Letter to all the Italian Parish priests, on seeking religious and priestly vocations.

Tortona, 15th August 1927.

Most Reverend Father,

May the peace of Our Lord Jesus Christ be always with us!
I would like to come and see your Excellency in person, but, as it is not possible, I am
confident in your goodness to be able to ask you to listen to me favourably even from
far away.
I will be grateful to your Excellency if you can help me in the work of seeking out
holy vocations; it is in fact about this that I am hoping to interest you in the Lord:
I am coming to seek vocations. And I am especially looking for young men who show
a desire to become priests or helping brothers, and who would be prepared, with the
agreement of their families, to join this new-born Congregation of the Sons of Divine
Providence, which, as it is blessed by the Vicar of Jesus Christ and the Bishops, will
soon be able to pitch its tents far beyond Italy: to Rhodes, to Palestine, to Poland, to
Uruguay, to Brazil and to Argentina.
It is prepared to accept poor boys, as long as they give good hope for the Church. And
it will educate them, with the help of God, in the doctrine of Jesus Christ, to a firm
and ardent eucharistic piety, a burning spirit of charity and apostolate, helping them
with special care in their studies and religious formation.
"The harvest is great, but the labourers are few."
Brothers, let us provide labourers, good labourers, for the vast fields of faith and
charity!
Your Excellency's expert eye will have certainly seen in some humble boys a spark of a
heavenly vocation: they are the little Samuels that Divine Providence is continually
raising up in the service of the Church and for the spreading of the Kingdom of God
throughout the world.
I am not coming to reap, not at all: I let the Bishops reap for their Seminaries; but,
just as I used as a boy to go with my poor mother to pick up ears of wheat or corn
along the sunny furrows, I am now coming, in the Name of the Lord, to pick up the
ears of wheat left behind, those humble ears of wheat that could have been
lost. And with divine grace, I will try even from them to draw food and the bread
of life for souls.
"Many are called to the service of the altar," wrote that great Servant of God, Fr.
Rua, but many are lost, as they cannot always be helped.
If, therefore, Your Excellency has discovered, among the good boys who go to Church,
some poor young boy, perhaps a little left out of things, but with the openness of
innocence and the signs of a vocation to the service of God, I take the liberty of humbly
asking you to send him to me.
We have preparatory courses for those candidates who are not mature enough for
Grammar School. With all of them I will give every assistance. Our Blessed Lady
will help me!
The vocations of poor boys to the Priesthood are, after the love of the Pope and
the Church, my dearest ideal, the sacred love of my life.
Mercifully led by Divine Providence, this "Little Work" was begun for them; for
them our first House in Tortona was opened, for those, that is, that the Bishop
had not been able, unfortunately, to accept into the Seminary. And God has
granted me an increase: how many good Priests have been formed, Bishops as well!
What a long road I have walked for the vocations of poor boys! I have climbed so many
stairs: I have knocked on so many doors! And God brought me onward like His slave.
I have undergone hunger, thirst and most painful humiliations: yet they seemed like
little treats from God! I have also incurred many debts; but Divine Providence has
never let me go bankrupt. And if Jesus were to grant it, I would consider it a great
grace if, for vocations, I could go begging bread right up to the end of my life.
For the character, then, of this new-born Congregation, I am coming to seek vocations
and even late vocations: both for the Priesthood and for lay brothers or helpers, of
which we have a great need, in Italy as well as abroad, in the Missions and in the
Schools for the children of Italian emigrants.
I will even accept mature men, as long as they are free: farmers, artisans, widowers;
they must just be in good health and of good will. All those who feel they are called
and able to give me a hand in exercising the Apostolate of Charity in the Colleges,
Sunday Schools, Agricultural Colonies, Professional Schools - Printing Houses,
Mechanical Workshops, Carpenters' Shops, Laboratories of arts and crafts - and also in
the Hospices and Homes that the Hand of Providence is opening for the salvation of
youth or for the comfort of the humble: all can find their niche, their place of work,
since in these Charitable Institutions there are many mansions.*
Whoever perseveres stays with us, as if he were at home, in sickness and in health, for
the whole of his life.
For those no longer deceived by the world and who wish to give themselves to God in
a life of recollection, prayer and seclusion, we have the Hermits. The Hermits of
Divine Providence live in the peace of solitude while praying and working; and even
young candidates are accepted, just as St. Benedict did.
And then? Well I still have not finished, as I also have the Sisters. Divine Providence is
at work. For some years It has been developing, through my hands, a new Congregation
of Sisters, called the Missionaries of Charity. And they have already spread throughout
Piedmont, Lombardy, Venetia, Emilia, The Marches, Rome, Calabria and even into
Poland.
How many they are, I do not know. I know that generally the Nuns are a little like
ants. However, they are always too few in number for our needs, as they are
requested on all sides for Nursery and Infant schools, Hospitals, Poor-houses, etc.
So, if your Excellency should send me some good vocations for the Sisters, I would be
very interested. There is also a section of Nuns for the widows. I also have the Blind
Sisters, the Sacramentines.
And then...and then, if Divine Providence is still at work, you will see in a few years
what will spring from the hands of the Lord.
It is all Our Lord's doing, it is Our Lord, I would say, who is at work. The One who
spoke through the mouth of Balaam's ass, did not find a more miserable creature on
earth than me, in order to show that all good comes from Him.
I am not looking for dowries, I do not impose age limits for anyone; I just want
them to have a good spirit, good health, a good will to love and serve Jesus Christ,
to work in humble obedience, to sacrifice themselves in charity, to do good to the
poor, serving Jesus in the poor. Because we exist for the poor, in fact for the
poorest and most abandoned.
See, my dear Brother in the Lord, how many cares I am laying before you, how many
people this Brother Galdino of Divine Providence is coming to ask from you.
Brother Galdino del Manzoni was happy to go around looking for peanuts. I, on the
other hand - due to time passing - will end up, if your Excellency is not careful, by
seeking you out and taking you away yourself...And who knows?...Who knows if one
day...God were to wish!...For now, I shall content myself with humbly asking you to
send me vocations, good vocations, many vocations! Souls and Souls! I am looking for
souls! I am trying, with divine help and your Excellency's also, to do a job of
resuscitation of good Religious, of holy Priests, of Apostles.
Who would refuse to help me? Do me this charity for the love of God, the Blessed One!
I trust in Our Lord and in the intelligent goodness and zeal of your Excellency. For
what you will do, may God bless you with a great blessing! I will always pray for you,
and I promise always to be grateful to you, especially at the Altar.
Permit me now to embrace you fraternally with a holy kiss. Please accept me,
respectfully as your humble and most obliging servant and brother in Jesus Christ and
in Our Blessed Lady.

Fr. Luigi Orione of Divine Providence

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Don Bosco on Vocations!

The following address was made by Don Bosco to all of his boys on the Feast
of Saint Joseph (March 19, 1876) and are recorded in Fr. Arthur Lenti'sDon
Bosco: History and Spirit, Volume 5. The harvest is great but the laborers are
few! That was Don Bosco's theme. Is it any less true today? I invite anyone
who might be considering a religious vocation to read these words of Don
Bosco prayerfully:

One day our Divine Savior was walking through the countryside in the
neighborhood of Samaria. Gazing about him at the plains and valleys and
seeing a bountiful harvest, he pointed it out to his apostles that they too might
enjoy the sight. Soon, however, they noticed that there was on one to harvest
it. Turning to the apostles and certainly alluding to something far more
sublime, Jesus said to them, “The harvest is great but laborers are scarce.”

Throughout the centuries the Church and people of all nations have reechoed
this anguished cry.
You quickly grasp that by fields and vineyards our Divine Savoir meant the
Church and all mankind and that the harvest he had in mind was the souls to
be gathered into his granary. How abundant a harvest it is! Millions of souls
live on this earth and vast is the work which remains if everyone is to be
saved! But the workers are few-not just priests but all those who in one way or
another work for the salvation of souls. Certainly, priests are more directly
involved in harvesting souls, but they are not alone, nor are there enough of
them. All those who work for the salvation of souls are called apostolic
laborers, just as all who help in harvesting are themselves harvesters.

See how many kinds of laborers we need to work a field. Some plow, others
clear the ground, break up clods, rake the soil, sow seeds and cover them
with earth. Then a dozen other tasks have to be done before the wheat is
finally harvested and stored.

The Church, too, needs all kinds of laborers, and I mean all kinds. No one can
ever say, “My conduct is blameless, but I would never be any good working
for God’s greater glory.” Don’t think that way, because everyone can do his
share.

The laborers are few. What a blessing it would be to have enough priests for
every city, town, village, and hamlet-enough to convert the whole world. Since
this is impossible, others must lend a hand. Besides, how are priests to give
full time to their ministry if they had to make their own shoes and clothing.

A priest must have help, and I believe I am not wrong in saying that all of you
here present-priests, students, artisans, and coadjutors- can become true
evangelical laborers in the Lord’s vineyard.
 How? In many ways: for instance, you can all pray,
and this is the most important element mentioned by Our Savior in remarking on the
scarcity of laborers. Therefore pray to the Master of the vineyard to send laborers into
His harvest.

Prayer strongly appeals to God’s goodness and as it were compels Him to

send workers. So, let us pray for our own country and for foreign lands, for the
needs of our own families and cities, for souls still shrouded in the darkness of
idolatry, superstition and heresy.

Let us all pray most heartily and insistently to the Lord of the harvest.

Another thing we can all do, extremely helpful and effective, is to give good
example. How much good we can accomplish this way-good example in word,
encouraging each other to do what is right and offering salutary advice. One
person may have doubts about his vocation, another may be set to make an
irreparably harmful decision. Timely good advice and encouragement can
avert that. Often indeed a single word can mark the difference between
choosing the right path or the wrong.
St. Paul used to exhort the faithful to be a “lamp set aflame and burning
bright”. Oh that such a light were visible in us, and that everyone were edified
by our words and deeds! If we only had that burning love that makes us put
everything aside in order to help others! If we only had that perfect chastity
which enables us to wipe out all vices, that meekness that conquers all hearts!
Then I believe that we would draw the entire world into our nets.

These and a thousand other ways are open to all workers in the Lord’s
vineyard, be they priests, clerics or laymen, regardless of age and postion.
Everyone, you see, can help gather in the Gospel harvest as long as one is
motivated by zeal for God’s honor and the salvation of souls.

Now you may wonder, “What are you driving at, Don Bosco? What are you
trying to tell us and why?”

My dear sons, the cry, “The laborers are few,” did not resound only in
past eras, but it is more imperative than ever in our present day and age.
The harvest allotted to our Congregation grows daily at such a pace that
I may well say that we do not know where to begin or how to go about
our task. That is why I would like to see all of you very soon working
hard in the Lord’s vineyard.

An extraordinary number of requests for new residence schools, houses and

mission stations reach us from different parts of Italy, France and foreign
countries such as Gibraltar, Algeria, Egypt, Arabia, India, China, Japan,
Australia, Argentina, Paraguay, and practically all South America. Everywhere
the scarcity of evangelical workers is thoroughly shocking when we consider
how much good can be done and remains undone through lack of
missionaries. Heartrending news comes to us from Father Cagliero. In
Argentina a priest does not ask his penitent “How long has it been since your
last confession?” but “Have you ever gone to confession?” Not infrequently
men and women between the ages of thirty and forty reply that they have
never been to confession. And this is not due to dislike of the Church, but only
because there was never an opportunity. So you can imagine how many will
find themselves at death’s door, desirous of making their confession and
receiving absolution and this consolation cannot be theirs because very rarely
is a priest available.

But I do not intend to urge you to journey to such distant lands.

Some can, but not all, and there are reasons. First, we have an urgent need
right here, and again, not everyone called to the Salesian Congregation is
inclined to go so far. But in view of such need and such a lack of evangelical
laborers, how could I remain silent? Realizing that you can all in one way or
another work in the Lord’s vineyard, how could I keep from revealing my
heart’s desire? Yes, really, I would hope to see you all eager to work like so
many apostles. This the goal of all my thoughts, cares and efforts. This is the
reason for our crash courses, and for the greater opportunities we offer you to
don the clerical habit, and for other special study courses.

How was I to remain silent in the face of so many and such ugent
needs? How was I to turn a deaf ear to people appealing to us from all
sides? I feel that it is God Himself speaking through them. Can I remain
silent and not try to increase the ranks of missionaries, when God
makes it so clear that He wants to accomplish great things through our
Congregation?

Let a strong brotherly love reign among us so that what happened in the
Church will also occur in our Congregation. Besides the apostles there were
seventy-two disciples, deacons, and other evangelical co-workers; they all
worked in harmony with each other, all bound together, firmly united in love.
That is why they succeeded, as they did, in changing the face of the earth; so
too, with us. Whereever we may be, whatever tasks may be assigned to us,
let us strive to save souls, and above all, our own. Do that, and it is enough.