James Alberione

The work of James Alberione is inseparable from the foundation of the Pauline Family, a group of institutions born at the foot of the tabernacle to evangelize the modern world through the means of mass communication. - The Society of Saint Paul (1914): On August 20, 1914, James Alberione opened a small makeshift printing house in Alba with a group of young boys. This was the birth of the Society of Saint Paul, a congregation of priests and religious brothers dedicated to the proclamation of the Gospel through the press, books, and later cinema, radio, television, and digital media. - The Daughters of Saint Paul (1915): Believing that the work of modern evangelization required the collaboration of women, he founded on June 15, 1915, with the help of a young woman, Teresa Merlo (who would take the name Sister Tecla Merlo), the congregation of the Daughters of Saint Paul, dedicated to the same apostolate of the good press. - The Association of Pauline Cooperators (1917): He created this lay association to involve the faithful of the world in the mission of evangelization through the media. - The Pious Disciples of the Divine Master (1924): On February 10, 1924, with the collaboration of Sister Scholastica Rivata, he founded this contemplative and active congregation, dedicated to perpetual Eucharistic adoration, liturgical service, and support for the priestly ministry. - The Sisters of Jesus the Good Shepherd (1938): On October 7, 1938, he founded the Sisters of Jesus the Good Shepherd (called "Pastorelle"), intended for direct pastoral apostolate and collaboration with pastors in parishes. - The Sisters of Mary Queen of Apostles (1959): On September 8, 1959, he established in Albano the first community of the Sisters of Mary Queen of Apostles (called "Apostolines"), dedicated to the awakening and accompaniment of priestly and religious vocations. Between 1958 and 1960, James Alberione completed this immense charismatic tree by founding four institutes of consecrated secular life attached to the Society of Saint Paul: - The Institute of Mary Most Holy Annunciata (for consecrated lay women, founded in 1958); - The Institute of Saint Gabriel the Archangel (for consecrated lay men, founded in 1958); - The Institute of Jesus the Priest (for diocesan priests wishing to live the Pauline spirituality, founded in 1959); - The Institute of the Holy Family (for consecrated married couples, founded in 1959). James Alberione traveled tirelessly throughout the world to visit, encourage, and structure his foundations on all continents. From 1962 to 1965, he participated daily in the sessions of the Second Vatican Council as a Council Father, rejoicing to see the Church officially recognize the importance of the means of social communication for the apostolate.

James Alberione led a life of intense union with God, marked by continuous prayer and hard work. Despite fragile health and a painful scoliosis that tormented him day and night, he never slowed his missionary zeal.

He passed away at the age of 87, on November 26, 1971, at the generalate house in Rome. A few hours before his death, he received a visit and blessing from Pope Paul VI, who held him in deep admiration. Paul VI would say of him that he was "humble, silent, tireless, always vigilant, always recollected in his thoughts... a man who is among the wonders of our century."

The cause for the beatification of James Alberione was officially opened on May 4, 1981. On June 25, 1996, Pope John Paul II promulgated the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thereby declaring him Venerable.

To pave the way for his beatification, the Postulation of the cause submitted for examination by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints a healing that occurred in May 1989. The miracle concerns María Librada González Rodríguez, a Mexican member of the Secular Institute of Mary Most Holy Annunciata. Hospitalized urgently in Guadalajara due to severe respiratory failure caused by a pulmonary thromboembolism, her condition worsened dramatically on May 20, 1989, when she suffered a massive cerebral embolism with paralysis and loss of speech. Feeling that she was dying, she turned inwardly to the Venerable James Alberione to ask for his intercession. Instantly, she regained the ability to breathe normally without medical assistance and was completely healed. The Vatican medical commission recognized this healing as rapid, complete, lasting, and scientifically inexplicable. The decree recognizing this miracle was signed by Pope John Paul II on December 20, 2002. James Alberione was solemnly beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 27, 2003, in St. Peter's Square in Rome, on the Second Sunday of Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday). On this occasion, the Pope described him as the "first apostle of the new evangelization."

The spirituality of James Alberione is deeply Christocentric, Eucharistic, and Pauline. It rests entirely on the figure of Jesus Christ, the Divine Master, Way, Truth, and Life. For Alberione, holiness consists in allowing oneself to be totally configured to Christ, in order to be able to say with the Apostle Paul: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20). This spirituality is nourished by two other great devotions: 1. Mary, Queen of Apostles: considered as the one who gives Jesus to the world and who inspires all apostolates. 2. Saint Paul the Apostle: the universal model of the writer, the traveler, and the communicator who becomes "all things to all people" to announce the Gospel. The legacy of James Alberione is immense. Today, the Pauline Family counts thousands of members (priests, brothers, religious, and consecrated laypeople) present in dozens of countries around the world. Faithful to the intuition of their founder, they manage publishing houses (such as Edizioni San Paolo or Médiaspaul), bookstores, magazines (such as Famiglia Cristiana), audiovisual productions, radio and television stations, and digital platforms, making the Internet and new technologies the "new pulpit" for the proclamation of the Word of God.