a) THE FOUNDATION

"A society of priests to help the emigrants"

A few months ago, a former student of mine in the Como seminary, now a priest and professor, came to see me, as he had done more than once.  He had to take a trip to America to see his father and his family there.  While in America, he was deeply moved and saddened to see the religious abandonment in which hundreds of thousands of Italian emigrants were living.   There he found groups that could easily form parishes of several thousand people who are presently living and dying without seeing the face of a priest, without hearing a religious word, without receiving the sacraments, living and dying like animals.  It is heartrending just to think about the

situation.  This priest visited some of these small communities and told me of the tumultuous, festive welcome he had received and of the need those poor people felt for at least an occasional visit from some minister of the Lord.

Your Eminence, is there no way we can help those people?  People make so many great sacrifices for the conversion of unbelievers.  Shall we allow our countrymen, already Catholic, to perish?  Your Eminence, should we not be thinking of a society of Italian priests whose task it would be to provide spiritual care to the Italian emigrants in the Americas, to watch over their departure and arrival, and to look after their Christian needs as much as possible?

I know that some years ago the Archbishops of Genoa and Naples came up with a similar idea, but I think little or nothing came of it.  Personally, I would be prepared to dedicate myself to such a project and begin it at once, though on the smallest possible scale, but to begin it for real.¹

"Project for an association to look after the spiritual needs of the Italian emigrants in the Americas"

Here is my project or rather the rough copy of a project for the care of the Italian emigrants in the Americas, drafted by me in accordance with the wishes the Holy Father expressed to me through your Eminence (...).

Your Eminence, if you ever feel you want to use my poor person either to prepare the appeal to the Italian bishops and the circular letter to the bishops of America or for anything else, I will always feel honored to be of some service to you.  However, the initiative for this most noble enterprise should come from the Holy See, and all the relevant documents should bear the signature of Your Eminence.

Surely the clergy of Italy would then respond enthusiastically to the invitation.  I have confidentially talked to several priests about this idea, as if it were a distant possibility, and these priests are ready to leave at any time....

"The need to provide"

I do not believe I have to speak at length about the need to provide help and spiritual care for the Italians who emigrate to America because the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith is better aware of the situation than others as a result of the reports of the Archbishops of New York and New Orleans and of the Fathers of the Third Council of Baltimore.

Similar reports, perhaps even more discouraging, have been undoubtedly submitted also by the bishops of South America and Australia (...).

I shall omit the years before 1881.  In 1881 the Italians who emigrated from their country were 28,217, an incredibly enormous number it seemed at the time.  In 1882, this figure rose to 58,290 and in 1883 to 62,704.  In 1884, there was a letup: just 60,489.  But lo and behold, in 1885, the number jumped again and reached 83,786.  If those unfortunate people were only all adults!  But what saddens my heart more than anything else is that of those 83,786, there were no fewer than 15,642 children! (...).  I am not counting those who left from foreign ports, like Marseilles, Toulon, and Le Havre.

So, since hundreds of thousands of Italians are living in America, scattered in the cities and the countryside or lost in the forests, without religious care, not counting those who will follow them..., it is clear that we must provide for those who have emigrated, for those who will be emigrating, and for their children.

"Urgent need to provide"

It is imperative that we provide for the spiritual needs of so many hundreds of thousands of our countrymen and do so as soon as possible.

If we delay any more, the damage will be irreparable.

Unbelievers, heretics and, above all, Freemasons, who are very powerful in America, are actively working to take possession of the minds and hearts of the emigrants.  While, at the moment, it is only a question of bringing wayward Catholics back to the right path, in the not-too-distant future these same emigrants will be unbelievers, heretics, Freemasons, and atheists whom we will be trying to convert.

These miserable people themselves, who because of poverty or other crying reasons had to abandon their native country, are begging and

pleading that someone go to their help.

An Italian gentleman who had come back from a long trip of exploration in America was telling me he had come upon groups of families from the mountains of Piacenza.  They were tearfully asking about their bishop and begging the traveler to implore the bishop in his kindness not to forget them but to send them a priest, at least for a few months.  It was heart-rending, the gentleman said, to hear those wretched people regret the happiness lost and remember their festivities, their little church, and their sacred functions.  They said that the bishop should somehow be concerned also with their eternal salvation.  They were ready to make any sacrifice to defray the expenses of getting a priest, etc.  "If he has no pity on us," they said, "we will become worse than pagans.  And, what is even worse, very many are dying without reconciling themselves with God."

These simple words welling up from hearts still full of faith vividly express the tragic conditions in which almost all our emigrants live.  The need to provide assistance is obvious.  Fiat, fiat!

"How to provide the help"

First of all, I believe that it is necessary to dispatch priests to the areas where our fellow citizens live.  These priests will be without a fixed residence and there, with the understanding of the local Ordinary, will conduct missions of fifteen to twenty days more or less, depending on the needs.  These priests should erect chapels, find the means for the support of a priest, take note of the various places and their condition, of the number of inhabitants, etc., and send all the information to the person whom the Holy See will appoint head of the Pious Association (...).

The Holy See should order the bishops, or at least recommend, that they let these vocations go free and not oppose them in the least.  The Italian bishops should not complain about losing good priests because it is a question of providing for the spiritual good of their far-off diocesan faithful.  These are unquestionably in greater need than the others, who, even in dioceses where there are few priests, will always find the means of salvation if they wish (...).

Priests from any Italian diocese will be admitted to this Pious Association as long as they are approved to hear confessions and are at least thirty years old or have exercised the ministry for three years (...).  It is absolutely indispensable that aspirants be truly pious, docile, irreproachable,

and full of zeal for the salvation of souls (...). 

The Missionaries commit themselves to working in the Italian communities for at least one year but may stay longer, if they wish, even all their life if they feel inspired by the Lord to consecrate themselves unreservedly to this most noble cause.

Before departure, the new Missionaries will gather for a month in a place of retreat (...) and there fortify their spirit in the practice of meditation and prayer, as the Apostles did in the Cenacle before leaving to evangelize the world (...).

Before departure, the Missionaries will take an oath not to keep for themselves money or gifts people might offer them but to hand everything over to the Superior of the Pious Association, returning to their respective dioceses in the same condition as when they left them.

The Missionaries can busy themselves only with catechizing, preaching, instructing, administering the sacraments, etc., and will be called back to Italy at once if they get involved in other things not in keeping with the purpose set down by the Holy See (...).

Every three months, on a weekday,  they will get together in groups of five or six, depending on the distances and the local problems, to take care of their own spiritual needs and at the same time exchange ideas and information and give each other help and encouragement.

"How to begin this work?"

For Italy

Address an appeal to all the Italian bishops and through them to their priests.  Encourage priests to cooperate concretely in this holy undertaking.  Make known to them the desires of the Holy See and the above mentioned requirements (...).

Committees will be set up especially at the ports to assist the Missionaries, to direct emigrants to them, to collect funds, and so on.

For America

1)     A circular letter should be written, in Latin, to the bishops of America, asking them to indicate as soon as possible the needs of the Italian emigrants; also asking the bishops how they would provide for the priests who might be sent to them.

2)     Urge them to help the cause by collecting funds for it, especially for the foundation of an Italian seminary in some American city, in which to prepare native Italian priests who will consecrate themselves solely to the Italians.

It should not be hard to get vocations when we think that in 1885, as I said before, 15,642 Italian youngsters emigrated.

"Means to prevent harm to the emigrants"

Besides waging a war of reconquest, so to speak, of the souls lost in those boundless areas of the New World, we would do well to think also about preventing the ruin of so many poor Italian Catholics who are going into voluntary exile across the Ocean, often with their children.

The first means for keeping the emigrants from harm should be the zeal of pastors to fight emigration itself, trying every which way to persuade their parishioners not to emigrate.  But, unfortunately, most of the times they will not succeed: emigration must be accepted as a painful necessity.  "Either we steal or we emigrate" ‑- this is the terrible dilemma I heard more than once from the lips of poor workers and peasants.

The pastor of these places must not let anyone go abroad without a letter of recommendation for the priests of the place where the emigrants will be settling.  During the years I was working in the parish, I always used this method and got good results from it.  When I became bishop, during my pastoral visitations I got to know even better the very serious evils of emigration (...).

Very beneficial would be Catholic settlements like those already established in the United States for the Irish and for the English.  It seems to me that these settlements are none other than Catholic parishes of sorts, with their priests and Catholic schools, to which their countrymen are steered rather than letting them leave like lost sheep.  In this way, the emigrants would find themselves in their own homeland, as it were, in the midst of Catholics, with at least basic religious care.

To preserve the fruits of the missions, we should urge the communities of Italians without a priest not only to perform the devotions of good Christians at home every day but, on Sundays and holy days, to come together in the church or chapel to pray together, sing the praises of the Lord, teach the children catechism, read the Sunday gospel, and perform all the religious devotions they are allowed to as lay people.  This is how not just the faith but also religious fervor was preserved in Madagascar during the absence of the Missionaries for several years.

The reading of good books and religious publications, tailored to the special needs of the people, will also help to take the place of the priests.²

"The idea of going to the help of the emigrants is ripe"

The idea of going to the help of the emigrants is ripe.  The press is constantly after one or another of the men in Government, urging them to raise their voices and take measures.  It would be terrible if Freemasons were to get into this field first, ahead of the Church, and take control of it.

It is precisely to prevent this from happening that I, albeit the least of bishops, decided to write about this important matter, also in hopes of predisposing people to the plan of evangelization I had presented to the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide at your express request ‑- in case this plan were to be approved.³

"An Institute for priests and for youngsters from the Italian settlements"

People from all sides have been urging me get the project on behalf of the Italian emigrants off the ground.  I have suspended negotiations in this matter in expectation of a response Mons. Jacobini promised to send me by this past August.  Since I have not received anything yet, I wonder if I could open an Institute here in the meantime, as I had planned, which would accept priests who want to dedicate themselves to the evangelization of the emigrants in America and would also accept the youngsters from the Italian settlements who give signs of a priestly vocation.⁴

"The beginnings of the undertaking"

One of the evils I deplored when I visited the 366 parishes of my diocese for the first time was that of emigration.

From my notes, I figured out that at least 28,000 of my people were abroad at that time!  Once in a while, some of them would write me very touching letters, describing their disgraceful condition, especially from the religious point of view, urgently imploring me to come to their help.  More than once, I personally witnessed the departure of emigrants from the Piacenza train station.  I must confess that, at the sight of their misery and distress, at the thought of the countless and terrible dangers they would encounter, at the idea of the utter spiritual abandonment they would find themselves in, I felt utterly dismayed.  I wept over their fate and decided I would do something about the situation.

It was then that I felt it my duty to turn, as I did, to His Eminence, Cardinal Simeoni, then Prefect of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, to ask him what I might do about this serious problem in an effective and enduring way (...).  That Sacred Congregation, in fact, discussed this most important matter.  At an audience on June 26, 1887, the Holy Father approved its decisions.  One of the decisions, the 4th one, reads as follows: "To establish in Italy one or more institutes for priests who wish to go to America to work among the emigrants to help sustain their faith, always with the understanding of the local bishops.  This institute will be put under the jurisdiction of the Ordinary, but the rules will be approved by the Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith."

After this decision, I was called to Rome where I was authorized to open the Institute for the Missionaries in Piacenza and to assist the emigrants, as far as possible, in all their needs.⁵

"Purpose of the Congregation and the means to achieve it"

1.     A Congregation of Missionaries for the Italian settlements, especially in America, has been established in Italy under the supreme jurisdiction of Propaganda Fide and under the direct authority of a Superior General appointed by the same Propaganda Fide.

2.     The purpose of this Congregation is that of keeping alive the

Catholic faith in the hearts of our emigrant countrymen and women and, as far as possible, providing for their moral, civic and economic well-being.

3.     The Congregation achieves this purpose:

        1 -  by sending missionaries and teachers wherever the needs of the emigrants require them;

        2 -  by erecting churches and oratories in the various centers of the settlements and establishing residences for the missionaries, from which their civilizing influence will spread far and wide through temporary visits;

        3 -  by setting up schools where, with the first rudiments of the faith, the children of the settlements will learn the basics of our language, of arithmetic, and of the history of their homeland;

        4 -  by sending the settlers' youngsters with signs of a priestly vocation to study for the priesthood;

        5 -  by organizing committees in the ports of embarkation and debarkation to help, guide, and counsel the emigrants;

        6 -  by accompanying the emigrants on the ocean voyage and exercising the ministry for them and being at their side, especially during illnesses;

        7 -  by favoring and fostering those activities and organizations that are judged most suitable for the preservation of the Catholic religion and Italian culture in those settlements.⁶

"I can say that the project has been successfully launched"

I can say that, with God's help, the work the Lord inspired me to undertake on behalf of our poor countrymen emigrated to America has been successfully launched.  Once returned from Rome, I got down to work.

For the time being, I have rented a rather comfortable house and have almost finished furnishing it with the basics: beds, linen, kitchen utensils, and so on.  Twelve people could start living there, even at once.

So far, we have five people: the superior, the treasurer, who will reside here, and three students admitted during these very days.  The priests asking to be admitted are not lacking, especially after the publication of the Brief sent me by the Holy Father.  But I plan to go slowly

in honoring their requests because I want to move ahead slowly but surely, especially in the beginning (...).

Judging only from the approval with which the undertaking was universally welcomed and the endorsements I keep receiving even from outstanding bishops, I must honestly say we have to be thankful to the Lord.  Of course, we need lots of patience, courage, and spirit of sacrifice for the undertaking to fully achieve its purpose.  Personally, I will do my very best.  God will do the rest.⁷

"In my city of Piacenza I founded the Institute of the Missionaries"

Here in my city of Piacenza I founded the Institute of the Missionaries for the religious care of our emigrants and gave it the glorious name of the great Italian discoverer of the New World, Christopher Columbus (...).

In the Christopher Columbus Institute, supported by the charity of the people, there are presently forty-two people, comprising priests, clerics, and lay brothers.  Among these are some young men from Italian families living in America.  These young men are also preparing to become missionaries for their emigrant countrymen.

Since Nov. 28, 1887, the date of its foundation, the Institute has seen forty-eight missionary priests leave for America, distributed at the moment in sixteen missions, of which eleven are in North America and five in South America (...).

In New York, the missionaries have founded parochial schools, an orphanage, a hospital and the Barge Office (...), as well as the St. Raphael Society for the assistance and protection of the emigrants; in Boston, an industrial school; everywhere, churches and chapels.

To staff the orphanage and the hospital and to open girls' schools and nurseries, numerous groups of excellent Sisters were sent to the New World by the Salesian Missionary Sisters of the Sacred Heart.

In the future, we will try to set up special missions in the main ports of Brazil and of La Plata.  In the meantime, committees of the St.

Raphael Society are being formed in all the cities of the United States where our missionaries work.  At the same time, we are negotiating, with good hopes of success, for the foundation of other missions (...).

The lay coadjutors or brother catechists, who accompany the missionary priests, are thirty-eight in number so far.  Thank God, they have done very well.

When possible, the emigrants who leave from Italian ports are accompanied by a priest who does not necessarily belong to the Congregation.  This priest ministers to the emigrants during the voyage (...).

During the short time they have been able to exercise their work of Christian and civic charity, the missionaries have everywhere earned the affection of their emigrant countrymen and women and enjoy the esteem of the people among whom they live.⁸

"A new work, still an infant"

The conditions of the Italians in North America twelve years ago or so are described in the letter, previously quoted, of Cardinal Simeoni, dated Feb. 9, 1887.  "I too am deeply saddened," this holy man wrote me, "at the awful conditions in which they (the Italian emigrants to America) live.  The reports sent to this Congregation by the Archbishops of New York and New Orleans, as well as the account given by the Fathers of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, paint a very bleak and disheartening picture of their spiritual and religious condition."

Suffice it to say that in New York the Italians could use only the basement or lower level chapel of Ascension Church.  But, to be honest, I must say that, as soon as Archbishop Corrigan of New York heard of our foundation, he wrote me warm and encouraging letters, asking for missionaries and promising to take excellent care of them.

Our missionaries did go.  They, so to speak, opened the doors to mission work among the Italian emigrants.  To a great extent, the emigrants are now able to satisfy their spiritual needs if they so wish.

Other congregations joined the Missionaries of St. Charles, and the Shepherds began to take a greater interest in the welfare of the poor emigrants.  So, even if not everything was done that should have been done, still much was accomplished for them.  On the occasion of the

solemn feast of the canonization of John Baptist de la Salle and of Rita of Cascia, I had the occasion to see a good number of bishops from North America.  All of them were pleased, enthusiastic over the good work the Missionaries of St. Charles are doing there.  I received a very flattering letter from Cardinal Satolli, formerly Apostolic Delegate to the United States, who was able to witness the good work of the missionaries at close quarters.  When the Archbishop of New York came here and responded to the address of the clergy of the city who had come to honor him, he gave a talk that was so highly flattering of our work that when I got up to thank him profusely, I felt that, in homage to the truth, I had to tone it down a bit.  I mentioned that we are dealing with a new type of work which is still an infant and, as such, cannot pretend to be without any shortcomings or without mistakes due to inexperience.  I added that these shortcomings did occur and that we too had made our share of mistakes but hoped and prayed that, with God's help, our institute would continue to improve.⁹

"The immense good they are doing in Brazil"

As soon as our missionaries set foot on Brazilian soil, rather than help and encouragement they encountered untold obstacles, countless obstacles.  But quite a few years ago, thanks to the zeal of those holy bishops, the situation changed.  I believe it will be useful to quote from a letter written on May 14, 1900, from Petropolis by the Most Reverend Internuncio to the superior of our missionaries in Sao Paulo:

"I have learned with much pleasure," he said, "that the work of the Missionaries of St. Charles is expanding greatly in these regions and that the missionaries are doing an immense amount of good in the midst of so many abandoned settlers living in places that are utterly remote and bereft of the comforts of the faith.  I am truly edified.  For all this I sincerely thank God and the good religious, especially your Excellency who are their superior and sustain them by word and example (...)."

While in North America our emigrants are found in great numbers in the cities, in South America, especially in Brazil, they are scattered

in little groups in immense territories.  So our missionaries have taken pains to erect little churches, oratories, and chapels in the midst of everyone of those groups, where they go periodically to exercise their sacred ministry.¹⁰

"The need to have Sisters"

I am submitting to your judgment a matter of great importance and I ask you to give it the most serious attention.

We have often spoken of the need of having our own Sisters, Sisters who depend on our Fathers.  Some of the latter have written me to say they are convinced the Sisters would do a lot of good.  It is not a question of establishing convents.  Rather, as they do in all the dioceses of France with great advantage, the Sisters should live in their own little house, three or four of them, do some teaching, take care of our churches, keep the Missionaries' things in order, teach catechism to the children, assist the sick, even in their homes when this can be done without danger, and so on.

A number of good souls have volunteered for this purpose and anxiously await to enter novitiate, which should be absolutely regular.  But I am hesitant, even though it seems to me from certain circumstances I might call providential that God wants to place on me also this Cross, which is heavier than so many others.

Pray, think about it, and then let me know what you think.¹¹

"One of the 'providential circumstances'"

On the ship on which one of my Missionaries, Fr. Giuseppe Marchetti, a professor at the diocesan seminary of Lucca, was sailing, a young woman died leaving behind a nursing infant and her husband, who was beside himself with despair.  To calm the desolate man, who was threatening to throw himself into the sea, the missionary promised to take care of the child; and he kept his promise.  When he arrived in Rio de Janeiro carrying the little orphan, he went to see the distinguished Count Pio di Savoia, who was then consul general in that city.  All he could give the young missionary was some encouragement, but this was enough to set him knocking on door after door until he finally succeeded in placing the child with the janitor of a religious house.  From that time on he pursued the idea of founding a home for the Italian orphans in Sao Paulo (where he had been assigned) and finally succeeded at the cost of enormous sacrifices.  It is now four years and 160 orphans later, and we now have a martyr who prays for them in heaven, for the great labors he endured

cost this devoted and zealous missionary his life.¹²

"Go forth with confidence, my daughters"

Go forth with confidence, my daughters.  Later, I will send you other sisters, and you will come back to be trained and strengthened in the religious spirit.¹³

"An 'ad experimentum' Rule"

Regarding the Sisters: there was a Rule approved ad experimentum.  If you can't find it, write to me at once.  It was decided to start with the temporary vows.  We'll see what God wants.  In the meantime, receive the young women you wrote me about, but make sure they are what they should be.¹⁴

"Another 'providential circumstance'"

Given the truly providential circumstances, it seems to me and to the Fathers living here that God wants the project.  It will certainly succeed if, with fervent prayer and a sincere desire to consecrate ourselves wholly to the glory of God, we become worthy and deserving of such a grace (...).  It is necessary to start from the beginning and set up a regular novitiate, which everyone, without exception, must make so as to be formed in the true spirit of Jesus Christ.  As you await the hour of God, live with your sisters and be all with Him and for Him; and He, in his mercy, will help us in the great work we wish to undertake.¹⁵

"The new Sisters and the older ones"

The Sisters: this is a matter to be pondered in all seriousness.  The new Apostles of the Sacred Heart are being seriously formed in the religious life. We must also form the good young women who for some time have been diligently working for our little orphans.  From what you wrote and what Fr. Marco told me, I came to know their spirit and their strong desire to serve Jesus Christ their Spouse in the best way possible, inspired as they are solely by the desire for their own greatest good.

A few days after their arrival, the new Sisters will take over the administration of the house, and the older ones will get together for a few months to make a novitiate of sorts.  During this time, without leaving aside the necessary work of the house, they will ‑- as you and Mother Superior see fit ‑- devote themselves with special care to the works of piety and religious perfection suggested to them.  They will try to grow in the knowledge of and love for Our Lord and cultivate the virtues of humility and obedience and the spirit of sacrifice, in the conviction that they will thus become worthy instruments of his choicest graces.  I bless them all, one by one, and pray God to fill them with his choicest graces.  Even the mother of our beloved Fr. Marchetti who from heaven prays for us, may be accepted and enter novitiate with the others if she desires.  When the novitiate is over, those who will be considered worthy ‑- all of them, I hope ‑- shall renew their vows.¹⁶

"The work of the missionaries would be incomplete without the help of the Sisters"

The work of the missionaries would be incomplete, especially in South America, without the help of the Sisters.  So I asked for some Sisters from the already existing congregations but was not successful at all.  True, the good Missionary Sisters of Codogno offered themselves to me.  I opened for them the doors of America, where they are doing a great deal of good; but it is not the kind of good our Congregation has in mind.

We needed Sisters like those scattered in the dioceses of France.  These Sisters adapt themselves to living even in groups of just four and without pretense teach in elementary schools, teach catechism and, where possible, assist the sick with all those precautions that prudence

and experience call for.  Howsoever much the Missionaries insisted and importuned me to provide such Sisters, I always resisted because I felt a deep aversion to getting involved in this new venture.

But, years ago, a series of providential circumstances made me understand this was the will of God; and now we have the Apostles of the Sacred Heart, whose aim it is to assist the emigrants, especially in the Americas.  Shortly, after two years of training, twelve of them will be leaving: six before the middle of this month for Sao Paulo; the other six at the end of September for Curitiba.  Later on, others will be leaving because in a short time we have already received over one hundred requests for them.

We are doing all this by way of experiment.  If God blesses this undertaking, too, as I hope he will, in due time their rules will be sent to this Sacred Congregation for approval.¹⁷

"A work of regeneration"

I mentioned in one of my letters that I was arranging something very useful with this good and pious bishop.  Now, here is what we have decided:

a)     to gather the deaf-mutes ‑- boys and girls ‑- and begin this mission.

        After reading my letter, you will go to the Superior General of the Apostles, Sister Marcellina, and tell her in my name to have two Sisters ready who have been trained by Sister Candida and have them come here as soon as they are summoned (...). This is an institution of great importance, absolutely new for these great States (...).  The bishop accepted the proposal with real enthusiasm and understood at once its moral value.  Tomorrow I will talk about it with the President of the State and hope to get some help from him. 

        For the moment, they will begin in the building to be left vacant by the little orphan girls and the Sisters.  These will move to Villa Prudente.  The bishop promised me all the moral and even material support he can give.  Should only this one work of regeneration succeed, I will have been rewarded for my long trip. 

b)     To give St. Bernard Parish to the Missionaries, where we have our properties.  The parish has almost 40,000 souls and extends almost from Sao Paulo to Santos, that is, down to the sea coast, 80 miles in

length.  It was a thoughtful gesture on the part of the bishop to provide our Missionaries, for whom he has the greatest esteem and affection, with five or six thousand lire in revenues annually and thus lighten their very heavy burden.  The parish is composed almost exclusively of Italians.

c)     To open, as soon as possible, two residences in the interior of the State to help the Italians working in the fazendas.  There are more than two thousand fazendas and, till now, they are cared for with immense sacrifices by our priests here at the Orphanage.

        In this State and diocese, there are 1,200,000 Italians.

        It is very important to organize things well here  because we are helping the largest community of Italians in South America.¹⁸

"If we eventually succeed in forming priests from among the children of our emigrants..."

You missionaries are a curious lot!  You look on the Institute (or so it seems at times) as if it were twenty years old, whereas it is only one year old!  Before sending candidates, we should at least test them a little (...). 

Vocations are not numerous, but the priests we have seem good.

We do get requests, but we have to go slow in accepting them.  If we eventually succeed in forming priests from among the children of our emigrants, we will have workers for the rich and plentiful harvest.¹⁹

"An Italo-American seminary for the children of the emigrants"

You ask me if Fr. Morelli did right in buying the property on Long Island.  I answer that by all means he did the right thing, and I'll tell you why.

Toward the beginning of this month I was seriously thinking about how to carry out the Pope's cherished dream of founding an Italo-American seminary for the emigrants' children who show signs of a

priestly vocation.  For us it would certainly be a providential thing.  The clerics would take their Latin and philosophy in that seminary and their theology here at the Motherhouse.

I believe the Lord really wants this project because during these very days, while I was pondering over the matter, two excellent priests came to see me.  For several years they had been professors in their respective seminaries and were eager to get back to teaching once again.  At the moment, I'm expecting a third priest, also a professor.  Moreover, two young students have asked to enter: one has finished grammar school, the other philosophy.  As you see, we already have the personnel and this is enough for a start (...).  If you have a building and can furnish it with at least the essentials, I'll soon send you these new apostles and, with them, the four or five young men from America so as to start the project with a certain number of students.²⁰

"The children of the Italian emigrants trained in America"

As to the youngsters in question, let me remind you that to have together in the Institute priests, theology students, and youngsters raises a serious problem: a situation that, all things considered, is just not right.  Experience has shown that there was only one Noah's Arc that achieved its purpose.  Besides, we have to weigh the economic factor and keep in mind the considerable expenses for the teachers' salaries.  Finally, we must never lose sight of propriety and perseverance.  My idea, and the Holy Father's, is that youngsters, children of Italian emigrants, who seem to have a priestly vocation should be taught Italian and Latin in America and then sent to Italy when ready for theology, or at least philosophy.  In this way, we could make sure of their vocation and thus avoid making them waste precious time and making us incur heavy expenditures without getting anything out of it.  How can you rely on a 10- or 12-year-old lad?  Those who came here some years ago are all good youngsters, but will they persevere?  Only God knows.  In the meantime, I've placed them in the seminary so they can do their regular studies.  If they don't feel called to the priesthood, they can go on to other careers.²¹