Vocation: Sister Disciples Of The Divine Master

[Return to 'Pastoral Tools for the Celebration']

A Pauline Centenary Pastoral Tool: Alberione and the Liturgical Movement n. 3

ALBERIONE AND THE LITURGICAL MOVEMENT:

A Doctoral Thesis Presented at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute ***

THE PAULINE FAMILY'S CONTRIBUTION TO THE LITURGICAL MOVEMENT: Part III

INTRODUCTION

The expression "Liturgical Movement" was used for the first time in 1851 by Prosper Gueranger, in the third volume of the Institutions liturgiques, to describe the revival of liturgical studies and general interest in understanding and improving liturgical practices. In the past there were various historical periods characterized by a strong attachment to liturgy which, with its highly charged spiritual character, have contributed to new liturgical forms to the point of conditioning the liturgical attitudes of entire epochs. Nonetheless, the "Liturgical Movement" understood as a current or movement at work in a vast range of milieus, in view of the spiritual renewal of people's lives through the power of the liturgy and/or the renewal of the liturgy itself on the basis of a deeper understanding of it and the laws governing it, is a historical-cultural phenomenon proper to our own time.

Our Founder, Blessed James Alberione, was shaped and imbued with the liturgical spirit. The natural and inevitable consequence of the liturgical spirit upon him was the liturgical apostolate. Indeed he had done much for the Liturgical Movement in Italy. Today, we can no longer ignore the hidden, but vital, contribution he gave in the fields of the liturgical apostolate and pastoral liturgy.

I. BLESSED ALBERIONE'S APOSTOLATE OF THE PRESS AND THE POPULARIZATION OF THE LITURGICAL MOVEMENT

A. Pauline Edition of the Roman Missal (cf. below - Archives n. 1)

B. Evangelario Festivo (cf. below - Archives n. 1)

C. Bollettino Parrochiale Liturgico (cf. below - Archives n. 1)

D. La Vita in Cristo e nella Chiesa (cf. below--Archives n. 2)

E. Other Pauline Liturgical Publications (cf. below--Archives n. 2)

II. THE CONGREGATION: PIOUS DISCIPLES OF THE DIVINE MASTER

One of the most tangible expressions of Blessed Alberione's liturgical spirit is the religious congregation of women he founded in 1924, specifically for the eucharistic-priestly-liturgical apostolate. A complete study of the liturgical dimension of the PDDM congregation is beyond the scope of our present work. Hence, we should limit ourselves to citing some texts indicative of the liturgical aspect of the PDDM apostolate and we shall simply sketch the congregation's role in the promotion of the Liturgical Movement in the Church.

In 1908, when the Liturgical Movement was gaining momentum, and was about to assume its definitive and creative phase at the Congres national des oeuvres catholique of 1909 in Malines, the young seminary professor, James Alberione, was praying that a religious family, marked by a hidden life and dedicated to adoration and the priestly and liturgical apostolate, might come into being.

In 1908, I began to pray and to have prayers said that a religious family might come into being, a family marked by a hidden life and dedicated to adoration and to the priestly and liturgical apostolate, a family which would completely belong to Jesus the Divine Master present in the Eucharistic Mystery; a family that would become the source of grace from which other religious families, more especially dedicated to apostolic life, might draw.

The above cited text was taken from a meditation he gave to the Pious Disciples in Rome during the Christmas of 1946.

In another meditation, dated January 9, 1947, Blessed Alberione defined another important moment concerning the foundational inspiration of a religious family dedicated to the eucharistic-priestly-liturgical services.

One day, in 1908, while I was giving a class on Church history, I made the clerics consider the world's religious situation ... Impressed, some of them stood up to ask: "What shall we do to obtain the salvation of many souls? Please tell us." I answered: "first pray". And prayers were offered for a religious family dedicated to prayer to be born in the Church, a family which would intercede so that humanity may welcome, listen to, and love Jesus Master and Savior. That day your family was born in mind and heart ... The most effective and lively prayer: eucharistic-liturgical, together with Priestly collaboration, according to the example of the Holy Virgin.

In 1914 and in 1915, Blessed Alberione established the Society of St. Paul and the Daughters of St. Paul, respectively, for the spread of the Gospel through the apostolate of the Press. In 1923, Blessed Alberione started the immediate preparation of persons who would give life to the "new" family conceived long ago in his mind and heart. With regard to the historical situation of that time, the Benedictine liturgical scholar, Salvatore Marsili, remarked that every manifestation of Catholic life was marked or even characterized with liturgical interest. He stated that this could be verified from 1922 onward in all the Eucharistic congresses held on the diocesan, regional, and national levels. In the 7th National Eucharistic Congress, held in Genoa in 1923, the theme "The Holy Mass and Catholic Action" was proposed to various Catholic Associations, thus making the liturgical participation of the people a task of the Italian Catholic Action.

Blessed Alberione sent the Paulines to attend the Eucharistic Congress at Genoa so as to obtain the grace he was yearning for: the glory and honor of the Blessed Sacrament. A descriptive account of their participation at the Congress was published in the Pauline periodical, Unione Cooperatori Buona Stampa. The grace which the young participants implored was to be materialized in the foundation of "a family dedicated to prayer, the service of worship to the Eucharistic Divine Master, the adoration and perennial praise, in reparation for the sins of the evil press, in silence and recollection".

The foundational date of the PDDM congregation was set on February 10, 1924, feast of St. Scholastica. On March 25, 1924, the first eight young women who formed the primary nucleus of the nascent congregation received their religious clothing. Its eucharistic-priestly-liturgical orientation could be gleaned in the accounts published in the Unione Cooperatori Buona Stampa. In 1947, Blessed Alberione delineated the liturgical dimension of the PDDM apostolate. The term "Domus Dei" indicates the entire PDDM work with regard to the house of God, that is, whatever promotes the worship and the piety of the faithful. But this apostolate is also geared to reach out to all, even unbelievers. Evidently inspired by the Benedictines, many of whose monasteries became centers of irradiation of the Liturgical Movement, he told the Pious Disciples: "The Benedictines have especially the care of the liturgy. They practice it in a special way and give the example. Everything that is an extension of this apostolate pertains to you."

On April 3, 1947, the PDDM congregation received its diocesan approval and was canonically erected in Alba. A few months later, Pope Pius XII issued the encyclical Mediator Dei on November 10, 1947, which practically confirmed Blessed Alberione's basic intuitions and understanding of the liturgy and of the necessity to inculcate in the people the true liturgical spirit.

In 1950, the Pious Disciples started to open Centers for the diffusion of vestments, sacred vessels, religious objects and other things needed for sacred worship. The reports in the PDDM internal bulletin, Divin Maestro, described the development of this new apostolic form of diffusion. Indeed, for the Pious Disciples, the Centers are "means of apostolate" and places of irradiation of the Divine Master, who assures everyone: "From here I will enlighten." Soon after, in 1952, they started to publish the liturgical magazine, La Vita in Cristo e nella Chiesa.

The works rendered by the Pious Disciples in the liturgical field did not escape the attention of Dom Marsili when he was depicting the historical lines of the Liturgical Movement in Italy. S. Marsili wrote:

The PDDM congregation dedicates a part of its activity to the preparation of sacred vestments according to the most current norms of beauty in the liturgy, norms which put the ancient forms within the reach of possibility and modern taste.

Hence, remarked S. Marsili, it is no longer rare to find in many Italian cities stores of liturgical vestments and religious objects marked with a great sense of dignity.

On January 26, 1964, in a meditation he gave to the Pious Disciples, he asserted with joy: "Your apostolate concerning liturgy is now well-defined by the Church through the approval of what regards the liturgy", evidently referring to the Constitutions on Sacred Liturgy promulgated on December 4, 1963.

In the mind of Blessed Alberione, however, the PDDM liturgical apostolate cannot be separated from the Eucharistic apostolate and service to the priesthood.

Three magnificent apostolates--all three springing forth from one single love, the love of Jesus. Since you belong to Jesus, you do not want to act otherwise but as his disciples: the love of Jesus living in the Eucharist, the love of Jesus living in the priesthood, the love of Jesus living in the Church.

Indeed, Blessed Alberione's original foundational intuition of the PDDM congregation was verified by the Church teachings: the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; it is also the fount from which all her power flows. Moreover, the mystery of the Eucharist is the true center of the sacred liturgy and of the entire Christian life. Furthermore, the liturgy is seen rightly as the exercise of Christ's priestly office. Hence, Eucharist-priesthood-liturgy: three dimensions linked theologically to one another and converging upon the person of Christ living on in the Church.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

***