When I was young, the thing that fascinated me to the point of making me decide to enter the Congregation of the Daughters of St. Paul at the age of 14 was a vocation film that showed the sisters and their candidates working at the printing presses. And when I entered the Institute in the community of Alba, lo and behold–I was assigned to work at those very same presses!
My years of formation were happy ones and I lived them enthusiastically, discovering that there was more to the Pauline apostolate than printing–in fact, the sisters used many other instruments to carry out their mission. I was strongly drawn to propaganda and I eagerly awaited the day on which I would finally “sprout wings” and be commissioned to take the Good News to parishes, homes, schools and every other human environment.
After I made my vestition, I was sent to Venice, where I had the chance to carry out this wonderful aspect of our apostolate. But to my great disappointment I was asked to return to Alba just three months later because the sister who had taken my place at the printing press had fallen ill. It was a big crisis for me, but I told myself: “Patience! You’ll be able to return to propaganda after your novitiate!”
The day after our profession, which took place in Rome, we, the newly-professed, clustered around our formation mistress, Maestra Nazarena, who was leaving for Sardinia. At one point, amidst all the goodbyes, one of my companions, Sr. Fatima Malloci, piped up: “Maestra Nazarena, what about Valeriana? What will she be doing?” Maestra Nazarena caught my eye and said, “Tomorrow evening you will leave for Alba….”
I looked back at her with astonishment and dismay and quickly left the group to hide behind a door so that no one would see the flood of tears that poured out of me. The need to renounce the propaganda apostolate was a sorrow I carried within me for the next three years. It was so keen that Sr. Cecilia Calabresi had to finally say to me: “Stop it! This [typography work] is your apostolate! Stop longing for something else!”
Another event served to reinforce the fact that the Lord seemed to want me in the technical apostolate. On one of her visits to Alba, Maestra Amalia Peyrolo told us that several members of our community had been chosen to go to the missions.
Once more, I was overwhelmed with the yearning to go out, out, OUT…. I asked impulsively, “How is it possible that so many others are chosen for the missions while I have to remain here?” Maestra Amalia looked at me seriously and said, “You’ll remain here until you are 70 years old….” Very disillusioned and downcast, I told myself sternly: “Enough is enough! Just keep quiet from now on!”
But it proved to be a short-lived resolution. Not long afterward, Prima Maestra Thecla paid a visit to Alba. When it was time for her to leave, I saw her pick up her bag and I raced toward her, exclaiming, “Prima Maestra, when will it be my turn to go to the missions?” She gave me a maternal smile and replied, “Do your best at the apostolate to which you are presently assigned. Afterward, your time will come….”
Another disillusionment! But then, four years after Prima Maestra’s death, my yearning to go to the missions was finally fulfilled. With a heart overflowing with joy and burning with the desire to take the Gospel to everyone, I left for the Congo.
Since I had lived in Alba for so many years, I had had the grace to see and speak with Prima Maestra Thecla many times. Her smile, her simplicity and her entire being radiated love and trust.
Thank you, Prima Maestra, for your great love for us. I always feel you close to me.
Valeriana Poletto, fsp