The Convitto Ecclesiastico
At the end of the holidays, I had three situations to choose from. I could have taken a post as tutor in the house of a Genoese gentleman with a salary of a thousand francs a year. The good people of Murialdo were so anxious to have me as their chaplain that they were prepared to double the salary paid to chaplains up to then. Last, I could have become a curate in my native parish.
Before I made a final choice, I sought out Fr Cafasso in Turin to ask his advice. For several years now he had been my guide in matters both spiritual and temporal. That holy priest listened to everything, the good money offers, the pressures from relatives and friends, my own goodwill to work. Without a moment’s hesitation, this is what he said: You need to study moral theology and homiletics. For the present, forget all these offers and come to the Convitto.
I willingly followed his wise advice; on the 3rd November 1841, I enrolled at the Convitto.
The Convitto Ecclesiastico completed, you might say, the study of theology. In the seminary we studied only dogma, and that speculative; and in moral theology only controversial issues. Here one learnt to be a priest. Meditation, spiritual reading, two conferences a day, lessons in preaching, a secluded life, every convenience for study, reading good authors–these were the areas of learning to which we had to apply ourselves.
At that time, two prominent men were in charge of this most useful institution: Doctor Louis Guala and Fr Joseph Cafasso. Doctor Guala was the work’s founder. An unselfish man, rich in knowledge, prudent, and fearless, he was everyone’s friend in the days of the regime of Napoleon I. He founded that extraordinary seedbed where young priests fresh from their seminary courses could learn the practical aspects of their sacred ministry. This proved very valuable to the Church, especially as a means of eradicating the vestiges of Jansenism that still persisted in our midst.
Amongst other topics the most controversial was the question of Probabilism and Probabiliorism. Chief amongst the former’s advocates were Alasia and Antoine, along with other rigorist authors. The practice of this doctrine can lead to Jansenism. The Probabilists followed the teaching of St Alphonsus, who has now been proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. His authority can be called the theology of the Pope since the Church has proclaimed that his works can be taught, preached, and practised, as they contain nothing worthy of censure.
Dr Guala took a strong stance between the two parties; starting from the principle that the charity of Our Lord Jesus Christ should be the inspiration of all systems, he was able to bring the two extremes together. Things came together so well that, thanks to Doctor Guala, St Alphonsus become our theological patron. This was a salutary step, long desired, and now we are reaping its benefit.
Fr Cafasso was Guala’s right-hand man. His virtue, which withstood all tests, his amazing calm, his shrewd insight, and his prudence enabled him to overcome the acrimony that was still alive in some probabiliorists against the Liguorians.
Dr Felix Golzio, a hidden gold mine amongst the Turinese clergy, was also at the Convitto. In his modest life-style he was hardly noticeable. But he was a tireless worker, humble and knowledgeable; he was a real support, or better, Guala and Cafasso’s right-hand man.
The prisons, hospitals, pulpits, charitable institutes, the sick in their homes, the cities, the villages, and we might add, the mansions of the rich and the hovels of the poor felt the salutary effects of the zeal of these three luminaries of the Turin clergy. These were the three models placed in my path by Divine Providence. It was just up to me to follow their example, their teaching, their virtues.
Fr Cafasso, who for six years had been my guide, was especially my spiritual director. If I have been able to do any good, I owe it to this worthy priest in whose hands I placed every decision I made, all my study, and every activity of my life. It was he who first took me into the prisons, where I soon learned how great was the malice and misery of mankind. I saw large numbers of young lads aged from 12 to 18, fine healthy youngsters, alert of mind, but seeing them idle there, infested with lice, lacking food for body and soul, horrified me. Public disgrace, family dishonour, and personal shame were personified in those unfortunates. What shocked me most was to see that many of them were released full of good resolutions to go straight, and yet in a short time they landed back in prison, within a few days of their release.
On such occasions I found out how quite a few were brought back to that place; it was because they were abandoned to their own resources.
Who knows? I thought to myself, if these youngsters had a friend outside who would take care of them, help them, teach them religion on feast days. Who knows but they could be steered away from ruin, or at least the number of those who return to prison could be lessened?
I talked this idea over with Fr Cafasso. With his encouragement and inspiration I began to work out in my mind how to put the idea into practice, leaving to the Lord’s grace what the outcome would be. Without God’s grace, all human effort is vain.