MAGDALENE of CANOSSA A COLLECTION OF LETTERS 2012 Original Title: MADDALENA di CANOSSA EPISTOLARIO Approval of the Italian Text Imprimatur: Sorae, die 19 martii 1979 † Carolus Minchiatti Episcopus Aquini, Sorae et Pontiscurvi A COLLECTION OF LETTERS WRITTEN and RECEIVED by MAGDALENE of CANOSSA (1774 – 1835) UNABRIDGED CRITICAL EDITION Original Italian Text edited by Emilia Dossi Canossian Sister VOLUME THREE LETTERS TO THE INSTITUTE PART ONE Translated by the Canossian Sisters: Natalia Tasca, Teresa (Zinha) Mathias, Lucy Kert, Esther Thomazios, Esme da Cunha, Giusepppina Colombo, Rita Bini & Maria Rossoni PREFACE With the LETTERS TO THE INSTITUTE, the triple subdivision of the “Collection of Letters” of Magdalene of Canossa is completed. Because of the abundance of material this last volume will be further subdivided into several parts. The criterion for the same is as follow: The letters written to the various Superiors and Sisters have a homogeneous content. Therefore this correspondence is arranged here in a chronological order, irrespective of whom it is addressed to. The various parts are hereby presented with a single preface. This gives us a panoramic view of the whole period of the activity of Magdalene, from 1816 to 1835, the year of her death. This last volume can be defined as a familiar commentary on the human and spiritual journey of a person, who feels called, like Samuel, by a voice that is both undefined and undefinable. A call that one seeks to clarify to oneself in order to grasp the significance of a programme that seems to appear and disappear in the mist of inexperience. Msgr. Giuseppe Carraro, in 1972 when he was Bishop of Verona, writing a preface to some of the letters, declared: “Those who read this collection ... with the hope that they may find in them precise and continuous directives of asceticism or flashes of a mystical light or organic elements that describe a spiritual doctrine, will probably feel disillusioned. The letters deal with commonplace things. They communicate and ask for news about the ordinary and simplest things of life. They repeat the same exhortations. The style of writing is not polished ...” In agreement with him, some suggested that it would be better to publish only the letters of a greater consistency. On my part however, I feel that those who make a complete reading and seek to follow up the trend of thoughts, will be enriched by a dimension of life that comforts and calms one down. Msgr. Carraro also wrote: “Magdalene’s… is not a pedagogy derived from books, but from personal experience and from an understanding of others, from a watchful observation, from VII comparisons and spiritual direction, but above all, from prayer and docility to the first and unsubstitutable Director and Pedagogue, the Holy Spirit. It is a pedagogy that is characterised by vigour and robustness, but at the same time by patience, waiting, graduality; by exigencies without compromises and by a respect for persons and the action of the Holy Spirit. It is suffused by a light that comes from above, but without the excesses of a mysticism of doubtful value. It aims at a solid, real holiness ... It constantly affirms the primacy of interiority and always maintains a relationship with God as its priority; but with an agility that is influenced by St. Francis de Sales and St. Philip Neri ...” This is how Bishop Carrara with a few masterly strokes, presents the identity of the Veronese Foundress. He anticipates the actual dimensions of Magdalene, which are already evident from the first two volumes, and which, in this third volume emerge with more incisive contours. In “THE LETTERS TO DURINI” there was a friendship without shadows. In “THE OFFICIAL LETTERS” there was great trust in others, whoever they were: Popes, Emperors or common folk. Here, in the “LETTERS TO THE INSTITUTE”, there is great humaneness and tenderness. Magdalene appears decisively as WOMAN AND MOTHER. On 14 December 1799, about a month and a half before his death, Don Luigi Libera, the spiritual director who guided Magdalene from 1792 to 1799, and who from the very beginning was uncertain about the real vocation of the Marchioness, approved, although with some reservations, the programme she proposed: not the monastery, not the cloister, but a total self- oblation to a throng of creatures suffering on account of war, misery, and the neglect of the high and mighty, from which they only inherited hunger and ignorance. The separation of the grill was only an inhibition for that soul whom God wanted as MOTHER in the highest sense of the term. Hers was not to be a physical maternity; but she gave each of her projects the certainty – which is what real life is – of being, like everyone, children of that Father, who makes no differences and who wants everybody to be saved. VIII The journey was slow and difficult, but, with the tenacity of those who are aware of a divine mandate, Magdalene finally fulfilled it. She opened five Houses. For each of these she had to follow the bureaucratic procedures for various authorisations – ecclesiastical and civil. Then she had to provide for Superiors and an adequate number of Sisters for each of these Houses. Until her death, she was the guide, administrator and organiser of each of these centres, although she gave the local Superior her complete trust and freedom of action. She wanted to be kept up-to-date continuously, also about the health of the Sisters, their behaviour and the rhythm of the Works, with a maternal interest that tried to find a prompt solution to every difficulty encountered. Despite the fatigue of her long journeys, she was always ready to be fully involved, giving them all of herself: her attention, experience, advice and above all, her prayers. The agreement with the Superiors was that they should write every week, and that she would reply every week. At times she too had to excuse herself when particular circumstances prevented her from doing so. But when she did not receive the news she was waiting for, her grief revealed the depths of her affection and her maternal attention. If the reason was a postal delay, she made no objection. But if it was because of the health of the Superior or the Sisters she would ‘lose her head’, as she called it. She insisted that they should take care of themselves, that they should rest, that they shoud not take up more work than was necessary. If they needed money, they should not hesitate to ask for it and it would be sent without delay. If it happened that she did not have the money, an “Our Father” would help her find it immediately. She was very respectful of the personality of each one and never commanded anyone. She asked it as a favour that they should follow her advice. Only once, when writing to Elena Bernardi, the Superior of Milan did she use the imperative “I want”, so that the latter might decide not to take on commitments detrimental to her health. IX MOTHER therefore, but also WOMAN in the fullest sense of the word. She appeared thus as a LADY in contact with the highest religious and civil authorities. These felt honoured to be able to support a request of the Marchioness, not so much because of her high lineage, as for her influence. She emerges as a ‘woman’ in her tender, constant, trusting friendship with the Milanese Countess Durini and with the Ladies of her social circle. But she shows herself even more as a homely woman in her LETTERS TO THE INSTITUTE, busy with the big organisation as well as the little daily domestic needs. In these letters, she comes out as an expert in the exchange value of money that was used in the different Italian States. She saw to the different types of cloth, textures, shades of colour, despatching etc. so that the Religious Habits may be ready in time for the Canonical Establishment of the various Houses. So that the Sisters might have in time, whatever is necessary for their food, she foresaw and provided for the purchase of grapes, wheat, ‘polenta’ or maize, wine and suitable containers. So that the winter cold may be more bearable, she saw to the provision of coal and charcoal. These are the things that Msgr. Carraro called “the commonplace things”. But it is these very details that bring out the dimension of the dynamism of Magdalene. She moves from dealing with the Pope, the Emperor, the Government officials, to giving her attention, in a rather commonplace style of writing, to her daily correspondents, among them: the vendors of household articles for the kitchen, the wardrobe and the like. In the nearly 400 letters of this volume, that extend from 1816 to 1823, and which in reality present characters that are often overlooked, there still exists that complex of the “pedagogical directives that Magdalene followed in forming her daughters.” (Carraro) In particular we find expressions of filial trust in her relationship with God, her strong conviction that whatever cannot be resolved through human interventions, will be resolved by Jesus and the holy Virgin, if they are for the Divine Glory. X The METHODOLOGICAL CRITERIA in this volume are the same as those adopted in Volume II with only the following differences: - References to names or to various parts of this volume are indicated solely by the number of the letter. Those referring to preceding volumes are indicated by the Volume and with the number of the letter cited. - There are a large number of addressees and the letters addressed to them alternate.