In 1907, two years after receiving the independent mission from the territory of Bishop Allgeyer, Fr. Allamano offered Propaganda Fide details of development in the missions in Kenya, and requested if the new territory could be elevated to Vicariate Apostolic. Naturally, the independent mission was supposed to be a Prefecture first, and then later a vicariate Apostolic. In other words, Fr. Allamano wanted the Prefecture stage to be skipped. Although we may not be aware of the reasons of such a request, we can easily speculate that Fr. Allamano must have looked at the speed at which the mission was growing, or at the level of development the independent mission had attained (something which was open to the evaluation of Propaganda Fide). As you would expect, the expectations were very high as they waited for the response of Rome. The response did not come as soon as they expected. Days turned into months and months became a year, raising anxiety both in Turin and in Kenya. A keen follow up revealed that the alleged file had gotten lost. In a hurry, Fr. Allamano made another copy and delivered it to Propaganda Fide. On 28 June 1909 the request was accepted and on 6th July 1909 Pope Pius X gave his ratification making the independent mission of Consolata Missionaries into Vicariate Apostolic with Fr. Filippo Perlo as its bishop. That action confirmed that Fr. Allamano’s assessment of the growth of the independent mission had been actually correct.
The event of the consecration of the bishop elect took place on Saturday 23rd October 1909 at the Consolata Shrine in Turin, where Cardinal Richelmy, Valfre’ di Bonzo, the Archbishop of Vercelli, and Giovanni Tasso the bishop of Aosta laid hands on the great missionary. What had started as a tiny unstable project of a sickly man was now a Missionary Institute producing bishops. No one would doubt that that was the fulfillment of Jesus words:
…the Kingdom of God is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field: which is indeed smaller than all seeds, but when it grows it is greater that the herbs and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and lodge in its branches (Mt 13:32)
As if that was not enough, the same year, 1909, the Consolata Missionary Institute received the Decretum Laudis from Rome, opening doors to a series of other approvals which transferred the Institute from diocesan to pontifical jurisdiction. The decree also appointed Fr. Allamano as the Superior General for six years and Fr. Camisassa as his Vicar General. As such, the Institute was now under the jurisdiction of the Congregation for Religious. No one doubted any longer that Fr. Allamano had actually made it. The silent frail man whom few would have expected to live long, leave a lone start a successful missionary institute, was silently being elevated over many in the diocese. It was a case of “if you humble yourself you will be exalted” (Mt. 23:12). It was as if God had made him suffer previously only to raise him up. It must have been therefore even more painful for his previous distracters when Pope Pius X recognized, approved and praised the Consolata Method. Fr. Allamano could not hide his joy as he announced the news to the missionaries in Kenya. He wrote:
“In the past, people took it upon themselves to criticize our evangelization method, as though we were too concerned with material at the expense of spiritual welfare; it was said that all that needed to be done was preach and baptize and not bother about anything else...” (D Agasso, pg 116)
Those words of Fr. Allamano made it clear that the criticisms of many people and the expectation of a number of others that the Institute would not go far were now a thing of the past. Encouraging his missionaries, Fr. Allamano reminded them that they were not the first to go through such hostile public opinion: Matteo Ricci suffered the same fate. His method of evangelization in China was not appreciated by many people, including Church leaders, but at the end of the day most of the people were pleased about what the enthusiastic missionary had done. This tells us a lot: First, we should not be quick to give up just because people are not on our side. Provided we are doing the right thing, determination should be our walking staff. Second, this episode of the Institutes life tells us that we should not have self pity when in difficulties. The Institute by being criticized, was going through what many had gone through before (and many in silence), and what many more would still go through in future. In other words, it was all part of the complex journey called life. As such, it would have been bad and useless to complain and blame all those who had spoken ill of the Consolata Method. The most important thing was to rejoice and thank the Lord for having proved that the Institute had been right all along.