It m ay be helpful to take a look at the history o f consecrated life, i.e. at the “glorious history to be rem em bered”, in view o f the “great history to be built” ( Vita Consecrata). Som e recent studies have divided it up as follow s:
a. IV-VI Centuries. Era o f the fathers o f the Church: flig h t from the world The official epiphany or m anifestation o f consecrated life is found in the desert; there the monks discovered and bore witness to the absolute nature of G od and o f Christ his only Son, a unique model for the Christian; in the desert took place the conflict o f Christ against the spirit o f evil, the mysterium iniqui- tatis. The Church was enriched by the struggle against the radical powers of evil, in imitation o f Christ. In the individual m onks in the desert the battle was fought and won with Christ; in the individual hermits grew the level o f the salvation of the world. Christian innovation therefore was not exhausted by w hat was visible and could be verified. The m ost im portant thing by far is in
visible; it is the hidden life with Christ in God; it is a “m ysterium ”.
b. VI-XII Centuries. Era o f monasticism: the monastery a new ideal - sepa
rated (but not too much) from the world
In a situation o f dram atic and civil involution St B enedict spread the hu
m anizing force o f the G ospel and laid the foundation o f the m ediaeval civi
lization o f Europe, o f which he has rightly been nam ed patron. He urged the w andering peoples o f his tim e to settle dow n in som e place and build (sta- bilitas)\ he urged young people to take off the toga, lay dow n their arm s and cultivate the land, so as to be o f use to them selves and to others (laboraf, and he urged everyone to com e together around the altar to becom e brothers in prayer (ora)\ in this way he changed the course o f history.
c. XIII-XV Centuries. Era o f the mendicants: in the towns to beg fo r bread, to pray, to serve the poor, to study
To a new m iddle-class intent on increasing its riches, St Francis (and the M endicants) rem inded everyone that in the last analysis everything is a gift o f God, and that m an ’s real richness is G od him self. And to the C hurch which had em erged strong and pow erful from the G regorian reform he said that prestige and hum an riches w ere not enough; gospel hum ility w as need ed as well. F or this reason he built fraternity as an essential elem ent o f the C h u rch . A nd so it cam e a b o u t th a t aro u n d w h at the w o rld c o n sid e re d
“w eak” values (i.e. the vow s), there developed the renew al o f the C hurch and o f society in that era and those that follow ed. It will not be out o f place to recall here that the IV C ouncil o f the Lateran prohibited any new reli
gious foundations w ith new rules. W hy? B ecause o f the concern am ong conservatives at the increasing m ultiplication; and jealo u sy o f the secular clergy against the m onks w ho were com peting for the parishes. T hat decree really m eant only one thing: from then on, the charism o f a founder w ould not be given to anyone, and if it were to be so given he w ould not be al
low ed to give effect to it. W hat are we to think o f that? Today it w ould m ake us laugh, and I think the H oly Spirit m ust have laughed in heaven [m ore or less the sam e happened w ith the election o f the polish p ope in 1978: w hat w ill happen w ith the next?]. A nd in fact after that decree there cam e a very deluge o f prophetic charism ata: not only Franciscans, but also D om inicans, C arm elites, M arists, A ugustinians, and others.
d. XVI Century. Era o f apostolic orders: well educated friars, zealous mis
sionaries, totally involved in society and ideals o f holiness
This is the era o f the “dignitas” and o f the “virtus” o f the new ly born man o f the R enaissance, and o f the harsh Lutheran reaction w hich em p h a
sized strength o f faith as the only thing needed. For Ignatius - typical o f all o f them - the only real m an is one who, w ith the support o f grace, becom es a protagonist of a divine m ission, i.e. the divine and hum an m ission o f the salvation o f the w orld, the highest o f all enterprises. W ith Ignatius conse
crated life becom es linked w ith history and, in fact, becom es com pletly im m ersed in it; it re-orientates itself tow ards God so that everything can re
flect his “greater glory” . W ith Ignatius, his E xercises and his Ratio studio- rum, an authentic leap forw ard w as m ade in C hurch history. The period of Ignatius is also that o f the C ouncil o f Trent. The tim e w as ripe: the only thing m issing w as the right m an. A nd he appeared: one w ho as a young m an had sow n his w ild oats but to w hom age had brought w isdom , Paul III Farnese, the Pope o f C atholic R eform . But a C ouncil was needed also, and another young m an em erged, C harles B orrom eo, aged 23 and a deacon, a cardinal by virtue o f fam ily descent and nephew o f a Pope. He took the C ouncil by the scruff o f the neck and led it to successful results. A nd so E urope did not collapse under the terrible thrust o f Lutheranism
e. X1X-XX Centuries. Era o f the teaching and nursing congregations (with particular ministries)
To the suffering present in C hristian society, often m ore concerned about political aspects and legal b alance than about the extrem e m isery o f the abandoned masses, and to the French revolution w hich had destroyed con
secrated life, will respond the hundred or so new and m odern congregations with hospitals, schools and plans for the instruction o f people, assistance o f the aged, form ation o f the clergy and care for society’s outcasts. It w as the prophecy o f the indivisible unity o f the love o f G od and love o f neighbour that proved to be a stim ulus to governm ental organism s o f the State to com e to grips w ith such needs. Society w ould no longer be what it had been earli
er, when the poor were considered an essential dim ension o f any social p o li
cy w orthy o f the name. To get back to Salesian aspects - we rem em ber that the Salesian C ongregation w as b o m against the anticlerical m inisters o f the kingdom o f Sardinia first and later against those o f the K ingdom o f Italy, ag a in st all the law s su p p ressin g relig io u s co n g re g a tio n s and in stitu tes, against the norm s confiscating ecclesiastical goods - it becam e a m odel for m any others and developed from nothing in a surprising m anner. M any years later, a C ardinal w ould say: “If Latin A m erica is Catholic, it is due in
part to the Salesians” . And it could be added that in Turin and Piedm ont, then undergoing a strong dechristianizing process, w ere then w orking som e fifty people w ho w ould later be beatified or canonized.