“James!” A farm woman called through the darkening night. Small and frail but lugging a lantern, the little boy had lagged behind the rest of his family. “James, bring the light!” As fast as his little feet would carry him, James hurried to catch up with the others, bringing that one essential source of light.
It was a simple memory, but later it would punctuate James’ entire experience as he navigated an unprecedented calling in the midst of a suffering humanity.
James (Giacomo) Alberione was born on April 4, 1884, the fifth son of a farming family in the Piedmont region of Italy. He was such a tiny baby that his parents feared he wouldn’t survive and had him baptized just twenty-four hours after his birth. Although little James held on tenaciously to life, he would continue to struggle with fragile health the rest of his days.
Uncommonly mature and rather spontaneous, young James stood out in school. When his first-grade teacher asked the class members what they wanted to be when they grew up, he surprised everyone by answering confidently, “I will become a priest.” It was a dream he would pursue a few years later by entering the minor seminary at Bra, a town he knew well from frequent visits to its Marian shrine. In the seminary James was a good student with a keen interest in the missions and a deep love for the Eucharist. But at a certain point he became distracted, reading far too many books unrelated to his studies, and his marks plummeted. He was asked to leave the seminary.
It was an earth-shattering experience for the adolescent James, who then faced an uncertain future. Only after a local priest vouched for him to the rector of a seminary in the nearby city of Alba was James able to continue his studies toward the priesthood. This time he applied himself with true dedication to his vocation and fell even more deeply in love with Jesus in the Word and in the Eucharist. During adoration on New Year’s Eve, 1900, ‘the night between the centuries,’ the sixteen-year-old seminarian received his first inspiration from Jesus to bring God’s love to all humanity in the new century. That night the seed of the Pauline family was planted.
James Alberione was ordained a priest on June 29, 1907. After some time in parish work, Father Alberione was appointed spiritual director of the Alba seminary. A small young man with a rather high-pitched voice, Fr. Alberione had to work to be taken seriously by his peers, but his students quickly recognized him as a priest keenly in tune with both lived reality and the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Several of the seminarians chose to follow him when he began the process of founding his first religious congregation, dedicated to reaching out to all of humanity with the light of God’s Word using the modern means of communication. That fledgling group would become the Society of St. Paul and was soon followed by a community of religious women—the Daughters of St. Paul.
The foundation of these two communities did not come easily. Fr. Alberione had to face setbacks, opposition from persons suspicious of a priest working with media, and a nearly fatal illness. Then, during the early 1920’s, when everything seemed to be going wrong, the founder had a dream in which he heard from the tabernacle the words now written on the wall of every Pauline chapel in the world: “Do not be afraid. I am with you. From here I will cast light. Live with a penitent heart.” A few years later (in 1927) the Society of St. Paul received official Church approval. Approval of the Daughters of St. Paul came several months later.
Throughout his lifetime Fr. Alberione would found a total of ten institutes, including communities for families and lay people. Together, all ten are known as the Pauline Family.
In the midst of all the difficulties Fr. Alberione faced, two flames burned in his heart—love for God and love for souls. Those two loves kept him going strong with all the maturity and spontaneity of a young man. He sent out missionaries all over the world to share God’s love and mercy with the people of other lands and visited many of the local Pauline foundations to ensure that his spiritual sons and daughters were truly bringing the light to all humanity.
Fr. Alberione passed away on November 26, 1971, at the age of 87. When he lay in state, a Bible was placed beneath his head to honor his deep passion for sharing the Word of God with all humanity.
Fr. Alberione was beatified by Pope John Paul II on April 27, 2003.
