Go Ahead

     "Oh, if only we could print sisters as we print books," Mother Thecla said as she walked through the hallway into the refectory. The growing community awaited her there. Everyone had heard her familiar quick step and they were smiling as she walked through the door. It was early fall. After the grace before meals and a short spiritual reading; conversation began and someone mentioned heaven. Mother Thecla listened attentively. Heaven was one of her favorite topics. A glow stemming from conviction seemed to light her face.

     "Life is a ship," she said thoughtfully. "Yes, we are sailors on a long, treacherous voyage. But, just as the sailor arriving in port no longer remembers the tiresome and dangerous days spent at sea, so will it be for us when we reach the port of eternity. We won't remember the struggles of our yesterdays; so let us never be stopped by sacrifices, but rather, work constantly for heaven."

     And work was a word very familiar to the Daughters of St. Paul. They learned quickly that lofty goals take effort, the disposition to be of constant service, and a generous "yes" to Christ.

     For quite some time a wonderful rumor had woven its way in and out of the sisters' conversations. It was the talk of receiving a religious habit. The reason? To give them a modest and distinctive mark of their total consecration to Christ. The Founder had expressed his wish, and Mother Thecla, with a few of the sisters, designed the dress. That was the first and most difficult stage. But the design had not remained just on paper.

     The sisters who ran the printing presses, the machine that folds the printed pages into books, the cutting machine, and those who performed other duties by day, worked quietly into more than a few nights after the rest of the community had gone to bed. They were cutting, basting and sewing the first religious habits of the young Congregation. Mother Thecla enjoyed herself in the midst of the happy group. As her hands moved swiftly, guiding the needle to its proper end, her mind drifted back to Castagnito, to Mama Vincenza. How much time they had spent - just the two of them - talking and working, sharing the sweet moments that a daughter never forgets.

     "How important to have that family spirit in a community of religious," she thought to herself. She shared this conviction with her sisters. "Love everyone without exception," she told them. "If we love each other we will make swift progress toward sanctity. It takes mutual charity to achieve a happy family atmosphere. Let us treat each other well, with respect and cordiality, rejoicing with our sisters who rejoice, and sympathizing with those who suffer."

     October 28, 1928 - The trees and hills were stunning, but for the sisters the dominant color was "black." There was not a tinge of mourning though. In fact, all was joy, for black meant that the day of religious investiture had finally arrived.

     Those who, several years before, had been the first to profess their vows, plus the newer members who were old enough, walked in line up the aisle to the altar rail. The ceremony was solemn yet simple. Father Alberione blessed the folded habits and handed one to each sister. Each kissed the coveted gift and carried it out of chapel. They removed forever the plain dresses they had worn until then, and returned wearing the religious habit of the Daughters of St. Paul.

     Slowly, but very surely, the die was being cast - the die that would cut and mold the spiritual identity of a twentieth-century Order in the Church. Sisters with a specific goal, a two-fold purpose: "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect," and, "Go, teach the whole world." The Pauline way would be the powerful communications media: the press, radio, motion pictures and television. With Christ as her ideal, and Mary as her model, spurred on by the zeal of Paul, the Daughter of St. Paul would be ready to give Christ to the men of today.

     Was it all too far-fetched? "Doubters" there would always be, but who could break the faithful determination of Father Alberione and Mother Thecla?

     Diocesan approval of the infant Congregation was obtained in 1929.

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    Yes is Forever, by the Daughters of St. Paul, Copyright © 1981, Daughters of St. Paul.
Used by permission of Paulines Books & Media, 50 St. Paul's Avenue, Boston, MA 02130. All rights reserved.