This posed photo of Father Timothy Giaccardo belies his daring spirit and gentle heart, which profoundly influenced the lives of many.
Born Giuseppe (Joseph) Giaccardo on June 13, 1896, in Cuneo, northern Italy, the future Father Timothy was the eldest of five children. As a boy, Joseph had a great love for God, devotion to the sacraments, and a Marian heart—three qualities that would define his entire life. He already knew he wanted to study for the priesthood when he met the newly-ordained Fr. Alberione, who was helping out at his parish. The young priest heard Joseph’s confession and was immediately struck by the boy’s sincere devotion. Learning that Joseph earnestly desired to become a priest, Father Alberione arranged for him to be admitted into the seminary. Thus, twelve-year-old Joseph made the first bold move of his life: trusting in God, he left his family’s farm to study for the priesthood.
A few years later, Father Alberione began laying the groundwork for a religious congregation that God was inspiring him to found. It was the young priest’s dream to give the Gospel to all men and women through the printed word. Joseph, still a seminarian, decided to transfer out of the diocesan seminary to continue his priestly formation in Father Alberione’s little group of would-be missionaries of the Catholic press. This was a risky move on Joseph’s part because if the projected foundation were to fail, so would Joseph’s dream of ordination. Yet with firm trust that God was guiding Alberione, Joseph made his move. And his trust was not misplaced. Several months later, he and some other young men made private vows in the new Society of St. Paul, and on October 19, 1919, he was ordained as the first Pauline priest. The following June, all renewed their vows and received new names from the founder. Father Joseph became Father Timothy.
From the very beginning, Father Timothy played a vital role in the Pauline family. He helped form the first Pauline boys in the Typographical School as a teacher; worked in the typography reading proofs; and served the community as a priest. In the years that followed, he established the first house of the Society of St. Paul in Rome; mediated matters between Father Alberione and the Pope for the approval of the Congregation; served as vice-superior general and treasurer of the Society of St. Paul and director of the motherhouse at Alba; kept the community steady and calm during the bombings and raids of World War II; and was a constant and faithful friend and father to all.
When the Society of St. Paul and Daughters of St. Paul were growing in the mid 1920’s, Fr. Alberione founded another congregation—the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master. This new congregation focused on serving the priests of the Society and designing vestments and vessels to enhance the liturgy. It was also more contemplative; the sister-disciples began to pray before the Blessed Sacrament for the fruitfulness of the apostolates of the Society and Daughters of St. Paul. Because officials at the Holy See had difficulty understanding why the Pious Disciples should be a separate congregation, Fr. Alberione placed Father Timothy in charge of obtaining the sisters’ official pontifical approval. As he was working on this in the 1940’s, Father Timothy began to feel ill. Numerous doctors were consulted, until finally he was diagnosed with leukemia. By that point, there was nothing the doctors could do. During the last ten days of his life, Father Timothy was too weak to do much regarding the sister-disciples, but he confided to Father Alberione: “I continue to pray in my heart.”
With his strength waning, Father Timothy celebrated his last Mass on the morning of January 12, 1948, offering his life for the approval of the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master. That same morning, news arrived from the Vatican that Pope Pius XII had granted the pontifical approval. The date was January 24, 1948, the eve of the Conversion of Saint Paul. Fr. Alberione, who had lost a great friend and spiritual son, said at his funeral Mass: “Father Timothy was called and truly was the Signor Maestro. He represented the Lord well: at the altar, in the confessional, in the pulpit, in conversations, at recreation, in relationships, in the many positions he filled, and in his private life. He always represented the Lord well; he was another Christ” (CISP 393).
Father Timothy Giaccardo was beatified by Pope John Paul II after a confirmed miracle—one of his own beloved Sister Disciples serving as a missionary in Japan was hospitalized with serious lung problems for which there were no good treatments at that time. Her sisters prayed for the intercession of their beloved advocate, Father Timothy. Sister Luciana was cured overnight, a cure so baffling that it led not only to Father Timothy’s beatification, but also to the conversion of the Sister’s doctor. Even from heaven, Father Timothy continues his mission to share Christ with all men and women.
