A Tribute to St. Gaspar Bertoni - Life & Spirituality

Rev. Joseph Henchey, CSS

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The Spiritual Journal

[Memoriale Privato]

This Diary of Fr. Bertoni covers a relatively early period in his life, from 1808 – 1813. These are notes that he jotted down in some haste – and they offer us some insight into his spirit as it was being formed and shaped by the grace of God for his vocation as Founder. We learn about his Trinitarian reflections translating themselves into the Apostolic Mission of the Church, and his great devotion for the Most Blessed Sacrament. His great dedication to the Apostolic Mission of continuing the same Mission Jesus received from His Father [cf. Jn 20] is expressed by the sense of the Offertory [cf. Rm 12:1, f.], obsequium of his entire life to communicating the Father’s Mercy.

2008: Second Centenary of Its Inception

The year 2008 marks the second century since St. Gaspar Bertoni began his Spiritual Journal. This document covering 1808 picks up almost where his Parish Sermons leave off - and this Spiritual Journal is then followed by his published letters, known as his Epistolario. With these documents, anyone interested in St. Gaspar Bertoni would find a spiritual chronicle for the better part of his life. If one then would also study his 'Catechism Lessons' taught while still a seminarian [he was ordained a priest on September 20, 1800], our understanding of him would be further intensified. This reflection on the 200th anniversary of the beginning of his Spiritual Journal is a reflection on some of these writings.

Trinitarian Charism of Hope

From Fr. Bertoni’s writings, one can see that his beautiful devotion to the Most Blessed Trinity, seen through the Offertory, Consecration and Holy Communion of the Eucharist, translates itself into the Apostolic Mission of the Church. This is the Mission that Jesus received personally from His Father and shared with His Apostles. It is best expressed as a Holy Abandonment to God, and an Availability to the Church. In showing His Sacred Stigmata, sorrowfully received on Good Friday, in the Cenacle Room gloriously preserved in His Risen Body on Easter night, Jesus tells His Apostles of all time: As the Father sent me, I have sent you. [Cf. Jn 20:20, ff.]

The Holy Spirit in the Charism of St. Gaspar Bertoni

This is an English translation of the doctoral thesis of the Stigmatine Superior General, Very Rev. Fr. José Alberto Moura, CSS, presently Archbishop of Montes Claros, MG, Brazil. Fr. Moura skillfully shows the working of the Holy Spirit in the charism of St. Gaspar Bertoni, as well as through his devotions to the Sacred Stigmata and to the Holy Spouses, Mary and Joseph. These great mystical graces of God are then translated into an ever more committed Apostolic Mission, at the service of the Bishops of the world.

A Model of Holy Abandonment

This is an English translation of the doctoral thesis of Fr. Nello Dalle Vedove, CSS, the long-time Postulator of the Cause of St. Gaspar Bertoni. Fr. Dalle Vedove is also the author of 6 massive volumes of the biography of St. Gaspar. In this thesis [conducted under the leadership of the great Dominican theologian, Fr. Garrigou-Lagrange, OP, over a half century ago, still retains the freshness of that Holy Year of 1950. Fr. Dalle Vedove shows that Holy Abandonment in St. Gaspar’s life was a heroic exercise of the theological virtues, with special emphasis given to Hope.

Stimmate Integre

Throughout his long life of almost 76 years, St. Gaspar Bertoni has left behind a written record of much of his activity: from his parish sermons of the first few years of his parish service, in his various preached retreats to priests and seminarians, his parish Missions, through his own spiritual Diary – and in his many letters that have come down to us: St. Gaspar often states that we have been redeemed through the Cross of Jesus Christ and have been justified in his resurrection. Many Stigmatines have understood this to be made manifest in the one mystery of the Sacred Stigmata of Our Lord Jesus Christ, in both its sorrowful and glorious aspects. This is a theological reflection on this one mystery.

Reflections:

- A Prophetic Balance Between Cross and Resurrection

In the time of St. Gaspar, it was customary to emphasize only one aspect of the integral Paschal Mystery, and that was its 'sorrowful' aspect. Fr. Bertoni manifested a prophetic balance of the integral Paschal Mystery of Jesus Christ, both its sorrowful aspect as well as our justification through His Resurrection [cf. Rm 4:25].

- A Creative Synthesis of Realism and Hope

Fr. Bertoni’s devotions in his life time were prayed, celebrated and lived. Looking at the long years that he spent confined to his room, in his arm-chair or in his bed, he looked upon his sufferings as being ‘nailed’ to his Cross, and that he was ‘wounded’ but not dead. He continued to exercise his ministry as preacher of the Stigmata – and offering directed retreats. He looked forward to a Holy Espousals in heaven within the most Blessed Trinity. These insights are present in his reflections also to priests and religious.

Studies:

- St. Gaspar Bertoni's Mode of Serving the Church

St. Gaspar Bertoni was much imbued with St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Ignatius of Loyola. From them, and Rm 12:1, ff. [ make of your lives an oblation to the merciful God...] the manner of achieving this is found in his Original Constitution, # 2. Fr. Bertoni's Mode for the service of God through the Church is to heed the bishops [cf. CF # 185] in loving obedience in their varied and changing needs. This Homily preached on the Solemnity of St. Gaspar [June 12, 2009] at a Mass celebrated by the priests of the Holy Espousals Province in Waltham MA +Bishop Richard Garcia, Ordinary of Monterey, and friend of the community, was the principal celebrant. The idea is that by an analogical process, we might see the Beatitudes preached by Jesus Christ [cf. Mt 5], serve as the Manner of living the Commandments - these Beatitudes represent the heart of Jesus' preaching [cf. CCC # 1716].

A Stigmatine Retreat on Communion

In recent years, the Magisterium of the Church has produced many official documents, teaching the Notion of Communion in the Church herself, in the College of Bishops and the sacramental fraternity of Priests; the fraternal communion religious consecration, and the spousal union of married couples and family communion. These reflections are presented as a possible Stigmatine Retreat, presented with many citations from the writings of St. Gaspar Bertoni.

A Retreat on the Compendium Rude of St. Gaspar Bertoni

As is well known to Stigmatines, the Compendium Rude comprises the first 8 Constitutions of St. Gaspar Bertoni’s Original Constitutions. In these first 8 numbers, there is offered by the Saintly Founder an outline, or a kind of indication of what the following 300 and more Constitutions present. The introductory part of the Original Constitutions and its style are based on the classics of earlier Doctors of the Church – St. Augustine [Enchiridion] – St. Thomas Aquinas [Compendium Theologiae] - and St. Bonaventure [Breviloquium]. Furthermore, the content of the Compendium Rude imitates a similar composition introducing the Ignatian Original Constitutions, called the Formula of St. Ignatius. This developed from five ‘Chapter’ headings that the Jesuit Founder jotted down: the End of the Society; its Missionary Mode of Obedience; its community Obedience; its Missionary Poverty and a group of miscellanea [no monastic choir; no specific religious habit, following the more exemplary clergy of the time and place. Meditation will bed offered on all these elements.

A Stigmatine Retreat on On-going Continuing Conversion

Ever since the Second Vatican Council, there has been much interest in the Catholic Church on the constant preparation and betterment of those who are called to serve the Church in her Apostolic Mission. This is the vocation, in different ways, of each one of the baptized.

The Stigmatine Founder, St. Gaspar Bertoni, addressed this matter in his Original Constitutions, which he compiled after his long illnesses forced him to remain for the most par as an invalid the last years of his life. On May 11, 1874, he wrote to his beloved spiritual son, Fr. Louis Bragato, Chaplain of the Royal Hapsburgh family in Austria, asking for his prayer for a work that St. Gaspar was composing, 'drop by drop', as he described his endeavor.

This present translation of these Original Constitutions also provide in notes the great majority of the ultimate sources the saint used in his undertaking of providing a Rule of Life for the small religious community he founded on November 4, 1816. This rule is the result of their 25 years of the lived community and apostolic experience he shared with the men who followed him.