2009 PASSIONIST CHARISM RESOURCES - Passionists

MAY THE PASSION OF JESUS BE ALWAYS IN OUR HEARTS 

Sign at the entrance to the Passionist Community, Brugnato, Italy 

2009 

PASSIONIST CHARISM 

RESOURCES 

A way of reading, praying and reflecting on the Passionist Charism 

http://www.passionists.com 

http://passionistcharism.wordpress.com

2009 PASSIONIST CHARISM RESOURCES 

This 2009 Passionist Charism Resource aims to provide material from our 

rich tradition for reading, praying and reflecting on the Passionist Charism. 

The resource is presented in three segments - 

The first section reflects on the life, spirituality and teachings of St. Paul of 

the Cross. This year’s material gathers resources on each year of the life of 

St. Paul of the Cross from the commentaries that accompany the English 

version of the Letters of St. Paul of the Cross and other biographical writings. 

The second section centres on St. Paul the Apostle. Pope Benedict XVI 

proclaimed for the Church a special year to honor St. Paul the Apostle, 

beginning with the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 28, 2008. This year 

honors the saint at the 2000th anniversary of his birth. St. Paul the Apostle 

had a great influence on the life and spirituality of St. Paul of the Cross. 

The third section centres on the Seven Last Words of Jesus. The Seven Last 

Words have always had an important place in Passionist Spirituality. 

The 2009 Passionist Charism Resource can be used either individually, in 

groups of Passionist Companions or by Passionist Communities. 

If you wish more information about how this resource might be used, or 

about the availability of other Passionist Charism materials, please do not 

hesitate to make contact me. 

Gary Perritt, C.P. 

(gary.perritt@passionists.com) 

on behalf of the Charism Team, Province of the Holy Spirit 

Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea 

Feast of St. Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows 

27 th February 2009 

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ST. PAUL OF THE CROSS 

The 2009 Passionist Charism Resource material reflects on the life, spirituality and 

teachings of St. Paul of the Cross, Founder of the Passionists. This year’s material gathers 

resources on each year of the life of St. Paul of the Cross from the commentaries that 

accompany the English version of the Letters of St. Paul of the Cross and other 

biographical writings. 

ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE 

Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed for the Church a special year to honor St. Paul the Apostle, 

beginning with the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 28, 2008. This year honors the saint 

at the 2000th anniversary of his birth. St. Paul the Apostle had a great influence on the life 

and spirituality of St. Paul of the Cross. It seems appropriate that during this year we refect 

on the life of St. Paul the Apostle. 

THE SEVEN LAST WORDS 

The 2009 Passionist Charism Resource material reflects on the Seven Last Words of 

Christ from the Cross. The Seven Last Words spoken by Jesus from the Cross have been 

the focus of Christian meditation through the ages. The Seven Last Words have always 

had an important place in Passionist Spirituality. 

It redounds to the good of the Church that institutes have their own particular 

characteristics and work. Therefore let their founders’ spirit and special aims they set before them 

as well as their sound traditions - all of which make up the patrimony of each institute – be 

faithfully held in honour. 

(Perfectae Caritatis) 

3

St. Paul of the Cross 

4

ST. PAUL OF THE CROSS 

PRIOR TO 1694 

(As A Seal Upon Your Heart, Paul Francis Spencer, C.P.) 

• Paul Francis Danei was born into a family which had its own story and which helped 

to make him the person he was 

• His was an old family from the town of Castellazzo, on the road from Turin to 

Genoa, near Alessandria 

• In the Middle Ages the Danei family had been involved in local government at 

Alessandria as notaries and officials 

• A good marriage into the Trotti family, the richest people in Castellazzo, had 

brought them that touch of nobility with which Paul is credited by his early 

biographers 

• His father, Luca Danei, was born on 7 December 1659, the youngest of nine 

children 

• Of the five boys in the family, only two grew to adulthood, the other being Giovanni 

Christoforo, eleven years older than Luca and destined for the priesthood 

• At the time of Luca’s birth the family were still very comfortable in economic terms, 

but heavy financial losses as a result of war began a process of decline which 

would continue during Paul’s lifetime 

• Some time between 1680 and 1685 Luca left Castellazzo and moved south to 

Ovada 

• There is a tradition that he went there to get married, but the truth is that he ran 

away to escape imprisonment, hiding in his priest-brother’s house the night before 

he left town in order to avoid being arrested 

• Luca was welcomed to Ovada by his uncle, who was also a priest, and who was 

Chaplain at the Oratory of the Confraternity of Our Lady of the Annunication 

• After a while Luca opened a little shop in Ovada selling cloth 

• It was in Ovada that he met his first wife, Maria Caterina De Grandis 

• They were married on 25 February 1685, but after five years of marriage, Maria 

Caterina died childless, leaving Luca a widow at the age of thirty 

• After a year and a half Luca married again 

• His new wife, Anna Maria Massari, was just nineteen years old 

• They probably met through the Confraternity of the Annunication 

5

• They were married in the Oratory of the Confraternity of the Annunciation by Luca’s 

uncle, Don Giovanni Andrea Danei, on 6 January 1692 

• The first of sixteen children, a girl, was born on 4 January 1693 but lived only three 

days 

• She was called Caterina, perhaps after Luca’s first wife 

• Of the sixteen children Anna Maria would bear, only six survived to adulthood 

• All except one child, Caterina, lived long lives - Paul Francis 81, John Baptist 70, 

Teresa 93, Giuseppe 84 and Antonio 82 

1694 – 1700 THE EARLY YEARS 

Introduction to the Letters of St. Paul of the Cross (Roger Mercurio C.P.) 

• On January 3, 1694 Paul Danei was the firstborn son of a large family in northern 

Italy. 

• During his formative years and as a young man, Paul helped his father in his 

tobacco business 

• Education for Paul was at best spotty, studying in a variety of schools as the family 

moved from place to place 

• During his early years, Paul’s mother was a great influence on him, grounding him 

in a devotion to Jesus Crucified that would never cease growing 

• The stories he heard of the sufferings of Jesus caused a deep devotion to the 

Passion of Jesus from a very early age 

• With his younger brother John Baptist, he learned the value of meditation and 

prayer, which became a lifetime practice for both of them 


• Almost a year to the day after the death of her first child, Caterina, Anna Maria 

Danei held in her arms her first son, Paul Francis, born at sunrise on 3 January 

1694 

• He was baptized three days later, his parents second wedding anniversary 

• In April 1695, John Baptist, was born 

• Other children would follow in 1696, 1699, 1700, 1701, and 1702 but none of them 

would live more than a year 

• The cycle of birth and death was the background to the early years of the two 

brothers and would be broken only with the coming of Teresa when Paul was nine 

years old 

• John Baptist, his boyhood companion, would remain close to him throughout his 

adult life 

• During his childhood Paul’s mother was almost continually pregnant or nursing a 

baby 

• She was also in constant poor health 

1700-1710 HEARING THE CALL 


• In 1701 when Paul was seven years old the family moved to Cremolino 

• In Cremolino he attended the school run by the Carmelite Fathers 

• From 1701 until 1709 Paul’s family lived at Cremolino 

6

• 1701 Paul joined the Confraternity of the Annunciation when he was thirteen 

• Anna Maria’s father had been a tobacconist and Luca carried on the same business 

at Cremolino 

• Unfortunately, Luca got into trouble again and was imprisoned for fraud at the 

nearby town of Acqui Terme 

• When he came out of prison the family moved briefly to Ovada 

• Probably in 1709 they then settled in Campo Ligure 

• Luca was good hearted and devout but seems at times to have lacked the ability to 

manage his affairs 

• The moves from one place to another were always undertaken with the idea of 

making a fresh start in life after some period of difficulty 

• His lack of judgement resulted in a steady decline in the family fortune 

• Shortly after the family moved to Campo Ligure, Paul’s youngest brother, Anthony, 

was born on 4 February 1720 

• The house in which they lived was in the Piazzetta della Tabaccheria 

• Luca was still smuggling and seems to have involved his oldest sons in the 

business, sending them over the mountains with sacks of tobacco 

• Paul went to Genoa to take up his studies again 

• At first he found lodging with Giuseppe Buffa, a cleric from Ovada 

• Later he stayed with Marquis Paolo Girolamo Pallavicini 

• It was in Genoa that he met the mystic Maria Antonia Solimani 

• On founding a religious order, she changed her name to Giovanna Battista Solimani 

• Paul often went to visit her to “discuss spiritual matters with her and to seek her 

advice” 

• This is probably his first contact with the world of mystics and mysticism 

• Giovanna Battista Solimani was Paul’s first spiritual director 

• Her own spiritual director was a Capuchin, Fr. Columbano da Genova, who would 

later direct Paul 

1710-1720 DISCERNING THE CALL 


• Paul recounts that in his nineteenth year he experienced his conversion 

• It was occasioned by a quite ordinary homily, but it was accompanied with a 

powerful grace that turned Paul to an ever deepening life of prayer and an 

immersion in the sufferings of his Crucified Lord 

1713 CONVERSION TO A LIFE OF PENANCE 


• It was in 1713, while he was still studying in Genoa and in contact with Giovanna 

Battista Solomani, that Paul heard the sermon at Campo Ligure which brought 

about his “conversion to a life of penance” 

• After this however he was tormented by doubts about what had happened 

• Had God spoken to him or was he simply deceiving himself? 

• Was God there at all, or was it all simply imagination? 

• When these temptations about faith would come he would go to the church and lay 

his head on the altar rail because he did not know what to do 

• Then on Pentecost Sunday, he was caught up in such an intense state of prayer 

that his doubts about the experience left him and never bothered him again 

7

1714 - 1716 THE CRUSADE 


• In May 1715 Pope Clement XI called people to enroll as crusading volunteers 

against the Ottoman Empire 

• Paul decided to join the crusade 

• After several months of marching back and forward across the plains of Lombardy, 

Paul realised that army life was not for him 

• According to his sister Teresa, he was praying in a church in Crema during the 

Forty Hours Devotions when the inspiration came to him to leave the army 

• This was on the Thursday before Lent, 20 th February 1716 

1717 - 1719 


• Leaving Venetian territory, he went to Lovello, in the Diocese of Alba 

• Here he was taken in by a married couple who had no children of their own; he lived 

with them for about a year 

• They wanted to adopt him and make him their son, but this was not what Paul had 

in mind 

• He left Novello and went to the Diocese of Tortona where he stayed for about 

another year 

• What was he doing during these two years after leaving the army? 

• Was he ashamed to come home after being a crusader? 

• Did he need some time and space away from family and other pressures in order to 

think about his future? 

• During his time in Tortona, he kept in touch with his friends in Genoa 

• It was probably on his way back from one of these visits that he had another 

experience which helped to shape his life 

• In an account he wrote in 1720 he described what happened – ‘ I was going 

westwards along the Riveria of Genoa when, on a hill above Sestri, I saw a small 

church dedicated to Our Lady of Gazzo. As soon as I saw it, my heart longed for 

that place of solitude, but this longing could never be satisfied – though I carried it 

always with me – because I was occupied by the work I was doing as a matter of 

charity to help my relatives. After this (I do not remember for certain either the day 

or the month) I remained as I was for some time but with a growing inspiration to 

withdraw into solitude. This inspiration, accompanied by great tenderness of heart, 

was given me by the good God.” 

• Paul’s uncle, the priest Don Christoforo, perhaps thinking that there was no point in 

leaving the family property to Luca, had decided to make Paul his heir 

• He invited Paul to move to his house in Castellazzo, which Paul did in 1718 

• Supported by his uncle Paul dedicated himself to a life of prayer, following the 

inspiration he had received, while waiting for the opportunity to “draw into solitude” 

• Paul’s uncle thought that Paul should marry and settle down 

• He found him suitable wife 

• Paul prayed that some obstacle would arise so that he would be able to follow his 

inspiration 

• Shortly afterwards on 16 November 1718, his uncle Don Christoforo died 

• He left all his property and money to Paul on the condition that he would marry 

• The inheritance was valued at twelve thousand scudi, the equivalent of three 

thousand pounds sterling at the time (about two million dollars Australian) 

8

• When the will was read in the sacristy of the Church of St. Charles in Castellazzo, 

Paul renounced the inheritance in favour of his brothers and sisters, saying he 

wished to keep for himself only a breviary 

• Around the time of his uncle’s death, Paul’s parents and brothers and sisters moved 

to Castellazzo 

• His father was now sixty years old and had retired from business, devoting himself 

to the care of family property 

• Paul described his life at Castellazzo during this period as follows: “Between 

daytime and night I used to spend at least seven hours in prayer and other religious 

activities. On feast day mornings I used to rise very early to attend a confraternity of 

which I was a member. After the confraternity, I would go to the main church where, 

as was customary, the Blessed Sacrament was exposed, and would remain there at 

last three hours on my knees. After that I would go for something to eat, and then I 

would go to Vespers. After Vespers I would take a little fresh air with some devout 

young men and talk with them about spiritual things. Last, I would visit the church of 

the Capuchins where I would spend an hour in mental prayer; then I would return 

home.” 

• Paul joined the Confraternity of St. Anthony of the Desert, which met in the Oratory 

down the street from his home 

• After a short time he was elected prior 

• It was probably at this time that he discovered the Treatise on the Love of God by 

St. Francis de Sales 

• He would rise early each day and pray with his brother John Baptist 

• It was at Castellazzo on 23 April 1719 that Paul and John Baptist received the 

Sacrament of Confirmation from Bishop Gattinara 

1720-1730 SHARING THE CALL 

IN SEARCH OF COMPANIONS 

1720- 1721 CASTELLAZZO 

1722-1724 MONTE ARGENTARIO AND CASTELLAZZO 

1724-1726 GAETA AND TROIA 

1726-1727 ROME AND ORDINATION 

1728-1730 MONTE ARGENTARIO SETTLING IN 


• By 1720 Bishop Gattinara of Alessandria judged Paul’s inspirations to be sufficient to 

allow him to be clothed as a hermit 

• The Bishop then ordered him to go into retreat and write the Rule of the Institute he 

hoped to establish 

• During the forty days of his retreat, Paul not only put his dream into words, but also 

gave the Bishop an account of the heights and depths of his prayer 

• This document is recognised as one of the finest accounts of mysticism in the 18th 

century 

• Both the Preface to the Rule — his description of events up to the time of the forty-day 

retreat — and the Diary were written in the form of letters addressed to Bishop 

Gattinara 

• The first version of the Rule, written at this time, has been lost. The original was burnt 

at the express command of Paul of the Cross 

9

• These initial experiences, written in Paul’s own words, speak of his willingness to serve 

as a channel of God’s grace in the formation of a new religious family in the Catholic 

Church 

• He speaks of a profound sense of unworthiness of such a call but also of his intention 

to accept whatever God would ask of him in the future 

• The Bishop, following Paul’s retreat, assigned Paul to a small church in the countryside 

outside Alessandria where he would begin his life as a hermit 

• His duties included taking care of the physical upkeep of the church: the altar, the 

sacristy, cleaning the building, etc. 

• His chief occupation, though, was to devote himself to prayer 

• The Bishop discovered further talents in this young layman and encouraged him to 

teach the fundamentals of the faith to children and adults who gathered in this rustic 

chapel 

• Further, Paul began preaching spiritual conferences to sisters and missions or more 

formal retreats to lay people, simple labourers, on the estates of wealthy land owners 

• After just eight or nine months Paul again found the call to gather companions so 

compelling that he sought and obtained permission from his Bishop to go to Rome and 

present his case to the newly elected Pope Innocent XIII, seeking authorization to form 

a new religious family 

• His naivete was rebuffed at the doors of the Quirinal Palace, where he was sent 

roughly away as a beggar 

• Perhaps this date was Paul’s lowest moment humanly speaking. This date is lost to 

history but occurred sometime in September 1721 

• After being rejected at the papal palace, he went on foot to the Basilica of Saint Mary 

Major, the chief Marian shrine in Rome 

• He entered the small side chapel and before an image of the Mother of God professed 

for the first time the Passion Vow, the determination to spend the rest of his life seeking 

ways to keep alive the memory of the Passion of Jesus in his own heart and in the 

hearts of the faithful to whom he ministered 

• This distinctive vow is the mark of every Passionist to the present day 

• Shortly after this time, his younger brother John Baptist joined Paul on Mount 

Argentario 

• The life of the future Congregation began in these humble circumstances, a life of deep 

prayer, community life shared by two brothers, and an active apostolate of teaching 

catechism to the inhabitants of Porto San Stefano and Porto’Ercole, small towns at the 

base of this mountain 

• This relatively tranquil period lasted less than a year 

• Bishop Pignatelli invited them to Gaeta in the Kingdom of Naples 

• Then Bishop Cavalieri asked them to Troia. 

• Bishop Cavalieri studied Paul’s Rule and offered suggestions 

• He also arranged that Paul and John Baptist would meet Pope Benedict XIII on 21 May 

1725, at which time the brothers received verbal permission to gather companions and 

live according to Paul’s Rule of life 

• Paul’s life and apostolic work with John Baptist south of Rome were not satisfying, and 

so they accepted yet another invitation from Cardinal Corradini to journey to Rome and 

take up positions as spiritual directors and aids at the new Hospital of Saints Mary and 

Gallicano, continuing to live according to the Rule that Paul had written 

• Cardinal Corradini suggested that for reasons of the apostolate both Paul and John 

Baptist be ordained to the Priesthood 

• Pope Benedict XIII ordained them on Trinity Sunday, 7 June 1727 

• Due to new regulations at the hospital, the two brothers felt that they could no longer 

live and work in Rome 

10

• With the blessings of the Holy See, Paul and John Baptist returned to Mount Argentario 

where they settled into the hermitage of Saint Anthony and returned to a more 

contemplative life of prayer, silence and solitude 

• They continued their limited apostolate among the poor in the villages of this area 

• They also began an apostolate of hearing confessions and spiritual direction for 

individuals who came to the hermitage 

• During these days Paul, along with John Baptist, sought further the Lord’s Will for them 

and the fledgling Congregation 

1721-1722 CASTELLAZZO 


• Paul’s retreat ended on New Year’s Day of 1721. He presented the Diary and the Rule 

to Bishop Gattinara, who in turn had Paul go to Genoa to discuss the Rule with Father 

Columban 

• On his return to Castellazzo, the Bishop assigned Paul to the country Church of the 

Holy Trinity and later to the Church of Saint Stephen, which was closer to town 

• There Paul would remain the hermit-custodian of this church 

• He prepared for the Masses and services held in this church and kept the floor clean 

• In a short time he was more than custodian or sacristan; he began to teach catechism 

to the children, to lead the people in prayer services, and even to preach 

• Paul realised the time had come to seek companions to join him at Saint Stephen’s 

• There he wanted to form the first community of “The Poor of Jesus.” 

• Bishop Gattinara hesitated 

• He would not allow Paul to take this first step without the approval of the Pope 

1722-1724 MONTE ARGENTARIO AND CASTELLAZZO 


• Paul and John Baptist left Castellazzo on the first Sunday of Lent in 1722. They 

reached Mount Argentario on Holy Thursday, 2 April 1722 

• After Easter they stayed at the hermitage of the Annunciation in solitude and prayer 

• On the weekends they would come down to the fishing towns of Portercole 

(Porto’Ercole) and Porto San Stefano at the foot of the mountain. There they attended 

Mass and taught catechism 

• Bishop Salvi insisted that they must not seek other young men to join them 

• When Bishop Pignatelli of Gaeta (south of Rome) offered them a place and ministry in 

his diocese, they accepted his offer 

• It seems, however, that a need arose back in Castellazzo and the brothers returned 

there 

• Because John Baptist got sick, they stayed longer than intended 

• There are five letters written by St. Paul of the Cross preserved from 1723-24, all 

written while delayed at Castellazzo 

• If any letters were written from Mount Argentario at this time, they have not been 

preserved 

1724 – 1726 GAETA AND TROIA 


11

• Paul and John Baptist left Castellazzo in the spring of 1724 

• This time they went to Gaeta with the permission of Bishop Salvi 

• They resided at the hermitage of Our Lady of the Chain and the shrine of Our Lady of 

the City near Itri at the invitation of Bishop Pignatelli 

• Then, at the invitation of Bishop Emilio Cavalieri, maternal uncle of Saint Alphonsus 

Liguori, they went to Troia 

• Bishop Cavalieri hoped they would form a community in his diocese 

• Paul and John Baptist also visited Rome for the Holy Year in 1725 and were presented 

to Pope Benedict XIII, who orally granted them the permission to gather companions 

• Fortified with this Papal Blessing, they returned to Gaeta once again 

• They resided with other hermits, taught catechism, and even preached the ordination 

retreat for several young men 

• The letters of St. Paul of the Cross for this period, although few, indicate Paul’s impact 

upon men and women associates. 

1726 – 1727 ROME AND ORDINATION 


• Paul and John Baptist have arrived in Rome 

• There they will live and work at the new hospital Cardinal Corradini is establishing in 

Rome 

• Their service will continue the ministries Paul had been engaged in, namely teaching 

catechism, preparing people for the sacraments, and teaching them how to pray by 

remembering the Passion of Christ 

• It seems that the constitutions of the hospital included the possibility of Paul and 

John Baptist being ordained, something that Bishop Cavalieri had told Paul he 

should plan for 

• The seven letters to Fr. Erasmus Tuccinardi that Paul wrote from Rome help explain 

Paul’s decisions at this time to be ordained and then later to return to Mount 

Argentario (Spencer, As a Seal Upon Your Heart, pp. 78ff) 

• When Paul and John Baptist, as ordained priests, left Rome to return to Mount 

Argentario, they faced several important concerns 

• There was need to regularize their canonical status. They finally received the title of 

missionary apostolic 

• Paul became involved as spiritual director of many people, including Agnes Grazi, 

Sister Cherubina Bresciani, Francis Appiani, Thomas Fossi, et. al. 

• There were problems from the war and Paul’s role as chaplain and peace-maker 

• Paul began his ministry of preaching missions, retreats, etc 

• To found the Congregation he sought companions and followers 

• He searched for property on which to build his first monastery or “Retreat” 

• He was delayed by war and by opposition from Cardinal Altieri 

• Paul will enter Presentation Retreat on Monte Argentario on 14 September 1737 

• The letters which St. Paul of the Cross wrote during these years reveal many 

dimensions of Paul’s life, his personality, sufferings, holiness, and zeal 

• Above all, we learn how he was on fire with love! 

1727 – 1730 SETTLING INTO MONTE ARGENTARIO 


12

• During the first years on Mount Argentario, the correspondence with Father Erasmus 

Tuccinardi is quite helpful in our understanding of how they “settled into” life as 

priest-hermits 

• They spent a good deal of time studying and praying 

• Both Paul and John Baptist read the Scriptures prayerfully 

• Eventually they received faculties from the local Bishop to minister to the people at 

nearby towns on weekends 

• The first letter to Agnes Grazi mentions that they were giving missions 

• Finally, on February 23, 1731, they requested Pope Clement XII to grant them the 

canonical title of “the missions” 

• Paul used this title in signing a letter on December 16, 1732 

1730-1740 

SHARING THE CALL 

1730 FIRST FORMAL MISSION (TALAMONE) 

1731-1732 LEGAL AND SPIRITUAL MATTERS 

1733-1735 DELATED BY WAR – GIVING SPIRITUAL DIRECTION 

1736-1737 WAITING FOR PRESENTATION RETREAT AND ENTRY 

1738-1739 APOSTOLIC MISSIONARY 


• The Bishop in the area asked Paul to give a formal mission in 1730 in his diocese 

• This is the first recorded mission of Paul as a Passionist priest 

• This experience of preaching parish missions, during which there would be a solid 

emphasis on moral formation and a constant appeal to the sufferings of Christ on the 

Cross as a remedy for the ills of the age, gradually informed him that this apostolate 

would be most appropriate for himself and for those who would follow him in this new 

way of life 

• In this simple, humble way Paul and his brother began to offer spiritual strength to the 

poor and neglected whom they encountered in the villages where they preached and 

ministered 

• The Pope raised Paul to the rank of a papal missionary for all of Italy 

• As the years passed, several young men expressed interest in joining Paul and his 

brother in this way of life and ministry 

• Among the first was Paul’s younger brother Anthony 

• Many came to experience this way of life, but many also left, feeling that the rigours 

Paul and his first disciples endured were too much 

• By the early 1730’s the need for a new and larger facility became acute 

• Experience taught Paul that some modifications of the lifestyle were desirable and 

even necessary for a healthy community 

• He developed a plan to build a large building, or “Retreat” as the residences of the 

Passionists came to be known, on Mount Argentario and close to the hermitage of 

Saint Anthony, where he and his first companions lived 

• In bringing this plan for expansion to fruition, there were many delays caused by war 

near the town of Orbetello, opposite Mount Argentario 

• There was also some opposition from Cardinal Altieri, the ecclesiastical superior of the 

area 

• In addition, opposition surfaced from other groups of religious Mendicants in the area 

who felt threatened by another group that would be begging for their necessities in the 

locality 

13

• But finally the first Retreat, the Presentation of Mary, was built and solemnly blessed on 

14 September 1737. 

1740-1750 

1740-1741 THE NEW POPE ELECTED 

1741 FIRST PAPAL APPROVAL OF RULE 

1742 SMALL AND WEAK FOUNDATIONS 

1743 WHAT JOKES GOD PLAYS ON US 

1744 TO GUIDE ME 

1746 IT IS A MIRACLE OF GOD 

1747 MISSIONS AND FIRST GENERAL CHAPTER 

1748 CECCANO, TOSCANELLA AND FRATI 

1749 A MIRACLE OF GRACE 

1740 THE NEW POPE ELECTED 

• Paul had been hoping to seek further approval of the Rule with the help of Cardinal 

Rezzonico, who had been recommended to Paul by Cardinal Corradini 

• Unfortunately, Pope Clement XII died on 6 February, 1740 

• The conclave to elect a new Pope lasted six months 

• On 17 August 1740 the Archbishop of Bologna, Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, was 

elected and took the name of Pope Benedict XIV 

• In September Cardinal Rezzonico, in an audience with the Pope, told him of Paul’s new 

Congregation 

• Pope Benedict was very favourable 

• The Cardinal assured Paul that he should now come to Rome and, while staying in his 

palace, would be received by the Pope. 

• At this news Paul began a campaign of prayer for the success of this project 

• Paul went to Rome in November 1740 

• He met the Pope, who appointed a Commission to study the Rule, consisting of 

Cardinals Corradini and Rezzonico, with Bishop Count Peter M. Garagni as secretary 

• One of the first and closest companions of the founder was Father Fulgentius 

Pastorelli. Born 17 June 1710, he was ordained to the Priesthood in the Diocese of 

Pitigliano on 30 May 1733. He became acquainted with Paul and joined him on Mount 

Argentario in 1735, being vested in the Passionist Habit in that year. Fulgentius joined 

the small community in the original hermitage of Saint Anthony. He shared in the 

blessing of the Retreat on 14 September, 1737. Four years later on 11 June 1741, he 

took public vows with the other first religious when Pope Benedict XIV approved the 

Rule 

• When Paul lived at San Angelo in Vetralla, he wrote quite frequently to Fulgentius. 

• We are fortunate to have these letters, for from them we have Paul’s own account of 

many of the difficulties of those early years 

• Unfortunately, Paul did not keep the letters Fulgentius wrote to him 

• Fr. Fulgentius Pastorelli died 16 April 1755, in the Grazi house in Orbetello and is 

buried in the Presentation Retreat, Monte Argentario 

1741 FIRST PAPAL APPROVAL OF RULE 

• On 15 May 1741, Pope Benedict XIV signed the Papal Rescript approving the Rule 

written by Paul and somewhat modified by the Commission of Cardinals 

14

• This approval made it possible for Paul and his companions to take the four public 

vows called for in the approved Rules 

• Paul announces the good news of the Papal approval of the Rules and the profession 

of the four public vows by himself and his companions 

• Paul describes his joy and holy wonder in the presence of God’s gracious bringing to 

reality his dream of long ago 

• He gives a report of the life the community will live as well as the apostolic goal the 

Pope has assigned the Congregation to fulfill 

• Paul finally uses the occasion to invite young men to join the newly approved 

Congregation 

• Paul recognizes that there need to be more members and more Retreats if the Pope is 

to approve the community as a Congregation. Paul writes: “I will allow Divine 

Providence to guide me.” 

1742 “SMALL AND WEAK FOUNDATIONS” 

• Because of “two very serious sicknesses,” Paul could not return to the Retreat of 

the Presentation until 16 January 1742. 

• He writes that he was very near death. 

• Two of the priests had vocational problems. 

• Father Angelo Di Stefano has returned to Rome and Father Charles Salemmi is 

determined to stay in Piombino 

• Realising he must have another Retreat and more candidates, Paul also realises if 

his own health does not improve, the Congregation itself might disappear 

• Yes, his dream rests on very “small and weak foundations” 

1743 “WHAT JOKES GOD PLAYS ON US” 

• The new year finds Paul anxious for candidates and hoping for a new foundation, 

especially the one at Vetralla 

• He also has some missions to conduct, if his health holds out 

• For a while he hoped to go north to give missions at Genoa and then at 

Alessandria. 

• This fails to take place 

• But toward the end of the year matters will look better and several very good men 

will join him 

• Paul is awaiting permission to open two Retreats, one at Vetralla and the other at 

Toscanella 

• He is at peace, even though he is “walking through thunder, storms, clouds...” 

• There are fourteen religious, but only four are priests 

• He needs members, but also there is need of three Houses to enable the Pope to 

establish his community as a religious institute 

• Paul celebrates the Feast of the Presentation 1743 vesting three candidates, 

including his brother Father Anthony, who earlier had been dismissed 

1744 “I WILL ALLOW DIVINE PROVIDENCE TO GUIDE ME” 

• Paul and John Baptist journeyed to Rome to finalize the establishment of the two 

Retreats at Vetralla and Toscanella 

• But the two Albani brothers, both cardinals, have offered them a new foundation at 

the shrine of San Eutizio near Soriano 

15

1745 

• The older was Annibale, also called “of San Clemente” and also “Treasurer,” for he 

was the “Camerlengo” in charge of papal finances 

• The younger brother, Alexander, became a cardinal in 1721 and at this time was a 

member of the Congregation of Good Government, which was the papal agency for 

governing the Papal States 

• Annibale believed his health had been renewed by his prayers to San Eutizio, a 

martyr 

• As a result he restored the shrine to the saint on the ancestral estate near Soriano 

• A small community of priests were given this shrine by the Albani cardinals 

• When the priests abandoned the shrine, Garagni suggested to the younger Cardinal 

Alexander to offer it to Paul of the Cross 

• Both Albani brothers saw in this suggestion a solution to their embarrassment with 

the empty shrine 

• The two cardinals asked Paul to come to Rome, which he did 

• Paul was glad to accept this shrine with its small “convento,” a home for the priest 

usually attached to a church 

• Pope Benedict XIV approved and Paul decided to take “private” possession until the 

“Retreat” could be properly restored 

• Paul finds himself with renewed bodily pains to the extent that he is confined to bed. 

In a letter dated 8 th July 1745, Paul mentions to Sister Cherubina that his sickness 

has been of a year’s duration. He has been to the baths, unable to celebrate Mass 

in the previous December, and when he could get up, he had to use crutches 

1746 “IT IS A MIRACLE OF GOD” 

• The first letter of 1746 is dated March 31 

• It was written from Rome, where Paul spent about two months 

• A commission had been formed in Rome to study the Rule and to decide on the 

approval of the Congregation 

• One of the members was Cardinal Annibale Albani, who had just given the shrine of 

San Eutizio to Paul 

• On 8 September 1745, Paul had met him at Soriano, where they discussed the 

workings of the commission 

• Later, on 12 January 1746 Albani wrote to Paul and suggested that he come to 

Rome 

• Before leaving Paul vested several novices, including John Mary Cioni, who would 

become Paul’s confessor, a General Superior, and the first historian of the 

Congregation 

• Paul spent the two months in Rome talking to the cardinals and seeking the advice 

of others 

• This is why there is only one letter written from Rome 

• Finally, Pope Benedict XIV signed a draft of the Brief Ad Pastoralis Dignitaten on 27 

March 1746 

• From now on Paul will know that the Congregation is officially established with the 

blessing of the Pope 

• He is under the special protection of Benedict XIV, even though the Pope held back 

on the granting of dimissorials because of the opposition of a cardinal 

• Paul returns to Vetralla and also pays a visit at Soriano 

16

• He keeps in close contact with Father Fulgentius from each Retreat during the 

following weeks 

• He is securing breviaries from Rome with the help of Father Felix Sbarra 

• He also buys habit-cloth 

• He worries about receiving the Brief and how he will pay for it. 

• He does not want to be called “General Superior,” even though he will have the 

duties of such until the Chapter is held in 1747 

• He realises the sacrifices Father Fulgentius is making as Novice Director and 

reminds him of the great service he is giving to the Congregation and to the Church 

by forming future missionaries 

• He also realises that some of the novices will not make it and should be sent home 

in due time 

• Finally, he attempts to provide sufficient religious for each Retreat and also to have 

religious for one or two new ones 

• He intends to return to Rome to secure an Indult for the Ordination of his students 

preparing for Ordination. 

• Amid all this he is ill at times and must take the baths at Vetralla 

• The letters to Father Fulgentius reveal many important insights into Paul’s character 

and holiness as well as details of the Congregation’s history and difficulties 

1747 MISSIONS AND FIRST GENERAL CHAPTER 

• According to Zoffoli, Paul had not given a mission since October 1744, due to his 

prolonged illnesses and his work to seek approval of the Rule 

• Now in mid-January 1747, he conducts a mission at Orte and preaches to the nuns 

there 

• Later in May 1747 he gives a mission at Vignanello 

• This year will see the holding of the first General Chapter in April 1747, and the 

beginnings of a foundation south of Rome, near Ceccano 

• There are new vocations and professions of vows 

• 1747 is a good year for Paul and the Congregation 

• Paul closed the year at Soriano 

• There are several letters to Father Fulgentius in which Paul wrote of professions 

and of new candidates vested in the Passionist Habit. 

• Note the figures of “fire” and “flame” used in the December 1747 letters 

• He writes: “Jesus wishes to light a great fire in Rome so that it may spread and be 

clear to everyone” (1,9,16 December) 

• On December 19 1747 he prays that we take our hearts and “thrust them in the 

furnace of the sweet Heart of Jesus... Oh, what a fire burns in the stable of 

Bethlehem!” 

• He wrote to Bishop Borgia and to Father Thomas Mary and others 

• Paul made a fast trip to Rome to see the Church of Saint Thomas in Formis 

• He celebrated Christmas at Soriano and then prepared for the journey to Ceccano 

and the foundation at the Abbey of Corniano 

1748 CECCANO, TOSCANELLA, FRATI 

• The new year finds Paul hastening to Ceccano with the priests, brothers, and 

students who will form the first community at the Abbey (“Badia”) of Coriano 

• The first several letters give us Paul’s own reflections on this experience 

17

• There are several letters in February 1748 which tell of his journey from Ceccano 

to Rome, his audience with the Pope and his return to Vetralla and Toscanella, 

and with plans to arrive at the Presentation Retreat early in March 1748 

• Interestingly, it is in 1748 that Paul begins using John Tauler, the fourteenthcentury 

German Dominican mystic 

• In future letters Paul will make use of Tauler’s writings to explain elements of 

mystical prayer 

• Paul remains at Monte Argentario through March, but then plans to go to 

Toscanella for the foundation there 

• In the meantime he has learned that people in Terracina want a Retreat and he 

writes to the Council and to the 78-year-old Carmelite, Bishop Joachim Oldo, 

Bishop of Terracina 

• There are twenty-seven letters to Bishop Oldo from 20 March 1748, until 27 

August 1749. Bishop Oldo died in November 1749 

• The rest of this year Paul spends on the road or in the chambers of cardinals 

• He walks with his companions from Viterbo to Ceccano, then to Ferentino and 

Rome, and back to Viterbo, only to leave again for a mission in Porto 

• During this time he writes letters to Father Fulgentius, Bishop Oldo, Bishop 

Borgia, and others, describing the situation of the battle with the Mendicants 

• The final letter, undated but perhaps written earlier, to Father Thomas Mary 

Struzzieri tells us of the terrible sufferings he endured, even in the earliest years, 

as he travelled for the Congregation 

• Paul knows the baptism he must endure to inflame the world with the fire of love 

1749 “A MIRACULOUS GRACE” 

• In the early letters of the new year of 1749, Paul tells the story of his illness 

and his slow recovery 

• He had spent Christmas in bed at Oriolo 

• He returned to Viterbo and finally got to Rome by 18 January 1749, when he 

writes from there to Bishop Borgia of the “miraculous grace,” for a Brief will be 

presented by a select committee of four, newly assigned Bishops 

• However, there would be no final decision until the beginning of Lent 

• So Paul returned to San Angelo at Vetralla and then goes to the Presentation 

at Monte Argentario, where he makes the Visitation of the Community 

• Rome moves slowly as Paul will soon learn 

• Paul returned to Rome by 19 April 1749 to be at hand as the Cardinals met to 

decide the problem of Paul’s making foundations without the consent of the 

Mendicants 

• Paul had hoped a brief would be issued, but the cardinals decided simply to 

allow Ceccano, Terracina, and Paliano to be established at the request of the 

local bishops and Communes 

• However, other places were not decided at this time 

• Paul sees this as good news, a “miracle,” and writes several letters to Bishops 

Oldo and Borgia and Father Fulgentius and others 

• Paul has the problem of finding sufficient rooms for the religious, and there are 

difficulties in getting the religious ordained 

• For these reasons he decided to limit the number of novices he would accept 

• During this year Paul writes several letters of spiritual direction, in which he 

speaks of interior prayer and contemplation 

18

1750-1760 

1750 OUR AFFAIRS ARE ASLEEP IN ROME 

1751 MISSIONS 

1752 GREAT TRIBULATIONS 

1753 THE SECOND GENERAL CHAPTER 

1754 MISSIONS AND CONVALESCENCE 

1754 IN THE MIDST OF MY STORMS LATE 

1755 ALL MY TASKS AND JOURNEYS 

1756 SCARCELY AFLOAT AMID TEMPESTS ON THE VIOLENT SEA 

1757 I HAVE ABANDONED EVERYTHING 

1758 DEATH OF PAUL’S GREATEST BENEFACTOR 

1758 THE POPE WILL BE FAVOURABLE TO US 

1759 WAITING 

1750 ‘OUR AFFAIRS ARE ASLEEP IN ROME!” 

Introduction to the Letters of St. Paul of the Cross (Paul Francis Spencer C.P.) 

• Paul begins the new year in Rome 

• Bishop Oldo had died on 3 November 1749 

• There had been problems at Ceccano and now at Terracina, where Bishop Callistus 

M. Palombella was installed 

• Paul, early in January 1950, visited both cities and then decided there was little he 

could do in Rome to hasten a solution to these foundations 

• He returned to San Angelo at Vetralla 

• While he was at the Presentation Retreat, the Provincial Chapter was held on 10 

February 1750, to provide Local Superiors for the five retreats: Fr. Fulgentius of 

Jesus at Presentation; Fr. Francis Appiani of the Crucified at San Angelo; Fr. 

Stephen of Saint Joachim at Soriano; Fr. Anthony of the Passion at Saint Mary of 

Corniano in Ceccano; Fr. Luke Anthony of Saint Joseph at The Oak in Toscanella 

• Mark Aurelius was elected general consultor in place of Fr. Fulgentius, who 

resigned 

1751 MISSIONS 

• There are several letters to Bishop Borgia during the first six months of 1751 

• The letters are written while Paul is in Rome and at San Angelo in Vetralla 

• We read of Paul’s plans for the missions the Bishop wants and for the foundation of 

the Retreat of San Sosio in Falvaterra 

• Paul also seeks to ordain several more religious 

• He spends most of this time in the southern provinces of the Papal States 

• By May 19 Paul has returned to the Retreats of San Angelo and Soriano 

• He undergoes blood-letting and the baths as he regains his strength 

• Paul becomes ill while giving a mission at Valmontone 

• He is unable to stop at Civita Castellana on his way back north to hear confessions 

of the nuns at San Oreste 

• He is back in San Angelo by 9 December 1751 “in very poor shape” 

• At the end of the year he plans to return to Terracina for the foundation of that 

Retreat, at long last 

• While Paul continues the struggle to found new Retreats and to give missions, he 

also continues the direction of earlier followers, such as Fossi, Gandolfi, Bresciani, 

and starts directing Lucy Burlini, Maria Johanna Ventura Grazi, and others 

19

1752 GREAT TRIBULATIONS 


• Paul evidently spent Christmas at The Oak in Toscanella and then went on to 

Monte Argentario 

• On the way back he ran into rainy weather with flooding 

• Before the opening of Terracina Retreat, Paul took part in a “public retreat” there 

• After the dedication he gave a mission at Sonnino 

• After Easter in early April 1752 he gave a mission at Piperno 

• 30 April 1752 to 14 May 1752 he preached a mission in Sezze and a retreat at the 

convent. The fever returned during this mission 

• In the letter dated 1 July 1752, Paul opens with a cry for prayers 

• He writes of “great tribulations” and “greater troubles and horrible woes” and that 

the Congregation is being held together “on a thin thread” 

• He repeats the very same words in the letter of 6 July 1752 to Thomas Fossi 

• He is back at San Angelo at Vetralla, where he is involved in “very important affairs” 

• At the end of July 1752 he sends a letter to all of his religious, recommending 

prayers, penances, and fastings in each community in behalf of “this newly born 

Congregation in great need of the help and graces of His Divine Majesty” 

1753 THE SECOND GENERAL CHAPTER 


• The year 1753 was for Paul the manifestation of God’s Will that he guide the 

Congregation for another term of office 

• In the early months of 1753 he prepares for the General Chapter 

• In spite of his efforts he cannot avoid re-election as Superior General 

• As he leaves the chapter room and writes to his brethren, he seems more and more 

committed to have the Institute established in the Church as a religious order with 

solemn vows 

• There are several letters written to benefactors who are helping out on behalf of the 

Chapter 

• One priest has sent some “precious wine … for the comfort of the capitulars” 

• He asks Signore James Anguillara to have his father provide two horses in Corneto 

for Father Fulgentius as he travels to San Angelo for the Chapter 

• Father Thomas Struzzieri has begged the Pope to allow him to refuse an election to 

any office 

• The capitulars were: the council, consisting of Paul, John Baptist, Mark Aurelius; the 

rectors are Fulgentius for Presentation, Francis Anthony for San Angelo, Luke 

Anthony for Soriano, Stephen for Ceccano, Dominic for Toscanella, Thomas for 

Falvaterra, and Bernardine for Terracina 

• There was the three-day Triduum with a conference on 11 March 1753. The 

Chapter opened on 12 March 1753 with the Solemn Mass of the Holy Spirit, 

procession into the Chapter Room, culpa by the General and the election of Paul as 

General Superior. The consultors were re-elected. The new Rectors elected were: 

Francis Anthony for Presentation, Luke Anthony for San Angelo, Stephen for San 

Eutizio, Joseph for Ceccano, Raymond for Toscanella, Dominic for Falvaterra, John 

Mary for Terracina, and Fulgentius as Novice Master 

• A southern province was established with Thomas of the Side of Jesus as the 

Provincial, and Dominic of the Conception and Joseph of the Conception were his 

20

Consultors. Thomas of the Side of Jesus would be in charge of the southern 

Retreats. Paul, as General Superior, acted as Provincial for the northern Retreats 

• The discussions and voting on decrees continued on 12 and 13 March 

• The Chapter closed on 14 March 1753, but on 13 March 1753 Paul sent out his 

circular letter to all the religious 

• In it he mentioned his intention to seek solemn vows 

• It would appear that this question had been discussed at the Chapter 

• There are several letters written in 1753 without complete dates 

• One is written to Pope Benedict XIV, requesting permission to ordain several 

candidates. 

• The others are written to the King of the Two Sicilies and Cardinal Colonna 

• Both concern the building of a new novitiate on Mount Argentario in proximity to the 

Presentation Retreat, but situated as to get the sea breezes, thus offering better air 

than the lagoon near Orbetello provided 

• Paul sees this novitiate building consisting of bedrooms and a chapel for the 

novices, and as “forming one entity with this Retreat” 

• This will become the Retreat of Saint Joseph on Monte Argentario, the novitiate 

house of the Presentation Province for more than two centuries 

1754 MISSIONS AND CONVALESCENCE, “IN THE MIDST OF MY STORMS” 


• Paul began the new year of 1754 by finishing the mission at Civitella Cesi in the 

Diocese of Viterbo 

• Then he opened one at Bieda 

• After returning for several days to San Angelo, he opened another at Monte 

Romano 

• He returned to San Angelo only to leave again to give the nuns at Sutri a retreat 

early in February 

• He went to Corneto and then to Toscanella for a retreat to nuns 

• On 21 March 1754 he left for Mount Argentario and a retreat in Orbetello 

• He began a mission at Sabina, but his health gave way and he had to return to San 

Angelo to recuperate 

• Paul writes several letters of spiritual direction to Sister Cherubina, Thomas Fossi, 

and especially Sister Colomba Gertrude Gandolfi 

• Paul was suffering from illness ever since he tried to start a mission in Sabina (letter 

to Thomas Fossi, 21 May 1754) 

• But he is also suffering from the pain of learning that religious are seeking to be 

dismissed from the Congregation (letter to Sister Colomba Gertrude Gandolfi, 30 

July 1754) 

• In spite of this there are beautiful spiritual and mystical messages in these letters 

• Perhaps in writing these passages he finds the strength to carry the crosses he is 

experiencing 

• Between 15 December 1754 and 24 December 1754 Paul writes three times to 

Sister Colomba 

• Among other things he begged her to pray “in these calamitous times for holy 

workers.” 

• As this year of 1754 ended, Paul looks back upon six religious who had left the 

Congregation: Fathers Peter Giampolini of the Holy Wounds, Mariano Santini of 

Saint Lawrence, John Gelli of Saint Aloysius, Constance Bartolotti of Saint Gabriel, 

21

John Peter Poli of Saint Charles, and Confrater Henry Milanesi of Saint Stanislaus 

(1754 or 1755). 

• The Congregation “was being pruned” and Paul prays 

1755 “ALL MY TASKS AND JOURNEYS” 


• Paul began 1755 at the Presentation on canonical Visitation 

• On his way to Tuscany and the Retreat of The Oak, he has a difficult journey in 

terribly cold weather 

• His first letter is to Father John Mary Cioni in Terracina on 8 January 

• He is happy to hear the news from Lazio 

• Above all he is happy to learn that three clerics will be ordained during this coming 

Lent 

• He mentions that there is a great need for priests, especially to open the Retreat at 

Paliano 

• There is the possibility of receiving another Retreat near Grosseto in Tuscany and 

one is being negotiated in Florence 

• This would be a year of many tasks and journeys for Paul, ending with the Retreat 

at Paliano, formally opened on 23 November 1755 

• He was forced to interrupt the missions and to take the baths and rest up 

• Interestingly, while he was so weak he continued to write even though he said that 

writing had become painful for him (letter to Sister Cherubina above and to Fossi on 

24 May 1755) 

• The death of Father Fulgentius Pastorelli on 16 April 1755 called for the assignment 

of a Novice Master and a Rector at Monte Argentario 

• Paul needed time to mourn the loss of this holy religious and loyal friend 

• Paul gave several missions during the fall, together with retreats to sisters in 

various convents 

• Writing to Sister Cherubina Bresciani on 4 December 1755, he remarks that he 

arrived “yesterday at 20 hours after about three months of labours” 

• The year 1755 ended with Paul celebrating Christmas at San Angelo at Vatralla, 

then on his way, leaving probably on 27 December 1755 for the mission at 

Manziana, which closed on 11 January 1756 

1756 SCARCELY AFLOAT AMID TEMPESTS ON THE VIOLENT SEA 

• Paul left before 1756 began because he wanted to start another mission at 

Manziana 

• It seems, however, that the mission was delayed until the middle of January 1756 

• This was to become for Paul a difficult, painful time 

• Passionist Father Joachim De Sanctis writing a life of St. Paul of the Cross 

describes 1756 as “Worn-out but Fearless” 

• Another Passionist Fr. Zoffoli speaks of this time as “Living Like Gypsies” 

• Paul was busy giving missions and conducting retreats for religious sisters 

• He was able finally to establish a Retreat near Rome on Monte Cavo 

• These were also the final years of the pontificate of Pope Benedict XIV 

• In April 1756 he signed a Rescript enabling Paul to ordain his religious without 

requiring the Dimissorial Letters from the local Bishops 

• For eighteen months the Pope was ill, dying on 3 May 1757 

• Finally, Paul’s health continues to be a problem 

22

• He suffers again and again from fevers 

• Note how his own sufferings teach him how to direct those who have various forms 

of suffering — always to accept the loving Providence of God 

1757 “I HAVE ABANDONED EVERYTHING” 

• 1757 becomes a difficult year for Paul 

• He is quite busy with missions and retreats but barely has the strength and health to 

begin or conclude these ministries 

• He is trying to make one or two new foundations, but again something seems to get 

in the way 

• At times it seems the convent for the nuns will be built, but again something blocks 

this effort 

• Perhaps he sums up this year in the words he wrote to a religious sister on 9 

August 1757: “…I have abandoned everything, whether those looking toward the 

Congregation or those regarding the convent, to the Divine Good Pleasure…” 

• Paul writes letters on profound mystical prayer 

• He gives the Novice Master practical advice about the use of tobacco by one of the 

brothers in the novitiate 

• He insists that Dominic Costantini take safeguards to avoid any legal questions if 

the Bishop should die before the convent for the Passionist Nuns is built 

• As the year 1757 ends Paul is looking forward to the early General Chapter in 

February when he will be free (letter of 8 November 1757, to Fossi) 

• He is tired, sick, and too busy 

• The affairs of the Congregation way heavy upon him 

• He is constantly under pressure to give another mission here or there 

• Religious want him to give them their retreats and individuals are seeking his 

guidance and direction 

• Paul feels the need for solitude 

• Above all, Paul wanted to see the Congregation more firmly established in the 

Church. 

• It is more and more obvious to all that Pope Benedict XIV was in weak health and 

also under heavy pressures from the demands of Catholic rulers 

• Paul must have felt that it was more prudent to wait for a new Pope to secure 

solemn vows 

• In Paul’s mind a General Chapter with the election of a new General might possibly 

be God’s way of establishing the Congregation 

1758 DEATH OF PAUL’S GREAT BENEFACTOR, POPE BENEDICT XIV – “THE POPE 

WILL BE FAVOURABLE TO US”, POPE CLEMENT XIV 

• The new year began for Paul at San Angelo in Vetralla 

• He was confronted by the request from the Bishop to serve the convent at Sutri, but 

he had already pledged himself to serve the Carmelite convent in Vetralla 

• He also wants to be back at San Angelo by 23 January 1758 to prepare for the 

General Chapter in mid-February 

• In his first letter of 1758 to Father Sisti he discusses several choices open to him 

• Through March, April, and into May, Paul is concerned with the situation at Monte 

Cavo 

• There is also news from Father Thomas Struzzieri in Rome that the Propagation of 

the Faith is offering the Passionists a foreign mission in the Caucasus Mountains in 

Asia Minor 

23

• But at the same time he is struggling to satisfy the Bishop of Acquapendente with a 

mission at Castro di Ischia in spite of his lack of religious and his own weak health 

• While Paul continued to preach, trying to provide for Monte Cavo and the demands 

of the Propagation of the Faith, he received news that the greatest benefactor to the 

Passionists has died, Pope Benedict XIV. 

• Perhaps no one more than Paul himself realized how much Passionists owed this 

Pope. 

• It is strange then that in the letters Paul wrote at this time he does not add a word of 

eulogy that rose up all over the Christian world to the praise of Pope Benedict XIV 

• Passionist Fr. John Mary Cioni relates that Paul did remark that the one who 

established the Congregation of the Passion went to eternal glory on the feast of 

the “Finding of the Holy Cross,” celebrated at that time on 3 May 1758 

• Paul concludes his mission work by the beginning of June and remains at San 

Angelo for the next several months 

• He writes many letters of spiritual direction 

• He also follows the doctor’s orders, even though he is planning further missions 

• In the very first letters after the news of the election of Cardinal Rezzonico as Pope 

on 7 July 1758, Paul again and again mentions how hopeful he is 

• He feels that time has come to establish the Congregation more solidly and to 

hasten to Rome to greet the Pope and to renew conversations with friendly contacts 

in the Papal Court. 

• He also begins a campaign of prayer as he had done earlier when struggling with 

the Mendicants. 

• On the same 15 July that Paul wrote to Thomas Fossi he also wrote to the Abbess 

of the Capuchins to request prayers, especially to Saint Bibiana, implying he might 

receive that church in Rome 

• In the letter of July 29 to Fossi he explained why he could not give a mission on the 

island of Elba 

• To the friend of his youth, Paul Sardi (29 July), he explains more clearly his hopes 

for solemn vows 

• He also mentions the possibility of a foreign mission and explains why he cannot 

give missions in Lombardy 

• He also thanks him for his care of his family in Castellazzo 

• On 1 August he wrote to a benefactor and mentioned the possibility of constructing 

“a new building for the novitiate” 

• It has been a long time since the novitiate building was mentioned in a letter 

• Paul certainly feels that this is a favorable time 

• Paul had tried to keep himself free to go to Rome when called 

• Finally, in letters to Sister Rose Mary Teresa on 26 October and to Thomas Fossi 

on 27 October, he writes that he is going to Rome for important business 

• He is back at San Angelo on 24 November, when he writes to Father Joseph Sisti, 

but offers no word about his reception in Rome 

• He did give a short mission to assist people preparing for the extraordinary Jubilee 

• As the year ends, Paul plans a mission in early January 1759 

• He is also trusting that Pope Clement XIII will be “favorable to us,” but Paul realizes 

that the Pope will act slowly and carefully because of the situation with the Jesuits 

1759 WAITING 

• Shortly after Paul’s letter to Fr. John Mary Cioni, 7 February 1759, he learns that 

Father Thomas Struzzieri is being sent by the Pope to accompany Bishop 

Crescenzio De Angelis of Segni to make the Visitation of the Island of Corsica 

24

• Paul responds to the Bishop in the letters of 11 August 1759 and 13 August 1759 

• In the letter to Thomas Fossi on 21 August 1749, he mentions that there is a 

shortage of religious with some going to “the lands of the infidels and others to 

another far off place” 

• Interestingly, from August to fall Paul is concerned not only with the departure of 

Father Thomas Struzzieri, but also with the building of a Retreat in Corneto, the 

sending of several missionaries to Elba for a mission in the spring, knowing how 

many novices will be entering the novitiate, and caring for a sick religious (letter of 

August 19, 1759) 

• There is also the need of someone to take Father Struzzieri’s place when he leaves 

• And always there is the hope for solemn vows as well as concern over Paul’s health 

• Paul visited Rome the previous year and had an audience with the Pope. Clement 

XIII was very kind, but in accordance with his policies he assured Paul that he 

would form a special commission of cardinals to hear Paul and study his requests 

• The Pope unfortunately was very much occupied with the pressure from Portugal, 

France, and especially Spain in regard to the Jesuits. Ecclesiastical historians give 

the impression that this was almost all that this Pope did 

• Perhaps Pope Clement XIII wanted to work through his officials in order to gain time 

in coming to a final decision on the Jesuits 

• In the letter to Thomas Fossi on 24 December 1759, is the first reference to the 

tragic deaths of Father John Thomas, rector of San Angelo, Father Francis Anthony 

Appiani, the General Secretary, and Brother Francis. They died from drinking wine 

kept in a wooden barrel that had been treated with an unknown poisonous plant. 

John Thomas died on 14 December 1759, Francis Anthony on 18 December 1759, 

and Brother Francis on 1 January 1760. Paul was at the Retreat of Our Lady of the 

Oak near Toscanella. It was a terrible shock to Paul and to the Congregation. The 

assignment of any missionaries to work in foreign lands was out of the question 

• Paul mentioned in the 11 January 1760 letter to Reverend John Anthony Lucattini 

that three religious have died at San Angelo and one is in great danger 

• In the 15 January 1759 letter to Father Luke Anthony Bianchini, rector at Monte 

Cavo, he informs him that Brother Francis Battaglini, the “Luccan,” has also died. 

He adds that “the influenza has now stopped, thanks to the Lord” 

• The opening paragraph of the 19 February 1760, letter to Thomas Fossi perhaps 

sums up how Paul accepted this tragedy 

1760-1770 

1760 NOTHING IS TO BE CHANGED FOR NOW 

1761 TO PRAY SUFFER, WORK AND WAIT IN SILENCE AND HOPE 

1762-1763 SPENDING MY OLD AGE LIKE A DRY STUMP 

1764 SICKNESS AND FAMINES 

1765 ON OUR JOURNEY THE SAYING IS NOT ‘REST IN PEACE’ 

1766 GOD MAINTAINS THE CONGREGATION 

1767 HOSPICE OF THE CRUCIFED IN ROME 

1768 TO EXPAND IN MORE THAN ONE KINGDOM – NAPLES 

1769 PAUL OF THE CROSS AT AGE OF SEVENTY SIX – SICK, BENT OVER AND 

DEAF 

1769 THE FIFTH GENERAL CHAPTER 

1769 THE GREAT BULL – SUPREMI APOSTOLATUS 

1770 FOR SUCH A GREAT WORK GOD HAS MADE USE OF ME 

1760 “NOTHING IS TO BE CHANGED FOR NOW” 

25

Introduction to the Letters of St. Paul of the Cross (Adolfo Lippi C.P.) 

• Paul begins 1760 with more missions 

• In spite of the missions and continued illness, Paul is always awaiting news from 

Rome. 

• Pope Clement XIII has promised to form a commission of cardinals to look into the 

possibility of establishing the Congregation as a religious order with solemn vows. 

When that happy event takes place, he will be able to have his religious ordained to 

the Priesthood; the convent of Passionist nuns can be built at Corneto; the 

Propagation of the Faith will send Paul’s religious to the “lands of the infidels”; and, 

above all, this “great Work of God” will be solidly established 

• To achieve this goal Paul once again turns to prayer, organising a crusade of 

prayers in the convents and parishes served by Passionists 

• He himself strives to trust more and more in Divine Providence, to find God’s Will 

and plan in whatever decision the cardinals and the Pope finally make 

• At the end of 1760 Paul prepares for the future with renewed vigor 

• He continues to make necessary decisions and changes 

• In the letter of 13 December 1760, to Reverend Cajetan Santacroce, he prepares 

for a mission in Bracciano 

• On the same day he writes to Leonard Falzacappa of Corneto about appealing to 

the pope for financial aid in building the Retreat there 

• Perhaps, Paul felt, if there is a thriving Retreat in Corneto, interest in building the 

convent might be stirred up again 

• Sometime in early December 1760 he reminds the Rectors of the Provincial 

Chapter, which will begin on 22 February 1761 

• He also writes to the King of the Two Sicilies for financial aid for the Retreat on 

Monte Argentario 

• Finally, from Vetralla he sends a letter “to the missionary Fathers of the 

Congregation” 

1761 “TO PRAY, SUFFER, WORK, AND WAIT IN SILENCE AND HOPE” 


• The Provincial Chapter was held on 4 May 1761 at San Angelo 

• Father Mark Aurelius was re-elected as Provincial. The Consultors were Father 

Joseph Hyacinth Ruberi and Father Luke Anthony Bianchini. Father John Mary 

Cioni replaced Father Thomas Struzzieri as General Consultor 

• In a letter to Canon Paul Sardi on 7 May 1761, Paul wrote that the Chapter was 

celebrated “in great peace and union” 

• Paul had just gotten up from his sick bed a few days before 

• For some months Paul has been in and out of bed 

• He saw himself as “on the cross of my poor bed!” 

• All the while he was recovering from the negative response to his request for 

solemn vows 

• Now he was struggling with his fear that the solitude of the Rule will be hindered at 

San Sosio. He might have to abandon that Retreat! 

• In 1761 Paul writes beautiful spiritual letters to Cherubina Bresciani, Thomas Fossi, 

an unknown gentleman, Teresa Palozzi, Girolama Ercolani, Canon Francis 

Scarsella. How did he find time to respond to the needs of these various people 

who asked his counsel? 

26

• Through these letters Paul shares with each correspondent not only from his 

understanding of mystical theology, but also from the depths of his personal 

spiritual experiences 

• Paul spends the remaining weeks of 1761 at San Angelo, writing to several of his 

dear friends 

• His Christmas greetings this year seem to be much longer, for he is carried away as 

he reflects on the birth of Christ 

• In spite of his illness and sufferings, he seems very much at peace 

1762 “SPENDING MY BROKEN OLD AGE LIKE A DRY STUMP” 


• Paul continues to spend a great deal of time in bed, trying to get strength to write 

and, above all, to give missions 

• He finds it difficult even to get to the Carmelite convent at Vetralla to visit Sister 

Maria Angela 

• But he does write, sometimes dictate, letters of profound spiritual depth 

• Reading these letters we sense that Paul is inviting us: “Let us help each other 

carry the cross” (Father Joseph Andrew, 10 July 1762); “To repose like a baby on 

the bosom of His love” (Maria Angela Cincelli, 11 July 1762); “Living abandoned to 

the Divine Good Pleasure in that naked, desolate suffering…leaving the care of all 

happenings to Him, without thinking of what will happen to you” (Mother Mary 

Crucified Costantini, 7 September 1762) 

• Paul ends 1762 with letters to Thomas Fossi and his two sons, Michael and 

Paulinus. He himself is “full of aches and pains” 

• He can no longer go out on missions 

• But these three letters reveal a worn-out old man still capable of explaining the 

duties of married life to Thomas; still young enough to offer a young university 

student a place to spend the holidays; and, above all, able to open his heart to 

Paulinus by describing life in the Congregation as the giving of oneself entirely to 

Jesus, giving him all one’s heart, one’s soul, one’s will, all, all 

1763 AT THE OAK 


• The next year, 1763, began for Paul at The Oak 

• He received letters from: Mother Mary Crucified; Father Joseph Andrew, rector at 

Mount Cavo; Father Philip James, professor at Paliano; Thomas Struzzieri in 

Corsica; Brother Aloysius of Saint Mary; Sister Colomba; and Thomas Fossi. Most 

certainly he heard from other religious 

• The letters of 1763 show us how he dealt with various problems and needs 

• For example, notice the letters of 6 May 1763 and 9 May 1763, concerning a 

convict awaiting execution, and letters in the summer about the sickness of his 

brother Father John Baptist 

1764 SICKNESS AND FAMINES 


27

• 1764 began with letters to both Brother Aloysius Basili and Father Joseph Andrew 

Ruspantini, dated 3 January 1764 and 13 January 1764. These two letters 

continued a “dialog” that had begun 10 July 1762, when Paul assured the new 

rector of Monte Cavo, Father Ruspantini, that he would send him a new lay brother. 

• On 15 January 1763, Paul told the Rector to prepare to appeal for funds from the 

Pope who would be summering at the nearby Castello. Brother Aloysius was ready 

by 14 May 1763, to begin, but there wasn’t enough money. Father Paul wanted to 

see the work get started but realised the Rector should make the actual decision. 

Paul tries to get cooperation between the Brother and the Rector in order to 

accomplish a needed goal! 

• After the Chapter Paul keeps correspondence with quite a few people. What is 

obvious is that he is no longer a well person. To Sister Colomba Gertrude Gandolfi 

he wrote that he had been nailed to his sack with his usual pains (28 February 

1764); to Thomas Fossi: “I have been keeping to my bed since 2 February until 

now” (16 March 1764 ), and “I could not celebrate Mass…even for Easter” (28 April 

1764); to Teresa Palozzi: “I have a weak head and I cannot write” (26 May 1764); to 

Mamelta Orsini: “I am much crippled and decrepit with age, for I am 74 and no 

longer go on missions, and I cannot do more” (28 August 1764) 

• One might wonder how he carried on, and how his companions, and even the Holy 

See, could keep him in office 

• During the past few years, central Italy had suffered from poor harvests. Paul was 

aware of this, hearing from Thomas Fossi and Dominic Costantini, for example 

• 1764 proved to be a much more serious one. To make matters worse, France 

refused to sell anything to the Papal States. Prices doubled on the Roman markets. 

The situation was growing worse each day. It was becoming a deadly famine, with 

people actually starving to death 

• On 16 March 1764 Father Mark Aurelius, the Provincial in the south, wrote his first 

circular letter on the famine to the brethren. The Pope ordered a penitential 

procession in Rome on 1 April 1764 

• Paul arranged for the senior brethren at San Angelo to discuss this matter, offering 

suggestions on ways the community could help others 

• As a result, Paul wrote a letter to all the religious on the great famine of 1764 

• We do not have the exact date, but it must have been written toward the end of 

March or early in April 

• There are also several letters to Bishop Crescenzio De Angelis, who returned from 

Corsica but left Father Thomas there 

• These letters of 1764 are dated 30 June , 3 July, 23 September, and 13 October, 

when Paul learns that Father Thomas will become a Bishop 

• Paul was at The Oak as the year ended 

• He has been elected again as Superior General 

• In the midst of the difficulties caused by the famine and his personal illness, what 

becomes notable is the amount of time he keeps in touch with his religious 

• Many write to him and he at once responds 

• Frequently he encourages them to continue growing in the spirit of prayer, to accept 

their trials and sufferings, to make the effort to develop the missionary spirit 

• In other words, Paul of the Cross made the most of his inactivity to give his religious 

close attention, loving concern, and helpful encouragement 

• He is founder not only when he struggles with Papal Commissions or founds new 

Retreats, but also, and perhaps even more so when he strengthens the courage 

and spirit of his own religious 

28

1765 “ON OUR JOURNEY, THE SAYING IS NOT, ‘REST IN PEACE’” 


• Perhaps the first two letters of 1765 set the tone for Paul 

• In the last letter of 1764 Paul quoted the words of Saint Jerome to Mother Mary 

Crucified that she is his daughter whether she likes it or not 

• In fact Paul had not heard from Mother Mary for the past year 

• Now, on New Year’s Day 1765, Paul writes to encourage her in her calling to 

become a Passionist, even before wearing the habit of the Passion! 

• His second letter is to Sister Luisa of the Passion, who has lost her mother and her 

sister (Sister Maria Angela Magdalene of the Vetralla Carmel) 

• He repeats the key words to her: “For us on our journey, the saying is not, ‘Rest in 

peace.’ This is said only of the dead; for us there is work, for us there are battles, 

for us the victories and the triumph are in heaven” 

1766 “GOD MAINTAINS THE CONGREGATION IN PEACE, CHARITY AND TRUE 

OBSERVANCE” 


• The hopes that Paul had of receiving greater stability for the Congregation faded 

with the death of Father John Baptist, his brother 

• His own weakness forced him to moderate his activities 

• Paul had to appoint a substitute, Father John Baptist of Saint Ignatius Porta 

• At the same time Paul hoped to secure a small residence in Rome so he would be 

ready to work for the solemn approval of the Congregation when the Lord would 

open the way 

• Father John Mary of Saint Ignatius Cioni was sent to Rome for this purpose 

• Paul himself mentioned his plans when he wrote at the beginning of the year that he 

was striving with God’s blessings “to maintain the Congregation in peace, charity, 

and true observance” 

• Paul now planned to visit the Retreats in the south. He even writes to Father 

Vincent, the Rector at Paliano, giving the day on which he will arrive 

• In letters during March 1766 and April 1766 Paul’s health is too weak. He had to put 

it off 

• Already in January 1766 he had sent Father John Mary Cioni to Rome 

• Monte Cavo was near and yet not readily accessible, located on top of a mountain 

overlooking the city 

• Paul himself made a short visit to Rome around the end of April 

• In October 1766 Paul presided at the Provincial Chapter for the election of the 

Provincial and the superiors of all the Retreats 

• There are also letters of spiritual direction which Paul faithfully writes to older 

friends and new followers, such as Sister Anna Maria 

• Finally there are letters to his own religious. It is in all these ways that he seeks “to 

maintain the Congregation in peace and charity and holy observance” 

• Before leaving San Angelo, he arranges a retreat for the Chapter and clerics of 

Bracciano. He assigns Father Candido to this task 

• He then mentions that he is leaving for the south and will spend the winter at 

Terracina 

• He goes to Rome, sees the Hospice, is received by Pope Clement XIII, and meets 

Cardinal Ganganelli 

• He writes to Bishop Struzzieri, Bishop Garampi, and Cardinal Ganganelli 

29

• He spends Christmas and the winter in Terracina, “the most beautiful and devout 

Retreat of the Congregation” 

1767 HOSPICE OF THE CRUCIFIED, ROME 


• On New Year’s Day 1767 Paul writes a joyous letter to Teresa Palozzi, in which he 

shares with her the nice weather of “springtime and we have flowers and fresh 

roses for the altar” 

• Two weeks later, writing to Father John Mary, he mentions “the rigors of the cold 

weather that has come, and I do not know when it will be over” 

• He does find time to mention a few items for good order in the newly dedicated 

Hospice of the Crucified in Rome, such as an alarm clock, front door bell, the 

document showing the authorization to celebrate Mass in the oratory 

• He suggests the need for confessional faculties and not inviting even benefactors to 

share in meals with the small community. Paul continues to give directions on such 

matters, although he tells John Mary to keep an eye on things and see what is best 

for the mitigated observance there 

• He wants this Hospice to be the seed of a larger “tree” he hopes he will have one 

day in Rome 

• At all times he wants to have a very observant house in the holy city (13 January 

1767) 

• By 6 May 1767 Paul has finished the Visitations and is at the Hospice in Rome 

• He thanks Agapito Rischia Fiumara for the comfort he arranged for his final trip to 

the Hospice (6 May 1767) 

• While staying at the Hospice, he calls upon the pope to thank him and also upon 

several cardinals, including Cardinal Ganganelli 

• On 9 May 1767 he writes officially to Anthony Frattini, thanking him for serving as 

Syndic of the Hospice of the Crucified and declares him a special, perpetual 

benefactor of the Congregation 

• He also declares Dominic Lucidi to be the servant of the Hospice, who will be 

provided for during the remaining years of his service and life (13 May 1767) 

• Paul stays at the Hospice in Rome for a week 

• When he arrives at San Angelo at Vetralla, he is sick again in bed 

• In January 1768, Paul writes that this sickness has continued for seven months (10 

January 1768) 

1768 “TO EXPAND INTO MORE THAN ONE KINGDOM - NAPLES 


• While Paul remained seriously sick, so often unable to celebrate Mass, Brother 

Joseph Pitruzzello, who had taken his vows on 13 June 1742, continued serving the 

community at Monte Argentario. He was on the quest at Giuncarico when he got 

seriously sick and died of a malignant fever on 21 April 1768. Paul writes of his 

death and his holiness in several letters at this time 

• The year 1768 ends with letters and greetings to many friends, religious and 

benefactors 

• Thomas Fossi was ordained on 21 December 1768 at Grosseto and celebrated his 

first Mass at the main altar at the Presentation Retreat, Monte Argentario 

• Several times Paul mentions that a new Retreat will be opened in 1769 at Corneto 

30

• There is no word, however, of the convent for the nuns 

• He sends greetings to the Pope and also writes to Cardinal Ganganelli 

• He does not forget the Bishop of Alessandria, who has been so kind to his brother 

Anthony Danei 

• He has been sick and bedridden throughout the year, but it has been a good year 

1769 “BROKEN-DOWN AGE OF SEVENTY-SIX, SICK, BENT OVER, DEAF” 


• Paul begins 1769 with letters to those he had not written to with Christmas 

greetings 

• He was, moreover, looking forward to the foundation of the new Retreat at Corneto 

in this new year 

• He was also conscious of his age and his “broken-down” condition 

• This might be the year when he would be relieved of the office of Superior General 

• Did he realise this would be the year of the solid foundation of the Congregation? 

• Did he know that he could not resign, for the final foundation stone had yet to be 

placed? 

• In mid-January 1769 he sent the letter of convocation for the Fourth General 

Chapter to be held on 7 May 1769 in the Retreat of San Angelo in Vetralla 

• Pope Clement XIII died on 2 February 1769, the day before he was to meet with the 

cardinals on the question of the suppression of the Jesuits 

• Father John Mary Cioni wrote to Father Paul, who replied: “With sorrow I learn of 

the death of the Pope, and this morning I celebrated Mass in suffrage for him…” 

• This is taken from the letter Paul wrote to John Mary, who quoted it in the 

Processes 

• Paul continued: “…and that the Divine Goodness might provide his Church with a 

holy pastor, I have applied this intention for the Mass, having placed the heart of the 

cardinals in the wounds of Jesus Christ, especially that of Ganganelli” (quoted in De 

Sanctis, p. 788) 

• The Fifth General Chapter was held at San Angelo, 8-10 May 1769 

• Paul wrote a letter of resignation, hoping to be relieved of the duties of Superior 

General 

• The capitulars listened kindly but unanimously voted to accept the dispensation 

Father John Mary Cioni had received from the Holy See and elected Paul to 

another term as Superior General 

• Paul sent all the brethren his letter of acceptance on 18 May 1769 

• The General Chapter had voted to establish the Office of General Procurator with 

the right to vote in General Chapters 

• Father Candido of the Holy Wounds was elected to this office, and Paul sent him a 

letter on 9 May 1769 

• This Chapter also decided to create a new northern province in the Patrimony of 

Saint Peter with the title of the Presentation. The Provincial would reside at San 

Angelo, Vetralla. 

• The Chapter mitigated the fast on certain days, but did not permit serving meat. It 

also allowed the students in the houses of studies to be dispensed from night 

Matins 

16 NOVEMBER 1769 – THE GREAT BULL SUPREMI APOSTOLATUS 


31

• Cardinal Ganganelli was elected Pope Clement XIV on 19 May 1769, the day after 

Paul requested prayers for the cardinals 

• A few days later he mentions to Anna Maria Calcagnini that he plans to go to Rome, 

and from Rome he writes to the Carmelites at the Ginnasie Convent on 27 May 

1769 

• In many of the following letters Paul expresses the great kindness of the Pope, the 

hope Paul has for the Congregation, and his requests for prayers for the Pope and 

the Church in these troubled times 

• In spite of his continuing weakness, he remains hopeful 

• Paul hopes to visit and eventually does visit the Basilica of Saint Mary Major on the 

Feast of the Assumption to remember his visit there in September 1721 when he 

took the Passion vow before her shrine in the Borghese Chapel 

• He also mentions that he has been asked to preach a mission at one of the Roman 

churches on the occasion of the special Jubilee being called to celebrate the 

election of the new Pope. 

1770 - 1775 

1770 FOR SUCH A GREAT WORK GOD HAS MADE USE OF ME 

1770 FIRST CONVENT OF PASSIONIST NUNS 

1772 PRAY FOR ME AND THE NEEDS OF THE CHUCH 

1773 STS. JOHN AND PAUL IN ROME 

1774 DEATH OF POPE CLEMENT XIV 

1775 PAUL’S FAREWELL 

1770 “FOR SUCH GREAT A WORK … GOD HAS MADE USE OF ME” 

Introduction to the Letters of St. Paul of the Cross (Adolfo Lippi, C.P.) 

• “For Such a Great Work…God Has Made Use of Me” - Paul wrote these words in 

the eighteenth letter to Anna Maria Calcagnini, November 26, 1770. He was 

referring to the foundation of the convent for the Passionist nuns, but they apply to 

the foundation of the entire Congregation 

• Paul was always aware of God’s call to him to found this religious Institute of 

priests, brothers and sisters 

• Conscious of his own weakness, he knew the need for prayer 

• These words of Paul have a special significance for the year 1770, as he realised 

how God was using him to obtain the final approval by Pope Clement XIV for the 

Passionist Nuns and soon for a Retreat in Rome 

• He must have recognised why he was re-elected General Superior at the last three 

Chapters in spite of his long illnesses 

• On 19 March 1770 Paul was again received by Pope Clement XIV in a very “long 

and private audience” 

• At that audience Paul presented the petition of the abbess of the Capuchin nuns of 

Grosseto 

• In his letter of 20 March 1770 he wrote to her, describing the Pope’s personal and 

gracious response 

• Paul also requested permission to visit the Retreats in the north, but the Pope 

wanted him to consult with the Cardinal Vicar of Rome 

• He also requested the Pope to approve the Rule for the Passionist Nuns 

• Paul left on 27 March 1770, to visit Corneto and Monte Argentario and Vetralla 

32

• He was called back to Rome, so Father John Mary finished the Visitations in the 

north 

• On his return to Rome he had an audience with the Pope and continued work on 

the nuns’ Rule, which he presented to the Pope, who approved it on 3 September 

1770 

• Sick as he was, he continued his correspondence, at times from his bed 

1771 DEDICATION OF THE FIRST CONVENT OF PASSIONIST NUNS 


• 1771 is the year in which the first convent of the Passionist Nuns was dedicated in 

Corneto 

• Paul has been writing about the final months of waiting and preparation 

• The actual dedication took place on 3 May 1771 

1772 ‘PRAY FOR ME, THE NEEDS OF THE CHURCH AND HIS HOLINESS” 


• On 20 May 1772, the first Passionists Nuns made their profession of vows 

• Clement XIV wrote them a letter asking for prayers, etc. 

• Father Paul was very much aware that the Pope and the Church needed prayers 

• In the few letters he was able to write during 1772, Paul begged for prayers 

• Pope Clement XIII had died a few hours before he would have to make a decision 

on the Society of Jesus 

• The pressure was now building upon Pope Clement XIV. Early in May he had 

received the new Spanish ambassador, Jose Monino, who demanded that the Pope 

suppress the Jesuits. At the next audience with Monino the Pope tried to solve the 

problem by reducing vocations, etc., for the Jesuits without a condemnation. Spain, 

Portugal, Naples, and France were all demanding full condemnation. In December 

the Pope accepted a proposal from Monino and Cardinal Bernis, the French 

cardinal. He entrusted it to Zelada to work over it with Monino 

• In the meantime Paul’s sickness continued, and he celebrated Christmas 1772 from 

his bed 

1773 SAINTS JOHN AND PAUL, ROME 


• On 9 April 1773 Pope Clement appointed new cardinals, including Zelada, a friend 

of Paul’s 

• A week later he added John Braschi, the future Pius VI, to the rank of cardinal 

• The Pope finally signed the Apostolic Brief Dominus ac Redemptor, dated 21 July 

1773, suppressing the Jesuits. 

• It was officially published on 13 August 1773. 

• Cardinal Zelada was on the commission to assign the Jesuit houses and churches 

to different communities. 

• He was a friend of Father Paul and suggested that the Passionists be given the 

Basilica and Monastery of Saints John and Paul, while the Vincentians, who had 

charge of it, would be given the former Jesuit Novitiate 

• There were difficulties, but on 30 October 1773 Paul wrote a letter of thanks to the 

Pope for the gift of the Basilica and Monastery of Saints John and Paul 

33

• The Passionists took possession of this Basilica and Monastery on the afternoon of 

9 December 1773 

• The community moved from the Hospice to Saints John and Paul on 9 December 

1773 

• It was a private ceremony 

• Paul sent out a letter of Christmas greetings from the new House on 17 December 

1773 This seems to be a generic letter transcribed for various peoples 

• On Christmas Eve Paul remembered Canon Paul Sardi of his youthful years at the 

Church of Saint Charles in Castellazzo 

• We are told that Paul sang the Midnight Mass on Christmas, and on 31 December 

1773 went to the Papal Palace to greet the Pope for the new year 

1774 DEATH OF POPE CLEMENT XIV 


• At the end of 1773, or very early in 1774, Paul requests two further favors of the 

Pope, namely, that the superiors of the Retreats can give the Papal Blessing at the 

moment of dying to any of the religious, and that the Stations of the Cross can be 

erected there 

• These favors were granted at audiences of 22 January 1774 and 23 January 1774 

• The request for the erection of the Stations shows that Paul greatly approved of this 

Franciscan devotion, so strongly fostered by Father Leonard of Port Maurice 

• Pope Clement XIV died on 22 September 1774 

• Paul mourned him sincerely 

• At the end of the year Paul is once again confined to bed and unable to celebrate 

Mass on Christmas 

• He wrote a few letters of Christmas greetings 

1775 THE YEAR AND PAUL’S FAREWELL 


• His final year 1775 began with Paul still in bed 

• He remained in this condition throughout the year 

• The conclave had begun on 5 October 1774, and did not end until 15 February 

1775, with the election of Cardinal Braschi, who chose the name Pope Pius VI 

• A few weeks later on 5 March 1775, while the Forty Hours devotions were being 

held at Saints John and Paul, the new Pope visited the Basilica and Paul of the 

Cross 

• He received Paul still in bed 

• In March Paul wrote a letter, requesting permission to delay the General Chapter 

until 9 May 1775 

• In the meantime still in bed, with the help of Father Joseph Hyacinth, the Rector of 

the Retreat, Paul began reviewing each paragraph of the Rule 

• In the Chapter he wanted the capitulars to discuss the Rule paragraph by 

paragraph 

• He then asked Pope Pius VI to give a final approval of the Rule 

• There are two final, undated letters to Pope Pius VI. The first concerns an 

interpretation of poverty as regards the retainment of one’s patrimony with the 

permission of the Superior General. This could be dated anytime after Pope Pius 

VI’s election until Paul’s final weeks. The other should be dated after the General 

Chapter, which was held in May 1775 

34

• Paul died 18 October 1775 

BEYOND 

7 th January 1777 PROCESS OF BEATIFICATION BEGAN 

1 ST MAY 1853 BEATIFICATION OF PAUL OF THE CROSS BY POPE PIUS IX 

29 TH JUNE 1867 CANONISATION OF PAUL OF THE CROSS BY POPE PIUS IX 

(Zoffoli’s St. Paul of the Cross by Roger Mercurio, C.P., The Passionist, Winter 1964 p. 13-22) 

FIRST PERIOD 

• The first stage of Paulacrucian studies was marked by the preserving of the records 

of Paul of the Cross 

• A few days after the Saint’s death the Vice Genreal, Father John Baptist of St. 

Vincent Ferrier, sent a circular letter to the Religious of the Congregation, informing 

them of the details of the Founders last days (Published in Bulletino X (1929), p. 

105-116) 

• Father John Baptist also initiated action that lead to the Founder’s Beatification 

• As early as 1777 the Ordinary (or Episcopal) Processes were begun at Rome, 

Corneto and Gaeta. A year later similar hearings were opened at Vetralla and 

Orbetello 

• This word proceeded so rapidly that in 1784 Pope Pius VI signed the decree for the 

formal Introduction of the Cause 

• By 1792 with Father Vincent M. Strambi as Postulator the Apostolic Processes were 

begun in Rome 

• In all one hundred and twenty witnesses testified about the life and virtues of St. 

Paul 

• Their sworn testimony fills twenty two volumes, preserved in the General Archives 

in Rome 

• This prompt action on the part of the first superiors and the abundant testimonies of 

many eye-witnesses have afforded future generations a rich source of valuable 

information 

• These first Passionists preserved the writing of St. Paul of the Cross – his diary, his 

sermons, his letters as well as other precious documents, such as the various 

versions of the Passionist Rule, the Acts of the General Chapters, Papal and 

Episcipal correspondence etc 

• Moreover, during this first period several religious attempted to write the history of 

the Passionist Congregation 

• Father John Mary of St. Ignatius (Cioni), confessor to St. Paul of the Cross and third 

Superior General, will always be remembered as the Congregation’s first historian 

• He composed the history of the foundation (Le Foundazione della Congregazione, 

ed in Bollettino, 1922-1926) 

• He wrote the lives of Fr. John Baptist, Fulgensius, Mark Aurelius, Bishop Thomas 

Struzzieri and of Mother Mary Crucified 

• His most important work was the two volume manuscript entitled: Annali della 

Congregazione (Critical Edition appearing in Acta Congregationis Nostrae 22 

(October 1962) ff. 

• St. Vincent Mary Strambi, disciple of St. Paul of the Cross, Postulator of his cause 

and Bishop, had the privilege of writing his first life of St. Paul of the Cross in 1786 

• His work is unique because it is the life of a Saint written by a Saint. In its English 

translation in 1853 it has a future distinction: the preface was composed by a future 

Saint, Blessed Dominic Barberi 

35

• St. Vincent Strambi was well qualified to write this first biography 

• He had personally known St. Paul of the Cross and his many companions 

• As Postulator he was familiar with the testimonies in the Processes 

• He possessed the ability to give organisation and form to the abundant material at 

hand 

• His work will ever remain a primary source in Paulacrucian studies 

SECOND PERIOD 

• The second period covers a century from the restoration of the Congregation in 

1814 until the end of the First World War 

• During this period the emphasis in Paulacrucian studies was in the area of 

popularisation 

• It is difficult for us to realise the extent of the upheaval caused by the Napoleonic 

suppression 

• The restoration meant starting anew 

• The Passionists who survived the suppression manifested their love anew for St. 

Paul of the Cross 

• No sooner had things settled somewhat than the Superiors began again the work 

for the Beatification of Paul of the Cross 

• As early as 1821 Pope Pius VII issued a decree on the heroicity of Father Paul’s 

virtues 

• The Beatification took place in 1853 during the generalate of Fr. Anthony of St. 

James (Testa) 

• In 1867 Paul of the Cross was canonised 

• In 1880 the Chapel in his honour was consecrated in Ss. John and Paul Basilica in 

Rome 

• These events stirred up a deep love for Paul of the Cross and the Passionists 

• Many Passionists wrote lives of the Founder 

• Father Bernard Mary Silvrestrelli published in his First Companions, several lives of 

the early Passionists 

THIRD PERIOD 

• The third period began after the First World War 

• This was the real renaissance of Paulacrucian studies, for the sources were studied 

and published in a systematic manner 

• The first Passionist international periodical appeared in 1920 (Bolletino, then 

followed by Acta in 1930) 

• One of the chief purposes of this periodical was the publication of historical 

documents on St. Paul and the early days of the Congregation 

• Italian Father Amadeo published four volumes of the Founders letters in Italian 

• Belgian Father Gaetan dug into the processes to discover new inights into St. Paul 

of the Cross 

• The Spiritual Diary of St. Paul of the Cross was pubished with a commentary and 

translations appeared in different languages 

• Scholars outside the Congregation recognised the greatness of the Saint 

FOURTH PERIOD 

• The fourth period started with the General Chapter of 1946 

36

• The previous work continued but now it was more and more under the direction of 

scholars 

• At times religious were assigned to Paulacrucian studies by the highest authorities 

of the Congregation 

• Scholars wrote doctoral dissertations on various aspects of St. Paul of the Cross 

and his spirituality, his Rule etc. 

FIFTH PERIOD 

• In June 1958, the superiors of the Congregation asked Father Enrico Zoffoli of the 

Presentation Province (Italy) to prepare a biography of St. Paul of the Cross for the 

centenary of the Canonisation in 1967 

• Zoffoli had already achieved scholarly renown for his I Passionisti, published in 

1955 

• He decided it would take six volumes to produce a life of St. Paul of the Cross 

• In fact three volumes have been published in Italian 

• The work is masterful 

• Fifty pages alone are devoted to an outline of the sources and bibliography 

• The appendix includes chronological charts, plans of several of the monasteries 

erected by St. Paul of the Cross, an index of persons and of places 

• Zoffoli possesses the rare gift of combining historical research with literary artistry, 

intense scholarship with orderly presentation, scientific accuracy and beauty in style 

• His purpose was “to say everything, and to say it well” 

37

St. Paul the Apostle 

38


Medieval Fresco, Basilica of Sts. John and Paul, Rome 

St. Paul of the Cross wrote on the Feast of the 

Conversion of St. Paul in 1742 

Courage! That great vessel of election, the great Doctor of the Gentiles and Preacher of 

the Truth for all the world, the feast of whose admirable conversion we celebrate today and 

of whose name I bear unworthily, glorified only in the Cross of our Saviour and carried the 

Name of Jesus to the nations. Paul was completely in love with Christ Jesus and 

exclaimed with a fiery tongue: “May God will that I glory in no other thing than in the Cross 

of my Lord Jesus Christ.” Then he said he carried in his body the marks of Jesus Christ. 

Letter of St. Paul of the Cross to Agnes Grazi 

1742 

39

Introducing St. Paul the Apostle 

His Life and His Mission 

By Ronald D. Witherup, S.S. 

Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed for the Church a special year to honor St. Paul the Apostle, 

beginning with the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, June 28, 2008. This year honors the saint 

at the 2000th anniversary of his birth. 

St. Paul is the most prominent personality of the New Testament, apart from Jesus 

himself. Thirteen of the 27 books of the New Testament bear his name. All of them are 

letters. Much of what we know about Paul comes from these remarkable written sources, 

supplemented by stories from the Acts of the Apostles, in which Paul figures prominently in 

the second half (Chapters 9–28). 

These are the only two sources for Paul’s life; however, they differ at times in details. 

Lacking any formal biography, biblical scholars have been able to piece together the basic 

outline of Paul’s life. They use Paul’s letters as the primary source of information, since 

they are first-person accounts. Acts is used to complement and supplement that 

information. 

Paul, also known by his Jewish name, Saul (see Acts 13:9), was born in Tarsus, Cilicia, in 

Asia Minor (now modern-day Turkey) probably between 1 and 10 A.D. He was a diaspora 

Jew, that is, a Jew living outside the homeland of Palestine. Tarsus was a large, 

prosperous city in the Roman Empire, so it is quite fair to call Paul an urbanite. He was 

likely well-educated, apparently a student of the great rabbi Gamaliel I in Jerusalem (Acts 

22:3). 

PAUL’S CALL AND MISSION 

Paul himself admits that he persecuted the Church out of zeal for his Jewish background. 

However, around the year 35 A.D. he had a remarkable experience. On the road to 

Damascus, the risen Lord, Jesus, appeared to him and called him to be “the apostle to the 

Gentiles” (Acts 9:1-19). Paul never describes this event in detail. Rather, he speaks of a 

“revelation of Jesus Christ” (Galatians 1:12) that leaves the impression of a supernatural 

appearance of the resurrected Jesus, or perhaps what we might call a mystical 

experience. 

Paul would not characterize his experience as a “conversion” in the sense of a change of 

religion, but more likely as a “call” or “commission.” Acts portrays the event in terms 

reminiscent of the call of Old Testament prophets, and this is consistent with Paul’s own 

description found in Acts. Paul considers himself an “apostle,” one who has been called 

and sent by the Lord Jesus himself for a special mission. He was to bring the Gentiles into 

the fold of those who accepted Jesus of Nazareth as the long-awaited messiah, the Savior 

of the world. 

PAUL’S MISSION AS EVANGELISER 

After his call, Paul began an intense ministry of evangelization. He took up (or returned to) 

the work of tent making so that he would not be a burden to the communities he served. 

After a mysterious three-year period in Arabia, he went to Jerusalem to meet with Peter, 

James, the brother of the Lord, and John (in about 38 A.D.). They were leaders of the new 

40

movement of Jesus’ followers in Jerusalem that Acts calls “the Way” and who eventually 

became known as “Christians.” 

These leaders apparently endorsed Paul’s mission to the Gentiles. Paul, accompanied by 

colleagues, then went to Syria, Cilicia, and Galatia and eventually crossed over into 

Europe to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ in Macedonia, Achaia and throughout the 

Mediterranean region. This period of Paul’s journeys can be dated from about the years 38 

to 50. 

Acts portrays Paul’s missionary activity in a series of three journeys. While there can be no 

doubt that Paul’s travels were extensive, the portrait in Acts may be somewhat literary. It 

corresponds roughly to the geographical outlook of Acts 1:8, which shows the expanding 

Christian mission in stages, going from Judea to Samaria to “the ends of the earth.” 

In any case, Paul’s ministry was missionary evangelization, which he exercised with great 

effect. He established communities of faith in many major cities of the Roman Empire, 

such as Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi and Thessalonica. 

TEACHING THROUGH LETTER WRITING 

In the last decade or more of his life, Paul not only continued his missionary activity but 

also wrote letters (from about the years 50 to 60). The letters that survive in our New 

Testament, in their canonical order, are: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, 

Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus and 

Philemon. (Six other letters are attributed to Paul but disputes exist over their authorship. 

They may have been written by members of his communities, under Paul’s name, a 

custom of the day.) Letters afforded him an excellent means to stay in touch with the 

communities that he founded on his various missions. 

His disciples preserved them for later Christians, assembling them into a collection that 

formed the foundations for the New Testament. At times, Paul would write from prison, one 

of the many experiences of suffering he endured as a follower of Jesus. At other times he 

would write to admonish his communities, to instruct them, to encourage them and to 

express his plans for the future. 

On at least one occasion, the Letter to the Romans, he wrote to introduce himself to a 

community that had been founded by others. The earliest letter of Paul is First 

Thessalonians (50-51); the last letter is either Romans or Philemon (written sometime 

between 58 and 60). 

By any estimation, Paul was a formidable personality. He argued persuasively with the 

well-known early Christian leaders, especially Peter and James, over the need to adapt 

the gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles (Galatians 2:11-14). He also had no trouble 

sternly reprimanding his communities whenever he thought they had strayed from the 

gospel he preached. 

But he also loved his communities dearly and treated them as good parents treat their 

children. At one point he compares himself to a nursing mother: “But we were gentle 

among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children” (1 Thessalonians 2:11). 

Elsewhere he calls himself their “father.” 

More important, Paul’s letters contain tremendous insights into the spiritual life. Paul 

explicitly desired that his communities become “holy.” He tells the Thessalonians outright, 

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification” (1 Thessalonians 4:3a). He reminds the 

Ephesians “to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of 

41

God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). Holiness, he writes, is our 

destiny as Christians. Like all Jews of his day, Paul’s understanding of holiness was not 

something people accomplish on their own. Rather, holiness meant becoming more and 

more Godlike. 

Christians inherited this perspective. God is the only truly holy one. Our sanctity, our 

holiness, is sharing in God’s holiness. True holiness comes about only by surrendering 

ourselves to God’s will and to God’s power. 

When morally flawed laws already exist, prudential judgment is needed to determine how 

to do what is possible to restore justice—even if partially or gradually—without ever 

abandoning a moral commitment to full protection for all human life from conception to 

natural death (see Evangelium Vitae, no. 73). 

Paul’s world was quite diverse, multicultural and multilingual. In the following sections, 

we’ll take a look at the variety of influences that shaped this great Apostle: Judaism, Greek 

culture (called Hellenism), and the Roman Empire. The first, and most important, is 

Judaism. 

PAUL, THE JEW 

Like Jesus, Paul was born a Jew and lived his entire life as a Jew. He was quite proud of 

his Jewish heritage. In Philippians, he summarizes his background thus: “circumcised on 

the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born 

of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to 

righteousness under the law, blameless” (Philippians 3:5-6). 

Despite his call to follow Jesus, which we often characterize as his “conversion,” he never 

claims to have abandoned Judaism. Note that he highlights his Pharisaic background. 

That may surprise many of us.We may think of the Pharisees as the enemies of Jesus, 

and therefore our enemies. 

While it is true that some Pharisees and other Jewish leaders strongly opposed Jesus and 

plotted against him, not all Pharisees acted in this way. They did, however, largely oppose 

the early Christians. They were zealous for their Jewish religious heritage. Paul admits this 

of himself and even boasts of it. Once he accepted the risen Jesus as Lord, however, all 

that changed. As he says in Philippians, “I regard everything as loss because of the 

surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of 

all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:8). 

This is Paul’s way of asserting the supreme importance of his newfound faith. I think the 

zeal that so characterized his life as a Pharisee shifted in him when he was called by 

Jesus Christ to be the apostle to the Gentiles. His zeal transferred to his faith in Christ. 

Nothing else mattered. But nowhere in his letters does he use the term “Christian” to refer 

to himself or to any members of his communities. 

Rather, he uses the term “the saints” to describe the followers of Jesus—those who are 

called to holiness in communion with Christ (see, for example, Romans 1:7). The root idea 

of the word saint is actually someone called and set apart for a special mission. That is the 

way Paul envisioned this new community of faith. 

We also need to remember the complexity of the first-century Judaism that Paul knew. It 

was not a uniform, monolithic faith. There were multiple divisions within Judaism. Four 

types of Jewish perspective are especially prominent. 

42

1. Palestinian Judaism. Present in Palestine, that is, Judea and Galilee, Christians now 

call this place the Holy Land. Some of its characteristics in the first century included 

worship centered around the Temple in Jerusalem and its priesthood, and the various 

cultic rituals that were a part of the routine regimen of piety. 

Even this type of Judaism was not uniform. Some, who thought the purity of their faith was 

being threatened by the compromises of their religious leaders, fled to the Dead Sea and 

established a kind of ascetical, or hermitage, community at Qumran. Their desire was to 

escape the bad influence of the secular world and thus preserve authentic faith. (Various 

Christians over the centuries, for example, the Amish have reacted to modern life in like 

fashion and try to separate themselves completely from modern secular influences.) 

2. Hellenistic Judaism. This Greek-influenced world was, in fact, Paul’s primary 

background, since he was born and raised outside of Palestine. Greek culture was the 

primary cultural influence in Paul’s day, dating from the time of Alexander the Great (333 

B.C.). Once the Jews were dispersed throughout the world after the first destruction of 

Jerusalem (by the Babylonians in 587 B.C.), they settled in many foreign lands. They 

adapted so much to their new surroundings that many of them eventually lost command of 

their native Aramaic and Hebrew languages. 

They gradually translated their holy writings, which eventually became the Hebrew Bible 

(what Christians know as the Old Testament), into Greek, the language of the ruling 

empire. This translation is called the Septuagint, a Greek term. This text enabled the Jews 

in the diaspora to preserve, but also to adapt, their faith. Paul no doubt used the 

Septuagint, as his letters show familiarity with it when quoting from or alluding to the Old 

Testament. 

3. Rabbinic Judaism. This form of Judaism’s roots is obscure but goes back to some 200 

years before Paul. Its name derives from the “rabbis,” the Jewish leaders who rose to 

prominence after the second destruction of Jerusalem (by the Romans in 70 A.D.). In the 

wake of this traumatic destruction, Judaism was adapted by certain Jewish leaders of 

Pharisaic background. They collected and preserved their sacred writings, and finally 

incorporated them into a permanent sacred canon, the Hebrew Bible. 

The rabbis’ timeless interpretation and adaptation of the Old Testament, in particular, 

influenced Paul’s own approach to these sacred texts. Paul shows himself to be adept at 

rabbinic interpretation of texts in new circumstances. In fact, we could well consider Paul a 

“rabbi” in the sense of his teaching and preaching style. 

4. Apocalyptic Judaism. Just as Christians later wrote down the Book of Revelation, the 

Jews before them had a type of literature found in the Old Testament called apocalyptic. 

The word literally means “unveiling.” It refers to an outlook that envisions the revelation of 

God’s victory over evil at the end of time. The Book of Daniel is a prime example of this 

kind of literature. 

Apocalyptic literature springs from the experience of dire persecution. It expresses a twosided 

outlook of a cosmic battle between good and evil, God and the devil, light and 

darkness, and so on. This perspective developed several hundred years before Jesus and 

Paul, but it continued to exercise considerable influence in their times. Ultimately, its 

message is a hopeful one: Despite appearances in the world around us, God and the 

forces of good will win the final battle. There will be a judgment day, and all wrongs will be 

righted. The good will be rewarded and the bad properly punished. 

43

Paul inherited aspects of this worldview that is also found in certain teachings of Jesus in 

the Gospels (see, for example, the sayings in Mark 13:1-37). Sometimes, Paul seems 

quite taken with this perspective and urges people to prepare for an imminent end of the 

world (see 1 Thessalonians 4:13—5:11). 

Now, some 2,000 years removed from Paul’s teaching, we realize that we do not know 

God’s timetable for bringing this world to its judgment day. The end does not seem as 

imminent as it was for Paul. We do not have the apocalyptic urgency that Paul sometimes 

expresses in his letters. It is one of those Jewish influences that were part of Paul’s world 

and that carried over into later Christian teaching. 

HELLENISM’S INFLUENCE 

Hellenism, the Greek cultural influence, was wide-ranging. It might be compared with the 

tremendous influence of English and American capitalism in our own day. For example, 

almost anywhere you go in the world today, someone there can usually speak English. 

Along with that goes the influence of American culture (McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and 

Hollywood movies seem to be everywhere!), a mixed blessing for some people of other 

nationalities. Frankly, some in the local culture don’t appreciate the outside influence, even 

though others around them embrace it. 

In Paul’s day Koine Greek (common Greek) was the main language. He was obviously 

conversant in it—he wrote all his letters in this language. Along with language came the 

impact of Greek culture on daily life. Social and political institutions had their roots in 

Greece. Examples abound. For instance, the notion of the city-state and the importance of 

being a citizen of such a community likely influenced Paul’s language regarding the “body 

of Christ.” 

The gymnasium as a center for athletic contests and social interchange was another 

prominent Hellenistic institution. Paul was, no doubt, a sports fan. He uses considerable 

sports imagery in his letters (boxing, running the race, wrestling) to illustrate his message. 

Yet another influence was in the religious sphere. The Hellenistic world fostered an 

attraction to many different cults dedicated to pagan gods and goddesses. Paul clearly 

opposed such influences by emphasizing belief in one God, a characteristic of Jewish 

faith. It was this one God who, in the person of Jesus Christ, had come to save the world. 

Paul’s message focused much on the oneness of God in reaction to Greek polytheism. In 

short, Hellenistic language and culture had a huge impact on life in Paul’s day, whether for 

good or for ill, and his letters often reflect this background. 

CITIZEN OF ROME 

Finally, we cannot ignore the influence of the Roman Empire in Paul’s world. Rome was 

the ruling world power in the West. (Remember that inhabitants of Paul’s world were less 

aware at the time of such tremendous cultures as India and China in the East.) Paul 

himself was a Roman citizen. 

Rome’s power was felt in numerous ways. Most important, the world was basically at 

peace. The Pax Romana (Latin for, “Roman Peace”) meant that travel on the extensive 

Roman road system and in sleek ships was fairly safe from threat of criminal attack, 

though still always hazardous. Paul took advantage of this relative calm, utilizing this 

Roman transportation system when he went on his extensive apostolic journeys to preach 

the gospel. He went all over the eastern Mediterranean world, and journeyed to Rome 

itself. He planned to go to Spain, to the far western reaches of the empire, but was 

martyred in Rome. 

44

Paul also uses his Roman citizenship to ensure a fair legal proceeding (Acts 22:25-27). 

Rome retained the ultimate political authority over life and death. Rome, then, was always 

in the background, a power that could not be ignored. 

APOSTLE TO OUR CULTURE 

Paul, like all of us, was a product of his era. To some degree, he believed that many 

influences in the surrounding culture were detrimental to the spiritual health of his 

communities. Yet, in other instances, Paul knew how to use common cultural images to 

good effect in order to get his message across to his audience. 

Perhaps that is the challenge of Paul to each of us today. He, who has shaped so much of 

our Christianity, challenges us to encounter our own culture bravely, with Christ as our 

guide. 

Ronald D. Witherup, S.S., is Provincial of the Sulpician Fathers, former Professor of Sacred Scripture at St. 

Patrick Seminary, Menlo Park, California, a prolific author, and a frequent contributor to American Catholic 

Radio. This Update is adapted from St. Paul: Called to Conve 

45

YEAR OF ST. PAUL 

REFLECTION SHEET A 

Give Me Patience, Lord! 

.. lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and 

gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love … (Ephesians 4:1-2) 

Why is it that being patient always seems reasonable and relatively easy when I am 

feeling loved, rested and peaceful? It doesn’t feel so easy when I am fatigued, 

discouraged, grouchy and at odds with someone. The last thing I want to do then is to 

extend extra forbearance and understanding to another. I especially notice my impatience 

when I am driving in heavy traffic. My hostile glares, beeping horn and muttered comments 

are enough to embarrass even myself! When I reflect on it I see that my impatience 

usually happens when I am in a hurry, tired or thinking only of my own needs. That’s when 

I most easily forget about “bearing with one another in love”. 

We always need patience. Each of us knows who or what challenges our ability to be 

graciously accepting and generous in our understanding. Sometimes we most need to be 

patient with ourselves. It is not easy to be patient, but it is a requirement of us who call 

ourselves Christian. I’ve found that I react and respond quite differently when I view them 

as they really are – a temple of God. Then I remember the digntiy and respect they 

deserve. I remember to be patient. 

Dear God, I need to be patient. 

Slow me down when I am in a hurry. 

Hold me back when I want to leap ahead. 

Quiet me when I am much too anxious. 

INVITING GOD IN 

Spiritual Reflections and Prayers through the Year 

Joyce Rupp 

Ave Maria Press, Indiana 

2001 

46


REFLECTION SHEET B 

In Giving We Receive 

… the one who sows sparingly will reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will 

also reap bountifully… (2 Corinthians 9:6) 

What wisdom this scripture verse holds as St. Paul urges the Corinthian community to be 

generous with their love and service of one another. I had a good experience of this 

recently when a local hospice director called to ask me to visit a patient called Dolores. 

Wouldn’t you know it was on a day when my office was a disaster and I was feeling 

extremely pressed for lack of time. Fortunately, God’s grace led me to say “yes” instead of 

“no”. I left my office reluctantly, however, worried about the deadlines of work that would 

not go away while I was gone. 

When I returned home after my morning with Dolores, I realised how much I had received 

in return for a few hours I’d given: deeper appreciation of my own health and the gift of life, 

a renewed compassion as I saw her husband struggle to be her key caregiver, and a 

sense of the strength and care that the love of her adult children gave her as they visited. 

That brief gift of my time helped me to realise anew how rewarding giving can be when it is 

done with an open and willing spirit. And to my amazement, I had some renewed energy 

for my work and was able to meet my deadlines after all. 

God of Love, 

there are times when I need to take care of myself 

and times when I need to serve others generously. 

Help me to choose wisely how I use my time and energy 

and to serve, always, with a gracious and loving heart. 



Joyce Rupp 


2001 

47


REFLECTION SHEET C 

Receiving Graciously 

… God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having 

enough of eveything, you may share abundantly in every good work … (2 Corinthians 9:8) 

I often feel that if I had just a little more solitude or a bit more quiet, I’d be able to do what I 

need to do for “every good work”. I am always pining for larger chunks of solitude, more 

days on the calendar, longer hours of the day, thinking that would help my spiritual life 

unfold as I want. But the reality of God’s grace being enough came home to me today in a 

letter from a friend. She closed by saying, “May God bless you with all the quiet you need, 

even if it isn’t all that you want.” If I would be fully present to God in my quiet times instead 

of thinking about how much more quiet I could use, I would be much more in tune with 

God and more satisfied. 

Perhaps many of us feel as though we never have enough time to live our spiritual life 

adequately. Maybe we long for a deeper faith, for better relationships, for richer inspiration. 

Yet God is always bestowing upon us enough enthusiasm, generosity and truth “for every 

good work.” Perhaps it is time to receive the gifts we have instead of focusing on the “not 

enough” pieces of our lives. 

God of abundant grace, 

you are enough for me. 

I will savour the time I have 

and treasure my moments of quiet. 

Keep drawing me to your heart. 



Joyce Rupp 


2001 

48

A Month With St. Paul the Apostle 

Day 1: Love of God - Romans 5: 8-10 

Day 2: Love of Neighbour - Romans 13:8-10 

Day 3: Reconciliation - 2 Corinthians 5:19-20 

Day 4: Sin and grace - Romans 3: 23-24 

Day 5: Faith - Romans 3: 25-26 

Day 6: Hope - Romans 5: 5 

Day 7: Joy - Philippians 4:4 

Day 8: Peace - Philippians 4: 8-9 

Day 9: Mission - Romans 10: 14-15 

Day 10: Baptism - Galatians 3:27-28 

Day 11: New life - 2 Corinthians 5: 16-17 

Day 12: Patience - 1 Corinthians 13: 4 

Day 13: Kindness - Titus 3: 4-7 

Day 14: Faithfulness - 1 Thessalonians 5:23-25 

Day 15: Family - Ephesians 3: 14-18 

Day 16: Humility - Philippians 2: 5-8 

Day 17: Gentleness - 1 Thessalonians 2: 6-9 

Day 18: Self-control - Romans 8: 14-17 

Day 19: Resurrection - 1 Corinthians 15: 20-21 

Day 20: Wisdom - Colossians 1: 9-10 

Day 21: Counsel - Romans 11: 33-36 

Day 22: Fear of the Lord - 2 Corinthians 7: 1 

Day 23: Understanding - Colossians 2: 1-3 

Day 24: Knowledge - Philippians 3: 7-9 

Day 25: Unity - 1 Corinthians 3: 5-9 

Day 26: Gospel - Romans 1: 16 

Day 27: Death - Romans 6: 19-23 

Day 28: Freedom - Galatians 5: 13-14 

Day 29: Persecution - Romans 8: 35-39 

Day 30: Prayer - Acts 16: 25-31 

49

ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE 

FROM THE WRITINGS OF POPE BENEDICT XVI 

50

1. PAUL OF TARSUS 

(Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, Wednesday October 25th 2006) 

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

We have concluded our reflections on the Twelve Apostles, called directly by Jesus during 

his earthly life. Today, we begin to examine the figures of other important early Church 

personalities. 

They also spent their lives for the Lord, the Gospel and the Church. They are men and 

also women who, as Luke writes in the Book of Acts, "have risked their lives for the sake of 

Our Lord Jesus Christ" (15: 26). 

The first of these, called by the Lord himself, by the Risen One, to be a true Apostle, is 

undoubtedly Paul of Tarsus. He shines like a star of the brightest magnitude in the 

Church´s history, and not only in that of its origins. St John Chrysostom praised him as a 

person superior even to many angels and archangels (cf. Panegirico, 7, 3). Dante Alighieri 

in the Divine Comedy, inspired by Luke´s account in Acts (cf. 9: 15), describes him simply 

as "vessel of election" (Inf. 2: 28), which means: instrument chosen by God. Others called 

him the "13th Apostle", or directly, "the first after the Only". 

Certainly, after Jesus, he is one of the originals of whom we have the most information. In 

fact, we possess not only the account that Luke gives in the Acts of the Apostles, but also 

a group of Letters that have come directly from his hand and which, without intermediaries, 

reveal his personality and thought. 

Luke tells us that his name originally was Saul (cf. Acts 7: 58; 8: 1), in Hebrew also Saul 

(cf. Acts 9: 14, 17; 22: 7, 13; 26: 14), like King Saul (cf. Acts 13: 21), and he was a Jew of 

the diaspora, since the city of Tarsus is situated between Anatolia and Syria. 

Very soon he went to Jerusalem to study the roots of Mosaic Law in the footsteps of the 

great Rabbi Gamaliele (cf. Acts 22: 3). He also learned a manual and common trade, tent 

making (cf. Acts 18: 3), which later permitted him to provide personally for his own support 

without being a weight on the Churches (cf. Acts 20: 34; I Cor 4: 12; II Cor 12: 13). 

It was decisive for him to know the community of those who called themselves disciples of 

Jesus. Through them he came to know a new faith - a new "way", as it was called - that 

places not so much the Law of God at the centre but rather the person of Jesus, Crucified 

and Risen, to whom was now linked the remission of sins. As a zealous Jew, he held this 

message unacceptable, even scandalous, and he therefore felt the duty to persecute the 

followers of Christ even outside of Jerusalem. 

It was precisely on the road to Damascus at the beginning of the 30s A.D. that, according 

to his words, "Christ made me his own" (Phil 3: 12). While Luke recounts the fact with 

abundant detail - like how the light of the Risen One touched him and fundamentally 

changed his whole life -, in his Letters he goes directly to the essential and speaks not only 

of a vision (cf. I Cor 9: 1), but of an illumination (cf. II Cor 4: 6), and above all of a 

revelation and of a vocation in the encounter with the Risen One (cf. Gal 1: 15-16). 

In fact, he will explicitly define himself as "apostle by vocation" (cf. Rom 1: 1; I Cor 1: 1) or 

"apostle by the will of God" (II Cor 1: 1; Eph 1: 1; Col 1: 1), as if to emphasize that his 

conversion was not the result of a development of thought or reflection, but the fruit of 

divine intervention, an unforeseeable, divine grace. 

51

Henceforth, all that had constituted for him a value paradoxically became, according to his 

words, a loss and refuse (cf. Phil 3: 7-10). And from that moment all his energy was placed 

at the exclusive service of Jesus Christ and his Gospel. His existence would become that 

of an Apostle who wants to "become all things to all men" (I Cor 9: 22) without reserve. 

From here we draw a very important lesson: what counts is to place Jesus Christ at the 

centre of our lives, so that our identity is marked essentially by the encounter, by 

communion with Christ and with his Word. In his light every other value is recovered and 

purified from possible dross. 

Another fundamental lesson offered by Paul is the universal breadth that characterizes his 

apostolate. Acutely feeling the problem of the Gentiles, of the pagans, to know God, who 

in Jesus Christ Crucified and Risen offers salvation to all without exception, he dedicates 

himself to make this Gospel - literally, "good news" - known, to announce the grace 

destined to reconcile men with God, self and others. 

From the first moment he understood that this is a reality that did not concern only the 

Jews or a certain group of men, but one that had a universal value and concerned 

everyone, because God is the God of everyone. 

The point of departure for his travels was the Church of Antioch in Syria, where for the first 

time the Gospel was announced to the Greeks and where also the name "Christians" was 

coined (cf. Acts 11: 20, 26), believers in Christ. 

From there he first went to Cyprus and then on different occasions to the regions of Asia 

Minor (Pisidia, Laconia, Galatia), and later to those of Europe (Macedonia, Greece). The 

most famous were the cities of Ephesus, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, without forgetting 

Berea, Athens and Miletus. 

In Paul´s apostolate difficulties were not lacking, which he faced with courage for love of 

Christ. He himself recalls having endured "labours... imprisonment... beatings... numerous 

brushes with death.... Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I 

was shipwrecked, I passed a night and a day on the deep; on frequent journeys, in 

dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my own race, dangers from 

Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers at sea, dangers among 

false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many sleepless nights, through hunger and 

thirst, through frequent fastings, cold and exposure. And apart from these things there is 

the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the Churches" (II Cor 11: 23-28). 

From a passage of the Letter to the Romans (cf. 15: 24, 28) appears his proposal to push 

on even to Spain, to the Far West, to announce the Gospel everywhere, even to the then 

known ends of the earth. How can one not admire a man like this? How can one not thank 

the Lord for having given an Apostle of this stature? 

It is clear that he would not have been able to face such difficult and at times desperate 

situations if he did not have a reason of absolute value, before which no limit could be 

considered insurmountable. For Paul, this reason, as we know, is Jesus Christ, of whom 

he writes: "The love of Christ impels us... so that those who live might live no longer for 

themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised" (II Cor 5: 14-15), for us, for 

all. 

In fact, the Apostle renders the supreme witness of blood under the Emperor Nero here in 

Rome, where we keep and venerate his mortal remains. Clement of Rome, my 

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Predecessor to this Apostolic See, wrote of him in the last years of the first century: 

"Because of jealousy and discord, Paul was obliged to show us how one obtains the prize 

of patience.... After preaching justice to all in the world, and after having arrived at the 

limits of the West, he endured martyrdom before the political rulers; in this way he left this 

world and reached the holy place, thus becoming the greatest model of perseverance" (To 

the Corinthians, 5). 

May the Lord help us to put into practice the exhortation left to us by the Apostle in his 

Letters: "Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ" (I Cor 11: 1). 

St. Peter and St. Paul 

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2. PAUL – THE CENTRALITY OF JESUS CHRIST 

(Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, Wednesday November 8th, 2006) 

Dear Brothers and Sisters 

In our previous Catechesis two weeks ago, I endeavoured to sketch the essential lines of 

the biography of the Apostle Paul. We saw how his encounter with Christ on the road to 

Damascus literally revolutionized his life. Christ became his raison d´être and the profound 

motivation of all his apostolic work. 

In his Letters, after the Name of God which appears more than 500 times, the name most 

frequently mentioned is Christ´s (380 times). Thus, it is important to realize what a deep 

effect Jesus Christ can have on a person´s life, hence, also on our own lives. Actually, the 

history of salvation culminates in Jesus Christ, and thus he is also the true discriminating 

point in the dialogue with other religions. 

Looking at Paul, this is how we could formulate the basic question: how does a human 

being´s encounter with Christ occur? And of what does the relationship that stems from it 

consist? The answer given by Paul can be understood in two stages. 

In the first place, Paul helps us to understand the absolutely basic and irreplaceable value 

of faith. This is what he wrote in his Letter to the Romans: "We hold that a man is justified 

by faith apart from works of law" (3: 28). 

This is what he also wrote in his Letter to the Galatians: "[M]an is not justified by works of 

the law but only through faith in Jesus Christ; even we have believed in Christ Jesus, in 

order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law, because by works of the 

law shall no one be justified" (2: 16). 

"Being justified" means being made righteous, that is, being accepted by God´s merciful 

justice to enter into communion with him and, consequently, to be able to establish a far 

more genuine relationship with all our brethren: and this takes place on the basis of the 

complete forgiveness of our sins. 

Well, Paul states with absolute clarity that this condition of life does not depend on our 

possible good works but on the pure grace of God: "[We] are justified by his grace as a 

gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus" (Rom 3: 24). With these words St 

Paul expressed the fundamental content of his conversion, the new direction his life took 

as a result of his encounter with the Risen Christ. 

Before his conversion, Paul had not been a man distant from God and from his Law. On 

the contrary, he had been observant, with an observance faithful to the point of fanaticism. 

In the light of the encounter with Christ, however, he understood that with this he had 

sought to build up himself and his own justice, and that with all this justice he had lived for 

himself. 

He realized that a new approach in his life was absolutely essential. And we find this new 

approach expressed in his words: "The life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of 

God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal 2: 20). 

Paul, therefore, no longer lives for himself, for his own justice. He lives for Christ and with 

Christ: in giving of himself, he is no longer seeking and building himself up. This is the new 

justice, the new orientation given to us by the Lord, given to us by faith. 

Before the Cross of Christ, the extreme expression of his self-giving, there is no one who 

can boast of himself, of his own self-made justice, made for himself! Elsewhere, re- 

54

echoing Jeremiah, Paul explains this thought, writing, "Let him who boasts, boast of the 

Lord" (I Cor 1: 31 = Jer 9: 23-24ff.); or: "Far be it from me to glory except in the Cross of 

Our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" 

(Gal 6: 14). 

In reflecting on what justification means, not for actions but for faith, we thus come to the 

second component that defines the Christian identity described by St Paul in his own life. 

This Christian identity is composed of precisely two elements: this restraint from seeking 

oneself by oneself but instead receiving oneself from Christ and giving oneself with Christ, 

thereby participating personally in the life of Christ himself to the point of identifying with 

him and sharing both his death and his life. This is what Paul wrote in his Letter to the 

Romans: "[A]ll of us... were baptized into his death... we were buried therefore with him... 

we have been united with him.... So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and 

alive to God in Christ Jesus" (Rom 6: 3, 4, 5, 11). 

These last words themselves are symptomatic: for Paul, in fact, it was not enough to say 

that Christians are baptized or believers; for him, it was just as important to say they are 

"in Christ Jesus" (cf. also Rom 8: 1, 2, 39; 12: 5; 16: 3, 7, 10; I Cor 1: 2, 3 etc.). 

At other times he inverted the words and wrote: "Christ is in us/you" (Rom 8: 10; II Cor 13: 

5) or "in me" (Gal 2: 20). 

This mutual compenetration between Christ and the Christian, characteristic of Paul´s 

teaching, completes his discourse on faith. 

In fact, although faith unites us closely to Christ, it emphasizes the distinction between us 

and him; but according to Paul, Christian life also has an element that we might describe 

as "mystical", since it entails an identification of ourselves with Christ and of Christ with us. 

In this sense, the Apostle even went so far as to describe our suffering as "the suffering of 

Christ" in us (II Cor 1: 5), so that we might "always [carry] in the body the death of Jesus, 

so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies" (II Cor 4: 10). 

We must fit all this into our daily lives by following the example of Paul, who always lived 

with this great spiritual range. Besides, faith must constantly express humility before God, 

indeed, adoration and praise. 

Indeed, it is to him and his grace alone that we owe what we are as Christians. Since 

nothing and no one can replace him, it is necessary that we pay homage to nothing and no 

one else but him. No idol should pollute our spiritual universe or otherwise, instead of 

enjoying the freedom acquired, we will relapse into a humiliating form of slavery. 

Moreover, our radical belonging to Christ and the fact that "we are in him" must imbue in 

us an attitude of total trust and immense joy. In short, we must indeed exclaim with St 

Paul: "If God is for us, who is against us?" (Rom 8: 31). And the reply is that nothing and 

no one "will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Rom 8: 

39). Our Christian life, therefore, stands on the soundest and safest rock one can imagine. 

And from it we draw all our energy, precisely as the Apostle wrote: "I can do all things in 

him who strengthens me" (Phil 4: 13). 

Therefore, let us face our life with its joys and sorrows supported by these great 

sentiments that Paul offers to us. By having an experience of them we will realize how true 

are the words the Apostle himself wrote: "I know whom I have believed, and I am sure that 

he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me"; in other words, until the 

55

Day (II Tm 1: 12) of our definitive meeting with Christ the Judge, Saviour of the world and 

our Saviour. 


56

3. PAUL – THE SPIRIT IN OUR HEARTS 

(Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, Wednesday November 15th, 2006) 

Dear Brothers and Sisters 

Today too, as in our last two Catecheses, we return to St Paul and his thought. We have 

before us a giant, not only in terms of his actual apostolate but also of his extraordinarily 

profound and stimulating theological teaching. 

After meditating last time on what Paul wrote about the central place that Jesus Christ 

occupies in our life of faith, today let us look at what he said about the Holy Spirit and 

about his presence in us, because here too, the Apostle has something very important to 

teach us. 

We know what St Luke told us of the Holy Spirit from his description of the event of 

Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles. The Spirit of Pentecost brought with him a strong 

impulse to take on the commitment of the mission in order to witness to the Gospel on the 

highways of the world. 

Indeed, the Acts of the Apostles relates a whole series of missions the Apostles carried 

out, first in Samaria, then on the coastal strip of Palestine, then towards Syria. Above all, 

the three great missionary journeys of Paul are recounted, as I recalled at one of our 

previous Wednesday meetings. 

In his Letters, however, St Paul also spoke to us of the Spirit from another angle. He did 

not end by describing solely the dynamic and active dimension of the Third Person of the 

Blessed Trinity, but also analyzed his presence in the lives of Christians, which marks their 

identity. 

In other words, in Paul´s reflection on the Spirit he not only explained his influence on the 

action of Christians, but also on their being. Indeed, it is he who said that the Spirit of God 

dwells in us (cf. Rom 8: 9; I Cor 3: 16) and that "God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our 

hearts" (Gal 4: 6). 

In Paul´s opinion, therefore, the Spirit stirs us to the very depths of our being. Here are 

some of his words on this subject which have an important meaning: "For the law of the 

Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and death... you did not 

receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of 

sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!´, it is the Spirit himself" (Rom 8: 2, 15) who speaks 

in us because, as children, we can call God "Father". 

Thus, we can see clearly that even before he does anything, the Christian already 

possesses a rich and fruitful interiority, given to him in the Sacraments of Baptism and 

Confirmation, an interiority which establishes him in an objective and original relationship 

of sonship with God. This is our greatest dignity: to be not merely images but also children 

of God. And it is an invitation to live our sonship, to be increasingly aware that we are 

adoptive sons in God´s great family. It is an invitation to transform this objective gift into a 

subjective reality, decisive for our way of thinking, acting and being. 

God considers us his children, having raised us to a similar if not equal dignity to that of 

Jesus himself, the one true Son in the full sense. Our filial condition and trusting freedom 

in our relationship with the Father is given or restored to us in him. 

57

We thus discover that for Christians, the Spirit is no longer only the "Spirit of God", as he is 

usually described in the Old Testament and as people continue to repeat in Christian 

language (cf. Gn 41: 38; Ex 31: 3; I Cor 2: 11, 12; Phil 3: 3; etc.). Nor is he any longer 

simply a "Holy Spirit" generically understood, in the manner of the Old Testament (cf. Is 

63: 10, 11; Ps 51[50]: 13), and of Judaism itself in its writings (Qumran, rabbinism). 

Indeed, the confession of an original sharing in this Spirit by the Risen Lord, who himself 

became a "life-giving Spirit" (I Cor 15: 45), is part of the specificity of the Christian faith. 

For this very reason, St Paul spoke directly of the "Spirit of Christ" (Rom 8: 9), of the "Spirit 

of his Son" (cf. Gal 4: 6) or of the "Spirit of Jesus Christ" (Phil 1: 19). It is as though he 

wanted to say that not only is God the Father visible in the Son (cf. Jn 14: 9), but that the 

Spirit of God also expresses himself in the life and action of the Crucified and Risen Lord! 

Paul teaches us another important thing: he says that there is no true prayer without the 

presence of the Spirit within us. He wrote: "The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do 

not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too 

deep for words. And he who searches the hearts of men knows what is the mind of the 

Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom 8: 26- 

27). 

It is as if to say that the Holy Spirit, that is, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, is 

henceforth as it were the soul of our soul, the most secret part of our being, from which an 

impulse of prayer rises ceaselessly to God, whose words we cannot even begin to explain. 

In fact, the Spirit, ever alert within us, completes what is lacking in us and offers to the 

Father our worship as well as our deepest aspirations. 

This, of course, requires a degree of great and vital communion with the Spirit. It is an 

invitation to be increasingly sensitive, more attentive to this presence of the Spirit in us, to 

transform it into prayer, to feel this presence and thus to learn to pray, to speak to the 

Father as children in the Holy Spirit. 

There is also another typical aspect of the Spirit which St Paul teaches us: his connection 

with love. Thus, the Apostle wrote: "Hope does not disappoint us, because God´s love has 

been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us" (Rom 5: 5). 

In my Encyclical Letter Deus Caritas Est, I cited a most eloquent sentence of St Augustine: 

"If you see charity, you see the Trinity" (n. 19), and I continued by explaining: "The Spirit, 

in fact, is that interior power which harmonizes [believers´] hearts with Christ´s Heart and 

moves them to love their brethren as Christ loved them" (ibid.). The Spirit immerses us in 

the very rhythm of divine life, which is a life of love, enabling us to share personally in 

relations between the Father and the Son. 

It is not without significance that when Paul lists the various elements that constitute the 

fruit of the Spirit he puts love first: "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace", etc. (Gal 5: 

22). 

And since by definition, love unites, this means first of all that the Spirit is the creator of 

communion within the Christian community, as we say at the beginning of Mass, borrowing 

Paul´s words: "... may the fellowship of the Holy Spirit [that is, what he brings about] be 

with you all" (II Cor 13: 14). 

58

Furthermore, however, it is also true that the Spirit stimulates us to weave charitable 

relations with all people. Therefore, when we love we make room for the Spirit and give 

him leeway to express himself fully within us. 

We thus understand why Paul juxtaposes in the same passage of his Letter to the Romans 

the two exhortations: "Be aglow with the Spirit" and "Repay no one evil for evil" (Rom 12: 

11, 17). 

Finally, according to St Paul, the Spirit is a generous downpayment given to us by God 

himself as a deposit and at the same time, a guarantee of our future inheritance (cf. II Cor 

1: 22; 5: 5; Eph 1: 13-14). 

We therefore learn from Paul that the Spirit´s action directs our life towards the great 

values of love, joy, communion and hope. It is our task to experience this every day, 

complying with the inner promptings of the Spirit and helped in our discernment by the 

Apostle´s enlightened guidance. 


59

4. PAUL – IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH 

(Pope Benedict XVI, General Audience, Wednesday November 22nd, 2006) 

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

Today, we are ending our encounters with the Apostle Paul by dedicating one last 

reflection to him. Indeed, we cannot take our leave of him without considering one of the 

decisive elements of his activity and one of the most important subjects of his thought: the 

reality of the Church. 

We must first of all note that his initial contact with the Person of Jesus happened through 

the witness of the Christian community of Jerusalem. It was a turbulent contact. Having 

met the new group of believers, he immediately became a fierce persecutor of it. He 

acknowledged this himself at least three times in as many of his Letters: "I persecuted the 

Church of God" (I Cor 15: 9; Gal 1: 13; Phil 3: 6), as if to describe his behaviour as the 

worst possible crime. 

History shows us that one usually reaches Jesus by passing through the Church! In a 

certain sense, this proved true, we were saying, also for Paul, who encountered the 

Church before he encountered Jesus. In his case, however, this contact was 

counterproductive; it did not result in attachment but violent rejection. 

For Paul, adherence to the Church was brought about by a direct intervention of Christ, 

who in revealing himself on the road to Damascus identified himself with the Church and 

made Paul realize that persecution of the Church was persecution of himself, the Lord. 

In fact, the Risen One said to Paul, persecutor of the Church: "Saul, Saul, why do you 

persecute me?" (Acts 9: 4). In persecuting the Church, he was persecuting Christ. 

Paul, therefore, was at the same time converted to Christ and to the Church. This leads 

one to understand why the Church later became so present in Paul´s thoughts, heart and 

activity. 

In the first place, she was so present that he literally founded many Churches in the 

various cities where he went as an evangelizer. When he spoke of his "anxiety for all the 

Churches" (II Cor 11: 28), he was thinking of the various Christian communities brought 

into being from time to time in Galatia, Ionia, Macedonia and in Achaea. 

Some of those Churches also caused him worry and chagrin, as happened, for example, 

in the Churches of Galatia, which he saw "turning to a different gospel" (Gal 1: 6), 

something he opposed with grim determination. 

Yet, he felt bound to the Communities he founded in a way that was far from cold and 

bureaucratic but rather intense and passionate. Thus, for example, he described the 

Philippians as "my brethren, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown" (Phil 4: 1). 

On other occasions he compared the various Communities to a letter of recommendation, 

unique in its kind: "You yourselves are our letter of recommendation, written on your 

hearts, to be known and read by all men" (II Cor 3: 2). 

At yet other times, he showed a real feeling for them that was not only paternal but also 

maternal, such as when he turned to those he was addressing, calling them: "My little 

60

children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you" (Gal 4: 19; cf. also I 

Cor 4: 14-15; I Thes 2: 7-8). 

Paul also illustrates for us in his Letters his teaching on the Church as such. Thus, his 

original definition of the Church as the "Body of Christ", which we do not find in other 

Christian authors of the first century, is well known (cf. I Cor 12: 27; Eph 4: 12; 5: 30; Col 

1: 24). 

We find the deepest root of this surprising designation of the Church in the Sacrament of 

the Body of Christ. St Paul said: "Because there is one bread, we who are many are one 

body" (I Cor 10: 17). In the same Eucharist, Christ gives us his Body and makes us his 

Body. Concerning this, St Paul said to the Galatians: "You are all one in Christ" (Gal 3: 

28). By saying all this, Paul makes us understand that not only does the belonging of the 

Church to Christ exist, but also a certain form of equality and identification of the Church 

with Christ himself. 

From this, therefore, derive the greatness and nobility of the Church, that is, of all of us 

who are part of her: from our being members of Christ, an extension as it were of his 

personal presence in the world. And from this, of course, stems our duty to truly live in 

conformity with Christ. 

Paul´s exhortations concerning the various charisms that give life and structure to the 

Christian community also derive from this. They can all be traced back to a single source, 

that is, the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, knowing well that in the Church there is no 

one who goes without them, for, as the Apostle wrote, "to each is given the manifestation 

of the Spirit for the common good" (I Cor 12: 7). 

It is important, however, that all the charisms cooperate with one another for the edification 

of the community and do not instead become the cause of a rift. 

In this regard, Paul asked himself rhetorically: "Is Christ divided?" (I Cor 1: 13). He knows 

well and teaches us that it is necessary to "maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of 

peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope that 

belongs to your call" (Eph 4: 3-4). 

Obviously, underlining the need for unity does not mean that ecclesial life should be 

standardized or levelled out in accordance with a single way of operating. Elsewhere, Paul 

taught: "Do not quench the Spirit" (I Thes 5: 19), that is, make room generously for the 

unforeseeable dynamism of the charismatic manifestations of the Spirit, who is an ever 

new source of energy and vitality. 

But if there is one tenet to which Paul stuck firmly it was mutual edification: "Let all things 

be done for edification" (I Cor 14: 26). Everything contributes to weaving the ecclesial 

fabric evenly, not only without slack patches but also without holes or tears. 

Then, there is also a Pauline Letter that presents the Church as Christ´s Bride (cf. Eph 5: 

21-33). 

With this, Paul borrowed an ancient prophetic metaphor which made the People of Israel 

the Bride of the God of the Covenant (cf. Hos 2: 4, 21; Is 54: 5-8). He did so to express the 

intimacy of the relationship between Christ and his Church, both in the sense that she is 

the object of the most tender love on the part of her Lord, and also in the sense that love 

must be mutual and that we too therefore, as members of the Church, must show him 

passionate faithfulness. 

61

Thus, in short, a relationship of communion is at stake: the so to speak vertical communion 

between Jesus Christ and all of us, but also the horizontal communion between all who 

are distinguished in the world by the fact that they "call on the name of Our Lord Jesus 

Christ" (I Cor 1: 2). 

This is our definition: we belong among those who call on the Name of the Lord Jesus 

Christ. Therefore, we clearly understand how desirable it is that what Paul himself was 

hoping for when he wrote to the Corinthians should come to pass: "If an unbeliever or an 

uninitiated enters while all are uttering prophecy, he will be taken to task by all and called 

to account by all, and the secret of his heart will be laid bare. Falling prostrate, he will 

worship God, crying out, "God is truly among you´" (I Cor 14: 24-25). 

Our liturgical encounters should be like this. A non-Christian who enters one of our 

assemblies ought finally to be able to say: "God is truly with you". Let us pray to the Lord 

to be like this, in communion with Christ and in communion among ourselves. 

62

REFLECTIONS ON THE WRITINGS 

OF ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE 

REFLECTION 1 

Quietly read over the passage from 2 Corinthians 4:7-11. What are the fragile areas of 

your own life? How do you respond to them? What is the “treasure” within your own fragile 

existence? 

REFLECTION 2 

In what ways have you become a “new creation” through your faith? 

REFLECTION 3 

As you reflect n your personal journey of faith, can you discern distinctive moments of 

“conversion”, times when you discern distinctive moment of “conversion”, time when you 

have been truly “turned around” by God’s grace? Have there been moments of dramatic 

change? Times of more gradual transformation? 

REFLECTION 4 

Read Romans 8:28-39. In this passage Paul expresses his irrepressible confidence that 

despite all kinds of obstacles, nothing can separate us from God’s love. Can you compose 

(in your memory or in writing) a similar list of obstacles that seem to interfere with your 

hopefulness in life? Do you have the same confidence as Paul that everything will 

eventually work out for good? 

63

REFLECTION 5 

When Paul prayed to have a mysterious difficulty (the ‘thorn in the side’) removed from 

him, he says God responded, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in 

weakness’ (2 Corinthians 12:9). Repeat this phrase over and over again, like a mantra, 

and meditate on its meaning. 

REFLECTION 6 

Read Romans 15:30-33, Paul’s plea for prayers from the Romans on his behalf. Asking for 

people’s prayers for yourself in not selfish. It is an act of faith in both God and the ones 

you love. When was the last time you asked others to pray for you? 

REFLECTION 7 

Read Philemon 4-6, Paul’s prayer for his friend and fellow believer Philemon, for whom he 

gives thanks. Call to mind those of your own personal circle of family, friends, coworkers 

ad colleagues upon whom you ask God’s special blessing. 

REFLECTION 8 

Read Romans 10:1-21 Paul’s prayer for the salvation of Israel. Paul regularly prays for 

those who are not believers in Jesus Christ. Spend some time in prayer for those in our 

own day who are not believers. 

REFLECTION 9 

Read slowly and thoughtfully 1 Cor 13:1-13, Paul’s great ode to love. Why is love the 

greatest virtue? Do you think Paul is being realistic in his description? 

REFLECTION 10 

Paul frequently called on his readers to imitate him, such as in 1 Corinthians 1:1. What 

aspects of Paul’s life and teaching are most attractive for you to imitiate? Are there 

aspects of his teaching that are difficult to imitate? 

REFLECTION 11 

Read Romans 8:38-39. What kinds of “present things,” “future things,” “powers” or “any 

other creature” threaten your life? Can you express the same confidence as Paul that 

none of these obstacles will prevent you from experiencing the loving salvation of God? 

REFLECTION 12 

Read 1 Corinthians 15, Paul’s longest reflection on the resurrection. What do you find 

comforting about this belief? Can you identify any anxieties associated with it? How strong 

is your own conviction that God’s victory over sin and death will win out in the end? 

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REFLECTION 13 

Read 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Paul writes about not losing hope that those who “have 

fallen asleep” will rise on the last day. Although the imagery of the actual event in Christ’s 

coming in glory in the last days is not meant to be taken literally, the passage is intended 

to sustain hope in the resurrection. Do you find anything in the passage consoling? Does it 

stretch one’s imagination? What message of hope do you find there? 

65

ST. PAUL OF THE CROSS AND ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE 

“Special veneration was given to St. Paul the Apostle by St. Paul of the Cross. Paul of the 

Cross bore the name of the apostle Paul and admired his ardent love for Christ Crucified, 

and he loved particularly to meditate of the apostle’s letters. His quotations from them are 

numerous and were regularly put before the novices so that they might learn to glory in the 

cross of Christ” 

History of the Passionists, Fr. Fabiano Giorgini, C.P. 

Volume 1, Page 328 

66

OTHER RESOURCES FOR THE YEAR OF ST. PAUL 

67

DVD RESOURCE ON ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE 

Resources available from Pauline Books and Media 

Australia and New Zealand 

68

The Seven Last Words 

69

The Seven Last Words 

- Words from the Cross - 

The Seven Last Words spoken by Jesus from the Cross have been the focus of Christian 

meditation through the ages. Set to music by Haydn, they epitomize the depth of Jesus’ 

human experience faced with death, and thus speak most profoundly to the human 

condition. 

The Seven Last Words spoken by Jesus from the Cross have always been a special focus 

for Passionist Spirituality. 

In them Jesus speaks from the Cross words of hope, of strength of faith, of forgiveness 

and of love. Besides being words of power they are words of example on how to follow 

Christ Crucified. 

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1. Forgive them, for they know not what they do 

(Luke 23:34) 

THE WORD OF FORGIVENESS 

The first word given to us is forgiveness. Forgiveness comes before the crucifixion, before 

the insults and death. Forgiveness is always first. Maybe we could not cope with listening 

to the Passion of Christ it we did not begin with forgiveness. 

Lord Jesus, you looked down from the cross at those who had beaten you, laughed at you, 

cursed you, and you saw the terrible eyes of your enemies watching, waiting for you to die. 

Yet beyond the hatred, beyond the violence, of those desperate men and women you saw 

your Father’s love for them. 

And you responded in love and said: “Father, forgive them; they do not know that they are 

doing.” 

Lord Jesus when my enemies are watching, waiting for me to fall let me not be blinded by 

pain and anger so much that I can no longer love them. 

Give me resurrection eyes that I might see even my enemies as our merciful Father sees 

them. 

SCRIPTURE 

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for 

those who mistreat you. To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other as 

well .. Love your enemies and do good to them .. then your reward will be great and you 

will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be 

merciful, just as your Father is merciful (Luke 6:27-36) 

REFLECTION 

It is usual for crucified persons to speak while hanging on the cross, but their words 

usually consisted of wild expressions of pain and pleading for release. They would shriek 

and curse and spit at their spectators. But here was Jesus, suffering untold agony and 

dying a shameful death. He didn’t cry out for pity nor did he curse his crucifiers. There was 

no plea for release, but instead, a prayer for all his enemies. Jesus prayed for those who 

condemned him and nailed him to the cross. 

Has someone hurt your feelings in some way? Can you pray for that person? 

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2. Today you will be with me in paradise 

(Luke 23:43) 

THE WORD OF ASSURANCE 

Lord Jesus, those you loved wished to crush all hope from you leaving you hanging 

between despair and desolation. And yet it is hope that you offered to the one crucified 

beside you. 

“Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom” – your kingdom of peace, amid 

the storms of life beyond all deaths. Remember me Jesus and give me a resurrection 

hope, a hope beyond all hope so that I may share it with those who are filled with despair. 

SCRIPTURE 

Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the 

foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you have me food, I was thirsty and you 

have me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you 

cared for me, in prison and you visited me. (Matthew 25:34-36) 

REFLECTION 

On the other side of Jesus, on crosses lifted to the sky, hung two thieves. These two were 

guilty men. The two malefactors hung there for a while in silence, but they were unable to 

turn away their eyes from the man who was weltering by their side. At length, one of the 

thieves began to speak. He joined in the blasphemous speeches which were rising from 

the crowd below, and said to the man in the crown of thorns, “If thou be the Christ, save 

thyself and us.” The second thief acknowledged that Jesus had “done nothing amiss,” and 

that they indeed deserved their punishment, “for we receive the due reward for our deeds.” 

And then the second thief humbly and devoutly said to Jesus, “Lord, remember me when 

you come into your kingdom”. 

Jesus says not only will I remember you but I will take you to a land where you will never 

suffer again, and where all your troubles and tears will be gone forever! I will take you to 

Paradise. 

The dying thief receives words of assurance. 

RELECTION 

It never says in the Gospel that the two people on either side of Jesus are thieves, only 

that they are wrongdoers. But the tradition is wise to call him the “good thief”. It is a good 

description. He knows how to get hold of what is not his. He pulls off the most amazing 

coup in history. He gets Paradise without paying for it. As do we all. We just have to learn 

how to accept gifts. 

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3. Woman, Behold your Son! … Behold your mother. 

(John 19:26-27) 

THE WORD OF COMFORT 

Lord Jesus you were brought out of the city a dangerous enemy they said, “You are not 

one of us. You do not belong here, be crucified!” 

You answered them, “This is your son … this is your mother”. You said to them and you 

say to us - be a family, be a gift to each other, be one as the Father and I are one. 

Jesus let me welcome others as your gift to me. Remove all fears from my heart and make 

it a home for all those who have no home. Turn all those I fear and push away into 

brothers and sisters. Give me a resurrection heart that I may love as you love. 

May I always offer words of comfort to others. 

SCRIPTURE 

I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so 

that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in 

us, that the world may believe that you sent me. And I have given them the glory you gave 

me, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may be 

brought to perfection as one, that the world may know that you sent me, and that you 

loved them even as you loved me. Father, they are your gift to me. I wish that where I am 

they also may be with me, that they may see my glory that you gave me, because you 

loved me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:20-24) 

REFLECTION 

While the crowd mocked and jeered, it is good to know that there were those present who 

really cared. Jesus looked down and saw his mother standing near the Cross. By her side 

was the disciple John. This little group of friends furnished a striking contrast to the rest of 

the mocking crowd. 

Try and read the thoughts and actions of Jesus’ mother’s heart. His disciples had deserted 

him, his friends had forsaken him, his nation had rejected him; and his enemies cried out 

for his blood. But his faithful mother stood there sorrowing at the foot of the Cross. Surely 

those nails pierced her heart just as much as they pierced his body. 

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4. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 

(Mark 15:34) 

THE WORD OF DESOLATION 

Jesus, who found his purpose and strength in the presence of God, who was sustained by 

the immediacy of his relationship with God and who endured all by the tangible power of 

God always at work within him, always a centre of vitality and peace, found himself totally 

alone on the cross. 

Jesus, whose very being was God, found himself utterly, absolutely, despairingly, cut off 

from all that gives life and breath, cut off from all that gives purpose and hope, cut off from 

the source of his ebbing, cut off, even from himself plumbing the depths of the human 

condition, to walk in the place of the utter absence of God, in the place of sinners, in the 

place of those who reject God. 

SCRIPTURE 

What will separate us from the love of Christ? Will anguish, or distress, or persecution, or 

famine, or nakedness, or peril, or the sword? As it is written: “For your sake we are being 

slain all the day; we are looked upon as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things 

we conquer overwhelmingly through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither 

death, or life, nor angels, nor principalities, not present things, not future things, nor 

powers, nor height, nor depth, nrt any other creature wil be able to separate us from the 

love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39) 

REFLECTION 

Few of us will ever have to endure such utter desolation, but there may have been 

moments when we feared to be swallowed by the void, and when our lives appeared to be 

without sense or meaning, because God had gone. It such times proofs of the existence of 

God are no great help. Words do not help much. 

These terrible words of Jesus are a quotation from Psalm 22. Someone several hundreds 

of years earlier had been in anguish and he or she wrote these words down. Now Jesus 

takes these words and he makes them his own. He embraces the experience of desolation 

and shares it. Even the experience of the absense of God is somehow brought within 

God’s own life. 

Someone may ask us: “Why? Why? Where is God now?” And we may be terrified by 

finding that we have nothing to say. All the pious words that come to our lips sound worse 

than empty. Then all that we can do is to be there, and trust that God is there too. 

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5. I thirst 

(John 19:28) 

THE WORD OF SUFFERING 

Jesus you thirst to give me your love and for my love in return. Lord Jesus, let me enter 

more deeply into your love. Let me understand that I cannot give without receiving nor 

receive without giving. Quench my thirst for your love, O Lord, by sending me those who 

need to be loved and give me a resurrection love that I may love them as you do. 

SCRIPTURE 

Jesus stood up and exclaimed, “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink. Whoever 

believes in me, as scripture says, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from within them’” (John 

7:37-38). 

REFLECTION 

Thirst is a very fundamental experience. I have only been thirsty once, walking in the 

desert from Jerusalem to Jericho. After a while we began to feel disorientated, almost 

disembodied. One of our companions did go slightly crazy with thirst but for those who 

face suffering it is often the climax of their trials. 

Brian Keenan, in his hell hole in Beirut, longs for words and for water: “I must ration my 

drinking water for I am always fearful that I might finish it and then wake in the middle of 

the night with a raging thirst that I cannot satiate. I think of rabies and the raging thirst of 

mad dogs and I know how easy it would be to go mad from thirst. Now I know the full 

meaning of the expression so frequently used in our daily lives: ‘He was mad with thirst.’” 

(An Evil Cradling, p. 63). 

Why it is that thirst for water is so fundamental? Maybe it is because our bodies are 98 per 

cent water. Dedydration is the seeping away of our very being, our substance. We feel that 

we ourselves are evaporating. So often the last desire of those who are dying is for 

something to drink. It also stands for that deepest thirst for the one who gives us 

substance and being at every moment and who promises eternal life: “Oh God, you are my 

God for you I long; for you my soul is thirsting. My body pines for you, like a dry weary land 

without water.” (Psalm 62) 

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6. It is finished 

(John 19:30) 

THE WORD OF TRIUMPH 

There is a kind of timelessness about hanging on the cross. It is not a quiet death, over in 

an instant to one glorious moment of martyrdom like being town apart by lions. A cross is 

as much an instrument of torture as it is a gallows from which to hang. 

And as the day wears on seconds stretch into minutes which stretch into hours until there 

comes a point when time can no longer be measured except in the gradual weakening of 

the body and its ever more insistent demands for the substance which is so vital to life, so 

foundational to all living things, so basic to existence as we know it – water. 

Water to moisten the parched mouth, water to free a swollen tongue, water to open a 

rasping throat that cannot gasp enough air, water to keep hope alive, to keep life alive just 

a few moments longer. Water, to a crucified man, is life. 

SCRIPTURE 

And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 

so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world 

that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might 

have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but 

that the world might be saved through him. (John 3:14-17) 

REFLECTION 

The solders give Jesus what they have, some sour old vinegar. It probably tasted 

disgusting but it is what poor soldiers drank and so they shared it. They could not affaord 

decent wine. Jesus accepts what they have to offer. At the feeding of the five thousand, 

Jesus asked the disciples what they had to give to the crowd, and they reply, “Just five 

loaves and two fish.” It is not much. It is all that they have and so it is enough. Faced with 

our hungry world, with millions who are starving, we may not feel that we have much to 

give. If we give what we have, then it will be enough. 

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7. Father, into your hands I commend my spirit 

(Luke 23:46) 

THE WORD OF COMMITAL 

It is the end, the very end, the end of the ordeal and Jesus alone on the cross, tortured, 

exhausted, abandoned by his friends, forsaken by God gasps for the last breath and 

gathers the strength for one final cry. Why would be choose to speak so close to the end? 

Why would be muster the last energy he had to cry out with a loud voice? Couldn’t God 

have heard his thoughts? A dedication made despite the pain, despite the mocking, 

despite the agony, despite the sense of horrible aloneness he felt. Jesus entrusts his 

spirit, his life, to God in faith, even at the point of his own abandonment when the good 

seems so very far away he proclaims his faith in God, the darkness cannot overcome it. 

SCRIPTURE 

For I will take you away from among the nations, gather you from all the foreign lands, and 

bring you back to your own land. I will sprinkle clean water upon you to cleanse you from 

all your impurities, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. I will give you a new heart and 

place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving them 

natural hearts. I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to 

observe my decrees. You shall live in the land I gave your fathers; you shall be my people, 

and I will be your God. (Exekiel 36:24-29) 

REFLECTION 

We live in an age of profound anxiety. We are fearful about disease and illness, about our 

futures, about our children, about our jobs, about failure, about death. We suffer from a 

deep insecurity, a collapse of trust. This is strange because we are far more protected and 

safe than any previous generation of human history, at least in the West. We have better 

medicine, safer transport; we are more protected from the climate, have better social 

security. And yet we are more afraid. 

Take a moment to think of all that you most fear. For me might it be the shame of public 

humiliation? Or a painful death? Or seeing the early death of someone that you love? We 

can take every possible precaution to avoid these disasters. We can take out all the 

insurance policies in the world, live healthy lives, go to the gym, and never catch airplanes, 

have check ups and give up smoking. But what we most fear may still happen. Jesus 

invites us not to be afraid. 

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THE ROSARY OF THE SEVEN SORROWS OF MARY 

Meditate on the following while reciting the prayers 

The First Sorrow: 

Let us meditate on the first Sorrow of the Blessed Virgin, when she presented her only son 

in the temple, laid him in the arms of holy Simeon, and heard the prophetic words, "This 

one shall be a sword of sorrow to pierce your own heart." 

(One Our Father .... Seven Hail Marys) 

The Second Sorrow: 

Mary flees into Egypt with Jesus and Joseph - Forced to endure the hardships of a long 

journey, and becoming a foreigner in a strange land, Mary and her family flee to protect 

the child Jesus from those who would destroy him. 


The Third Sorrow: 

Mary seeks Jesus lost in Jerusalem - Jesus disappeared for three days in Jerusalem at 

the age of twelve, causing his parents, especially Mary, agonizing sorrow. 


The Fourth Sorrow: 

Mary meets Jesus on the way to Calvary - As Jesus makes his way to Calvary, 

condemned to crucifixion, He meets His mother, Mary. He is bruised, derided, cursed and 

defiled and her sorrow is absolute as Jesus drags His own cross up the hill of His 

crucifixion. 


The Fifth Sorrow: 

Mary stands near the cross of her Son - Mary stands near her dying Son unable to 

minister to him as he cries "I thirst". She hears him promise heaven to a thief and forgive 

his enemies. His last words, "Behold your mother," charge us to look on Mary as our 

mother. 


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The Sixth Sorrow: 

Mary received the body of Jesus taken down from the cross - The passion and death are 

over but for his mother, grief continues. She holds His body in her arms. 


The Seventh Sorrow: 

Mary places the body of Jesus in the tomb, awaiting the resurrection - The most tragic day 

in history ends, Mary alone in sorrow, as she lays the body of her Son, in the tomb. 


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BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Seven Last Words, Timothy Radcliffe 

Burns & Oates London, 2004 

Seven Last Words for Seven Weeks, Mary Sweeney 

Paulist Press, New York, 2007 

The Seven Last Words, Brian More S.J. 

ACTS Publications, Melbourne, 1983 

Words from the Cross, Stephen C. Rowan 

Twenty Third Publications, Mystic CN, 1988 

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HELPFUL RESOURCES FOR PRAYER 

Available at leading Catholic Bookshops 

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NOT FOR PUBLICATION 


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