Dear Brothers, the Two General Superiors of the Order of Mother Of

Dear brothers, The two General Superiors of the Order of Mother of God and the Order of the Pious Schools meet at least twice a year (May and November) in the Conventus Semestralis of the Union of the General Superiors (UGS). Every time we greet each other very familiarly and int the spirit of fraternity to revive and remember the historical and providential meeting of our two religious families. The last time was from 28 to 30 may 2014. In that meeting, we have mutually sought to exchange the embrace on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the union which took place on January 14, 1614, with the Brief of Paul V Inter pastoralis officii, and which lasted three years. On that occasion we fixed an appointment for July 12 in order to reflect together, and more calmly, about our way together in a short four- times-Centennial history, but with eyes of astonishment of those who know how to see God as the Author of everything. We want to thank him for the abundant fruits that we have collected between the two Orders and that fill our hands. Together we have decided, albeit only in an initial phase, to organize three activities: a message by the General Fathers to the Brothers of the two Orders for the feast of Saint Joseph Calasanz on August 25; a small Committee which will collect more calmly the documents in the archives on the whole question and will give us a more scientific history of the union at a Congress or in papers; to share together the Eucharist on the solemnity of Saint Giovanni Leonardi in Rome, on October, 9, giving thanks to God for the gifts received by our two religious Orders throughout our history. As we said before, it is only a few early attempts. And it would be very useful offering both of us some ideas or doing something in our Provinces or Delegations. The next three years will serve us to remember the time we have lived together from 1614 to 1617, to make active memory and bring us more closely each other to understand what is the path that the Lord invites us to go as families who want to look at their founders for the good of humankind. 1 The Message: a premise Going to the message, which has been the subject of our reflection, we want immediately put aside any disqualification or discomfort on "the ephemeral union with the Luccans" or the contrast then released with some reluctance on both sides. The historian of the Order of the Mother of God, Fr. Erra Carlantonio in its Ragguaglio della unione delle Scuole Pie con la Congregazione della Madre di Dio, published in Rome in 1753, in a well done text added at the conclusion the "Risposte alle considerazione del P. Talenti, scritore delle Scuole Pie” (father Vincenzo Talenti 1695-1770) and the protests that Fr. Federico Sarteschi addressed him in the book De Scriptoris Congregationis Matris Dei, in 1753. The controversies are obviously rhetorical and do not leave space to the truth and to God's Providence that wanted us together, nor leave it to the history of the sanctity of our two founders, saint Giovanni Leonardi and saint Joseph Calasanz. The corollary of that holiness was the beatification of that ‘trait d’union’ between the two, which has been the perfect paradigm of this human and divine story: blessed Pietro Casani. And we want to reread that period precisely from this story of oliness, taking into account the verse of the Gospel that says: "Because there is no good tree yielding bad fruit and, conversely, there is no bad tree yielding good fruit. Each tree is known by its fruit. Figs are not collected from thorns, or grapes from the bush. The good man out of the good store of his heart gives good things; and the evil man, out of his evil store, gives evil". (Lk 6: 43-45). We, in our fraternal meeting, have experienced the three good fruits produced by the tree of the union, from which we have spiritually fed ith Evangelical taste, and now we propose them to you. THE FIRST FRUIT: the friendship between the two founders More than a fruit, we would say that the meeting of the two protagonists of the history of the Church in the 16th century has been like a flowering in 2 the spring of the spirit. Saint Joseph Calasanz speaks of the astonishment caused him by the meeting with Saint Giovanni Leonardi: "I undersigned hereby acknowledge having met et having particular familiarity with father Giovanni Leonardi of holy memory, which mysteriously was the founder of a so-called Congregation of Our Lady of Corteorlandini in the city of Lucca... It seems to me that the father could not do this feat without being illuminated by God, especially being a man of a certain age and a different experience. But I'm sure that he had in very high esteem the three theological virtues: faith, hope and charity, having started an enterprise so hard and with so much opposition, not only by individuals, but also by the Republic of Lucca". (Saint Joseph Calasanz, ms. preserved in the Archives of OMD, Arm A, p. mz 10). This friendship was intimate and profound. In its brief information for the process of beatification of his friend, he said a noteworthy phrase: "About particular miracles I cannot inform with the same certainty that some others can give, but I think that all his life is a great miracle". (ib.) And what his friend Leonardi thought of saint Joseph Calasanz is referred to us by Lady Laura Gaetani della Riccia: "Fr. Giovanni Leonardi was my confessor, founder of the Religion of Saint Mary in Portico, before I went to confess with Fr. José, who was a great Saint and a servant of God. He told us great things about his virtues". (Bau, BAC, p. 238) Fr. Joseph Calasanz told us that the work of Saint Giovanni Leonardi was very useful for the Pious Schools, before even the unification: "And as a man endowed with great prudence, his Holiness Pope Clement VIII used him and, in particular, I remember that he chose him to appease some differences and claims which were among some secular men and the teachers of the Pious Schools. It was very useful, in that occasion, for the work of the Pious Schools". It refers to the conflict between Calasanz and external groups of guilds that supported the claim of the benefactors above the work. The complaints came to Pope Clement VIII, who recommended to Giovanni Leonardi to pacify the subjects who felt wronged, avoiding unfortunate consequences to the Pious Schools. Fr. G. Santha in "Saint Joseph Calasanz. Pedagogical work", puts in evidence the fruit of this friendship, and puts it like this: "In addition to the facts and the aforementioned reasons, may have influenced in Calasanz the knowledge that he had of a book of his great friend Giovanni Leonardi on youth 3 education, namely: ‘Trattato della buona educazione dei figlioli, la quale si manifesti con l’autorità della Divina Scrittura, dei Sacri Concili, dei Padri e degli Scrittori gentili, con vive ragiono et esempi’”. The friendship between our founding Saints brings to memory the alliance founding of our being, a way to access to what man is. Friendship is the most powerful sacrament, the sacrament of every moment that we can receive up to the end. To talk about the friendship between our two saints means talking about the encounter between "souls". It's a feeling that overcomes the objective difficulty, the drama of the forced separation that we have experienced afterwards. This friendship that God offers us in the two saints, we can also live it among us. Christ brings us together in a single communion, the Fellowship of the Church. And these separations that are obfuscating the image of the Church! We should do everything we can to make it more obvious that the Church is a place of friendship for all! We have the courage to make friends, in particular, with the poorest. Attention to the most abandoned has immense value in our societies where many people live isolated and feel misunderstood. THE SECOND FRUIT: Discerning both charisms So, what is charism? The charism is a gift of the Father, that the Spirit communicates to a person or a group of people so in the Church may live (to be present and active) a specific aspect of the mystery and the ministry of the Word, to strengthen the Church, in synergy with all the other charisms, so that "better make present Christ", i.e. to make him more easily known and to more effectively reveal his work in the world. In this brief definition of the word “charism” the starting point is the love of the Father and the point of arrival is "the world", i.e. a person or a specific group of people, with their specific history and culture. But this must not be understood in a static and one-sense way! This movement of the Father's love -that in the Spirit empowers the Church, Body of Christ, 4 that she might seek the Kingdom and his righteousness- is in response to a "cry" of this world, although this cry is not always addressed to God. Therefore, the charisms are always a response to specific human situations. In other words: to the call that God speaks to us in the Spirit corresponds a call that the “world” addresses us.

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