St. Joseph Cafasso - Priest: The Man of God (with Supplemental Reading: Confession: Its Fruitful Practice) [Illustrated]

DEDICATED BY THE TRANSLATOR AND HIS BROTHER
TO THE MEMORY
OF THEIR DEAR PARENTS.

Nihil Obstat: Jacobus Mitchell
Censor Deputatus

Imprimatur: Michael Browne
Episcopus Galviensis

The translation copyright 1971 by TAN Books, an Imprint of Saint Benedict Press, LLC.

Originally published by Radio Replies Press, Inc., St. Paul, Minnesota

Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 79-112472

ISBN: 978-0-89555-164-1

Printed and bound in the United States of America

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
2012

The English translation of this work by S. Joseph Cafasso, The Priest the Man of God: His Dignity and His Duties , which we now present to the public is intended as a companion volume to The Sacred Heart and the Priesthood published by us in 1947. Both books treat of the same subject: The dignity of the priest, his duties and the virtues with which he should be adorned, and each book throws light on the other.

The two panegyrics of St. Joseph Cafasso by St. John Bosco under the title, A Saint speaks for another Saint , recently published by us are intended as an introduction to the present volume.

Readers who may wish to have a fuller account in English of the life and work of St. Joseph Cafasso will find it in Walk while you have Light: The story of St. Joseph Cafasso, the Priests Priest , published by the Grail last year. Two other volumes of the Saints sermons remain for publication: the first is The Spiritual Exercises for Priests , the second, The Spiritual Exercises for the Laity . English translation of these two volumes are in preparation and will be published as soon as possible.

Our thanks are due to the Consolata Fathers of Fatima who kindly lent us the 1925, 1947 and 1955 Italian editions of this book, all of which have been consulted. They also lent us the two volume life of the Saint by Fr. Luigi Nicholis de Robilant from which the short account of the Saint given as introduction to this volume was complied.

PATRICK OCONNELL
8th September, 1958

Preface to the first edition of the Conferences of St. Joseph Cafasso to the clergy by his nephew Canon Allamano, Founder of the Missionary Institute of Consolata .

On the 23rd June 1860, Don Joseph Cafasso, Rector of the Ecclesiastical College for Priests and Prefect of Conference on Moral Theology, died in the odor of sanctity. Taken away at the early age of forty-nine, his sacerdotal career, judged by earthly standards, was of short duration, but, judged by the amount of work accomplished, it was long and fertile. By his prodigious activity, in a short time, he accomplished such a vast amount of work, and the luminous example of the virtues of his sacerdotal ministry has left such a profound impression, that even today all who have known him are filled with wonder, and his name resounds and is blessed not only in Turin but in all Piedmont.

More precise information about his heroic labors and eminent virtues will be found in a book now in preparation and soon to be published (The work in two vols. by Fr. Luigi Nicholis de Robilant). In this book will be found a detailed account of his many-sided labors: of his work as professor of moral and pastoral theology to the young priests; of his frequent courses of spiritual exercises to the clergy; of the exercise of the priestly ministry in the confessional, by the bedside of the dying, in the prisons and even on the scaffold for those condemned to death. An account also will be found in the beneficent and salutary influence he exercised over the Piedmont clergy in most difficult times; of the part he played in the foundation of the many charitable institutions of Turin of his time; and above all of his eminent virtues and supernatural gifts which merited for him from his contemporaries the title of Model of Priests.

Not the least proof of the extraordinary activity, thanks to which in a few years he did so much good, are the numerous manuscripts of moral theology and sermons. Among the latter are several courses of Meditations and Instructions for the Spiritual Exercises of the Clergy which he preached for many consecutive years in the Sanctuary of St. Ignatius at Lanzo.

These conferences, being now deprived of the heat and life which they received from the voice and gestures of the sacred orator, appear but a pallid image of those memorable Meditations which, according to our celebrated Canon Giordano, moved profoundly the coldest hearts and left an indelible impression on those who heard them even once. Nevertheless, as they are the fruit of long meditation and display an accurate and profound judgment, they will always remain remarkable for their wealth of ideas and fullness of treatment, for the soundness and precision of moral teaching and, much more, for the practical observations and applications, so original and appropriate that they penetrate to the very depths of the heart and touch its most intimate fibers.

All this is expressed with a simplicity, warmth and unction that reveal a most pious soul and heart inflamed with zeal for the sanctification of souls. But although in literary form they may be somewhat deficient and would require retouching and correction, I did not think that such should be done lest the charm that was proper to the servant of God in both speaking and writing should be obscured.

I am confident that the presentation of this course of Meditations, which will be followed by the corresponding Instructions to my venerable colleagues in the priesthood, will be both pleasing and useful; and that it will be able to cooperate in some way in the good done by my venerable uncle and predecessor in his providential and beneficial Mission to the Clergy.

Turin, 20th June 1892.

Canon Joseph Allamano,

Rector of the Ecclesiastical College of Consolata.

The little book recently published by us entitled A Saint speaks for another Saint giving an account of the life and work of St. Joseph Cafasso by St. John Bosco was intended as an introduction to the volumes we are now publishing. We recommend that this little book or the larger life of our Saint entitled Walk while you have Light , published by the Grail, be procured and read to make the reader acquainted with the author of these conferences.

For the benefit of those who may not be able to procure either of these books, we give here the following brief account of the life and work of the Saint.

He was born on the 15th January, 1811 at Castelnuovo dAsti, now Castelnuovo Don Bosco, in the Province of Piedmont about twenty miles from Turin. He had as contemporaries two other Saints who, like him, exercised their apostolate in the city of Turin: St. Joseph Cotelengo, who was twenty-five years his senior, and St. John Bosco, who was only a little more than three years his junior. St. Joseph Cotelengo was the founder of the famous hospital at Turin, which has now ten thousand inmates and has existed for over a century, without bank account or funds, depending on Divine Providence alone.

Joseph Cafasso was the third child of a family of four. His parents, who were remarkable for their charity to the poor, were small farmers who had to supplement their scanty income by working on neighboring farms. Joseph was a saint from his infancy; his sanctity was the result of victories gained over himself and it increased with his years. Even in his childhood he had certain days set apart for mortification, and he fasted every Saturday in honor of Our Blessed Lady. From childhood he attended daily Mass which he served with joy when permitted, and was a model of devotion. He was gifted with a keen intellect and a good memory, and was first in his class at school. He never lost a moment, he even took a short cut to the school and studied his lessons on the way. He appeared to be aware that his life was to be a short one, and that it would not be long enough for the work for God he hoped to accomplish. By his strong character based on humility, and his determination never to offend God, no matter what humiliation it might cost him, he gained an ascendancy over the other pupils and even over people older than himself.