Rome Italy). On October 15, 2022, the Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila is celebrated, recognized and desired by Saint John Bosco Patroness of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. In the context of the 150th anniversary of the Institute, celebrating it means recalling its presence.
In the Constitutions of 1885 (XVII, 9) we read: “The Feasts of St. Joseph, St. Francis de Sales and St. Teresa of Jesus, who are the particular patrons of the institute, will be celebrated with particular devotion and solemnity”. This is an indication that is found up to the current Constitutions, without further specifications: “We will honor in a special way […] St. Francis de Sales, St. Teresa of Jesus whom our Founder gave as Patrons to the Institute “(Const. 45).
Through a careful study of the sources, it can be understood that the spiritual formation of Maria Domenica Mazzarello and the Daughters of the Immaculate Conception (FMI) is largely “Teresian”. We can speak of a direct influence through the reading of some of the Saint’s works – eg. There Life; Path of Perfection – and indirectly, through the mediation of Giuseppe Frassinetti, a great friend and teacher of Don Domenico Pestarino. Indeed, his ascetic works are imbued with the Saint’s doctrine.
Thanks to Frassinetti’s training action, the IMF get to know some parts of the Path of perfection referred to in the contribution: Pater noster of St. Teresa of Jesus. Treatise on prayer (Parma 1860), which he himself elaborated starting from the spirituality of the Saint of Avila.
In choosing Saint Teresa as Patroness, Don Bosco is in continuity with the spiritual tradition of the IMF. Moreover, there are many common elements between the “Teresian” spirituality and that of Don Bosco proposed to the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians: spiritual realism; a unitary spirituality in which all aspects of life are unified by love; a simple and affective prayer made from the heart and with the heart; joy as a characterizing element of a healthy and youthful spirituality; the harmony between active and contemplative life; filial love for Our Lady.
Two in particular are highlighted:
The joy
In the Constitutions of 1885, Don Bosco added a very significant emphasis in the article concerning the Novice Mistress:
“S. Teresa wanted the nuns to be cheerful, sincere and open. Therefore the Novice Mistress will have the eye to make her pupils precisely such, because the Sisters of such a character are the most apt to inspire esteem and love for piety and Religion in the young girls and people of the century “ (Rules or Constitutions for the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians aggregated to the Salesian Society, Turin 1885, Tit. IX, 5).
On one of his visits to the community of Alassio, Don Bosco asked the FMA: “Are you all happy?” And he went on: “I recommend holiness, health, science and joy to you! Make yourselves all Sante Terese! Remember that the devil is afraid of happy people. He will tempt you to discourage you from the much work you have (he spoke in the laboratory)” (MB X 648).
Already in the schedule given to the IMF in 1869, Don Bosco proposed some life practices, some simple pedagogical suggestions and some fundamental elements of Salesian spirituality that were shaping the small group, in line with what was already happening in the House of the Immaculate Conception. Among the elements proposed we find what concerns the formation of character: “Constant work on one’s nature to form a good, patient, happy character, such as to make virtue lovable and easier to live together»(Cronistoria I, 225).
Joy is seen here in a pedagogical key. In fact, joy, which is first of all the fruit of the Spirit, is contagious; who is cheerful transmits peace, light, serenity because happiness comes from a clear conscience. A joyful heart is the normal result of a heart that burns with the love of God, of a poor heart, free from all possessions and entirely inhabited by God, which expects all good from him alone. In this sense, joy is transcendent.
Saint Teresa gives great importance to recreation, the moment in which the sisters meet to share, talk, be happily together, to manifest the Love from which they are inhabited. A pedagogical aspect rich in meaning.
Furthermore, happiness is an element that highlights what God is working in the hearts of creatures. Feeling joy is a “mystical operation”. It can only come from God, from a motive that is not only earthly, but is the fruit of the Spirit. In this sense, joy is a criterion of a healthy spiritual life.
Our Lady, the true Superior of the community
On the same day of the religious profession of the first eleven FMA, Don Bosco confirmed Maria Domenica Mazzarello in the role of Superior and assured: “For now she will have the title of vicar, because the true Superior is the Madonna” (History I, 308). It seems that Don Bosco’s decisive affirmation on the particular role of the Rector of the house recognized to Mary Most Holy is to be linked to a Teresian tradition known in the Salesian environment and probably also in Mornese. In fact, as Saint Teresa had to assume the difficult position of prioress of the monastery of the Incarnation, she placed the image of Mary in her place in the choir. The fact is narrated by Giovanni Bonetti in her biography published in 1882, on the occasion of the third centenary of the death of Teresa of Jesus, and proposed to the FMA of the House of Chieri entitled to her:
«Another industry used Saint Teresa to finish winning the hearts of all, and for all to lead to God. […] a few days after his arrival at the Incarnation he ordered the Chapter, that is the meeting of the sisters; but in choir, on the Prioress’s chair she placed the statue of the Madonna with the keys of the monastery in her hand […]. The Saint, taking a stool and sitting near the image of Mary, said thus: “The office of Prioress or my sisters, is as far from my thoughts as I am far from deserving it. […] Precisely for this weakness of mine I do not want to be Prioress of the Monastery, except in name. The true Prioress will be the Madonna who stands before you ”» (Giovanni BONETTI, La rosa del Carmelo or St. Teresa of Jesus: notes about her life, Turin, SEI 1909, 238-239).
The Teresian inspiration is confirmed in another very significant gesture of Maria Domenica Mazzarello: that of leaving the keys of the house every evening at the foot of the statue of Mary Help of Christians. (History II 132).
Sister Elena Massimi, FMA, President of the Italian Association of Liturgy Professors and Experts, proposes the following liturgical texts for the Feast of Saint Teresa of Avila: