St. Jerome Emiliani with Mary the Mother of Orphans
Pope's Message to Somascan Fathers
"Poverty of Love": "Root of Every Serious Human Problem"
CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, JULY 29, 2011 (Zenit.org).-
Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's message to the superior of the
Somascan Fathers, on the occasion of the jubilee to be celebrated by the
order to mark the 500th anniversary of the founder's miraculous release
from prison.
The founder, St. Jerome Emiliani (1481-1537), is the patron of orphans and abandoned children.
The celebrations will open in Venice on Sept. 25, with a Mass in St.
Mark's Basilica, and will continue throughout the year with a series of
historical meetings dedicated to the person and spirituality of the
saint. The jubilee will conclude with a nighttime youth pilgrimage to
the shrine of the Great Virgin of Treviso, in Italy. The official
closing will take place in Somasca on Sept. 30, 2012.
* * *
To the Reverend Father Franco Moscone, CRS
Minister-General of the Order of the Somasca Regular Clerics
I have learned with profound satisfaction that this order is
preparing to celebrate with a jubilee year a joyous and important date
for its history and charism. Next Sept. 27 is, in fact, the fifth
centenary of the miraculous release from prison, wrought by Mary Most
Holy, of the founder, St. Jerome Emiliani, universal patron of orphans
and abandoned youth: a prodigious event that, at the same time, changed
the course of a human life and began a highly significant experience of
consecrated life for the history of the Church.
The life of Venetian layman
Gerolamo Miani was as though "re-founded" on the night of Sept. 27,
1511, when after sincerely vowing to the Great Virgin of Treviso that he
would change his conduct, he was freed from the chains of prison
through the intercession of the Mother of God. He himself placed these
chains before the altar of the Virgin.
"Dirupisti vincula mea" (Psalm 116:16). The verse of the psalm
expresses the genuine interior revolution that took place after that
liberation, linked to the tormented political vicissitudes of the age.
It became an integral renewal of Jerome's personality: By divine
intervention he was liberated from the fetters of egoism, pride, and the
search for personal affirmation, so that his existence, initially
oriented especially to temporal goods, was centered solely on God, whom
he loved and served in a particular way in orphaned, sick and abandoned
youth.
Marked by his family vicissitudes, because of which he had become the
tutor of all his nephews who had been orphaned, St. Jerome developed
the idea that youth, in order to grow up with health -- and especially
the neediest -- cannot be abandoned, but that love is an essential
requisite. In him, love went beyond resourcefulness, and given that it
was a love that arose from the very charity of God, it was full of
patience and understanding: attentive, tender, ready for sacrifice, like
that of a mother.
The Church of the 16th century, divided by the Protestant schism and
in search also of a serious internal reform, enjoyed a re-flowering of
holiness that became the first and most original answer to requests for
renewal. The testimony of saints shows that one must only have
confidence in God: Trials, in fact, both on the personal as well as the
institutional level, serve to increase faith. God has his plans, even
when we do not succeed in understanding his ordinances.
Care of youth and their human and Christian education, which
characterizes the charism of the Somascans, continues to be a commitment
of the Church, at all times and in all places. It is necessary that the
growth of the new generations is nourished not only by cultural and
technical notions, but above all by love, which conquers individualism
and egoism and enables one to pay attention to the needs of every
brother and sister, even when they cannot be changed, and even more,
precisely then.
The luminous example of St. Jerome Emiliani, described by Blessed
John Paul II as a "layman who inspired laymen," helps us to be concerned
about all the poverties experienced by our youth: moral, physical,
existential and above all, the poverty of love, the root of every
serious human problem.
Continuing to guide us with her support will be the Virgin Mary,
unsurpassable model of faith and charity. Just as she released the
chains that kept St. Jerome prisoner, with her maternal goodness may she
continue to liberate men from the fetters of sin and the prison of a
life deprived of love for God and for neighbor, offering the keys that
open God's heart to us and our hearts to God.
With these sentiments, I impart to you, Reverend Father, to all the
members of the Somascan Family, and to all those who will join the
jubilee celebrations with faith, a special apostolic blessing.
Castel Gandolfo, July 20, 2011
[Translation by ZENIT]
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