Daughters of St. Paul Celebrate Founder's Day

By Irene Lagan
Herald Staff Writer
(From the issue of 4/24/03)

Father James Alberione, founder of the Daughters of St. Paul and soon to be canonized, may be hailed as the patron saint of the internet.

Father Alberione, (1884-1971) "understood the pivotal role communications would play in forming values, shaping society and culture," said Sister Germana Santos, provincial superior of the Daughters of St. Paul.

Locally, the Daughters of St. Paul will celebrate Founder’s Day at Pauline Books and Media, 1025 King St., Alexandria, on Saturday, April 26. The day will consist of give away items, as well as significantly reduced prices for other items. In addition, The Daughters will host a day of prayer and celebration on April 27 for lay cooperators and other members of the Pauline Family.

The Daughters of St. Paul are one of 10 societies and religious orders that make up the Pauline Family. Located in over 100 major cities throughout the Americas, the Daughters of St. Paul seek to transform culture by entering into the heart of communications. In addition to a publishing house located in Boston and bookstores located in 17 major cities in the United States and Canada, they host radio and television shows, have an extensive web site and host concerts as means of communicating the message of salvation in Christ.

The Society of St. Paul and Daughters of St. Paul have more than 18,000 book titles in print along with 12 films, 64 documentaries, 400 audio releases and six radio stations.

Born in Italy, Father Alberione envisioned communications technologies as a means of transforming culture through spreading the Gospel message.

As a seminarian, the young Alberione experienced a penetrating light from God during prayer and received what he believed to be a divine inspiration to harness media in the service of evangelization. He described his transforming experience of God that took place on the eve of the turn of the century as a defining moment of his life and work. Writing of his vision many years later, Alberione said: "The new century, the new means of communication, the need for a new band of apostles, these were all so deeply impressed on [my] mind and heart that from then on they constantly dominated [my] thoughts and prayers."

Alberione, who was 16 at the time of his vision, completed his seminary studies and was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Alba, Italy, in 1907. Seven years later, with the permission of his bishop, he began a group of religious men, the Society of St. Paul, and one year later the Daughters of St. Paul. The mission of both orders was to communicate the Gospel through media.

In the early 1900s, Alberione’s vision of training young religious men and women in communication arts and print media was revolutionary. As mass communications have rapidly become one of the defining features of our age, the Pauline communities have continued to penetrate the media world to communicate the Gospel message.

In addition to forming religious communities with a mission to communicate the Gospel message through media arts, Father Alberione established several lay societies with similar charisms. According to Sister Mary Joshua Histing, a Daughter of St. Paul who lives in Alexandria, Father Alberione’s charism "encompasses every state of life in the Church." In addition to institutes for lay consecrated men and women, the Pauline family also includes Pauline Cooperators, lay persons who share their founder’s zeal to share the Good News of Christ in their capacities as lay persons. Many Pauline cooperators donate time and expertise, and assist the Daughters in setting up displays at conferences or in other capacities.

"We are very excited to share with the whole church in a more public way today the mission of our founder," said Sister Histings. "He was a person who understood how to make the Gospel the most relevant message to proclaim to people in our culture.

For more information on the Daughters of St. Paul Founder’s Day, contact Sister Mary Joshua Histings at 703/549-3806. Information about Father James Alberione can be found at www.alberione.org.

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