The canonization of Giuseppe Allamano is an opportunity to “enhance the deeper meaning of our being Consolata missionaries”
By Jaime C. Patias *
“Blessed are the people chosen by the Lord”. Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, IMC, Starting from the refrain of Psalm 32 proposed by the liturgy of the day of Saturday 31 August, in his homily at the General House in Rome, reflected on the short time that separates us from the canonization of Blessed Joseph Allamano, next 20 October 2024.
The Cardinal and Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) was in Rome to participate in the Plenary of the Dicastery for Evangelization which included an audience with Pope Francis.
The cardinal emphasized in his homily: “Blessed am I, blessed are we, to be children of Saint Joseph Allamano”. Reflecting on the parable of the talents in the Gospel (Mt 25:14-30), he asked a few questions: “If Allamano were here with us today, what would he say? How would he see our institutes? Would he consider us among those who have made this grace of being a Consolata missionary, that he lived in the Church, bear fruit? Have we made it bear fruit or have we hidden it? Have we dug a hole and buried it there? This question may accompany us in this period of preparation.”
Mons. Marengo furthering the subject of the Blessed Allamano’s canonization, invited the assembly to “enter into the profound, most authentic meaning of this event so that we too, as Saint Paul exhorted in the first reading (1Cor 1,26-31), may take pride in the Lord. This sacred pride – the cardinal explained – which has nothing to do with whatever is human or worldly, is God’s initiative who chooses nothingness, which is us, to make his plan of salvation come true”.
Rediscovering the beauty of our vocation
The Cardinal concluded: “We may continue this Eucharist celebration with a sense of great and profound gratitude and the desire, in these few weeks that separate us from the canonization, to deepen the profound meaning of our being Consolata missionaries as the Founder wished us to be. To love as he loved, to use material goods as he used them, to rediscover the beauty of our vocation to make it bear fruit. This is what we ask for in this Eucharist. We entrust this desire of ours to Our Lady Consolata”.
Monsignor Giorgio Marengo, born on June 7, 1974 in Cuneo (Italy), is the first cardinal of the Consolata Missionaries; he is the youngest cardinal of the College of Cardinals. From 1993 to 1995 he studied Philosophy at the Theological Faculty of Northern Italy, and from 1995 to 1998 Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. In 2006 he obtained a Licentiate and a Doctorate in Missiology. He was ordained priest on May 26, 2001 in Turin, and he has been in Mongolia since 2003. On April 2, 2020 he was appointed Apostolic Prefect of Ulaanbaatar, and on August 8 of the same year he was consacrated bishop. In the Consistory of August 27, 2022, Pope Francis appointed him cardinal, at the age of 48.
* Father Jaime C. Patias, IMC, Communications Secretariat.
