Rev. Joseph Henchey, CSS

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Catechism and Parish Sermons

Even as a young seminarian, St. Gaspar Bertoni was assigned by his Pastor as the Apostle of the Youth. Among his duties, he taught catechism to the youth of the Parish.

After his ordination as a Priest in September 20, 1800, Fr. Bertoni continued to appreciate as a central apostolate the teaching of catechism for every level of membership among his Apostolic Missionaries – a ministry often mentioned in his Original Constitutions as a prime apostolate. From the beginning, he proved himself to be a Missionary of God’s Word under its various aspects.

Fr. Bertoni was also assigned by his Bishop in 1810 as Apostle to the Clergy and Seminarians. In this work he preached weekly spiritual conferences with meditations on The Exposition on First Kings, by St. Gregory, the Great and on St. John Chrysostom's Commentaries on Genesis and on Matthew, and annual retreats.

The Spiritual Writings

These captions from Fr. Bertoni’s writings, as well as a few of those of his early followers, have been arranged in a kind of Liturgical order. The purpose is to provide a kind of anthology, or regular meditative reflections for the various Liturgical times of the year, from Fr. Bertoni’s own thoughts. These have been researched and then arranged by the late Fr. Ignatius Bonetti, CSS [+ October 3, 1998] - a well-known Stigmatine theologian who studied St. Gaspar in a very profound manner.

The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola

Three Retreats for Clerics

Among Fr. Bertoni’s voluminous writings, Fr. Joseph Stofella made clear that there are in evidence various courses of retreat notes in Fr. Bertoni’s own hand-writing. Whenever these texts were ‘edited’ by the Stigmatine experts, there appear both additions as well as eliminations of the original texts. What follows here is a translation of Fr. Bertoni’s texts as they appear in the Manoscritti Bertoni,with the addition of the translator’s own personal notes. Fr. Louis Benaglia, CSS, transcribed all these, and gave them marginal numbers which help greatly in identifying them:

- The Autumn Seminary Retreat - 1810

[MssB ## 2173-2687]

[CS I, pp. 100-244]

In the spring of 1810, the Benedictine Bishop Liruti assigned Fr. Bertoni to preach the autumn retreat that year to the Clergy of Verona. This began a formal ministry of St. Gaspar among the clergy that made of him also a Missionary to the Priests and seminarians. This form of the Apostolic Mission was reflected in St. Gaspar’s Original Constitutions - and is still in vogue today.

Fr. Stofella presented this text in CS, Volume I, in 1957. He accompanies it with his own very helpful Introduction, covering pages 100-105 of that Volume.

- An Eight Day Retreat

[MssB ## 2688-3192]

[CS II, pp. 384-496]

The late Fr. Nello Dalle Vedove, CSS exerted a strong intervention in editing this particular Retreat, dating his work as September 23, 1960. Fr. Nello stated in his introduction [CS II, pp. 384-388] that this, too, would have dated this work of St. Gaspar toward the very beginning of this form of his Ministry in the service of Bishops, i.e., around 1810, or shortly thereafter. This Apostolic Mission to Priests, seminarians and Religious stands out as one of the central muneraof St. Gaspar Bertoni.

Fr. Nello notes the sources used here, in addition to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. There may be noted as well the influence of the classic Rodriguez, and the biblical scholar, Cornelius a Lapide. Fr. Nello notes that St. Gaspar’s great Commentary, transcribing for the most part that of St. Gregory the Great on the First Book of Kings [Samuel], would complete these retreats to Priests and Clerics. The Commentary on First Kings was the source of Fr. Bertoni’s early weekly Conferences to the seminarians after 1810, when the Bishop asked this service of the Founder, and of the Stigmatines.

- A Ten Day Retreat

[MssB ##3193-3811]

The date of this retreat is not given either. While the previous two courses of retreats for Clerics contain about 500 paragraphs of Fr. Bertoni’s Manoscritti, this longer Retreat covers almost 700 paragraphs. These are divided in a general way as follows:

The Call: Obligation; Means; Correspondence; Consequences.
Union with God: Fulfillment of Duties; Mass & Divine Office; Requirements
The Counsels & Study; the Apostolic Missionary & Means of Loving God;
Conclusion: Means of Keeping the Fruit of the Retreat.

St. Gregory, the Great

This great ‘Father of the Latin Church’, has been called ‘the Spiritual Director of the Middle Ages.’ In the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas, following Scripture and St. Augustine, St. Gregory the Great seems to be the most often quoted by the Angelic Doctor. He is important to Fr. Bertoni not only because he used his commentary on First Kings [1^st Samuel] in his conferences to Seminarians, but the Stigmatine Founder also quotes St. Gregory, the Great several times in his Original Constitutions [## 186; 288].

St. John Chrysostom

This great Father of the Church from the East powerfully appealed to Fr. Bertoni particularly in his conferences to the seminarians of Verona in the early years of his priesthood. St. Gaspar commented on Chrysostom’s treatment, particularly On Genesis, and On Matthew.