ALBINO LUCIANI,

OUR LADY’S CATECHIST

    The «bishop dressed in white» of the Secret of Fatima, whom the little shepherds saw on 13 July 1917 passing before their ravished eyes «in an immense light that was God», was assuredly the elect of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. «What is there in the Heart of Mary, if not Jesus Her Only Child, Her Son who was taken from Her to be killed, and those who resemble Him?» (English CRC n^o 332, p. 11) Our Lord Jesus Christ «passed by doing good» (Ac 10.38), teaching the Truth, pointing out the Way to be followed, giving His Life for His flock. John Paul I also passed by, and his “passover” lasted but thirty-three days: «We barely had time to notice him», said Cardinal Confalonieri, Dean of the Sacred College, at his funeral.

    To tell of the special attentions of the Blessed Virgin towards Her elect to prepare him and to help him achieve his sacrificial vocation is no easy thing, for we are far from knowing everything about the life of this pope martyr. Albino Luciani was too humble to commit the devotion of his heart to a “private diary”. His complete works (in nine volumes) are largely made up of homilies, often in the form of catechism lessons, which the conciliar Church considers it good form to look down upon with condescendence and derision. Even his simplicity was a subject of derision. «Deridetur simplicitas justi», as Saint Gregory the Great once said, the saint he had taken as his model. Yes, the honest simplicity of the just is an object of mockery! Yet John Paul I seems to have achieved what Don Bosco had prophesied in one of his dreams under the allegorical figure of a Pope returning to Rome after a long march in darkness resulting in the ranks of the faithful being decimated (our Father gave a commentary on this in the English CRC n^o 263, December 1993, p. 9). Two angels bring the afflicted pontiff the standard of Mary Help of Christians stained with the blood of the martyrs and trace out for him the programme of the Church’s resurrection:

    «Go quickly and comfort your sons. Write to your brothers scattered throughout the world that what is needed is a reform of morals. This can only be achieved by distributing to the peoples the bread of the divine Word. Catechise the children; preach detachment from earthly things. The time has come when the poor will take the Gospel to the peoples. The Levites will be taken from amongst those who wield the axe, the spade and the hammer, that the words of David may be fulfilled: “I have raised up the poor of the earth to set him on the throne of the princes of your people.”»

A CHILDLIKE DEVOTION

     On 26 August 1978, the humble child of Canale d’Agordo ascended the throne of Saint Peter. At the Mass of his enthronement on 3 September the new pope prayed: «May the Virgin, who has guided with a delicate tenderness our life as a child, seminarian, priest and bishop, continue to enlighten us and direct our steps...» Albino Luciani had obtained this tender devotion from his mother, the admirable Bortola Luciani who every day attended Mass, received Communion and said her Rosary, therein drawing strength and light to help her with her daily duties in the absence of her husband who had gone abroad to find work.

     The Pope would speak about this with emotion in his allocution on Wednesday 27 September, exciting a similar emotion in his listeners: «The act of charity is a well known prayer, and is interspersed with biblical passages. It was my mamma who taught me this prayer. Even now, I recite it several times a day, and I will try to explain it to you word by word, like a parish catechist would.»

     He owed everything to the example, the spirit of faith and the active kindness of his mother. «We were poor folk», recounts Antonia Luciani, Albino’s sister... «Our mother was very simple, very Catholic. She knew by heart nearly the whole catechism of Saint Pius X. She taught it to us, for example when she was washing or dressing us. When she was a young girl, she had had the opportunity of meeting Cardinal Sarto in Venice: “Just think”, she told us, “I saw the man who was to become pope!”» (30 DAYS, March 1992, p. 46) It was to his mother that in 1949 Albino would dedicate his “Crumbs from the Catechism”: «To my mother, my first catechism teacher.» He never abandoned his old Saint Pius X catechism. On his way to the 1977 Synod, he carried it in his suitcase, and he confided to his sister: «This is the one we should follow.»

     One of the most beautiful memories of his pious yet arduous childhood was the pilgrimage he made with his mother to the sanctuary of Pietralba, near Bolzano, in the Dolomites, about sixty kilometres from Canale d’Agordo. They travelled this distance on foot through the mountains. His mamma carried flour so that she could make polenta and give it to her children along the way. Having become a priest, and then a bishop and cardinal, Albino would go to Pietralba every year for a few days’ retreat, enjoying the incomparable beauty of the landscape, taking part in the community life of the Servites of Mary who look after the sanctuary, and mingling with the visiting pilgrims.

     This was the friary he would use as an example when he later recounted the fable of Our Lady’s Juggler: a poor juggler who had become a monk was very sad because he felt unable to do anything to honour the Madonna. One day, the prior and two elderly brothers discovered him in the chapel performing unbelievable acts of jugglery. They wanted to stop what they believed to be a sacrilege when suddenly they saw the Queen of Heaven coming down from the altar and wiping the sweat off the little brother with the sleeve of Her mantle. «Blessed are the poor in spirit», exclaimed the prior. And Cardinal Luciani added: «The poor have always felt themselves to be privileged by the Madonna.»

     Albino entered the seminary to be a shepherd of souls following the example of his parish priest, Don Philippo Carli. It was there that he learned how to control his lively and restless temperament, and to pray with calmness and regularity. «I can say of my brother that he was always a man of prayer», Antonia testifies, «as a child, as a seminarian and a priest, but I think afterwards also, always... When he was a child, and afterwards as well, he was always faithful to his duty: he said the Rosary every day and, whenever he could, he attended Mass, being very disappointed if he was unable to do so... When we stayed late cutting the hay, he used to say to me on the way home: “Look how late it is. Who knows if I will get home in time to go and make a visit to the church and say the Rosary.” He then took his rosary crown out of his pocket and said: “Come on, let’s say it as we walk. This way I will make my visit to the church and that will do.”» (30 DAYS, October 1999, p. 44)

TO THE HEART OF JESUS THROUGH MARY

     When Albino Luciani was ordained priest in 1935, one of his resolutions was to join the Apostolic Union of the Clergy, an association of zealous priests keen to provide mutual spiritual aid. Saint Pius X himself had been a member. Luciani’s joining letter has been preserved, written in Latin: «I freely commit myself to this union, and with all my heart I consecrate myself to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, through the intercession of Mary, and I promise to observe with constancy and fidelity the rules of the Union.»

     For his part he would be so faithful to this ideal of the priestly life that in 1973, in a homily for the centenary of the Apostolic Union in the marian sanctuary of Monte Berico, he would effortlessly draw this beautiful portrait of the priest, the servant of Jesus and Mary:

     «Let us not waste time wondering who we are, because it is not a question so much of defining our priesthood as living it. The example of Christ goes before us: He was meek and humble of heart, chaste, poor and obedient. He prayed intensely, remaining continually in contact with His Father and He taught us how to pray. He insisted on being a teacher on our level, a teacher of the people. Those who listened to Him were able to say of Him: “No one has ever spoken like this man.” (Jn 7.46) He devoted Himself entirely, generously, to men’s spiritual and material needs. He celebrated His sacrifice, offering His life for all and ordering the Apostles to renew it until He returned.

     «That is all we want: to imitate Him, to aim for a holiness which is built up day after day through the generous exercise of the ministry and of charity, to lead a life of intimacy with Him, pressed tight against Him in trusting love and intense prayer – this for us is the summum.»

     As a very young priest, Albino Luciani had had the good fortune to meet a saintly Capuchin, Fr Leopold Mandic, who was a sort of Curé d’Ars in North Italy in the first half of the 20^th century. Endowed with a special gift for hearing confessions and directing souls, this Croatian Capuchin rarely left his friary in Padua. One day, however, he visited the seminary in Belluno where Fr Luciani was on retreat. The latter recounted this meeting: «One day, my bishop entered the dining room, stopped the reading and said: “I have come to tell you some good news. Here, at Belluno, we have Father Leopold, a saint. He has agreed to hear your confessions tomorrow if you wish. I recommend that you do not let such an occasion pass. Go to him.” I heeded the advice of my bishop. The following day, I went to confession with him, I listened to him and he gave me several pieces of advice.» (Panegyric of Blessed Leopold Mandic, 30 May 1976) Thanks to the testimony of Albino’s sister, we know what the saint told him: «Stay calm and follow your path.»
 

 
     Albino Luciani loved the Church and the Virgin Mary with the love of a child. This spirit of spiritual infancy, so dear to Saint Theresa of the Child Jesus, which he had discovered with enthusiasm at the age of seventeen, formed the foundation of his deeply Catholic devotion.

     «When people say that we must be “adult Christians” in our prayer, they often take things too far», he said at Venice in 1973 in a homily on the Rosary. «Personally, when I am speaking all alone to God and the Blessed Virgin, I prefer to feel like a child rather than an adult. The mitre, the skull cap, the ring – all these disappear; I send the adult and bishop off for a walk to converse in their typically grave, serious and level-headed manner, while I abandon myself to the spontaneous tenderness of a child with his papa and mamma. When I am with God, even if it be for only half an hour, I prefer to be the person I really am, with all my wretchedness and the little good I possess. To feel the child I once was being reborn from the depths of my being, the child who wants to laugh, to chatter, to love the Lord, who sometimes feels the need to cry in order to obtain mercy – all this helps me to pray. The Rosary, an easy, simple prayer, also helps me to become a child again, and I am not ashamed of that.»

     In the major seminary at Belluno, his students found Father Luciani a «first-class teacher». They testify to his extensive knowledge, often in advance of its time, and his extraordinary pedagogical talents. His teaching, peppered with concrete examples and the topical events of the day, – he used to be called “the living gazette” –, had a crystalline purity about it. «It was doubtless due to his familiarity with the Angelic Doctor», notes Georges Huber, «that Albino Luciani possessed such concision, clarity and depth in his thinking» (John Paul I or the vocation of Saint John the Baptist, p. 34)

     And his sister Antonia testifies: «When he was vice-rector of the seminary, he would always advise me to pray for his students. He felt himself to be a father to them; he did everything for them.» To teach the truths of faith contained in the catechism and their implications for daily life was his constant concern:

     «If you put the catechism aside, you will never have the means to make good men of either children or grown-ups. Would you set “human dignity” before them? The children won’t understand what this is, and the grown-ups won’t care less. Would you set “the categorical imperative” before them? You could not do anything worse… We are told that philosophy and science are in themselves capable of making men good and noble. But there is no comparison between these and the catechism, which sums up the wisdom stored in all the libraries, resolves the problems of every philosophy and satisfies the most painful and difficult enquiries of the human mind.» (Catechetica in briciole, 1949)

     The life and moral teaching of the young teacher received especial vigour from his love of God and the Madonna, «the living model of the Church». Saint Francis de Sales was his favourite author: «He never tired or praising his catechetical method, so rich in images, allegories and examples. A picture, he said in accordance with his teacher, is like the needle used to insert the thread into the cloth, that is to engrave doctrine in people’s minds.» (G Huber, p. 65) It was in the furnace of his marian devotion that in these years of his “hidden life” Albino Luciani baked the bread of his doctrine, making his own that beautiful expression found in one of Pius XII’s homilies, often subsequently quoted: «If Peter holds the keys of the Church, Mary holds the keys to God’s Heart; if Peter binds and looses, Mary binds with the chains of love and looses with the art of forgiveness. If Peter is the guardian and minister of indulgences, Mary is the wise and magnanimous treasurer of the divine favours, and he who desires grace but refuses to have recourse to Her to attain his goal, is seeking to fly without wings.»

A PASTOR’S DEVOTION

     Albino Luciani was consecrated bishop on 27 December 1958 for the diocese of Vittorio Veneto. His first homily, at Canale d’Agordo the following 6 January, was an illustration of the motto “Humilitas” which he had borrowed from Saint Charles Borromeo:

     «I know not what the Lord, what the Pope, what Divine Providence thought of me. These days I tell myself that with me the Lord has taken up His old system again: He picks up the humble from the mud by the wayside and raises them high; He takes people from the fields, from their fishing nets on the sea or the lake, and makes them into Apostles… In this way, should any good come of this, it is obvious that it can only be the fruit of the Lord’s goodness, grace and mercy.»

     He would fulfil his pastoral ministry of souls with a true felicity, an unreserved generosity, a radiant sanctity, beneath the eyes of the Madonna. At the beginning of his ministry, as well as at the end, Fatima bathed his whole destiny in a supernatural light.

     From his very first year, he enthusiastically took part in the marian procession of Our Lady of Fatima, which concluded in the solemn consecration of Italy to the Immaculate Heart of Mary on 13 September 1959. To prepare his diocesan faithful for this, Mgr Luciani wrote to them: «I have encouraged each parish to consecrate itself to the Immaculate Heart of Mary; and today, I recommend you to make a pilgrimage to the statue of Our Lady of Fatima which, as it makes its way from town to town, carried on the wings of a helicopter and by the love of a million hearts in an ever-growing triumph of the faith, is now on its way to us.»

     Despite the cloak of silence and indifference which fell on Fatima and its message from 1960, Mgr Luciani never went back on his devotion, even though his rule in such matters was one of an extreme filial obedience to the Magisterium, disregarding everything that he considered to lie outside his competence. When Fatima returned to the forefront of his mind in 1977, Cardinal Luciani would astonish his congregation in Saint Mark’s by his precise and heartfelt knowledge of the apparitions.

     In January 1965, the bishop of Vittorio Veneto gave the priests of his diocese a commentary on chapter XII of the Apocalypse, demonstrating that we were living through the combat between the Woman clothed in the sun, whom he identified under one aspect with the Church and under another with Mary, and the Dragon, the Devil who was seducing the whole world, namely communism. For him, no “collusion” was possible with the “errors of Russia”, even though his pastor’s heart earnestly desired the conversion of those who had been led astray by such errors. It is remarkable that, during his episcopate at Vittorio Veneto, not one of his priests defected from the ministry!

     He had listened very carefully to everything the Council had said about the Mother of God and Her role in the plan of salvation. There was never any question for him of «minimising» devotion to Her or of calling into question a single one of Her prerogatives. «My faith is indestructible», he declared. The only thing he retained from the conciliar texts was their insistence on the “existential” side of the Virgin’s life. The notion, so rich and so biblical, of the “poor of Yahweh” became particularly dear to him: «Before the coming of Christ, there had arisen from the Hebrew people in various places truly devout communities who used to call themselves the “the poor of Yahweh”. Not that they were materially poor; they were poor in another sense, in the sense used by Isaiah, and they would say: «Lord, Thou art truly great, and we, as we come before Thee, are truly little. Command us, Lord: we are ready to do Thy will.” This was true littleness, the true spirit of poverty, and the Council says that the Madonna occupied the place of honour in these communities.» (Treviso, 6 October 1973)

     Mgr Luciani was not the only one to make this “littleness” and “poverty” the most precious pearl in the crown of the Immaculate:

     On the Perpetual Virginity of Mary, which was disputed by Dutch progressivists, the bishop’s response was accommodating but unambiguous: «Matthew and Luke expressly say that Jesus was “born of the Holy Spirit”. Could this phrase be interpreted, as per the Dutch catechism, in the sense that Jesus, just like anyone else, was the son of the prophecies and promises made under the influence of the Holy Spirit in the centuries preceding His? Doubtless it could be, but on one condition: that in accordance with the Gospel, with the ancient symbols of the faith and the magisterium of all times, one adds that Jesus was engendered without the intervention of man and that He was born “of the Virgin Mary”.» (Trieste, 12 September 1969)

     Albino Luciani was a vigorous defender of the sensus fidei of the faithful: «This “sense of the faith” is important», he wrote in 1966 to his diocesan faithful, «for preserving the faith, developing it and making it known. Pius XII asked all his bishops what their faithful thought of the Assumption of the Virgin into Heaven before going on to define the dogma of the Assumption. In this and other similar cases, it is not that the faithful are elevated to the rank of judges of the faith and that their sentiments became a law for the Magisterium; however, it is true that the Magisterium holds in high regard this “feeling”, this sign of the living tradition of the Church, and uses it as an additional argument to demonstrate its position. For on several occasions it has happened that, owing to this sensus fidei, the laity have had a better understanding of the faith than some theologian with his subtle lucubrations. This was particularly verified at the time of Arianism when the principal dioceses of the world were in the hands of bishops who had compromised with heresy through the imprudent use of their signatures, so much so that Saint Jerome, perhaps with a touch of exaggeration, declared: “The whole world groaned in astonishment to find itself Arian”, that is in denial of Christ’s divinity, whereas the faithful on the contrary, people whom no one had thought of consulting, continued to pray to the Lord Jesus Christ as the true Son of God.» (Un évêque au Concile, Téqui, p. 32)

     Mgr Luciani was inflexible over doctrine, reserving for the confessional and for the direction of souls the goodness of his pastor’s soul, for, as he said: «The principal root of this mental laxity and the evils deriving from it, lies in the ignorance of the things of God». But, quoting Saint Francis de Sales, he added: «It is not sufficient to set truths before the eyes of our listeners: what matters is to make these truths penetrate their hearts and souls, otherwise we are simply making a noise without obtaining a result».

IN OUR LADY’S CATECHISM SCHOOL

     On 15 December 1969, the humble bishop of Vittorio Veneto, much to general surprise, was nominated Patriarch of Venice. His catechesis was evangelical and “marian”, flying in the face of the progressivist theology in vogue immediately after the Council. The homilies he made during his Patriarchate have been gathered together in a single volume: La catechesi mariana di Papa Luciani (Don Gætano Meaolo, Padua, 1987). Very characteristic of his teaching were the lessons he drew from his pilgrimages. One day he would acknowledge with gratitude that «it was at the marian sanctuaries that I accomplished a large part of my pastoral ministry.» (6 June 1978)

     In Her apparitions of the 19^th and 20^th centuries, the Blessed Virgin revealed Herself an incomparable catechist. Cardinal Luciani who had humbly acknowledged, «The catechism is enough for me», could not have been in a better school! He studied the sentiments of the Heart of the Queen of Heaven – the inspiration for all Her words and gestures – with such devotion that he wished as it were to make them his own. Thus, in May 1971, having returned from a pilgrimage to Lourdes with some of his diocesan faithful, he wrote them a Pastoral Letter, of which here are the principal points:

     1^o Aversion to sin: «The Madonna, in Her apparitions at Lourdes, very clearly manifested Her aversion for sin. She said: “Pray to God on behalf of sinners!” and She appeared very sad and worried. Bernadette echoed this by shouting to the crowd: “Penance, penance, penance!” At the Blessed Virgin’s request, she also kissed the ground and ate bitter herbs, external signs of the change which must take place on the inside.»

     2^o «Aversion to sin, but tenderness for sinners. From the hollow of the rock, the Madonna “looked on the crowd as a mother looks on her children”, testified Bernadette. In this respect She aligned Herself closely with her Son, whom the Gospel calls the “friend of sinners”, dying on their behalf…»

     3^o Eternal salvation: «Mary also said to Bernadette: “I do not promise to make you happy in this world, but in the next.” Here again is an expression that many will claim to be off-putting and they will propose the exact opposite: that man should work to achieve progress and well being, that he should abandon illusory paradises invented to lull to sleep those whom one wants to oppress so that they do not wake up and raise their heads in rebellion… As for Paradise, the true life which will continue and prolong our present life for eternity, this is the object of our hope towards which we wend our way in the sentiments of Abraham. To him God had said: “Depart!” And he departed without knowing where the Promised Land was. I believe that Paradise exists, I do not know where it is, I do not know in what it consists, but I trust in God, with my eyes closed.»

     4^o Prayer: «How well they say their prayers at Lourdes! Nevertheless, we ourselves find it difficult to keep still. We retain the good intentions each of us has and we do not lack the grace of God, but pressures from outside mount up, solicitations come to us from all sides and in all directions from this society of technology, consumerism and propaganda. Saint Augustine said that his lovers (the passions) used to entice him by saying to him, “Don’t abandon us!” How can we free ourselves from them if the Lord does not throw us an anchor of salvation? But before He will do this, we must call upon Him first.»

     5^o Respect for authority: «“Go and tell the priests to have a chapel built here and to come here in procession.” So Bernadette was sent to those who have authority in the Church…» But these must still show themselves to be true pastors, not hirelings, in order that their authority may be respected and honoured by the faithful: «Woe to the bishops before God if by their pusillanimity and laziness they fail to make good use of their authority. The people of God demand a guide, Our Lord insists on this, and the true service of a bishop is to be this guide [with all the more reason if he is “dressed in white”], with the greatest possible clarity, with his teaching authority and his directives, even though he should ask others for counsel and help. The bishop is a father and a brother, but he is not there to satisfy the whims of his children and his brothers, nor to allow free rein to all kinds of experiments and innovations.»

     He went on: «These words will seem severe. In writing them, I do not allow myself to be driven by a “lust” for power which I absolutely do not have, but by simply observing the uncertainty and confusion which are growing around us [Sister Lucy was speaking at the same time about “diabolical disorientation”]. What inspires me above all are the words of the Lord to His Apostles (and their successors) as ambassadors for Christ: He told them to exhort others as if God were exhorting through them (2 Co 5.20). Is it not fitting to remind ourselves that before men placed by the Lord to govern the Church of God, we should be humble, respectful and obedient? If it is fitting, I recall it with a humble but firm frankness.»

     And he concluded: «While I was at Lourdes, I meditated on these points. On one hand I had before my eyes priests, doctors, ladies, stretcher-bearers, many of whom were very young, all lavishing their care day and night on the sick, the heart and centre of our pilgrimage; and on the other hand, there were the sick themselves who won our hearts with their resignation and gratitude. Then I told myself: How beautiful is the Christian community when its members love and help each other, when they pray, when they are calm and their souls are at peace, and when they do not wear themselves out in endless arguments!»

     It was a vision of the heavenly Jerusalem come down from God, and it gave him the courage to return to the combat and defend his flock.

A THEOLOGY WITHIN EVERYONE’S GRASP

     The cardinal would make use of his annual pilgrimages to the “Madonna della Salute”, so dear to the Venetian people, to recall the importance and necessity of marian devotion. This was not to the taste of everyone. Thus, in his homily of 21 November 1971, having referred to certain features of devotion in the past, the Patriarch added:

     «Some will smile: “We live in times of space travel and the Patriarch is still hung up on these naive forms of devotion!” Ah well! I am not ashamed to say that I nourish a very great respect for the “faith of the poor” bound up though it may be with naive forms bordering on superstition. It is not the optimum, but at least it is something and it cannot be replaced in a trice. But, someone may object, these things are insignificant, almost material: processions, images, rosaries, lights, candles, etc.

     That is true, but even under their imprecise and imperfect mode, these material things speak deeply to people; they summarise strongly and effectively for them the sense of the faith!... This represents a first stage in devotion to the Madonna. There is a better way: the imitation of Her virtues... The Madonna has always been pure and virginal. Our society, called “permissive” because it permits everything and makes excuses for all kinds of immorality, makes the Madonna into a “Madonna of tears” because of the evil we commit and tolerate and because of the punishments we are storing up for ourselves.»

     The following year, in 1972, he had no hesitation in taking up again in his sermon some of the “glories of Mary”, accounts of miraculous conversions due to Her intercession: «Today, anyone who reads these simple accounts will begin to smile, but let this smile, I beg you, be one of indulgence, understanding and warm sympathy. Let not a fierce and exaggerated spirit of criticism spoil the religious emotion excited by these “examples”. And I would ask you: Why should God not have communicated His sublime truths to the simple and the illiterate through the imperfect way of the frail “theology by example”, the “theology of the poor”, the only one suited to enlighten the poor?»

     Close to the little and the humble, the Patriarch took up their defence against the woolly-minded revolutionary theories of leftist intellectuals: «Let them stop continually invoking the “grass roots”», he said one day, «that is the people of God and their right to “participate” in the Church, only to pour scorn on these very “grass roots” as soon as they appear to be indulging in popular devotions which offend our critical spirit!»

     One day, while discussing Saint Alphonsus Liguori, Cardinal Luciani explained that this marian Doctor «had behaved like a grown-up who was happy to talk in a childish way in order to be understood by children. This future doctor of the Church won his distinguished doctorate by teaching serious doctrines, but in the manner of an infant teacher. In this he can serve us an example of a theologian. Not only does he speak about Mary, but he speaks to Mary, continuously interspersing what he is saying with the tenderest words. Let us write about the Madonna and speak much of Her, but in a manner that may be understood by all and that will touch hearts. And this is not possible unless we ourselves have first had our own hearts touched.» (Bologna, August 1976) Sed et illum oportet ardere! said Saint Peter Canisius. Albino Luciani had the ardent heart of a true apostle.

     He particularly liked to preach on the Rosary. His homily in the Jesuit church in Venice, on 7 October 1973, for the fourth centenary of the institution of the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, is a masterpiece. Let us recall a few passages:

     «Is the Rosary a repetitive prayer? Father de Foucauld used to say: “Love expresses itself in few words, always the same and repeated frequently.” I once saw a woman on the train who had laid her child to sleep in the luggage rack. When the little one awoke, from high up on the rack he saw his mother sitting opposite him, watching him. “Mamma!” he said. And she said, “My treasure!”, and for a large part of the journey the dialogue between these two was exactly the same: “Mamma!” from above and “My treasure!” from below. There was no need for them to say any more.

     «Is the Bible not enough? Certainly, and it is a quid summum, but not everyone is prepared to read it, or else they do not have the time. Whereas the reading of the Bible is often seen as no more than a simple matter of study, the mysteries of the Rosary, meditated and savoured, are like an in-depth Bible, become our spiritual food and blood... The Rosary expresses the faith with no false problems, no subterfuge, no circumlocution. It helps us to abandon ourselves to God, to accept suffering with generosity.

     «Is it a tiresome prayer? That depends. It can, on the contrary, be a prayer full of joy and happiness. If one knows how to say it [and he himself certainly did!], the Rosary becomes a look towards Mary increasing in intensity the more one says it. It can also be a refrain rising from the heart which, through repetition, soothes the soul like a song.»

AN OBJECT OF CONTRADICTION

     During the Seventies, the cardinal of Venice was often the object of contradiction. This mattered little to him: «If I wanted men to like me, I would not have become Christ’s servant», he liked to repeat with Saint Paul. The cult of man, and of woman! as well as the naturalization of the Christian mysteries were odious to him: «There are two tasks to accomplish, some people say: to clothe Christianity in humanism and to strip Communism of its atheism; once that is done, we will have the Christian religion of man for man, the only religion acceptable today. That would in fact result in the collapse of Christianity. And it is a true nightmare to hear assertions of this kind on the lips of men who call themselves Christians and and even possibly believe it.» (Epiphany 1971)

     The remedy lay in the Immaculate, the established Safeguard of the Church and of Christians: «My brothers, I am convinced that amongst the many problems suffered by the Church, the most serious today is that of evangelisation, that is to say the faith which must be preserved, defended and spread», declared the Cardinal of Venice in 1975. And he went on: «It is to the Virgin Mary that today we ask for the salvation of the faith! And also the grace for the Church of Venice to preserve its age-old faith pure and immaculate, intact and healthy, whilst humbly accepting everything which God has revealed and which the Magisterium proposes to us.»

     For his part Cardinal Luciani intended to remain faithfully at his post: «The coming of the Lord should not frighten us, as long as we try to be good Christians. “Happy”, said Jesus, “are the servants whom the master will find awake on his return. I tell you solemnly, he will put on an apron, set them down at table and serve them.” The Lord will make Himself their steward! That should be enough to soften our hearts, even if it is obscure to us now, for it is precisely in this that the happiness of Paradise will consist. And what a good and courageous stewardess is the Madonna as well, She whom for centuries we have invoked as our “protectrix and auxiliatrix”, our “help”.» (15 August 1975)

     In November of that same year, the Patriarch of Venice was invited by his friend Cardinal Lorscheider to visit Brazil and preside over the great marian pilgrimage of Santa Maria do Sul. Cardinal Luciani learned Portuguese for the occasion, so that he could preach to the Brazilian crowds. His principal homily treated of the Blessed Virgin’s Mediation of all graces, something dear to both the Portuguese and the Brazilians:

     «The Italian poet Dante wrote of Mary: “Our Lady, Thou art so great and so powerful that anyone who would look for grace without having recourse to Thee is like someone who would fly without having wings.” In calling Mary the Mediatrix of all graces, you are in agreement with Dante; however, you will be careful not to separate the Mother from the Son. Yes, She obtains all graces, but She does this by interceding for us before Christ, as She did at the wedding at Cana.»

     By the miracle of the water changed into wine, the Virgin Mary restored joy at Cana. Her Immaculate Heart was soon to perform a similar miracle for the Church by placing Her chosen one “on the lampstand” that he might light up the whole House. A chosen one who was also to be a martyr...

THE MARTYRDOM OF THE HEART

     «I wish to speak to the Madonna. Sister Lucy has left a great unease in my heart. I will never be able to forget Fatima.» It is stirring to hear Cardinal Luciani pronounce these words as he left his interview with the seer of Fatima on 11 July 1977. He wanted to “speak” to his Mother in Heaven, to throw himself at Her Heart and there find an assured “refuge” and his “way” to the top of the steep mountain!

     It was on 5 January 1977, on the vigil of the Epiphany, that he began to speak about Fatima again, in a sermon at Saint Mark’s in Venice. His narration of the apparitions was detailed and captivating, and once again he touched people’s hearts. The Patriarch referred to the caustic criticisms of Fr P Dhanis, the modernist Jesuit, and he was bold enough to dispute them. To the best of our knowledge, he is the only bishop in the world, even today! to have had the courage to do this. Nevertheless, one senses in the cardinal’s homily a certain reserve, due to the reserve found at Rome... When he was asked why he had preached on Fatima, he answered in an evasive manner, but six months later he confided to his confessor who had invited him to join the Venice diocese’s pilgrimage: «It is a desire I have long carried in my heart. It is a promise I made the Madonna.»

     On his return to Italy, he wrote: «At Lourdes, Fatima, La Salette and elsewhere, the Madonna guides us and helps us by saying almost one thing only: prayer and penance. She echoes the admonition of Jesus: “Unless you do penance, you will all perish... You should pray without ceasing.” The sanctuaries particularly help us to remember this teaching; in this, they are very useful and do great good.» From this we can see that his previous pilgrimages had been like stages preparing him for Fatima. His meditations on these heavenly revelations, his enlightened certainty of their authenticity, his concern to respond to these grave divine warnings, his heartfelt admiration for the devotion of the pilgrim crowds in whom he discovered «the biblical receptiveness of the poor of Yahweh» whom he loved so dearly, had disposed his heart and his soul to receive Sister Lucy’s confidences.

     Thus in July 1977 he went to Fatima, for the sixtieth anniversary of the apparitions. Brother Francis has given a full account of his pilgrimage to the site of the Cova da Iria (English CRC n^o 288, September 1996, John Paul I and Fatima). It was a lightning pilgrimage: Mass, prayers at the basilica by the tombs of the seers, the Hungarian Way of the Cross, and a vigil of prayer for a large part of the night... All the same, let us draw attention to these impressive words in his homily of 10 July, words that are in full agreement with an expression familiar to Sister Lucy:

     «The words and requests of the Blessed Virgin to the little shepherds are like a cry that is repeated at every apparition in that year so charged with misfortune for mankind. Our Lady asks us to pray, to do penance and to make sacrifices in reparation for the offences committed against Her Son Jesus and against Her Immaculate Heart.»

     During the ceremony, he told the pilgrims a fetching parable, so characteristic of his preaching and undoubtedly more profound than appears at first hearing, like the parables of the Gospel: «After their particular judgement, souls arrive at the door of Heaven and wish to enter. From behind the door Saint Peter asks them to wait. He cannot find the key. He is searching for it in vain, when the soul of a pious woman who understands how things work exclaims: “I’ve got the key to open it!” She pulls out her rosary and slides the little cross of the rosary into the lock. The door opens.» And the Cardinal concluded: «It is your rosary that will open the door of Heaven for you.»

     The next day he was at the Carmel in Coimbra to celebrate Mass, and imagine his surprise when, after the Mass, Sister Lucy asked to speak to him! He was so modest that the thought that the seer might wish to speak to him had not even crossed his mind. But from that day a profound spiritual fellow-feeling was born between Albino Luciani and Sister Lucy. He considered the holy Carmelite to be «a beloved daughter of the Church». One day he would say to Sister Vincenza, who served him at Venice: «After her death, Sister Lucy will be known and loved throughout the world, as was Saint Bernadette of Lourdes. The whole world will learn of the extraordinary deeds and conversions wrought by Our Lord and Our Lady through the prayers of Sister Lucy.»

     Their conversation lasted almost two hours. The cardinal put only one question to her concerning the miracle of the sun, on account of the importance he had gradually come to attribute to this prodigy: irrefutable proof as it were of the entire message as well as being an authentic «sign of the times», one of those «signs that would accompany believers» (Mk 16.17)

     Then it was Sister Lucy’s turn to speak: «The little sister repeated to me how essential it was today that there be Christians, and above all seminarians and novices, who had decided to give themselves to God unreservedly. She spoke to me with energy and conviction, of freiras, padres et cristaos con a firme cabeça, nuns, priests and Christians with firmly held convictions. She is radical like all the saints: ou todo ou nada, either all or nothing, if one seriously wants to belong to God.» (“At Fatima with Sister Lucy”).

     Once again, the “catechism lesson” composed by the Patriarch of Venice for his diocesan faithful in this article published in August 1977 was firm and luminous. It contained four points: repentance from sin, prayer, recitation of the Holy Rosary, the avoidance of hell… «Hell exists and we could fall into it… There are important matters in this world, but none more important than meriting Paradise by living a good life. It is not only Fatima which says this, but the Gospel as well: “What does it profit a man if he wins the whole world and yet loses his soul?” (Mt 16.26)»

     What he kept to himself – although it could be read on his pallid face gripped by a lively emotion as he left this conversation – was what the “saint” had revealed to him concerning the mission he would soon have to fulfil: how he would become pope and have to grapple with the «grave problems» they had discussed together and which he knew all too well! but also that his pontificate would be «brief». This revelation would haunt him throughout that year 1977-1978, to the point of destroying his spiritual peace and tranquillity. One evening in February 1978, while staying at Canale d’Agordo with his brother Eduardo, he was deeply troubled and confided to him in his keen anguish: «I was thinking about what Sister Lucy told me at Coimbra», and he twice repeated, «Sister Lucy told me...» without being able to complete his sentence.

WITH MARY, AT THE FOOT OF THE CROSS

     His most remarkable words during that year of anguish are like so many reminders of his conversation with the saint of Fatima. As they were beginning their new term, he addressed his seminarians as follows: «I have known priests, clerics and lay people, who were once very good people but who lost the faith through forming friendships with those who protest against the Church or through having yielded to dangerous reading. The faith is a most precious treasure, and it has to be guarded and defended with zeal.» And he went on to quote from a saint particularly dear to him: «As a child, Saint Jane de Chantal dared to contradict a Huguenot gentleman who, while in conversation with her father, denied the Real Presence in the Eucharist. He then tried to coax her with sweets, but Jane bluntly rejected them. You too should show the same firmness. Amicus Plato, the Greeks used to say, sed magis amica veritas. We are not allowed to make compromises with anyone at all in matters where the faith is at stake.»

     Again he came back to the catechism: «The criterion for all catechesis is Saint Paul’s depositum custodi, not this other criterion which is sometimes used: “What is your good pleasure? What is fashionable today? What will make me look clever and up to date?”… Is there any code more important than religious truths and moral precepts? We are told that such formulas are dry. A match is also dry, but once struck, it becomes a flame. Here in Venice, we have Saint Bertilla Boscardin, who knew virtually nothing apart from the formulas of her catechism. When she was a very young girl, the parish priest had given her a copy of this catechism; she took it with her to the convent where she read and re-read it continually; and after her death, it was found in one of her habit pockets. The catechism was very worn, but from these formulas which seemed so dry, the saint had known how to give birth to the fires of holiness.» (Homily to catechists, Venice, 29 October 1977)

     But he also confessed during Lent 1978 – and how touching is this confession! – «Lord, you must come to my aid, because I must save my soul; I must give a good example, because I dare not demand from others what I am incapable of doing myself, because I wish to live my priesthood worthily, because I wish to imitate Your example and that of Your Mother, of Your saints.»

     Truly crucified in his innermost being, he confided to a friend at that time: «See how I seek to accomplish my duty, but I feel out of place. My priests are not happy with me. They say I am a conservative, a reactionary. Are they right? I am firmly convinced of my views, but today, especially in Italy, it is difficult to do what one believes to be one’s duty. It makes me feel very dejected.» Here we can see him climbing a long hard Calvary.

     But the joy of Resurrection was there to strengthen him. It is remarkable that it was in his homily for Easter Sunday, 16 March 1978, that he spoke again of Sister Lucy of Fatima. It was as though his memory of the seer and the encouragement she had lavished upon him had revived his faith in the Resurrection of the Church:

     «The third reading (John 20.1-9) presents us with Saint Magdalene at the Sepulchre. This reminds us that in the Gospel accounts of the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus, the women play a more edifying role than the men. They are more courageous at the foot of the Cross, more enterprising on Easter morning, it is on them that the Lord relies to inform the Apostles that the Resurrection has happened. Jesus did not send women to preach as He did the sixty disciples; on the other hand He wanted them to be a source of help and encouragement to the Apostles.

     «He would follow the same method down the centuries: He would rely on a Catherine of Siena, a Teresa of Avila, a Bernadette, a Lucia dos Santos, an Armida Barelli, to encourage bishops and popes… Last July I spent an hour and a half talking with Sister Lucy at Coimbra. It never occurred to me to think that Sister Lucy was lower in status than me, a bishop and cardinal. On the contrary, I thought: what wonderful luck for me to be able to speak with this little sister who saw the Madonna! The only real greatness in the Church is not to hold such or such an office, but to be saints.»

THE SMILE OF THE MADONNA

     Albino Luciani’s smile, which would soon light up the face of the Church and warm everyone’s heart, was, despite being truly heroic, no more than the reflection of the smile of the Madonna in his most pure heart. In an article dated 10 November 1977, entitled “Christian faith and joy are but one”, the patriarch recalled «that by instituting the order of knighthood of the Annonciade, Count Amadeus VI of Savoy had wished to honour the fifteen joys of the Madonna, further proof that Christianity and joy go hand in hand».

     Quoting Saint Philip Neri, according to whom «sadness makes us bow our heads and prevents us from contemplating Heaven», the cardinal then went on to link joy to the cross, in the love and the imitation of Jesus Christ: «He was innocent, He had accomplished every possible good and yet He was pursued, condemned, crucified. Was He not submissive to the Will of the Father, even if only after an interior struggle?... We know that we are in God’s hands. This causes us a joy so deep that all other joys fade into insignificance and pale by comparison. With God’s special help we can even go beyond this stage and transform our sorrows into joy.» And the Patriarch concluded: «I wrote “with God’s special help”; I should add: and with a faith solidly rooted in one’s heart. It is a proven fact that in the Church permissiveness leads to weariness, distrust and indifference; on the other hand, the powerful recall of great truths fills one with energy.»

THE STAR Of A LUMINOUS PONTIFICATE

     Cardinal Luciani was elected pope on 26 August 1978. His sister Antonia records that in a conversation he had had with members of his family, he told them that he had briefly thought of taking the name Pius XIII, but had given the idea up because of the uproar this choice would have caused. And she adds: «I remembered that much earlier, in 1931, my brother had told me that the popes called Pius were those who had suffered the most.» They were also the ones most devoted to Our Lady…

     On 27 August, he declared in his first message: «The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Queen of the Apostles, will be the resplendent star of our pontificate.» The day before, seeing how the voting intentions were shaping up, he had confided to a cardinal friend: «Tempestas magna est super me.» His souls was agitated by a violent tempest, but with confidence he raised his eyes towards the Star of Heaven, calling upon Mary... Then his smile returned, the fruit of his total abandonment and his courage.

     On 1 September, John Paul I wrote an Apostolic Letter for the occasion of the opening of the Marian Congress at Guayaquil in Ecuador: «The chorus of praise which customarily honours the Most Blessed Virgin Mary will rise even higher during this September in Ecuador, and particularly in Guayaquil, where to conclude and bring to a close the marian year that has been organised there, the whole country will come together in honour of the Mother of God.» South America was one of his greatest preoccupations. As the messenger of what our Father called a “third way”, neither capitalist nor socialist, but beyond both of these, an evangelical way that is genuinely Catholic, he was paving the way for this when he wrote: «Ecuador for Christ through Mary! Beginning with this theme, develop your life and your apostolic action. Let Mary, the Mother of Christ and the most gentle Mother of each one of us, always be your model, your guide, your path towards the elder Brother and the Saviour of all, Jesus.» (quoted by Meaolo, p. 225)

     What a programme! The path proposed for the Church by John Paul I, the true candidate of God and Mary, was the Virgin Mary itself, and not “Man”, as his successor would dare to proclaim! The new Pope chose as his apostolic legate for this important mission Cardinal Ratzinger, then Archbishop of Munich. The quotation from Saint Augustine accompanying his despatch was clearly chosen designedly, as it truly expresses his soul:

     «We entrust to you the mission of presiding over these celebrations on our behalf and with our authority... May there shine brightly at Guayaquil with a new marian splendour the mystery about which Saint Augustine cried out in astonished wonder: “What mind could contemplate, what tongue could express not only the truth that the Verb existed in the beginning, without any principle of birth, but also that the Verb was made flesh, that He chose a virgin to be His mother, a mother who remained a virgin... How can this be? Who will tell of it? Who will keep quiet about it? Strange to say: what we cannot express, we cannot keep quiet about; we preach aloud what our intelligence fails to grasp.”»

     That same day, the Pope proclaimed the Blessed Virgin Mary “heavenly patron of the city of Itabirito”, in the diocese of Mariana in Brazil, under the title of Our Lady of Safe Travel, and raised the sanctuary of Bedonia in Italy consecrated to the Virgin of Consolation, to the rank of a minor basilica. How joyfully these two titles were to sound in his ears!

     On 3 September, the Pope again called on the Immaculate to aid him during the Mass of his enthronement: «Assisted by Your love and supported by Your prayer, we begin our apostolic service by invoking as the bright star of our journey the Mother of God, Mary, “Salus Populi Romani” and “Mater Ecclesiæ” venerated by the liturgy particularly in this month of September.» In his private conversations, conscious of the overwhelming mission that had fallen on his shoulders, he begged people’s prayers: «Say an Ave Maria for me». «Eminence, remember to say an Ave Maria for the Pope.» And he himself prayed for the souls of the «corpses» he met on his way...

PRECURSOR OF THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY

     During the thirty-three days of this luminous pontificate, the whole Church witnessed a rebirth in faith, piety, and man’s humility before God; in short, the worship of God was substituted for the worship of Man in an instant. When one heard the Pope speaking with heartfelt devotion, one had the impression that Jesus had drawn nigh to Saint Peter’s boat. His four Wednesday general audiences put the Church back on the rails.

     The first audience on humility purified her of “the pride of the reformers” (French CRC n^o 1, October 1967): «We should feel very little before God... To be good, we must be at peace with God, with our neighbour and with ourselves.» The audience on faith made Catholic truth shine forth again: «When the poor pope, when bishops and priests teach doctrine, they do but assist Jesus. This doctrine does not come from us but from Christ; we are merely its guardians, we must simply make it known... The Catholic Church has an excellent soap: the Gospel, the sacraments, prayer. The reason why we are not all saints is that we do not use this soap enough!» Christian hope was reborn, and with it the tremendous joy of «sharing in the plan of salvation that will one day open Paradise to us... The alleluia, the true alleluia, says Saint Augustine, will be sung by us in Paradise; it will be an alleluia of the profoundest love. Here below, the alleluia we sing is one of unsatiated love, an alleluia of hope.» Finally, charity: «This means loving God with all my heart. I retain the word “all”. In politics, totalitarianism is not good. But in the religion, to be totalitarian with regard to God is very good indeed... And it is only right and proper, because God is simply too great, He deserves too much from us for us to be content with throwing Him a few scraps of our time and our heart as though He were some poor Lazarus...» In four little catechism lessons, John Paul I had re-taught the Church to believe, adore, hope and love, just as the Angel of Fatima had in 1916 for the three little shepherds, preparing the way for the Queen of Heaven. As for asking pardon for those who do not believe, do not adore, do not hope and do not love, the “smiling Pope” would soon offer his life in expiatory sacrifice for the salvation of these poor souls: «What compassion we should have for sinners!» he was fond of saying.

     Lastly, to show his docility to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, he had resolved to obey Her scrupulously. He confided to Don Pattaro, a theologian from Venice whom he had brought to Rome to be his adviser: «Sister Lucy’s prediction has proved to be true. Here I am. I am Pope. If I live, I shall return to Fatima to consecrate the world and the peoples of Russia in particular to the Blessed Virgin, in accordance with the indications she gave Sister Lucy.»

MARTYRED BY HIS BROTHERS

     But he did not live. He was killed, as we now know, on the night of 28 to 29 September, the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel, who holds in his right hand the blazing sword... The author of “Pope Luciani’s Marian Catechesis” ends his book with these words:

     «Pope John Paul I, who defined his pontifical magisterium by exclusive reference to the name of “Jesus-Christ, Son of God and Son of Mary”, was alone just as Jesus was alone! But how could one not think, at that final moment, of the maternal presence of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, She whom he had called upon in millions of Ave’s to assist him at the hour of his death? Is not Mary the “gate of Heaven”? Furthermore, Pope Luciani had given his life to preaching, contemplating and teaching “the continuous presence of Mary and Her maternal mediation with Her Son”. The death of Pope Luciani makes one think of that of little Jacinta of Fatima. Jacinta also died all alone with Jesus, but standing over her watched the Madonna!» (p. 227)

     Thanks to the Third Secret of Fatima, we now know more about this Innocent who suffered the passion: «The Holy Father passed through a large city half in ruins and half trembling with halting step, afflicted with pain and sorrow, he prayed for the souls of the corpses he met on his way; having reached the summit of the mountain, falling on his knees at the foot of the large Cross he was killed…»

     At that supreme moment, the Good Shepherd gave his life for his sheep who had gone astray, thereby becoming the first of the martyrs and their leader at the time of the great apostasy. He had announced at the beginning of his thirty-three day pontificate the beautiful testimony his papacy would give: «May the Virgin who has guided with maternal affection our life as a child, seminarian, priest and bishop, continue to enlighten our steps, so that we who have become the voice of Peter may, with our eyes and mind fixed on Her Son, proclaim before the world, with a joyful firmness, our profession of faith: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”»

Brother Thomas of Our Lady of Perpetual Help