Joseph Allamano’s Conferences to Missionaries. Every Sunday Joseph Allamano held separate formation conferences for men and women missionaries. These conferences are an inexhaustible source of first class missionary spirituality and teaching. The spontaneity and simplicity of these conferences is striking. They are more like the spiritual conversations a father has with his sons and daughters to prepare them for their future mission. The contents of these conferences are preserved in sixteen notebooks; 552 pages in Allamano’s hand have been preserved and constitute a legacy for the two congregations he founded.
When he handed these notebooks to the novice master, Father Giuseppe Nepote, he remarked: “The manuscripts of these conferences contain my real thought.” Allamano’s young missionaries took careful and accurate notes of what he had to say. These notes constitute an almost verbatim record of his conferences. Allamano was aware of these transcripts and gave them his paternal approval: “They represent the substance of what I had to say to you off the cuff.”
It is beautiful to recall how interested the young missionaries were in the Founder’s conferences. These Sunday meetings became formation events par excellence. Allamano, the father, met with his young sons and daughters, all of whom knew and loved him. The meetings were an example of the family spirit that pervaded the Congregation. Everyone looked forward to seeing and hearing him and thought the conferences were too short – no one was ever bored. This is not an idyllic description but something based on the eye-witness testimony of the many missionaries who heard these talks. It reflected the atmosphere on those Sunday afternoons when he was present in the community. Here is what some have to say: “On Sundays he was everything for his children. His talks were never authoritarian or rigid; he spoke as a father in the midst of his family. He wanted us to sit around him – especially the brothers – and he spoke off the cuff. His advice was almost whispered but it remained impressed on our hearts and filled us with his spirit” (Brother Benedetto Falda). “His zeal for our formation and sanctification was especially apparent in his wonderful Sunday conferences. He would arrive smiling, sit down and take out a piece of paper and we would be entranced by what he had to say. How much we looked forward to those talks which always seemed too short.” (Father Vincenzo Dolza). “He would come periodically to give us a talk – always something practical and fatherly. He spoke with great simplicity, clarity and depth. He did not hesitate to speak about himself when he wanted us to behave as he would have in the same circumstances…” (Sister Margherita Demaria). “At times he came on Sundays to talk to us even when suffering from migraine. We felt sorry for him – his suffering was clearly apparent.” (Sister Michelina Abbà).
Allamano’s words and those who were far off. Evidence of how precious the Founder’s words were considered during his life is the fact that they were passed on to those who were far off. Every now and then students in Turin would send transcriptions of these conferences to their confrères in Africa. During the war they sent them to those in military service. In May 1918 the Congregation’s internal bulletin “Da Casa Madre” began a column entitled “Words of Our Father.” Initially Allamano himself wrote a brief letter to his disciples both near and far. During World War I his letters were addressed primarily to his followers who had been drafted into the army. After less than a year the column was discontinued but the Founder’s words continued to appear everywhere in the bulletin. Da Casa Madre was initially mimeographed but from 1921 on it was printed and the column La Parola del Padre [Words of Our Father] began to reappear. The contents were taken from
Allamano’s Sunday conferences. After the founder’s death the column took on special significance – it became a point of reference, something we all read eagerly. These sensitive words introduced the column in the second issue of 1926: “Our venerable Father and Founder is no longer with us. He now enjoys in heaven the reward he so justly deserves for his good deeds. Certainly all our confrères will be pleased to read passages from the Sunday evening conferences we so loved and looked forward to. We hear again his voice: those familiar, deep but unaffected words that seemed so apt. We can experience once more the many happy hours we spent together and we know that he is now blessing us with the same paternal affection he showed us while still alive.”
The same thing more or less happened with the sisters’ congregation. They too sent copies of our Father’s conferences to the sisters in the missions. Their bulletin was called “Alle Sorelle d’Oltremare, Filo d’oro, Supplemento del Da Casa Madre” [To Our Sisters Overseas, a Golden Thread, Supplement to Da Casa Madre].
Transcriptions of the Conferences. Both men and women missionaries have always shown great love for our Father’s teachings which held pride of place in our communities and were especially useful in training our young people. Various typewritten copies of conference notes and transcriptions have circulated. Besides the manuscripts prepared for the canonization there are two principal collections. The first was edited by Father G. Chiomio in 1938 using Allamano’s handwritten notes. Other confrères reviewed this collection and guaranteed its authenticity. In the preface to this collection, Chiomio writes: “This humble work is a filial homage to our Father. It was undertaken and carried through to completion with one specific goal: to save this irreplaceable treasure from the mists of oblivion or other dangers – fire, etc. These are the teachings of our grace filled beginnings – ne pereant scripta Patris [lest the writings of our Father perish.]
The second transcription of the Founder’s conferences was edited in eight volumes by Father Giuseppe Gallea from 1947 to 1966. Gallea merged Allamano’s notes with the transcriptions of his listeners. This work was carried out with the love of a son. The missionary sisters have preserved 506 conferences and in 1944 a first typewritten collection appeared in two volumes as part of the material prepared for the Founder’s beatification.
Synthesis of Allamano’s Teaching. Finally Father Lorenzo Sales one of our first missionaries and an intimate acquaintance of Allamano was asked by our superiors to prepare publication of the conferences. This collection appeared in 1949 with the title La Dottrina Spirituale [Spiritual Teaching]. This work was later re-edited and appeared in 1962 with the title La Vita Spirituale [The Spiritual Life] – the title we know today. It is a single volume of 898 pages.
Father Sales’ work contains the whole of Allamano’s teaching in his own words. Subjects are presented in a logical order and combine Allamano’s writings and viva voce remarks on different occasions. Since this work was compiled in the male missionary milieu all the references are masculine – even when a particular idea was addressed to the sisters.
A close reading of La Vita Spirituale reveals immediately what Allamano was hoping to achieve with these Sunday conferences: to be closely involvement in the training the young missionaries and sharing with them his own spirit. Consequently these teachings are a precious treatise on spirituality and missionary training which is still valid today. It finds inspiration in the Word of God and is enriched with Patristic teaching, the insights of the Saints and sound theological doctrine. His own life experience makes all of this relevant and up-to-date.
Publishing the integral text of the conferences. During the 1980s both congregations felt the need to approach the founder as those first missionaries did: to read the conferences exactly as he gave them Sunday after Sunday from 1902 to 1925. We felt the need to recreate today the atmosphere that existed at our origins. To meet this need Father Igino Tubaldo published the Conferences to Missionaries with an analytical index in 1981. The publication ran to three volumes and 2288 pages. In 1984 the Historical Office of the Congregation published the conferences for missionary sisters similarly with an analytical index – three volumes comprising 1777 pages. In both these publications the majority of conferences are presented in the following way: first Allamano’s handwritten notes and then the transcription made by his listeners.
The Consolata Missionaries are grateful to their Father for this inestimable gift. Both the Conferences and La Vita Spirituale represent an indisputably valuable point of departure and reference. They have played a role in training generations of apostles. These texts contain Allamano’s original inspiration as he understood and passed it on to others. For this reason they are “sacred texts” and should never be modified.
Origin of the present volume. At the beginning of this third millennium members of both congregations have felt the need to interpret and understand the Founder’s insights stripped of the vocabulary, expressions and pedagogy of a bygone era. Some of the subjects Allamano discussed are outmoded or have undergone substantial modification in the Vatican II era. They can no longer be discussed in quite the same way today as people – especially the young – would have trouble understanding them as they appear in our sources.
With this premise and after much reflection the General Directorates of our two Congregations have decided to produce the present work. We have laid out specific guidelines for this task and entrusted it to two members of our Congregations who have enjoyed the assistance of many others.
How to read this work. This book is the result of the decision made by the two missionary congregations Allamano founded. To read these pages with greater ease and insight certain things must be understood.
a. The principal source of our material is La Vita Spirituale. This volume is a faithful and orderly presentation of the substance of Allamano’s teaching. However when it appeared useful to complete or clarify a subject passages from other conference transcriptions – passages that Sales omitted – were added.
b. Members of both the Consolata Missionary Fathers and Sisters are convinced that the classical sources of our Founder’s thought and teaching are the volumes of conferences and La Vita Spirituale. One must always return to these primary sources for a better and deeper understanding of his original inspiration. Consequently this present work is in no way a new version, synthesis or refashioning of La Vita Spirituale and even less of the conference volumes. It is a new presentation of Allamano’s thinking that draws only on those original sources. He, and he alone, is the one speaking here. The reader will come into direct contact with his words, his style of speaking and his authentic spirit.
c. While we have made slight changes in wording – as Allamano himself said, he was speaking “off-the-cuff” and his language was the simple and conversational with a trace of the Piedmontese dialect we have been careful to preserve the words and style of his original statements.
d. We have with discernment chosen appropriate topics from La Vita Spirituale that convey Allamano’s genuine charism to missionary workers of the Third Millennium. We have omitted subjects, words and expressions outdated by Church renewal or too closely linked to the theological or ascetic fashions of Allamano’s time. When a specific word-change is substantial we have added a footnote explaining our reasons for the change.
e. As noted earlier La Vita Spirituale is addressed entirely to men even though Allamano spoke to women as well. While bearing in mind their diverse sensibilities families teach their sons and daughters the same values Allamano did likewise with men and women missionaries. Evidence of this is the fact that he gave separate conferences to the two groups but used the same handwritten notes for both. His subject did not change – he provided the same training to male and female missionaries. But his manner of speaking, his tone and what he emphasized was adjusted to his audience. This is clear from the notes taken in the two groups. It would not be a bad idea to prepare two volumes like the present one – one for women and one for men- that reflected the different conferences he gave to male and female missionaries. The subjects would remain pretty much the same but the atmosphere, expression and focus would certainly be different. For obvious reasons, however, we decided to put all the material together in one book for Allamano’s sons, daughters and all those men and women who are linked to us in spirit. This is why the words in these pages are addressed to everyone without distinction.
e. With regard to our method: The chapter titles and subdivisions have been supplied by the editors of this work – they are not original. When possible the chapter titles reflect Allamano’s own words. There are two types of footnotes: one identifies individuals who had some tie with Allamano and the other explains the reasons for a change in wording. Generally Allamano cites in his notes the essential source of a phrase or expression (Church Fathers or spiritual writers). Father Sales’ text provides abundant citations which are certainly helpful in studying particular concepts in greater depth. This volume does not include bibliographical footnotes but it does provide an essential bibliography and an index of biblical citations. Finally there is an analytical index. For easier reference the sections of this book are numbered.
f. thought can be found in other published sources or archival material. Most important of these publications is certainly Father Candido Bona’s eleven volumes “Quasi una vita” (1990-1992). All of Allamano’s correspondence (letters sent and received) with extensive commentary can be found here. Of no less importance is the collection of letters sent to men and women missionaries without commentary published in 2004 by Father I. Tubaldo. In the archives we have the formation conferences and moral theology notes prepared for priests living in the Convitto/Residence. Other such material includes homilies given to clerics in the Archdiocesan Seminary; explanations of the rule; notes for ceremonies; notebooks and memos on seminary life; sermons on various occasions and other miscellaneous documents: three chapters of a biography of his uncle, Joseph Cafasso, a novena in honor of the Consolata, a diary of his pilgrimage to Rome and other shrines in Italy, etc.
Audience. Allamano’s teachings as found in this volume are addressed primarily to the men and women in formation. For many reasons it can be difficult for them to understand the texts of “La Vita Spirituale” and the conferences as he delivered. They require a good deal of explanation by those in charge of formation. The same input and expressions are obviously valid for all our men and women missionaries and also to the Lay Consolata Missionaries. There is no doubt that the content of this text which is spontaneous expression of the spirituality of this man of God, can also be useful to priests, religious and all those who desire to know and live according to his spirit.
We only hope that all who read these pages will feel the need to know Allamano better and will have recourse to the sources which form the basis of this work.