On 15 March 2008, Pope Benedict XVI declared Padre Mariano of Torino “Venerable”. This means that the Holy Father recognised the virtuous heroism that underpinned this Capuchin’s holy life.
Padre Mariano (1906-1972) was a top TV celebrity in the 60s due to the 17 years he spent proclaiming the Gospel to millions of Italians on RAI, the national television station.
Motivated by the Capuchin charism of simplicity and joy, Padre Mariano employed simple and charming language when dealing with human and religious subjects on the popular weekly programmes La Posta di Padre Mariano, In Famiglia and Chi è Gesù?
Before taking Jesus’ call to the priesthood and consecrated life, Paolo Roasenda spent some 10 years teaching Greek and Latin in different secondary schools. Nationally, he was recognized for his outstanding commentaries on Horace and Cicero. Simultaneously, Paolo remained a committed witness to his Christian faith during the challenging times of the Fascist regime in Italy.
Since he was a child, the young Paolo was a fervent member of the Catholic Association (Azione Cattolica) while participating actively in many activities in which he always assumed a leading role.
Furthermore, his voluminous writings include hundreds of articles that gently invite the Catholic Association youth to appreciate the beauty of their Christian faith and happily put it into practice.
Padre Mariano regarded himself as “a friend of Jesus who looks for friends for Jesus”. Bearing clearly his self-identity in mind, the Capuchin was scrupulously vigilant about his prayer life and daily meditation, placing the Gospel and The Imitation of Christ as his sound resources for his intimate union with God. For Padre Mariano, Jesus was the greatest love he could ever have throughout his life. Motivated by his continual and profound intimacy with the Lord, the holy Friar’s goal in life was to do God’s will. As he wrote: “My only desire, which burns my very flesh uncontrollably, is to completely do God’s will, without the imposition of obstacles by mankind.”
Being faithful to God’s will was the kernel of his challenging journey towards holiness, a call which Padre Mariano envisaged to be both a duty and an opportunity for everyone. It comprised “living the will of God to perfection. For it is the love of God and the love of one’s neighbour which are the wings we use to fly towards sainthood”.
According to this fervent priest, the Christian apostolate is the duty of every believer since “life IS being an apostle, only he who gives, really lives. We are all in some way responsible for the souls which providence places in our paths”.
Led by Jesus’ love and his apostolic conviction, Padre Mariano affirmed that his comportment should be in line with the needs and requirements of the Christian faith and morals. He lived this life with much sacrificial joy. When God showed him his will to become a Capuchin friar, he surrendered to His loving design for him.
Padre Mariano was greatly encouraged to take this bold step in the darkness of faith by the providential intervention of Our Lady, as well as the promise of an extraordinary apostolate, that of television. His pastoral assignments at the Regina Coeli prison and the psychiatric hospital of Santa Maria della Pietà in Rome and at Santo Spirito hospital in Sassia made him a good listener to people’s problems and a humble observant of Jesus’ care for his flock.
The greatest lesson I personally learn as a priest from Padre Mariano is that in proclaiming God’s Word I should opt for talking not preaching about Jesus. The living experience of Jesus in today’s everyday life is what makes Christianity truthful and relevant to the modern man and woman. “Christianity isn’t so much a doctrine (although it is the highest, as it is divine) as a person: the essence of Christianity is the person Jesus Christ. Preaching lacks the ‘essentials’, it isn’t very ‘Christian’ because Jesus as a person isn’t talked about. It is necessary to ‘talk,’ not ‘preach’. I believe that Jesus spoke in a gentle way instead of preaching in a loud and ineffective voice frequently used by too many ministers of God.”
Dear brother priests, lets get experiential and far less doctrinal, so that the world may know that Jesus Christ is its Lord and Saviour!
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap