Every time we speak of witnesses in the Church the thing that comes into our minds immediately is martyrdom. For centuries, martyrs were referred to as witnesses of Christ, because they demonstrated through and by their lives their conviction of being true followers of Christ. From this understanding of witnesses, it is evident that witnessing was connected to suffering and dying for what one stood for. In this light, Christ is the first witness of God the Father, the Church is a witness of Christ, and as such all the members of the Church are called to be witnesses of not just the Church, but also of Christ whom the Church represents and proclaims. Certainly, you may ask: “then how is Fr. Allamano a witness when he did not die a martyr?” It is undoubtedly a valid question. Fr. Allamano may not have died a martyr, but the suffering that he endured all throughout his life made him participant in the passion and death of Christ in a special way. In other words, Fr. Allamano participated in what is traditionally called ‘white martyrdom’. While there are martyrs who by dying physically witness the faith they profess, there are also those who die ‘symbolically’ by silently, patiently and courageously carrying on their daily lives in deep pain. The former are the blood martyrs, while the latter are the white martyrs. It is unquestionably true that we are all called participate the death of Jesus Christ in baptism, but that does not make all of us white martyrs. White martyrs are people who in their lives endure terrible suffering, yet in silence and prayer carry all with Christ. They are people who smile and laugh when in fact they are supposed to be crying. They are not people who accept suf fering as a gift of fate or people who resign their fate to a God who is just to some and unfair to others. They are people who in spite of their daily struggle still keep faith, remain hopeful and focus ahead believing that God is still in control of things.
From an early age Fr. Allamano’s journey of life seemed bent to be difficult. Not only did his parents die while he was still young, but also his health remained precarious all through. Many times he was forced to leave school, return home to recuperate before returning to school. The seriousness of his health problem is seen in the fact that even with the strong will that he had as he grew, he was unable to become a missionary in spite of his burning desire for it and several attempts. His determination to be a missionary must have met obstacles so great that he had to see the will of God in remaining a diocesan priest of Turin. In other words, a person who was able to struggle for his goals including waiting for 10 years to found a missionary Institute, could not have just given up on being a missionary if the obstacles were not indomitable. We can therefore see that if the ‘obstacle’ that prohibited Fr. Allamano to be a missionary was so invincible, then his becoming a diocesan priest of Turin was a real achievement. His success could not be attained were it not for his deep faith in God, and an unforgiving capacity to sacrifice himself for what he believed. That fact was certainly demonstrated by his decision to start the missionary Institute in order to continue disseminating the consolation of God to all people. Naturally, having been ordained a priest, we would have expected that the Founder should have said ‘at last all powerful master… now that I am a priest I don’t wish anything more than to say the Mass and celebrate the sacrament of penance’.
To our surprise, Fr. Allamano ‘hit the road run ning’: he was assigned to the seminary, then the Rector of Consolata Shrine, then a lecturer of moral theology, then a Founder. That was not an attitude of a man who expected pity from people, or who had self pity. That was an attitude of a person who left everything in the hands of God and went about his business. That affirmation of things was evident in the fact that many times Fr. Allamano would have chosen to travel here and there, but it was Fr. Camisassa who always advised against such ventures. The concern about Fr. Allamano’s health was so serious that Fr. Camisassa always kept tabs of it. In 1911 while Fr. Camisassa was visiting Kenya, the Founder visited Rome. The news that Fr. Allamano had had terrible fever prompted Fr. Camisassa to write “For heaven’s sake look after yourself properly, especially during the winter months, which are always bad for you…” (D Agasso, 129). This tells us that Fr. Allamano had health issues not only when he was a seminarian, but even when he was a priest. It seems that Fr. Camisassa had noticed that the Founder had problems whenever it was cold. A similar episode took place in the spring of 1919 when Fr. Allamano visited Rome for the beatification cause of Fr. Cafasso. Fr. Camisassa immediately wrote to Fr. Domenico Ferrero in Rome a ‘secret’ letter about Fr. Allamano’s diet, indicating also what the Founder liked best.
In the letter, Fr. Camisassa decisively said “Be firm and insist that he eats his food, and keep me informed” (D Agasso, 160). Such was how Fr. Camisassa followed up faithfully our Founder’s health and eating habits. Certainly, these episodes tell us that although Fr. Allamano went along with his duties, he had a great threat lurking behind him in the name of health weakness. The founder was not oblivious about the fact. He knew that his health was a real threat. Speaking of their sanctification as his main preoccupation, Fr. Allamano told the seminari ans at the Mother House: “even when I am sick, I can’t remain in peace – thinking about you”. In other words, sickness could not stop him from thinking about them and about their sanctification. Later in life, speaking to his missionaries, Fr. Allamano remembered how he always beseeched the seminarians not to ‘hasten his death’, when he was appointed the Spiritual Director in the seminary. His sentiments were meant to tell them that they could prolong his life too, by allowing themselves to be formed and not stressing him. The Founder wrote:
When I was Spiritual Director in the seminary, I used to beg the seminarians, being of weak constitution myself, not to hasten my death. Now I tell you that if you want to lengthen my life (if it is the will of God), you should be docile in allowing yourselves to be formed and willing to sanctify yourselves. (SL. 83)
Today, as we re-look the life of Fr. Allamano, his teachings and the implications all these have in our lives as his sons and daughters and in the mission, we can’t but admire the determination of an apostle which resided in him. In him we see the importance of suffering as an authenticating factor of all that is done. We are not making this up! Suffering and dying for something has been the best and may be the only way of proving one’s honesty and authenticity of what he or she says and does. Even in the Traditional African Societies, a young lady married only the young man who had suffered enough to prove his love for her. She would never marry a coward who threatened or beaten once by her father, would be cowed away immediately. The insults, threats and beatings of her father filtered away suitors who would have otherwise been ‘wolves’ ready to devour his daughter. Only he who persevered and suffered enough to touch the heart of the lady would be finally rewarded by the same ‘harsh’ parent. Suffering has not only been an authenticating factor, but also a purifying one. The people of Israel were taken to the Babylonian exile to be purified. Their suffering and struggle were meant to open their eyes to see that God had not chosen them because they were better than other nations, neither had he not chosen the other nations because they were worse than Israel. God had done all out of grace. Their exilic struggle was meant to help them see that God’s choice of them was meant to make them a light for other nations. In other words, their suffering was supposed to be productive. It was intended to help them to see God in a new light, to see other nations a new light, and even to look at themselves in a new light: like a seed, they had to die if they were to produce anything worthwhile.
Undoubtedly therefore, God expected the people of Israel to live in way that other nations would be envious of their success, unity, prosperity, worship, etc. By so doing, other nations would have wished to be like the people of Israel, and that would make them leave their idols. That way the people of Israel would have been a light to the nations. Unfortunately, the people of Israel mistook the intention of God and thought that God hated other nations. The exile and their freedom from exile by a foreign king (Cyrus king of Persia) proved the people of Israel wrong. Their suffering was therefore a purifying factor to know God better. Probably, acknowledging that God purifies those whom he chooses before authenticating them, today we can say the same of Fr. Allamano’s suffering. God purified him to be a great father of missionaries, and only through the ‘cup of Christ’ could he be authenticated. After all, even for Jesus, it was his death that proved he was a good man to the unbelieving soldiers. They had been with him all along, tortured him for hours, and yet remained adamant. It was only after his death that a centurion confessed, “In truth this man was the son of God” (Lk. 23:47). Not only that, with the death of Jesus, the people who had been standing at Calvary cheering the crucifixion, went home beating their breasts (Lk. 23:48). In other words, their joy and perceived victory of having killed him turned into mourning and regret. It is therefore now easy to see why we should call Fr. Allamano a witness: he courageously embraced silent suffering in his life. With all that pain he went through since his youth, God purified him only to authenticate his fatherhood to us his sons and daughters – the Consolata Missionaries. May we, who are continuing his dream today never lose sight of his wisdom: the first condition of immortality is that one must die.