Blessed James Alberione

Father James Alberione and the Liturgical Movement

By Sr. Mary Margaret Tapang, SDDM

In 1986, I started a systematic research on the role that our beloved Founder, Father James Alberione, played in the liturgical movement of the Church. In the course of my research, I met personally and came to know the surviving priests who, in obedience to Primo Maestro, pioneered the first liturgical-pastoral publications for the people. I was able to get a photocopy of the first issue of the Bollettino Parrochiale Liturgico from the General Archives of the Daughters of St. Paul. When I showed it to Bombay-based Father Alfonso Ferrero, SSP, in one of my trips to India, he was overwhelmed with joy and exclaimed: "That is a masterpiece!" He marveled how I had managed to get a copy of the 1932 maiden issue. Well, thanks to the kindness of the Daughters of St. Paul…!

Father Giovanni Chiesa, one of the clerics who edited the Messale Romano Quotidiano in 1935, diligently helped me in my thesis writing. The results of my investigation were presented as a doctoral dissertation at the Pontifical Liturgical Institute, St. Anselm University, in Rome on December 2, 1989. On the morning of my thesis defense, I knelt in front of the tomb of Primo Maestro, invoking his assistance. Yes, Primo Maestro was there with me during the "ordeal," for I was able to refute the vigorous objections of the panelists. They finally conceded that Father James Alberione should be regarded as one of the figures of the Church’s liturgical movement. When Father Achille Triacca, SDB—one of the most eminent professors at the Liturgical Institute—published a part of my thesis in the Ephemerides Liturgicae, it was an impeachable confirmation that Father James Alberione’s contributions have been recognized officially in the liturgical-pastoral field.

In honor of his beatification on April 27, 2003, I wish to share some of my findings concerning the role of Primo Maestro in the field of liturgy.

Father Alberione’s Contribution to the Liturgical Movement

The positive role Father Alberione exercised in the liturgical movement was extensive, and would find its true description in the words that Pope Paul VI uttered on June 28, 1969: "Always intent on scrutinizing the signs of the times," Father Alberione gave the Church "new means to give vigor and amplitude to its apostolate, new capacities and a new awareness of the validity and of the possibilities of its mission in the modern world."

Our Primo Maestro responded using traditional and time-tested means, as well as with modern and creative, efficient forms of accomplishing the liturgical apostolate and the promotion of the liturgical spirit in the Church. He used the apostolate of the press in the popularization of the liturgical movement in its early and growing phases. He founded the congregation of the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master for the eucharistic-priestly-liturgical apostolate in the Church. He gave to the Sisters of Jesus the Good Shepherd, as part of their pastoral apostolate, the practical accomplishment of liturgical ministry in the parish. He built churches and promoted sacred chant. He inculcated the idea that the fine arts—painting, sculpture, architecture, music and literature—should serve the liturgy, and he saw to it that they were carried out.

Father Alberione instilled the liturgical spirit in the religious congregations he founded, and he took pains that they have a proper and solid liturgical formation. Liturgical apostolate centers were erected, liturgical books and periodicals were published, and liturgical exhibits were put up. Above all, he harnessed the indispensable energy of the apostolate of prayer, without which all human efforts would be in vain. He strongly believed that the SDDM ministry of prayer helped pave the way for the progress and development of the liturgical movement. But his sights were set far. He wanted to reach unbelievers, too. Hence, he felt the necessity of preparing catechetical liturgical aids so that all may be brought to Christ in the Eucharist, and through Christ, back to God. Alberione started with little. Nonetheless, the mustard seed of the beginning was sustained with a powerful twofold apostolic motivation: "the glory of God and the salvation of humankind."

Father Alberione’s Unique Pastoral Approach to the Liturgy

No other figure of the liturgical movement initiated and perfected a pastoral plan based on the threefold notion of the liturgy as truth, morals and worship. No other person activated a pastoral program that sought to harness the potential energy of the liturgy in its threefold entity as leges credendi (the laws of belief), orandi (praying) et agendi (and acting). Father Alberione proved that this liturgical plan was workable and efficient. Indeed, his example could be a source of inspiration for a more integral pastoral renewal in the Church today.

Implications for the Life of the Church Today

After his death on November 26, 1971, Bishop William Brasseur, CICM, resolutely acknowledged that he was a "true missionary of the Church," who drew missionary zeal and personal sanctification from his intimate union with Jesus in the Eucharist. Considering that Father Alberione lived fully the inherently apostolic character of the Church, taking into account that he was shaped and thoroughly imbued with the liturgical spirit, and knowing that we can no longer ignore the hidden but vital contributions he rendered in the liturgical movement, we may ask who could be a better figure to inspire us in living the liturgy as the Church’s life and mission. Indeed, our Primo Maestro crystallized and incarnated the principle that the liturgy is the source and summit of the apostolate and the entire life of the Church.

Sr. Margaret Mary consults Fr. Giovanna Chiesa, SSP, on the topic: "James Alberione and the Liturgical Movement," 1989.

Fr. Chiesa, one of the Pauline clerics who edited the "Messale Romano Quotidiano" in 1935 in obedience to the promptings of Fr. Alberione, poses with Sr. Mary Margaret (1989).

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