Of all the saints in the Church under whose patronage Blessed James Alberione could have placed our Congregation, why did he choose Paul, whose life and letters form such a large part of the New Testament? The answer to that question paints the horizon of our spirituality, of our mission, of our living together as community, indeed, of every aspect of our consecrated life.
Paul—you lived your experience of faith, and you shared it with others through preaching and writing…
Paul—you labored intensely for the Gospel so that all would hear the name of Jesus—who had shown his love for you in a particularly powerful way—and you lived deeply an apostolic mysticism to the point that you could say, “It is no longer I who live, it is Christ who lives in me!” (Gal 2:20)…
Paul—you preached Christ through voice and letter, as well as through your very life, and thus are the model of the spoken, written, and lived “preaching” of the Daughter of St. Paul who announces the Gospel with your same passion and commitment….
During the earliest days of our Congregation in Susa, Italy, the people became aware of the strong bond between our first sisters and St. Paul, whom they trusted for everything and took as the model for their lives and work. It was the people of Susa who first named us “Daughters of St. Paul.”
