CALLED TO HOLINESS
Blessed Mary of the Passion fmm
“Everything passes, holiness remains”
During the long years spent in Rome, her spiritual homeland, Mary of the Passion had the opportunity to be well informed about the many details required during the course of a beatification or canonisation process. She not only desired holiness ardently, but she ceaselessly sought it, adhering with all her strength to the Will of God, never tiring of exhorting her daughters to follow along this path, the only one really worth while.
“Everything passes, holiness remains.
So let us be saints!”[1]
Mary of the Passion did not prophesy that on 20th October in the year 2002, the day dedicated to the Missions, she would be beatified by Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square, before a multitude of faithful and of FMM coming from all around the world, to proclaim her “Blessed”. Is it not a divine harmony that the foundress of the first essentially missionary Institute of women, be proclaimed “Blessed” on the day dedicated to the Missions? Today more than 7,500 of her daughters, still pilgrims to the Father’s house, and over 9,100 [2] FMM already definitively in the loving embrace of God, our Father, rejoice at the triumph of their Mother, seeing that, finally, the Church has done her justice! How true it is that God builds up when He seems to be knocking down!
Mary of the Passion was not infallible. She was mistaken in the calculation of probabilities when she said:
“In all probability we will not be proclaimed blessed on the altars, but, if we are faithful, we will be proclaimed blessed in heaven and that is quite enough.”[3]
Although it would have been enough for her to be proclaimed blessed in heaven, God wished that she also be proclaimed blessed on earth and, more concretely, in Rome where her ideal of offering for the Church and the Pope led her during her youth.
In 1895, on the occasion of the Feast of All Saints of the Order, Mary of the Passion wrote to Marie de Sainte Cécile, recalling the sisters who had already preceded them on their return to the Father’s House:
“Today is the feast of All Saints of the Order. Among them, I am sure, there are many of our sisters whose victory we are celebrating. My dear Ste Anne, our M. des Sts Apôtres, our M. du St Esprit, our virtuous M. Marie de St Sebastien and so many other good little sisters who, though unknown, were no less pleasing to their Crucified Spouse and their Immaculate Mother. We too must hope that one day it will also be our feast whether as a Saint or a Blessed, even though the Institute be spared the expenses of a canonisation.[4]
On this, the 15th November 2002, we have made the hope expressed by her on this occasion become a reality. For the first time, we are celebrating her as Blessed, and from now on our wishes will call down the hour of God when we will be able to invoke and celebrate her as a saint.
Mary of the Passion knew very well that a beatification involves expenses, but for once she did not foresee those which her own would cause! She did not even foresee in the Customs Book what one should do in the case of a beatification or canonisation! She could really have mentioned it in “extraordinary circumstances”. It is the third case of beatification. Our seven Martyrs of China were beatified in 1946 and Sr. Maria Assunta in 1954. In the Jubilee Year 2000, we have had the grace of the canonisation of our Martyrs. Will it be the beginning of a new tradition in the Institute? Will there be others? God alone knows!
In the pages that follow I will let Mary of the Passion tell us how she lived some beatifications and canonisations which took place in her time. Thus we will know her reactions, attitudes and orientations in relation to new blesseds or saints, to celebrations consecrated to them and to the manner in which the processes of beatification are realised.
From Venerable to Blessed
“While praying this morning, I was struck by this title of Blessed which follows that of Venerable in the hierarchy of Saints. Venerable, that tells the world that the reputation of the one who has left for eternity is worthy of our veneration, which, after all, is not a really great joy for the faithful soul. But, when the Church declares her Blessed, it is telling everyone that she is in possession of limitless and unending bliss, that is, of her God.”[5]
Recognition of Miracles
We know that a necessary step in the process of beatification or canonisation is the recognition by the Church of the miracle or miracles attributed to the person to be beatified or canonised. Occasionally Mary of the Passion discovered, with surprise, the male chauvinism present in the procedure of causes and expressed her disagreement:
“We received the tickets for the canonisation of a Saint of the Order, that is, the Pope is going to pronounce on the miracles. It is Blessed Egide de St Joseph. We hoped to be able to send those departing and the postulants to it, but we have discovered that it is only the masculine sex who can assist at this meeting. Note that there is a woman to be canonised, an Agnes, from the Order of St Augustine, and to say that we do not have the right to see this ceremony in honour of one like us! Like, alas no! Because they have not yet arrived at pronouncing on our miracles.”[6]
Happily, when on 23rd April 2002, the date fixed to pronounce on the miracle attributed to her, arrived, this rule was no longer in vigour and Sr. Christiane Mégarbané, our Superior General, Anne Marie Foujols, vice-postulator of the cause and Marie Jeanne Verbiguié[7] - who for long years worked on the printing of the documents required for the development of the cause of Mary of the Passion – were able to be present. A good group of Franciscan Missionaries of Mary from the Province of Italy also assisted at this consistory.
The compatriots of the new Blesseds set out
When someone is raised to the glory of the altars, her/his compatriots usually set out to assist at the ceremony. It is somewhat like a national glory. In 1896, on the occasion of the beatification of the Venerable Theophilus de Corte, Mary of the Passion wrote:
“The weather continues to be magnificent, though a little cold, which makes me hope that this beautiful season will replace winter for us and that it will continue. We will have a big habit-taking on the 6th, and a beatification on the 19th: that of Blessed Theophilus of Corte. Many Corsicans will come for their compatriot’s triumph, and perhaps Marie de la Ste Lance will be among them.
We really have a lot of comings and goings in the Institute. God is the one who arranges it like this and it is nice to think that we will rest in heaven.”[8]
Some days later she wrote: “Today my dear commissioners are having the consolation of seeing the Pope. I had very much wanted it. Those who stay here until Sunday will easily have this favour because Blessed Theophilus is a saint of the Order. But the one being beatified today is a Jesuit. That was a little more difficult. Naturally the Congregations which depend on them have tickets more easily, as will the Congregations dependent on the Order for the Franciscan. But the Jesuit Postulator was so good that he had four tickets specially printed at Fr. Raphael’s request. So Santa Casa, Agreda and their companions have gone really joyously to the morning’s beatification and to see the Pope in the evening.
I have such compassion for our Sister Commissioners and am so happy to have shown them the Institute’s gratitude by calling them to Rome, that I was really grateful to the good God who gave me what I asked Him for my dear Daughters.”[9]
Mary of the Passion was happy to show her gratitude to our sister commissioners, for their hard and devoted work to provide for the Institute, so she surely would have rejoiced on seeing so many FMM, coming from around the whole world, who were able to participate in our family feast on 20th October 2002.
She was aware of the facilities and difficulties to obtain tickets for the beatifications and she was able to appreciate the kindness of the obliging Jesuit postulator.
“Today we had a joyous arrival: that of our little M de la Ste Lance with a little Corsican probationer who seemed to be very, very nice, and a lady who loves the Order very much and who wished to assist at the beatification of Blessed Theophilus.
On Sunday we are really going to pray to Blessed Theophilus for you, but I must admit frankly that he will not have my presence at the time of his triumph. I am afraid of the noise, of the heating at the Vatican and of catching influenza which would prevent me from working at a time when the need is crushing me, but a whole community of our sisters should be there and we will be united in praying hard for each and everyone. There are also Fathers from Corsica who came for the beatification. Courage! Let us walk in the footsteps of the saints in order to merit to share in their glory and to join the seraphic band at the hour of our death to remain with them for all eternity.”[10]
If for the beatification of Mary of the Passion, pre-novices, novices, young religious, professed, lay associates and a good number of her relatives assisted, already in 1896, a Corsican probationer journeyed to Rome with a young religious, to assist at the beatification of her compatriot Theophilus. While in Corsica people set out to assist at the beatification, Mary of the Passion, in Rome, preferred to remain in the house and to pray to the Blessed there. She accepted her limitations simply and measured her strengths, wishing to ensure the accomplishment of her duties.
She, desiring solitude and silence, was “afraid of the noise and of the heating at the Vatican”. Mother of a numerous family, she preferred not to risk her health which was already fragile, and to work. For her, the most important is not participating in the ceremonies, but following in the footsteps of the saints in her own life.
Three days later she reaffirmed this decision:
“Incidentally, the weather is magnificent. The sun is shining today. It is to be hoped that the dear Blessed will also favour us tomorrow. It is not for myself that I ask this since I do not intend to go for it, which does not prevent me from rejoicing from the bottom of my heart if the others can have a full and beautiful feast. In my little corner of Via Giusti, I am going to get acquainted with the Blessed. Father Theophile has just given me his life. I will pray hard to him for you, so that he will give you his seraphic virtues. In spite of austerity and the cross there is a joyous perfume among the children of Saint Francis which delights me. May your fidelity enable you to taste this holy joy!”[11]
In this joyful atmosphere of beatification, Mary of the Passion writing to Marie de Sainte Cécile, teased her:
“Here we are occupied with nothing but the beatification. I am sending you the Blessed so that he will protect you. When you will be very old and will have become holy – which is not yet – as you have a very long nose you will have some chance of resembling him a little. I myself will not go to the celebration, but almost 50 of the sisters will be going. It will be a big Community which will honour our good Blessed of tomorrow.”[12]
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Tickets for the Beatification
“The whole Franciscan world is in a state of excitement and assailed by people asking for tickets for tomorrow’s beatification. The Pope is getting on in years, and the doctors have to ask him to take great care, especially in winter, although his health is very good. Also, feasts and audiences do not happen very often. That is why they seize on those which come along, and the requests for these two beatifications have been incredibly numerous and pressing. Yesterday they were saying that Fr. Armellini of the Society of Jesus, who had been Postulator for a very long time and had been in the same situation many, many times before, has only succeeded in annoying everybody in spite of his experience.”[13]
Mary of the Passion knew from experience how hard it is to please everyone. If she understood the difficulty in which Fr. Armellini, the Jesuit postulator, found himself, surely she has showered blessings on the team who, with so much generosity, took charge of all the organisation on the occasion of her own beatification, before, during and after it. Perhaps some were dissatisfied but, in general, everyone appeared happy and grateful.
Triduum for the beatification
in St Anthony’s Basilica
“There is great festivity at St Anthony’s today: it is the Triduum for the Beatification of Bl. Theophilus of Corte. They say the Church is magnificent. I can not tell you anything about it yet, for I have not seen it. All I know is that a cartload of flowers came from St Rose yesterday. We sent them to Father General to contribute to the Blessed’s glory. Let us pray hard to him for the Church, the Order and the Institute and hope that he will be too generous to receive so much homage without giving something in return.