c) MISSIONARY SPIRIT

"Go forth, new apostles of Jesus Christ!"

In the midst of the terrible trials afflicting the Church today, in the midst of the even more frightening storms threatening it, how beautiful it is to watch the calm, the unruffled calm, with which she continues her civilizing work throughout the world!....

Sure of herself and of the help that comes from above, the Church every day detaches from her peaceful army certain platoons chosen from among the bravest and sends them forth to the four corners of the world.  She flings them upon the remotest shores, beyond the seas, beyond the immense deserts that are more frightening than the seas themselves, to bring the faith to new peoples, to preserve and increase it in those that already have it, to save souls.

This is a singular phenomenon in the history of the world, something that has been going on for twenty centuries already and of which we ourselves have an eloquent example under our very eyes.

These generous souls have wedded the poverty of Christ and abandoned comforts, honors, country, family joys, and whatever in this world is most human and tender and hasten breathlessly to the help of their emigrant countrymen beyond the ocean.  They have heard the cry of pain of our distant brothers and sisters and they go forth!...  Oh, go forth, new apostles of Jesus Christ: "Go forth, O you swift angels...to a people that is awaiting you".

Go to every corner of the New World because in no part of the world is there a people more humiliated than ours.  Go, because souls in need of your help are waiting for you there.  The people, the people themselves are begging for the bread of the spirit, and there is no one to break it for them! (...).

Go, the Angel of the United States is beckoning you and presenting you with 500,000 abandoned Italians.  Go, the Angels of Paranà, Perù, Argentina, Colombia, and other Provinces are calling you to their 1,300,000 Italians thirsting for truth, in constant danger of falling into the snares of heresy (...).

Infinitely vast is the field that opens up to your zeal.  There you will have to build churches, open schools, erect hospitals, and set up hospices.  You will have to look after the worship of the Lord.  There you will find children, widows, orphans, the sick, feeble old men and women ‑- in a word, all the miseries of life upon which to pour the

beneficent waters of Christian charity.  What can be done to provide for so many serious needs?... ite! Go forth!  Divine Providence, which watches with a mother's tenderness over undertakings begun by it, will resolve the difficult problem.  Just make sure you respond to God's loving plans.

Try to make everybody taste how sweet the Lord is (...).

Awaiting you, I know, are immense labors, untold dangers, many difficulties, constant struggles and sacrifices.  But these are the very things that validate the work you are doing and awaken enthusiasm in your heart.  Find your solace, your guidance, your surest defense in the Cross I have just handed you: the Cross, which, in the words of St. John Chrysostom, is the light of the humble, the support of the weak, the wood of life, the key of heaven, the sign of victory, the terror of Satan, the power of God.  With this sword in hand ‑- I feel I can say this to you ‑- you shall overcome.  "You shall conquer," St. Antoninus, the Martyr and Patron of this basilica, seems to be saying to you from the urn where he is resting.  Having witnessed the budding of the first seeds of your Institute here next to his sacred ashes, he will, no doubt, be with you and protect you.³⁴

"The Cross of the missionary"

In a person's life there are moments so awe-inspiring, so pregnant with sweet and deep emotions that one who has not experienced them could hardly imagine them.  Once tasted, they can never be forgotten.  One of them took place a few months ago in this very Basilica when I blessed the first group of generous souls who, wedded to the poverty of Christ and detached from whatever the world most cherishes, eagerly hastened to the help of our emigrants across the Ocean.  Today this very same scene takes place once again.  I confess that faith makes my heart beat more vigorously and strongly and that God's love gladdens my spirit.  My mind rises to the heavens at the vision of, and with the desire for, the missions.  And so, clasping the bishop's golden cross to my heart, I gently complain to Jesus, who many years ago denied me the wooden cross of the Missionary.  I cannot refrain from telling you, O young Apostles of Christ, of my deep veneration for, and envy of, you who with brave hearts have pledged yourselves to the blessed work of the Missions.  Who would not feel the same way were he to reflect for a moment on the greatness and

sublimity of the Catholic apostolate of which we have an eloquent example today? (...).

Through his prophet, the Lord says:  "In the midst of the people I will raise a sign of universal redemption.  From among the living I will choose the heralds of my word and will send them to the people abandoned across the seas.  To them they will announce my glory and, gathering all their brothers and sisters into one, will present them in oblation to the Most High."

The sign of universal redemption raised in the midst of the people is the Cross.  The Society of the redeemed is the Church.  The word that flies from place to place, from one people to another, announcing salvation, is the Catholic apostolate (...).

No obstacle, no created power, has been able to bring the ministers of the word to a halt (...).  And today, beloved sons, you can be proud of belonging to this number as you join this humblest of Congregations.  A few days ago, the great Archbishop of St. Paul, Minnesota, saluted our Congregation as the most beautiful, useful, and fruitful form of Catholic apostolate of our day (...).

Oh, blessed are the feet of the Missionaries who bring the good news to our abandoned brothers and sisters!  How precious is their work in the sight of heaven!  How beautiful and moving it is in the eyes of the world!  How attracted we are by the sight of these catechists, who duly sent forth, grasp the cross and go forth to plant it ‑- as a symbol of salvation and civilization ‑- in the midst of our brothers and sisters, who are often forced to live and die without the comforts of the faith (...).

Go forth, do not be afraid!  Be true to your priesthood, to your calling.  Be patient, prudent, humble, and full of charity.  To this end are offered my poor prayers and those of many good souls, those of your confreres and families, especially those of your mothers who, while now in sorrow at your departure, will one day rejoice in the honor of having given an apostle to Holy Mother Church.

Prayer!  Never forget that prayer gives power and fruitfulness to your preaching of the Gospel.  Prayer is the most vital, most efficacious, and most powerful component of our apostolate, as Jesus Christ, supreme model of the apostolic life, teaches us.³⁵

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations"

Since the day when Jesus Christ turned to his disciples and said: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations," the Catholic apostolate has never ceased in the Church of God (...).  Today, like yesterday, like in the past centuries and like on the first day of human redemption, Christ's appeal, ite ‑- go ‑- sounds so appealing, so insistent in the heart of the ministers of the Altar.  Ite!  Where to?  To the whole world: in mundum universum.  And why?  To spread the truth: "Make disciples of all nations" (...).

In our day, too, we behold the heralds of the "Good News" leaving from all the shores of Christian Europe, pioneers of civilization, messengers of pardon and peace. Aflame with faith and love, these young levites respond: Lord, we cannot wait "to announce your Name to our brothers and sisters."  They tear themselves away from the embrace of a loving mother in tears, bid farewell to loved ones and friends, renounce all the comforts of the homeland, all the allurements of riches and the pleasures of life.  Armed only with the Crucifix, they cross stormy seas, face a thousand dangers, and risk their own earthly life to impart the heavenly life to others (...).

O generous young men, I salute you!  I feel the sadness of seeing you leave, now that I have gotten to know and love you.  But I also appreciate the high worth and merit of the sacrifice you are about to make.  At this moment, God is recording it in the great book of life.  He promises to be always with you: ecce ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus ‑- "Behold, I am with you always."   Go forth, then, with joy and confidence. 

Beware of ever putting your trust in anyone other than God, in anything other than his grace.  Do not worry about your future or about those you left.  The One who feeds the little birds of the air and clothes the earth with flowers and plants will also feed and clothe you and your loved ones until the day he will clothe all people with his eternal splendor.

Always have the glory of God and the good of souls as your only aim in life.

Make yourselves worthy of the love of the godly and of the hatred and persecution of the ungodly.  More and more show that your zeal is equal to your detachment, that all your hopes are in God and him alone, that you expect your reward from God and God alone, and that you will never cease from your labors as long as there are poor

wretches to console, ignorant people to instruct, poor people to evangelize, and souls to save.³⁶

"Every sending forth of missionaries is a renewal of the Divine Master's mandate"

Every sending forth of missionaries is a silent yet eloquent proof of the divinity of the Catholic Church.  It is nothing more than a repetition or, better, a continuation of the mandate the divine Teacher gave when he said to his apostles: "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."  Moreover, every departure of missionaries attests to the fruitfulness and indefectibility of the Church itself. 

These sendings-forth have been following each other without interruption for the past nineteen centuries, seemingly becoming more frequent just when persecutions and apostasies are on the increase.  The Church is now as young and beautiful as on the day she was born.  Every sending forth of missionaries speaks to us in a most moving way of the infinite mercy of God and the value of souls.  To save us, God came down from heaven, became man, suffered death, death on the Cross.  Urged on by the example of Jesus Christ, the Catholic missionary also abandons whatever he holds most dear (...), exposes himself to a thousand dangers, and embraces a life of sacrifice just to save one  soul.³⁷

"When the missionaries arrive where the Indians live"

Cardinal Simeoni used to tell me often: When the missionaries arrive where the Indians live, they should try to do something also for them.

Well, we've arrived.  Even the President of the State spoke to me about the matter, assuring me of all his support.  For the time being three or four priests are enough.  While taking care mainly of the Italian settlements, they will have to figure out how to get in touch with the natives.  If God helps them and they obtain his grace, I will send people who are ready to sacrifice themselves.  Otherwise, we can say that at least we meant well.  These natives are the descendants of the

people converted by the Jesuits.  But, when abandoned and hunted down, they fled into the forests.  They are said to still preserve certain traces of Christianity in their cultic practices.  Holy Father, I beg of you a prayer and a special blessing on this new work of charity.³⁸

"Evangelization of the Indios"

Please tell the bishop ‑- to whom you will present my respects ‑- that should the Holy See entrust the evangelization of the Indios in Paranà to our Congregation, it will be necessary to do work also in the Guarapuava area and that when he is ready to give us a residence in that area, I will take it upon myself to provide good Missionaries for this purpose.³⁹

"Italians in Africa"

Because the present miserable Government does not want to hear of Missionaries or Missions, Colonel Baratieri had someone ask me again if I would take the responsibility of providing priests for the Italian territories in Africa.

I replied that, at the moment, I could not take any decision but would think about it.  I submit the matter to the well known wisdom of your Eminence for a decision.  Your Eminence, I won't hide the fact that I would be inclined to grant the request not only because for Africa it would be easy to obtain support and whatever is necessary but also because we could do much good there.

However, it would be wise to detach the Italian colonial territory from the jurisdiction of the French Vicar Apostolic and have the Missionaries depend directly either on me or on Your Eminence, in an Apostolic Prefecture of sorts.⁴⁰

"Your vocation to the Missions comes from God"

I have given much thought to your letter and believe I am not fooling myself when I say that your vocation to the Missions comes from God. 

If this is so, he will remove all obstacles.

Our Missionaries form a Congregation.  The candidates, if priests, remain here in the Mother House for a few months' novitiate.  After making their simple vows, they leave for their destination.  The field is immense: hundreds of thousands of our poor brothers and sisters live and die like animals for lack of religious care.  Blessed is he who is called to their help and dedicates himself entirely to them!⁴¹

"God calls you to the high honor of the apostolate"

I am waiting for you and still believe you should no longer resist the voice of God calling you to the high honor of the apostolate.  Let me tell you again: Nescit tarda molimina Spiritus Sancti gratia (the grace of the Holy Spirit does not know tardiness).  Come on, then!  Have the courage to open your heart to your venerable uncle and come at once.

In recollection at the Mother House, you will prepare yourself for the holy vows and then, sicut gigas ad currendam viam (like a giant running his course), you will go wherever God will assign you.⁴²

"A house of itinerant missionaries would be the best thing in the world"

Archbishop Satolli's idea is one I've nursed for a long time.  Our finances permitting, a  house of itinerant missionaries would be the best thing in the world.  We have to think about it.  Wouldn't it be wise to mention the idea to the Archbishop?⁴³

"It is one of my old desires"

Fr. Vicentini wrote me about your desire to have a residence for itinerant Missionaries, whose task it would be to go wherever there are Italian settlements.  This is one of my old dreams, a desire expressed to me even by the Holy Father.  I would have gladly realized it if I had the resources.

Your Excellency, if, by the great influence you have deservedly acquired, you can give me a hand, the establishment of such a residence in a central location would be a real blessing.⁴⁴