Blessed Timothy Giaccardo
Timothy Giaccardo was born in Narzole, Italy, on June 13, 1896. Soon after his confirmation in 1908 he met Fr. James Alberione. Trusting in the spiritual direction he received from Alberione, he entered the seminary of Alba and then, in 1917, joined the newly-formed Society of St. Paul, soon becoming the first to be ordained in the new congregation.
His love for the Blessed Mother; his prayerfulness, gentleness, and humility; his strong self-discipline, great faith, and ability to overcome very difficult circumstances enabled him to collaborate with Fr. Alberione so effectively that Alberione was moved to call him "most faithful of the faithful."
With untiring perseverance, Father Giaccardo worked for the ecclesial approval of the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, a complicated and difficult task for which he offered his life. Shortly after the approval was granted, Fr. Timothy entered into eternal life. Declared blessed by His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II, Father Giaccardo's Feast Day is on October 22.
"In the face of a world in which the faith encounters difficulties and insidious ideas of every kind which threaten the survival of many souls, Timothy Giaccardo, the first disciple of Father Alberione, interpreted fidelity to his own priestly vocation as proclaiming the Gospel through the press, thereby having an even broader and deeper effect on his brothers and sisters. Thus he proposed to spread the Gospel and the Church's teaching through the modern means of social communication, which he saw as the principal and typical apostolate of the modern world. All this was to be in absolute fidelity to the Church's magisterium, in a spiritual life nourished daily through Eucharistic adoration and devotion to Our Lady, in the persuasive meekness which made him so beloved by the entire Pauline Family. Today, seventy-five years after its foundation, this Family finds in him a model in continuing the mission entrusted to it by Father Alberione." (From the homily of His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II during the Beatification Mass)
Timothy Giaccardo was born in Narzole, Italy (in the diocese of Alba), on Saturday, June 13, 1896. On that same day he was baptized and given the names Joseph, Dominic, Vincent, and Anthony. (Timothy was the name he took as a Pauline.)
His whole life was Marian in the full sense of the word. All the decisive signs of his spiritual life--in infancy, in youth, in adulthood--revealed the work of Mary in a manner so effective and evident that Father Giaccardo himself had to recognize that everything had been "begun, nourished and protected" by her.
His parents, farmers, humble but fervent in faith, formed in their son a strong spirit of prayer. "Passing in front of the church of St. Bernard in Narzole, where Our Lady of the Rosary was venerated, [Joseph's mother] never neglected to stop and pray, with the little one in her arms. Gradually she taught him to recite the Hail Mary in front of the image of Mary…"
As he grew older, Joseph had a statue of the Blessed Virgin. There he would place flowers and pray to Mary as his mother had taught him. Along with growth in devotion to Mary, Joseph grew in love for the Eucharist, for the catechism, and for the sacred celebrations of the parish, in which he participated with joy.
Joseph was confirmed on September 12, 1908. Shortly after, having met Father James Alberione (then the assistant pastor of the Narzole parish), Joseph entrusted himself completely to Father Alberione's direction. He entered the seminary of Alba, where he was an example to all in prayer, discipline, study and meekness.
But he was a young man of great interior strength, as well. In 1917, believing that God was calling him to join the newly-formed community of the Society of St. Paul, Giaccardo asked the bishop's permission to enter. He was informed that leaving the seminary to join an as-yet-unapproved society might result in his not being ordained. Accepting that risk, Giaccardo joined the new community. Two years later, he was ordained: the first priest of the new Pauline Family. Father Timothy made his first religious profession of vows in 1920.
From the beginning, Giaccardo stood out as a man of exceptional gifts and aptitutes. To the handful of young men who had also abandoned everything to follow Jesus Master, Blessed Timothy was not only a teacher of theology and religious studies; in a sense, he was their model in spirituality and in the practice of virtue. The name which they affectionately gave him--"Signor Maestro" (Teacher)--remained his for the rest of his life.
In 1926, the Founder entrusted Father Giaccardo with the task of establishing the first house of the Society of St. Paul in Rome. There were serious difficulties to be faced, but these he overcame with a spirit of faith and perseverance that favorably impressed those who knew him. "He gave the clear-cut impression of a man of God: humble, simple, recollected, mortified and very charitable. His profound and continuous spirit of prayer was edifying, and he often united, very well and very politely, his evidently intense interior life with an act of love and delicate religious courtesy" (Cardinal Larraono).
During this time, Giaccardo accepted a number of diverse roles and responsibilities: superior, teacher, confessor, spiritual director and administrator. At the same time, he was also editor of a weekly periodical, "The Voice of Rome," manager of the pressroom work, and vocation director!
Having carried out his demanding assignment in Rome, Blessed Timothy was recalled to Alba to be in charge of the direction of the Motherhouse. It was a delicate office, which included the interpretation of the directives of the Founder and of the Constitutions, and the formation and guidance of all the future members of the Society, as well as the members of the other Congregations of the Pauline Family.
Though somewhat reserved and introverted by nature, Blessed Timothy calmly accepted tasks that might have seemed overwhelming, beyond this "human" capabilities.
Father Giaccardo's prayer was vital, feeding his spirit with an unquenchable enthusiasm for cooperating with the will of God--especially as it was expressed in the dispositions of the Founder. In all matters, he was Father Alberione's most trusted collaborator. The Founder himself attributed to Father Timothy the distinct title, "most faithful of the faithful."
"There is no one," said Father Alberione, "who shares my sentiments and my soul as well as he does."
In 1946 Father Giaccardo was recalled to Rome to be appointed Provincial Superior for the Society of St. Paul in Italy, as well as Vicar General of the congregation.
This was certainly the case regarding the establishment of the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master. In 1928, the Founder had set apart several Daughters of St. Paul to form the nucleus of a new community, one dedicated solely to contemplation and the liturgical apostolate. Both Father Alberione and Father Giaccardo realized the importance of contemplative prayer to support and enliven the various works of the Congregations that make up the Pauline Family. However, the Holy See advised that no separation from the Daughters of St. Paul would be allowed. The Founder ordered his vicar general, Father Timothy, to assume communication with the Holy See. Father Giaccardo's "mission" called for a good deal of sensitivity and tact, as he delicately set about the task of "helping" the Holy See change its mind. He was successful, and approbation of the community came on January 12, 1948.
Father Giaccardo had made an offering of his life for that intention, and it was evidently received: when he heard the news, he was bedridden with acute leukemia. Nevertheless, Father Giaccardo insisted on celebrating a Mass of thanksgiving with the members of the new Congregation. He collapsed during the Liturgy and died twelve days later. It was the feast day of his patron, St. Timothy, the faithful companion, collaborator and friend of St. Paul.
On May 9, 1985, His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II declared Father Timothy Giaccardo "venerable." Four years later, papal confirmation was given of the miracle attributed to his intercession. Sister Maria Luciana Lazzarini, a Sister Disciple of the Divine Master stationed in Japan, had been dying of "bilateral pulmonary tuberculosis." In July, 1954, at the end of a novena made to Father Giaccardo, she was completely and instantaneously cured. Later, the head physician of the sanatorium converted to Catholicism.
As the first beatified member of the Pauline Family, Father Timothy Giaccardo is outstanding also as the first modern-day apostle whose life was consecrated for the explicit purpose of evangelization with the media. His life is witness to the fruitfulness of contemplation joined with action--a call to fullest union with the Master.
"To merit a beautiful paradise, let us give everything to God: the body and its strength, the mind with faith, the will with confidence, and the heart with charity. Each of us should belong totally to God, always, everywhere, in everything--awaiting the reward which will surpass all imagination."
Opening Prayer from the Mass of Blessed Timothy Giaccardo
God our Father,
you sustained the life and apostolic work
of Blessed Timothy, priest,
with your radiant Word
and strength-giving Eucharist.
By the help of his prayers,
may the instruments of social communication
be used rightfully in promoting the good
in the Church and in the world
and help effectively in spreading the Gospel everywhere.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Night Between the Centuries | An Instrument of God--Alberione
The Woman Who Made It Happen--Mother Thecla | Beloved by All--Blessed Timothy Pauline Family
Timothy Giaccardo was born in Narzole, Italy, on June 13, 1896. Soon after his confirmation in 1908 he met Fr. James Alberione. Trusting in the spiritual direction he received from Alberione, he entered the seminary of Alba and then, in 1917, joined the newly-formed Society of St. Paul, soon becoming the first to be ordained in the new congregation.
His love for the Blessed Mother; his prayerfulness, gentleness, and humility; his strong self-discipline, great faith, and ability to overcome very difficult circumstances enabled him to collaborate with Fr. Alberione so effectively that Alberione was moved to call him "most faithful of the faithful."
With untiring perseverance, Father Giaccardo worked for the ecclesial approval of the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, a complicated and difficult task for which he offered his life. Shortly after the approval was granted, Fr. Timothy entered into eternal life. Declared blessed by His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II, Father Giaccardo's Feast Day is on October 22.
"In the face of a world in which the faith encounters difficulties and insidious ideas of every kind which threaten the survival of many souls, Timothy Giaccardo, the first disciple of Father Alberione, interpreted fidelity to his own priestly vocation as proclaiming the Gospel through the press, thereby having an even broader and deeper effect on his brothers and sisters. Thus he proposed to spread the Gospel and the Church's teaching through the modern means of social communication, which he saw as the principal and typical apostolate of the modern world. All this was to be in absolute fidelity to the Church's magisterium, in a spiritual life nourished daily through Eucharistic adoration and devotion to Our Lady, in the persuasive meekness which made him so beloved by the entire Pauline Family. Today, seventy-five years after its foundation, this Family finds in him a model in continuing the mission entrusted to it by Father Alberione." (From the homily of His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II during the Beatification Mass)
Timothy Giaccardo was born in Narzole, Italy (in the diocese of Alba), on Saturday, June 13, 1896. On that same day he was baptized and given the names Joseph, Dominic, Vincent, and Anthony. (Timothy was the name he took as a Pauline.)
His whole life was Marian in the full sense of the word. All the decisive signs of his spiritual life--in infancy, in youth, in adulthood--revealed the work of Mary in a manner so effective and evident that Father Giaccardo himself had to recognize that everything had been "begun, nourished and protected" by her.
His parents, farmers, humble but fervent in faith, formed in their son a strong spirit of prayer. "Passing in front of the church of St. Bernard in Narzole, where Our Lady of the Rosary was venerated, [Joseph's mother] never neglected to stop and pray, with the little one in her arms. Gradually she taught him to recite the Hail Mary in front of the image of Mary…"
As he grew older, Joseph had a statue of the Blessed Virgin. There he would place flowers and pray to Mary as his mother had taught him. Along with growth in devotion to Mary, Joseph grew in love for the Eucharist, for the catechism, and for the sacred celebrations of the parish, in which he participated with joy.
Joseph was confirmed on September 12, 1908. Shortly after, having met Father James Alberione (then the assistant pastor of the Narzole parish), Joseph entrusted himself completely to Father Alberione's direction. He entered the seminary of Alba, where he was an example to all in prayer, discipline, study and meekness.
But he was a young man of great interior strength, as well. In 1917, believing that God was calling him to join the newly-formed community of the Society of St. Paul, Giaccardo asked the bishop's permission to enter. He was informed that leaving the seminary to join an as-yet-unapproved society might result in his not being ordained. Accepting that risk, Giaccardo joined the new community. Two years later, he was ordained: the first priest of the new Pauline Family. Father Timothy made his first religious profession of vows in 1920.
From the beginning, Giaccardo stood out as a man of exceptional gifts and aptitutes. To the handful of young men who had also abandoned everything to follow Jesus Master, Blessed Timothy was not only a teacher of theology and religious studies; in a sense, he was their model in spirituality and in the practice of virtue. The name which they affectionately gave him--"Signor Maestro" (Teacher)--remained his for the rest of his life.
In 1926, the Founder entrusted Father Giaccardo with the task of establishing the first house of the Society of St. Paul in Rome. There were serious difficulties to be faced, but these he overcame with a spirit of faith and perseverance that favorably impressed those who knew him. "He gave the clear-cut impression of a man of God: humble, simple, recollected, mortified and very charitable. His profound and continuous spirit of prayer was edifying, and he often united, very well and very politely, his evidently intense interior life with an act of love and delicate religious courtesy" (Cardinal Larraono).
During this time, Giaccardo accepted a number of diverse roles and responsibilities: superior, teacher, confessor, spiritual director and administrator. At the same time, he was also editor of a weekly periodical, "The Voice of Rome," manager of the pressroom work, and vocation director!
Having carried out his demanding assignment in Rome, Blessed Timothy was recalled to Alba to be in charge of the direction of the Motherhouse. It was a delicate office, which included the interpretation of the directives of the Founder and of the Constitutions, and the formation and guidance of all the future members of the Society, as well as the members of the other Congregations of the Pauline Family.
Though somewhat reserved and introverted by nature, Blessed Timothy calmly accepted tasks that might have seemed overwhelming, beyond this "human" capabilities.
Father Giaccardo's prayer was vital, feeding his spirit with an unquenchable enthusiasm for cooperating with the will of God--especially as it was expressed in the dispositions of the Founder. In all matters, he was Father Alberione's most trusted collaborator. The Founder himself attributed to Father Timothy the distinct title, "most faithful of the faithful."
"There is no one," said Father Alberione, "who shares my sentiments and my soul as well as he does."
In 1946 Father Giaccardo was recalled to Rome to be appointed Provincial Superior for the Society of St. Paul in Italy, as well as Vicar General of the congregation.
This was certainly the case regarding the establishment of the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master. In 1928, the Founder had set apart several Daughters of St. Paul to form the nucleus of a new community, one dedicated solely to contemplation and the liturgical apostolate. Both Father Alberione and Father Giaccardo realized the importance of contemplative prayer to support and enliven the various works of the Congregations that make up the Pauline Family. However, the Holy See advised that no separation from the Daughters of St. Paul would be allowed. The Founder ordered his vicar general, Father Timothy, to assume communication with the Holy See. Father Giaccardo's "mission" called for a good deal of sensitivity and tact, as he delicately set about the task of "helping" the Holy See change its mind. He was successful, and approbation of the community came on January 12, 1948.
Father Giaccardo had made an offering of his life for that intention, and it was evidently received: when he heard the news, he was bedridden with acute leukemia. Nevertheless, Father Giaccardo insisted on celebrating a Mass of thanksgiving with the members of the new Congregation. He collapsed during the Liturgy and died twelve days later. It was the feast day of his patron, St. Timothy, the faithful companion, collaborator and friend of St. Paul.
On May 9, 1985, His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II declared Father Timothy Giaccardo "venerable." Four years later, papal confirmation was given of the miracle attributed to his intercession. Sister Maria Luciana Lazzarini, a Sister Disciple of the Divine Master stationed in Japan, had been dying of "bilateral pulmonary tuberculosis." In July, 1954, at the end of a novena made to Father Giaccardo, she was completely and instantaneously cured. Later, the head physician of the sanatorium converted to Catholicism.
As the first beatified member of the Pauline Family, Father Timothy Giaccardo is outstanding also as the first modern-day apostle whose life was consecrated for the explicit purpose of evangelization with the media. His life is witness to the fruitfulness of contemplation joined with action--a call to fullest union with the Master.
"To merit a beautiful paradise, let us give everything to God: the body and its strength, the mind with faith, the will with confidence, and the heart with charity. Each of us should belong totally to God, always, everywhere, in everything--awaiting the reward which will surpass all imagination."
Opening Prayer from the Mass of Blessed Timothy Giaccardo
God our Father,
you sustained the life and apostolic work
of Blessed Timothy, priest,
with your radiant Word
and strength-giving Eucharist.
By the help of his prayers,
may the instruments of social communication
be used rightfully in promoting the good
in the Church and in the world
and help effectively in spreading the Gospel everywhere.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Night Between the Centuries | An Instrument of God--Alberione
The Woman Who Made It Happen--Mother Thecla | Beloved by All--Blessed Timothy Pauline Family
Blessed Timothy Giaccardo
Timothy Giaccardo was born in Narzole, Italy, on June 13, 1896. Soon after his confirmation in 1908 he met Fr. James Alberione. Trusting in the spiritual direction he received from Alberione, he entered the seminary of Alba and then, in 1917, joined the newly-formed Society of St. Paul, soon becoming the first to be ordained in the new congregation.
His love for the Blessed Mother; his prayerfulness, gentleness, and humility; his strong self-discipline, great faith, and ability to overcome very difficult circumstances enabled him to collaborate with Fr. Alberione so effectively that Alberione was moved to call him "most faithful of the faithful."
With untiring perseverance, Father Giaccardo worked for the ecclesial approval of the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, a complicated and difficult task for which he offered his life. Shortly after the approval was granted, Fr. Timothy entered into eternal life. Declared blessed by His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II, Father Giaccardo's Feast Day is on October 22.
"In the face of a world in which the faith encounters difficulties and insidious ideas of every kind which threaten the survival of many souls, Timothy Giaccardo, the first disciple of Father Alberione, interpreted fidelity to his own priestly vocation as proclaiming the Gospel through the press, thereby having an even broader and deeper effect on his brothers and sisters. Thus he proposed to spread the Gospel and the Church's teaching through the modern means of social communication, which he saw as the principal and typical apostolate of the modern world. All this was to be in absolute fidelity to the Church's magisterium, in a spiritual life nourished daily through Eucharistic adoration and devotion to Our Lady, in the persuasive meekness which made him so beloved by the entire Pauline Family. Today, seventy-five years after its foundation, this Family finds in him a model in continuing the mission entrusted to it by Father Alberione." (From the homily of His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II during the Beatification Mass)
Timothy Giaccardo was born in Narzole, Italy (in the diocese of Alba), on Saturday, June 13, 1896. On that same day he was baptized and given the names Joseph, Dominic, Vincent, and Anthony. (Timothy was the name he took as a Pauline.)
His whole life was Marian in the full sense of the word. All the decisive signs of his spiritual life--in infancy, in youth, in adulthood--revealed the work of Mary in a manner so effective and evident that Father Giaccardo himself had to recognize that everything had been "begun, nourished and protected" by her.
His parents, farmers, humble but fervent in faith, formed in their son a strong spirit of prayer. "Passing in front of the church of St. Bernard in Narzole, where Our Lady of the Rosary was venerated, [Joseph's mother] never neglected to stop and pray, with the little one in her arms. Gradually she taught him to recite the Hail Mary in front of the image of Mary…"
As he grew older, Joseph had a statue of the Blessed Virgin. There he would place flowers and pray to Mary as his mother had taught him. Along with growth in devotion to Mary, Joseph grew in love for the Eucharist, for the catechism, and for the sacred celebrations of the parish, in which he participated with joy.
Joseph was confirmed on September 12, 1908. Shortly after, having met Father James Alberione (then the assistant pastor of the Narzole parish), Joseph entrusted himself completely to Father Alberione's direction. He entered the seminary of Alba, where he was an example to all in prayer, discipline, study and meekness.
But he was a young man of great interior strength, as well. In 1917, believing that God was calling him to join the newly-formed community of the Society of St. Paul, Giaccardo asked the bishop's permission to enter. He was informed that leaving the seminary to join an as-yet-unapproved society might result in his not being ordained. Accepting that risk, Giaccardo joined the new community. Two years later, he was ordained: the first priest of the new Pauline Family. Father Timothy made his first religious profession of vows in 1920.
From the beginning, Giaccardo stood out as a man of exceptional gifts and aptitutes. To the handful of young men who had also abandoned everything to follow Jesus Master, Blessed Timothy was not only a teacher of theology and religious studies; in a sense, he was their model in spirituality and in the practice of virtue. The name which they affectionately gave him--"Signor Maestro" (Teacher)--remained his for the rest of his life.
In 1926, the Founder entrusted Father Giaccardo with the task of establishing the first house of the Society of St. Paul in Rome. There were serious difficulties to be faced, but these he overcame with a spirit of faith and perseverance that favorably impressed those who knew him. "He gave the clear-cut impression of a man of God: humble, simple, recollected, mortified and very charitable. His profound and continuous spirit of prayer was edifying, and he often united, very well and very politely, his evidently intense interior life with an act of love and delicate religious courtesy" (Cardinal Larraono).
During this time, Giaccardo accepted a number of diverse roles and responsibilities: superior, teacher, confessor, spiritual director and administrator. At the same time, he was also editor of a weekly periodical, "The Voice of Rome," manager of the pressroom work, and vocation director!
Having carried out his demanding assignment in Rome, Blessed Timothy was recalled to Alba to be in charge of the direction of the Motherhouse. It was a delicate office, which included the interpretation of the directives of the Founder and of the Constitutions, and the formation and guidance of all the future members of the Society, as well as the members of the other Congregations of the Pauline Family.
Though somewhat reserved and introverted by nature, Blessed Timothy calmly accepted tasks that might have seemed overwhelming, beyond this "human" capabilities.
Father Giaccardo's prayer was vital, feeding his spirit with an unquenchable enthusiasm for cooperating with the will of God--especially as it was expressed in the dispositions of the Founder. In all matters, he was Father Alberione's most trusted collaborator. The Founder himself attributed to Father Timothy the distinct title, "most faithful of the faithful."
"There is no one," said Father Alberione, "who shares my sentiments and my soul as well as he does."
In 1946 Father Giaccardo was recalled to Rome to be appointed Provincial Superior for the Society of St. Paul in Italy, as well as Vicar General of the congregation.
This was certainly the case regarding the establishment of the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master. In 1928, the Founder had set apart several Daughters of St. Paul to form the nucleus of a new community, one dedicated solely to contemplation and the liturgical apostolate. Both Father Alberione and Father Giaccardo realized the importance of contemplative prayer to support and enliven the various works of the Congregations that make up the Pauline Family. However, the Holy See advised that no separation from the Daughters of St. Paul would be allowed. The Founder ordered his vicar general, Father Timothy, to assume communication with the Holy See. Father Giaccardo's "mission" called for a good deal of sensitivity and tact, as he delicately set about the task of "helping" the Holy See change its mind. He was successful, and approbation of the community came on January 12, 1948.
Father Giaccardo had made an offering of his life for that intention, and it was evidently received: when he heard the news, he was bedridden with acute leukemia. Nevertheless, Father Giaccardo insisted on celebrating a Mass of thanksgiving with the members of the new Congregation. He collapsed during the Liturgy and died twelve days later. It was the feast day of his patron, St. Timothy, the faithful companion, collaborator and friend of St. Paul.
On May 9, 1985, His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II declared Father Timothy Giaccardo "venerable." Four years later, papal confirmation was given of the miracle attributed to his intercession. Sister Maria Luciana Lazzarini, a Sister Disciple of the Divine Master stationed in Japan, had been dying of "bilateral pulmonary tuberculosis." In July, 1954, at the end of a novena made to Father Giaccardo, she was completely and instantaneously cured. Later, the head physician of the sanatorium converted to Catholicism.
As the first beatified member of the Pauline Family, Father Timothy Giaccardo is outstanding also as the first modern-day apostle whose life was consecrated for the explicit purpose of evangelization with the media. His life is witness to the fruitfulness of contemplation joined with action--a call to fullest union with the Master.
"To merit a beautiful paradise, let us give everything to God: the body and its strength, the mind with faith, the will with confidence, and the heart with charity. Each of us should belong totally to God, always, everywhere, in everything--awaiting the reward which will surpass all imagination."
Opening Prayer from the Mass of Blessed Timothy Giaccardo
God our Father,
you sustained the life and apostolic work
of Blessed Timothy, priest,
with your radiant Word
and strength-giving Eucharist.
By the help of his prayers,
may the instruments of social communication
be used rightfully in promoting the good
in the Church and in the world
and help effectively in spreading the Gospel everywhere.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Night Between the Centuries | An Instrument of God--Alberione
The Woman Who Made It Happen--Mother Thecla | Beloved by All--Blessed Timothy Pauline Family
Timothy Giaccardo was born in Narzole, Italy, on June 13, 1896. Soon after his confirmation in 1908 he met Fr. James Alberione. Trusting in the spiritual direction he received from Alberione, he entered the seminary of Alba and then, in 1917, joined the newly-formed Society of St. Paul, soon becoming the first to be ordained in the new congregation.
His love for the Blessed Mother; his prayerfulness, gentleness, and humility; his strong self-discipline, great faith, and ability to overcome very difficult circumstances enabled him to collaborate with Fr. Alberione so effectively that Alberione was moved to call him "most faithful of the faithful."
With untiring perseverance, Father Giaccardo worked for the ecclesial approval of the Pious Disciples of the Divine Master, a complicated and difficult task for which he offered his life. Shortly after the approval was granted, Fr. Timothy entered into eternal life. Declared blessed by His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II, Father Giaccardo's Feast Day is on October 22.
"In the face of a world in which the faith encounters difficulties and insidious ideas of every kind which threaten the survival of many souls, Timothy Giaccardo, the first disciple of Father Alberione, interpreted fidelity to his own priestly vocation as proclaiming the Gospel through the press, thereby having an even broader and deeper effect on his brothers and sisters. Thus he proposed to spread the Gospel and the Church's teaching through the modern means of social communication, which he saw as the principal and typical apostolate of the modern world. All this was to be in absolute fidelity to the Church's magisterium, in a spiritual life nourished daily through Eucharistic adoration and devotion to Our Lady, in the persuasive meekness which made him so beloved by the entire Pauline Family. Today, seventy-five years after its foundation, this Family finds in him a model in continuing the mission entrusted to it by Father Alberione." (From the homily of His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II during the Beatification Mass)
Timothy Giaccardo was born in Narzole, Italy (in the diocese of Alba), on Saturday, June 13, 1896. On that same day he was baptized and given the names Joseph, Dominic, Vincent, and Anthony. (Timothy was the name he took as a Pauline.)
His whole life was Marian in the full sense of the word. All the decisive signs of his spiritual life--in infancy, in youth, in adulthood--revealed the work of Mary in a manner so effective and evident that Father Giaccardo himself had to recognize that everything had been "begun, nourished and protected" by her.
His parents, farmers, humble but fervent in faith, formed in their son a strong spirit of prayer. "Passing in front of the church of St. Bernard in Narzole, where Our Lady of the Rosary was venerated, [Joseph's mother] never neglected to stop and pray, with the little one in her arms. Gradually she taught him to recite the Hail Mary in front of the image of Mary…"
As he grew older, Joseph had a statue of the Blessed Virgin. There he would place flowers and pray to Mary as his mother had taught him. Along with growth in devotion to Mary, Joseph grew in love for the Eucharist, for the catechism, and for the sacred celebrations of the parish, in which he participated with joy.
Joseph was confirmed on September 12, 1908. Shortly after, having met Father James Alberione (then the assistant pastor of the Narzole parish), Joseph entrusted himself completely to Father Alberione's direction. He entered the seminary of Alba, where he was an example to all in prayer, discipline, study and meekness.
But he was a young man of great interior strength, as well. In 1917, believing that God was calling him to join the newly-formed community of the Society of St. Paul, Giaccardo asked the bishop's permission to enter. He was informed that leaving the seminary to join an as-yet-unapproved society might result in his not being ordained. Accepting that risk, Giaccardo joined the new community. Two years later, he was ordained: the first priest of the new Pauline Family. Father Timothy made his first religious profession of vows in 1920.
From the beginning, Giaccardo stood out as a man of exceptional gifts and aptitutes. To the handful of young men who had also abandoned everything to follow Jesus Master, Blessed Timothy was not only a teacher of theology and religious studies; in a sense, he was their model in spirituality and in the practice of virtue. The name which they affectionately gave him--"Signor Maestro" (Teacher)--remained his for the rest of his life.
In 1926, the Founder entrusted Father Giaccardo with the task of establishing the first house of the Society of St. Paul in Rome. There were serious difficulties to be faced, but these he overcame with a spirit of faith and perseverance that favorably impressed those who knew him. "He gave the clear-cut impression of a man of God: humble, simple, recollected, mortified and very charitable. His profound and continuous spirit of prayer was edifying, and he often united, very well and very politely, his evidently intense interior life with an act of love and delicate religious courtesy" (Cardinal Larraono).
During this time, Giaccardo accepted a number of diverse roles and responsibilities: superior, teacher, confessor, spiritual director and administrator. At the same time, he was also editor of a weekly periodical, "The Voice of Rome," manager of the pressroom work, and vocation director!
Having carried out his demanding assignment in Rome, Blessed Timothy was recalled to Alba to be in charge of the direction of the Motherhouse. It was a delicate office, which included the interpretation of the directives of the Founder and of the Constitutions, and the formation and guidance of all the future members of the Society, as well as the members of the other Congregations of the Pauline Family.
Though somewhat reserved and introverted by nature, Blessed Timothy calmly accepted tasks that might have seemed overwhelming, beyond this "human" capabilities.
Father Giaccardo's prayer was vital, feeding his spirit with an unquenchable enthusiasm for cooperating with the will of God--especially as it was expressed in the dispositions of the Founder. In all matters, he was Father Alberione's most trusted collaborator. The Founder himself attributed to Father Timothy the distinct title, "most faithful of the faithful."
"There is no one," said Father Alberione, "who shares my sentiments and my soul as well as he does."
In 1946 Father Giaccardo was recalled to Rome to be appointed Provincial Superior for the Society of St. Paul in Italy, as well as Vicar General of the congregation.
This was certainly the case regarding the establishment of the Sister Disciples of the Divine Master. In 1928, the Founder had set apart several Daughters of St. Paul to form the nucleus of a new community, one dedicated solely to contemplation and the liturgical apostolate. Both Father Alberione and Father Giaccardo realized the importance of contemplative prayer to support and enliven the various works of the Congregations that make up the Pauline Family. However, the Holy See advised that no separation from the Daughters of St. Paul would be allowed. The Founder ordered his vicar general, Father Timothy, to assume communication with the Holy See. Father Giaccardo's "mission" called for a good deal of sensitivity and tact, as he delicately set about the task of "helping" the Holy See change its mind. He was successful, and approbation of the community came on January 12, 1948.
Father Giaccardo had made an offering of his life for that intention, and it was evidently received: when he heard the news, he was bedridden with acute leukemia. Nevertheless, Father Giaccardo insisted on celebrating a Mass of thanksgiving with the members of the new Congregation. He collapsed during the Liturgy and died twelve days later. It was the feast day of his patron, St. Timothy, the faithful companion, collaborator and friend of St. Paul.
On May 9, 1985, His Holiness Pope Saint John Paul II declared Father Timothy Giaccardo "venerable." Four years later, papal confirmation was given of the miracle attributed to his intercession. Sister Maria Luciana Lazzarini, a Sister Disciple of the Divine Master stationed in Japan, had been dying of "bilateral pulmonary tuberculosis." In July, 1954, at the end of a novena made to Father Giaccardo, she was completely and instantaneously cured. Later, the head physician of the sanatorium converted to Catholicism.
As the first beatified member of the Pauline Family, Father Timothy Giaccardo is outstanding also as the first modern-day apostle whose life was consecrated for the explicit purpose of evangelization with the media. His life is witness to the fruitfulness of contemplation joined with action--a call to fullest union with the Master.
"To merit a beautiful paradise, let us give everything to God: the body and its strength, the mind with faith, the will with confidence, and the heart with charity. Each of us should belong totally to God, always, everywhere, in everything--awaiting the reward which will surpass all imagination."
Opening Prayer from the Mass of Blessed Timothy Giaccardo
God our Father,
you sustained the life and apostolic work
of Blessed Timothy, priest,
with your radiant Word
and strength-giving Eucharist.
By the help of his prayers,
may the instruments of social communication
be used rightfully in promoting the good
in the Church and in the world
and help effectively in spreading the Gospel everywhere.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Night Between the Centuries | An Instrument of God--Alberione
The Woman Who Made It Happen--Mother Thecla | Beloved by All--Blessed Timothy Pauline Family
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