qui, faute de
disposer d’autres moyens, fait autant de prières qu’il peut pour raviver la foi
et ranimer l’amour parmi les catholiques en vue de les propager dans le monde
entier, pourra alors acquérir le mérite de l’apostolat.”
Toutes les personnes qui
le souhaitent peuvent être associées à la Société de l’Action Catholique et
participer à ses œuvres. Les associés peuvent être des prêtres, des
séminaristes, des laïcs ou des religieux, et même des malades dont les prières
sont très précieuses.
5-4-Pallotti
défend sa société
Comme la plupart des
fondateurs, Vincent Pallotti rencontra des oppositions et des incompréhensions.
En particulier son association avait été soupçonnée, bien à tort, de vouloir
concurrencer une association lyonnaise : l’Œuvre de la Propagation de la
Foi, fondée en 1822 par Pauline Jaricot. Aussi Vincent Pallotti fut-il, à
plusieurs reprises, obligé de défendre sa fondation et de préciser ses
intentions et ses objectifs :
– imiter et suivre le Christ dans son œuvre de
Rédemption : – allumer et entretenir les foyers de feu et
d’amour.“C’est l’embrasement du feu divin.”
– pour la plus grande gloire de Dieu et le salut du genre humain
Par quels moyens ?
Pour allumer encore
davantage le feu divin là où il se trouve, et pour le répandre là où il
n’existe pas encore, “les moyens sont la prière, les œuvres du ministère
évangélique qui mènent au but indiqué, ainsi que les moyens matériels
nécessaires et appropriés aux œuvres énumérées.”
Sous quel nom ?
“La Société se nomme “de
l’Apostolat Catholique” non pas parce qu’elle prétendrait posséder l’apostolat
catholique ou la mission générale de la véritable Église de Jésus-Christ, mais
parce qu’elle vénère cet apostolat, le considère, l’aime et le désire vivement,
pour qu’il soit soutenu par tous.”
Pallotti donne quelques
précisions :
Apôtre signifie :
envoyé ;
Apostolat signifie :
mission.
Toute mission de la
véritable église de Jésus-Christ est catholique. Comme tout vrai chrétien se
nomme catholique et l’est également... on nomme aussi toute mission de la vraie
Église de Jésus-Christ un Apostolat Catholique,” c’est à dire universel.
En 1839 Pallotti
écrit “Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ a mis dans mon esprit la véritable idée
de la nature et des œuvres de la Société ayant pour visée générale le progrès,
la défense et l’expansion de la piété et de la foi catholique.”
Pourtant, même après que
toute menace de dissolution de la fondation ait été écartée, son nom fut
modifié pour devenir Pieuse Société Missionnaire. Ce n’est que le 9
juin 1947 que le pape Pie XII rétablit le nom d’origine: Société de
l’Apostolat Catholique.
Vincent Pallotti revient
constamment sur le but de la Société qu’il est en train de créer. Ainsi, d’une
manière ou d’une autre, il revient constamment sur les mêmes idées: La foi,
l’amour et l’unité de l’Église.
“La Société en question
devrait être fondée en vue d’augmenter les moyens spirituels et matériels,
nécessaires et obligatoires, afin de raviver la foi parmi les catholiques et de
raviver leur amour, et de les faire répandre l’un et l’autre parmi les
hérétiques et les infidèles... afin de hâter le jour où il n’y aura plus qu’un
seul troupeau dirigé dans le monde entier par un unique pasteur.”
Les premiers documents de
la Société de l’Action catholique insistent beaucoup sur le but de cette
fondation. Ainsi, on peut lire:
“Cette
société constitue un corps dont le but est l’expansion et le maintien de la foi
ainsi que la conversion et le salut des âmes...” (Appel du 6 mai 1835)
“Le
but de cette association est donc exclusivement la sanctification de ses
membres et l’expansion de la foi catholique dans le monde.” (Statuts de
l’Apostolat Catholique pour le progrès, la défense de la foi catholique ― Chapitre
I ― Paragraphe 2)
“Dans ce but, elle se consacre à la pratique de toutes les activités qu’exige
le ministère de l’Église, ainsi qu’aux tâches multiples de la charité
chrétienne de nature à susciter dans les pays catholiques l’esprit de la foi,
du zèle et de la vertu chrétienne.” (Statuts de l’Apostolat Catholique
pour le progrès, la défense de la foi catholique ― Chapitre I ― Paragraphe
3)
“L’objectif
de l’Apostolat Catholique est exclusivement l’honneur de Dieu par la conversion
et le salut des âmes. L’unique motif qui doit animer les ouvriers doit être le
zèle et le bonheur spirituel. (Statuts de l’Apostolat Catholique pour le
progrès, la défense de la foi catholique ― Chapitre 2 ― Paragraphe
6)
6 Les buts de la Société de l’Action Catholique
Quelques
extraits de l’Opuscule sur l’Apostolat Catholique
”La Société de
l’Apostolat Catholique qui milite sous la protection de la très Sainte Vierge
Marie, la Reine des Apôtres, a été fondée à Rome, en vue d’accroître les moyens
spirituels et temporels aptes à ranimer la foi et raviver l’amour parmi
les catholiques et à étendre le Royaume de Dieu dans toutes les parties du
monde , afin qu’il n’y ait qu’un seul troupeau et un seul pasteur selon la
promesse du divin Rédempteur... Que chacun songe -qu’il soit juste ou pécheur-
que le souci du salut des âmes est l’œuvre la plus précieuse et par là aussi la
plus assurée de la miséricorde pour obtenir miséricorde et atteindre sa propre
sanctification.
L’affaire la plus
importante du monde est le salut d’une âme: d’où l’importance de la diffusion
de la foi, car il s’agit là du salut de millions d’âmes. Pour répandre la foi
dans toutes les parties du monde, il faut savoir utiliser tous les talents. “Mais
la moisson est abondante et les ouvriers peu nombreux... Et comme ils sont
rares ces ouvriers, ces messagers de l’Évangile pleins d’esprit apostolique!...
Il suffit de regarder les circonstances présentes. Elles nous montrent des
communautés religieuses dont le rétablissement ne s’est pas encore partout
effectué... et un clergé en baisse... Qui ne voit la haute et pressante
nécessité de prier le maître de la moisson d’envoyer des ouvriers pour
engranger la moisson?“ [2]
En résumé :
Pour entrer dans l’œuvre
de l’Apostolat Catholique, il faut “s’engager à participer au renouveau de
la foi et de la piété dans les pays où elles sont déjà répandues, et pour leur
expansion dans les régions les plus éloignées des deux hémisphères, afin que là
le sang précieux de Jésus-Christ soit fécond, et que l’on augmente les fruits
de la Rédemption et que l’on connaisse son saint Nom.”
Remarque :
“L’Apostolat Catholique
n’est pas un ordre religieux, mais une société séculière de fidèles qui, sans
aucune obligation particulière, coopèrent, animés de l’esprit de charité,
d’émulation avec tous les moyens dont ils disposent au maintien de la piété et
à la propagation de la foi catholique.
Le but de cette Société
n’est donc pas seulement la sanctification de ses membres et des autres
fidèles, mais aussi la propagation de la foi catholique dans le monde
entier.” [3]
Cette Société L”Apostolat
Catholique est en dépendance directe du Pape. Vincenzo Pallotti écrit en
1838 dans un texte destiné à préciser les fondements spirituels de la Société
de l’Apostolat Catholique : “Un esprit ferme et véritable de profond
respect, de prompte obéissance et de vénération religieuse vis-à-vis du pape
doit briller dans la Société. Celui-ci est constitué par Jésus-Christ le
responsable suprême de la société... car il a seul reçu de Dieu le pouvoir
d’envoyer des missionnaires dans tous les pays du monde pour faire entrer les
brebis...”
6-2-Les
principales activités de l’Association
– Toutes les
activités du ministère apostolique,
– La rédaction et la
diffusion de livres et d’articles pour éclairer, défendre et maintenir la
religion,
– L’intériorisation,
l’encouragement, le maintien et la diffusion de toutes sortes d’exercices de
piété et de coutumes religieuses, en mesure d’animer la foi, d’exciter la piété
et de corriger les mœurs mauvaises dans toutes les couches de la
société...” (Statuts de l’Apostolat Catholique pour le progrès, la défense
de la foi catholique ― Chapitre 2 ― Paragraphe 4)
Quelques
exemples concrets des activités de la Société
En 1838, dans un
compte-rendu des activités de sa Société de l’Apostolat catholique, au pape
Grégoire XVI, Vincent Pallotti note : “Depuis sa fondation, la
Société n’a cessé de fournir aux missionnaires dont elle recevait des
nouvelles... des vêtements ecclésiastiques, des calices, des ciboires, ... des
rosaires, des revues, des scapulaires, des médailles,, des crucifix, etc.,...
Les missionnaires... ont
presque tous été autorisés à agréger des membres... Cette agrégation s’étend
aux Indes, en Amérique, en Corée, au Tibet, en Perse, en Chaldée,... en
Pologne, en Suisse, en Allemagne, en France, etc. ...”
La société a aidé de
nombreux pauvres pendant l’épidémie de choléra à Rome. Elle promeut les œuvres
de charité, spirituelles et matérielles, dans les hôpitaux où elle envoie des
prêtres et de pieux laïcs. Elle assure la direction des écoles du soir,
accueille les jeunes filles en danger, ouvre des écoles gratuites pour les
pauvres, fait imprimer et diffuser des livres religieux, des revues, des
rosaires, des médailles, etc. ...
À côté des personnes
chargées du ministère, Vincent Pallotti prévoit, dans son œuvre, la présence de
membres extérieurs, laïcs, spécialement chargés de prier pour les frères: ce
sont les associés spirituels. Dans ce groupe, des femmes peuvent être admises.
À ce propos un constat s’impose: Vincent Pallotti, ― est-ce son
milieu ou son époque? ― a une curieuse opinion des femmes et des
lourdes tâches familiales qui sont souvent les leurs. Il écrit: “D’ordinaire,
le sexe féminin a même plus de penchant et de temps libre!!! pour la prière, et
par ailleurs, pour les femmes, la prière est l’unique moyen de s’associer aux
progrès du ministère de l’Église. Aussi, à cette classe (les associés
spirituels) les femmes vraiment chrétiennes sont admises à devenir membres
et, d’une façon particulière, les Vierges consacrées qui sont dans les couvents
ou dans d’autres instituts religieux.” [4]
À tous les membres
associés, Vincent Pallotti recommande la confession et la communion fréquentes.
Comme pour résumer sa
pensée sur l’apostolat, Vincent Palloti écrit : “Puisse donc tout
catholique vivant dans l’Église du Christ être rassuré. Car que l’on soit
prêtre ou laïc, que, avec ses talents, son influence, ses relations, dans sa
profession, par ses paroles, ses possessions et ses biens matériels, et, quand
on manque d’autres moyens, au moins par ses prières, l’on fait tout ce que l’on
peut en vue de répandre la foi en Jésus-Christ, on pourra obtenir le mérite de
l’apostolat.”
Un autre texte,
relativement long, présentant la Société, développe les raisons qui justifient
l’existence de l’Union.[5]
Le fonctionnement d’une
telle société nécessite une organisation très structurée. Le monde entier sera
donc réparti en douze territoires. Chaque procure est mise sous la protection
spéciale des douze apôtres et de l’apôtre Saint Paul. Une treizième procure, la
Procure Générale, sera établie à Rome, en dépendance du Pape. “La Procure
Générale se compose du Directeur et de treize procureurs principaux... Le
Directeur exerce sa fonction sous la protection des très saints Cœurs de Jésus
et de Marie.”
7-2-Les
principaux moyens mis à la disposition des membres de la Société
“Beaucoup de moyens
spirituels et temporels sont nécessaires pour raviver la foi et ranimer
l’amour parmi les catholiques et répandre l’un et l’autre dans le monde
entier; aussi l’Union entend-elle se préoccuper des moyens spirituels et
matériels nécessaires et appropriés à un tel objectif.
Par rapport à une
entreprise aussi nécessaire qu’obligatoire du seul fait du précepte de l’amour,
laquelle n’est d’aucune manière à la portée des forces humaines, assaillie de
tant de difficultés et d’obstacles inimaginables, cette Société se voit obligée
de prendre en compte la prière que le divin Sauveur nous a donnée comme moyen
infaillible qui nous permet d’obtenir tout ce qui sert l’honneur de Dieu et le
bien des âmes. Sans doute à la condition qu’on le fasse avec confiance et
persévérance. Aussi la Société considérera-t-elle comme tâche
fondamentale et assurée d’efficacité, l’encouragement le plus grand possible à
effectuer des prières humbles, confiantes et constantes, partout, dans toutes
les couches du peuple et dans toutes les parties du monde et ce, dans le but
d’obtenir tout don et tout moyen nécessaire et requis pour qu’il y ait au plus
tôt un seul troupeau et un seul pasteur.”
La
direction et l’enseignement
“De façon évidente, ceux
qui peuvent acquérir le mérite de l’apostolat de Jésus-Christ sont les
confesseurs, lesquels peuvent développer chez leurs jeunes pénitents des germes
de vocation pour les missions étrangères: ces germes se trouvent souvent déjà
chez les enfants dès leur tendre jeunesse. Cela vaut aussi pour tous ceux qui
sont chargés de la direction, ― fut-elle externe ― de la
jeunesse catholique dans les écoles, les collèges, les oratoires et les
associations, s’ils s’efforcent dans la formation littéraire et religieuse des
jeunes gens qui leur sont confiés, le plus possible avec tout le soin dont ils sont
capables, par la paroles et la lecture de livres convenables, d’accroître de
plus en plus le nombre des ouvriers de l’Évangile, nécessaires à la propagation
de la foi.”
Autres
armes essentielles : l’humilité et l’amour.
Pallotti écrit, en 1838,
dans les Fondements Spirituels de la Société : “Seul celui qui est
vraiment humble peut agir avec efficacité... Surtout, qu’on veuille bien se
souvenir que dans une âme où manque la vraie humilité, il n’y a pas non plus
d’amour vrai, car l’amour est d’autant plus parfait qu’il est humble. Oui, il
serait le premier des orgueilleux celui qui croirait avoir pratiqué l’amour de
façon héroïque... La charité exercée comme le décrit l’apôtre Paul, constitue
l’élément fondamental de la Société.”
La Spiritualité de la
Société de l’Apostolat Catholique
8-1-La
dévotion à la Sainte Vierge
“Voyez, frères, notre
chère mère Marie. Sans prêcher, non seulement elle partage le mérite qui lui
est commun avec les apôtres, mais elle est elle-même la Reine des Apôtres.
C’est ainsi que l’Église de Jésus-Christ la salue comme Reine des Apôtres (car
selon ses forces elle a contribué à répandre la foi sans prêcher, mais pour
autant que cela a été possible à sa position et à sa situation). Comme elle s’y
est adonnée avec une telle perfection qu’elle a, de loin, dépassé les Apôtres,
Dieu qui lit dans les cœurs les intentions profondes de ses créatures, a élevé
Marie à la dignité de Reine des Apôtres, parce qu’elle en était digne.
... La Société est
fondée en l’honneur et sous la protection spéciale de la Reine des Apôtres,
parce qu’elle doit être particulièrement bienvenue à notre commune Mère Marie
et davantage encore, pour ressentir ainsi les effets de sa puissante
protection...”
Vicenzo Pallotti imagine
les conseils que la Sainte Vierge pourrait donner à ses apôtres. Nous n’en
retiendrons ici que quelques-uns. C’est Marie qui parle:
“Le Tout-Puissant m’a
élevée à la dignité de Reine des Apôtres parce qu’avec sa grâce je me suis
dépensée pour propager la foi.
Considérez, mes enfants,
si les saints du ciel pouvaient revenir sur la terre, enflammés d’amour, ils
travailleraient inlassablement au prix d’innombrables souffrances, à propager
la foi dans le monde entier, dans l’intention d’annoncer au monde entier
l’amour infini de Dieu pour les âmes, et avant tout, mon Fils Jésus...
Ô mes enfants, est-il
possible que vous puissiez être insensibles devant le spectacle de tant d’âmes
perdues pour l’éternité?... Faites tout ce que vous pouvez, maintenant et
toujours, pour obtenir la diffusion de la foi dans le monde entier, afin de
hâter le jour où il n’y aura plus qu’un seul pasteur et un seul troupeau...
Vous avez mon propre
exemple. J’ai plus souffert pour les âmes que les martyrs...
Rien ne se fait dans les
œuvres de Dieu sans une profonde humilité. Vincent Pallotti, le premier, a
donné à ses frères l’exemple d’une profonde humilité. Et il faut, en toutes
choses, faire confiance en la miséricorde de Dieu.
Vincent Pallotti écrit,
concernant la grâce du 9 janvier 1835 :“Vous voyez, mon Dieu, mon
ingratitude, ma négligence à en tirer parti (de la miséricorde de
Dieu) mes péchés, mes crimes et mes infamies. Vous voyez comment, à un
point tel que vous seul connaissez, je suis chaque jour davantage coupable et
la cause de toutes les fautes passées, présentes et à venir jusqu’à la fin du
monde... Mais vous déployez votre miséricorde sans borne en faisant connaître à
toute créature, à jamais et à tout instant, ma méchanceté et votre miséricorde.
Que cela soit pour moi une humiliation permanente et pour votre infinie
miséricorde une glorification permanente.
Il est assez remarquable
que, dans les textes de Vincent Pallotti, les expressions “ranimer la foi
et raviver l’amour” reviennent constamment. C’est que Vincent Pallotti
avait deux grands soucis: le salut de toutes les âmes et l’unité de l’Église.
Ainsi on peut lire, parmi beaucoup d’autres, des phrases comme celles qui
suivent:
– Concernant l’amour
Qui ignore que nul
n’obtient le salut éternel s’il n’observe pas les commandements de l’amour du
prochain.
Cette société devra avoir
pour fondement le commandement de l’amour, la reine de toutes les vertus et
poursuivre le but de propager sur la terre entière le règne de l’Amour...
L’union ainsi conçue a
pour unique objectif l’observation du commandement de l’amour.
L’acte le plus précieux
de la miséricorde réside, en effet, dans le souci du salut des âmes.
Il faut que l’homme soit
parfait dans l’amour de son prochain.
Dieu confie à chacun le
souci de son prochain.
– La prière
Pour l’Union, on
considérera comme tâche fondamentale et assurée du succès, l’encouragement le
plus vif possible à faire des prières humbles, confiantes et constantes, en vue
de ranimer la foi parmi les catholiques et de raviver l’amour.
Prions, oui, prions sans
relâche... pour que des missionnaires innombrables... s’en aillent répandre la
foi sur toute la terre...
Priez le maître de la
moisson d’envoyer des ouvriers à sa moisson.
– La foi
Pour ranimer la foi et
raviver l’amour, l’Union... cherchera à promouvoir les œuvres de la charité
chrétienne...
Qui jette un regard
religieux même furtif et rapide sur le monde de notre siècle, ne peut
s’empêcher de reconnaître l’importance indicible de ranimer la foi et de
raviver l’amour parmi les catholiques...
Quelques
prières de Vincenzo Pallotti
Vincent Pallotti fut
fasciné par Dieu, son Amour, sa présence parmi nous, particulièrement dans
l’Eucharistie. L’adoration était devenue sa vie. On a dit de lui qu’“il
respirait Dieu, toujours en paix, et le regard plongé en Dieu qui est présent
partout.” Il n’hésitait pas à écrire à ses correspondants : “Cherchez
Dieu, et vous Le trouverez. Cherchez-Le dans toutes choses et vous Le trouverez
partout. Cherchez-Le à chaque moment, et vous Le trouverez toujours.”
Mystique habité par Dieu,
Vincenzo, toujours dans le monde, prenait de plus en plus ses distances par
rapport au monde. Souvent il répétait: “Vous êtes dans le monde, mais vous
n’êtes pas du monde.” Les nombreuses prières qu’il rédigea le prouvent. En voici
quelques-unes.
Dégagé des considérations
humaines, il écrivit, dans un grand élan de détachement et d’humilité:
Mon Dieu ! Non pas l’intelligence, mais Dieu.
Non pas la volonté, mais Dieu. Non pas l’âme, mais Dieu.
Non pas la vision. mais Dieu. Non pas l’ouïe, mais Dieu.
Non pas l’odeur, mais Dieu. Non pas le goût ni la parole, mais Dieu.
Non pas la respiration, mais Dieu. Non pas la sensation, mais Dieu.
Non pas le cœur, mais Dieu. Non pas le corps, mais Dieu.
Non pas l’air, mais Dieu.
Non pas la nourriture ni la boisson, mais Dieu.
Non pas le vêtement, mais Dieu.
Non pas les choses temporelles, mais Dieu.
Non pas la richesse, mais Dieu. Non pas les honneurs, mais Dieu.
Non pas les distinctions temporelles, mais Dieu.
Non pas les dignités, mais Dieu. Non pas les promotions, mais Dieu.
Dieu en tout et toujours.”
Jésus Christ était
toujours au centre de la vie de Vincent : “Je Te donne mon âme, mes
pensées, mes yeux, mes mains et ma langue. Que ma vie soit détruite, et que la
vie de Jésus-Christ devienne ma vie. Que ma parole soit Sa parole. Que mon
amour soit Son Amour.”
Répondre
à l’amour de Dieu (Texte écrit en 1842)
“Mon Dieu, vous êtes
l’amour infini et la miséricorde infinie, vous me pardonnerez si j’ose utiliser
un mot hardi: vous êtes pour moi le fou de l’Amour et de la Miséricorde. Car à
tout instant et toujours, de toute éternité, vous pensez à moi et vous répandez
en moi des fleuves infinis de grâces, de faveurs, de dons et de miséricordes,
ainsi que de tous vos attributs infinis qui sont tous divins, ô infinie
miséricorde; Vous ne cessez de me nourrir Père, Fils et Esprit Saint et vous
m’accueillez avec tout mon être, mon essence, avec votre propriété, avec votre
action divine et tous vos attributs infinis.
Et vous me détruisez de
plus en plus, vous m’annihilez en mon être pour me transformer en vous à chaque
heure.
En moi, jour et nuit,
vous accomplissez tous les gestes de votre amour et de votre miséricorde, que
je veille ou que je dorme, que je mange ou que je boive, que je pense à vous ou
que je vous oublie.
Même si je ne pense pas à
vous, vous vous offrez pour moi, ô Jésus, sur tous les autels du monde, et sur
tous les autels où vous demeurez dans le Saint Sacrement, vous m’attendez
toujours, vous vous consumez au feu infini de l’amour pour vous donner à moi et
toujours dans une plénitude infinie.
Ô mon Dieu, que dois-je
faire pour répondre à votre amour ineffable et à votre miséricorde infinie?
Mon Dieu, je ne puis rien
faire... Mais je vous offre toute la vie très sainte de Jésus-christ, celle de
tous les anges et de tous les saints. Et louez-vous et bénissez-vous vous-même
et rendez-vous grâces à vous-même!
Ô Trinité bienheureuse et
très sainte, je vous offre votre propre vie éternelle, la vie de la très sainte
Vierge Marie, celle de tous les anges et des saints. Pour combler mon manque,
glorifiez-vous vous-même infiniment, à cause de l’amour de Jésus, de Marie, des
anges et de tous les saints, et louez-vous et bénissez-vous vous même, et
rendez-vous grâces à vous-même!
Et que sais-je? Vous, mon
Dieu, vous êtes tout, tout, tout. Moi-même je ne suis rien, rien, rien...
Mon Dieu, miséricorde
infinie, j’ai le ferme espoir que, par votre miséricorde, c’est bien votre
volonté de m’amener à une conversion vraie, généreuse, perpétuelle et de plus
en plus parfaite.
Oui, il vous plaît de me
voir atteindre cette conversion en vérité. Quel que soit celui qui vous demande
ma conversion parfaite, décisive et déterminée, je suis assuré qu’il obtiendra
de vous toute grâce spirituelle et temporelle servant à votre plus grande
gloire et au bien des âmes...
Je
voudrais répondre à l’amour
Ô mon Dieu... en dépit de
mon inadmissible ingratitude, en dépit de toute une vie de résistance à vos
grâces, vous ne cessez de penser à moi dans votre amour infini, et de
m’aimer...
En raison de vos
attributs infinis et de votre propriété et de votre être, vous répandez sur moi
des signes infinis et des manifestations de votre bienveillance...pour détruire
en moi toute mon ingratitude, et vous me transformez totalement en vous-même et
en vos attributs divins...
Ô Miséricorde, ô prodige
de tous les attributs infinis de Dieu... ô mon Dieu, je voudrais vous dire un
mot... Mon Dieu, laissez-moi prononcer cette parole: “Je voudrais répondre à
votre amour infini.”
Mon Jésus, par la
sainteté et la perfection de votre vie très sainte, détruisez toute déformation
de ma vie.
Que votre vie très sainte
soit ma vie!
Que toute ma vie soit
détruite, et que la vie de mon Seigneur Jésus-Christ soit ma vie!
Jésus tout-puissant et
miséricordieux, détruisez toute ma vie!
Faites que toute votre
vie et la vie trinitaire soient ma vie, une vision éternelle, une communication
éternelle de l’Esprit-Saint!
Prières
plus particulièrement destinées aux membres de la Société L’apostolat
Catholique
Père éternel, nous vous
prions, nous vos créatures tout à fait indignes. Dans votre miséricorde infinie
vous avez daigné envoyer votre Fils unique pour racheter le genre humain... (Nous
vous prions, Père éternel) afin que, le plus tôt possible, il n’y ait qu’un
seul troupeau et un seul pasteur sur toute la terre, et que tous nous
puissions chanter vos miséricordes divines dans le ciel et pour l’éternité.
Assurément, pour conserver cette grâce que nous vous demandons, nous invitons
toute la cour céleste à vous louer dans l’éternité, disant:
Gloire au Père, au Fils,
au Saint-Esprit, maintenant et à jamais, pour les siècles des siècles. Amen!
Prières
que les associés sont tenus de réciter plusieurs fois par jour
1°Par
les très saints mystères de la Rédemption des hommes, envoyez, Seigneur, des
ouvriers à votre moisson, et épargnez votre peuple.
2°Par les mérites et l’intercession de votre très sainte Mère et de tous les
anges et les saints, envoyez, Seigneur, des ouvriers à votre moisson, et
épargnez votre peuple.
3°Vous, Reine des apôtres, et vous tous les anges et les saints, demandez au
Maître de la moisson d’envoyer des ouvriers à sa moisson et qu’il épargne son
peuple afin que tous nous puissions éternellement nous réjouir avec Lui et le
Père et le Saint-Esprit. Amen!
Prière
à Marie pour obtenir sa protection
Très aimable Vierge
Marie, Mère de Miséricorde, Reine de tous les Anges et de tous les saints,
notre espérance, notre intercesseur, fixez vos yeux miséricordieux sur notre
communauté qui vous a appartenu dès le commencement.
Développez, parachevez et
conservez-la dans l’avenir!
Qu’y règnent toujours la
pauvreté,la chasteté et l’obéissance, l’esprit de prière, de l’amour, du
renoncement et du sacrifice; Ô notre médiatrice, notre refuge, seul motif de
notre espérance, protégez-la de tout mal et surtout de toute tiédeur.
Obtenez-nous tout cela de votre Fils, Notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ qui vit et
règne avec le Père et le Saint-Esprit, d’éternité en éternité.
Prière
pour obtenir des vocations
Seigneur Jésus-Christ,
Toi qui fus obéissant jusqu’à la mort pour le salut des âmes, Toi qui as dit à
tes apôtres : “Priez le Maître de la moisson d’envoyer des ouvriers à
sa moisson,” aide-nous, nous T’en supplions, à réciter cette prière avec
les sentiments que Tu avais quand Tu l’adressas à ton Père :
Christ, Sauveur des
hommes
Envoie
des ouvriers à ta moisson
Christ, Espoir et salut
de tous les hommes
Envoie
des ouvriers à ta moisson
Christ, Seigneur et
Maître de tous les hommes
Envoie des ouvriers à ta moisson
Christ, Voie et Vérité de
tous les hommes
Envoie des ouvriers à ta moisson
Christ, Messager de
l’Évangile au monde entier
Envoie des ouvriers à ta moisson
Christ, qui de tes
apôtres, as fait des pêcheurs d’hommes
Envoie des ouvriers à ta moisson
Christ, qui as voulu que
tes disciples soient la lumière du monde
Envoie des ouvriers à ta moisson
Christ, qui as envoyé
dans tes vignes les ouvriers de la onzième heure
Envoie des ouvriers à ta moisson
Christ, qui envoyais tes
disciples où Tu devais Te rendre
Envoie des ouvriers à ta moisson
Christ, qui les as
envoyés annoncer l’Évangile au monde entier
Envoie des ouvriers à ta moisson
Christ, qui fis de ta
Mère Immaculée la Reine des Apôtres
Envoie des ouvriers à ta moisson
Christ, par le mystère
sacré de la Rédemption du monde, et par l’intercession de la Vierge Marie et de
tous les saints, nous T’en supplions, donne le salut à tes serviteurs, et fais
connaître ton Nom dans le monde entier.
Amen!
Chronologie
de la vie de Vincenzo Pallotti
1795
21 avril, naissance de
Vincenzo Pallotti à Rome
22 avril, Baptême
1804
Première communion
1811
Vincenzo reçoit les
ordres mineurs
1816
Vincenzo commence la
rédaction de son journal spirituel, appelé plus tard Lumi ou
Illuminations.
1818
Ordination sacerdotale
1820
Début de ses activités de
prédicateur
1827
Mort de sa mère
1827-1840
Vincenzo Pallotti assure
la direction spirituelle au Séminaire Romain.
1832
31 décembre, grâce des
épousailles spirituelles avec Marie.
1834-1837
Les débuts de la Société
de l’Apostolat Catholique. En 1837, mort de son père.
1838
Dissolution de la Société
de l’Apostolat Catholique, mais le pape Grégoire XVI autorise le maintien de la
fondation.
1839
Début de la rédaction des
Règles des saintes maisons
1843 à 1849
Vincent Pallotti est
aumônier militaire. Il le restera jusqu’au 23 janvier 1849, date où lui et ses
compagnons seront chassés de l’hôpital.
3 février 1849,
proclamation de la République, à Rome.
1850
22 janvier mort de
Vincenzo Pallotti atteint d’une pleurésie
1950
22 janvier, béatification
par le pape Pie XII
1963
20 janvier, canonisation par le pape Jean XXIII
[1] Les
textes des paragraphes qui suivent ont été écrits en 1846.
[2] Il
ne faut pas oublier que ce texte a été écrit en 1838!.
[3] Ces
deux textes sont extraits des Statuts principaux de l’Apostolat
Catholique. (Textes écrits vers 1838).
[4] Certains saints ont parfois, sur les femmes, des opinions, exprimées ou sous-entendues, qui peuvent hérisser des gens du XXIe siècle. Il aurait peut-être été utile que, de temps en temps, ils aient vécu ce que leurs contemporaines, surtout des milieux modestes, avaient eu à supporter.
[5] Déclaration
de l’Union. Texte d’avril ou mai 1835
SOURCE : http://nouvl.evangelisation.free.fr/vincent_pallotti_1.htm
Profile
Born to the Italian nobility. Priest. Taught theology.
He lived in constant danger working with the sick during
a cholera epidemic.
Highly successful fund-raiser for charities for
the poor.
Founded guilds for workers, agricultural schools,
loan associations, orphanages and
homes for girls.
Felt a strong calling to bring Christ to Muslims, and founded a program to
incorporate lay
people in the apostolate of priests.
Founded the Pious
Society of Missions (Pallottines)
for urban mission work. Started the special observance of the Octave of
Epiphany for the reunion of the Eastern and
Roman Churches, and the return of the Church in England.
Born
22 January 1850 in Rome, Italy from
a severe cold
probably caught the fatal illness
on a cold rainy night
when he gave his cloak to
a beggar who
had none
24 January 1932 by Pope Pius XI (decree
on heroic virtues)
22 January 1950 by Pope Pius
XII
20 January 1963 by Pope John
XXIII
Additional
Information
Father
J Hennessey: Pioneer and Fore-Runner of the Lay Apostolate
New
Catholic Dictionary: Saint Vincent Pallotti
New
Catholic Dictionary: Pallottines
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
The
Holiness of the Church in the 19th Century
books
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
images
video
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
spletne
strani v slovenšcini
Readings
Since God is perfect in
loving man, man must be perfect in loving his neighbor. – Saint Vincent
Pallotti
Not the goods of the
world, but God.
Not riches, but God.
Not honors, but God.
Not distinction, but God.
Not dignities, but God.
Not advancement, but God.
God always and in everything.
– Saint Vincent
Pallotti
Remember that the
Christian life is one of action; not of speech and daydreams. Let there be few
words and many deeds, and let them be done will. – Saint Vincent
Pallotti
You must be holy in the
way that God asks you to be holy. God does not ask you to be a Trappist monk or
a hermit.
He wills that you sanctify the world and your everyday life. – Saint Vincent
Pallotti
MLA
Citation
“Saint Vincent
Pallotti“. CatholicSaints.Info. 16 September 2021. Web. 20 January 2023. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-vincent-pallotti/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-vincent-pallotti/
Boucle de ceinture de saint Vincent Pallotti, conservée au MUCEM à Marseille
Vincent Pallotti, Priest
(RM)
Born in Rome, Italy,
April 21, 1795; died January 22, 1850; canonized in 1963 by Pope John XXIII
during Vatican Council II; feast day formerly on January 23. Vincent was the
son of a prosperous grocer. His schoolmaster Don Ferri said of him, "He's
a little saint but a bit thick-headed." He grew more proficient at his
studies as he matured, however, and he was ordained at 23 (1817). He took a
doctorate in theology and became an assistant professor at the Spaienza in
Rome.
He was encouraged by his
friendship with Saint Caspar del Bufalo to resign his post and pursue pastoral
work. He was popular as a confessor, and acted in this capacity at several
Roman colleges, including the Scots, the Irish, and the English. Unfortunately,
he was disliked by the other clergy at the Neapolitan church to which he was
appointed, and their malicious treatment of him inexplicably passed without
comment from the authorities for ten years, and without complaint on his part.
Anticipating the teaching
of Vatican II on an apostolic role for all Christians, in 1835, Vincent
gathered together a group of clergy, nuns and other laymen, committed to
conversion and social justice, in order to organize vocational schools with
evening classes for poor boys, and an institute to teach better agricultural
methods. The schools were intended to teach young people marketable skills such
as shoe-making, tailoring, joining, and agriculture, and to instill in them a
pride in their work. He worked from the premise that holiness is to be found not
only in a religious life of prayer and silence, but also by filling any need in
any part of life wherever one sees it. These policies resembled those of Saint
John Bosco, who worked in northern Italy (Turin).
From this group would
evolve the Pallotines, or the Society of Catholic Apostolate (called for a time
the Pious Society of Missions and later the Society of Catholic Action), which
had only a dozen members during his lifetime but has since grown and a
corresponding society of women, the Pallottini Sisters, was established in
1843. The congregation has flourished in Italy, Brazil, Australia, and the
United States, where it has specialized in care for the immigrants and, like
their founder, in promoting ecumenical contacts with Eastern Orthodox Christians.
He wrote to a young
professor, "You are not cut out for the silence and austerities of
Trappists and hermits. Be holy in the world, in your social relationships, in
your work and your leisure, in your teaching duties and your contacts with
publicans and sinners. Holiness is simply to do God's will, always and
everywhere."
Vincent's apostolic
labors were matched only by his austerities, and in 1837, during an epidemic of
cholera, he cared for others despite the danger to himself. He went to great lengths
to fulfill the spiritual needs of the people, once even impersonating an old
woman in order to approach a bedridden man who had warned he would shoot any
priest who came near him. Vincent also performed exorcisms.
In 1836, he started the
special observance of the Octave of Epiphany for the reunion of the Eastern
Orthodox Church with Rome. Each day he would celebrate the Mysteries with a
different rite; since 1847, this custom has been observed in the church of
Sant'Andrea delle Valle.
In 1844, don Pallotti
sent one of his most trusted priests to minister to the Italians in London, and
since then his society has spread throughout the world. He was also especially
interested in the English mission and had numerous English, Irish, and American
friends. One of them, Walter Tempest, was with him when he was given shelter at
the Irish College in Rome in 1849.
The people of Rome saw
don Vincent as a 19th century version of Saint Philip Neri. Often he came home
half-naked because he had given his clothes away. He would go to great lengths
to reconcile sinners. Once he dressed up as an old woman in order to get to the
bedside of a man who seriously threatened to shoot the first priest to come
near him. Pallotti was in demand as an exorcist. God also granted him the gifts
of supernatural knowledge and healing. Father Pallotti died of pleurisy at the
age of 55.
It is interesting to note
that when evidence was given during his beatification process, the vice rector
of the Neapolitan church in Rome, who had been one of his severest persecutors,
said: "Don Pallotti never gave the least grounds for the ill-treatment to
which he was subjected. He always treated me with the greatest respect; he
bared his head when he spoke to me, he even several times tried to kiss my
hand." (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Farmer, Walsh, White).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0122.shtml
Venerable Vincent Mary
Pallotti
The founder of the Pious
Society of Missions, born at Rome,
21 April, 1798 [other sources say 1785 --Ed.]; died there, 22 Jan., 1850. He
lies buried in the church of San Salvatore in
Onda. He was descended from the noble families of
the Pallotti of Norcia and
the De
Rossi of Rome.
His early studies were made at the Pious Schools of San
Pantaleone, whence he passed to the Roman College. At the age of sixteen,
he resolved to become a secular
priest, and on 16 May, 1820, he was ordained.
He celebrated his first Mass in
the church of the Gesù in Frascati.
On 25 July he became a Doctor of Theology, and was soon made a
substitute professor of theology in
the Roman Archigymnasium. He gave promise of being a
distinguished theologian,
but decided to dedicate himself entirely to pastoral work.
Rome had in him a
second Philip Neri. Hearing confessions and preaching were his
constant occupations. From morning until night he could be seen hurrying along
the streets of Rome to
assist at the bedside of the sick in the hospitals,
to bring aid and comfort to the poor in their miserable dwellings, or
to preach to the unfortunates in prison.
Once he went so far as to disguise himself as an old woman in
order to reach the bedside of a dying young man, who had a pistol under his
pillow ready to kill the first priest who
should approach him. During the cholera plague in 1837, Pallotti
constantly endangered his life in ministering to the stricken. After
a day spent in apostolic labour he was accustomed to pass almost the
whole night in prayer, disciplining himself
even to blood, and sleeping for a few hours on a chair or on the bare floor.
The most distinguished representatives of
the Roman aristocracy, bishops, cardinals,
and even Popes Gregory
XVI and Pius
IX honoured him,
but the only advantage he took of their friendship was to advocate the claims of
the poor. Even as a young man, he often returned home barefooted, after
having given away half his clothing in alms;
and more than once was he known to have given away his bed to
the needy. Leo
XIII, who spoke from his personal observations, said he would not hesitate
to consider him a saint. Shortly after his death the
preparatory examinations for his beatification began;
in 1887 he was declared Venerable. [He was canonized in
1962 --Ed.]
It was
Venerable Pallotti who started in 1836 the special observance at Rome of
the Octave of the Epiphany. Since then the celebration has
been faithfully maintained. Pallotti's chief desire was to make
this observance a means of uniting the dissenting Oriental
Churches with Rome.
Sources
MELLIA, Vincent
Pallotti (London); there is a biography in Italian by ORLANDE (Rome), and
in German by the PALLOTTI FATHERS (Limburg).
Vogel, John.
"Venerable Vincent Mary Pallotti." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 24 Jan. 2016 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11429a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J.
Potter. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11429a.htm
Bust
of st. Vincent Pallotti in Ołtarzew, Poland
Popiersie św. Wincentego Pallottiego w Ołtarzewie
PALLOTTI, VINCENT, ST.
Religious founder; b.
Rome, April 21, 1795; d. there, Jan. 22, 1850. He was the son of a prosperous
grocer. From his early years he developed a special devotion to the Blessed
Virgin and an intense compassion for the poor. After studying in Rome at the
Roman College and at the Sapienza, he was ordained (1818). He taught theology
at the Sapienza for ten years before he devoted himself completely to spiritual
guidance and preaching. In 1827 he became spiritual director at the Roman
College and often acted as confessor at various national colleges for future priests.
He was intimately acquainted with St. Gaspare del bufalo and Nicholas wiseman.
As rector of the church of Santo Spirito dei Neapolitani, he suffered for more
than a decade from slanders by the other priests there, who were jealous of his
promotion and resentful of his zeal. Vincent interested himself also in
projects to revive artisan guilds and to establish schools for young workers
and farm boys. During the cholera epidemic of 1837 he organized relief for the
plague-stricken. His spiritual and charitable ministrations so impressed the
Romans that they referred to him as a second St. Philip neri. In 1835 he
founded the pallottines, and later, the Sisters of the Catholic Apostolate,
from whom developed the pallottine missionary sisters. Vincent shared Rome's
hopes for the conversion of England arising out of the oxford Movement and sent
priests to assist Frederick
William faber. His inspiration was instrumental in the founding of the
mill hill missionaries and of several mission colleges. His fame for sanctity
was increased by his reputation as a thaumaturge and prophet. Pius
XI called him a forerunner of catholic action. His body lies incorrupt
in the church of San Salvatore in Onda, Rome. Vincent Pallotti was beatified on
Jan. 22, 1950, by Pope Pius
XII, and he was canonized on Jan. 20, 1963, by Pope John
XXIII.
Feast: Jan. 22
Bibliography: E. Weber, Vincent Pallotti: Apostle and Mystic, tr. from the Ger. (New
York 1964). J. Frank, Vincenz Pallotti, 2 v. (Friedberg 1952–63). F. Bonifazi, Soul of a Saint (Staten Island NY 1963); Yearning
of a Soul (Boston 1979).
[H. E. Schaak]
New Catholic Encyclopedia
Tombeau de saint Vincent Pallotti à l'Église San Salvatore in Onda de Rome
Apostle of the Infinite: The
Life of Saint Vincent Pallotti
by Brother André Marie September
1, 2007
Nineteenth century Rome
was not the uneventful place one may imagine. Rome of the 1800s saw Mazzini,
Garibaldi, and their Masonic cohorts dare to assault the Vicar of Christ and
send him into exile. It saw fickle mobs capable of murdering priests and desecrating
Churches, and heard such slogans as “Death to the Jesuits!” and “Down with the
Pope!” shouted in the streets.
Public life in Rome was
becoming such that everything was stained with this anti-ecclesiastical
attitude. Of the institutions and customs open to particular infection from
this disease, perhaps none was more susceptible, by nature, than the infamous
Carnival. The Roman Carnival had long been a problem because of the excesses of
the excited revelers. What should have been an innocent “farewell to meat”1 in
anticipation of the rigors of Lent, had become the occasion for immoderate
indulgence and profligacy.
In the midst of the
Carnival of 1835 there walked about the Corso, in the midst of the revelry, a
priest with his trusty but timid lay side-kick. Giacomo Salvati, the side-kick,
had his apprehensions about what he was doing that day with his spiritual
mentor. Sure, he was a saint; sure, he was a miracle worker and had proven his
divine election many times before, but this was ridiculous . The two
of them hardly fit the scene: Everybody else was colorfully dressed; they
donned somber black. Everyone else was making merry; they were trying to keep
in the presence of God. Salvati knew that his mentor hated such impure
festivity, so what were they doing amid all this sinful reveling?
The two men approached
the center of the gaity and their mission commenced in earnest. The priest,
small of stature, slightly built, with big blue eyes and penetrating glance was
saddened at the sight. The Eternal City, whose Faith “is spoken of in the whole
world”2 was acting like a reprobate! Drunkenness and impurity were
interspersed with insults hurled at the Pope and his militia. The melancholy
brow of the saintly priest took on an even sadder aspect. But this was no time
for staring; Salvati had to keep up with his master darting from person to
person, handing out small pieces of paper. The merry-makers were confused. Some
thought that perhaps the two were part of the festivity and were adding to the
general hilarity; others took advantage of their clerical visitor to insult the
Church. But no matter their initial reaction, when they read the hand-bills
they were given, they all felt the same splash of cold water on their drunken
faces:
“life is short and death
comes quickly.” “death strikes even at play.” “one mortal sin merits
damnation.”
Rome had its wake-up
call. Like the priestly Phinees of old, Don Vincenzo Pallotti went into the
place of iniquity to destroy sin and evil, and to remove the curse from God’s
chosen people.3
The life of this
apostolic man is the story of an active apostle constantly engaged in
missionary labors, but who was also a mystic, enjoying the ecstatic heights of
contemplation and suffering the most frightening spiritual deserts known as
“dark nights of the soul.”
From His Youth
“It is good for a man
when he hath borne the yoke from his youth.”4 There are saints who were
great converts from a life of iniquity, like Sts. Paul, Augustine, Camillus, or
Ignatius of Loyola; and there are saints who were conspicuous for following the
counsel of Jeremias, bearing the light yoke of Christ from their very youth,
never throwing it off by sin. In this latter category belong saints like Gerard
Magella, Gertrude the Great, Thérèse and Thomas Aquinas. St. Vincent Pallotti
belongs decidedly in the latter category. His confessor, Fr. Fazzini, declared
that he never committed even one venial sin!
Vincent Pallotti was born
on the anniversary of the founding of Rome — April 21, 1795, at 11:15 AM. On
the day following, he was reborn, at the baptismal font of San Lorenzo in
Damaso, a parish in Rome’s most densely populated quarter. His parents were
Pietro Paulo Pallotti, a noble man of Umbrian descent, being born near the same
Cascia that St. Rita made famous; and Maria Maddelena de Rossi, a Roman woman
of exemplary piety.
The Pallotti family
produced a number of vocations, including five who became cardinals of the
Roman Church.5 Both Pietro Paulo and Maria Maddelena were devout Catholics
who wished to bring up good Catholic children, a wish that God gave them ample
opportunity to act out, for He blessed them with ten children.
Other than a few
recollections of them that St. Vincent passed on, whatever treasures this
exemplary Catholic couple stored up in heaven will remain, for the most part,
the secret of the King‡ until the Day of Judgment. But their son’s virtues and
the interior workings of God’s grace in his soul became so manifest that he is
canonized by the Church and publicly held up for imitation, his incorrupt body
still bearing witness to his immortality in heaven.
If the above claim of
Pallotti’s exemplary childhood sanctity seems exaggerated to the reader, he is
asked to review the following facts: At age four, little Vincent’s mother
witnessed him stray from her side to kneel in front of a statue of the Blessed
Virgin, Whom he told “Dear Mother, make me a good boy!” In succeeding years, he
became so reputed for his virtue that he earned the name, Il Santerello (“the
Little Saint”). Children who played with Vincent found themselves instructed in
the catechism and in praying the Rosary by their friend. He gave away his
shoes, his clothing, his food, and even his bed to the poor, always doing so
out of a spirit of Christian charity. With the bed gone, sleeping on the floor
satisfied his youthful passion for asceticism, a passion which grew stronger,
so that at fifteen years of age, he had acquired the habit of scourging himself
to the point of drawing blood.7 To Maria Maddelana’s protestations against
these excesses, Vincenzo’s confessor replied, “Leave him alone, leave him
alone; the Spirit of God is working in him.”
Perhaps the one dark spot
on his early years was his apparent lack of academic aptitude in the Piarist8 school
he attended, San Pantaleo. The Fathers thought it a pity that such a pious boy
should be so dim. But a triumph of supernatural light over natural darkness was
occasioned by this state of affairs. A novena to the Holy Ghost instantly
settled the problem, so much so that his teachers were overwhelmed at the
change in dull little Vincenzo.
Fr. Fazzini will provide
us with a summary of the early sanctity of our subject: “He was a saint from
childhood.”
The Roman College
In 1807, Vincenzo left
the Piarist school to pursue higher studies. He attended the Collegio Romano
(Roman College), which was more like an advanced high school than it was a
college in the American sense. Founded by St. Ignatius and counting among its
alumni Sts. Aloysius Gonzaga, John Berchmans, Camillus de Lellis, and Leonardo
a Porto Maurizio, this school had a glorious Jesuit history that made it a
landmark of the Counter Reformation. However, due to Masonically engineered
suppression of the Jesuits in 1773 by Pope Clement XIV, the College had fallen
on hard times and was only a shadow of its former self when Vincent took
classes there. He studied grammar, rhetoric, and the Latin classics at the
Collegio. He became particularly adept at composing verse in Latin, and won at
least one prize for this art. But this prize went where all his other academic
awards had always gone, to an image of our Lady as a votive offering. His
humility about his awards and outstanding academic achievement was such that
Vincenzo’s own father had to hear the news of his son’s accomplishments from
third parties.
Amidst the mental discipline
of declining nouns, conjugating verbs, and parsing participles in Cicero, Ovid,
and Virgil, the boy lost not a bit of his piety. The Collegio had been
criticized for its overemphasis of the pagan classics, but all this seems to
have left on Vincent is a fantastic aptitude in the Latin language.
Not surprisingly, his
piety drew him to a religious vocation. The particular avenue that most
attracted the scholastic was the Capuchin Order, the Counter Reformation branch
of the Franciscans.9 But the difficult life of a Capuchin Friar was seen
as an impossibility for the frail boy and Fr. Fazzini told him that he would do
better to aim for the secular priesthood. Vincent obeyed, but he joined the
Third Order of St. Francis, and thus was a member of the Franciscan family,
while not being a friar.10 In addition, he wore the rough habit of a
Capuchin Friar every night as he slept, something he did on the floor with a
marble slab as a pillow.
Now that St. Vincent had
a target to aim for — the secular priesthood — he took careful aim.
Abate Pallotti
At the tender age of 16,
Vincenzo entered the ranks of the clergy. After a spiritual retreat at the
Lazarist mission house, he was given the clerical tonsure on Easter Monday,
April 15, 1811. This entitled him to wear the religious garb and to the
title Abate . But the clerical garb had to wait three more years to
be donned, for during the Napoleonic occupation of Rome, clerical garb was
strictly forbidden among the young clergy. On May 26 Vincent was ordained to
the four Minor Orders: Porter, Lector, Exorcist, and Acolyte.
The teenage cleric soon
became active in a number of confraternities, including the “Confraternity of
Christian Doctrine” which was a program for catechists. Abate Pallotti, who
already had practical experience teaching his playmates, was now a religious
instructor with the official sanction of the Church.
The University
1814 was a year of change
both for Pallotti, and for Rome. May 24 of that year saw the Roman Pontiff,
Pius VII restored to the city whence the pompous scoundrel Napoleon had driven
him five years earlier. Autumn of this year was the commencement of Abate
Pallotti’s career at the Universita della Sapienza.
Otherwise known as the
University of Rome, the Sapienza was a University along the lines of such
European institutions as the Universities of Paris, Bologna, or Toledo. It was
not a seminary, but had various courses of study, each with its own faculty.
The theology school formed the academic part of a seminary training, but the
remaining spiritual formation for future priests was left in the hands of the
diocesan officials (for secular priests) or the religious orders (for religious
priests). During much of his seminary years, Vincenzo went to a sort of weekend
formation house. All the while, he lived at home with his parents.
The academic course he
took at the University lasted four years in all. During this time, he continued
to prove himself a top-notch student. His studies included philosophy,
theology, canon law, Holy Scripture, Church History, and Greek. Included in the
training were disputations in which the students would debate one another under
the supervision of their professors. In this art, Vincenzo achieved a high
enough degree of mastery to merit this encomium from his professor of Church
History: “In our year-long course he has always distinguished himself in such a
way that in every disputation, whether he argued for or against the topic, he
stood the test in the most excellent manner, according to our own judgment, and
that of other listeners.” The same professor commented on his student’s
sanctity, that he “has given to all an example of virtue and piety which is
most worthy of a clergyman.”
Vincent’s zeal for
orthodoxy — without which sanctity is utterly impossible — was
manifested during his University career in a paper he wrote against one
Bodinus. It seems that this individual, some sort of critical exegete, had cast
doubt upon the truth of the census that brought our Lady and St. Joseph to
Bethlehem, so that the prophesy of Micheas11 could be fulfilled in Jesus’
Birth. In the Disputatio Contra Bodinum , Vincent wrote, “May
therefore the profligate Bodinus become silent. May his teaching be corrected most
vigorously and his paper be delivered to the fire by the beadle. He himself
should let truth inspire him a little and duly respect divine revelation
together with all true believers.” Seminarians today, in this age of
effeminacy, would probably find themselves ex-seminarians very quickly, for
writing so virulently.
During this time, an
extraordinary event occurred in the streets of Rome. In 1816, Vincent met a
young man, two or three years his elder, who walked rather sadly down the
street. His name was Giammaria Mastai-Ferretti, and he was a nobleman. His
problem was that, although initially approved to enter the Swiss Guards — a
position he greatly coveted — he was struck with epilepsy, and was refused
admittance into the Pope’s elite corps. When the sympathetic Pallotti asked the
nobleman what troubled him, Giammaria explained his plight. To this, Vincenzo
responded, “Set your mind at ease. You will not stand on guard, but you will be
guarded.” Mastai-Ferretti went on to become a priest, bishop, cardinal, and, in
1846, was elected Pope of the Church of Rome, taking the name Pius IX.
On September 21 of 1816,
Vincenzo received the first of the Major Orders, the subdiaconate. The
following year, on November 20, he was ordained a deacon. Priestly ordination
was just around the corner, but before ordination, he had to complete one more
year of studies. Thus, in July of 1818, upon completion of his course of
studies at the University, the deacon received a doctorate in Philosophy and
one in Theology. His academic formation was formally finished (although it must
be said that he continued to be a student his whole life by ever finding time
for studying Scripture and the other sacred sciences). Upon reception of his
degree, he was entitled to be called “Dottore Pallotti,” but in his customary
humility he did not suffer himself to be so called, and even hid his degrees
from his parents.12
Priesthood
“How great is the dignity
of the priesthood! What a dignity, what a dignity!… To be a priest! What does
that mean? O God, my God, I do not understand it! What does it mean to present
the holy, bloodless sacrifice and to administer the sacraments!” These are the
words of Vincent, written to St. Gaspar del Bufalo, the founder of the Society
for the Precious Blood, with whom Vincenzo contracted a deep spiritual
friendship. The words were written ten days after his own ordination, which
occurred on May 16, 1818, in the Lateran Basilica. Abate Pallotti is now Don
Vincenzo, a priest of the diocese of Rome.13
The next sixteen years of
Don Vincenzo’s life were a frenzy of priestly activity. Surprisingly, however,
though he was a secular priest attached to the Roman Diocese, he wasn’t a
“parish priest” in the ordinary sense, because he had no parish to call his
own. In fact, he didn’t even live in a rectory or religious house; until 1834
he remained in his family home on 130 Via del Pellegrino.
The young priest who lived
with Mamma and Pappa Pallotti was seen in and around the City and its environs
tending to a host of apostolic labors. In the midst of these good works he
became acquainted with other dedicated individuals and forged lasting ties. But
before we tread the path of Vincent’s apostolic footsteps, and before we are
introduced to his holy friends, we would do well to comment briefly on his
internal spiritual character, for he was a mystic, as we have said.
As a person versed in
piety from his youth, the future apostle well knew that, “Unless the Lord build
the house, they labour in vain that build it.”14 An interior life is a
prerequisite for anyone attempting to enter into the divine service. Without a
life of devotion, of prayer, and of internal communion with the Blessed
Trinity, the religious and apostolic life is not the dress rehearsal for Heaven
it was meant to be by its Author but, instead, an arduous path to hell.
From at least the time of
his ordination, St. Vincent kept a spiritual diary for the benefit of himself
and his confessor. The diary contains St. Vincent’s resolutions, meditations,
and prayers. It has been compared to the type of spirituality of the Carmelite
mystics like St. John of the Cross. The Carmelite ascetic doctrine of Nada ,
which is an extreme form of detachment from everything that is not God, is all
over the writings of St. Vincent, whether or not he himself learned it from the
Church’s Doctor of Mystical Theology.15 St. Vincent constantly calls
himself “nothing and sin” and regards God as the “Infinite.”
Biographers can go on
page after page trying to describe the interior life of a saint. For us
non-mystics, these accounts sometimes read like tourist guides to very strange
foreign cities; or better yet, like intricate descriptions of how some exotic
Oriental dish tastes, when our idea of gourmet is a hot dog with brown mustard
instead of just yellow . In order to spare the reader this torture,
we will be sparing in our treatment of this subject.
Some of the attributes of
the saints we call mystics are: an intense and constant awareness of the
Presence of God, accompanied by a deep detestation of sin, utter contempt of
self, and a sincere desire to be despised for the sake of Christ. Because of
their awe of the divine majesty, these saints at some point in their growth in
sanctity are seized with terror in the Face of God, as St. Peter was when he
cried out, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.16 These
experiences were all part of the interior life of St. Vincent during his early
priesthood. This terror in the presence of God took hold of him particularly
while on retreat at Camaldoli and made him write, “I wish the entire world, or
indeed, infinitely many worlds, would recognize my wretchedness so that they
would be moved to pity and incessantly implore the Lord with prayers for my
sake.”17
In the Vineyard
During the years between
his ordination and the founding of his religious congregation, St. Vincent was
a very busy man. Here is a partial list of his activities in those years:
He was a seminary professor, a retreat master, confessor to at least two
convents of nuns, and spiritual director to most Roman seminarians;
he was a widely demanded exorcist, founder of youth institutes, founder of the
first night schools in Rome (for the children of craftsmen and farmers); a
friend and benefactor of orphan girls and babies who found refuge in the “Pious
Houses” he founded; preacher in Roman Churches and public squares; author of
small books on prayer and devotion; apostle of the poor, the sick, and the
military; and the great reviver of the practice of the Marian “Month of May.”
In these years, he also
made some associations with various persons, priests, religious, and lay, who
would later form, with him, the Society of the Catholic Apostolate. And during
this time, he became conspicuous for working miracles.
The hospice of San Galla,
a refuge for homeless men, was one outlet for the young priest’s charity. There
he tended to the bodily and spiritual hunger of the poor homeless by feeding
them and giving them religious instruction. He was brought into contact in this
work with St. Gaspar Del Bufalo (already mentioned), St. Vincent Mary Strambi,
the Passionist priest18 , Giammaria Mastai-Feretti (the future Pius IX),
and at least two future Cardinals.
An organization that grew
out of the work of San Galla was the Unio Antidaemoniaca (“Alliance
against the Devil”). The Alliance worked to destroy sin by removing dangerous
occasions of sin which presented themselves in the decadent art of the day.
Members would destroy immodest art pieces, or take a chisel to the offensive
parts of them. Because they were sensitive to the financial needs of shop
keepers and others who made their living by selling such objects, they would
often raise funds to buy the offensive art before they destroyed it. (Vincent’s
Mass stipends sometimes provided the funds.) Included in the membership were
artists who would “fix” art pieces in need of such attention.
It must not be concluded
that St. Vincent was a Philistine when it came to art and artistry. In fact, he
was a patron of the arts, hiring artists to paint holy images to be sent to the
missions. But his zeal for God’s justice made him see through that shallow
pretension which hides all manner of decadence and iniquity: “But it’s art…”19
The Unio was
one of St. Vincent’s extracurricular activities. His main occupation for the
years 1819 to 1829 was that of a seminary professor. Cristaldi, the Rector of
the Sapienza, asked him to be a Proffessore Supplente of the College.
This gave him the task of giving daily instructions to the seminarians,
summarizing the lectures of the main professors. He was, in reality, a tutor.
Another part of his work as Professore Supplente was to direct the disputations
and dissertations of the students.
The students found in
their professor a good theologian and a model cleric. Although he is thought of
more as a “devotional saint” than a “theologian saint,” he did enjoy the
reputation of being well studied in his science. Moreover, his example was
remembered long afterward by the students.
In the thirty-third year
of his age, St. Vincent was assigned to a post which would not normally be
entrusted to such a young priest. He was made confessor and spiritual director
of the Roman seminary. The obligations of this office he fulfilled by daily
walking to the seminary to hear confessions and give counsel to the
seminarians. Even in the summer months, when the students were in the Villa
Parioli (a two hour walk!), their confessor was there twice a week to serve
their spiritual needs.
The influence Pallotti
had on the seminarians was appreciated all around. He gained the reputation of
a saint by giving sound direction, keeping the seminarians in the fear of God,
showing them the example of mortification and prayer, and settling disputes
that came up. This reputation was not limited to the seminarians; eventually,
Vincent’s presence in the seminary confessional was taken as an open invitation
for the neighbors to avail themselves of his services. This they did in droves,
so much so that the seminary rector had to intervene to cut off the flow of penitents.
It was not unheard of for the confessor to spend all day in the confessional.
The eventual growth of
his other activities would cut down Vincent’s trips to the seminary from daily
ones to bi-weekly ones, but these he made faithfully and at great sacrifice.
Sacrifice and
mortification were a part of St. Vincent’s life as eating and breathing are to
most people’s. Perhaps this is a good time to mention one hidden penance
performed by the saint, since we have just mentioned his long walks to and from
the seminary. Father Pallotti walked everywhere. Only when there was an
emergency or when he was gravely ill could he be induced to take a carriage. So
many of the famous stories in his life involve his presence in the street —
being summoned by someone running from a house, finding a dying person and
hearing his confession, etc. — that one pictures him walking all day in Rome.
What was discovered after the saint’s death was that one of his toenails was
severely ingrown. He did nothing to have it corrected and apparently never
complained about the horrible pain it must have caused. Vincent wished to offer
to the Infinite God “infinite penance.” His poor toe was just one victim of his
generosity.
His appetite for food was
another. When his mother induced him to eat more, she did the best she could by
citing the Gospels. “Vincent, the Bible says, ‘Eat what is placed before you,’”
she said. But her son retorted, “But it doesn’t say to eat everything .”
Speaking to Vincent’s doctor, someone commented that the priest fasted forty
days a year. The doctor replied, “Oh, more than that. He eats so little that he
is really fasting every day of the year.”
Miracles
The extraordinary
phenomena that have accompanied the lives of many of the great saints were
witnessed in St. Vincent. One of these was the cure of the daughter of Giacomo
Salvati, the man mentioned in the beginning of this article. Salvati’s wife was
surprised one day to see an unrecognized priest walk into her shop one day and
ask, “Have you called me?” She replied that she had not and asked him who he
was. “I am Abate Palloti,”20 he said. She then asked him if he would see
her daughter who was upstairs, suffering from a condition diagnosed as
terminal. Without having even seen the girl, he replied, “I shall go upstairs,
but have no fear, your daughter is feeling better.” Shortly thereafter, the
girl was found to be in perfect health.
As early as 1830, Don
Vincenzo had earned the reputation of a miracle worker. It was around that time
when he visited the sick bed of a dying woman who was to receive the last
sacraments. Lucia Fabiani was preparing to enter eternity as St. Vincent
visited her. After several prayers and a few encouraging words aimed at
stirring up the woman’s piety and trust in God and our Lady, he left. Barely
was the priest gone when the woman reported to her husband, “I am healthy.”
When the doctor came to check up on her, he exclaimed, “Don Vincenzo must have
been here!” The doctor had not been told of the priest’s visit.
Another miracle from his
early priesthood happened in the confessional. While hearing the confession of
one of his regular penitents, a carpenter named Giuseppe Marcozzi, Don Vincenzo
seemed to have fallen asleep for four or five minutes. Two holy pictures he
used to carry around with him fell on the floor of the confessional. Marcozzi
picked up the pictures, kissed them, and called several times to his confessor.
When the confessor came to his senses, he heaved a sigh of relief and told
Marcozzi, “Let us thank God, the Pope has been elected!” “Who is it?” asked the
curious penitent. “Capellari,” came the response. Right after his confession,
the carpenter went to the Church of Santa Maria della Pace to attend Candelmas
services and receive Holy Communion. Just after he arrived, the sound of a
canon was heard in the distance, making people wonder what occasioned the
signal. “The Pope has been elected!” he informed the curious people, revealing
the name of Cardinal Capellari.
Nobody had yet heard the
news; but, true to the confessor’s words, the relatively unknown Camoldolese
monk, Bartolomeo Capellari, was elected, taking the name Gregory XVI.
The “Little Madonna”
To say that St. Vincent
was “Marian” in his piety would be an understatement. Like all true children of
the Church, he showed a tender devotion for our Lady, but more than that, he
was consumed with love for the Mother of God. His favorite titles of our Blessed
Lady were “Mother of Divine Love” and “Queen of Apostles.” He said of Her, “I
shall not rest until I, if this is possible, have achieved an infinitely tender
love for my much beloved and much loving mother, Mary.”
In his interior life, he
fulfilled St. Paul’s injunction to “pray always,” as well as the Apostle’s
affirmation that “our conversation is in heaven.” The Three Divine Persons and
the members of the heavenly court were those with whom he held familiar
converse. The Queen of that court received special homage. While leaving his
room, he would always look at an image of our Lady and say, “Bless me, my
Mother.” Whenever summoned to someone’s deathbed, he first knelt down to say
the Litany of our Lady (the Litany of Loreto).
St. Vincent’s Marian devotion
is memorialized in much of the religious art that depicts him. Like St.
Benedict’s raven, St. Laurence’s gridiron, and St. Lucy’s eyes, there is a
Pallottian symbol which will be an instant “give away” as to whether the priest
in the statue is St. Vincent or someone else. It is the “Little Madonna.” The
image is the Mother of Divine Love, our Lady seated, with our Lord standing on
a pillow which rests on Her lap. Vincenzo had this image painted on ivory and
mounted on a silver reliquary box. He very cleverly had it fastened to his
wrist on a chain and, with apparently admirable dexterity, was able to produce
it from his cassock sleeve faster than any Roman could kiss his hand. The
respectful practice of kissing the hand of the priest — something Don Vincenzo
did himself to other priests — was too offensive to the humble sentiments of
that man who constantly called himself “nothing and sin.” So when anyone would
attempt to reverence the priest’s hand, he would quickly find himself kissing
the Madonna instead.
Our Lady rewarded her
faithful son for his devotion. In a spiritual phenomenon known as “Mystical
Espousals,” St. Vincent became united to our Lady in a way which only a
privileged few Saints21 have experienced, but which is not unknown in
mystical theology. St. Vincent’s German biographer, Fr. Eugene Weber, S.A.C.
describes the phenomenon as follows: “Basically, it is the complete fulfillment
of his relationship to the Mother of Christ which has already been initiated in
his Christian soul at the time of his baptism…. Wherever this relationship
attains its complete development through constant heroic faithfulness, the soul
is deigned worthy of entering into a state of the most intimate union with the
Mother of the Lord. This state is often bound up with a vivid awareness of her
presence… The soul then becomes alive to the instruction, guidance and blessed
influence of Mary, either occasionally or at all times. A mutual love arises
which cannot deny anything and wants to grant everything. Above all, the Mother
of God is able to carry out without hindrance the formation of Her Son’s image
and life in the soul through the Holy Spirit.”
Tortured and Beaten
The years 1834-35 are
landmarks in the life of St. Vincent. In 1834, he took a parish assignment at the
Church of Spirito Santo, the Neapolitan National Church located in a poor
section of the city on the Via Giulia, not far from the Tiber. 1835 was the
founding year of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate, the religious
congregation and lay movement which would carry on Don Vincenzo’s work after he
took his flight to heaven.
The coinciding of his
assignment at Spirito Santo with his founding of the Society seemed to be
something written in an eternal decree. It sometimes happens that God reserves
the worst chastisements of his faithful servants for the eve of their greatest
accomplishments. This fact is brought clearly in the life of the Apostle St.
Paul, who preached Christian liberty most effectively when he himself was a
prisoner. When St. Vincent was appointed Rector (superior of the house) over
five undisciplined, insubordinate, and ill-willed Neapolitan priests, he was
presented with a treasure of meritorious suffering which would bear fruit for
the work of his apostolate.
A life of a Saint is supposed
to be something edifying, informing the intellect of good things, and moving
the will to the love of God, Who “gave such power to men.”22 To recount
the evils done to St. Vincent by these unworthy priests would only fit into
that agenda if the admirable patience of the saint were made the focus, not the
wickedness of his underlings. For one thing, these Neopolitans were very
nationalistic, and probably should not have had a Roman as their superior
anyway. They were also jealous of St. Vincent’s priestly zeal, for during his
rectorship of the Church, the shamefully demoralized state of the parish was
renewed and Spirito Santo became a center of devotion and religious fervor.
Their disdain for St. Vincent showed itself in a variety of uncharitable acts on
their part, including hiding things on him in the sacristy (like the tabernacle
key and hosts for Mass!), removing his confessional, so that he had to go
elsewhere to confess his legion of penitents, going to great trouble to make
sure he had dirty altar linens and candles that would burn out in the middle of
Mass. In addition, they constantly complained about him to ecclesiastical
superiors and did everything they could to destroy his apostolate by preventing
the Society from having meetings in the parish.
It can be said that he
deserved this treatment. Why? The answer is simple. “Ask and you shall
receive.”25 In the beginning of 1835, before he took his post at Spirito
Santo26 and before the Society was founded, he offered a prayer which is
recorded in his notes. Among other things, he asked “that some be found among
Your creatures who, in accordance with Your spirit, despise, beat, torture, and
humble me so that I may bridle my evil passions, especially my pride. Permit
that all creatures even chafe, beat and humble me at all times for Your glory
and my deserved shame…” He said this prayer because he felt called to begin a
great work, and wished to be purified by the purgatorial fires of suffering so
that the work would be blessed.
One last note on the Neapolitan
priests will do before we proceed. In all of his trials he let not a word of
complaint come from his lips. This author was told a story about the saint from
a devotee, a story he has not been able to verify in any book, but one which
certainly captures the spirit of Don Pallotti. When one of these Neapolitans
was asked to testify during Pallotti’s process of beatification, he was asked
if the servant of God ever returned evil for evil. The reply was, “No, but he
used to kiss my hand whenever he could.”
The Universal Apostolate
In his notes of 1835, St.
Vincent describes the work that he felt called to commence. “My God… allow me…
to promote, establish, propagate, perfect, and perpetuate the pious institution
of a universal apostolate for all Catholics, in order to propagate the faith
and religion of Jesus Christ among all infidels and non-Catholics; another
apostolate to revive, conserve and increase the faith among Catholics; and an
institution of universal charity in the practice of all the spiritual and
corporal works of mercy, so that You may be known in the world by a reflection
of Your infinite charity.” This was the spark which would soon ignite into the
Society for the Catholic Apostolate.
What kindled the spark
into a fire was a need brought to the attention of Don Vincenzo to help
Oriental Catholics who were in a sad state of affairs.
Years before he had made
the acquaintance of Tomasso Alkuschi,27 who told him of the pitiful state
of the Catholics of Persia, whose schismatic Nestorian compatriots mocked them
for not even having a church for services. At that time, Don Vincenzo sent out
a letter to the whole Catholic world, encouraging them to give generously,
especially if they loved our Lady, because the defeat of Nestorianism would be
a victory for our Lady.28 The earlier efforts had borne fruit, but now
something more could be done. A missionary in the Middle East sent a request
for ten thousand copies of St. Alphonsus’ Eternal Maxims in Arabic,
so that he could distribute them to the missions in the Arab world. Such a
thing seemed hardly possible, but the saint, encouraged by his friends, decided
to fill the request.
Don Vincenzo lost no
time. He sent the faithful Giacomo Salvati into the streets of Rome to raise
the funds needed for this ambitious project — four hundred scudi, a large sum.29 Salvati
was scared by the project, asking to be excused for his lack of competence. But
Pallotti was unrelenting. Giacomo then asked if at least his master would give
him a letter that could be shown to the Roman shopkeepers he would be
soliciting, so that he might raise the funds in the name of Vincent Pallotti.
The priest refused, planted a Crucifix in Salvati’s hand, and said, “Ask in the
name of Jesus Crucified!” After only a few hours, the collector of alms
returned with over five hundred scudi, something he thought hardly possible.
The thought that they had
too much money was something of a conscience problem for Abate Pallotti. He
told Salvati to return the money, but Salvati raised the objection that he
could not possibly remember who had given how much. It was decided that the ten
thousand Arabic books would be printed and that whatever was left over would be
used to print pious books in Italian to be distributed for free. This required
administration and coordination, priestly overseeing and lay activity. His
request of God to begin a universal apostolate must have flashed back into his
mind. These activities and others like them could be increased! The spare scudi
must have been a sign! Thus, in the calm words of the Founder, “…it was thought
convenient to create a Pious Society which, in the present state of necessity
of the Church, would have for its purpose the multiplication of such spiritual
and temporal aids as are necessary and opportune for reviving faith and
rekindling charity among Catholics and spreading these virtues throughout the
entire world.” The Pallottines were born!
Of course, it goes
without saying that they were not called “Pallottines” until after the Saint’s
death. St. Francis didn’t name his Friars Minor the “Franciscans,” and neither
did St. Dominic choose to name the Preaching Friars the “Dominicans.” But while
the new name had to wait until after the Founder’s death, there was still quite
a bit of change in the Society from its inception in 1835 until Vincent went to
heaven. For one, the original Society was not a religious congregation in
itself, but rather more of an umbrella institution for linking, coordinating,
and unifying the spiritual, missionary, educational, and charitable goals of
existing institutions. In other words, St. Vincent wanted to get all of the
oars of the Barque of Peter rowing in the same direction. Thus, Cardinals,
bishops, secular priests, monks, nuns, religious of all sorts, and lay people
of every walk in life were all welcome to join the Society to further its
missionary ends and contribute their own talents. In return, they would be
blessed with the merit of good works, and the rich spiritual bouquet of
indulgences granted by the Supreme Pontiff to the new organization.
What changed in the
Society was that in the following years, the addition of a corpo centrale (central
body) was deemed necessary to give it greater organization. This quickly
evolved into the religious congregation of priests and lay brothers now
commonly referred to as the Society of the Catholic Apostolate.30 In
addition, the Pia Casa di Sant’ Agata (Pious House of St. Agatha),
which was founded to house and educate homeless girls, eventually evolved into
a congregation of religious sisters by 1843. Therefore, although cut along
looser lines, the Society of the Catholic Apostolate had, by 1843, all of the constituent
parts of a religious order in the classical western sense of the word ever
since the Dominicans: There was a “first order” of priests and brothers, a
“second order” of religious sisters, and a “third order” comprising anyone
(clerical, religious, or lay) who wanted to join and did not belong to the
other two categories as a professed religious member. It must be stressed that
St. Vincent consciously refused to use these classifications in his Society. He
did not want it viewed in such a rigid, hierarchical manner, but as composed
three co-equal parts.31
The Octave of the
Epiphany
We have seen that St.
Vincent’s Society was founded along the broad lines of increasing Faith and
Charity in the whole world. When he sent out the plans for his new Society to
the superiors of religious orders, he received a very positive response. One of
the superiors commented that this Universal Apostolate was an all-out effort to
return the Church to its primitive fervor. It is likely that that comment
pleased the Founder very much.
Something symbolic of the
Universal Apostolate is the Mystery of Epiphany. More than just symbolic,
though, this Mystery lies at the very core of the Church’s identity. The
Manifestation (Epiphany) of our Lord to the non-Jews is what gives the Church
of Christ its note of “Catholicity,” or Universality. The Old Dispensation had
its chosen race, but the New Dispensation united that race —”as many as
received Him”32 — to the believing Gentiles, “breaking down the middle
wall of partition”33 in Christ. The Feast of the Epiphany, which the
Church of Rome celebrates on January sixth, has an octave extending to the
thirteenth. Since this Feast is the perfect liturgical expression of the
Universal Apostolate envisioned by St. Vincent, it had a great significance to
him. (The Pallottine seal has the Star of Bethlehem on a black field, thus
representing this Mystery.) Pallotti created a special celebration of the
Octave of the Epiphany that was both a large-scale popular mission and a vivid
display of the Church’s catholicity.
Mention has been made of
Tomasso Alkuschi, the Persian Catholic, as well as St. Vincent’s interest in
helping Arabic-speaking Catholics. The faithful of the Arab world are generally
Eastern Rite Catholics, a part of the Church all too forgotten today. Aside
from Alkuschi, the Founder had other Eastern Rite connections. He became a good
friend of Mother Makrina Mieczyslavska, the Russian Rite nun who escaped the
persecution of Czar Nicholas I and sought refuge from Gregory XVI.34 He was
also confessor to the Greek College in Rome. Among the first monastic
communities to join the Society of the Catholic Apostolate, was the Armenian
Rite Mekhitarist Monastery of San Lazzaro in Venice.35 The very first
meeting of the Society, on July 14 of 1835, was in a Maronite Church, Santa
Maria in Carinis. And the first location of the Pious House for girls was a
home owned by a Melkite Catholic. All of these connections of the Roman priest
to the Oriental Rites gave him a thorough appreciation of the catholicity of
the Church viewed in its liturgical variety. It is not surprising, then, that
the Pallottian Octave of the Epiphany was, for one thing, a showcase of these
beautiful rites, right in the heart of the Catholic world.
Every day of the Epiphany
Octave another rite of the church is celebrated, sermons are preached in many
languages, and by priests from various religious orders. The first year, 1836,
the Octave took place in Spirito Santo, but that church proved too small. After
being moved around year after year, the Octave finally grew into the enormous
Theatine church of San Andrea delle Valle. In 1847, Ven. Pius IX made a
surprise appearance there and preached a sermon in front of thousands. In the
congregation that night was the English priest (later Cardinal), John Newman.
Later, in the sacristy, the Holy Father congratulated Pallotti on the fact that
there had been six thousand Holy Communions during the Octave. The unsatisfied
Abate responded that things should improve. “Just as I thought,” replied Pius,
“Father Vincent grumbles.”
The Octave still takes
place in Mt. Carmel Church in New York. Thus, in 1996 (the most recent program
the author has access to), attendees assisted at the following rites: Solemn
Latin Tridentine Mass, Ghe’Ez Rite (Ethiopian); Ukrainian Divine Liturgy;
Coptic Divine Liturgy; Syrian Divine Liturgy; Maronite Divine Liturgy;
Ruthenian Divine Liturgy; and Italo-Albanian Divine Liturgy.
Friends in High Places
1837 was a year filled
with death for the Roman Apostle. In that year, he lost two fathers. First,
Pietro Paulo Pallotti died. The year before, Signor Pallotti had taken ill, and
Don Vincenzo went to visit him. He made the strange statement that, although
his father would recover from the present illness (1836), he would die a year
later, and without Vincenzo’s priestly assistance. On September fifteenth, of
1837, Pallotti told his father to go to Mass and receive Communion. Signor
Pallotti said that he had received within the last two days, but he followed
his son’s advice. After returning from the church, death overtook him suddenly
in his shop.
His spiritual Father, Don
Fazzini also died that year, having the consolation of his saintly penitent’s
child- like assistance during his hard death-struggle. This was, no doubt, a
reward for guiding Pallotti for thirty years in the ways of sanctity.
June 9 of that same year
saw the death of the visionary Blessed Anna Maria Taigi. She had been a friend
of St. Vincent and had even assisted him personally with her prophetical
powers. Taigi had the gift, hitherto unknown in the records of sanctity, of a “sun”
which always hovered near her, which she alone could see. The sun would give
her prophetical visions which had been of benefit to more than one Pope who
received messages from her.
Father Natali, Bl. Anna
Maria’s confessor and spiritual guide, related the story that on one occasion
Vincent sought help. When a relative was missing, and was feared to have
drowned himself, Vincenzo appealed to Taigi, using Father Natali as a
go-between. Taigi looked into her sun and discovered the location of the relative,
who was found according to her directions.
Pallotti regarded this
seer as a saint in life and after death. It is said that St. Vincent made Taigi
his “secretary general” with God in all his apostolic endeavors.
There is a common cliché
uttered by one who trusts powerful men to come to his assistance in times of
difficulty: “I’ve got friends in high places!” If such a saying of the world
may be “baptized,” then St. Vincent surely could have uttered it. His friends
included some who have been solemnly declared by the Church to be in high
places. St. Gaspar Del Bufalo, St. Vincent Mary Strambi, and Bl. Anna-Maria
Taigi have all been mentioned. We can add to the list others reputed for
sanctity. Ven. Elisabetta Sanna, a Sardinian woman whom he had met as a young
priest, is one. Another is Ven. Sister Maria Luisa Maruizini, whose
extraordinary confessor St. Vincent had been. (After the death of Sister Maria
Luisa, Vincent’s brother was cured of a crippling leg ailment after visiting
her grave at the suggestion of Vincenzo.) Deserving of mention, too, are Bl.
Pauline Jaricot, and Ven. Bernardo Clausi, a Minim Friar, both of whom we will
hear about later.
Of all the holy people
St. Vincent was close to, it seems that the Founder of the Congregation of the
Precious Blood was the one most intimate with him. The relationship of St.
Gaspar to Pallotti has been compared to that between Sts. Dominic and Francis.
It had even been suggested (by St. Gaspar) that they merge their two
foundations into one Congregation, but Pallotti respectfully declined the offer
after careful consideration. The aims of the two societies were too different.
So, like Francis and Dominic, they kept their congregations separate, but the
saints remained spiritually inseparable.
When Del Bufalo entered
into his final agony, it became apparent that the “dying year” of 1837 would
take another friend. On December 28, Pallotti heard St. Gaspar’s confession and
prepared him for eternity. Later that night, after attending other duties, Don
Vincenzo was in the middle of a conversation from which he excused himself
urgently, saying there was something important to do. Hurrying to the house
where Del Bufalo was dying, and rushing upstairs, he threw himself on his knees
at the bed of his friend and began to pray fervently. For fifteen minutes he
prayed there, then Del Bufalo breathed his last; or, as Fr. Weber beautifully
puts it, “the heart of the Apostle of the Precious Blood stopped beating.”
Vincent was given the grace to see the soul of his friend ascend to heaven “as
a radiant star,” at which sight he raised his hands and eyes and ecstatically
called out, “O happy soul!”
War and More War
With official approbation
for his Society from Pope Gregory XVI (July 11, 1835), Don Vincenzo had by no
means finished his great work. He had only just begun to fight. And fight he
did. He declared a war — with his army of twelve in the Society — for “the
annihilation of sin.” That same year he became confessor of the Seminary for
the Propagation of the Faith, the Roman seminary for foreign missionary
students. Thus, his goal of extending the True Faith in foreign lands was being
met by spiritually forming missionaries. 1836, in addition to being the first
year of the Octave of the Epiphany celebration, saw him in a number of
charitable roles. These included: providing more care for orphan girls, sending
great quantities of rosaries, vestments, and chalices to Asia, Africa, America,
and Australia.
In 1837 he was named
councilor on the Central Council of the Society for the Propagation of the
Faith (not to be confused with the Seminary, mentioned above). This was the
missionary work founded by the pious French woman, Blessed Pauline Jaricot. Don
Vincenzo greatly admired the work of this Society, and he preached sermons
encouraging people to join the work and donate generously to its foreign
missionary efforts. He prudently encouraged Bl. Pauline to make the
headquarters of the Propagation in Rome instead of Lyons, France. The holy
woman did not follow his advice, and as a result the Society for the
Propagation of the Faith was soon disciplined by the Church for aggregating to
itself too much control of the Church’s missionary activity, to the detriment
of Roman authority. In 1922, further measures were taken by Pope Pius XI, who subdivided
and de-centralized the Lyonese Society. St. Vincent’s advice proved prophetic.
It is believed that
Jaricot received her inspiration for the project from Don Vincenzo, which is
why a sad event of 1838 is so ironic. Some members of the Lyons Society thought
that Vincent’s Society too much resembled their own. In fact, it was quite
distinct in many ways. But the same nationalism which eventually got them in
trouble caused some of the members to “pull strings” and have Pallotti’s
Society suppressed. The suppression happened while Pallotti and the other
members of his Society were in an organizational meeting. Monsignor Cadolini
walked into the room and handed Vincent a letter — a very obnoxious letter — by
which the Catholic Apostolate was dismantled. After reading the letter, the
saint raised his eyes to heaven. In the whole matter, the closest thing to a
complaint he uttered was “The French humble us.”
It did not take a lot on
the part of St. Vincent to convince Gregory XVI to retract the suppression. The
Pope wasn’t responsible for it anyway, and was not pleased with the turn of
events. The Catholic Apostolate was saved, and after long negotiations, their
differences with the Propaganda Fide Society were settled.
In the meantime, the
priests and brothers of the Catholic Apostolate had taken up residence in the
Neapolitan Church. This entailed St. Vincent’s moving out of his parents’ house
for the first time in his whole priesthood. It also entailed suffering the
wrath of the five unworthy Neapolitan curates even more, for now their rectory
was crowded.
Foreknowledge and
Bilocation
The miracles for which
St. Vincent was reputed early in his priesthood continued as his work
broadened. From 1840, after the saint returned from a “forced retreat” (due to
sickness) at Camaldoli, date a number of such incidents. Filippo Focardi’s
wife, who was close to death, revived when St. Vincent blessed her with the
“Little Madonna.” He consoled her by promising to return to her when he was
needed. On the night that she entered the throes of death, one of the family
members was rushing out of the house to fetch the parish priest only to be met
at the door by Don Vincenzo. As in the case of Del Bufalo’s death, he cast
aside his usual calm demeanor and rushed upstairs, declaring, “She is going to
eternity!” Seven minutes later, she died, accompanied by the prayers and
blessing of the Saint.
On another occasion, he
was traveling with one of his loyal confreres, Don Rafaele Melia. Melia was
surprised when his superior took a sudden wrong turn. Don Melia’s natural
reaction to point out the mistake was met by an urgent, “This way, this way!”
Soon a frantic lady rushed toward the priests informing them that a woman was
dying. Declaring “Have confidence!” Pallotti blessed the dying woman with the
Madonna and she was cured.
There is a footnote to
the story of the woman who was cured. His words, “Have confidence!” and another
phrase, “Let us resign ourselves to the will of God and pray for this person,”
were part of a code which Venerable Elisabetta Sanna cracked. Sanna, who had
met Vincent under extraordinary circumstances, became one of his most devoted
disciples. She had witnessed countless such visitations to deathbeds and
noticed that when the “Confidence!” phrase came out of her confessor, the
person was always cured, but when the second phrase was uttered, it meant
certain death.
There were also instances
of bilocation. One involved a pair of young men whose custom it was to confess
to St. Vincent every week at Spirito Santo. Though they normally came together
every week, once one told the other to go ahead of him and that he would catch
up. While in the middle of the first boy’s confession, Vincent suddenly
interrupted his exhortation to the young man and grew silent. A moment later,
he commanded, “Offer your Holy Communion for the peace of the soul of your
deceased friend!” After confession, the young man hurried to his friend’s
house, to find him dead. The dead boy’s family reassured the saddened young man
that he had just died in the arms of St. Vincent.
At least three such cases
are documented, including one which happened at Sant’ Andrea della Valle,
during the Octave of the Epiphany. A woman of ill-repute was dying and in need
of a priest. Pallotti was in the confessional, where twice he was approached to
come quickly and assist the woman. He replied that there was still time and
continued to hear confessions in the Church. As he was hearing a man’s
confession, he suddenly became motionless and trance-like. Returning to his senses,
he exclaimed, “Let us thank God for his mercy!” As the penitent was leaving the
Church, he received news that the woman had died a good death, assisted by
Saint Vincent. This happened at the exact same time the man was in the
confessional.
Reclaiming Mary’s Dowry
A letter from London,
addressed to the Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith,
arrived on December 28, 1845. It was from Vincent’s loyal disciple, Don
Raphaele Melia. In it, he described the woeful conditions of the Italian
immigrants in London, with whom he had spent the last fourteen months.
Don Melia’s presence in
London is representative of both the ardent desire of his master to extend the
Church’s missionary effort, and of his self-sacrifice in fulfilling that end.
Pallotti had great need of Melia, who was a key member of the fledgling
foundation, but he selflessly sent him to London in September of 1844. It is
somewhat reminiscent of the way in which St. Dominic, after barely banding
together his Order, dispersed them all over Europe — bringing upon himself the
accusation of recklessness.
The English mission of
Melia was very specific and at the same time was part of a general movement.
The Sardinian national church in London, which existed to serve Italian
(Sardinian) immigrants, was in need of a chaplain. This was the immediate goal,
and Melia could fill the position. More than that, though, there was a greater
movement of which it was just a part. England was once called “Our Lady’s
Dowry,” but since the Protestant Revolt, became known to Catholic Europe
as perfida Albion — “perfidious England.” But eager talk was going
all around the Catholic world of England’s conversion. The Oxford movement,
which was bringing men like John Henry Newman and Fr. Frederick Faber into the
Church, was the source of this hope.
Hopes were high, but
perhaps too high. The popular conversion did not materialize, although there
were, at the Pallottine mission in London, 1400 converts in ten years. Much of
their effort was spent in keeping the Italians from losing the Faith. The
Masonic “Young Italy,” with its anti-clerical, anti-papal ideals was one enemy
of the Faith of these immigrants. Another was the Protestant “missionaries”
whom Melia described as “alien wolves who were hunting the Italian sheep.” The
sects even resorted to kidnapping in the deceitful guise of offering poor
Italian children a place to live and be educated. When their parents discovered
that the children were actually being propagandized in Protestant schools, they
could only have them returned by resorting to legal action. Since most of them
were poor, this proved impossible. Melia, therefore, became legal guardian to
many poor children, so as to protect them from the “alien wolves.”
Don Vincenzo himself
wanted to go to England, but was forbidden by his confessor (to whom he had
vowed obedience). It was decided that another of the brethren would go,
Guiseppe Faa di Bruno, a talented nobleman from Turin who owed his Pallottine
vocation to the influence of Melia. The Founder told Melia that Don Guiseppe
was, “endowed with gifts by God, and would be like an angel made visible for
England.”
Faa di Bruno proved
himself an effective apologist, and had public disputes with the Protestant
“Mr. Cummings.” He wrote a book in English called Catholic Belief ,
which saw more than 30 printings, and in the U.S. alone had sold 200,000 copies
before 1952. Melia and Faa di Bruno each in turn succeeded Vincent as Rector
General of the Order and they both proved worthy missionaries. Don Faa di Bruno
was responsible for the introduction of the Society in North America by sending
Fr. Aemilian Kirner to New York City to found Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish.
“I Was in Prison”
Meanwhile, back in Rome,
the Founder was busy with caring for souls in a number of ways.
On the day of the General
Judgment, St. Vincent will be one of those on our Lord’s right who hears those
blessed words recorded in St. Matthew’s Gospel: “For I was hungry, and you gave
me to eat: I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink: I was a stranger, and you
took me in: naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in
prison, and you came to me.” (Matt. 25: 35-36) On that day, he would be able to
check each of these six items off as something he performed in an heroic
degree.
In 1843, he was made
chaplain at the military hospital at Cento Preti, where he was to tend to the
spiritual needs of the Italian soldiers. In the late forties, he continued with
greater intensity a work he had begun as early as 1838, working with the
inmates of various Roman prisons. The prison apostolate was not unlike another
work he had been involved in around the time of his Society’s foundation,
converting criminals condemned to death.
It deserves brief mention
that Don Vincenzo had tremendous success with the condemned. He worked with the
arch-brotherhood of San Giovanni Decollato (“Saint John Beheaded”), whose
members did penance for those we now call death-row inmates. The Papal States
did have capital punishment, as all civilized Christian societies had. (This
may be a surprise to those whose liberal view of the “culture of death”
perversely puts executing murderers on the same par as murdering innocent
babies.) Part of being Christian also meant looking out for the spiritual
welfare of the condemned, and the state was quite interested in this end, too.
For this reason, execution days in Rome were days of prayer and penance.
St. Vincent was the last
recourse of many prisoners. Whenever the work of bringing the condemned man to
penance proved impossible for the members of the arch-brotherhood or their
chaplain, they called in St. Vincent. In all, he converted seven such criminals
between the years 1835 and 1846. Only in two cases did his efforts meet with
failure.
In this capacity of
assisting the condemned, he was the Father Confessor of a priest named Dominico
Abbo, who was falsely accused of murder. Abbo was a real-life rendition of the
falsely accused priest in the Alfred Hitchcock movie, “I Confess”; for he was
protecting the seal of confession by not revealing the real killer. Pallotti
considered him not only innocent, but also saintly; and he said that he
benefited from their spiritual conversations as much as Abbo did. The innocent
priest went happily to his death — barefoot and wearing penitential garb —
after receiving Communion, and praying the Way of the Cross with Vincent. The
latter spoke of him as a “happy priest.”
“I Was Sick”
The soldiers’ hospital
was the scene of many miracles of grace wrought through the saint. In 1844 the
hospital was transferred to another part of the city in a large gallery
building called Corsia di San Carlo (Saint Charles’ Hall). One day,
Don Vincenzo took a walk to this hospital with a young French priest who had
recently joined the Society. Father de Geslin tells the story himself, much to
his own mortification, since the whole story begins with his master rebuking
him for not observing evangelical poverty and offending God’s Providence.
Pére de Geslin received a
letter, which came with a blank piece of paper in the same envelope. When he
routinely threw the envelope, letter, and blank paper into the fire place,
Pallotti rebuked him for being wasteful. To remedy the situation, de Geslin was
to take the blank page, and others that had collected, into the streets to find
a ragman who would buy the scrap. When the ragman was found, Don Vincenzo
accepted his offer (which de Geslin considered too low) and pocketed the small
amount of change. The two priests then left for the hospital, stopping at a
grocery to purchase a box of biscuits with their change on the way.
During the journey, Fr.
de Geslin complained about the “bad weather” — it was teeming rain, and both
were getting soaked. Don Vincenzo stopped in the street, the rain pouring out
of the rear two points of his three-pointed Roman hat and running down his
shoulders. He lectured his disciple on the audacity of calling God’s weather
“bad.”
They finally arrived at
the hospital, where they were greeted by another priest-confrere. At this
point, Father de Geslin continues the story, beginning with the words of the
priest who greeted them:
“‘Father, I recommend
number fifteen; he won’t live throught the day and does not want to go to
confession. He seems possessed by a demon. He is all there, but as soon as
someone gets close to him, he swears like a Turk. His fellow patients cover
their ears; they are frightened.’
“‘We must pray, my
children,’ said Pallotti. ‘Pray a lot. God can do everything, and he wishes the
salvation of this soul as much as we do. Let us go to the chapel.’
“We went there, and the
priest said a short prayer and went off to number fifteen. […]
“He did not begin as I
would have thought. First, he spoke with a few neighboring patients, glancing
now and then at the man without being noticed. The latter began to mumble as
soon as he saw Don Pallotti, and made a horrible face which was quite
frightening to behold.
“And, after a while, as
nothing seemed to happen, he turned and, without relaxing his expression,
closed his eyes. But only for a moment, for in that time, the good priest
arrived unnoticed by his bedside. When the man opened his eyes, they met those
of the priest, who was already blessing him.
“A ferocious anger
spread over his face, and had he had the strength, I don’t doubt that he would
have jumped up at Don Pallotti and strangled him immediately. This man, who had
never allowed any priest to come close to him, went into a rage. He gnashed his
teeth, started foaming at the mouth, and opened his mouth to pour out his
horrible blasphemies. He didn’t have time to say a word: quick as a wink, the
priest stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out one of the cookies he had
bought and put it in the patient’s mouth, saying, ‘Mangia, figlio, che ti fará
bene .’ (Eat, my son, it will do you good.)
“His blasphemy, arrested
by this object, seemed to retreat into his throat, unable to come out. But one
could tell that the anger was still there. His eyes seemed to say: ‘Wait until
I’m through.’
“He hurried to swallow
the biscuit in order to start up his horrible litany. But despite his efforts,
he could not swallow very quickly, and his charitable visitor had time to speak
to him.
“‘Come, my child, soon
you will be before the great Judge: try to avoid getting there guilty of
another crime. What good is all this blasphemy — it wounds your poor soul. The
God and the saints whom you blaspheme are above all this. You are hurting
yourself, not them.’
“His biscuit finished,
the patient once again opened his mouth in order to utter a blasphemy, when a
second biscuit was introduced with the same result, A second exhortation
followed without, however, provoking a change in the patient’s expression. He
was no doubt waiting for his aggressor’s ammunition to run out. Mistake. The
pockets were full — an arsenal of cookies. This went on for some time, with
always the same results. The good father knelt by the patient; at one moment he
pleaded with his own tears that the man have pity on his poor soul; the next
minute, he exorcised him, or he prayed for him. Now and then he blessed him
with a holy picture of the Virgin and Child which he always carried around. He
had the patient focus on this picture full of smiles and forgiveness. He begged
him not to die this way, so that at the Last Judgment, they would be together
at the right hand of God.
“After a while, divine
grace seemed to do its work, and it seemed that the patient’s expression showed
some repentance. Don Vincent suggested an act of contrition which the moribund
seemed to agree to. His lips no longer refused the crucifix, and soon tears
sprang from his eyes. The Father passed his violet stole around his neck and
very quietly murmured a confession to which the dying man answered with an
affirmative nod of the head and words inaudible to the rest of us.
“When it was over, the
priest motioned to me to prepare everything for the last rites. With only three
biscuits gone, all blasphemies had been eliminated. From that moment on, the
moribund generously accepted death.
“He received Extreme
Unction and the Holy Viaticum in sincere repentance. As I had come closer to
hold the candle which must burn during the holy unction, I heard him repeating
the names of Mary and Jesus after the priest. His last words were: ‘Jesus,
Mary, and Joseph, help me in my last agony.’ He died before nightfall.
“Father Pallotti said
the De Profundis next to the body, and when the sheet was pulled over
the transfigured face of the dead man, Don Vincent got up, came to me, and
looking at me with a kind smile said: ‘There goes a soul who never expected to
see purgatory this morning. Now you see the importance of even ‘little scraps
of paper.’”
A similar story is that
of Pio Bossi, a soldier whom St. Vincent tended to in his home, where he was
dying. Because we let Fr. de Geslin get rather longwinded about the first
story, Pio’s will only be outlined.
The young soldier was
demoralized and had been infected by Masonic ideas. He was sent home from
active combat because of a serious physical illness. Bossi’s family feared him
to be dying, and feared worse where he was headed after this life. There was
one practical problem in getting him a priest; Bossi had a loaded gun at his
bedside and swore to kill any priest who walked in the room. But Vincent (whose
name means “conqueror”) was able to conquer this soldier. He disguised himself
as an old woman and, under the pretext of giving the family a break from
tending to his sick bed, the priestly “old lady” entered Bossi’s room. This was
at night, around bed-time. To make a long story short, the next morning, the
family found neither the “old woman” nor an impenitent Pio; they found Father
Pallotti together with their genuinely converted prodigal.
Revolution and
Counter-Revolution
Since January of 1846,
the Society and its Founder had taken up residence in the Church of San
Salvatore in Onda, a Conventual36 Franciscan monastery which was given to
them by Gregory XVI.37 On June first of that year Gregory XVI, who had
been such a generous benefactor of Vincenzo’s work, died. Saint Vincent was
given the grace some months later to know that Gregory had entered heaven that
morning. (When asked how such a holy Pope could be so long in Purgatory, the
Saint said, “God’s mills grind carefully.”) We regret that Father Pallotti’s
relationship with Gregory XVI could not be treated more fully in these lines.
As for his successor, we are obliged to write of him a little more.
The story was told above
about how Mastai-Feretti had his future Papal vocation foretold to him by
Vincenzo. But this episode in no way implies that the two were birds of a
feather.
On June fourteenth, the
white smoke was seen and the Habemus Papam! heard. When Don Vincenzo
found out the result of the papal election, he threw himself on his knees,
wept, and pressed his balding head onto the stone floor of his cell in San
Salvatore. When he arose, the tears still in his eyes, he declared, “Let us
pray, great woes are in store for the Church!”
St. Vincent stood in
stark contrast to the rest of the Roman populace, which was greeting the new
Pope everywhere with confetti and shouts of “Evviva Pio Nono! ” St.
Vincent kept repeating, “The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are of
Esau.” He did not trust the new Pope’s popularity as a sufficient barrier
against the Italian Liberals’ conspiracies. He was waiting for God’s severe
judgment to fall upon Rome. Once again, he proved to be a prophet.
The Masonic infection in
Italy has been referred to many times in this article. These liberal
nationalistic ideas — like those of their cousins, Communism and Zionism — were
not merely in the intellectual realm. Like their cousins, they grew into
action.
The very spirit of
madness that led to the French Revolution (1789) had spread beyond the bounds
of France into the heart of the Catholic world. Italian radicals wanted to
create a “unified Italy,” fusing the various smaller kingdoms into a modern
liberal republic. There was one major problem, however: that vast chunk of land
in the center of Italy known as the Papal States, a sovereign nation with the
Pope as its monarch. Gregory XVI had held on tenaciously to the Papal States.
This last “Monk-Pope” stridently resisted the spirit of Freemasonry and the
doctrinal indifferentism that accompanied it. But his successor was known to be
a liberal in political matters, and conservatives in Europe — Don Vincenzo
included — quaked when this “compromise” Cardinal was elected.38
Don Vincenzo appealed to
the Roman populace to pray so that a public chastisement would be avoided. But
God was not satisfied and His wrath flowed over. The year 1847 was one full of
imprudent political capitulations on the part of Pius IX. The radicals thought
that they could get their way with him, and in certain instances, he proved
them right. “Death to the Jesuits” became a rabble-chant in the Roman streets
in early 1848. The Society of Jesus was seen as the friend of Gregory XVI and
Austria, and the enemy of Italy and “the people.” On March 28, Pius disbanded
the Society in the Papal States and some feared another suppression as had
happened under Clement XIV. During this time, the liberal thugs around the Pope
forbade Vincent to get to the Roman Pontiff.
The Propaganda Fide
College, run by the now disbanded Jesuits, sought help from St. Vincent by
asking for Don Melia to return to his former post as vice-Rector. (He had
returned to Rome to make plans for expansion of the London mission.) Vincent
agreed, and the Propaganda Fide College remained in operation, thanks to the
U.S. consul, who allowed the Stars and Stripes to fly over the seminary,
signaling a “hands-off” to the revolutionaries.
On July 25, 1848, the
Austrians defeated the Piedmontese, who were fighting with them over the Tyrol.
This was a hindrance to the revolution; but it also added fuel to its
propaganda machine, which tried to force Pius into a war with Austria. The
Pontiff refused.
On November 14, Father de
Geslin acted as faithful imitator of his master by helping a dying impenitent
man return to the grace of God. The man, Gasparo Lunati, had been in the
Carbonari, and confessed that he was part of a plot to kill Pius IX’s secretary
of state, Pelligrino Rossi. Lunati made it clear that Geslin could use this
information outside of the confessional. The French priest immediately notified
Vincent, who had several people warn Rossi, but to no avail. Rossi went ahead
with the public appointment he was forewarned would be his death. True to
Lunati’s words, an assassin came out of the crowd and plunged a dagger into the
Papal secretary of state, killing him.
In the ensuing chaos, the
“Republic of Rome” was declared. The Pope was forced to flee to Naples, where
he took refuge in Gaeta, thanks to the French and Bavarian emissaries and the
hospitable King Ferdinand II of Naples. Vincenzo’s work in the military
hospital was called to a halt by the tyrannical rulers and the brave Don
Vaccari (less well known than his rector) disguised himself as a doctor to
visit the patients. It was no longer safe for Don Vincenzo to show himself
publicly. Twice, attempts were made on his life.
The revolutionaries, who
barged into monasteries and rectories unannounced, were confiscating Church
property. It was therefore decided to send Don Melia back to London, and
disperse the other brethren throughout the city, leaving only de Geslin in San
Salvatore. His French citizenship and accent would protect him. Don Vincenzo
himself took up residence in the Irish College, whose seminarians and faculty
were grateful to have a saint in their midst. Both Don Melia and Bishop Wiseman
invited Vincenzo to England for his own safety, as well as to aid the London
mission, but Vincent refused. While in the Irish College, he took advantage of
his retreat to write God the Infinite Love , a book of meditations,
much resembling the devotional books of St. Alphonsus de Liguori.
The French, Neapolitans,
Austrians, and Spanish finally came to the rescue of the Pope. General Oudinot
fought Garabaldi and Mazzini, whose minions were turning Rome into a war zone
and a brothel at the same time. Oudinot fought successfully, and, on July
fourteenth, the General declared the restoration of Pius IX’s secular rule.39 The
Pope, however, did not return until April of 1850. When he did, it was “no more
Mister Nice Guy.” It was then that the archconservative Pius IX of the Syllabus
of Errors, Vatican I and papal authority was formed. In large part, Pallotti
was blamed for this change.
To give just a small idea
of the bestial anti-Catholic nature of this Masonic revolution, we present one
fact: The monastery of San Callisto, turned into a prison during the
revolution, revealed the mangled bodies of ninety murdered, tortured priests,
all killed in the name of modern “liberty.”
Ad Infinitam
In his mystical life, St.
Vincent had adapted a number of mottos that he placed on the top of his letters
and notes. One was caritas Christi urget nos (the Charity of God
impels us). Another was ad infinitam Dei gloriam (to the infinite
glory of God). This latter was his own upgrading of St. Ignatius’ ad
majorem Dei gloriam (substitute “greater” for “infinite.”) The Apostle of
the Infinite one day himself had to consummate his life and go “to the
Infinite.”
During the Epiphany
Octave that year, Don Vincenzo made it known that it would be his last. He had
been apprised of his imminent death by his Minim friend, Bernardo Clausi. The
Minim visited him in August of 1849 and offered this exhortation: “Vincent,
Vincent, rise from this dirty world! What are you still doing here? One month
and three days!” The words were taken to mean that St. Vincent would die one
month and three days after Ven. Bernardo. As they bid each other goodbye for
the last time, Clausi said, “Farewell, farewell, Father Vincent!”
Pallotti asked, “But
where do you want to go, you little old fool?”
Clausi replied, pointing
up, “I go to grandfather and grandmother, but after another month we shall see
each other again up there.” Clausi died in December of 1849, in the Minim
monastery of Paola.
On January fourteenth,
St. Vincent said Mass before the miraculous image of the Mother Most Admirable
at the convent of Santa Trinitá dei Monti. As he was leaving, he told Mother
Makrina, the Russian Nun, that this would be the last Mass he said there. Two
days later he took ill at the home of James Salvati. He was diagnosed with
pleurisy. Giving away his cape to a cold pauper during the Octave apparently
brought on the illness. Thin cassocks just aren’t warm enough in January, even
in Rome.
When Elisabetta Sana
heard that her confessor was gravely ill, she quickly made her way to San
Salvatore. Father Vaccari greeted her at the door. When he told the sick priest
that Sana had arrived, Pallotti cried out, “Tell Elisabetta that I hope to be
able to leave the bed soon. Prayer and submission to God’s will!” Vaccari was
happy to deliver the news, but his happiness turned into confusion when Sana
burst into tears upon hearing it. She knew the “code,” and the part about
“submission to God’s will” told her Vincent was dying. He would leave his bed
because he is headed for the grave.
His death was the kind of
death we should all pray to have. He received the Last Rites, reciting the
words with the priest administering it. He blessed his little community and encouraged
them to perseverance. “Do you know what a beautiful feast there is tomorrow? It
is the wedding feast of the Mother of God, and there will be great joy in
heaven tomorrow.” He was referring to the Feast of the Espousals of our Lady on
January 23, of special significance to him because he was mystically wedded to
that great Spouse. His spiritual sons tried to induce him to stay in this life,
after all, he had cured so many others. “My God, my God! Please, please, let me
go, to wherever God wills!” he said. He fell further into the bed and repeated,
“Please, please, let me go, to wherever God wills!” Half an hour later, after
once again receiving sacramental absolution, he died.
That night, while she was
weeping in her room, Elisabetta Sana saw a vision of Don Vincenzo. He was
clinging to the Crucified Redeemer, Whose sacred wounds shed a light of glory
around Pallotti.
1 Carnival comes
from carne vale , Latin for “goodbye, meat.”
2 Romans 1:8
3 See Numbers 25
4 Lamentations 3:27
5 These were not in
Vincent’s immediate family. One would include his nephew, Luigi Pallotti.
6 See Tobias 12: 7
7 Though the author does
not fear the general outbreak of such penances among our youth as a result of
his article, he still feels obliged to say that such austerities as these are
recommended only under the prudent guidance of a competent priestly spiritual
director.
8 “The Piarists” was the
popular name given to the “Canons Regular of the Mother of God of Pious
Schools,” the religious congregation founded by St. Joseph Calasanctius. It was
St. Joseph who founded San Pantaleo school. The very room where St. Vincent
attended classes was where St. Joseph was gifted to receive a visitation of the
Blessed Mother, and the staircase he daily ascended to go to school was the
scene of St. Joseph’s miraculous healing of a boy whose eye had been plucked
out.
9 This branch of the
Franciscan tree has given the Church one of our most famous and most recent
blesseds: Blessed Padre Pio.
10 The Franciscan Third
Order boasts many saints and other famous people: St. Pius X, St. John Marie
Vianney, St. Louis of France, Christopher Columbus, and Dante were all Third
Order Franciscans. In addition to being a Franciscan Tertiary, Vincent also
belonged to the Third Orders of the Dominicans, the Minims of St. Francis of
Paola, the Carmelites, and the Trinitarians.
11 Micheas 5:2
12 The author is reminded
of a priest in the Boston area years ago who was not like St. Vincent
and who insisted on being called “Doctor” instead of “Father.” He was
surprised one day by a penitent in the confessional, who began confession with
the words, “Bless me Doctor, for I have sinned…”
13 Those doing their math
may have noticed that Don Vincenzo was only 23 years old at the time of his
ordination to the priesthood. This was one year short of the canonical minimum
of 24; therefore it was necessary to have proper dispensation to ordain him.
14 Psalm 126:1
15 According to the most
authoritative biography of St. Vincent we have (Fr. Weber’s Vincent
Pallotti: Apostle and Mystic ), it is not known whether St. Vincent had
read the writings of St. John of the Cross, or had gotten his teachings from
secondary sources.
16 Luke 5:8
17 The trivial
spirituality that exists among the “charismatics” of our day reduces God to a
cosmic “Sugar Daddy” and has no place for this type of holy fear. One book the
author has seen refers to the “huggable, snuggable God.” St. Vincent would have
blasted this type of silliness.
18 St. Vincent Strambi
learned the ways of sanctity right from the founder of the Passionists, St.
Paul of the Cross.
19 Don Vincenzo’s
thoughts on this in a letter to Gaspar Del Bufalo are so clear and timely that
they deserve to be read: “It will be said that this painting or that statue has
been created by an eminent artist and is very precious. You must answer: The
sanctifying grace with which the soul of Christians is adorned possesses the
greatest, an ineffable value. Nothing is uglier than a single deadly sin. Man’s
soul is the master-work of God, the Greatest Artist, and costs the infinite
price of the Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The immoral art of the
days of Don Vincenzo was light fare compared to today’s smut. What would the
saint say of the aesthetic and moral sewer created by heavy metal, rap, and the
multiform blasphemy funded by the notorious National Endowment for the Arts? If
St. Vincent appears the fanatic in his thoughts and actions on this matter,
then what we need today is a healthy dose of fanaticism against public
immorality. The would-be-fanatic reading this is encouraged to make Vincent’s
words his guiding light: “Into the fire, therefore, into the fire with these
objectionable images, paintings and books! Death and destruction to the immoral
statues!”
20 Abate in
Italian is equivalent to Abbé in French. It refers to any cleric,
from the tonsured seminarian to a priest.
21 Bl. Allen de la Roche,
the disciple of St. Dominic, for one.
22 Matt. 9:8
23 There is an ambiguity
in the names here. During the early years, St. Vincent changed the name a few
times, forced to do so by complex circumstances. Eventually, the name “Society
of the Catholic Apostolate” was suppressed and the men’s Congregation was named
the “Pious Society of the Missions” (PSM). The original name was restored by
Pope Pius XII and since that time the Pallottine Priests and Brothers are SACs
(in Latin, Societas Apostolorum Catholici ). To clarify the ambiguity
between the larger Society containing all three parts, and the male religious
congregation at its core, the larger entity was renamed the Union of the
Catholic Apostolate some time after Vatican II.
24 This is not to say
that he was anti-hierarchical. Anyone who reads his life or works knows that
the opposite is true. The bishops, priests, religious, and lay members each had
their distinct dignity according to their state in life, but all are equally
Pallottine.
25 John 16:24
26 There are apparently
conflicting reports in the various biographies, which assign either 1834 or
1835 as the year of his becoming rector at the Neapolitan Church. It seems that
he was assigned the post late in 1834, but did not take his office until
sometime after the beginning of 1835.
27 Alkuschi was a
Persian, apparently born in Armenia. He was a Chaldean Rite Catholic (see next
footnote) and professor of Oriental languages in Rome.
28 Nestorianism is the
heresy condemned by the Council of Ephesus in 431. They denied that Mary is the
Mother of God (Theotokos , literally “God Bearer” in Greek), saying that
she was merely the Christotokos , or “Christ Bearer.” Hence, to them,
Jesus was two persons, one divine, the other human. The Catholic Church teaches
that He is one Divine Person with two natures (human and divine). Any
Protestant who says that Mary is not the Mother of God, but just “the mother of
His humanity” has accepted this heresy. Persia and India became havens for
Nestorianism, and the heresy still exists in the East, especially in Iraq. The
Catholics of Iraq are of the Oriental Rite known as Chaldean. There are
Chaldean Catholics in America, mostly in Chicago, Detroit, and various cities
in California.
29 The sum was estimated
at $1,200.00 in 1980. One has to consider U.S. inflation since then, as well as
the fact that the funds were needed in 1835, to appreciate the value of the
sum.
30 There is an ambiguity
in the names here. During the early years, St. Vincent changed the name a few
times, forced to do so by complex circumstances. Eventually, the name “Society
of the Catholic Apostolate” was suppressed and the men’s Congregation was named
the “Pious Society of the Missions” (PSM). The original name was restored by
Pope Pius XII and since that time the Pallottine Priests and Brothers are SACs
(in Latin, Societas Apostolatus Catholici). To clarify the ambiguity
between the larger Society containing all three parts, and the male religious
congregation at its core, the larger entity was renamed the Union of the
Catholic Apostolate some time after Vatican II.
31 This is not to say
that he was anti-hierarchical. Anyone who reads his life or works knows that
the opposite is true. The bishops, priests, religious, and lay members each had
their distinct dignity according to their state in life, but all are equally
Pallottine.
32 John 1:12
33 Eph. 2:14
34 For Mother Makrina’s
story, see From the Housetops #41.
35 The Mekhitarists are
named after Venerable Mekhitar of Sivas (1676-1749), an Armenian Monk who
entered into union with Rome and in 1701 started a monastic foundation of the
Armenian Rite. Pope Clement XI formally approved them in 1711 as a Congregation
following the Benedictine Rule.
36 The Conventuals are the
Franciscan branch to which St. Maximilian Kolbe belonged.
37 In this house had once
lived the Franciscan Saints, Peter of Alcantara, Giacomo della Marca, Amadeus
of Portugal, and John of Guadalupe. It had also been the home of two Conventual
Popes, Sixtus IV (+1484) and Sixtus V (+1590).
38 To show how liberal
Pio Nono’s family was regarded, we bring out this one fact: Gregory XVI had
said of the Mastai household “Even the cats are liberal.”
39 It is unknown to us whether or not the ironic selection of Bastille Day was deliberate.
SOURCE : http://catholicism.org/saint-vincent-pallotti.html
Death mask of
saint Vincent Pallotti.
Maschera
funeraria di San Vincenzo Pallotti
Saint
Vincent Pallotti, Pioneer and Fore-Runner of the Lay Apostolate
Canonization
of Saint Vincent Pallotti
“Amongst the beauties of
the new fervour which the celebration of the Ecumenical Council has awakened,
We rejoice (in) . . . the canonization of Blessed Vincent Pallotti . . . He was
a priest of most edifying life, who . . . (founded) the Society of the Catholic
Apostolate, which gave the first impulse in Rome to Catholic Action properly so
called.”
So spoke His Holiness
Pope John XXIII on September 9th, 1962, in the course of an Address to
Spiritual Directors of Seminaries. Vincent Pallotti was canonized on Sunday
January 20th, 1963 in the Basilica of Saint Paul. Those who know Saint Vincent
for his world wide vision, for his vital grasp of the world wide mission of the
Church, for his endeavours to mobilize the apostolic energies of the laity
everywhere, will see the hand of Divine Providence in this that he was raised
to the honours of the Altar precisely at that unique time when the Church was
gathered together in one from the four corners of the earth in the great
assembly of the Ecumenical Council. This also made possible the great concourse
of cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and laity that assisted in the
solemnities of that day – amongst them several of his sons from the distant
mission fields of North West Australia.
We hope that this small
brochure will help you come to know this great lover of Christ and the ideals
for which he lived. We hope still more that you may yourself catch something of
his enthusiasm, generosity and love for Jesus and Mary and souls and be an
apostle of Christ wherever you may be.
– Father John Hennessy,
S.A.C.
A Riot
Through the streets of
Trastevere surge a crowd of angry men. They shout their grievances and their
threats of violence as they go. Others run from their houses to join them.
Brandishing cudgels and improvised weapons they tramp on. The authorities are
powerless – and they know it! There will be bloodshed before long.
Unseen, a figure darts
down back streets. He stops at a door, raps sharply, urgently. The door opens.
The messenger utters a few breathless words. . .
At a street junction the
rioters are milling around in an ugly mood. It will take but the least spark to
set their passions ablaze. Down one of the streets hurries a man in black
cassock. He approaches the junction, someone sights him . . . A murmur of
recognition . . . heads jerk around . . . his name passes from mouth to mouth.
With quick movements the
priest mounts the entrance steps of a building. He turns to face the crowd. His
eyes sweep over them . . . eyes that are bright with vitality, eyes that compel
attention. Men cease their shouting. They stand still, quiet and expectant.
Then his lips open. His
clear ringing voice carries across the square. This man is the friend of the
poor, the champion of the oppressed. They listen. Whatever he has to say is
said from the depths of his heart, a heart that is sincere, a heart that wishes
only their own good. His words are simple, reasonable, forceful. A calm
descends upon their turbulent minds . . . the fire of passionate anger
subsides, as under a cooling, refreshing stream.
There was no riot at
Trastevere – there was no bloodshed after all. Those men went back to their
homes quietly.
A man who can calm a
crowd of angry riotous Italians is certainly of no mean calibre. Such is the
man, the priest, the apostle, Vincent Pallotti.
Background
Father Vincent Pallotti’s
life and his ideal of the Catholic Apostolate must be seen together with the
background of his times – a background of world upheaval. He was born on April
21st, 1795, in a Europe still overcast by the after-shadow of the French
Revolution. He later saw Rome under the heel of the French Army and the Holy
Father a prisoner of the impious Bonaparte. He saw the march of revolutionaries
on Rome and the accompanying storm of civil commotion and religious
persecution.
It was an era of
instability, of political strife and intrigue. Making capital out of all this,
the enemies of religion were able to do tremendous harm to the Church and its
work. Both directly and indirectly Christ and His Kingdom was the object of a
new and most diabolical attack. Father Vincent saw that there was a new
mobilization of the enemies of God and man. He saw that the times demanded a
new mobilization of Catholics – of Apostles. “Every Catholic an Apostle!”
Against this background
we must understand the life and work of this modern Apostle. Against this
background we must understand the passionate longings and the ideals that
flamed in his heart and soul. Against this background we must understand his
forming of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate.
And against the anarchy
of his day we see the peace of a man who lives with God. Against the darkness
of a new paganism we see one who holds aloft the brilliant light of Faith.
Against the tide of unleashed passion, hatred and bloodshed, we see a man
spending himself to the point of exhaustion, for the spiritual and temporal
happiness of his fellow men – for the love of Our Lord, Jesus Christ.
His Home and Parents
The beginnings of that
love go back to the truly Catholic home into which Vincent was born. That means
a home where Christ is a positive influence in family life, a home where father
and mother value their daily round of duties as their task from God, a home
where the scale of values is the one learned from Christ Himself. Such was the
home into which Peter and Mary Pallotti brought their children.
Peter Pallotti was a
grocer; he owned three shops in various parts of Rome. He was a conscientious
and capable man, and a prosperous one. But, he was not set upon amassing wealth;
there’s no doubt he could have done so, had he cared to devote his energies and
abilities that way. He was able to provide for his growing family; and outside
it to assist many of those in need. His charity was well known and often
sought.
He applied himself to
business interests, as far as family responsibilities and his works of charity
required. The rest of his time and energy he gave to his family and directly to
Christ. He used to rise early and begin the day by assisting at two Masses, and
at the end of business hours, would again return to his Eucharistic Lord . . .
if possible to a church where the devotion of the Forty Hours was being held.
Yet it was the mother,
Mary Magdalene Pallotti, who was the greater influence in forming the character
of their children; and the best response she found in the third of her ten
children, Vincent. It was from her that he learned his first lesson in charity,
as he saw her kindness to the needy who came to their door, or saw her prepare
a basket, and then accompany her on visits to the poor and sick. She was the
one who first kindled the fire that would later become a mighty blaze in the
future Apostle of Rome – his love for the Virgin Mother of God.
The Pallotti home had
their Madonna shrine, their little altar to Mary; and to the Immaculate Virgin,
Vincent and all the children were consecrated.
How often did Peter and
Mary Pallotti seek strength at that shrine – especially in those hours of grief
when children so joyously received from God had to be all too soon surrendered.
Only Vincent and three of his brothers reached adult age.
Childhood
Rome in the summer is
very trying – hot, humid, enervating. All who can manage to do so seek some
respite with a holiday away from the City. So it is today, so it has been for
centuries.
Peter and Mary used to
take their family out into the country where at least the evening would bring a
cool refreshing breeze. The slopes of the surrounding hills were patterned with
vineyards and purple with the ripening grapes. The boy Vincent was soon well
known amongst the labourers and their children. He was often found giving the
little ones a lesson in Catechism – and even the grown ups (who needed it just
as much). He would have them say the Rosary with him too. But, it was not always
so one-sided – he often brought them delicacies from the table, something he
had gone without to give them.
His parents had become
used to the generous nature of their son, but did not always approve of this
indiscriminate charity. He was sometimes reproached by his father for his lack
of prudence. On such occasions Vincent would receive the reproach in silence,
or quietly say to his father that he thought the person, to whom he gave the
goods, was in greater need. One such occasion was when he had actually given
away his bed. Another time he arrived at his aunt’s place in the country
barefoot – he had given away his shoes on the way.
Boys and girls can find
some consolation in this, that for years Vincent found his school work just too
tough. He simply couldn’t master it at all. “Too bad” his teachers used to say,
“Vincent’s a fine boy . . . but his school work!” and they would leave the
conclusion unsaid. His mother however, found a solution – it is not copyright,
so all you scholars have no hesitation in making use of it. She and the boy
made a Novena of Prayer and Sacrifice to the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Wisdom.
The answer came in remarkable fashion. The following months saw Vincent mount
from the bottom strata of his class to the top! The prizes were medals, and
many were the prizes he won. However, he didn’t care to parade his success; he
would take his medals to some favourite picture or statue of the Blessed Virgin
and leave them with her. If his parents knew of his prizes, it was through
someone else. In his reticence he was simply imitating his parents – they were
not accustomed to tell people of the things they did for the love of Jesus and
Mary.
Vocation
It was a great joy to
Peter and Mary Pallotti (but no great surprise) when Vincent told them of his
desire to become a priest. At the age of sixteen he wanted to join the
Capuchins. He told his confessor of his wish, but was dissuaded by him from his
choice. The priest considered that Vincent was not strong enough to stand up to
the austerity of that order. The boy immediately acquiesced in his confessor’s
decision, but still retained his ardent desire for the priesthood. With his
father’s permission, he made a retreat in the Mission House of Monte Citorio.
Then he entered the Roman College, beginning the long course of study in
preparation for the priesthood.
Vincent was an
outstanding student. He gained distinctions in all subjects, for example,
Greek, Law, History and Languages, and took his degree in both Philosophy and
Theology. As in earlier years, so also here he had nothing to say about his
success.
Vincent was ordained a
priest on 16th May, 1818, in the Lateran Basilica. It must have been an added
joy to him that it took place in Mary’s own month. The following morning he
celebrated his first Mass – it was the Feast of the Blessed Trinity.
Now that he was equipped
with the powers of the priesthood, his love for Christ was quickly to expand
into an untiring apostolate.
On the eve of his
ordination he wrote a sentence that was to be the ideal and inspiration of his
priestly life:
“Lord, let me die or love
You infinitely!”
The Young Priest
In those days a young
secular priest would usually have to wait some considerable time before there
came a vacancy for an assistant in a parish. Instead of waiting he might take
up a position in the administration of the Papal States; for at this time all
the main administrative positions were entrusted to priests. Or a third
possibility was – and this is what Father Vincent chose to do – to remain
living at home and undertake any apostolic work approved of by his superiors.
So the young priest came
to be chaplain to a boys’ club, and also spiritual director to a student
confraternity. Before long he was called to assist at a retreat house for young
men, and soon after at a second retreat house as well. At night he was often to
be found at a home for old and destitute men, which was also a night shelter
for men off the streets. Together with a layman he set about establishing night
schools for working boys where they could learn reading and writing, as well as
the elements of their Faith. (Don Bosco, the founder of the Salesians, was to
do the same thing at Turin). For working girls he set up homes and hostels.
There existed in Rome a large number of guilds for the various trades; but many
of them no longer possessed any real vitality. Father Vincent endeavoured to
get some of them going again, fully aware of the need among working men and the
possibilities inherent in the guilds. He began with the shoemakers’ guild;
these had a little church of their own near the Ponte Rotti. He went around to
visit the shoemakers personally in their shops. Having got to know them it was
not long before he had them making a retreat with him.
It can be seen how
readily the young priest was able to combine idealism and a very down-to-earth
appreciation of everyday needs. “The priest,” he said, must seek to be all
things to all the people. Not only must he promote their spiritual good but
their material welfare also, for the people expect the support and advice of
the priest in all fields of action. He must use his moral ascendancy to render the
lives of the people more tolerable and more in conformity with human dignity.
The poor and oppressed look instinctively to him against the violence and
injustice of the powerful ones of this earth, and the people must not be
disappointed. Moreover, experience shows that men will not observe
conscientiously the Divine Law if they cannot satisfy the necessities of life.
The person who is obliged to fight a losing battle against human misery loses
his sense of orientation and finds it increasingly difficult to believe in the
goodness of God. And then he will easily be deceived by the demagogues and
allow himself to join the ranks of those unfortunates who live and die without
Faith.” How faithful this young priest to the mind of the later Popes on the
social problem.
Tutor at the University
To the many pastoral
duties he had taken upon himself, Father Vincent added another which would have
been quite enough on its own. This was the post of repetitor or special tutor
at the Sapienza, at this time the university of Rome. His scholarly eminence as
a student himself had not been forgotten, nor his deep religious spirit. On
both grounds students were drawn to him. It had become customary after a
lecture for numbers of them to gather about him in a nearby square to discuss
the matter of their professor’s discourse. The Rector of the University,
observing the results of these discussions, transferred them to the University
proper, and required all students of theology to take part in them. Thus Father
Pallotti was obliged to assume leadership of what was called an academy. The
Rector esteemed these discussions so highly that he would allow no one to
receive the doctorate who could not produce a certificate of attendance at the
academy. He continued these tutorials at the university for ten years while the
less gifted students came to him for special assistance at his home.
With the Poor
Scholarly though he was,
Father Vincent had the happy knack of “adaptability.” In his sermons he had no
time for such styles as are calculated to win admiration rather than souls. His
one aim was to bring people to the knowledge and love of Christ crucified. And
so the uneducated poor came to listen to him eagerly. He would often preach in
one of the public squares of which Rome has so many, or in the working quarter
of the Trastevere. The people would quickly gather about him. He understood
them – and they him. At the conclusion he would invite them to the nearest
church, and in this way many were brought back to God.
The tender concern for
the poor that was so strong in Vincent as a boy now became a real fire blazing
in the heart of the priest. He was a frequent caller on the well-to-do, and was
never slow to plead for his poor. A Cardinal once said of him: “You can’t say
no to Don Vincenzo! He kneels down, asks your blessing, and then speaks in such
a way that you can’t possibly refuse him!”
There are still in
existence about four hundred letters of Father Vincent written on behalf of his
poor. Requests for work, clothing, food, medicine, financial aid, cancellation
of debts – all this and so much more.
He availed to the utmost
of the ordinary resources of Divine Providence. But when these failed him, he
could with all confidence go further. He once asked a Duchess to assist a
family that needed some money urgently. The good lady was quite willing to do
so, but was unable to give him anything at that very moment – she just didn’t
have it.
“Would you come back
later, Father?”
“Very well,” Father
Pallotti replied. “I’ll return on the Feast of Saint Homobonus.”
“When is that?”
“To-day!”
“But I told you Father I
simply do not have anything just now.”
“Have confidence in God,
and try and find some. The family’s need is urgent. They must have some, and
now! Go in obedience. Obedience can work miracles.” Reluctantly the Duchess
went away, and as she expected found only a coin of little worth. She took it
back however, and gave it to him. On falling into his hand, to her amazement,
it multiplied into a handful of gold coins. Father Vincent forbade the
astonished duchess to speak of the incident to any one.
Care of the Sick
The sick, especially if
poor as well, found in Father Vincent tender sympathy and comfort – and often
too restoration to health. He saw Christ in the sick, so would spend himself to
the utmost for their relief, spiritual and material. To a woman of whom the
doctors had despaired he said simply: “Pray to the Madonna. She will cure you.”
Scarcely had he left when the sick woman felt herself completely recovered.
When the doctor called and heard of it he remarked at once: “Father Vincent
must have been here.” Apparently this was no new experience for the doctor.
Upon entering a sick room
Father Pallotti would first kneel and say a prayer. Then going to the bedside
he would give the sufferer a picture of Our Lord or Our Lady to kiss. He would
try to encourage the sick with words of trust and faith in the goodness of Our
Loving Heavenly Father. Then he would hear the confession. But when the patient
was in unconsciousness, he would prolong his prayers, give his blessing, and
ask that he be called the moment consciousness returned. He was called on one
occasion to attend a man known to have led anything but an exemplary life. To
the distress of his friends he had lost the power of speech and then
consciousness. After his usual prayers, Father Vincent urged those around the
bed to pray and have confidence, then departed promising to return after a
short time. A few hours later the man recovered consciousness and the power of
speech. Father Vincent was able to prepare him for his confession and restore
him to God’s friendship in the interval before the man lost the power of speech
again.
People soon began to
realize that Father Pallotti had some supernatural intuition as to the outcome
of an illness. They noticed that when he said: “Let us accept the will of God,”
the patient would not recover. When he said: “Let us recommend him to the
Blessed Virgin” the sick person was always restored to health.
Among the Soldiers
The “Union of Saint Paul”
was a society of Rome aimed at fostering the spiritual and temporal welfare of soldiers.
Father Vincent became a member. His work for the troops quickly won from them a
ready response and appreciation. Among his letters are to be found numbers
written on behalf of his soldiers or received from them. In one he is trying to
obtain a furlough for a soldier; in another he begs for mitigation of
punishment; in another he seeks fair dealing for someone unjustly accused; in
another he intercedes for one of the military police who went home without
leave to visit his sick mother. “The reason was his love for his mother,” he
writes. “Such love is to be commended. He is a good lad. He has been punished
enough already. Do what you can to have him set free.”
Each year in preparation
for Easter it had been the custom to give the retreat to all the army corps
gathered together in one of the largest churches in Rome. Father Vincent
enlisted the aid of a number of priests to bring the spiritual exercises closer
to the men. His standing with the military authorities was such that he was
able to have one section at a time free from duty so that these men could
devote their time wholly and exclusively to the retreat. Each section would be
taken in turn for a retreat until the entire body of troops was included.
He succeeded too in
introducing to the barracks special May devotions. The men had their May altar
and saw to it that it was fittingly adorned with flowers and candles.
The soldiers came to
appreciate their chaplain still more at the military hospital. A visitor to the
hospital was amazed at seeing the eagerness and delight with which the sick
welcomed the priest, while back at the barracks it was quite common for the
guard to give him military honours as he passed by.
Souls in Need
Gradually it became known
that Father Pallotti had an extraordinary influence on sinners. He was able to
win over even the most stubborn. In his efforts to bring them back to Christ,
he was ready to resort to unusual means if needed. Visiting the hospital one
day the nurse asked him to see what he could do with a certain patient, but
warning the priest that the man had a violent temper, a lurid tongue, both of
which he was ready to use on any priest that came near him. Father Pallotti
noted the bed and then went along to some of the other patients some distance
away. Keeping his eye on the formidable one he worked his way unobtrusively
nearer as he went from patient to patient. At last he was at the next bed and
the man’s eyes were closed. Now was the opportunity! Before the man realized it
Father Pallotti was at his side begging him to make his peace with God. The man
let out a lurid flow – but fully expecting that to happen, the priest was equal
to the occasion. He had with him some biscuits for the patients, and the moment
that mouth opened he very dextrously slipped one in. While the man, purple with
rage, was getting rid of the biscuit swallowing it, Father Vincent did the
talking. At last the fellow had cleared his throat and at once opened his mouth
to give the priest another blast but he was beaten to it again and found
himself all clogged up with biscuit. Well, the battle went on until the fellow
was exhausted and the priest the victor.
Father Pallotti was
called one day to a house where a one-time revolutionary was dying. He was
bitter and would have nothing to do with any priest. To make sure that none of
his family tried to bring one in, he kept his pistol under his pillow
threatening to put a bullet into any priest who should venture near him. Father
Pallotti had a plan. But it was necessary to wait till evening when the light
was failing. Then taking a shawl he shuffled in like an old lady keeping to the
shadow as much as possible. One of the household informed the dying trooper:
“One of my friends has offered to stay with you during the night in case you
need anything.” Then with considerable misgiving withdrew, very fearful as to
what the night might bring. Watching for his opportunity Father Vincent quietly
moved across to the bed, slipped his little Madonna picture under the pillow,
putting the man and his pistol in her capable hands. Then back in the shadows
of the corner of the room he prayed with all his heart. Eventually he threw off
the shawl moved across to the bed and let the man see who he was. The shock of
it destroyed all the barriers. Next morning the family found the man, a
crucifix in his hand, the priest at his side. He received Holy Viaticum shortly
after, Father Pallotti remaining with him until he died.
The Growth of an Idea
In these few pages we
have covered an apostolate as it developed over the first fifteen years of
Father Vincent’s priesthood. And he was continually finding new opportunities
to work for souls. His was an active, dynamic spirit – but his activity was not
just a merely natural urge to be up and doing, which is at times mistaken for
apostolate. His activity was genuine, the outflow of a heart that is aflame
with love for Christ, Mary and souls.
But note well that now
others have caught this flame. Around him there has gathered a group of priests
and lay people who inspired by this apostle join him in his labours. There was
no preconceived idea about this – simply the natural spreading of a flame. Over
the years he had made wide contacts, the noble, the lowly, rich and poor,
educated and illiterate, men in the professions and workers. More and more of
these men and women were being drawn to the ideal of sharing with Christ and
Mary the task of winning souls to God. And the ominous situation of the time
was making it imperative that that ideal become the very life of every
Catholic.
For years Italy had been
a fertile ground for the growing menace of anti-religious forces, particularly
in the form of secret societies. Father Pallotti came to know only too well the
obstructions being placed in the way of the work of the Church. He firmly believed,
and events proved him all too correct, that the situation was going to worsen
as time went on. The apostolate of the Church was going to be hampered more and
more. The powers of evil were mounting a fresh attack against the Kingdom of
Christ.
It was urgently necessary
that Catholics themselves become aware of their responsibility for the cause of
Christ and not to imagine that to be the exclusive responsibility of the
priest. The needs of his time and the experience of these fifteen years of intense
apostolate had given birth to a great yearning in his heart, to a great ideal.
He saw the immense potential for the apostolate in the layman lying unused. He
had himself been drawing on this source more and more with the years. He felt
the call of Christ in his heart, and becoming ever more insistent, that he
should strive to develop that potential . . . strive to inspire each Catholic
man and woman to become not only a possessor of the Faith, but a bearer of it
to the world in which each moved – the worker in his factory, the farmer in his
countryside, the clerk in his office, the mother in her home and among her
neighbours, the professor in his university, the doctor, the teacher, the
lawyer in their professions, the young boy and girl in their circle of
acquaintances.
Though he did not see how
to set about the realization of this ideal, the ideal itself became clear and
strong – the mobilization of all possible forces of the apostolate, the laity
joining with the priest in the winning of souls to Christ. Every one fulfilling
his and her part. A universal (that is, of everyone) or “Catholic Apostolate!”
In a word: “Every Catholic an Apostle!”
Founder of the Society of
the Catholic Apostolate
We have seen the manifold
activities of Father Pallotti over the years and his wide contacts with people
of every condition. The natural consequence was that a number of his fellow
priests of Rome and also laymen formed a close association with him. They were
bound together solely by the ideal they shared, the apostolate. Humanly
speaking it was almost incidental and by force of circumstances that this group
became a consolidated unit, the nucleus of the Society of the Catholic
Apostolate.
One of their fields of
interest was the foreign missions. In the course of their activities they
decided to assist missionaries and converts in the East by having 10,000 copies
of Saint Alphonsus Ligouri’s book “Eternal Principles,” printed in Arabic. The
cost was estimated at about £200 – a considerable sum for the group. One of
their number, James Salvati, a merchant, was commissioned to raise the money
and direct the printing.
Salvati was far from
happy about his commission. He had had tough assignments from Father Vincent
before, but this, he felt, capped the lot! He hadn’t a hope. On his way home
from the meeting he decided not to approach anybody at all for contributions,
and then to tell Father and the others that he had had no success. But almost
as quickly he realized that his chances of getting away with such a story with
Father Pallotti were nil. So resigned to the inevitable he went to call on a
grocer. He explained the project; then mustering up all his courage he asked
straight out:
“Can you give us £200?”
The man received quite a
shock! No! He couldn’t!
Then it was Salvati’s
turn to get a shock.
“I can give you only
£50.”
Next he called on a baker
and again came away with £50. With new spirit Salvati went ahead making more
calls; before long he had over and above the required amount. Rather
shame-facedly he recalled the parting words of the priest: “Go. In the name of
the Crucified you will find all that you need.”
Now that the group
handled a fund, they saw the necessity of having guarantees to show that the
fund was rightly expended, and the necessity of existing as a society with
ecclesiastical approval. Petitions for approbation were submitted to the
Cardinal Vicar, to the Vicegerent of Rome, and finally to the Pope. The
representative of the Holy Father, Cardinal Vicar Odescalchi, immediately gave
his approval. This was 4th April, 1835. Three months later, 11th July, His
Holiness Pope Gregory XVI, sent his blessing to Father Pallotti and the
Society, writing:
“A thousand blessings to
the Society of the Catholic Apostolate and to all the works of piety and zeal
which it may undertake.”
From the very beginning
the Society was placed under the protection of Mary, Queen of Apostles. Father
Pallotti constantly held before his fellow apostles the picture of Pentecost.
There they saw how a group of bewildered and timid men were transformed into a
mighty force for the Kingdom of Christ. They had gathered around Mary, she upon
whom the Holy Spirit had descended already – at Nazareth. At Pentecost He came
once again, while they “were together with Mary, the Mother of Jesus.” Although
she did not share in the priesthood of her Son, as they did, nevertheless none
could. compare with her and the part she played in the salvation of souls. She
was the living argument for the lay apostolate, and its best example. Therefore
to her, Queen of Apostles, Father Pallotti and his associates would have their
little Society dedicated.
Growth and Development
This new Society (SAC)
[from the Latin for Society of the Apostolate for all Catholics] was not a
religious order, as is obvious from the fact that there were no special
religious bonds and that its members comprised priests, religious and lay
people. It was open to any Catholic and the only condition was willingness to
work for souls. After 1836 members were divided according to the manner of
their apostolate:
1. apostolic workers: all
those who work directly for the salvation of souls.
2. spiritual
co-operators: all those who contribute to the works of the SAC by their prayers
and sacrifices.
3. temporal co-operators:
all those who help by their professional services, manual work, by goods, money
and other material means.
In 1837 in the first
group, apostolic workers, an important development took place. Up to this time
there had been no question of these members dedicating their lives exclusively
to the SAC, but only in as much as other duties allowed. Nor was there question
of any of them living in community; in fact religious living in their own
communities were still able to be members of the society. But now a project
came up that required some members to be wholly dedicated to the SAC – this was
a plan to establish a missionary college. Several priest-members of the first
group formed themselves into a community with Father Pallotti; later lay
members joined them as brothers. This community came to be the central and
energizing part of the whole society.
The SAC is Dissolved
There is surely hardly
any Catholic today who does not know of the work of Pauline Jaricot, her
foundation at Lyons of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith. On one
occasion when she was at Rome she met Father Pallotti and they discussed her
plans. She founded this society in 1819, the purpose of which was to raise
funds for the foreign missions. In 1835, the year of the SAC’s birth, there was
no branch of the French society in Rome. In 1837 Pope Gregory XVI authorized
its introduction into the Eternal City, leaving the matter in the hands of the
Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation of the Propaganda (the Holy Father’s
governing body for missionary regions.) The Cardinal, after discussion with
Father Vincent, considered that it would be superfluous to establish a branch
of the Lyons society in Rome, since its purpose was being fulfilled already by
one of the functions of the third section of the SAC. However in order to carry
out the authorization of the Holy Father and yet avoid needless duplication, he
decided to combine the Lyons society with the third section of the SAC. It
would form a distinct unit within this section, and all funds contributed by
its members would be forwarded to the Congregation of the Propaganda.
Authorities at Lyons
immediately protested. They objected to the Pope that despite his official
approval the society had not yet been introduced into Rome and that the SAC,
with its universal pretensions was a danger for the Church. Moreover, it was a
useless duplicate of a society already established in 1819.
On July 30th, 1838,
Father Pallotti was conducting a meeting for the election of office bearers for
a new parish branch of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith. Proceedings
were interrupted by the arrival of the secretary of the Propaganda. He bore an
important letter for Father Pallotti. The priest opened it to read the decree
of dissolution of the SAC. The title of “Catholic Apostolate,” moreover, so he
read, belonged solely to the Pope; and the SAC was superfluous because the same
work was being done by the Lyon’s Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
Sick at heart though he
was, no word escaped his lips. He remained with bowed head for a space, then
continued with the setting up of the branch of the Lyons Society.
A Father Togni present on
the occasion said later:
“I always thought Father
Vincent was a saint. Now I am fully convinced!”
“All This We Did Not
Know”
Father Pallotti felt sure
there was a serious misunderstanding at the back of these events. In a letter
to the Holy Father he set out the nature of the SAC. Its aim was far more
comprehensive than the collecting of funds for the missions – nor was even its
mission aid programme of a financial kind only. While this was inclusive it was
by no means its principal aim. The specific character of the SAC was the
enkindling of that fire of love, the apostolate, in the heart of each Catholic.
This love would find expression in many ways, chiefly according to the three
sections outlined above. With regard to the third, the temporal co-operators,
there was indeed one part of its work that did coincide with the Lyons society,
the collection of funds for the foreign missions; but in fact its scope was far
wider.
On reading Father
Pallotti’s letter, the Holy Father exclaimed: “All this We did not know!” The
decree of dissolution was withheld.
It had been a heavy
cross. Yet Father Vincent let no personal feeling enter into the matter; he was
still ready to promote the interests of the Lyons society, as in fact he did.
With these events in mind he wrote several years later that there had been some
who, not understanding the true nature of the SAC, had attacked it so seriously
that at one stage it seemed to bear the marks of death. Yet this, he said, but
served to make it like to the Crucified – as has happened often enough with
other religious works and foundations in the course of history.
The meeting of Father
Pallotti and Pauline Jaricot is told in L’Album, a Roman news publication of
1850, in an article by Father Proja, a former classmate of Father Pallotti at
the Sapienza University. He tells of the latter’s enthusiasm for her work and
of his constructive ideas. Father Pallotti was particularly urging that Rome
instead of Lyons become the centre of a world wide organization such as the
then proposed society. Pauline Jaricot too, like Vincent Pallotti and countless
others, was to know the pain of the cross, worry and suffering, that falls to
the lot of those who follow Christ with great love. The Cure of Ars could say
of her: “I know someone who understands how to accept the Cross, a heavy Cross,
and how to bear it with love! It is Mademoiselle Jaricot.”
At Camaldoli
In June of 1839 Father
Pallotti gave evidence of seriously failing health. He was bidden by the Holy
Father spend three months in rest and quiet at the monastery of Camaldoli in
the Alban hills. The Holy Father even promised to pay him a visit there – a promise
which, to the great confusion of the priest, was shortly after fulfilled to the
letter!
He was well known to the
monks there and to the people of those parts. He was not long in the monastery
before the country-folk got to know about it. That was the end of his temporary
retirement! Soon there were growing numbers seeking him for help, spiritual
advice and for confession. The threefold purpose of his visit to the monastery
– physical and spiritual renewal, and the preparation of a clear exposition of the
nature of the SAC to avoid further misunderstanding – was fast slipping out of
sight.
At this point Father
Vincent’s spiritual director in Rome came to know of this . . . and he put an
end to it. He forbade the priest his external activity and obliged him to
confine himself to the purposes of his stay at Camaldoli. Father Pallotti could
never of himself have refused any who should seek him. However he always looked
upon his spiritual director as God’s instrument through whom He worked and
manifested His will – so it was clear to him what God wished him to do. This
period marked a further deepening and growth in Vincent’s spiritual life. God
had prepared new graces for this heart so aflame with love for Him and for
souls – graces which in those days of silence and prayer his heart opened wide
to receive.
Then Rome was calling him
again. Rome, with its countless needs, souls in danger, hours in the
confessional, retreats, care of the sick, the poor, the guilds, the working
lads and their night schools, the orphanages he had established together with
the SAC Sisters he had founded, the manifold works of the SAC and its own
little community. A further span of nine years lay before him; but during this
time black storm clouds were gathering. Europe was soon to be plunged into the
Year of Revolutions, 1848 – and Rome itself was to be one of the storm centres.
Revolution
Italy at this time was
divided into four parts – the Papal States and the three states under Austria,
Sardinia and the Bourbons of Naples and Sicily. Of these, Austria was the
dominant power. Sardinia and the Papal States were thus the only extensive
Italian territories not under foreign domination.
The nationalist movement
for a united Italy had at first ardent Catholic supporters who cherished a hope
that the Papacy would declare for it. At one time the suggestion was made that
the Pope should become the head of a federation of liberated Italian principalities.
It met however with the fundamental objection that by doing so he would
stultify the whole object of the Papal States by identifying the Papacy with
one of the nations in the eyes of the world.
Besides this, the
movement was largely in the grip of men whose hatred of everything Catholic
stamped them as archenemies of the Church.
The Pope decided against
intervention.
That gave the radicals
the chance to swing the movement directly and violently against the Papacy and
the Church. Then came the defeat of the nationalist army by the Austrians at
Custozza. Rome was thrown into turmoil, seething with the tension of impending
revolution. The situation growing daily more menacing, the Pope as a last
resort summoned prime minister Rossi. Father Pallotti learned that an attempt
on Rossi’s life was planned on the occasion of a forthcoming public address.
Rossi received several warnings through the priest, but ignored them. The
subsequent assassination as he was entering Parliament House touched off the uprising.
The first shots were fired upon the Swiss Papal Guard. A new republican
government was set up, the Church subjected to open hostilities, the Holy
Father restricted to his residence. Among the very few who had the courage to
visit him there was Father Pallotti. Concealing his identity and with the
assistance of the French and Bavarian embassies, the Holy Father escaped to
Gaeta, where the King of Naples sheltered him.
Violent persecution now
broke out and it became unsafe for a priest to show himself on the streets.
Father Vincent carried on as best he could, but the work was becoming more and
more impossible every day. On one occasion he was fired on, but somehow managed
to escape harm. He became a marked man. The Irish College he had visited so often
now offered to shelter him; there at the bidding of the Holy Father he went
into hiding. The revolutionaries got wind of his whereabouts and raided the
college. Somehow they failed to discover him.
By the middle of 1849 the
tide had turned against the revolutionaries and they were fighting desperately
to retain their hold on Rome. Road blocks were thrown up throughout the city;
the republicans were determined to fight street by street. But they continued
to lose ground. They saw there was nothing left but to escape as best they
might. As a last act of hatred they massacred some twenty priests and laymen,
then fled. On 2nd July the French army occupied Rome and the Pope was able to
return.
Last Act of Charity
Father Vincent was
anxious to return to his work. The aftermath of the revolution meant only the
greater need of his people. The French army could restore external order
certainly, but the inner turmoil of hearts and souls still remained to be
quieted. “What are we waiting for?” he wrote to Cardinal Lambruschini. “The
incredible speed with which the sons of darkness have worked makes it necessary
that the sons of light do as much for good!”
Back in Rome he was soon
carrying out his former exhausting round of toil. But before long he had to
admit to himself that the labours and anxieties of the past few years had
sapped him of his strength far more than he had realized. Work that he had
always attended to he was now forced to leave to others. Nevertheless he soon
became the familiar figure once again hurrying about on his errands of mercy,
ministering to the sick and dying, and together with his associates, confreres
and lay-folk, bringing to life once again their former labours for souls. And
so half a year went by.
January 1850 brought a
particularly severe winter. Father Pallotti and his friends called at many a
door seeking assistance for the poor and entered many a dwelling bringing
relief. One evening whilst hearing confessions he noticed a penitent trembling
with the cold. The confession finished, Father Vincent took off his cloak and
insisted on the man taking it. Then he went back to the icy confessional. This
act of charity brought him to his deathbed.
Next morning it was clear
that he had caught a chill. However he carried on his work as usual. Later that
day while visiting his old friend, James Salvati, he was taken ill and was
brought back home to his confreres in a carriage. A doctor was called; he
diagnosed pleurisy and ordered Vincent to bed. It was 16th January.
Years before, Father
Vincent had shown a small prayer book to his close friend and associate, Father
Vaccari. “When I am in my last illness I want you to read to me from this
book,” he had told him. He had never spoken of the matter since. But now he
did. “It is time now, Father. Would you get that prayer book please?”
The news of his illness
spread like wildfire. The priests and brothers were attending to callers and
inquiries throughout the day. In the church alongside there was a constant
stream of people praying for his recovery. But Vincent knew that these days
were his last.
He had them bring a
statue of Our Lady, his Mother and Queen of Apostles, and one of Saint Joseph
to his room and place them alongside the large crucifix there, so that he might
be able to see them from his bed. His sufferings were severe, but no word of
complaint escaped him – only gratitude to all who assisted him and continual
consideration lest he cause them too much trouble. Selfless on his deathbed as
in life he bore his illness with patience and resignation to the will of God.
He gave ready obedience to the wishes of the Father Superior and the doctor. He
himself wished to receive Holy Communion fasting; but when the doctor insisted
that he receive the Blessed Sacrament as Viaticum and not fasting, he submitted
at once. So also regarding the treatment prescribed. He was bled eight times.
Leeches were applied and plasters. Everything he bore in patience and offered
up to God in a spirit of reparation and for souls.
“Let Me go where God
Wants me”
On the evening of Sunday
19th January, he received Extreme Unction, the sacrament being administered by
Father Vaccari. Those assisting at his bedside begged his blessing upon their
Society, for they were distressed at the thought of its future without him.
Father Vincent laid their petition before His Divine Master: “My Jesus, a
blessing for the whole Society. A blessing of goodness. A blessing of wisdom. A
blessing of strength.” Then turning to them he added: “And now all pray for me
that I may die a happy death and go to praise Our Divine Lord. This I will owe
only to the pure mercy of God. For our works are nothing.” He held a small
crucifix in his hands; then pressing it to his lips he exclaimed: “Praised be
Jesus and Mary!”
One of the priests asked
him:
“Father Vincent, what
will happen to the Society?”
“This Society will be
blessed. And I say this not only with confidence, but with certainty.”
But two days remained to
him. He spoke little. Most of the time he was absorbed in prayer. Father
Vaccari hardly left the bedside and was inconsolable at the imminent loss of
his friend and leader. Once again on the Tuesday evening he begged him:
“Father Vincent, ask God
for one more year of earthly life. Ask it for the good of the Society. It is
still small and weak. We need you, Father! Stay a little longer!”
The dying priest turned
his eyes to his friend; slowly but earnestly he besought him:
“Of your charity, let me
go, where God wants me.”
Too overcome to reply by
word, Father Vaccari in grief slowly nodded his assent. Vincent smiled with
satisfaction. For he wished even to die in obedience. These were his last
words. Fifteen minutes later, as the Blessing for the moment of death was being
given, he quietly breathed his last.
It was 9.45 of the
evening of 22nd January, 1850.
CANONIZATION
First Miracle
On Sunday 20th January,
1963, the Holy Father, Pope John XXIII, proclaimed to the world the
canonization of Saint Vincent Pallotti. The people of Rome had spoken the truth
when at his death they had carried the sad news all over the city with: “The
saint is dead!” This solemnity followed that of his Beatification after a space
of thirteen years; he was beatified by Pope Pius XII early in the Holy Year
1950 on January 22nd. the very centenary of Vincent’s death.
In the process of
Canonization (as also of Beatification) the Church looks for the hand of God as
divine approval by the occurrence of two miracles. The first of these took
place on February 2nd, 1951 – the cure of an Italian farmer who was at the
point of death, suffering from a tumour on the neck. On the morning of January
31st, Angelo Balzarini noticed a small abscess on the side of his neck. He did
not consider it of any importance and set about his work on the farm. During
the day, however, he began to feel ill. The swelling was getting larger and he
felt feverish. In the late afternoon he returned home and went to bed. The same
evening the doctor attended him. The patient’s condition continued to grow
worse. The swelling increased and extended towards the chest. He was in great
pain, high fever and delirium. A second doctor was summoned. The deterioration
continued till by midday February 2nd his death was expected at any moment.
That afternoon a relic of Vincent Pallotti was laid upon Angelo’s neck. Shortly
after this the miracle occurred and Balzarini regained consciousness. This is
how he himself later related the event: “All of a sudden I experienced a
refreshing sensation on the neck and chest and I awoke. I understood that I was
not going to die because my head felt clear and I did not feel ill. I asked my
wife to remove the bandage. I asked for something to eat and I ate with a good
appetite.” The doctor stated later: “I was stunned!”
Second Miracle
The second miracle
approved for canonization occurred on December 23rd, 1950. It was the cure of
Father Adalbert Turowski, who at the time was Superior General of the Society
founded by Vincent Pallotti. On the preceding December 19th. Father Turowski
underwent an operation upon the liver. The doctor expressed his grave fears of
post-operative complications. These fears proved to be only too well founded.
His patient fell into a state of high fever and there were signs of heart
failure. By midday December 23rd, everyone was convinced that death was
imminent. Father Turowski was unconscious, his body cold and purple, the pulse
imperceptible. A novena to Vincent Pallotti was concluded the same day. Then at
9.30 p.m. the miracle occurred. The doctor himself was there with his patient
at the time and described what happened.
“I had remained with the
patient to await the moment of death. Then to my great surprise, it was about
9.30 p.m., the patient stopped being restless, grew calm and the colour began
returning to his face. The breathing became less rapid and deeper; the pulse
became stronger and almost regular and the eyes started to regain their
vitality. Shortly after that he fell into a sound sleep. Around 10 p.m. I left
the hospital and returned about 12.30 a.m. I could see that the pulse had
greatly improved; the breathing was normal and the patient’s temperature had
dropped. He continued to sleep until 2.15 a.m. I returned to his room to find
him fully conscious; he told me he felt well and readily answered all the
questions put to him.” Speaking of the change which occurred at 9.30 p.m. the
doctor said: “Everything happened within five minutes, so much so that you
could speak of a complete reversal of the clinical condition of the patient . .
. In the light of medical science I cannot give an explanation of such a sudden
and definite cure.”
THE POPES SPEAK
Vincent Pallotti and the
Lay Apostolate
In his own day Vincent
Pallotti was subjected to strong criticism and attack because of his conception
of the lay apostolate. This is quite unthinkable today. The Popes themselves
are constantly teaching and urging the lay apostolate. And the Popes of our own
time in particular have made a point of singling out Vincent Pallotti as a
“pioneer and forerunner” and “model” in the work of the lay apostolate.
In the introduction we
read the words of the Holy Father, John XXIII. Let us conclude with those of
his predecessors, Pope Pius XII and Pope Pius XI.
Just prior to the
Beatification Pope Pius XII wrote to the Superior General of the Society of the
Catholic Apostolate concerning its founder: “To this Society he left as an
inheritance his achievements and his hopes. This meant the dedication of his
followers to the work of the formation of the clergy . . . the recall of
Christian peoples . . . to the narrow path of virtue; the propagation of the
faith among pagan peoples. . . . Finally it meant something that is very
necessary, particularly in our times, namely, that they should unite the laity
to work under, and in co-operation with the Hierarchy. In this latter, as you
well know, Vincent Pallotti should be considered as a forerunner.” (December
8th, 1949.)
On the occasion of a
decree concerning the sanctity of Vincent Pallotti, January 24th, 1932, Pope
Pius XI, the Pope of Catholic Action, declared: “It is at this very time that
we are privileged to witness the glorification of a priest who foresaw the
thing and the name when he founded the Society of the Catholic Apostolate,
which in its essence is the same as Catholic Action, to wit: Lay Apostolate
under the guidance of the Apostolate of the Church. Catholic Action everywhere
certainly will not miss such a wonderful chance to thank Divine Providence for
the new protector and the new model.”
“EVERY CATHOLIC AN
APOSTLE”
– taken from the
pamphlet Saint Vincent Pallotti, Pioneer and
Fore-Runner of the Lay Apostolate, by Father J Hennessey, S.A.C.,
Australian Catholic Truth Society #1400, 1963
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-vincent-pallotti-pioneer-and-fore-runner-of-the-lay-apostolate/
iyi
foto iragaragaza urusengero rwa Saint Vincent Palloti ruherereye i Gikondo, mu
mujyi wa Kigali
More About St. Vincent Pallotti
St. Vincent Pallotti (1795-1850) founded the Societas
Apostolatus Catholici (S.A.C.) in 1835. He was canonized in 1963.
St. Vincent Pallotti was born in Rome, April 21, 1795,
the third child of ten. His parents were Peter-Paul Pallotti and his wife
Maddalena. From his earliest years his devout parents took him to daily Mass
and religious devotions in the many neighborhood churches of Rome. For a time
Vincent had trouble with his studies until his mother sought the advice of a
close friend, Father Fazzini. He advised her to make a novena to the Holy
Spirit with Vincent. The Novena completed, something clicked in the boy's head.
He became the brightest student in his class. Vincent had an innate desire to
do what he could to help the poor. Before he would give them a coin he would
wash it in the nearby fountain. "When I give to the poor," he would
say, "I give the coin to Christ. I want it to look nice." He felt
called to do penance. He ate little. When his parents informed Father Fazzini
of the penances, he replied, "Let us leave Vincent undisturbed. It appears
to be a higher call than we have been given. It seems to come from God."
Vincent's first registration in a religious youth
group was at his grade school of San Pantaleone, staffed by the Piarist Fathers.
The school had been hallowed by the presence of its holy founder, St. Joseph
Calasanz who formed a youth apostolate in Counter-reformation Rome. Our Lady
had appeared to Joseph Calasanz when he was a teacher in the classroom where
Vincent now attended. Joseph had been instrumental in restoring both eye and
eyesight to a pupil whose eye had been jabbed out by a pencil thrust into it by
an angry classmate. Vincent's Marian development was thus well nurtured in this
school with the solemn observances of our Lady's feasts and the devout use of a
small rosary of twelve Hail Mary's called the "Crown of Twelve
Stars," which St. Calasanz had much promoted among the students of his
schools. Vincent was quite religious and of a serious nature. Yet, he loved to
play ball with his friends in front of his father's grocery store. Early every
morning he walked to Santa Maria in Vallicella. There he put on his cassock and
surplice as an altar boy. Under the altar of this church there was reposed the
remains of the great youth worker, St. Philip Neri.
In the days before St. John Bosco, the name of St.
Philip Neri would first come to mind whenever any program was being instituted
for youth. Pallotti was often referred to in later life as the "Second St.
Philip Neri."
St. Vincent became a member of a more advanced youth
group at the Church of Santa Maria del Pianto. It met every Sunday and
Holy Day for catechetical instruction, Marian devotions and recreation. It was
under the direction of diocesan priests and among them was St. Gaspar del
Bufalo. Vincent as a major seminarian and young priest succeeded St. Gaspar in
the directorship of the group. Once when he was on a summer vacation, Father
Pallotti wrote to his youth group reminding them that St. Philip Neri had said:
"The most insane thing in the whole world was not to want to be a saint.
Sanity is to take every means to achieve sanctity and be pleasing to God. When
we think of the infinite reward God will give us for that - it is sheer
insanity to do the opposite!"
Vincent's high school studies were accomplished at the
world-famed Collegio Romano which had been established by St.
Ignatius Loyola. Among its graduates were the paragons of youthful holiness,
St. Aloysius Gonzaga and St. John Berchmans. In Vincent's time the Jesuits had
been suppressed for several years and replaced by other clergy. The profound
tradition of the Jesuits who had taught there, and the magnificent altar tomb
of St. Gonzaga, could not be ignored and was very much kept alive. Pallotti
chose St. John Berchmans, a Jesuit seminarian, as his role model to imitate on
the path to holiness, particularly in his love for Mary in her Immaculate
Conception.
Collegio Romano, as all Jesuit schools once did, had a
distinctive youth organization known as the "Sodality of the Blessed
Virgin." Because the school's unit was the first Sodality, it bore the
distinguished title: "Prima Priaria." Vincent cherished his
membership in it and the group heightened his Marian devotion all the more as
he practiced it in union with his peers who took their devotion to Mary very
seriously. After his entrance into the Sapienza University as a
theology student, he decided upon a very bold and daring move. Despite the very
negative reaction of many toward the clergy, now that he was a seminarian, he
chose to wear his cassock and collar in public. He was clearly visible as a man
of the Church when most diocesan and non-monastic orders wore a garb that
resembled very much what comes to our minds when we think of Benjamin Franklin.
For him it was a sign and defiance of the secularized world and its
anti-clericalism.
One day Pallotti was leading his youth group at Santa
Maria del Pianto to some function elsewhere in Rome. An irate diocesan priest,
himself dressed in the "Benjamin Franklin" style garb, sharply
upbraided the seminarian as a hypocrite and phony for his use of the cassock.
Vincent let the priest rant and rave on. In a few minutes he slipped away from
the group and was found in a corner of the sacristy of Santa Maria del Pianto
on his knees reciting the Te Deum in thanksgiving for this mistreatment for
what he believed was right.
As Vincent neared ordination he was introduced into
apostolic work among the farmers who brought their products to Rome from the
surrounding towns and villages to sell at the markets. Vincent was assigned to
the hay sellers. He organized the young farmers and their children into classes
in the evening and helped them to learn how to read and write. He also prepared
many of them for the sacraments. From this experience of being a volunteer, he
would later encourage others to volunteer to spread the kingdom of God.
Vincent Pallotti was ordained in May, 1818, at the
Lateran Basilica. He said his first Mass on the following day in the Jesuit
Church in Frascati. He was not assigned to a specific church or rectory.
Instead, he lived at home with his family and continued as a teacher at
the Sapienza University. In the world of college students he was very well
liked. He offered tutoring to those who had found their studies difficult. He
began a very successful apostolate of street preaching on the steps of local
churches and was able to attract large numbers of people into church afterwards
for confession.
In his travels Vincent became aware of a number of
young workers whose work hours prevented them from attending daytime classes.
He soon gathered these workers at a nearby parish hall and recruited volunteer
teachers to give them a basic education. He and several others gave the
religious instruction. In a matter of a few years the project mushroomed into
many other "night schools" and was relocated to more spacious
quarters. By now, 500 young workers were enrolled. At this point Pallotti
turned over his project to the supervision of the Christian Brothers to ensure
that it would be properly managed.
After ten years at the Sapienza University, the
diocesan authorities turned to Father Pallotti for assistance with a very
pressing youth problem in Trastevere. This section of Rome was a difficult one.
While it had produced saints as lovely as St. Cecilia and St. Frances of Rome,
it had also produced many rogues and toughened people. It has been ever the
spot where urchins and ragamuffins run rampant.
There was now a great need for a kind, patient and
sincere priest who could see beyond brokenness and be capable of drawing the
best out of these disorderly youth. They needed to be given the most elemental
religious instruction. They needed to be prepared for First Holy Communion. In
those days First Communion was received when a child was about twelve years oldThis
new assignment would mean relinquishing his teaching position at the University
and saying goodbye to his favorite youth group at Santa Maria del Pianto.
Father Vincent knew that the assignment would bring many souls to God and
strengthen the faith of these Trastevere urchins and so he accepted it
willingly.
He was given space in the Ponterotto retreat house
which had formerly been the family home of St. Frances of Rome. The rough
Trastevere teens, who could have matched any scugnizzi that Charles Dickens
could describe with his pen, now got the attention they deserved in order to
set them in the right direction. They responded with extraordinary cooperation.
Pallotti did not neglect the nobility nor the upper class and he provided
retreats for them at another retreat house nearby. His purpose was to inculcate
into these men who would be the leaders of the future, a love of virtue, a
sense of honor and integrity coupled with a sense of responsibility for those
who had less than they.
His knack for getting volunteers involved in his many
projects, expanded beyond his concern for youth when he began his broad vision
of the Union Of The Catholic Apostolate which strove to accomplish a revival of
the Catholic Faith among Catholics and a rekindling of charity toward achieving
the salvation of one's neighbor. In his desired UNION, men and women of every
social strata, church folks of every rank and religious order would work in
harmonious collaboration for the missionary endeavors of the Church. Moreover,
the poor, the aged and ailing, the sick and bedridden could offer their prayers
and sufferings for the success of the venture. Pope Gregory XVI heartily
approved the new movement and it soon had hundreds and hundreds of members.
Not long after its foundation and its first experience
of the Epiphany festival as the visible exemplification of its spiritual
ideals, philosophy and objectives, the UNION was confronted not by ceremony but
by calamity. Deadly cholera struck in 1837 and decimated the population of the
Eternal City. Not even Vincent's father was spared. His director, Father
Fazzini and his friend, St. Gaspare del Buffalo died. In its wake hundreds were
left homeless and hungry.
Orphaned girls roamed the streets. It was their
pitiable plight that wounded the heart of Vincent Pallotti who was himself
strenuously working day and night and round the clock to care for the destitute
and abandoned. What grieved him most was that these orphan girls were being
taken advantage of by the unscrupulous. He and a trusted friend, Mr. James
Salvati, got the use of a small, former seminarians' residence and fixed it up
to receive the orphan girls. A corps of carefully chosen volunteers looked after
the girls and taught them the domestic skills they would later need in life.
This home became known as the Pious House of St. Agatha. It is still in
operation today behind what is now the St. Thomas Aquinas University in Rome.
In its chapel Vincent placed the large painting of the Immaculate Heart of
Mary.
The Pious House of St. Agatha occupied much of the
Saint's attention and his visits there were a delight for the young girls who
loved him dearly. His lay volunteers later became the nucleus of the Pallottine
Sisters who would devote much time to the education and Christian formation of
young people. He began another orphanage near the Vatican. Later on it was
taken over by another religious order, and a third, at Velletri, was already in
the planning stage just before Vincent died.
Not the least of St. Vincent's contributions to the
apostolate among the young was the magnificent care he gave to the students
preparing for the priesthood at the Roman Seminary, Propaganda Fide (where the
students from foreign lands came to study), the national colleges of England,
Scotland and those of the various Eastern Churches whose students studied in
Rome. His was a welcome presence and many looked back at the guidance St.
Vincent had given them from as far away as Persia and Baltimore, Maryland,
whose Archbishop Martin J. Spalding was able to write forty years later of his
spiritual mentor that all Rome regarded him as a saint and a man of profound
faith in the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ. "No cross or aggravation
could ruffle him and the memory of his holiness clusters as a halo around my
heart!"
John Henry Newman, much admired by the young students
of Oxford, had resigned his Anglican ministry and entered the Catholic Church.
He and several others were sent to Rome to complete studies for ordination to
the Catholic priesthood. Newman believed Pallotti to be a very holy man and
said the same to the then Archdeacon of the Anglican Diocese of Chichester.
Manning had come on visit to Rome to examine its claims "on
location."
Manning went to visit Pallotti and came away with the
same conviction. Manning spoke of hearing a group of young men singing a Marian
hymn as they passed through the street and was told that it was one of the
groups from Pallotti's Night Schools on their way home. Both Newman and Manning
later were made Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church.
Youth work was not the only part of Pallotti's
apostolate though there is more than enough of it to merit a consideration of
its own. He continued his duties as a diocesan priest and led his Union of the
Catholic Apostolate in its generous outreach to provide for the local needs of
the Church and for those of the foreign missions. He was a great retreat master
and preacher. Long lines waited their turn outside his confessional. Yet
Pallotti made time for daily visits to the city hospitals and to the jails and
prisons where his smile and compassion brought a ray of sunshine to those
incarcerated there. He badgered the prison officials incessantly until he had
obtained the separation of the youthful offenders from the adults in prison.
"If you want to rehabilitate youth and keep them out of jail in the
future, then give them the chance to do without a thorough training in
criminality they are sure to receive from their elders here!" And he was
listened to with respect by the prison authorities, and with thankfulness from
those who would now have a new lease on life.
Vincent is still remembered for his unstinting
generosity to the prisoners condemned to death. He would spend the entire night
with them. He was their last friendly presence at the scaffold. Amid the hubbub
and hurry burly of such gruesome scenes, it was he who calmly held the crucifix
before their eyes as the headsman's axe swiftly descended. Popes sought his
advice and knelt for their own confession before him. Soldiers in their
military barracks responded to their beloved priest with extraordinary respect.
For those at death's door he was an angel of mercy as he brought the sacraments
of the Church and encouragement to trust in God's goodness until the very end.
Only once is it recorded that his contact with youth
was a failure. A group of loud, boisterous wise guys were standing before a
picture of Our Lady and their language was not of the type one would expect to
hear in a convent sacristy! Vincent went up to them and asked them to stop out
of respect for the Blessed Mother's picture. The haughty braggarts who feared
neither God, man nor beast, stood up to the young priest in the mistaken hope
of besting him. The ringleader jeered: "Yeah, Father! What's she going to
do about it, kill us?" Suddenly a look of horror came over Vincent's face
as he saw into the near future. "Young man you are a fool to continue like
this. You will be dead in less than a few minutes. Repent while there is time.
At that the teenager let out a stream of profanity that would have twisted the
tail of a stone lion. Suddenly he collapsed unconscious to the ground. His
astonished following of juvenile delinquents rushed to revive him. They were
shocked out of their wits. "He's dead, Father! My God, he's dead!" By
use of a clever disguise Vincent was able to get near a young man who was a
revolutionist and had promised to kill any priest who came near him. When the
man fell asleep with rifle in hand and pistol beneath the pillow, Pallotti
removed them and put the cross in his hand. Later the man awoke, astonished and
made his confession to Father Vincent and died about a week later reconciled to
the Lord.
St. Vincent Pallotti died in 1850 surrounded by a handful of followers which now numbers thousands of priests, brothers and sisters and an even more vast number of lay people committed to the apostolate. He was canonized in 1963 by Pope John XXIII as a model for all active priests and for encouraging the lay people to become more active in the mission of the Church. Also, he was hailed by Popes Pius XI, Pius XII and John XXIII as the precursor of Catholic Action and of the Second Vatican Council.
SOURCE : https://web.archive.org/web/20110723014056/http://www.pallottines.org/stvincent2.html
San Vincenzo Pallotti Sacerdote
Roma, 21 aprile 1795 -
Roma, 22 gennaio 1850
Sacerdote romano,
fondatore dell'Unione dell'Apostolato Cattolico.
Etimologia: Vincenzo =
vittorioso, dal latino
Martirologio Romano: A
Roma, san Vincenzo Pallotti, sacerdote: fondatore della Società dell’Apostolato
Cattolico, con gli scritti e con le opere sollecitò la vocazione di tutti i
battezzati in Cristo a lavorare con generosità per la Chiesa.
Va bene, è un buon prete. Ottima preparazione, confessore al Seminario Romano e al Collegio Urbano di Propaganda Fide, attivo in molte opere di carità. Ma perché fondare una “società per l’apostolato cattolico”, come se per questo non ci fossero già le strutture della Chiesa? E, per di più con laici, uomini e donne? Vincenzo Pallotti, romano, nato nel 1795 e prete dal 1818, va incontro a diffidenze e ostacoli nel mondo ecclesiastico perché come pochi altri (don Nicola Mazza a Verona, per esempio) capisce ciò che il tempo esige dai cattolici.
Dopo il tornado della Rivoluzione francese e di Napoleone, vescovi, preti, religiosi, studiosi, si spendono generosamente in difesa della fede. E lui vede e apprezza. Ma dice che non basta, non basta più: il problema vero non è proteggere il recinto dei credenti. No, ora bisogna conquistare altri credenti ancora, dappertutto, abbattendo i recinti. E aggiunge: questo è compito di tutti, perché ogni singolo cristiano ha il dovere di custodire la fede e di diffonderla dove non c’è ancora o non c’è più. Questo è un programma di attacco. Vincenzo rispetta il mandato apostolico peculiare del Papa, dei vescovi, del clero; ma parla poi di “apostolato cattolico” come dovere e competenza di ogni credente, perché "a ciascuno ha comandato Iddio di procurare la salute eterna del suo prossimo". Su questa base sorge nel 1835 l’Opera dell’Apostolato Cattolico, associazione di laici che avrà come “parte interna e motrice” una comunità di sacerdoti, seguita dalla congregazione delle suore dell’Apostolato Cattolico (chiamati comunemente Pallottini e Pallottine). Scopo: far conoscere Cristo con la parola, l’insegnamento, le opere di carità spirituale e materiale.
Gregorio XVI approva l’Opera e a Roma tutti hanno grande stima per don Vincenzo. Ma la sua società d’apostolato, dopo un buon inizio, passa da un ostacolo all’altro, e vede sempre rinviata l’approvazione delle sue regole (fino al 1904). Vincenzo muore con la fama di sant’uomo che ha fatto uno sbaglio. Quello sbaglio che però andrà avanti, trovando i Pallottini sempre vivi e operosi alla fine del XX secolo. Quello sbaglio che ha portato aria nuova nella Chiesa, ma che rallenterà la causa della sua canonizzazione, sempre con malintesi e miopie intorno all’iniziativa. Ci vorrà papa Pio XI a spazzare riserve e diffidenza, proclamando Vincenzo "operaio vero delle missioni", "provvido e prezioso antesignano e collaboratore dell’Azione Cattolica". Giovanni XXIII lo proclamerà santo nel 1963. Due anni dopo, il decreto Apostolicam actuositatem del Vaticano II dirà solennemente: "I laici derivano il dovere e il diritto all’apostolato dalla loro stessa unione con Cristo Capo". Le parole di Vincenzo Pallotti risuoneranno così, dopo 130 anni, nella Chiesa universale con la voce di Paolo VI e dei vescovi di tutto il mondo.
Autore: Domenico Agasso
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/31050
Voir aussi : https://www.catholicapostolatecenter.org/pallotti-portal.html
