In this article we endeavor to give a synthesis of the fundamental elements of a study presented as a thesis for a doctorate in spiritual theology on the charism of the IMC.

1. Introduction

1.1 The Expression Charism of the Institute

The expression Charism of the Institute, or similar ones such as Charism of the IMC, are used in this thesis in the meaning that is given them by the majority of theological textbooks and in the documents of the post-conciliar Magisterium of the the Church. It includes the meaning that had been given them previously, which can still be found in the documents of the Council and in the present Canon Law: nature, character, purpose, spirit and wholesome traditions . The charism of an Institute is always intimately connected with the charism of its founder; and in the gift of the Spirit, which the Lord gave to the founder, the Institute finds its source. As the Institute rebuilds itself continually by drawing life from the characteristic components of the foundation, the expression Charism of the Consolata Missionary Institute as expressed by its Founder refers to the gift of the Spirit granted Blessed Alamano and by him transmitted to the Institute.

This gift of the Spirit is all-embracing in the life of the Institute. It fashions a specific form of Christian life in its many dimensions: a specific state of life, a specific form of apostolate, a specific mission in the Church, and also its own understanding of the mystery of Christ, with its logical consequence: a specific form of spirituality . According to the post-conciliar theological formulation, it is improper to refer to the charism of an institute as being its mission, or something relative to its religious life, spirituality and traditions. Truthfully, these are aspects that constitute the charism of the Institute. If we consider these elements in their descendent dimension, their combination constitutes and characterizes a religious family; they can then be called charism, since they are produced by a gift from God. If we look at them from an anthropological angle, meaning from the standpoint of the answer given by the founder to God’s gift, then we may speak of them as constituents of the identity of the Institute – which is really the form given by the founder to his institute as an answer to God’s gift, form that will afterwards be actualized by the various generations of disciples.
The fashion in which the founder structures the life of the Institute, which is based on the gift that he received from God and in which his disciples share too, constitutes the identity of the new religious family.

1.2 Content of the Thesis

The thesis is divided into five sections. The first two are more of an introduction and constitute the theoretical foundation upon which the other sections are based. In the first part, we have a synthesis of the post-conciliar doctrine and theology on the charism of the founder and of the charism of the institute. In the second part, Allamano is presented in the social-ecclesial reality of his times and his active participation in it; an effort is also made to identify the works of spirituality that influenced him most. In the third part, an analysis is made of the spiritual experience that carries Allamano to become founder: his gradual understanding of his charism as founder; the maturing of this project in communion with the local Church; his perception of a particular mediation by the Consolata; his consciousness as a spiritual father and as having received a special spirit to be transmitted to the institute; his relationship with Camisassa, and finally the foundation of the Institute as a service to the local and the universal Church. The two last sections are about the Trinitarian and ecclesial dimension of the charism of the IMC. Some of these elements will be presented in the following pages.

2. The Christological Trinitarian Dimension of the IMC Charism

The apostolic life, of which missionary life is an eminent expression, is a call to take part in the Trinitarian Mission that procures salvation for all men. Which means that missionaries are people who are called by divine graciousness to take part in this Mission, and to live it in a specific way. We think that this is the nucleus that gives unity to the life of the Consolata missionaries, and so it is the point of departure to understanding both life and mission.

2.1 Called to Participate in the Trinitarian Mission

A short mention of the theology of the Mission can help us expound the thought of Allamano within a theological picture more familiar to us.

One of the wishes presented by the conciliar fathers of Vatican II concerned the elaboration of a more vast theology of the universal mission. They felt the need of a theological doctrine that would better explain the distinctiveness of the mission Ad Gentes, its relationship with the history of salvation and its existential foundation . The first chapters of the decree Ad Gentes give an answer to this question. They show how the vigor with which the Church expands into the world has its roots in the love-source of God the Father that generates the Son and from which proceeds the Holy Spirit. The love of the Father is also the basis for the great communication of God to humanity, which is concretized in the mission of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Grafted into this project of communication of God, the Church participates in that same mission, and, consequently, is missionary by nature .

2.1.1 Sharers in the Mission of the Son

It would be an excessive pretense to want to find in the Allamano such a theological elaboration. On the other side, we cannot forget that he is the receiver of the charism of founding missionary congregations; consequently, in order to form his own missionaries to the mission, he searched for a foundation upon which to lay the missionary spirituality that he proposed to them. It is legitimate to expect from him a deeper and more elaborate reflection than can be found in most of his contemporaries.

In the notes that he prepared for the reflection of January 24, 1905, at the occasion of the sending-off of the 5th group of missionaries, the Founder calls to mind and word the missionary mandate of Christ to his disciples (Mt 28:19; Jn 20:21). He afterwards tries to explain all the content that is latent in these expressions: “As if He were saying: Since I (Christ) have all the power, with it I was sent by the Father to earth in order to save all men, and this same power I transmit to you that you may continue the mission that I received from the Father, since I no longer can continue it in a visible and direct way because I must return to Heaven” . These words underline the fact that, at the sending-off of his disciples, Jesus recalls that He himself has been sent, and that the mission his apostles receive has its origin in the Father who, first, sent the Son.

In these quotes of the Bible, which he loves to make to his missionaries, Allamano powerfully emphasizes the relationship between that simple event lived by the Consolata Missionaries (the sending-off) and God’s universal plan of salvation. As Jesus was sent by the Father, and one day He himself sent his apostles, today the Lord sends the missionaries, gives them his powers and entrusts to them the mission so that they may become authentic witnesses.

Many are the witnesses that attest to the spiritual intensity with which the sending-off of missionaries was felt by the founder. We mention one here: “You must meditate intensely on these words that show us the importance of the mission entrusted to the apostles, and, in the apostles, to all those who follow them. Our Lord Jesus Christ tellls you tonight: “The same mission that the Father gave me as He sent me to the world, that same mission I give to you as I send you (to work) for the conversion of the peoples.” This is not just any ordinary and secondary kind of mission. “The Eternal Father sent his Son, the Son sent the Church, and through me the Church sends you” .

The mission, which has its origin in the Father and its fulfillment in the Son, is entrusted to the Church. It is unto this Trinitarian mission that the new Consolata Missionary Institute is grafted. By the power of the Spirit, Allamano becomes the Founder, and by the power of that same Spirit many of Allamano’s disciples will share in that mission.

2.1.2 The Mission in the Holy Spirit

During the celebration of the Feast of the Ascension of the Lord, on May 1, 1913, Allamano takes as main reference a text of St. John and presents it to his missionaries. He notes how Jesus presents to the apostles two motives for consolation. First, by going back to the Father He will prepare a place for them; second, he gives them the promise not to leave them orphans but to come back to them in the person of the Holy Spirit .

On May 23, 1923, he goes back to the same theme, in order to show to his missionaries that the mission of the Church only begins after the promise of Jesus has been fulfilled. He quotes St. Luke: “He enjoined them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for ‘the promise of the Father’” (Acts 1:4), and He said: “I will send upon you the One my Father has promised; but you stay in the city until you are clothed with a power from on High” (Lk 24:49). These sentences referred by St. Luke assume, in the words of Allamano, a particularly intensive meaning: “Go and do not move away from the city before you receive the Holy Spirit” . Consequently, the coming of the Spirit constitutes a basic condition of the mission. Together with the Father and the Son there is the Spirit. And the mission, which is entrusted to the Church in the group of the Apostles, must not begin without the assistance of the Spirit. And so, the Mission is a sending-off in the Spirit.

Allamano observes how, although the apostles spent three years in the company of Jesus, the Spirit alone can guide them to the whole truth . And so our Founder first calls attention to the irreplaceable role of the Spirit who transforms the apostles from within, giving rise in them to a full profession of faith. Faith in Christ and holiness in the truth are conditions for their mission in the world . Second, Allamano remarks how, on the day of Pentecost, an authentic transformation takes place in the apostles: from fearful men that they were , all bent upon their own personal interests, they become authentic witnesses to the Lord, able to endure with joy all the insults and to obey God before obeying men . The Spirit who leads to faith is also the Spirit who gives rise to the mission.

Allamano remarks, however, that such an efficient action of the Spirit is not limited to the first centuries of the Church, but reaches out to all times: it is under His direction that the Church’s shepherds go on guiding it . Taking the mission as the lever of his reflection, the founder shows that it is the Spirit who, on one side produces the witnessing, and on the other prepares the hearts to accept it and to adhere to it in faith . Missionary life without the Spirit does not make sense. In this context, the following statement of Allamano is very meaningful: “If the Holy Spirit is there guiding the Institute, remarkable feats will be wrought” . The mission belongs to God, and it is lived in the Spirit.
The mission belongs to God and was entrusted to the Church. If our Institute is to take part adequately in the mission, it must also participate in its dynamism.

2.1.3 Love as the Driving Force of the Mission

The experience of being called to participate in the Trinitarian mission is the central element around which the life of a Consolata missionary is structured. To it we must have recourse in order to adequately understand each one of its facets.

In his encyclical letter on the Holy Spirit in the life of the Church and in the world (1986), John Paul II, while talking about St. John, recalls that love characterizes God’s own being in His essence and in His extra-Trinitarian relations . We have already remarked how the Ad Gentes shows that all divine manifestations have their origin in the frontal love of the Father. The Spirit is the personal expression of the being-loving of God which, in the gift of his own Son, expresses his own deepest being . As He finished his mission, the Son sent the Holy Spirit who poured out into our hearts the love of God (cf. Romans 5:5). In Him and through Him this love is definitely oriented towards all nations and is manifested as pure expression of gratuity, because, when we still were sinners, and consequently without any merit on our part, “Christ died for us” (Rm 5:8). Quoting Isaac of Stella, Redemptoris Missio recognizes in love “the driving force of the mission”. It also is “the sole criterion for judging what is to be done or not done, changed or not changed”. It is the principle which must direct every action, and the end to which that action must be directed” (60).

If love is an essential category in order to understand God and the whole history of salvation, then Allamano’s understanding of the participation of his missionaries in the Trinitarian mission could not be different. Alamano never tires of insisting on the apostolic zeal, but at the same time he knows that this zeal is itself the fruit of love. In his teachings, love appears as a central idea. Talking about the Spirit, who is an essential condition to doing mission, Viglino states: “Allamano underlines with particular insistence the intrinsic link between active presence of the Spirit and charity, as condition and fruit of this presence” . This love relates first of all to the members of the community, with whom we are called to live and to share the mission . Referring to the dialogue between Jesus and Peter, Allamano says: “You see that Jesus entrusts souls to the one who loves Him in a triple and superlative way” . The love of God is a condition for those who want to take part in the mission.

The Founder sees in St. Francis Xavier and in St. Paul the two great models of apostolic zeal. He presents the latter as example of many virtues, and underlines his “passionate love for Our Lord Jesus Christ and zeal for souls” . He notices that it is love that makes the Apostle live for his Lord, a love that is so strong that it makes him say that nothing could separate him from the love of Christ , a love that leads him to become all things to all and to wish to be lost for the good of the his brethren . “The love of Our Lord Jesus Christ drove him to attract all people to Jesus, that’s why he considered himself debtor to all, and endured everything with patience to make Jesus loved” .

These elements already show what kind of relationship there is, in the thinking of Allamano, between love for God and love for neighbor. Love for God brings one to love the brethren. The God found in the intimacy of prayer is the same Missionary God who cares for his children. To establish a relationship with Him means to engage oneself in favor of the people that He loves. It becomes impossible to love God without also loving the children that He loves. “Zeal for souls flows from love for God. If we love Our Lord very much we will also love souls very much since they are like the pupil of the eye of the Lord. Zeal is produced by love .

The Founder understands acutely that, in order to participate adequately in the Trinitarian mission, one must also participate in its dynamism. The love that brings God to communicate Himself is the main motive, the main driving force of any missionary activity.

2.1.4 The Mission as Answer to God’s Love Revealed on the Cross of Christ

During the last decades, several factors have contributed to a kind of emptying of the spirituality of the cross . On the other side, a significant number of theologians manifest their preoccupation in front of such forgetfulness or insufficient valorization of this mystery . Paul himself sees in the death Christ underwent for us the revelation of the logic that guides all the history of salvation: God’s gratuitous love . To the empty boasting of the Judaizers (Gal 6:12) the Apostle opposes his own boasting: “As for me, may I never boast except in the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal 6:14). From this experience of salvation gratuitously received, Paul discovers the central nucleus of his own existence. The experience of Christian life as total expression of God’s grace brings him to give an answer that is all-embracing. His life no longer belongs to him but to Christ: “Christ indeed died for all, so that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor 5:15).

This gesture of God who gives life to all in his Son has become an inexhaustible source of Christian spirituality . Things are not different in the life proposal that the Allamano makes to his missionaries. He wants the crucifix that he gives to each missionary who leaves for the missions to be always in the missionary’s mind and in his heart . He understands that such an expression of God’s love constitutes a strong appeal to man. He recalls the sentence of St. John: “God loved the world so much that He gave his only Son for the world” (John 3:16), and the Founder adds: “Love demands our love for the Eternal Father and for his Son” . The mission, which started with the Father who loved the world so much, requires from all who participate in it the same attitude of total donation as expression of that same love .

The consecration to priestly, religious and missionary life is, for Allamano, an expression of a total gift of self which is brought about by the experience of having been loved by God first. The Founder explains it using the word holocaust in the meaning of consecration to God, to our Institute and to the evangelization of the non-Christian. Addressing those who were about to make their religious profession on April 17, 1903 he said: “As the holocaust that each one of you is, from all your heart you now embrace in this action many labors and pains […]. With a generous heart you accept every thing that might come your way, even the most painful death” . In other occasions, the terminology that he uses emphasizes the priestly dimension of the offering of self: “As you arrive at the Mission, kiss that soil that will be soaked in your sweat, and offer yourselves as victims to the Lord for the Adveniat Regnum tuum” . The Founder sees this total gift of self thoroughly accomplished in Mother Mary .

It is in the manifestation of God’s love that Allamano wants his missionaries to find the true meaning of their consecration to the mission, the meaning of so many sacrifices that missionary life involves.

The Trinitarian mission entrusted to the Church, and in which the IMC participates, is inserted within a dynamic force that comes from God and to God returns.

2.2 Everything is from God, and Everything to God Returns

Several sources help Allamano understand the mission within a circular movement in which everything has its principle in God and all things to Him return as their end. First, there are the Pauline texts, with which Allamano is personally very familiar both as an individual reader of the Bible and as a performer of the liturgy. On May 18, 1913, during the celebration of the Feast of the Most Blessed Trinity, Allmano gives his comments on the expression of St. Paul: “Quoniam ex ipso, et per ipsum, et in ipso sunt omnia: ispsi gloria in saecula” (“Because all things are from him, through him and for him. To him be glory for ever”) (Romans 11:36). On his exposition, Allamano borrows the comments of St. Augustine: “Ex quo omnia, per quem omnia, in quo omnia” (“From whom , through whom and in whom all things are”) . Allamano used to find these elements also in the Summa Theologica of St. Thomas Aquinas which presents God as the beginning--origin of all (1st part), and at the same time the end of all creation (2nd part), and where Christ is presented as the Savior, that is, the way of the return to the Father (3rd part). The Founder would also find a similar outline in the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola .

This movement of creation that has its origin in God and is constantly directed towards Him, and which, at the same time, finds in Him alone its total fulfillment, is emphatically expressed by our Founder: “All is from God and all is in God; each and every thing that exists belongs to God because He created it; all that we have, we have because we received it from God […]. And so, every thing must return to God, for his glory and honor” . This theological principle becomes fundamental to the understanding of the mission of his missionaries and for the elaboration of his spirituality. To participate in God’s mission means to cooperate in this plan of His of recapitulating everything in Christ. In the spiritual level, an attitude becomes fundamental: if everything comes from God, life in its totality must be experienced as a gift. Consequently, what we possess is not ours, and we are invited to direct all to Him as a sort of devolution to its owner. If all we have was received as a gift, then everything that we possess, our life, and the mission too, must express this same God’s gratuity.

2.3 Mission as Cooperation in God’s Mission

Meaningful is the fact that the Founder refers to the expression Adiutores Dei sumus, in which St. Paul expresses his interpretation of his own vocation in the Mystical Body of Christ. In the same text (1 Cor 3:4-9), the Apostle affirms that in the Church there exists a diversity of ministries. These ministries are all in the same level of importance. In a different level we see God, the only one who is capable of giving fruits to our apostolate: “I planted, Apollo watered, but God caused the growth” . Allamano will several times refer to this sentence of the Apostle in order to tell his missionaries that the mission is the work of God . To Him belongs, and He alone can guarantee, its fruitfulness. The apostle may make all his projects and have his own merits, ”but if the Lord does not water it, the soil dries and nothing will sprout” .

Although the main agent is God, the quality of human contribution is important. This is at the origin of Allamano’s insistence on the need for missionaries to possess a superior kind of holiness: “A mediocre kind of holiness won’t do, lots of it is necessary. The apostolate is the work of God . St Paul says that we are God’s helpers” .

This theological principle, which tells us that both the mission and its apostolic fruits belong to God, pushes the Founder to insist that, for his missionaries, dedication to apostolic work must not cause his missionaries to neglect their spiritual life. Those who “forget that they are mere instruments of God’s grace in the work of salvation of the infidels, unduly attribute to their own skills and labors what essentially belongs to God’s grace and can be obtained only through prayer and union with God” .

These elements show how, in his understanding of the vocation and the mission of the IMC, the Founder not only recognizes the basic dynamism of history in which everything procedes and is oriented to God, but he also affirms that God is its real actor. Consequently, his missionaries are mere collaborators in the building up of the Kingdom of God, a Kingdom that does not belong to them and whose dynamism is not in their hands.

2.4 A Specific Understanding of the Mystery of Christ and of the Mission Ad Gentes

In the preceding pages I said that the central nucleus of the IMC charism consists in the experience of feeling called to participate in the mission of the Trinity. However, we cannot forget that that Christian spirituality has, by its own nature, Christ as its center, and that everyone of its expressions has in Christ its main point of reference. The charism communicated to founders leads to a particular configuration with Christ who is understood from one of the aspects of his mystery . This aspect becomes for every founder the focal point from which he contemplates and adheres to he totality of the mystery of Christ and, at the same time, configures the whole life of his disciples.

A few references that Allamano makes to the history of salvation give us some indication of his specific perception of the mystery of God . I want to limit myself here to the texts that specifically speak of Christ. Talking to his missionaries on December 7, 1913, Allamano tries to motivate them to acquire the missionary zeal: “The students, during their time of formation, and later in the missions, must awaken in themselves an ardent and prudent zeal for the salvation of the infidels pro quibus Christus mortuus (for whom Christ died) . This text gives us a precise indication about the way he sees this: Christ died for all, but in a special way for the infidels. Meaning that the Allamano shows the universal dimension of the mission of Christ. He came for all, and He does not rest until all men live in communion with the Father.

Other texts are even more explicit. Talking about the diversity of the present gifts in the ecclesial community (cf. 1 Cor 12:28), and about the diverse vocations present in the Church, he says: “The best of them all is the one of the missionary, because it is the only one Jesus had” . Talking to the Consolata missionary sisters, he repeats the same idea: “Our Lord Jesus Christ was the first missionary and the model of all missionaries” . I could quote several other texts, these however are quite explicit: Christ chose a missionary mode of life for Himself; consequently, Christ is a missionary. This is the standpoint from which Allamano contemplates the mystery of Christ and proposes it for his missionaries to imitate. Following Christ under this angle is what gives unity to the life of the Consolata Missionaries. And it is into this perception of Christ that the mission Ad Gentes has to be grafted, a mission that is specific to the Consolata Missionaries in the Church.

2.5 Living and Missioning the Way Christ Did

As I said in the preceding paragraph, for Allamano Christ is not only the missionary, he is the model for all missionaries. In order to adequately participate in his mission, we have to live in a continuous process of configuration to Christ. We find here one of the main reasons why Allamano never tires of inviting his missionaries to put on Christ. If Christ is the model of missionaries, then the latter will totally fulfill their vocation only in so far as they acquire the spirit of Christ: “It is not enough for me to be a Christian, I’ve got to be a missionary; I must have this intention, it is not enough just to desire it, I must have the spirit of a missionary. Qui spiritum Christi (he who [has] the spirit of Christ), of the apostle, of the redeemer… If we do not have this spirit that makes us holy, hic non est ejus (we do not belong to Him)” . The mission, which belongs to God, must be lived in the spirit of his Son, who is the prototype of missionaries.

Considering this perspective of our configuration to Christ who is the one sent by the Father, Allamano calls the attention of his sons to some particular elements. He remarks how Christ lived, in perfect harmony, a life of intense apostolic activity and a life of intense intimacy with the Father . Second, he remarks how Jesus explicitly asks us to imitate his humility and meekness . He affirms that that virtue was a constant in Christ’s life, and he wants his missionaries to possess that attitude that must characterize all their life and their activity . A third element to which the Founder attached particular attention unites him to many people who, seeing all that Jesus did, were filled with astonishment and said: “He has done all things well” . This becomes for his missionaries a constituent element of their method of work, and at the same time a principle of their spiritual life: “It’s not enough to do good, good must be done well, meaning that everything we do, even things that are good by themselves, must be done well, with the right intention and with all the particulars desired by God .

2.6 The Mission with Christ and for Christ

The apostolic exhortation Redemptoris Missio states that communion with Christ is an essential characteristic of the missionary spirituality, and that it can be understood only when we refer it to Christ as one sent to evangelize. RM then concludes the paragraph by emphasizing Christ’s presence: “It is precisely because he is ‘sent’ that the missionary experiences the consoling presence of Christ, who is with him at every moment of life – ‘Do not be afraid… for I am with you’ (Acts 18:9-10) – and who awaits him in the heart of every person” (RM, 88).

For Allamano it is impossible to think of the mission as not having this continuous point of reference to Christ. He reminds his missionaries that they participate in the mission of Christ, that they are carriers of the promises of the Risen Lord, as were in His days the apostles: “See, I am with you always, until the end of time” . He not only recalls that Our Lord promises his missionaries a particular presence and help in all circumstances. He also wants them to treasure this promise. “This thought must be your consolation: that the Lord goes with you, and will always be with you, not only in a general fashion, but in a very particular way. If you do not abandon Him, the Lord will never abandon you” . The mission, which belongs to God and was fully concretized in Christ, must be lived together with Him.

Allamano insists that this real presence of the Lord in the life of his missionaries must not become just another theological principle which, even if totally understood, would have no real influence on their daily life. In other words, the Founder works to avoid that his missionaries, while being carriers of the consoling promise of the Lord of being with them always until the end of time, live in their daily life a real experience of solitude and spiritual aridity. He wants this presence of the Lord to become an existential experience: the missionary is called to live with the Lord this mission that belongs to the Lord” .

The times dedicated explicitly to prayer constitute an essential element of Christian spirituality, an element which is not different for the Consolata missionaries . These are also privileged moments in which Christ’s presence is enjoyed. The Allamano insists on this continuous presence of the Lord for his missionaries so that they will avoid the always present danger, especially while doing apostolic activities, of a separation between prayer and life in such a way that the missionary feels the presence of the Lord only when he is actually saying his prayers. In the spirituality that he communicates to his own, he wants that the whole life of the missionary be spent in the Lord’s presence and by it be enlightened. He wants no separation between time given to God and time given to the brethren. Yes, there is a difference in the ways of consecrating to God one’s entire life and the ways of giving Him a unique form of cult. It is also important to respect the difference between the two, but not to separate them.

In the apostolic spirituality passed by Allamano on to his missionaries there is an intimate relationship between liturgy and life: The zeal for the house of the Lord and for liturgy is intimately united to the zeal for the mission. Referring to St. Augustine, Allamano says: “The object of our love is double: God and neighbor. Well, there are also two sorts of zeal: love for and glory to God, and the salvation of souls” . The liturgical sacrifice attains its full meaning when our life becomes an authentic offering to God. In the same way, our daily activities reach their full meaning when done for God’s glory. And since God’s glory is man fully alive, which is expressed by Allamano with the word salvation, daily life becomes a hymn of praise to Him in the measure that it is presented as a true service to humanity. The mission lived in Christ and with Christ becomes a mission lived through Christ: we must act as imitators of Him, under his guide and in union with Him: Cum ipso, per ipsum et in ipso (with Him, through Him and in Him) . It’s easy to see the relationship between this sentence and the Eucharist. But we also see how missionary activity has, for Allamano, a Eucharistic dimension.

In this spirit, the mission becomes at the same time expression and means of holiness: expression, because holiness of life alone makes such an interior freedom and the offering of self possible; means, because, lived this way, activities constitute an authentic element of sanctification. Liturgy and holiness of life are two intimately connected forms of rendering the unique cult to God.

2.7 The Eucharist as Center of Our Life and of the Mission

We all know how Vatican II recognizes the centrality of the Eucharist in the life of the Church. In a mainly allegorical parlance, this centrality can be found in the spirituality that Allamano communicates to his missionaries:

“The Eucharist is our sun. Consequently, you must have devotion to Our Lord in the Sacrament . Really, isn’t Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament the center around whom we continually turn…? The center from whom come all the graces for this house and for the Institute? The one to whom our thoughts and our affection must go?” .

Certainly, it is in the context of the centrality of the person of Christ in the spirituality that he communicates to the IMC (of which not all aspects have been examined in this reflection) that we must understand the centrality of the Eucharist: The Lord sends us to accomplish a mission that belongs to Him and which he shares with those He wants; this mission consists in bringing the salvation that He gratuitously offers, and of which the Eucharist is constant memory; Christian life consists in being in Christ, in putting on Christ and in the logical consequence of trying to do so; it is in the Eucharist that the one who is sent finds his nourishment and, by experiencing His presence, experiences also the love and the consolation that come from Him; the presence of Christ among the ones that are sent is accomplished in a special way in the Eucharist.

On this centrality of the Eucharist, there is a page of great beauty, which we could define as a kind of synthesis of the Eucharistic and Christological dimension of the Consolata spirituality. Here are those words addressed by the Founder to the Consolata Missionary Sisters on June 13, 1915:

“Our life should be a Eucharistic life; our mind and our heart should continually be occupied with the thought of the Blessed sacrament [...], all day, during our times of study, during work… Isn’t He, the Most Blessed Sacrament, the center towards which we must be directed as many rays…? Jesus in the tabernacle is the One who carries on, and rules over, this community, as well as all our mission centers. It is an error of the modernists to say that modern times require external activities and works but not many prayers: active life, no contemplative life. […] As for yourselves, my dear ones, establish yourselves strongly on the continuous presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, who is present in you and in the Holy Tabernacles. Oh, the strength and the consolation that you will receive in the missions from Him during your difficulties and sorrows!”

3. Ecclesial Dimension of the IMC Charism

I’ll limit myself here to the consideration of two aspects of the IMC charism, which might be understood in an ecclesial dimension: Religious life and devotion to the Consolata.


3.1 Religious Life

In the life of the founders, the inspiration that brings them to give birth to a foundation normally presents itself in the form of an ideal, without having immediately the characteristics of a project in all its details. If a founder has a clear consciousness that he has to accomplish a certain mission in the Church, a mission that is an answer to a call from God, that does not necessarily mean that the foundation is clearly defined right from the beginning . This is not something specific to founders, it is a characteristic of every spiritual experience . If we consider the experience of the founders in a specific way, we can say that it is in the process of their basic intuition that they come to understand the real dimensions of God’s project . A founder usually goes through a long process of interpretation of the charism he received in order to understand the specific characteristics that he must give to his new institution. Part of this discernment are prayer, reflection, dialogue, advice from other persons, and in a special way an examination of what the first members of the Institute are experiencing. All this causes the fact that, often, a founder crosses a long period of time examining and reexamining the charism he received, always in confrontation with the original form of inspiration. In some instances, this evolutionary process can be a conclusive force in the formation of the characteristics of the institute, for example, in determining whether the vows to be made will be solemn or simple, whether the institute will be a form of Religious Life -- even if in the beginning of the process the founder had excluded religious life from his foundation .

It’s easy to see how these elements of the theology of the charism of a founder are relevant to the experience of the Allamano, how he gradually understood and chose Religious Life as form of life for the IMC.

We have to keep in mind certain elements in order to better understand his experience. The first intention of Allamano, which he kept all through the first nine years of the life of the institute, was to give life to a non-Religious institute . One of the important reasons for this choice was the desire to favor the fulfillment of the missionary vocation of priests who did not feel called to Religious Life .

However, on the other side we have to see that, juridically speaking, it takes quite a while for an institute to finally become permanently a Religious Institute . We can say however that on a spiritual level, the founder always treated his missionaries as religious . It’s interesting to notice what Allamano says on January 26, 1902, referring to an article in a newspaper that spoke about the Consolata missionaries as friars: “In fact, besides the oath concerning the missions, we make the three promises of chastity, poverty and obedience, first for five years, and then for the rest of our life. And so, if we are not friars, we are religious and we constitute a religious congregation whose aim it is to work as friars in the vineyard of the Church” .

The decision to adopt Religious Life as the form of life for our Institute is a long process of discernment in which the founder deeply studied God’s plans . The following were factors that gradually convinced Allamano that religious life was the ideal that he wanted for his Institute: The careful observation of the life and of the experiences made by the first missionaries; a reflection on the advantages and the disadvantages of adopting the form of religious life for the Institute; the founder’s perception that religious life considered as the state of perfection par excellence was the ideal of holiness that he wanted for his missionaries; the examination of the experience of other missionaries belonging, or not belonging, to other religious congregations; the new form of the new members of the Institute; and the dialogue with the Congregation for the Evangelization of the Peoples .

All through this discernment, Allamano is guided by the fundamental criterion used in all his decisions: The will of God. Referring specifically to religious life as form of life for the Institute he says: “However, we can say that we chose a form of life in which we can serve the Lord better” .

3.2 The Consolata: Our Mother and the Inspiration of the Mission

Allamano lived in a historical time when devotion to Mary was on the rise. He himself contributed considerably to the increase of Marian devotion in the city of Turin.

3.2.1 Preliminary Reflections

In his Marian reflections, the founder uses writings and statements made in a certain historical moment in which authors try to show the similitudes between the Holy Spirit and the Blessed Virgin Mary . On the other side, as Allamano himself recognizes, in his times the role of Holy Spirit was not acknowledged as it should have been: “In our times, many people, even Christians, do not even know that the Holy Spirit exists, or at least do not care for him” . In our days, the development of the Trinitarian theology, of pneumatology and of Mariology give us a larger theological outlook, and help us to see Mary in the history of salvation, and consequently in her relationship with the Trinity and the Church . We need wider expressions that are more related to the mysteries of salvation than the ones that Allamano possessed in his times. If then the expression Ad Jesum per Mariam! was a classical one, today, under the influence of the biblico-Trinitarian theology we say: To the Father through his Son, in the Holy Spirit . This expression is more in conformity with Holy Scripture and mirrors better the attitude of Mary herself who was totally turned towards God, docile to the Holy Spirit and ready to cooperate in his plan of salvation .

These elements show us how a dynamic understanding of the charism requires an effort to go beyond the theological formulations of the times of our founder, formulations that he used himself, and go to those elements that are esential in the life of a Christian. In this perspective then we can better understand the founder’s relationship with Mary and the presence of the Consolata in the IMC charism. In the life of the Church as such and in the charism of our Institute, we do not have to underrate the role of Mary in order to affirm the role of the Spirit. We should however recognize her true place and the role that was entrusted to her in God’s plan.

There is a clear difference between the role of Mary and the role of the Spirit: The Spirit acts in the first person as sanctifier of souls through the effusion of His gifts. Mary exercises her mediation through her example and her intercession .
I believe that there are two perspectives from which we can harvest the richness of the teaching of the Allamano on the presence of the Consolata in the life and the spirituality of the IMC.

3.2.2 The Consolata: Mother Who Intercedes for Us

In his comment on his unexpected cure on January 29, 1900, Allamano manifests his clear conviction about the intercession of the Consolata . In the same way, in instances of consolidation of the Institute, it becomes nearly impossible for the founder not to recognize a special intercession on the part of Mother Mary. In the occasion of the erection of Kenya as an independent mission (1905), he writes to show his feelings and to declare the way he sees these events: “With the heart filled with the greatest joy, I send you today the consoling news […] most happy and truly unexpected result, since all our requests were accepted by Propaganda Fidei […] How could we not recognize in all this a most special protection on the part of the Consolata […]? Analogous is his experience in front of the erection of Kenya to Apostolic Vicariate: “With my heart full of the most vivid joy I come to tell you about the wonderful grace that the Most Holy Consolata has obtained from the Lord for our Missions and our Institute” .

This is a first, very meaningful element of the Allamano’s teaching which shows how he is in harmony with the rich tradition of the Church: Mary is Mother, and as such she attentively cares for all her children. He consequently turns to her using expressions of intimacy, respect and confidence: he refers to her as “our beloved Heavenly Mother” . The confidence, the tenderness and the affection of the maternal and filial relationship are elements that characterize devotion to Mary as our Mother .


3.2.3 Model of Christian Life

Together with the Christian tradition that presents Mary as model of the Church and as Mother of spiritual life , Allamano proposes her as model of holiness: Our Lady arrived at the plenitude of perfection […] Let us enter the way that leads to perfection. Mother May never stopped advancing on the way of perfection” . Mary walked on the path of holiness, and she lived an ordinary life that was characterized by fidelity to her mission of mother and wife and by intimacy with God: because of this she became the model of holiness that is accessible to all . Concretely, Allamano sees in Mary the full accomplishment of holiness in the ordinary life of each day, and that is how he wants his missionaries to live. According to the recent magisterium of the Church, Allamano presents Mary as the model of consecrated life, because she offered herself completely and with all her strength to God .

This full offering of self to God is made possible by a total freedom of the spirit. To the postulants, Allamano proposes Mary in the mystery of the Purification, as the model of the purification of the mind and of the affection. This purification is needed to create in us that interior freedom that allows us to offer our own life to God and to recognize in Him the only Lord of our existence .

For Allamano, Our Lady is also the model of fortitude; she is the expression of the energy and tenacity that he desired to see in his missionaries. He sees her as the strong woman who is able to face suffering and pain without succumbing. Mary never abandons her Son, she walks side by side with him to the cross . “In her sufferings, Mary is the model of Christian fortitude; she teaches us to bear physical and moral weaknesses. Let us learn from her, […] let us remember that, in order to be true martyrs, we must be martyrs also in the little things of life” . To her specific sensitivity as a woman, Mary unites her courage and tenacity in defending her sons .

According to me, the presence of the Consolata in the spirituality of the IMC has to be placed in a perspective that is wider than the Trinitarian mission. She participates in the desire of her Son who wants the salvation of all . For this she wanted to give her name, Consolata, to the Institute that is called to cooperate in a mission received from God: To work that all men may come to participate in the mystery of salvation .

4 Conclusion

This article tries to summarize what was developed in the thesis. Considering the brevity of the text, several elements, which have a specific importance for the charism transmitted by Allamano to the Consolata Missionaries, have been only slightly mentioned, or not even referred to. This is the case, for example, of vocation as a sign of divine predilection; holiness of life, family spirit, relationship between the Institute of the Consolata Missionaries and the Institute of the Consolata Missionary Sisters; relationship between mission and consolation.