Pope Paul speaks to nuns : address to nuns of the Diocese of Albano, given at Castelgandolfo on Sept


TO NUNS
ADDRESS TO NUNS OF THE DIOCESE OF ALBANO

GIVEN AT CASTELGANDOLFO ON SEPTEMBER 8, 1964

Beloved daughters in Christ:

It is a reason for great spiritual consolation for us to celebrate

the feast of the Nativity of the Most Blessed Mary with you all,
good and dear religious women!

Often, when celebrating sacred solemnities, our mind grows
anxious about the understanding, about the participation of the

faithful who attend the rite. We have reason to doubt whether they
understand, whether they are united in the prayer of the Church,

whether they fully realize the meaning of the mysteries remem-
bered, of the prayers offered, of the spiritual and moral value of

all that worship should offer to our souls.

This thought, this doubt, does not exist here! We are certain
that all of you are with us in giving full significance and fervor to

this holy Mass in honor of Mary’s birth; and this for three evident
reasons, which concur in making this ceremony solemn and
memorable.

First, it compels us to recall the appearance of Our Lady in
the world as the arrival of the dawn which precedes the light of
salvation, Jesus Christ; as the opening on the earth, all covered

with the mud of sin, of the most beautiful flower ever to have blos-
somed in the desolate garden of mankind—of the birth, that is to
say, of the human creature who is the most pure, the most inno-
cent, the most perfect, the most worthy of the definition God



Himself gave man when creating him: the image of God, the
likeness of God, that is to say supreme, profound beauty, so ideal
in its being and its form, and so real in its living expression as to
let us perceive that this first-formed creature was destined, on the
one hand, to the conversation, to the love of its Creator in an

ineffable diffusion of the most blessed and beatifying Divinity and

in an abandoned response of poetry and of joy—such as is the
“Magnificat” of the Madonna—and destined on the other hand,
to the regal dominion of the earth.

What was to appear and vanish miserably in Eve, God, by a
design of infinite mercy—we might almost say by a desire to recon-
quer, like the artist who, seeing his work destroyed, wants to
remake it more beautifully and more in keeping with his creating
idea—caused to live again in Mary: ''ut dignum Filii tui habitacu-
lum effici mereretur Spiritu Sancto cooperante praeparasti” (who,
by the cooperation of the Holy Spirit, deserved to become a suit-
able dwelling for Your Son) [from the prayer said at the con-
clusion of the Divine Office during the season of Pentecost]—as
the prayer says which is well-known to you all; and today, the
day dedicated to veneration of this gift, of this masterpiece of

God, we remember, we admire, we exult: Mary is born, Mary is
ours, Mary restores to us the figure of perfect mankind, in her
immaculate human conception, stupendously in keeping with the
mysterious conception of the divine Mind of the creature who is
the queen of the world.

And Mary, by a new and supreme joy, enchanting joy of our
souls, attracts our glance to herself only to lead it to look further,

to the miracle of light and sanctity of life which she announces on
being born and will bring with herself, Christ the Lord, her Son,

the Son of God from whom she herself receives everything. This
is the celebrated play of grace which is called the Incarnation and

which gives us a presage, in Mary, the lamp carrying the divine

light, the doorway through which heaven will wind its steps toward

the earth, the mother who will offer life to the Word of God, the
advent of our salvation.

You know, beloved daughters, all these things; you ponder
on them, you honor them, you imitate them; Mary gives you their
sublime picture, in which she triumphs in unequaled humility and

glory. Is this not a reason for making us happy—to know that you
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are all closely associated with this joy of the Church and with the

glorification of Our Lady?

Secondly, you celebrate with us this sweet and intimate feast,

like a day of the family, like a domestic event, which binds the

hearts in dear and common sentiments. It is the feast of the com-
mon, heavenly Mother; and we understand how your devotion is
strengthened by the fact that you are celebrating it together with

this common and earthly Father, with the Pope. And this pious
satisfaction also gladdens us, who feel your devotion uniting itself
to ours, your prayer to ours, and your trust to ours.

It seems to us, dear and good religious women, that you are
this morning the bouquet of flowers with which we present our-
selves before Mary to express to her our greetings—oh, let us
rather say our homage—on the anniversary of her birth. A kind
of childish speech rises to our lips: See, Mary, what we are offer-
ing you, these flowers; they are the most beautiful flowers of the

Holy Church; they are the souls of the single love, of the love for

your divine Son Jesus; they are the souls who have truly believed
in His words, who left everything to follow Him alone; they heed
Him, they imitate Him, they serve Him, they follow Him, with

you, yes, to the Cross; and they do not complain, they are not

afraid, they do not cry; on the contrary, they are always joyous,

they are good, Mary, these daughters of the Church of God!

We hope that the Most Blessed Mary will listen to these
simple words, and that she may feel honored by the offering of all
of you Religious which we are making to her today. We will say
more, [the offering] of all the religious women of the Holy Church.
And we hope that she may look at them all, she the blessed among
all, with (“illos tuos misericordes oculos . . .”) those merciful eyes

of hers, that she may gladden them, protect them and bless them;
because they are hers, and they are hers because they are of the

Church!

It seems to us that this meeting particularly emphasizes this

aspect of your religious life. Why are you so glad today to be
attending the holy Mass of the Pope and to venerate with him our
Blessed Lady? And why is the Pope himself glad to have you with
him? Because, as we said, you are of the Church; you belong, and
with bonds of a particular tenacity, to the Mystical Body of Christ,

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and have a special place in the ecclesiastical community: you are

the joy of the Church, you are the honor, you are the beauty, you
are the consolation, you are the example! We may also add:
You are the strength! By your piety, by your humility, by your
docility, by your spirit of sacrifice, you are the dearest daughters
of the Church.

This meeting must revive in you the “sense of the Church.”

It happens at times that this “sense of the Church” is less realized
and less cultivated in certain religious families owing to the fact

that they live a secluded life and that they find within the frame-

work of their community every object of immediate interest and
know little of what happens outside the bounds of the occupations
to which they are completely dedicated. It happens at times that

their religious life has limited horizons, not only as regards the

development of the things of this world, but also as regards the

life of the Church, its events, its thoughts, and its teaching, its

spiritual fervor, its sorrows and its fortunes.

This is not an ideal attitude for the religious woman. She
loses the complete and great vision of the divine design for our

salvation and for our sanctification. It is not a privilege to remain

on the margin of the life of the Church and to build for oneself a
spirituality which prescinds from the circulation of the word, of

the grace and of charity in the Catholic community of the brothers
in Christ. Without taking from the religious woman the silence,
the meditation, the relative autonomy, the style which her proper

form of life needs, we look to more direct and fuller participation
restored to her in the life of the Church, particularly in liturgy,

social charity, modern apostolate in the service of the brothers.
Much is being done in this direction; and, we believe, with benefit
both for the sanctification of the religious woman as well as for the
edification of the faithful.

We remember that in Milan, on the occasion of this very
feast, we invited the dear Sisters of the Infant Mary to attend our
solemn Mass in that duomo which is certainly one of the most
beautiful and largest cathedrals of the world, and which is indeed

dedicated to the nativity of Mary. None of those Sisters had felt
called through her own devotion to participate in the solemn and
splendid rite in honor of Mary’s birth in the cathedral of the town

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where they have their motherhouse and a magnificent network of

charitable activities: it was the archbishop who invited them.
Then, they came to the cathedral every year, on the eighth of Sep-

tember, and in large numbers; and they were happy to feel on

that day that they were the dearest of the Church, as we were when
greeting them during the homily and in blessing them as exemplary

and worthy of our benevolence.

We also remember how edifying it seemed to us to see in the
churches of the flourishing missionary communities in Southern

Rhodesia and Nigeria the Sisters of the various religious families

attend, in reserved seats, the Sunday functions, to their great honor

and to the great consolation and admiration of all the faithful.

Indeed, this meeting, we repeat, will serve to rekindle in you
and, we hope, in all of the immense flock of women religious, love
for the Church, and to bring you into ever closer communion with
her. This, remember, is a great thought which can open the win-

dow on the spiritual reality to which you have dedicated your life:
the Church is, in fact, the work of salvation established by Christ

—a great thought which can comfort and sustain the simplicity
and the hidden nature of your occupations: the Church is the

kingdom of God; those who belong to it and serve it participate
in the dignity, the fortune of this kingdom—A great thought,
yes, it is the Church which opens up for your oblation the ways
whereby it can be ever more fruitful in apostolic results, in wise
charity, in immense merits.

I believe the day has come to give higher honor and more
efficiency to the religious life of women, and that this can be
achieved by perfecting the ties uniting it to that of the whole

Church. In this regard we reveal to you that we have arranged
that some qualified and devout women may also attend several
solemn rites and several general congregations of the forthcoming

third session of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council as audi-

tors; we mean those congregations at which questions of special
interest to the life of woman are being debated. In that way

—

perhaps for the first time—we will have present at an ecumenical
council some small—obviously—but significant and almost sym-
bolic representation of women, first of all of you Religious, and

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then of the great Catholic women’s organizations, so that woman
may know how much the Church honors her in the dignity of her
being and of her human and Christian mission.

While we are glad to announce this to you, we are saddened
by the thought of the many manifestations of modern life in which
woman appears to have fallen from the lofty spiritual and moral
level accorded her by good civil usage and by elevation to the
Christian vocation to the level of moral insensibility and often

to pagan license; while the paths to the most dangerous and morbid
experiences are open to her, woman is deprived of true happiness
and of true love which can never be dissociated from the sacred
meaning of life.

And we are also pained to see how many feminine souls,
made for high and generous things, are no longer capable today
of giving to their lives full and superior meaning because they lack

two factors of inner fullness; prayer, in its complete, personal and

sacramental expression, and the spirit of dedication, that is to say

love which gives and vivifies. They remain poor tormented souls
to whom external distractions give a false remedy.

Here, then, we come to the third reason for our spiritual joy
in this meeting which consoles us: It is that of noting by your

number and your fervor, that there are still today pure and strong
souls who thirst for perfection and who are neither afraid nor
ashamed to wear the religious habit, the habit of the total conse-
cration of one’s own life to the Lord.

Truly, in this respect also, we should make a twofold and not
very happy remark; that is to say that religious vocations, even

of women, are decreasing, and that the Church and secular society
both have a growing need for such vocations. This is one of the

problems of our time, for whose solution it will be necessary to

work and pray.

But let us now dwell on the proof of religious vitality which
your presence offers us. We thank Our Lady for this consolation,
which enables us to perceive her providential and maternal assist-

ance to the Church. It offers us the example of an ever re-flower-

ing Christian generosity, which makes us think of the whole

treasure of good works to which your life is consecrated.

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We pray to Our Lady for you: May she give you the certainty
of the goodness of the choice you have made. It is the best, it is

the most difficult and at the same time the easiest. It is the one

nearest to that of the Most Blessed Mary, because, like hers, it is

wholly governed by a simple and total surrender to the divine will:

Fiat mihi secundum Verhum tuum (Be it done unto me according
to your Word)!

We will pray to her that she may make you strong. Religious
life today demands strength. Yesterday, it was perhaps the refuge
of many weak and timid souls; today, it is the workshop of strong,
constant and heroic souls.

Lastly, we will pray to Our Lady that she may make you glad
and happy. Religious life, however poor and austere, can be true

only in inner joyousness. That is what we wish you, in memory of
this meeting, while asking all of you for prayers for the council

and for the whole Church, and giving to you all our benediction.

(Translation provided by NCWC News Service)

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1964

National Catholic Welfare Conference
1312 Massachusetts Avenue, N. W. Washington 5, D. C.