Teresa Merlo had a heart so big that the whole world could fit inside it.
Born on February 20, 1894, into a farming family in Castagnito d’Alba, Italy, Teresa (as she was called then) was the second of four children. She was a loving, capable child, but never quite as healthy as others her age. Worried about her health, her parents decided to have her tutored instead of sending her to school with her brothers. From her parents and her tutor, Miss Chiarla, Teresa learned her school subjects, essential life skills, and commitment to the spiritual life. It became clear to those around her that the girl had a deep, genuine love for God.
Teresa dreamed of becoming a religious Sister, but was unable to join a local order because of her poor health. So she decided to pursue a trade. She trained to become a seamstress and opened a sewing school for girls in her parents’ home. But for Teresa, these girls weren’t just students to be taught and dismissed. They were beloved daughters of God, whose souls thirsted for the love of their Beloved. So Teresa wasn’t content to simply teach them how to stitch cloth: while they sewed, Teresa taught them about God and prayer. The girls left her classes trusting both in the skill of their hands and in the love that God was nurturing in their hearts.
In 1915, when Teresa was twenty-one, she confided to her seminarian brother that she still dreamed of becoming a religious Sister. He in turn mentioned her situation to the spiritual director at the Alba seminary, Father James Alberione, who had begun organizing the Society of St. Paul for men and boys a few months previously. Father Alberione offered to meet with Teresa. Their meeting was brief: he invited her to join the group of young women he was assembling for the mission of “the good press.” He explained that until they could begin their apostolate, they would be sewing uniforms for the (World War I) soldiers. Was she willing? Teresa’s “yes” was given that very day. With trust in God and trust in Father Alberione, she said goodbye to her beloved students and left her home to join the small group of young women preparing for this new mission.
When the war ended, Teresa and several companions learned the apostolate of the press firsthand. They were asked to typeset and print the diocesan newspaper of the city of Susa. The young women operated the printing presses—traditionally men’s work—to the fascination of all who met them. Noticing that the sisters had a large picture of Saint Paul, people began to affectionately refer to them as “the Daughters of Saint Paul.” The name stuck. After learning their apostolate well, the sisters were called back to Alba by Father Alberione.
Teresa was indeed a Daughter of Saint Paul, with a heart as large as his. It soon became apparent to the founder that Teresa had a gift of loving deeply. She felt keenly the joys and sorrows of people she had never met; she yearned that many souls would encounter the One who loved them most. When the young women made their first religious vows under Father Alberione, he appointed Teresa to be the first superior of her peers and gave her the name Thecla, after one of the followers of the apostle Paul. From that day on, it became clear that Mother Thecla would lead her sisters with the love that overflowed from her heart.
As the Daughters of St. Paul began to expand, Mother Thecla helped Father Alberione steer the ship. She offered wise and gentle advice, and accepted his decisions with trust and obedience.
Years passed, and Christ expanded Mother Thecla’s already-generous heart. With Daughters of St. Paul now missioned around the globe, Mother Thecla traveled to visit her Sisters and meet people on every continent. In her travels she demonstrated a remarkable ability to see with the eyes of her heart the true feelings, yearnings, and needs of people of other cultures and languages. She was deeply inspired by the men and women she encountered. “We must feel the needs of souls,” she said after one of her trips when she returned to Italy. “When we have something to suffer, let us offer it for souls, even for those whom we don’t know and who are scattered in all the nations of the world. So many souls! So many!”
Mother Thecla helped Father Alberione in the foundation of several other Pauline institutes. In fact, when members of the newer congregations and institutes needed help, they often went to Mother Thecla. They trusted in her quiet wisdom, her gentle love, and her down-to-earth practicality.
Those years of serving God in her community were not easy for Mother Thecla. The community was often in flux as Father Alberione continued to expand the Pauline family, World War II ravaged Italy, and Mother Thecla still had to battle with poor health. But through it all, her trust, generosity, and courage kept the Daughters of St. Paul steady, and brought the co-foundress closer to the heart of Jesus Master. In her prayer journal she wrote with loving confidence, “You live within me and surround me.”
In 1963 Mother Thecla began to show signs of severe illness. It soon became clear that this malady would be terminal. In her remaining months, she was an example to those around her of courage, humility, and trust in God. “I can’t remember things anymore,” she told God in prayer. “I can’t remember names. I find it hard to breathe, but I accept everything for your sake, out of love, and in a spirit of atonement.”
Mother Thecla went home to God on February 5, 1964, with Father Alberione at her side. “You will have other superior generals,” he later said to the Daughters of St. Paul, “but not another mother.”
Mother Thecla was proclaimed Venerable by Pope John Paul II on January 22, 1991.
