Newspaper Page Text
AUGUST 3. 1957.
SEVENTEEN
Holy Father Praises Hospital Sisters
ADDRESS DELIVERED TO FIRST
ITALIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS
7 he following is a translation
of the address delivered in Italian
by His Holiness Pope Pius XII
to the participants in the First
Italian N ational Congress of IIos~
I'MaI Sisters. In his address the
Holy lather paid tribute to the
devotion of the Hospital Sisters
and urged them to make careful
examination from time to time
of their methods of life and ac
tivity in order to make certain
that they are still useful and ef
fective.
(N.C.W.C. News Service)
We bid you Our paternal wel
come, beloved daughters, Relig
ious and superiors of hospitals,
clinics and rest homes.
You have gathered in Rome
for your first national convention
to study the theme, “Religious
life and the apostolate. technique,
organization and profession of
health assistance to the sick.”
It therefore seemed to Us that
We could not,remain absent, We
who see with the greatest joy the
entire world of Religious move on
with prudence and boldness, in
tent on examining the means and
methods best suited to the reno
vation of their life and their
apostolic activity.
This is an indication of. how
much you are convinced that the
Church, immutable in her prin
ciples and her essential institu
tions, is nevertheless not static
but living, growing and adapting
herself to new times and chang
ing circumstances, in order to be
in every epoch the soul of the
world.
We are grateful to those who.
in prompt and faithful response
to the wishes of the Holy See.
have undertaken the numerous
and complex problems that con
cern you. And We pray the Lord
that He may enlighten them and
sustain them in the arduous task
they have undertaken.
There is no need for Us to re
assert Our feelings of certainty
about the irreplaceable presence
of Religious in a great many
fields of the Catholic apostolate,
above all in the fields of educa
tion, schools and social work.
The missionary work of the
Church itself has been, for a
long time now, almost inconceiv
able without the participation of
the Sisters.
And even in a number of re
gions where the hierarchy is es
tablished, the work of the Sisters
is indispensable for the proper
organization of spiritual care.
Without their collaboration the
Church probably would have had
to renounce much of its progress
and surrender many of its posi
tions gained at the cost of hard
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work.
By means of the work of your
motherly hands, beloved daugh
ters, the Church sustains the aged
and the weak. With the beating
of your hearts, she warms the
souls of the little orphans. And
through the fervor of your dedi
cation, she assists the sick.
But since you are an army of
women consecrated to God, of
fered to the Church in a spirit
of permanent sacrifice, 'it is al
ways suitable, and even some
times necessary, that you peri
odically weigh your work in the
balance and, on such occasions,
re-evaluate certain ways of living
and acting in order to see if they
are still as useful and effective
as they were in former times.
Therefore, you are here at
a congress in which devoted
prayer, intense study and ani
mated and serene discussions
have their places. You can well
imagine how much trust and
confidence We have in you.
As a matter of fact, it seems
to Us necessary that you should
become fully aware of what you
should be, and of what you must
do, in order to examine most
completely and solve most wisely
the problems that concern the
most delicate matter of assistance
to the sick. ^
Eminent orators and lecturers,
with that clarity which comes to
them from long study and con
stant experience, will set forth
the criteria which must inspire
and determine the relationship
between the religious life and
assistance to the sick.
We shall, therefore, limit Our
selves to several brief thoughts,
submitting them to you in the
hope of contributing in soma
manner to the success of your
meeting.
1. Above All Be True Religious.
It is a truth of the faith, which
We Ourselves expressed recent
ly in the encyclical “Sacra Vir-
ginitas” of March 25, 1954, that
virginity is superior to the mar
riage state, because the virgin
soul binds itself in absolute and
indissoluble love directly with
God—or rather with God Incar
nate, Jesus Christ.
In fact, all which you have re
ceived as a gift from God for the
purpose of being wives and
mothers, you have offered to Him
in holocaust upon the altar of
complete and everlasting renun
ciation. The virgin soul does not
go through other hearts or stop
to deal with other beings to
reach the heart of God, to love
it and to be loved by it. Nothing
is interposed between that soul
and Jesus—no obstacle, no wall.
In marriage, on the other hand
—although it is- a real sacrament,
one of the seven from which
spring grace, and instituted by
Christ Himself; although it im
poses the mutual offering of one
spouse to the other; although it
accomplishes a real fusion of
lives and destinies—there is, in
the sight of God. something re
strained, something which is not
given completely or entirely.
(Continued on Page 22)
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