Vatican City, 26 April 2014 (VIS) –
Blessed Pope John XXIII was born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli at Sotto il
Monte, Italy, in the Diocese of Bergamo on 25 November 1881. He was the
fourth in a family of 14. The family worked as sharecroppers. It was a
patriarchal family in the sense that the families of two brothers lived
together, headed by his great-uncle Zaverio, who had never married and
whose wisdom guided the work and other business of the family. Zaverio
was Angelo's godfather, and to him he always attributed his first and
most fundamental religious education. The religious atmosphere of his
family and the fervent life of the parish, under the guidance of Fr.
Francesco Rebuzzini, provided him with training in the Christian life.
He
entered the Bergamo seminary in 1892. Here he began the practice of
making spiritual notes, which he continued in one form or another until
his death, and which have been gathered together in the “Journal of a
Soul”. Here he also began the deeply cherished practice of regular
spiritual direction. In 1896 he was admitted to the Secular Franciscan
Order by the spiritual director of the Bergamo seminary, Fr. Luigi
Isacchi; he made a profession of its Rule of life on 23 May 1897.
From
1901 to 1905 he was a student at the Pontifical Roman Seminary. On 10
August 1904 he was ordained a priest in the church of Santa Maria in
Monte Santo in Rome's Piazza del Popolo. In 1905 he was appointed
secretary to the new Bishop of Bergamo, Giacomo Maria Radini Tedeschi.
He accompanied the Bishop in his pastoral visitations and collaborated
with him in his many initiatives: a Synod, management of the diocesan
bulletin, pilgrimages, social works. In the seminary he taught history,
patrology and apologetics. He was an elegant, profound, effective and
sought-after preacher.
These
were the years of his deepening spiritual encounter with two saints who
were outstanding pastors: St Charles Borromeo and St Francis de Sales.
They were years, too, of deep pastoral involvement and apprenticeship,
as he spent every day beside "his" Bishop, Radini Tedeschi. When the
Bishop died in 1914, Fr. Angelo continued to teach in the seminary and
to minister in various pastoral areas.
When
Italy went to war in 1915 he was drafted as a sergeant in the medical
corps and became a chaplain to wounded soldiers. When the war ended, he
opened a "Student House" for the spiritual needs of young people.
In
1919 he was made spiritual director of the seminary, but in 1921 he was
called to the service of the Holy See. Benedict XV brought him to Rome
to be the Italian president of the Society for the Propagation of the
Faith. In 1925 Pius XI named him Apostolic Visitator in Bulgaria,
raising him to the episcopate with the titular Diocese of Areopolis. For
his Episcopal motto he chose Oboedientia et Pax, which became his
guiding motto for the rest of his life.
On
19 March 1925 he was consecrated a Bishop and left for Bulgaria. He was
granted the title of apostolic delegate and remained in Bulgaria until
1935, visiting Catholic communities and establishing relationships of
respect and esteem with the other Christian communities. In the
aftermath of the 1928 earthquake his solicitude was everywhere present.
He endured in silence the misunderstandings and other difficulties of a
ministry on the fringes of society, and thus refined his sense of trust
and abandonment to Jesus crucified.
In
1935 he was appointed as apostolic delegate in Turkey and Greece. The
Catholic Church was present in many ways in the young Turkish republic.
His ministry among the Catholics was intense, and his respectful
approach and dialogue with the worlds of Orthodoxy and Islam became a
feature of his tenure. When the Second World War broke out he was in
Greece. He tried to get news from the prisoners of war to their families
and assisted many Jews to escape by issuing "transit visas" from the
Apostolic Delegation. In December 1944 Pius XII appointed him Nuncio in
France.
During
the last months of the war and the beginning of peace he aided
prisoners of war and helped to normalise the ecclesiastical organisation
of France. He visited the great shrines of France and participated in
popular feasts and in important religious celebrations. He was an
attentive, prudent and positive observer of the new pastoral initiatives
of the Bishops and clergy of France. His approach was always
characterised by a striving for Gospel simplicity, even amid the most
complex diplomatic questions. The sincere piety of his interior life
found expression each day in prolonged periods of prayer and meditation.
In 1953 he was created a Cardinal and sent to Venice as Patriarch. He
was filled with joy at the prospect of ending his days in the direct
care of souls, as he had always desired since becoming a priest. He was a
wise and enterprising pastor, following the model pastors he had always
venerated and walking in the footsteps of St Laurence Giustiniani,
first Patriarch of Venice. As he advanced in years his trust in the Lord
grew in the midst of energetic, enterprising and joyful pastoral
labours.
At
the death of Pius XII he was elected Pope on 28 October 1958, taking
the name John XXIII. His pontificate, which lasted less than five years,
presented him to the entire world as an authentic image of the Good
Shepherd. Meek and gentle, enterprising and courageous, simple and
active, he carried out the Christian duties of the corporal and
spiritual works of mercy: visiting the imprisoned and the sick,
welcoming those of every nation and faith, bestowing on all his
exquisite fatherly care. His social magisterium in the Encyclicals Pacem
in terris and Mater et Magistra was deeply appreciated.
He
convoked the Roman Synod, established the Commission for the Revision
of the Code of Canon Law and summoned the Second Vatican Council. He was
present as Bishop in his Diocese of Rome through his visitation of the
parishes, especially those in the new suburbs. The faithful saw in him a
reflection of the goodness of God and called him "the good Pope". He
was sustained by a profound spirit of prayer. He launched an extensive
renewal of the Church, while radiating the peace of one who always
trusted in the Lord. Pope John XXIII died on the evening of 3 June 1963,
in a spirit of profound trust in Jesus and of longing for his embrace.
He
was beatified by John Paul II on 3 September 2000. His liturgical feast
day is 11 October, the day of the opening of Vatican Council II.
In his homily, John Paul II pronounced the following words about his predecessor:
“Today
we contemplate in the glory of the Lord another Pontiff, John XXIII,
the Pope who impressed the world with the friendliness of his manner
which radiated the remarkable goodness of his soul. By divine design
their beatification links these two Popes who lived in very different
historical contexts but, beyond appearances, share many human and
spiritual similarities. Pope John's deep veneration for Pius IX, to
whose beatification he looked forward, is well known. During a spiritual
retreat in 1959, he wrote in his diary: "I always think of Pius IX of
holy and glorious memory, and by imitating him in his sacrifices, I
would like to be worthy to celebrate his canonization" (Journal of a
Soul, Ed. San Paolo, 2000, p. 560)”.
“Everyone
remembers the image of Pope John's smiling face and two outstretched
arms embracing the whole world. How many people were won over by his
simplicity of heart, combined with a broad experience of people and
things! The breath of newness he brought certainly did not concern
doctrine, but rather the way to explain it; his style of speaking and
acting was new, as was his friendly approach to ordinary people and to
the powerful of the world. It was in this spirit that he called the
Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, thereby turning a new page in the
Church's history: Christians heard themselves called to proclaim the
Gospel with renewed courage and greater attentiveness to the "signs" of
the times”.
“The
Council was a truly prophetic insight of this elderly Pontiff who, even
amid many difficulties, opened a season of hope for Christians and for
humanity”.
“In
the last moments of his earthly life, he entrusted his testament to the
Church: "What counts the most in life is blessed Jesus Christ, his holy
Church, his Gospel, truth and goodness". We too wish to receive this
testament, as we glorify God for having given him to us as a Pastor”.
credits: http://www.news.va/en/news/biography-of-pope-john-xxiii
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