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The Society
of Saint Paul is a religious congregation which was founded in 1914 at Alba, in
Italy,
province of Cuneo, by Fr. Giacomo Alberione.
Its members are known as the
Paulines. Faithful to the mission assigned them by their
founder, they communicate the Christian
message with the use of all means that technology put at the disposition of modern man.
They are present in 30 countries around the world. They are
active in many fields: editorial and bookstores, journalism, cinematography,
television,
radio, audiovisual, multimedia, telematics; centres of studies, research,
formation, animation.
Their logo represents well the
dynamism which fills them.
The General and the Provincial Government,
assure that the mission comes to life. Father Giacomo Alberione, in the
footsteps of Saint Paul to become one for all, has, besides the Society of Saint
Paul,
founded four congregations: the Daughters of
St. Paul, Disciples of the Divine Master,
Sisters of Jesus
Good Shepherd, Sisters of Mary Queen of Apostles; four
associated institutes: Priest
Jesus, Saint Gabriel Archangel, Mary
Most Holy Anunciation, Holy Family; as well as the Association of
Pauline Cooperators. Together, they constitute the Pauline
Family.
Society of
St. Paul
Founded on 20 August 1914 and
approved officially by the Holy See on 27 June 1949. Its mission is to "evangelize with the modern tools of
communications". It is made up of religious priests and lay consecrated
(called
Disciples of the Divine Master). They are present in five
continents. The Society of St.
Paul makes use of magazines, books, cinema, radio, television, discs, casette
tapes,
compact disc, internet and all technological means of communication to announce Christ and
speak of everything in a Christ like manner to all those away from the parish life.
The models of the mission are: Master Jesus, Saint
Paul,
the apostle who became one to all, and Mary Queen of Apostles who gave life to
Christ,
communicator of the Father.
Father Giacomo Alberione
"Here he is, humble, silent, tiredless, contained in his
thoughts, which flows from prayers to works, always ready to read the signs of the
times.
Our Father Alberione has given the Church news instruments to express
herself, new means to give vigour and new breadth to its
apostolic mission ... May the Pope, in the name of the whole Church, express its
gratitude."
These are the words of Paul VI on 28 June 1969. Father
Alberione had been received in audience with representative sisters and priests of the
Pauline Family on the occasion of the second General Chapter of the Society of Saint
Paul.
On this occasion, the Pope granted to the founder and the
Pauline Family the cross "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice". Two years
later, in late afternoon, on 26 November 1971, Paul VI visited Fr. Alberione on his death
bed.
He died that same day at 18:30. His last words that he left
to his sons and daughters, as his spiritual testament are an invitation for
hope: "I die... I pray for all, Paradise!".
Important moments of his life:
1884, 4 April - Birth of Giacomo Alberione in San Lorenzo
di Fossano (Cuneo).
1890-1891 - Attends first elementary in
Cherasco.
1896, 25 October - Enters the Seminary in
Bra.
1900, April - Asked to leave the Seminary in
Bra.
1900, October - Enters the Seminary in Alba.
1900, 31 December - 1 January 1901 - While participating
at the nightly adoration, he feels called to do someting for the Lord and the men of the
new century.
1907, 29 June - Ordained priest in Alba.
1908 - For a few months he fulfills parish duties in
Narzole.
1908, 1 October - Reenters the Seminary and is appointed
Spiritual Directors to the youth and the Alter Servers.
1913, September - Assumes the direction of the weekly
Gazzetta d’Alba.
1914, 20 August - Founding of the
Society
of St. Paul.
1915, 15 August - Founding of the
Daughters
of St. Paul.
1921, 5 October -
Constitution, with the taking of vows (privately) of some of members of the Society of
St. Paul.
1921, 23 November - Alberione asks bishop Giuseppe
Francesco Re, then bishop of Alba, to erect the Society of Saint Paul as a diocesan
congregation.
1924, 10 February - Founding of the
Sisters
Disciples of the Divine Master.
1936, August - Beginning, in
Rome, of the Sisters of Jesus Good Shepherd.
1938, 7 October - At Genzano
(Rome) official birth of the
Pastorelle.
1947, 3 April - The Disciples of the Divine Master
becomes a congregation with Canonical Rights.
1957, 4 April - Beginning of the first General
Chapter,
during which Fr. Alberione is confirmed as Superior General.
1959, 8 September - At Castelgandolfo
(Rome), birth of
the Sisters of Mary Queen of Apostles (Apostoline).
1960, 8 April - The Holy Congregation for Religious gives
approval for the "Associazione Paolina" made of three associated
institues: Priest Jesus (Gesù Sacerdote), St. Gabriel Archangel and Mary Most Holy
Annunciation.
1965, 5 August - The second General Chapter of the
Society of St. Paul, proclaims Fr. Alberione Superior General Emeritus, and elects Fr.
Luigi Damaso Zanoni as the new Superior General of the Society.
1971, 26 November - At 18:26, Fr. Alberione dies in
Rome,
in the Generalate House, after receiving the visit of Paul VI.
1981, 4 May - The Nihil Obstat is granted to the pursuit
of his beatification.
1996, 25 June - The Decree of Venerability is
signed,
establishing the heroicity of his virtues.
2002, 20 December - The
official proclamation, by His Holiness Pope John Paul II, of the decree
of Beatification of our Founder, Fr. Giacomo Alberione.
This great work had been foreseen in 1918 when Fr.
Alberione, addressing a small group of his first youth, inspired by the Holy
Spirit, said:
"Lift up your eyes, look up on high and see the great tree of which no one can see
the top: this is our House, which is really a great tree (alberone); your are but the
roots. In fact, the actual house is the root of this great
tree.
You are at the foot of a great mountain, go up, look out, the horizon is the whole
world". Today, the paulines throughout the world, give thanks to
the Lord for having given to His Church this tiredless apostle.
Mission
of the Society of St. Paul
The objective of the mission is to put the totality of
Christ in contact (as expressed in the title "Christ Divine Master of Life, Truth and
Way") with all human faculties (mind, heart and will) through the communication which
is realized with the modern means. The metodology used includes the proposal of the Christian
experience (dogma, moral and cult) and the presentation of all human realties in the
Christian perspective.
The historical development of the Society of
St. Paul
follows the evolution of the media of communication. Initially,
Fr. Alberione adopted the printed press; then he
added cinema, radio, television and LPs. Presently, the Paulines are involved in the world
of communication, preparing themselves to incarnate Christ Divine Master of the Way, the
Truth and the Life in the "culture" created by the communications.
Following the indications of Fr. Alberione to always
"put yourself forward", the Paulines wish to be in the Church of the next
millenium among the pioneers of a complete evangelical spirituality that knows to
inculturate itself in global communications and multimedia. In
fact, for Fr. Alberione and the Paulines, communication
is not a simple aid to evangelization, but an original way of preaching, that reaches the
masses which are far away from the parishes.
Pauline
Family
From 1914 to 1959, Fr. Giacomo Alberione founded a number of
institutions. Together, they
constitute the Pauline Family. There are five congregations (Society of
St. Paul, the Daughters of
St. Paul, Disciples
of the Divine Master, Sisters of Jesus Good Shepherd,
Sisters of Mary Queen of
Apostles), four secular
institutes (Priest Jesus, Saint Gabriel Archangel, Mary Most Holy
Annunciation, Holy
Family); as well as the Union of Pauline Cooperators.
In 1960 Fr. Alberione seeing that the foundations of the
institutions were solidly established, traced the mission of the family of the Pauline
Family: "The spirit must be one, as the one in the heart of Saint Paul, ‘Cor
Pauli, cor Christi’; the devotions are the same, and the various ends converge in the
same end: «Give all of Christ to the world, as he defined himself: ‘I am the
Way, the Truth and the Life’».
The first models of
Pauline Life
On the 25 June 1996, the
Church recognized officially the sanctity of Fr. Alberione’s life, through which his
heroic virtues were recognized. Among the daughters and sons of Fr. Alberione’s
family, others are one their way to be recognized as saints.
The merit of Fr. Alberione is not only to have given the
Church new means to give a new breadth and outreach to the mission of
evangelization, but
also to have contributed to form men and women who, through the use of the instruments of
social communications, can reach the highest degree of holiness.
Historically, the road to holiness for the sons and
daughters of Fr. Alberione has been opened by the first priest and first vicar general of
the Society of St. Paul, Fr. Giuseppe Timoteo Giaccardo,
whom Fr. Alberione himself described as: "most faithful among the faithful". On
22 October 1989 Fr. Giaccardo (1896-1948) was, in fact, proclaimed "Blessed" by
John Paul II.
Also relevant is
the figure of a woman who worked in perfect harmony with Fr. Alberione: the Venerable
Sister Tecla Merlo
(1894-1964), first superior general of the Daughters of St. Paul, model of a woman who
believed in the efficiency of the new form of apostolate.
Among those great witnesses, lest we forget the spiritual
director of Fr. Alberione and godfather of the Pauline Family, the Venerable Canon Francesco
Chiesa (1874-1946), model for all spiritual directors.
A particular fruit of the educational model of Fr.
Alberione, who filled with enthusiasm even the youth to the apostolic life, is the
Venerable Maggiorino Vigolungo (1904-1918), model for all youth who
aspire to the Pauline apostolate.
Another example of life given for others is the Venerable
Brother Andrea Borello (1916-1948), model for all those who consecrate
their life to the apostolate of social communications as lay consecrated.
And then there is the beautiful
example of Sister Maria Scolastica Rivata (1897-1987), first Disciple of
the Divine Master, and first Mother of the congregation.
Postulazione
Generale
00148 Roma RM
Via della Fanella 39
Tel 06.657.488.11
Fax 06.657.488.00
E-mail: posgen@stpauls.it
Logo
In 1991 the Society
of St. Paul initiated the study for the development of a new visual identity:
"evangelize with the modern means of communication".
The creator Giorgetto Giugiaro developed and realized the
new logo of the Society.
From the public survey regarding the logo, the following
comments were expressed:
appreciation for its formal and estetic beauty
reading it in terms of free
associations, it was
described as caracterizing the combination of two different elements with great dynamism
the major values associated to the logo
were: precision, energy, tension, openness, dynamism, creativity,
spirituality, infinity
the products to be combined with the logo
were: cultural products, public opinion, spiritual creativity.
By its nature, the sign that expresses the visual sinthesis
of the mission of a society, is not the equivalent of a logical reflection or a linguistic
affermation.
The St. Paul logo is not a
contradiction, on the contrary,
it may suggest the mission of putting in contact the Word of God and the unfolding of
history as the rich and dynamic apostolate of Saint Paul.
The Logo in the
world
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