On God's Graciousness to Those who Love Him [I]

[Weedy]

On God's Graciousness to Those who Love Him [I]

THE DISCIPLE.
Oh, my God and my All! (1 Cor.15:28; John 20:28) What more can I
possess? What greater joy can I desire? Word of sweetness and delight
to all who love the Word better than the world and its treasures? My
God and my All! To the wise, these words suffice and he who loves You
will delight to repeat them again and again. When You are present, all
is joy; when you are absent, all is gloom. You bring rest to the
heart, true peace and true gladness. You cause us to think well of
all, and to praise You in all, for nothing can give us lasting joy
without You.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 3, Ch 34

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15 September – Blessed Paolo Manna PIME

(1872-1952)
“A Burning Soul” Priest, Missionary in Burma (Myanmar), Superior
General of the P.I.M.E., Founder of the Pontifical Missionary Union,
Evangeliser, Founder of various Newspapers and Movements to promote
the missions and the evangelic and apostolic zeal that accompany it.
Born on 16 January 1872 at Avellino, Italy and died on 15 September
1952 at Naples, Italy of natural causes. He is buried at the seminary
in Ducenta, Italy. Patronages – Pontifical Missionary Union,
Missionaries.

Blessed Father Paolo Manna was born in Avellino on 16 January 1872.
After primary and technical education in Avellino and in Naples he
went to Rome for higher studies. While studying philosophy at the
Gregorian University he followed the call of the Lord and entered the
Theology Seminary of the Institute for Foreign Missions in Milan. On
19 May 1894 he was ordained a priest in the cathedral of Milan.

On 27 September 1895 he departed for the mission of Toungoo in Eastern
Burma. He worked there for a total of ten years with two short
repatriations until 1907, when his illness forced him to come back to
Italy for good.

Beginning in 1909, through writing and a variety of other activities,
he dedicated all his energy for the next forty years to fostering
missionary zeal among the clergy and the faithful. In 1916 he founded
the Missionary Union of the Clergy on which Pius XII bestowed the
title of “Pontifical” in 1956. He saw the Union as “a radical solution
to the problem of involving Catholics in the apostolate.” His
assumption was that a mission-minded clergy would make all Catholics
missionaries. Today, the Union has spread throughout the world and the
membership includes seminarians, religious and consecrated laity.

By 1909 he became the director of Le Missioni Cattoliche and in 1914
he launched Propaganda Missionaria – a popular broadsheet with a large
circulation, in 1919 he started Italia Missionaria for young people.

In an effort to foster the missionary vocations in Southern Italy, the
Sacred Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith asked Father
Manna to establish a seminary for foreign missions. He opened the
Sacred Heart Seminary at Ducenta in the province of Caserta – a
foundation he had long encouraged and promoted.

In 1924 was elected Superior General of the Institute of Foreign
Missions of Milan. In 1926 at the instigation of Pope Pius XI the
Institute united with the Missionary Seminary of Rome to form the
Pontifical Institute for the Foreign Missions (P.I.M.E.).

The P.I.M.E. General Assembly of 1934 gave him mandate to establish
the Society of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate. He played a
primary role in the foundation of this institute in 1936. From 1937 to
1941 Father Manna was in charge of the International Secretariat for
the Missionary Union of the Clergy .

The Italian Southern Province of P.I.M.E. was established in 1943 and
Father Manna became its first superior and launched the family
missionary magazine Venga il tuo regno.

Father Manna wrote quite a number of well-known books and booklets.
Several of them had a lasting effect such as: Operarii autem pauci, I
Fratelli separati e noi – The Separated Brethren, Le nostre Chiese e
la propagazione del Vangelo, Virtù Apostoliche – Apostolic Virtues
(1943). He envisioned innovative methods of missionary work that
foresaw developments at the Second Vatican Council. But Fr Manna’s
greatest legacy is the example he left behind – he was driven by an
overwhelming passion for the missions that sickness, suffering and
setbacks could never diminish. Tragella, his first biographer, called
him “A burning soul”. Until his death his motto was: “All the Church
for all the World”!

Father Paolo Manna died in Naples on 15 September 1952. His remains
were laid to rest at Ducenta, “his seminary”. On 13 December 1990 St
Pope John Paul II visited his tomb.

His Beatification Cause began in Naples in 1971 and concluded in Rome
on 24 April 2001 with a Papal Decree on a miracle attributed to the
intercession of the Servant of God. … Vatican.va

St Pope John Paul II Beatified Blessed Paolo on 4 November 2001.

https://anastpaul.com/2019/09/15/


Bible Quote:
For as in one body we have many members, but all the members have not
the same office: So we being many, are one body in Christ, and every
one members one of another. (Rom. 12:4-5) DRB


“The whole Church for the whole world!”
--Blessed Paolo Manna

“Go for a divine call,
go where obedience has destined you.
Go for the love of Jesus,
for the interests of Jesus
and Jesus will always be at your side,
always in your heart”
--Blessed Paolo Manna

“We are apostles!
We are apostles
and we wander far and wide,
we work generously,
only for the sake of souls,
only for the Church,
only for heaven!”
--Blessed Paolo Manna (1872-1952)