Blessed James Alberione

Cardinal Semeraro: tribute to
Blessed James Alberione

Cardinal Semeraro joins the Pauline Family in inaugurating a museum
chronicling the life and work of Blessed James Alberione, and celebrates Mass
in the Roman sanctuary built by the Blessed.
By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp

On Friday afternoon, fifty years to the day that Blessed James Alberione, the Founder of the
Pauline Family died, a museum was inaugurated that chronicles his life. Joining the Pauline
Family to cut the ribbon, was Cardinal Marcello Semeraro, Prefect of the Congregation for the
Causes of Saints.
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Museum dedicated to the ‘apostle of the modern times’
In opening remarks, Father Valdir José De Castro, Superior General of the Society of St Paul,
said that on the 50th anniversary of the death of the Founder of the Pauline Family, a space is
now available that is dedicated to his “historical memory”. Calling Blessed James Alberione an
“apostle of the modern times”, Father De Castro declared that the new museum will allow his
“patrimony to be discovered and savored” by all those who appreciate Alberione’s vision. The
museum is not intended only to “display old objects”, Father Valdir said. Instead, “This museum
wants to provide a message”. It seeks to make Blessed James Alberione’s specific charism
available and able to touch people.
Located on the premises of the very locations Blessed James Alberione lived in Rome, the
Museum contains a room dedicated to the memory of Alberione’s relationship with Pope Saint
Paul VI, another dedicated to his travels around the world, another dedicated to prayer, another
to the importance he gave to ongoing study in his life, and another to the apostolate he carried
out throughout his life. Among the items on display is his journalist accreditation badge,
handwritten notes he took as he participated in various sessions of the Second Vatican Council, a
typewriter he used, a typewritten manuscript…
Various personal objects, including Blessed James Alberione's journalist credentials
Joy and gratitude

Immediately following the inauguration of the museum, Holy Mass was celebrated
commemorating Blessed James Alberione’s liturgical feast, in the Basilica of the Queen of
Apostles in Rome. During his homily during the Celebration of the Liturgy for his feast, Cardinal
Semeraro reflected on his personal relationship with the Pauline Family, as well as on the life
and vocation of Blessed Alberione.
The Cardinal expressed his “interior joy” at being present as well as his “gratitude to the Family
Pauline” as former bishop of Albano, where the Cardinal had many opportunities to know the
work of the Pauline Family up close where all of the religious institutes of Father Alberione have
houses. Even more importantly, the Cardinal revealed that in the 1950s he remembers
accompanying a Pauline priest as he brought the weekly magazine Famiglia Cristiana from door
to door. Years later, he understood Alberione’s own words: “If the missionary does not go
personally in search of souls to bring them to Christ, they will generally not seek Him. So too, if
the apostle does not bring a good book, a good magazine directly to people, many will not
receive them because they are not looking for them”.
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Jesus is Way, Truth, Life
The Cardinal then turned his attention to the self-definition Jesus pronounced during the Last
Supper, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life”, a hallmark of Pauline spirituality. “According to
Father Alberione”, he explained, “by affirming himself as way, truth and life, Jesus ‘synthesized
everything that He is for us’ and this phrase contains everything about religion, everything about
love, everything that the human person owes God ‘with the mind, with the will, with the heart’ ”.
Scrutinize the signs of the times
It was Pope Saint Paul VI, the Cardinal reminded those present, who referred to the Pauline
Family as a “flowering tree with eight branches”. On 28 June 1969, Paul VI also defined Father
Alberione as a person who was “always intent on scrutinizing the signs of the times”, the
Cardinal continued. He pointed out that Pope Paul VI changed the word used by the Vatican
Council – to read the signs of the times. Instead, he used the word “to scrutinize” in describing
James Alberione.
“To scrutinize means careful examination undertaken with an accurate vision; to scrutinize
means being able to see what is not apparent at first glance. It also means to look and to see into
the distance”.
Then the Cardinal challenged Blessed James Alberione’s contemporary disciples with these two
fundamental aspects of their founder: Jesus as Way, Truth and Life, and his ability to “scrutinize
the signs of the times”:
“In the light of Christ way, truth and life, is it possible to scrutinize our times
to discern a renewed vocation, an even more radical call?”
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Christ lives in me
The Cardinal left those present with a reminder that Father Alberione was moved by Christ with
the “anxiety of reaching humanity”. “His choice of ‘communications’ was the tangible
expression” of that anxiety. This type of movement within Alberione found its source in St. Paul
and his declaration that “Christ lives in me” (Gal 2:20). Cardinal Semeraro then concluded his
homily on that note:
“ ‘ Christ lives in me’ is Paul’s great teaching that Blessed James Alberione took and wanted to
transmit because the self-definition of Jesus as way, truth and life was for him the recognition of
Christ’s influence on the human person, on every person, and on the entire person. Describing
the soul of Pauline spirituality, he wrote: ‘Jesus Truth works on the mind and grants it faith;
Jesus Christ is the Way and works on the will which is conformed to God’s will; Jesus Christ is
Life and works on the emotions filling it will supernatural life. When a Christian completely
embraces this grafting, he or she will be able to say: Christ truly lives in me”.

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Blessed James Alberione

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Cardinal Semeraro: tribute to

Blessed James Alberione

By Sr Bernadette Mary Reis, fsp

Various personal objects, including Blessed James Alberione's journalist credentials

Joy and gratitude

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