When we hear of the word ‘visionary’, the word that comes into our minds is ‘prophet’. Why? Because prophets are the people who are said to see visions, and especially of the time to come. Some dictionaries give thinker, seer, futurist, inventor, etc, as some of the words that relate to the term visionary. One could then ask how was Fr. Allamano a visionary? Well, although the Founder was and remained a diocesan priest, he did not in any way close his eyes on the ecclesial reality around him. Sure, like other diocesan priests, he was preaching the word of God, confessing hundreds and hundreds of people and counseling many more. The Church of Turin which had an abundance of priests was doing well too, including collecting money and sending it to the missions. However, the fear with which the clergy (including the bishop of course) treated the issue of sending a few priests as missionaries to Africa appalled him.
Fr. Allamano was convinced beyond any doubt that the entire Church is missionary and the work of evangelization is God’s people’s basic duty. To those who had an unexplained fear of missionary activity, Fr. Allamano used to remind them that even bishops being members of the Episcopal body that succeeded the apostolic college, have been consecrated not merely for the dioceses, but for the salvation of the whole world. Wondering almost aloud about why it was difficult to see those facts, Fr. Allamano decided he could not just sit and watch as things ‘went south’. In truth, there were some congregations and orders that were doing a lot of missionary animation all over Italy using slides taken from every continent.
As far as the Consolata Missionary Institute was concerned, Fr. Lorenzo was giving missionary talks here and there that were supported by the slides that Bishop Perlo was sending to him. Even with all those efforts the Founder could tell that something more drastic was needed to wake up the Italian Church from some form of missionary slumber. He ended up telling Fr. Camisassa one day, that there was a need to draw the pope into the issue, if it had to acquire the importance it deserved and have the impact that was needed. At least, the pope being the head of the Apostolic College, would deal with the scandal of bishops sabotaging missionary initiatives just because they were afraid of losing a single priest or seminarian. It was only the pope who could ensure that the Church doctrine taught in the seminaries included something about missions and missionaries, since the avoidance of such topics implied fear of making seminarians discover the truth about the need of missionaries in the world.
Acting on his guts, Fr. Allamano wrote a letter to five superiors of Italian missionary institutes on 29th August 1912, describing the situation. He was of course sure that many people in Italy knew the situation well, only that no one had the courage to raise it up. The five included: Bishop Conforti of Parma, Fr. Vianello of Verona, Fr. Figano of Milano, Fr. Traverso of Genoa and Fr. Callerio of Rome. Fr. Allamano’s letter to the five did not beat about the bush. He outlined clearly that first, there was massive ignorance of missions in Italy. Secondly, that there was a general apathy among clergy and faithful. And thirdly, there was a scarcity of specialized vocations partly due to that fact that the bishops discouraged them even openly. He also noted that there was a need to appeal to the pope to intervene personally on the matter as the head of the Church on earth. It is quite amazing thinking of the amount of courage that was needed to do such a thing. Even the thought of summoning the whole Church is appalling. How on earth did Fr. Allamano get the idea that he, an ordinary and sickly diocesan priest could write directly to the Holy Father? Didn’t he think of the picture the clergy would have of him? In comparison, it is like a Propaedeutic student writing to the Superior General of a Religious Congregation to say that the Congregation has lost its direction due to laxity of its leaders. Doesn’t it look like a person bypassing his superiors to accuse them of wrong doing? Today, owing to the Vatican II influence and the world’s advancement we may talk of the freedom of conscience and freedom of speech. Thinking of the time that Fr. Allamano was doing that effort, one is left even more puzzled at his audaciousness – since we can’t call it naiveté looking at his position in the Church at the time.
Interestingly, the five Superiors accepted his idea, and in a very respectful language, they drafted a letter to Pope Pius X. In the letter, they explained the situation of the Church in Italy, the issues they believed needed fixing, and concluded it with a request for the introduction of a mission Sunday, to be celebrated annually, with the obligation of a homily on the duty and methods of propagating the faith throughout the world. It was quite an ambitious thing to do, nevertheless, Fr. Allamano led other Superiors of Missionary Institutes to do it. This gives us a picture of Allamano that is fascinating. In his frail looking body, he was a silent force to reckon with – a mover of things in silence. Probably he had discovered what Fr. Francesco Bernardi, a Consolata Missionary and the director of Enendeni Magazine in Tanzania wrote one time: noise does not produce any good, and the good does not produce any noise (Ref Enendeni Magazine, special edition, May-August 2019).
This picture therefore somehow explains why Fr. Allamano always said “the good must be done well and without noise”. It is a picture that emphasizes the importance of silence. It is something that seems to tell us that when there is noise, publicity, media hype and advertising about a given activity, everyone should expect dismal performance. Maybe I am exaggerating, maybe I am not. In any case, no one can doubt that too much noise about something creates doubts about its genuineness – no wonder there is a Swahili saying that says Chema Chajiuza, kibaya chajitembeza. In my poor Swahili, I am meant to know that the saying could be loosely translated as “whatever is good sells itself, but whatever is bad advertises itself”.
With this in mind, now we begin seeing why prophet Elijah was not moved when a strong wind blew the rocks in the mountain, when an earthquake shook the mountain to its foundations, when fire passed ferociously in front of him, but only moved to the mouth of the cave in which he was hiding when a gentle breeze came (1 Kings 19:11-14): God who acts in silence was coming to talk to him. Whatever perspective we may wish to give Fr. Allamano’s silence, one thing remains: although silence could be due to lack of words, due to shock, fear or surprise, Fr. Allamano’s silence was never due to the lack of words. It was not caused by lack of knowing what to say, but by knowing much what not to say. His silence was always meditative: one which made him see the finger of the creator in act in all things, people and events. It could probably be compared to Jonah’s silent moment in the belly of the whale (Jon. 1:17), or to the three painful and lonely days that the apostles lived waiting for the resurrection of their master. That silence was transforming, healing and rejuvenating. Fr. Allamano’s natural silent nature was eye opening. It helped him to see things in angles that a person could have easily missed due to bravado. As such, his silence could be compared to the eye-opening silence of the three days St. Paul spent in Damascus being blind (Acts 9), or to the one year that St. Francis of Assisi spent in a dark, filthy, and lonely underground prison cell in 1202. It may be compared to the many moments martyrs spent in prisons waiting for either their release to freedom or their crown of martyrdom. Whatever we may choose to say, Fr. Allamano’s silence was prayerful. He was aware that empty vessels make most noise, and he was never an empty vessel.
Having written to Pope Pius X, Fr. Allamano and his colleagues waited with baited breathe. Their letter however encountered various accidents on its course. First, the Congregation of the propagation of faith (Propaganda Fide) refused to give its official support to the pope. Secondly, the signatories made further mistakes, when instead of presenting the petition to the pope in person, they had it delivered by Fr. Callerio on his own. Thirdly, Fr. Callerio, not able to find Pope Pius X who was tied up with Christmas ceremonies, decided to deliver the letter to his secretary Fr. Bressan. Fourth, the physical strength of the pope was declining and lastly, the pope’s state of mind was not stable, because he was very anxious about the state of peace since the drums of the First World War were already sounded in Europe. In other words, all odds were against their petition. For that reason, when Pope Pius responded to the letter on 31st January 1913, he did not address the whole Church nor the bishops as Fr. Allamano and his colleagues had wished.
Instead, he addressed his reply to the six Superiors, agreeing about the great duty of missionary work and praising them for the care they were taking in training teams of evangelizers. The pope did not say anything about the responsibilities of the bishops in supporting missionary efforts, nor did he say anything about the Mission Sunday. Worse still, the Vatican bureaucracy complicated everything by messing up the promoter’s name and address. Instead of writing Canon Allamano, they wrote Canon Alemanno the Superior of the Immaculate Missionaries. Certainly, it must have been very disappointing for Fr. Allamano and his colleagues. Very disappointing indeed. However, instead of cherishing resentment and frustrations as many people would have done, Fr. Allamano in silence and prayer took to disseminating and commenting on the letter that the pope had written to them as a reply. With it, it was easy to arouse enthusiasm for the missions.
Although Fr. Allamano and his colleagues did not succeed in making the Pope address the whole Church, the issues they raised expressed their genuine concerns for the work of evangelization in the world. In addition, the fact that the pope responded to their petition, was a clear sign that he concurred with them that their concerns were valid. Although the pope did not set up the Mission Sunday as Fr. Allamano had wished, the necessity of such a day had been noted. That is why Pope Pius XI in 1926, the year that Fr. Allamano died, instituted the Mission Sunday as a day of praying for missions and reflecting on the Church’s commitment to evangelizing the world. The Mission Sunday was fixed to be celebrated on the penultimate Sunday in the month of October and the first Mission Sunday was celebrated in 1927 – a year after Fr. Allamano’s death.
How then is Fr. Allamano a visionary if he did not succeed in seeing fulfillment of his idea? Today, we all celebrate the Mission Sunday every year in October, but no one mentions Fr. Allamano in connection to it. However, the truth is that the Church began looking at the importance of the issue after the provocation by Fr. Allamano and his colleagues. To many, the action of Fr. Allamano may have appeared out of order, which is why Propaganda Fide refused to give its official support to the issue to the pope, but what Fr. Allamano was agitating for came to pass. Humanly speaking, the refusal of Propaganda Fide to support Fr. Allamano’s petition could also have been a result of envy. It could have been an effort of not raising the profile of a sickly ordinary diocesan priest in front of the Vatican. Whichever way we may wish to look at it, Fr. Allamano’s eyes had seen what Vatican II would end up emphasizing – and as such the Founder was a visionary.
As if not perturbed by the result of his effort to have the pope give universal direction, Fr. Allamano went on with his work. With the same clarity with which he saw the damage the Italian apathy was doing to the missionary effort, Fr. Allamano noted the importance of the black people in Africa not just as receivers of evangelization, but also as spreaders of the faith. Though in Italy, through the letters and diaries he was receiving from the missions in Kenya, Fr. Allamano arrived at an understanding of the issues surrounding the Africans with the certitude of a researcher. As such, he easily saw what the colonial imperialists had not managed to see: the future of Africa lay in the hands of the Africans themselves. For that reason, the Founder immediately ordered that the missionaries train and involve African catechists in the evangelization activities. The words of the Founder were candid, “it should be the business of everyone to cooperate in training the catechists. Before sending them to the college prepare them well. When they come back from college guide them and make them part of the family circle. Keep them informed and do not overlook them. Missions are happy and productive where the catechists are happy and hardworking”.
The wisdom with which Fr. Allamano spoke of the situation of the catechists merits the title of a seer. Today, a hundred and seven years after Fr. Allamano’s words, we can still see the importance of the catechists as essential parts in the evangelization work. In fact, even today, catechists are the extension of the priests in the parishes. With parishes having many outstations and few priests, the catechists are the ones who attend to the places the priests are not able to reach. Even in the parishes where the priests reside, the catechists are the ones who teach the catechetical lessons, follow up the implementation of the parish policies in the small Christian communities, and ensure order in the liturgical space. Unfortunately, just as it was at the beginning of the evangelization work, today many catechists are poorly prepared, not motivated, not empowered, sometimes abused, and worse, not remunerated (or poorly remunerated) for their service in spite of them having families to take care of, and spending all their time in the Church. The result of that kind of work environment is lack of total self-giving, indifference and poor service to the Christians. This in itself leads to lack of understanding of the faith and superficiality of the Christian life. From this background of things, it is easy to say that Fr. Allamano’s visionary mind saw the importance with which the catechists as pastoral assistants of the priests would be given a century after his departure.