The mothers of priests

Today there is a burning question regarding the recruitment of vocations to the priesthood. Much has been said, written, and done in this regard, and with it all there has been too little thinking about the role of mothers with whom, next to God, the almost radical solution lies. If God in His omnipotence can make bread from stones, can call His priests from the most troubled circumstances, though this is at any rate the exception, it proves the rule, that the great majority of all priests owe their vocations not to clever recruitment schemes, but to a good mother or grandmother. The question of priestly recruits is largely a question of the mother, the priestly mother, who transmits the priestly spirit to her sons.

Such a mother places her heartfelt wish before God, praying often and fervently. What the prayer of the mother is capable of doing is demonstrated by the following true stories, but two from among a number:

Somewhere in northern Italy is a rural area containing the town of Lu with about four thousand residents. Families with six to ten children are the rule.

In 1881, the mothers of the families of Lu began coming together on the First Sunday of each month to assist at Holy Mass and to receive Holy Communion. What the women brought about by these spiritual exercises is expressed very beautifully in the prayer which they recited together at this Mass. The prayer reads:

O God, grant that one of my sons becomes a priest! I promise to live as a good Christian woman and will lead my children to all that is good, wherewith I hope to receive the grace to be able to give to Thee, O God, a holy priest.

So have the women of Lu prayed all these years since 1881. The prayer was short yet so powerful that a flood of priestly vocations were bestowed upon the town. In fifty years, the prayers of these mothers have won at least five hundred priestly and religious vocations from out of the relatively small village. But, remember, it was only in the town of Lu that for those fifty years, the good women were assisting together at the First Sunday Mass specifically for the intention of religious vocations!

Happy, blessed Lu! The prayers of a mother are indeed powerful when they are intended to beg heaven for priestly vocations. It almost seems that God waits upon mothers for their prayers, and then vocations bloom like flowers in May!

The chaplain of a prison stumbled into the cell of a convict. The prisoner drew the attention of the priest to the graffiti sign which he himself had scrawled and which hung on the whitewashed wall. The sign read: "Mothers are the Fate of Men." [Duly noted exception noted below.]

"You see, Father," said the convict, "in prison one has time to think about a lot of things, and the result of my reflection is this small saying: 'Mothers are the Fate of Men.' A good mother is a blessing for the children; a bad mother, however, is a terrible curse."

Why is this event related here even though it may sound out of place? For the very reason that in the mirror of contrast, truth becomes much more bright and certain.

Vorst is a great market town in the vicinity of the Rhine city of Krefeld, West Germany. A hundred and forty years ago, an eighteen-year-old girl was taken sick there in a very bad way. Already near to death, the dying girl made the vow that if she was given the grace to overcome the illness and later to be married, she would consecrate her firstborn child to the exclusive service of God.

The fraulein recovered and seven years later she married. During those seven years, Frau Neuenhofen, as she was called after her marriage, never forgot her promise. At the moment she knew that God had blessed her with a child, she offered it as Mary herself would have done while the Divine Child slept in the holy cradle beneath her heart. Frau Neuenhofen renewed her offering every day. Her first child was to be a boy, and some say in retrospect that it appeared the child was already given a miraculous predisposition to the priesthood while in the sanctuary of his mother's womb. Already early on his priestly vocation was known to him, and his mother prudently guarded him carefully from every harmful influence. In Steyl [1885], he received the holy priesthood.

On the evening of the day of his First Mass, the happy mother walked with her son through the garden. On this occasion, Frau Neuenhofen spoke for the first time of her promise, which she had carried silently in her heart all these years, and she ended the conversation with these words: "God is good. You are now a priest. This morning I received from your hand the Body of Christ. Soon, your brother John will be ordained as well, and, if all is as it seems, our youngest will eventually become a priest."

Thus spoke so confidently the priestly woman, and it later came to pass. I say "priestly woman," because she had the zeal for souls which characterizes priests. Three sons of Frau Neuenhofen became priests. The eldest was a spiritual director and teacher to priests and future priests. Among his many students were three missionary bishops. What blessings came forth from this mother with the priestly heart for the salvation of souls, and, by extension, from the sons she gave to the holy priesthood of her Lord Jesus Christ!

"Mothers are the fate of men." We have to admit this statement does not always hold true. The writer of these lines remembers his visit to a prison camp during World War II. A convict who had spent sixteen of his forty-eight years behind bars once said to me in a remorseful tone: "You know, Fr. Robert, I come from a good family. My mother goes to Mass every day. All of my brothers and sisters are upright and highly regarded. I alone am the black sheep at home, the greatest sorrow of my old mother."

Not always are mothers the fate of men, but the decision about the priesthood of one or more of her sons most always lies with the mother.

How did the holy Pope Pius X put it? . . . "A vocation to the priestly state," he maintained, "comes from the heart of God, but comes through the heart of the mother."

Here's the story of Margherita Sanson:

Entering into marriage on February 13, 1833, the seamstress Margherita Sanson signed the marriage certificate with a small cross, as was the custom of the time, for she could neither read nor write. Her new husband was a civil servant with a daily wage of one single franc (about 20 cents US in 1995 exchange rates). Besides that, he had so little land that he could cultivate it with his only cow from which, moreover, was required the daily milk.
That was the entire estate, and on this estate in the course of the next 20 years, 10 children were born, of which in spite of the thin slices of bread and the pitifully ragged clothing, 8 survived. This feat was achieved only for the very reason that, as father lived extremely frugally and modestly, the mother, often until ate in the night, sewed for other people. Of the father we know he attended Holy Mass daily and read the lives of the saints to the children every night.
On the day of his first Holy Communion, Joseph, the eldest son of the family, decided God had called him to the priesthood. Although he intended to keep his decision a secret, Margherita quickly discovered the secret, and from that same hour on the little boy found the strongest support for the realization of his calling from his mother.
The father, however, even with all his piety, was not enthusiastic for this plan. He already figured that the oldest son would soon help with the support of the large family. After all, where would the money come from for his studies? So thought rightly the reasonable father, but the faithful mother prevailed over his thoughts by trusting the matter to God's providence.
Steadfastly trusting in this Providence, Joseph began his studies. First thing each day, his local priest drilled him in the rudiments of the Latin language. Then Margherita's son walked almost an hour to the higher school in the next town. He literally "took the road under his feet" because, in order to save the soles, he would dangle his shoes by their laces over his shoulder. Only when he was nearly at school did he actually put his shoes on. In springtime, Joseph would rest a while by the spring along the school-route. Fresh watercress grew here and he would lay the watercress as filling between the slices of bread he would save from morning breakfast.
He admirably tested and proved God's providence throughout the year. When the preparatory studies were finally over, it was again this Providence, without which this young man could never realize the priesthood, which provided a scholarship to the seminary.
And so the goal was brought nearer to hand. But then Margherita's husband died suddenly leaving behind for the 40-year-old widow 9 destitute children, of whom the youngest at only 4 days of age was to soon exchange its life on earth for that of heaven.
It was immediately clear to Joseph that under these circumstances he could not cost his mother a penny more. For that reason, he said to her after the burial of his father: "Mother, now I lay my studies aside and help you with the upbringing and care of my brothers and sisters."
"You stupid boy," she shouted in answer, "have you forgotten that God has called you? You will continue your studies, and that is that!"
Margherita's son returned to the seminary and his enterprising mother called together the 2 eldest daughters, aged 13 and 11, to join her in sewing more diligently for the neighbors.
Six years later, on September 18, 1858, the son of a seamstress was ordained to the holy priesthood and celebrated his first Solemn Mass the following day in his hometown. In her son of 23 years, the will of God for which she had prayed, worked, and sacrificed was accomplished.
Margherita's son became a curate with an income which scarcely sufficed to meet his own needs. As he very quickly acquired a reputation as an outstanding preacher, he was frequently invited to give feast day sermons in neighboring parishes. He gave honorariums, which were often slipped into his hands on such occasions, to his mother, unless he came upon someone poorer beforehand who needed the support more than his own family. Then, he excused himself well with the words, "You know, mother, Providence needed the money in this case for the poor, in comparison to whom you are truly rich."
Margherita's response was usually a kindhearted and knowing smile, "Beppi, I am so happy that you are a just priest."
After 9 years as an assistant, Margherita's son became a pastor. The paltry furniture which he brought with him and which barely filled a single room of the rectory aroused an uncharitable judgement from the parishioners regarding the new pastor. One even remarked: "Hey, what's the bishop trying to do to us by sending us one like him?!"
The rash judgement would quickly be destroyed. Soon the unanimous conviction of all 6000 souls in the parish was that no one could have a better pastor. It was especially the magnanimous charity and genuine priestly care of the sick by which the priest conquered hearts.
Nine years later, the bishop named Margherita's son a cathedral canon, chancellor of the diocese, and spiritual director of the seminary. After another 9 years, this son of a civil servant and seamstress was himself made bishop.
Shortly after his episcopal consecration, dressed entirely in purple, with a golden cross on his chest and ring encrusted with precious stones on his finger, the new 50-year-old prince of the Church visited his then 70-year-old mother - his mother who in the meantime, without the help he had offered, raised 7 children to be fine men and women. Mother and son affectionately greeted each other. Both overcome with joyful tears by this memorable reunion, the new bishop said jokingly to his mother, "Look at the handsome ring someone gave me!"
Margherita then, as she was bidden to do, reverently kissed the symbol of episcopal dignity. She then, becoming reflective, and pointing to her simple silver wedding band, the old said with emphasis: "Surely, Beppi, your ring is beautiful, but you would not be wearing it today, had not I first worn this wedding ring."
The bishop then bowed his head over Margherita's hand, reverently kissed the symbol of her marital and motherly dignity, and as he rose up, a childlike tear of thanks shone as a pearl of great price on her wedding ring.
The busy and responsible position which Margherita's son held as bishop changed nothing in the the trusting relationship with his mother, but it meant that he seldom turned up at home for a visit, as was previously the case, and when he did visit, he would no sooner arrive that he had to leave. It is understandable that mother Margherita was a little annoyed by that, and in a feigned ill temper she took the opportunity to say, "Yes, yes, Beppi, there's not much good for you, I guess, in a little old woman as I am now."
Then one day the bishop arrived at home unexpectedly and unannounced, and to the question of how long he would stay this time, he answered, "I am staying here the entire month."
With these words, the heart of the 75-year-old woman fluttered for a second, and great joy showed over her wrinkled face. She remained so for the long 4 weeks during which she had her Beppi with her, and took him as before under her secure wings.
Margherita looked after her son as in the old days of his boyhood, and when she kidded how Beppi, who, from childhood on, was a little thick between the ears, he laughed heartily, so comfortable and unaffected was the relationship between mother and her episcopal son.
Nine years after his episcopal consecration, Beppi scheduled a trip into the country on the occasion of receiving the cardinalate (1893) to visit his now 80-year-old mother for the last time. He was now dressed completely in red. The child of a seamstress had been made a cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. In the humble apartment, the 2 sat facing each other. Sunshine streamed through the window. Its light was caught in the crackling purple silk of the cardinal's robe. A brightness like fire flashed through the small room, and from the grey whitewashed walls came a light reflection onto the paltry furniture. As if blinded by all the pomp, Margherita shaded her old, weak eyes with her hand. Then the 80-year drew nearer to her son, the 60-year-old, and the old seamstress said to the cardinal of the Holy Roman Church: "Child, for me, be not too proud!"
Soon thereafter, in 1894, mother Margherita died. Had she lived 9 years longer, she would have seen her own son dressed in white with a 3-tiered crown upon his head. Her Beppi was now pope! It may be safe to presume that the simple woman saw this day in the hereafter. As well, united with her children in eternal happiness, she celebrated yet another glorious day, namely May 29, 1954, when Pope Pius XII canonized her eldest son, Pope St Pius X.
Margherita Sarto, nee Sanson, the mother of the holy Pope Pius X, is an outstanding model for all mothers whose heartfelt desire is to want the will of God for their children, even if it be that His will for them is service as a religious in His Church. In this case, it matters less if a mother can read and write, but most importantly that she be an upright and genuine Christian. Then God, will surely be abundant in His blessings upon her family.

THE PRAYING MOTHERS OF LU MONFERRATO

The little Village of Lu, in northern Italy, is one of the Church's unique examples of spiritual motherhood for priests and religious. This village of almost 3,000 inhabitants is in a rural area 50km east of Turin. It would still be completely unknown even today if, in the year 1881, the family mothers in Lu had not made a decision with 'serious' consequences.

Some of the mothers held within their hearts the desire that one of their sons become a priest or that a daughter place her life completely in God's service. Under the direction of their parish priest, Mons. Alessandro Canora, they began gathering every Tuesday for adoration before the tabernacle, asking the Lord for vocations. They received Holy Communion on the first Sunday of every month with this same intention.

After Mass all the mothers prayed a prayer together, requesting vocations to the priesthood. Through the trusting prayer of these mothers and the openness of the other parents, a deep atmosphere of joyful, Christian piety developed in the families, making it much easier for the children to recognise their vocations. Did the Lord Jesus not say: "Many are called, but few are chosen" (Mt 22:14)? That is, many are called, but only a few respond to the call.

Noone expected that God would hear and respond to the prayers of the mothers in such an extraordinary way. From this tiny village of Lu came 323 vocations, 152 priests and 171 nuns. More than 100 of them are still alive today.

As many as 3 or 4 vocations came from some of these families. The most famous example is the Rinaldi family, from whom God called 7 children. The most famous of the Rinaldi brothers is Blessed Filippo Rinaldi, who became the 3rd successor to St John Bosco as Superior General of the Salesians. Pope John Paul II beatified him on April 29, 1990.

As in the Rinaldi family, many of the vocations from this small town became Salesians. It is certainly not a coincidence for St John Bosco visited Lu 4 times in his life. Even on his first visit there he took back with him 6 young women who wanted to join his congregation in Turin.

During another visit he concelebrated the first Mass of his spiritual son, Filippo Rinaldi. Filippo always happily remembered the faith of the families of Lu: "A faith that made our fathers and mothers say, 'The Lord gave us our children and so if He calls them, we can't say no.'"

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