b) THE PASTORAL VISITATION

"I will come and in all simplicity preach Jesus Christ and him crucified to you"

Do not expect sublime eloquence from me nor clever tricks of human learning.  I will come and in all simplicity preach Jesus Christ and him crucified to you; Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life; Jesus Christ, without whose knowledge we would work in vain to achieve salvation; Jesus Christ, his immense love, his mysteries, his teaching, the infallible magisterium of his Church.  These are the things that will quicken and increase your faith.  The faith!  Oh, how precious it should be to you! (...).

I will make every effort, as my duty requires, to reawaken this faith in all of you, that living and active faith whereby the saints conquered the world and ascended to the kingdom; the faith that reduces to nothing the glamour of flesh and blood, that dispels the darkness of human reason with its light, that makes people see things not as they appear but as they are in reality; the faith that is a shield and a breastplate with which to hold fast and fight bravely against the princes of darkness and against spiritual iniquity; in a word, the faith that, like everyday food, strengthens all the powers of the soul with grace and, in Paul's words, forms the life of the righteous: "The righteous one lives by faith."¹⁵

"I will come to you in the name of God"

Venerable brothers, I am absolutely confident that dew will come down from heaven in abundance to make my humble efforts, and yours, fruitful, so that purity of morals, modesty, religion and harmony will once again soon flourish in the illustrious Church of Piacenza with a new beauty.  And you, especially, are expected to spread the fragrant aroma of Christ.  I am firmly convinced that, from the visitation I am about to begin, many good things will come: a reawakening of Catholic life; the observance of Sundays and holy days; respect for our churches, attendance at Church, reception of the sacraments, attendance at classes of Christian Doctrine; attachment to the glorious and infallible See of Peter and his most worthy successor, the great, the angelic, the immortal Pius IX; and, finally, charity, which is the bond of perfection, the soul of the soul, the seed and foundation of all Christian virtues.

I will therefore come among you in the name of God, dearly beloved sons and daughters.  I will not rely on my poor abilities but expect everything from the grace of his Holy Spirit, wishing you good things for your well-being from Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the support of the bishops of his Church.  Christ is the torch that illumines the bishops, the fire that warms them, that communicates the word of life to them, that impels them to announce this word of life to the people, without hesitation, without fear, in all frankness.

How blessed I will be if, in this way, "I can finish my course and bear witness to the gospel of God's grace" (Acts 20), sanctifying all of you and at the same time awaiting with ever-present fear the tremendous

Judgment of God.¹⁶

"The sweetest consolation of all"

To better dispose the faithful to this sacred visitation, I direct that, in every parish, it be preceded by the Spiritual Exercises or at least by three days of special preaching.

My venerable fellow workers, see to it that, when I come, I may distribute the bread of angels to everyone, from the First Communion children to those who are on the threshold of eternity; to everyone, without exception.  My brothers, my sons and daughters, this is the sweetest, the most cherished consolation you could possibly give your bishop in the midst of the incessant cares and grave concerns of his pastoral ministry.

Again, I recommend myself to your prayers and eagerly look forward to embracing all of you in Jesus Christ.  With affection and tenderness, I give you my pastoral blessing.¹⁷

"I am here to become all things to all"

Go, Jesus Christ said to his Apostles, go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you: docentes eos servare omnia quaecumque mandavi vobis.  And in obedience to that voice, the Apostles did go.  They went from city to city, from hamlet to hamlet, from village to village, wherever followers of the Crucified One could be found, to bring the light of the truth and the life of grace to all people.

I am here once more among you, dearly beloved sons and daughters.  I come as the successor of the Apostles, unworthy though I be.  Oh, how happy I am to see you again after so many years!  I still remember with deep emotion the demonstrations of kindness you offered me the first time I set foot in your illustrious town.  Now you wanted to renew these demonstrations of affection by celebrating my arrival among you with an outpouring of festivity and jubilation.  I thank you, beloved sons and daughters.  I thank you in the name of Jesus Christ, whose humble representative I am.  In me do not see the man, for I am so weak and sickly, but Him whom I represent, in whose name I speak, in whose name I work, whose graces I am ready

to dispense from the treasury of the Church (...).

I have come here to bring you peace, to bless your families, your work, your fields and the graves of your beloved departed.  I am here to become all things to all: to speak to the adults with a heart brimming with fatherly love, to call down the Holy Spirit upon the Confirmation children, to console the afflicted, and to promote the glory of God and the salvation of souls in every possible way.¹⁸

"Your souls are as dear to me as my own soul"

My beloved sons and daughters, with your consciences restored to peace, with newness of heart, and with strength from the table of the Divine Lamb, you will find great joy in joining your Bishop in the sacred functions he will be celebrating.  Together, we will visit the cemetery where the ashes are resting of your beloved parents, your brothers and sisters, your husbands and wives, your sons and daughters, your relatives and friends, and all your fellow townspeople.  We will kneel on that sacred ground and, in the somber and sublime silence of the tombs, implore God to grant eternal rest to your beloved departed.

Parents, you will bring your children to me in church, so I may sign their tender foreheads with the sacred chrism and call down upon them the Holy Spirit who will fill them with his many gifts, so that they will not be seduced and ruined by corruption.

Parents, I will examine your children on the things all Christians should know if they want to be worthy of the name they bear and save their souls.  You will proudly hear them giving me the right answers, I hope.  But if some of your children seem to need more instruction, you will sincerely resolve in the presence of God that, from now on, you will look after the religious instruction of your children with greater care, taking them personally to catechism classes....

What a magnificent holy day you will all experience with your Bishop, dearly beloved, if ‑- and I have not doubt of it ‑- you will spend it in the joy of the Lord and in prayer.  Dearly beloved, see to it that I will go away with the consoling thought that this time, too, my visitation will have done some good to your souls, as dear to me as my own soul.  I seek only souls.  I want only the souls of my children.  I do not

want any of them to be lost!¹⁹

"I know my sheep and they know me"

Venerable brothers and dearly beloved sons and daughters, ever since I was called by the Holy Spirit, unworthy though I was, to rule this illustrious and glorious Diocese of Piacenza, I had no concern other than you and the welfare of your souls.  To achieve this goal ‑- and God is my witness ‑- I would willingly have given my blood and my life if necessary.

Loving you deeply as he does, your father was impatient to see his children with his own eyes.  In his solicitude, your shepherd was impatient to see his entire flock personally.  Praise the Lord!  Finally my wishes have been fulfilled.

Now I can truly say that there is no part, albeit remote, of this mystical vineyard that I do not know fully.  Like Jesus Christ, the model and head of all shepherds, I can say in all truth: "I know my sheep and they know me."  I can say what St. Paul told the faithful of Rome: "I came to you with joy by the will of God and was refreshed together with you."²⁰

"In you we found the consolations of the faith"

In a word, dearly beloved, I was happy to find in you the consolations that the Apostle Paul appreciated so much: "the consolations of the faith" (...)

Proof of this faith was, first of all, the fact that so many persons of both sexes, of all conditions and classes, young boys and girls, went to confession and received Communion from me.

Proof of this faith was the great effort all made to attend all the public devotions, readily leaving behind work and business; the eagerness to take part in the sacred functions with devotion and to listen with religious hunger to the divine word, which I never neglected to preach to them with evangelical freedom and in all simplicity, several times a day, both in the parishes and public oratories and on any other opportune occasion, paternally "admonishing them to stand firm in the faith" and to live "in a manner worthy of the Lord, so as to be fully pleasing, in every good work bearing fruit and growing in the knowledge

of God."

Proof of this faith ‑- and we saw it with our eyes ‑- was the patience and diligence with which all the teachers of Christian Doctrine were instilling into the hearts of the children the holy fear of God, along with the first rudiments of the faith.  Proof of this faith was the genuine concern of good parents to send their children to church for this purpose, as well as the parents' boundless pride and joy in presenting their children to me so that I might mark them with the sign of the brave through the anointing with sacred chrism.

Proof of this faith was the fact that, as a rule, I found the churches either restored or beautified or even in the process of construction through the munificence and pious largess of the faithful.  Together with their pastors, zealous and solicitous for the dignity of the house of God, the faithful did not spare any sacrifice in also enriching these churches with sacred furnishings, religious paraphernalia, precious works, and noble artifacts.

Finally, proof of this faith was the festive welcome I received everywhere at my arrival from all the people I intended to visit; the way they humbly knelt as I passed by, in hopes of receiving my blessing; the way they escorted me at my departure for long stretches of road despite, more often than not, the harshness and difficulties of the trails, the rainstorms, the swollen torrents, the bad weather, and the severity of the seasons.

Finally, I am deeply grateful for the very effective help the tireless sons of St. Vincent De Paul gave me with their precious work and cooperation; for, in almost all the three hundred sixty-five parishes of the Diocese, they went ahead of me like angels of God to prepare the way for me, to give our people "the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their  sins."  The truly copious fruits we gathered from this visitation are due mostly to them.  They are due to these worthy laborers of the Gospel, as well as to the priests ‑- religious and diocesan ‑- who on this blessed occasion exercised the ministry of the word.²¹

"For the third time I visited the Diocese"

For the third time I visited the Diocese, as circumstances permitted, and spent time at three hundred and eight parishes.  Several times a year, I have administered the sacrament of Confirmation. 

I have preached the word of God.  I have carried out all the duties of a bishop.

During this third pastoral visitation, I climbed Mount Penna which rises 5200 feet above sea level.  That mountain range is inhabited nine months out of the year by about three hundred workers, who are extremely poor.  They cut wood, make charcoal, and do other similar jobs.  They live in the shelter of age-old elm trees, seeking cover under their branches from the inclemency of the weather.  They never, or hardly ever, receive the spiritual ministrations of a priest.  During my visit, the only local rustic house was transformed into an episcopal residence and a cathedral.  I stayed there four days and, by word and works of piety, I heartened this abandoned portion of my flock.  Their simplicity of faith and morals comforted me very much.  Really, Your Eminences, where the efforts of human beings are lacking, there the grace of God overflows on behalf of the faithful who seek God with a pure heart and sincere will.

I consecrated twenty-eight churches, some of them entirely new, others restored or beautified.  I blessed eighteen sets of bells, usually climbing to the top of the belfry.

Many rural parishes were in desperate need of suitable and decent cemeteries in conformity with the requirements of the law.  Whenever I had a chance, I never failed, privately and publicly, to recommend this matter to the competent civil authorities.  I did not speak out in vain; for, during the past three years, I blessed thirty-five new cemeteries, set up properly as required by Canon Law and the Synods.²²

"A work that exceeds my strength"

When I got back from my pastoral visitation after an absence of several weeks, I found your welcome letter waiting for me.  I had been looking forward to it for such a long time.  You can imagine how happy it made me.  Thank God, I too feel fine, notwithstanding my constant labors.  In three weeks, I visited twenty parishes at the very top of the mountains.  I had to travel on horseback for several hundred miles.  How good I feel in the midst of those people, so full of faith, so far away from the noise and gossip of the world!

During the week, I will leave once again, this time for Borgotaro, and

will continue the visitation during the whole month of July.²³

This is the 123rd parish I am visiting this year: the pace is insane.  But I want to make up for time lost last year.  Thank God, my health is always excellent.  People tell me I'm getting younger: yes, with the youthfulness of the flower that blossoms beautiful and full of life in the morning but withers come evening.  But it doesn't matter as long as we achieve our purpose.²⁴

To expect not to have aches and pains at our age is asking for too much.  The body is wearing out and I am swiftly approaching the end.  In the meantime, I talk, I write, I preach, I ride on horseback, I travel, I sweat, I work  ‑- all to please at least the Lord.²⁵

With overwhelming joy I have received here, where I am conducting my pastoral visitation, your most cordial letter of the 2nd of this month.  With all my heart and all my soul I thank you for your thoughtfulness and affection.  Those newspaper people are busybodies.  They wrote of me as if I were close to death.  Instead, my indisposition was nothing more than a slight 24-hour fever, which surprised me just as I was coming back from a most arduous visit to the parishes of the upper Apennines.  I overworked myself beyond words but tried to recoup my energies with a 3- or 4-day rest; and then off again.  I don't know how to slow down, and I can't resign myself to changing pace; and yet I will have to.

I'm getting older; I'm 64.  I am feeling the work load more and more, but the needs are becoming ever more pressing.  The socialist tide is rising.  Everything is spurring me on and pushing me to labors that are above my physical and moral frailty.  But, in the name of the Lord, forward march! as long as I have breath.²⁶