Venerable Mother Thecla Merlo

Mother Thecla Merlo, Co-Foundress:
The World from Which She Came

Castagnito, a small Italian village of a few hundred inhabitants, lies on a pleasant hill near the city of Alba. The parish church--the center of village life--sits proudly at the top. At this church Teresa Merlo received the sacraments and religious education. She attended the village school (which only had three grades) and her parents continued her education with a private tutor. This tutor, Maria Chiarla, taught Teresa the scholastic subjects, but more importantly, she instructed her in the doctrines and liturgical life of the Church. Her brother would later attribute Teresa's deep spirituality as a young woman to the influence of her tutor.

As was common then in the Piedmont region of Italy, the same building served as both house and stable for the Merlo family. They lived in the right wing of the building; the left wing housed the animals on the first floor and served as a hayloft on the second. The Merlo house was on the road leading up to the village of Castagnito. Teresa was born here on February 20, 1894, and here she lived and worked until she was 21.

In an age when Europe was torn by the first World War and women such as Edith Stein were breaking into the all male world of higher academics, Teresa Merlo completed her training as a seamstress. In the normal course of time, this occupation would have supplemented the meager income of a family farm. But God had marked a different course for this young woman...

On June 29, 1907, James Alberione was ordained a priest for the diocese of Alba. Except for a brief assignment as assistant pastor in Narzole, Fr. Alberione remained at the seminary as a professor and spiritual director. He quickly became known as "the theologian." But germinating in his heart and mind was the desire "to do something for the people of today." That "something" soon revealed itself as the apostolate of evangelization using the printed word, to be performed by consecrated men and women religious. This new form of evangelization Fr. Alberione dubbed "the apostolate of the good press."

Teresa Merlo met Fr. James Alberione in the church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian on June 27, 1915. The meeting had been arranged by her brother, who was a seminarian at the time, and she was accompanied by her mother. Fr. Alberione had already heard of Teresa's desire to be a religious. Now, he invited her to join the group of young women he was forming at Alba with the aim of one day founding a feminine congregation dedicated to the apostolate of the press. This community would be parallel to the Society of St. Paul, the congregation of men which he had started a year before. With great faith, Teresa said "yes."

In her recollections of that time, Mother Thecla Merlo wrote: "He [Fr. Alberione] told me that for now we would work in the sewing shop, but that later we would form a congregation of Sisters who would work with the good press." Vincenza Merlo gave her permission for Teresa to try it out for fifteen days, but if she was not happy her brother was to send her home immediately.

One can hardly fathom Teresa's immediate and unwavering "yes" to Fr. Alberione's invitation without some understanding of her family. Many years later, on her parents' 50th wedding anniversary, Teresa would say to them: "Dear Papa, in the midst of your large family reunited here, you seem to me to be one of the holy Patriarchs of the Old Testament. Dear Mamma, in the midst of your children and grandchildren you enjoy the happiness of the just."

The Merlo family was blessed with a strong sense of solidarity and of stability within their Roman Catholic faith. Both parents were active and prominent members in the parish, known for their charity as well as their piety. The giving of one of their sons to the priesthood and of their only daughter to religious life was considered their greatest joy and sure evidence of God's blessing. The Merlo family lived simply and were of the working class, but they had the inner strength and dignity that comes from knowing that each is loved uniquely by God.

When Teresa was born, her grandmother admonished Teresa's mother, Vincenza Merlo, to "take care of Teresa, because this child is destined to do much good in her life." By the time she was 17, Teresa had established a small sewing school in the family home for other village girls. In addition to sewing, however, Teresa led her students in prayer, catechism lessons, and in learning about the saints.

Teresa's sewing skills were providential for the new community as they were only gradually able to begin the "apostolate of the good press." In Alba, they opened a small shop of religious articles and books--the tiny seed of the future book centers that the Daughters of St. Paul would open all over the world. But the women supported themselves by operating a small sewing school.

In 1918, the women were invited by Fr. Alberione to move to the small city of Susa and take charge of the diocesan newspaper. He explained that this would involve the direction, composition, and printing of the paper; the women would learn the typographical skills from their brothers, the Society of St. Paul. The women named their little workshop the "St. Paul Typography" and placed it under the great apostle's patronage. It was here that the group became known as the Daughters of St. Paul.

Four years later, the first nine members of the Daughters of St. Paul were allowed to make their perpetual professions in a private ceremony. Twenty-eight year old Teresa Merlo took the name Thecla, in honor of St. Thecla, the early follower of Paul. The women also received the title Maestra, in honor of Jesus the Master. Maestra Thecla Merlo was appointed Superior General of the new community.

The difficulties which the little group encountered from society and from the Church's hierarchy were immense; who had ever imagined women--never mind women religious--operating printing presses and composing books and newspapers? The year the sisters made their perpetual profession, Fr. Alberione wrote: "For the Daughters, the vocation to the good press is one still to be created. God creates it, raises it up, confirms it, and brings it to fulfillment with His grace. It involves something new and therefore entails greater difficulties."

With tremendous vision and trust in God's will for this new form of apostolate, the little group continued to grow and develop. In 1928, they were allowed to wear a religious habit and opened their first branch houses in Salerno, Bari, and Verona, Italy. In addition to their devotion to St. Paul, the Daughters took Mary, Queen of Apostles, as their model. As Mary brought Jesus to the world in human flesh, so they felt called to bring Him in the living Word of Scripture. Their daily strength came from the Hour of Eucharistic Adoration.

In the next four years, under Mother Thecla's guidance, the fledgling community expanded to 25 communities in Italy and had new foundations in Brazil, Argentina, and the United States. Mother Thecla remained Mother General until her death in 1964. During her lifetime she traveled around the world and under her direction the Daughters of St. Paul were established in every continent.

The first sisters embraced the apostolate of evangelization using the means of social communication with intelligence and an intuition which preceded the Vatican II Decree on Social Communication by almost 40 years. Mother Thecla herself was one of the first sisters to learn the art of printing. But she knew the books would do no good unless they were read, so she courageously opened one book store after another and sent sisters to one nation after another. The sisters not only printed and sold books, but also prepared catechetical materials and magazines. In many nations they were among the first to produce Catholic radio programs, records and audio-visuals.

Mother Thecla, in writing a circular letter to these early Daughters of St. Paul, conveyed her own vocational commitment: "The power idea which must animate us is the thought of souls. This thought must goad us on. We must be concerned about how we are to reach people and bring them the Word of truth and salvation. How many souls never hear of God! Who will help them?"

Mother Thecla was certainly a woman both of her time and ahead of her time. She had a singular desire to reach the people of her day with the Word of truth and salvation. And she courageously led the Daughters of St. Paul to the forefront of evangelization with each new form of media as it was developed. Embracing the press, radio, film, and TV, she wrote: "Our Congregation will always be young, because it will make use of every new means to do good."

We Daughters of St. Paul look to the new millennium with confidence and courage. Thanks to the generous and intelligent faith of Mother Thecla, ours is a life of prayer and apostolate which is ever young and vital in the life of the Church. And she has not left us alone; we share with her a deep reverence for the eternal Word of God and we feel her presence with us during our daily hour of Eucharistic Adoration. From heaven she reminds us: "Where there is the tabernacle we are never alone. Make beautiful hours of adoration... We lack nothing when we have Jesus with us."

Many of us are generous--in differing degrees--but to find a person who has set out to give EVERYTHING, and has kept on giving until death, isn't easy. We celebrate the total gift Mother Thecla made of her life to the Lord and his people. She was "one in a million." The Church officially recognized this when, on January 22, 1991, Pope John Paul II declared her Venerable.

Prayer

Most Holy Trinity, we thank you for the singular gifts of light, grace, and virtue which you granted to Sister Thecla Merlo, and we thank you for having chosen and constituted her the wise mother and sure guide of the Daughters of St. Paul.

Through her intercession, grant that we may live of her great loves: Jesus Master in the Holy Eucharist, the Church, the Gospel and souls--souls sought and served through evangelization with the instruments of social communication--to the point of total sacrifice.

O Lord, if it be in the designs of your divine wisdom, carry out even on this earth, for this very devoted Daughter of St. Paul, your divine promise: "If anyone serves me, my Father will honor him."

Exalt this faithful Servant to the joy of the Church and the good of many souls, and grant us, through her intercession, the favor we ask of you. Amen.

Glory Be...Hail Mary...

With ecclesiastical approval

Anyone who receives graces and favors through the intercession of Venerable Sister Thecla Merlo is asked to send this information to the Superior General of the Daughters of St. Paul, Via San Giovanni Eudes, 25, 00163 Rome, Italy.