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FR. ALBERIONE AND THE COOPERATORS
Domenico B. Spoletini, ssp
In writing down
some of the notes that make up the book Abundantes divitiae
gratiae suae, Fr. Alberione must have experienced more than
one pain that, at times, as in the number 25, the object of our
reflection, clearly shows itself. It refers to the first of the
branches of what will become thereafter the Pauline Family. It was
born as if by coincidence, if we believe what he himself had told
during a meditation to the Pastorelle Sisters. The time is May 1908:
during a brief pastoral temporary posting, he starts to digress
about “possible” foundations and he talks about it to his friend and
confidant, Canon Francesco Chiesa. The latter answers him:“Do as the
Gospel says: ‘annuerunt sociis’, with others you will be
able to make it”. So it was. The works of Fr. Alberione are the
fruit of manifold and diversified collaboration: from the vocational
to the economic, intellectual and spiritual. There were even persons
who offered their life so that his work may be born vigorous and
fecund. Protagonists of the Pauline development were very many
“cooperators” who generously seconded the activity of the Founder.
They were of every age and social condition.
After the first
two foundations (the SSP in 1914 and the FSP in 1915) came the turn
of the lay people – a dream that he never renounced! – and in 1917,
from his bishop, Mons. Francesco Re, he obtained approval. It was
established under the protection of the apostle Saint Paul and had
as its specific goal that of favoring the Good Press through
prayers, offerings, and works: “to write, spread the good press,
combat the bad one”. Its seat was established close to the Pious
Society of St. Paul and had as its official organ the periodical:
“Unione Cooperatori Buona Stamp”.
Since then the
cooperation intensifies and starts to have its own more well-defined
physiognomy: Cooperators of the Good Press. It is the prelude of the
Cooperators who will spread the Gospel with the Pauline Family using
all the means of communication. In the book “La primavera paolina”
(The Pauline Springtime) that contains the texts of the bulletin
“Unione Cooperatori Buona Stampa from 1918 to 1927”, returning to
life is that epic period that still today fills us with amazement.
Meanwhile Fr.
Alberione sharpens more and more his thought in this sector. In
1960, on the occasion of the international meeting at Ariccia, he
includes the Cooperators among the Institutes that form the Pauline
Family... “With everybody together, a union is formed of persons
who aim and help each other to promote ‘the glory of God and peace
for men’, according to the example of saint Paul”.
The dialog of the
Pauline Family with its Cooperators merits a particular chapter. For
more than 50 years Fr. Alberione has made himself present whether in
the pages of the bulletin “Cooperatore Paolino”, or in the pages of
the magazine for the clergy “Vita Pastorale”. Both to the lay
cooperators as to the priest cooperators, he has confided his
projects, his pains, his joys, as a good father with his children.
Very often he has solicited their generous help for the construction
of the Temple to Saint Paul in Alba (the church of the Cooperators),
for the diffusion of Domenica Illustrata and of the magazine
Famiglia Cristiana, and for the completion of the Casa Divin
Maestro at Ariccia. He received much collaboration in the spread of
the magazine Famiglia Cristiana. But the cooperation
most desired and requested concerns vocations and direct
collaboration in our apostolate, as writing, spreading, making the
message of salvation reach all through the means of communication.
Only Cooperators formed in the spirit of Saint Paul as Fr. Alberione
wanted them will be able to feel the urgency of this mission, and to
be able to correspond to it, new ways of collaboration, organization
and involvement must be found.
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