Man With a Golden Dream

     A war that would break the heart of a Pope, St. Pius X, a war so fierce and widespread as to be called the First World War, this was the situation of the year 1914.

     While many boys were joining the army to advance the cause of justice, a young priest, spiritual director of the diocesan seminary of Alba, was recruiting an army too. He talked of a most unusual way to preach the message of salvation. He was fired by the ideals of the spiritual giants of all time - men like St. Paul, St. Alphonsus Liguori, St. Bernard, St. Francis de Sales, St. John Bosco, St. Joseph Cottolengo and others who had met the needs of their hour with the methods and message of Christ.

     He became convinced that the Church needed to Christianize the press apostolate, the printed word - newspapers, books, and so on. But this priest saw into the future and realized that new avenues of communication were inevitable. What if the Church moved ahead with them? And why not? This was the need of the present century, the current "hour". Religious Congregations could be formed, whose members would be dedicated to God's glory and man's salvation with the apostolate of evangelizing through the media.

     "Who wishes to follow me?" this was the question Father Alberione asked. Some of the young men of his city of Alba listened in silence. "Follow you, Father?" they asked. "Where? To do what?"

     What was Father Alberione's answer? "Come, join in my work. Come, give to the world Jesus, Way, Truth and Life. Come, be an apostle of the hour through the press, and whatever new communication instruments the mind of man will invent." It took a lot of faith, much more than their youthful imaginations could paint. They didn't exactly understand the mission but one thing was clear - the steady, humble gaze of Father Alberione. He was confident, serene, as though the sold possessor of some wonderful secret.

     A small man, slight of build, Father Alberione had been raised in the northern part of Italy. His appearance was nothing more than ordinary, yet everyone could see that there was something special about him. After a talk with him, they were convinced that he possessed a vision as wide as the world.

     "we must teach all nations," he would say. "Think of the four-fifth of humanity who do not yet know Christ. Who will bring them the message of salvation? This must be our constant preoccupation." The dynamic priest dreamed of forming a Congregation of modern postles who would write, illustrate, print, bind and diffuse the priceless message of salvation to a world hungering for God.

     Young men began to join Father Alberione, and the year 1914 moved ahead. The war was mushrooming and breeding endless misery. Father Alberione's army was mushrooming too. His boys had taken over their first printing shop. They called it a typography school. The priest instilled in his apostles the motives and the spiritual nourishment they needed to sustain them against all the temptations that the world dangled in front of their youthful eyes.

     "What would St. Paul do if he were in our place? He would man your printing machind," the priest said, pointing to the boys working it. "He would set the type, print the pages, turn those pages into books, and then take the word of God to the people of today. We must be the 'Pauls' of our century."

     Those first followers of Father Alberione listened wide-eyed and they proved their good will by hard work.

     What would become of it all? Father Alberione - "the theologian" people called him - was fully aware of the countless eyes that watched. What were they thinking? What did it matter? "If our goal is form men then it will fall by itself," the priest whispered as he walked to the chapel, "but, if it is from God, who can stop it?"

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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.