Mother Thecla Merlo

Teresa Merlo met Fr. Alberione June 27, 1915, and agreed to collaborate with him in giving life to his apostolic vision. From that time on, with tremendous faith and untiring trust, Teresa, who took the religious name of Thecla, assisted him not only in the foundation and formation of the Daughters of St. Paul, but with the other Congregations of the Pauline Family and his many other apostolic works.

Her example and courage, her intelligent and wise collaboration with Alberione and her loving guidance of the sisters in her care won for her the respect and love of all who knew her. She died on February 5, 1964, and the Church proclaimed her "Venerable" on January 22, 1991.

Spiritual Journey in the Footsteps of the Master

Mother Thecla was one of the first followers of Fr. Alberione and she played a fundamental role in his foundation project. M. Thecla was one of the first nine young women to make their religious profession of vows in 1922 in the hands of Alberione as Founder of the Institute. On that occasion, the members of the group were told that their new religious names would be preceded by the title "Maestra" in honor of the Divine Master.

Fr. Alberione appointed Maestra Thecla Superior General of the feminine branch of his "house" and, when the foundation received diocesan approval in 1929, she was given the title "Prima Maestra" (first teacher). We are sure that after her return to Alba from Susa in March 1923, M. Thecla fully absorbed the teachings of Fr. Alberione, which permeated the very air of the Motherhouse. Like all the other sisters, she was filled with great enthusiasm to spread the Gospel, lived with great intensity the Eucharistic life of the House, and was infected with the zeal for holiness that filled the atmosphere. She also profoundly assimilated the teachings of our Founder, taking down precise notes of his meditations and then seeing to it that these notes were duplicated (then later printed) and distributed to all her sisters and occasionally to the entire Pauline Family.

In those difficult years of the 1920's, Maestra Thecla's personal notes reveal that she carried out her office with a deep feeling of inadequacy. She was completely blind as to what the Lord was bringing about regarding the future development of the Institute. In this context, her notes on Fr. Alberione's meditation of Nov. 27, 1927 take on almost symbolic value: "We have finished the first part of our instructions...Now we will see what path we must follow to attain holiness. We need a model to imitate and this model is Jesus Way, Truth and Life, our Divine Master. He will teach us; he will trace out the way for us. Indeed, he himself is our Way."

For Maestra Thecla, Jesus Master was truly the "Way," serving as guide for everything: he was the obedient Son who always did the will of his Father; he was the Way to go to the Father. For her, following the Master meant listening to him, imitating him. It meant becoming children.

"Our Master dwells in the Tabernacle. From there he preaches to our mind and heart by means of the Gospel...We must always live united to Jesus. The Holy Trinity dwells in those persons who are united to Jesus."

These notes of 1927 already contain the nucleus of Maestra Thecla's spiritual journey. Simplifying things a little, we can pinpoint in them a number of elements that form part of the Pauline method of life:

a) Listening (Truth). This consists in a simple and life-oriented meditation of the Word of God. For Prima Maestra, the Gospel was the food given her by Jesus Master. During the years of extreme poverty, she would say to her sisters with great faith: "Each day, our Father will send us the food and the clothing we need....We will be nourished by the immaculate flesh of our Savior; we will be nourished with his Gospel" (January 1932). She was absolutely convinced of the truth of what was "written there" (in the Gospel), because Jesus Master had said those things (cf. VPC 140).

She meditated on the entire New Testament, but the following portions of it played a particularly significant role in her faith journey:

--the Infancy narratives: "In spirit, let us live in the house of Nazareth (2/11/63);" "Let us live with Jesus, Mary and Joseph in the little house of Nazareth" (February 1963);

--the Sermon on the Mount, that is, chapters 5-7 of the Gospel of Matthew. M. Thecla assumed the attitudes of the Gospel without ever separating them from the person of Christ. Poverty, humility, meekness, simplicity, sincerity, forgiveness, frankness, trust and fortitude became her way of getting to know and live the attitudes of Jesus Master;

--the Passion narratives;

--the Letters of St. Paul.

b)  Imitation (Way). Mother Thecla's meditations, even though couched in traditional languagae, reveal a genuine attention to the person of Jesus Master. From listening, she moves to ongoing contemplation of Jesus Master, encouraged by teh biblical phrase: "Learn from me for I am meek and humble of heart" (Mt. 11:29). Her imitation of Jesus extended to his entire life; she desired to reproduce all the mysteries of his life in her own. Her constant resolution was: "To imitate Jesus, the Divine Master. To always ask myself: What would Jesus do? I want to imitate the Divine Master and become a saint? (January 1932). "Jesus Christ is my model. I must fix my gaze on him so as to see how he prayed, spoke, acted, dealt with people; how he willingly suffered for us, etc. A religious must seek to copy her model: Jesus, the Divine Master" (Spiritual Exercises 1934).  

c) To live the Master (Life). Mother Thecla moved from imitation of the Divine Master to a deeper level of the spiritual life: that of sharing the Master's life, immersing herself in him, conforming herself to him. We know that the culmination of this stage of the spiritual life is immersion in the Paschal Mystery, by means of which the person unites herself to the Master's offering of his life.

Thecla offered her life in a particular way for the Daughters entrusted to her care, but also for the Church, Vatican Council II, the Founder, Fr. Alberione, and the entire Pauline Family.

We have already mentioned that Mother Thecla was guided to rest in Jesus Master, who was at work in her soul. Her spiritual notes of 1963 reveal her total adherence to the Master with new and significant nuances:

"To live in union with God like St. Paul: 'For me, to live is Christ.' To do everything for him, with him and in him" (June 3, 1963).

"To remain united to Jesus. May my thoughts be his; may his will be my will. To love God the Father above every other thing through Jesus and with Jesus. To make sacrifices for souls" (1/22/63).

"To imitate St. Paul in his union with the Divine Master: 'Who will separate me from the love of Christ?'" (1/24/63).

"To remain united to the Divine Master..." (1/30/63).

In addition, Prima Maestra became always more sensitive to the relationship between Jesus Master and his Father. She strongly desired to share in that relationship--above all in the mystery of Jesus' obedience to the Father; "Jesus always did the will of his Father. I too always want to do the will of the Father. I want to see his will in everything" (Feb. 1963).

"O Jesus, I want to practice the same obedience you did. It is Jesus who lives in me, together with the Father and the Holy Spirit.[...] I want to remain united to the Divine Master" (Feb. 1963).

Mother Thecla's intimacy with the Divine Master made her a woman sensitive to the needs of humanity; a woman totally focused on the Pauline mission. The first time she visited India, she felt her heart tighten (cf. VPC 104) at the sight of the immense crowd of humanity that did not know Jesus.

That "tightening of the heart" reminds us of Jesus' compassion for the crowds that surrounded him. In contemplating the Master, who walked among the people "doing good," Mother Thecla summarized her sense of mission in three expressions: "to do good," to help souls," and "to contribute to their salvation." This was her way of concretizing the life of Jesus Master in her own life.

(Excerpted from Jesus Master in the Teaching of Fr. Alberione, by Caterina A. Martini, FSP).

Night Between the Centuries | An Instrument of God--Alberione
Beloved by All--Blessed Timothy | Pauline Family