The Doctrine of Truth {5}

Every perfection in this life has some imperfection mixed with it and
no learning of ours is without some darkness. Humble knowledge of self
is a surer path to God than the ardent pursuit of learning. Not that
learning is to be considered evil, or knowledge, which is good in
itself and so ordained by God; but a clean conscience and virtuous
life ought always to be preferred. Many often err and accomplish
little or nothing because they try to become learned rather than to
live well.
If men used as much care in uprooting vices and implanting virtues as
they do in discussing problems, there would not be so much evil and
scandal in the world, or such laxity in religious organizations. On
the day of judgment, surely, we shall not be asked what we have read
but what we have done; not how well we have spoken but how well we
have lived.
--Thomas à Kempis --Imitation of Christ Bk 1, Ch 3

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20 July - Blessed Luigi Novarese

(1914-1984)
 Priest, co-Founder (alongside Sr Elvira Myriam Psorulla), Apostle of
the Sick – born on 29 July 1914 in Casale Monferrato, Alessandria,
Italy and died on 20 July 1984 in Rocca Priora, Rome, Italy of natural
causes, aged 70. Patronages – Apostolate of the Suffering, Silent
Workers of the Cross, Marian Priest League, Brothers and Sisters of
the Sick. Blessed Luigi with Sr Psorulla, founded the Apostolate of
the Suffering as well as the Silent Workers of the Cross. He also
established the Marian Priest League and the Brothers and Sisters of
the Sick. He built several homes for those who were ill and disabled.
He served in the Secretariat of State until leaving that position to
work alongside the Italian Episcopal Conference and to dedicate more
time to the ill and to the work of his orders.

Msgr Luigi Novarese, was born in Casale Monferrato, in Piedmont, on 29
July 1914, the last of nine children. His father died when Luigi was
just nine months old. His young mother Teresa, barely thirty, had to
take care of the large family alone.

He personally experienced suffering. In 1923, Luigi, age nine, was
diagnosed with a life-threatening disease – bone tuberculosis. The
doctors declared him incurable and his case a hopeless and terminal
one. His mother, Teresa was determined to save him and intensified her
work, using every penny to cure her dying son. She is also a very
devout Catholic and prayed to Our Lady asking for Luigi’s recovery but
the doctors told her to be resigned to Luigi’s terminal illness.  His doctors will be proved wrong. Thus began the continuous pilgrimage
from one hospital to another but to no avail. At that time he
experienced the horror and suffering the chronically ill live with and
this marked him indelibly.

The thing that made him suffer the most was hearing the sick cursing
in anger and desperation, sometimes because they were not assisted by
the staff. Then, with considerable effort, he tried to help them
himself, to prevent them from cursing even more.

Luigi followed his mother’s footsteps in her devotion to Our Lady and
wrote a letter to Father Filippo Rinaldi, leader of the Salesians
Order, asking that he and his students pray for him.  Father Rinaldi
told Luigi that they will ask for the intercession of St John Bosco
and Our Lady Help of Christians. On 17 May 1931, aged 17, Luigi left
the hospital for the last time, miraculously recovered.

During his numerous hospital stays, Luigi decided that he would become
a doctor if he recovered. All of this changed in 1935 with his
mother’s death. He realised the great possibility of serving the Lord
by uniting the suffering of the sick with that of the Resurrected
Lord’s and so entered the Seminary of Casale Monferrato, Italy. He
would later complete his studies at the Capranica College in Rome and
was Ordained a Priest on 17 December 1938, at St John Latern Basilica
in the same city where he would spend most of his life. On 1 May 1942,
Msgr Giovanni Battista Montini, Vatican Under Secretary of State and
the future Pope Paul VI, asked Father Novarese to join his staff,
where he would remain until 12 May 1970, when he was appointed
exclusively to the Religious Hospital Assistance of Italy.

Msgr Novarese saw that many Priests had been wounded or were sick
because of World War II and he wanted to help them. He founded the
Marian Priest League on 17 May 1943. He extended his activities four
years later, by founding the Apostolate of the Suffering (CVS) with
the aid of Sr Elvira Myriam Psorulla, a young woman born in Haifa in
Palestine who had moved to Rome to aid her sick uncle. The aim of this Association was completely new and innovative because the sick were no
longer seen as people to be helped but rather, as active participants
in society offering and uniting their suffering with that of Christ’s.

Due to his experience of illness and sanatorium, he wanted to dedicate
his life to a new apostolate: “the integral promotion of the suffering person.” His aim was to enhance, recover the sick person “in full,” starting from his soul and continuing in every area of his life – the
body, the work, the affections, etc.

Then in 1950, Msgr Novarese founded a third essential group, the
Silent Workers of the Cross composed of men and women, Priests and
laity, who consecrate themselves totally to the suffering by actively
aiding and educating the disabled on the Christian concept of pain. In
that same year, The Anchor magazine began it’s monthly Publication
focusing on the members’ spiritual growth. Finally, Msgr. Novarese
realised that strong arms are necessary to carry out all of the
Association’s numerous spiritual activities and meetings, so in 1952,
he founded the Brothers and Sisters of the Sick made up of healthy
persons willing to share their time aiding the disabled in all
apostolic endeavours.

From 9 to 15 September 1952 he held the first course of spiritual
exercises for the first group of Silent Workers of the Cross from
different parts of Italy. It was on that occasion that it was decided
to build a house to accommodate the sick and handicapped who wish to
live the experience of spiritual exercises annually. The first of
these houses was built and was dedicated to the “Immaculate Heart of
Mary.” A few years later, in 1957, the first Community of Silent
Workers of the Cross entered what would become the association’s
“Mother House,” at the Sanctuary of Valleluogo in Ariano Irpino. The
works continued to grow. But Luigi Novarese had begun to think beyond
Italian borders, dreaming of what he called “the worldwide union of
the sick.”

Wanting to do more for the sick, Msgr Novarese thought of workshops
that would allow the disabled to enter the working world and economic independence from their families. This happened in 1954 after a
miraculous event involving a member of the community. It must be
remembered that in those years no-one was assisting the disabled.

Ten years later, His Holiness Pope John XXIII appointed Msgr Novarese
to the Chaplains of the Italian Hospitals. In his final years, he
built communities abroad, organised conferences on religious and
scientific themes bringing doctors and nurses together for discussion
and planned Spiritual Retreats for psychiatric patients.

Msgr Novarese ended his earthly life on 20 July 1984, in the newly
opened house in Rocca Priora where he wanted to establish the training
place for those who wish to join the Silent Workers of the Cross. His
work is now continued by the Silent Workers of the Cross who direct
and co-ordinate the apostolate which takes place locally in Italy and
in many other countries. He is buried in St Mary’s Suffrage Church,
Rome, Italy.

For 15 years Msgr Novarese also directed the Office of the Italian
Episcopal Conference for the pastoral care of health, following in
particular the formulation and application of the legislation for
hospital religious assistance.

On 19 December 2011, Pope Benedict XVI signed the decree recognising a
miracle obtained, through the intercession of Venerable Luigi
Novarese. He was Beatified on 11 May 2013 by Pope Francis with the Beatification recognition being celebrated at the Basilica of Saint
Paul Outside-the-Walls, Rome, Italy by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.

https://anastpaul.com/2020/07/20/


And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said,
“Why does this generation seek a sign?  Mark 8:12

“But for what sign from heaven were they asking?
Maybe that He should hold back the sun,
or curb the moon,
or bring down thunderbolts,
or change the direction of the wind,
or something like that?
In Pharaoh’s time there was an enemy
from whom deliverance was needed.
But for one who comes among friends,
there should be no need of such signs.”
--St John Chrysostom (347-407)

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