|
Fr. John Baptist Cortona, O.S.J.
CHAPTER 11
1893 - 1895
Bishop Marello and youth. Purchase of the castle
of Frinco of Asti. Bishop Marello's last grave tribulation.
Previous Chapter • Contents • Next
Chapter
Like all who are destined for the greatness that
glorifies God, Bishop Marello grasped the dignity of his mission
and generously devoted himself to its fulfillment. He recognized
the errors in his contemporary society and sought the saving means
to correct them. He knew society's needs and provided for them
with inspired zeal.
As ample painful experience has shown, our age actually
aspires to little more than pleasure and enjoyment. Caught up in
the material affairs and concerns of this life, people forget God
and the eternal spiritual welfare of the soul. There follows a
frightful ignorance of religious and moral truths which results
in feast days being profaned and employed in nothing more than
pastimes, which often waste the week's wages in unhealthy pursuits.
Instead of being the family center for healthy education, right
conduct, and fear of the Lord, homes have often become seedbeds
of vice and corruption. It is not unusual for schools and offices
to become centers for teaching the most repulsive immorality and
for mocking what is most beautiful and holy. We are therefore witnessing
the ugly spectacle of the continual increase in juvenile delinquency.
Yet the powerful flood of all these evils can still be dammed,
and society can still be led back to Christianity once again, because "Deus
fecit nationes sanabiles." Everyone rightly recognizes
that this powerful dam is the Christian education of youth, tomorrow's
parents and civic leaders.
With the most tender affections of His loving heart,
the Divine Master has shown how much attention youth deserve! The
pages of the Gospel bear unmistakable witness to it. Mothers push
their way through the crowd surrounding Jesus, anxious to have
Him bless and lay hands on their tiny children. Before being filled
with Jesus' Spirit, the apostles try to push them away, but in
His infinite kindness Jesus replies: "Let the little ones
come to me." He lovingly embraces and caresses them. In another
passage of the Holy Gospel He adds: "Know that I will consider
as done to Me whatever you shall do to one of these out of love
for Me."
Everyone also knows how a child is so much more open
to being cared for and to responding to our attention. Indeed a
child is like a newly bloomed flower awaiting heaven's dew, a tender
plant that bends where it will, a field where the sower's seed
can bear much fruit.
Bishop Marello had all this in mind when he founded
the congregation for us to imitate St. Joseph in his apostolic
as well as his interior life. This holy patriarch actively guarded,
defended, and nurtured Jesus. Our founder thus wanted us to imitate
him by guarding, defending, and teaching youth, the most vivid
image of Jesus, while not disattending the other sacred ministries.
To achieve this end he wanted the Brothers to diligently dedicate
themselves to the religious instruction of youth, both by teaching
catechism in parishes and by educating them in our small boarding
schools at St. Clare's and at Frinco. For this same end he wanted
some Brothers to obtain teaching credentials so as to be better
prepared. When the evening catechism classes were begun for working
youth, he personally was the first to offer his assistance in such
a noble mission. When, after he had become bishop, the designs
of divine providence entrusted us with the care of St. John's Youth
Center at the Asti cathedral, he showed great enthusiasm and active
concern, for it was a great opportunity to put this ideal into
practice. Finally we cannot fail to mention that when wise and
gifted persons proposed that he make good infirmarians of the brothers
and unite his congregation to other institutes, he always politely
but definitively declined, because none of that corresponded to
the congregation's purpose as the Lord had revealed it to him.
By thus working especially for the Christian education
of youth, we will be living out that active life so desired by
him, so practiced by people of renowned sanctity, so filled with
heaven's blessings, and so admired by the wisest people of our
age.
Children will thus be able to find in us an answer
to those aspirations to which their family and school have failed
to respond. God will then be the Sovereign King of their hearts.
A happy end will smile on the beautiful springtime of their lives.
They will find comfort and support in their moral struggles and
will thus arrive safely at salvation's gate.
Up until that time St. Clare's was the only house
the congregation occupied. As the number of brothers increased,
however, an additional place was needed for better development,
especially to provide for the formation of the aspirants. Providence
disposed that an ancient castle be up for sale in the town of Frinco,
nine miles from Asti. Its oldest section dates back to the 13th
century. It rests on a hilltop, overlooking the town built at its
feet, as if desirous of dominating and defending it. It has the
stern and imposing appearance of the medieval castles with towers
and portculles.
During its seven centuries of history, its walls
have witnessed fratricidal wars and battles between medieval squires.
Even in the peace now enjoyed there, one seems to hear the resounding
echo of the vicissitudes and conflicts of those dauntless times.
The surroundings are girded by very high hills on all sides except
to the north, where there is a refreshing view of the Versa stream
which winds like a snake into the fertile valley, amidst the panorama
of a great part of the Montferrat region, rich in beautiful little
villages on the rugged hills. From here the eye is drawn on the
right to the high point of the shrine of Crea, and on the left
to the town of Albugnano, altitude 1800 ft.
The first owner was the noble Pelletta family of
Asti, and the most recent one the Marquis Victor Incisa of Camerana.
This noble gentleman made mention to Very Rev. Msgr. Raviola, then
associate pastor there, of his wish to sell it to some religious
institute. With the permission of Msgr. Conti, the pastor, the
learned and devout priest, an old friend of ours, presented the
offer to the superiors of our congregation, since it seemed to
him that acquisition of the castle would be very advantageous for
us, both for the healthiness of the location and for the reasonableness
of the price. When asked his opinion, Bishop Marello replied that
if it served the purpose, it should be purchased. After a careful
inspection, the well-known engineer, Sir Charles Rostagno, gave
assurance that with minor repairs it could provide a comfortable
residence.
The deed of sale was drawn up for 12,500 liras and
it was inaugurated on St. Peter's day in the year 1893. On that
occasion a beautiful statue of St. Joseph was blessed, and after
a solemn procession in the castle courtyard, it was placed on the
gable of the main door as guardian of the house and the town. A
majestic hall was prepared for use as a chapel and was later blessed
by his excellency, Most Rev. Bishop Ronco and dedicated to the
Sacred Heart of Jesus. And this is how the castle became the novitiate
house.
Our founder then came to visit it privately, accompanied
by his very dear vicar general, Msgr. Pagella. Bishop Marello's
joy in seeing the new house, the prosperous growth of the congregation,
and the good will shown by the novices in serving God was clearly
visible. They in turn were extremely happy to be able to be near
their beloved father and listen to his wise instructions.
While Bishop Marello was zealously attending to the
government of his diocese and his beloved congregation, the Lord
allowed a great tribulation to come and grieve his heart. This
tribulation served to render his soul more beautiful and cause
it to shine with that holy charity, patience and humility which
can only fill the heart of a generous soul. He gave us and all
who knew him closely a beautiful example of these virtues.
The tribulation came when one would least expect
it, and from someone whom human judgement would have least suspected.
Yet everyone knows that there are so many equally good sides to
a question and that all virtuous people are motivated by the most
upright intentions of the glory of God and the salvation of souls.
Acquisition of the castle of Frinco, Asti, was the occasion of
the tribulation, and St. Clare's House with its accompanying circumstances
was its object. The Little House of Divine Providence of Turin,
to whom three of St. Clare's civil executors had entrusted their
share of the property, considered itself the owner and therefore
wished to assume full administrative rights. Bishop Marello had
the best reasons for not yielding. He did not think it seemed appropriate
to renounce his rights as founder and to allow the congregation
to perish after he had made so many sacrifices and invested so
much money to institute and sustain it.
Both sides made attempts at an amicable settlement,
and qualified persons were called in to mediate, but the solution
of the problem and the state of the situation only grew ever more
difficult. In the meantime, that is from 1893 to 1895, he never
ceased to offer increasing prayers and mortifications for God to
will to shed His light and restore perfect harmony. His patience
was not shaken by this even for a moment. Meek of soul, always
peaceful and self-possessed, he encouraged the brothers to trust
in God. In October of 1894 he wrote them as follows:
"The spiritual darkness keeps growing ever thicker
around the brothers of St. Joseph, and it almost hinders us from
moving forward safely. Still, blessed be also the frightful darkness
if it is the will of the Lord that sends it. We shall walk trustingly
in the dark with the thought that the angels are watching over
us to keep us from stumbling. We shall inch our way forward if
we cannot run or even proceed by steps, but we shall keep on our
feet. But when shall we be able to see the light? That is God's
secret. We may long for this light as one longs for the dawn; yet,
as with the dawn, we cannot make it appear one moment sooner. We
must nonetheless keep our eyes fixed eastward, in the direction
where the morning light will make its appearance. Beware lest we
mistake it for the northern lights which are wont to deceive the
pilgrim..."
His hardy constitution, however, was shaken by it
and an internal illness was gradually consuming him. To save his
beloved congregation, he decided to offer God the sacrifice of
his life, as we know from the testimony of an honorable priest.
The Lord accepted this noble immolation.
After Bishop Marello's death, his vicar, Msgr. Joseph
Pagella, and his secretary, Canon Peter Peloso, resumed the still
unresolved case, which was then presented to the Sacred Congregation
of Bishops and Religious under the following question formulated
by the office:
If and how there should be handed over to the Little
House of Divine Providence of Turin, St. Clare's building in Asti,
as well as its monies, books, and all its financial records regarding
the administration of St. Clare's Works with all its public documents,
private writings, testaments and any other title that could regard
the Charitable House's patrimony.
On April 10, 1897, the Sacred Congregation replied:
"Negative in omnibus et ad mentem. Mens est
ut declaretur aedificium et bona omnia Istituti S. Clarae spectare
ad pia opera, auctoritate Episcopi Astensis ibidem fundata ad
formam Rescripti Huius S. C. diei 11 Maii 1883. Piarum vero fundationum
directionem et administrationem pertinere ad Eumdem Episcopum,
qui ad haec munia exercenda eorum opera uti potest, quos dignos
et idoneos in Domino iudicaverit. Pariter ad Episcopum spectat
ius et officium curandi ut repraesentatio civilis a personis
geratur omni fiducia dignis, suisque mandatis omnino obtemperantibus.
Et scribatur Episcopo Astensi particulariter et ad mentem: mens
est: that this Sacred Congregation of Bishops and Regulars
sees fit that he order the present civil owners to yield their
executorship to other persons to be designated by said bishop."
This decision was later reconfirmed by the same Sacred
Congregation in the plenary sessions of July 1, 1898, and March
16, 1900. Our founder was unable to see the end of this painful
controversy, but he certainly must have rejoiced when he saw from
heaven that his sacrifices were crowned with such happy success
and his beloved congregation was so strengthened.
Previous Chapter • Contents • Next
Chapter
|
