By CAROLE BRESLIN
St. Teresa of Calcutta answered a call within a call by founding the Missionaries of Charity to help the poorest of the poor in Calcutta, India. Soon her apostolic endeavors to serve the most destitute of persons spread throughout the world, while she said that the greatest poverty is in the West where people do not know the love of God despite all of their wealth.
One hundred years before she answered her call, another man answered a similar call by helping the most vulnerable in his locality and, as with St. Teresa, his work soon spread throughout the world.
John Calabria found certain truths to be universal. Beauty, peace, and love have no price though great value. Poverty and sacrifice bring a joyful peace that material goods will never bring. This saintly man with a peaceful soul came from the humble beginnings and left a legacy of undying love in his wake.
The Calabria family lived in Verona, a lovely village situated near the foothills of the Alps in northern Italy. Luigi Calabria was a cobbler and his wife, Angela, was a maidservant to the wealthy citizens. She was deeply devout, receiving spiritual direction from Servant of God Fr. Nicola Mayza, head of the institute for poor children.
John Calabria, the last of their seven children, was born on October 8, 1873. Though poor, Luigi and Angela Calabria were hard-working and sent their children to school. Sadly, Luigi died when John had just completed his fourth year of elementary education.
Necessity caused John to quit school and find a job to help the impoverished family.
Fr. Pietro Scapini, the rector of San Lorenzo, now a basilica, had recognized the promising intellect and virtues of John Calabria. Thus he began preparing John for the future by tutoring him to pass the entrance exam for the lyceum — the first step to entering the seminary.
John passed the exam, but because of his poverty, attended as an extern commuting to the school. Soon another obstacle appeared to halt his vocation when he was called to serve the military for two years.
Although Fr. Scapini had noticed John’s potential for great sanctity, the military provided the venue for its blossoming. There John volunteered for the most odious and humbling tasks. In addition, he also proved his courage by taking on challenging tasks in the face of danger. By the end of his two years of military service, he won the respect of his fellowmen. He also brought many back to the Church by his heroic example and gentle persuasion.
Once discharged, John returned to his studies to become a priest. He frequently stayed up late studying during his first year of theology. In 1897, on a chilling November night, he went to visit the hospital to assist the sick. Upon arriving at his home afterward, he found a young homeless boy crouching on the doorstep. John questioned him and found he had run away from the gypsies who treated him poorly.
Thus began John’s lifelong mission of helping poor young children. He brought the young boy in to his house and shared his room with him.
In just a few months John founded “the Charitable Institution for the assistance to poor, sick people” in 1898. Wherever he went, he looked for the poor and needy who might need help — he did not wait to be asked.
John’s work attracted other laymen to assist in the work of caring for orphans. These men who sacrificed their lives to serve the Lord in the poor soon became a new institute.
On August 11, 1901, Calabria was ordained a priest, then appointed confessor and curate of St. Stephen’s Church. Six years later, he was appointed rector of San Benedetto del Monte.
At the end of that year he founded the Poor Servants of Divine Providence in a house near the church of San Lorenzo. Shortly thereafter they moved to Via San Zeno on the river, which is the motherhouse to this day. The institute received diocesan approval from the Most Rev. Girolamo Cardinale, bishop of Verona, on February 11, 1932.
After diocesan approval, the order expanded quickly across Italy in efforts to serve the poor, the abandoned, and the outcasts. Expansion in service to the sick and elderly followed soon. The order reached as far as India, where the brothers went to Vijayavada.
Pope Pius XII granted full pontifical approval on December 15, 1956.
In the meantime, theologian Bartolomeo Cardinal Bacilieri urged Calabria to establish the Poor Sisters Servants of Divine Providence, which Fr. Calabria did on April 17, 1910. Maria Galbraith became the first superior of the new group of sisters. On Christmas Day 1981, Pope St. John Paul II gave full approval to the Sister Servants.
Both of these orders founded by Fr. Calabria received his original mission: “To prove to the world that Divine Providence exists, that God is not a stranger, but that He thinks of us, on condition that we think of Him and do our part which is that of seeking first and foremost the Kingdom of God and His justice” (Matt. 6:25-34).
The reality of his calling was proven as Fr. Calabria welcomed the youths most in need — both materially and morally — into his institutes. He also established hospitals and homes for the sick and elderly.
The young men who lived in his institutes were welcome to go through formation and discernment for the religious life and the priesthood. If they could not pay, they were accepted by the benevolence of Fr. Calabria. He left them free to choose whichever diocese or congregation to which they felt called. Those who became priests in the Congregation of the Servants of Divine Providence were to practice their calling “where there is nothing humanly promising.”
In the last 25 years of his life, Fr. Calabria worked tirelessly to spread God’s love throughout the world. There was no task he avoided in order to save souls, including hiding Jewish people from the Nazis of Germany and the fascists of Italy.
As one Hebrew woman gave testimony to his heroic virtue in the process of his canonization: “Every instant of his life was a personification of St. Paul’s marvelous canticle on charity.” During World War II, she had been fleeing the Nazi-fascists who were victimizing the Jewish people and he concealed her in his order.
On December 3, 1954, Fr. Calabria learned that Pope Pius XII was ill and asked our Lord to accept his suffering in place of the Pope even unto death. Fr. Calabria died the next day and the Pope rallied.
Fr. Calabria’s cause for canonization was opened on March 6, 1981. Pope St. John Paul II beatified him on April 17, 1988 and canonized him on April 18, 1989 in Rome. His feast is celebrated on December 4.
Dear Fr. Calabria, obtain for us, by your heavenly intercession, the grace of seeking to serve the Lord before all things. Help us to be active servants of the poor in our midst in a lasting and meaningful way every day of our lives. Amen.
Powered by WPtouch Mobile Suite for WordPress