Feast of All Saints and the Divine Will
From the Writings of
The Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta
The Little Daughter of the Divine Will
Volume 10 – October 17, 1911
It seems that my most sweet Jesus came for a little longer than usual. It seemed He was wearing the crown of thorns, and I, removing it from Him, drove it into my head; but after a little while, in looking at Jesus, I saw Him crowned with thorns again. And Jesus: “See my daughter, how they offend Me: you removed one from Me, and they have woven another. They never leave Me free – they weave Me crowns of thorns continuously.”
And I removed it again from Him, and Jesus, pleased, drew near my mouth and poured a little bit of a most sweet liquor. And I: :Jesus, what are You doing? You are full of bitternesses, and You pour sweetnesses into me? This is not appropriate.”
And Jesus: “Let Me do it – you too needed to be cheered. Even more, I want you to take some rest inside My Heart.”
Oh! How comfortable it was! Then He put me out, and I: ‘Why did You put me out? I was so comfortable in your Heart – how beautiful It was!’
And Jesus: “When I keep you inside of Me I alone enjoy you; when I put you out everyone enjoys you, and you can take the defense of your brothers, you can plead for them, you can have them spared; so much so, that the Saints say that I (Jesus) content you (Luisa) more than them, and that I take more taste from your love than from theirs. And I say to them that I do this with love and with justice, because with you I can share My pains, but not with them. Since you (Luisa) are a pilgrim soul, you can take the pains of others as well as Mine (Jesus) upon yourself, and by this you have the strength to disarm Me – unless I did not want to, like last night, when I bound your arms very tightly so that you might not oppose My Will. But they no longer have these weapons in their power, so much so, that if I have to chastise, I hide from you who can come up with something – but not from them.”
And I: ‘Certainly, certainly, O Jesus, You must take more contentment from my love than from theirs, because theirs is the love of the Blessed – they see You, they enjoy You continuously, and are absorbed within Your Most Holy and Divine Will. They are completely dissolved in You; how great can their love really be, since they receive continuous life from You… But I, poor one – Your privations alone give me continuous death.’
And Jesus: “Poor daughter of Mine, you are right.”
Volume 12 – April 15, 1919
. . . Now, My Resurrection is the symbol of the souls who will form their Sanctity in My Will. The Saints of the past centuries symbolize my Humanity. Although resigned, they did not have continuous act in My Will; therefore, they did not receive the mark of the Sun of My Resurrection, but the mark of the works of My Humanity before My Resurrection. Therefore, they will be many; almost like stars, they will form a beautiful ornament to the Heaven of my Humanity. But the Saints of the living in My Will, who will symbolize my Resurrected Humanity, will be few. In fact, many throngs and crowds of people saw My Humanity, but few saw My Resurrected Humanity – only the believers, those who were most disposed, and, I could say, only those who contained the seed of My Will. In fact, if they did not have that seed, they would have lacked the necessary sight to be able to see My Resurrected and glorious Humanity, and therefore be spectators of My ascent into Heaven.
Now, if My Resurrection symbolizes the Saints of the living in My Will – and this with reason, since each act, word, step, etc. done in My Will is a Divine resurrection that the soul receives; it is a mark of glory that she receives; it is to go out of herself in order to enter the Divinity, and to love, work and think, hiding herself in the refulgent Sun of My Volition – what is the wonder, if the soul remains fully risen and identified with the very Sun of My Glory, and symbolizes My Resurrected Humanity? But few are those who dispose themselves to this, because even in sanctity, souls want something for their own good; while the Sanctity of living in My Will has nothing of its own – everything is of God. It takes too much for souls to dispose themselves to this – to strip themselves of their own goods. Therefore, they will not be many.
You (Luisa) are not in the number of the many, but of the few. Therefore, be always attentive to the call, and to your continuous flight.”
Volume 14 – October 6, 1922
. . . And Jesus: “Listen, My daughter (Luisa), My Wisdom has means and ways which man ignores, such that he is obliged to lower his forehead and adore It in mute silence; and it is not up to him to dictate the laws to Me (God): whom I should choose and the appropriate time – which My Goodness disposes. Besides, first I had to form the Saints, who were to resemble Me and copy my Humanity in a more perfect way, as much as is possible for them; and this I have already done. Now My Goodness wants to move further, and wants to give in greater excesses of love; and therefore I (Jesus) want them (souls) to enter into My Humanity and copy what the soul of My Humanity did in the Divine Will. If the first ones cooperated with My Redemption in order to save souls, to teach the Law, to cast away sin, being limited within the centuries in which they lived, the second ones will go beyond, copying what the soul of My Humanity did in the Divine Will. They will embrace all centuries, all creatures, and rising above all, will place in force the rights of Creation which are due to Me, and which concern all creatures, bringing all things to the prime origin of Creation and to the purpose for which Creation was delivered. Everything is ordered in Me: if I delivered Creation, It must return to Me ordered, just as It came out from my hands. . . .
Volume 19 – June 15, 1926
. . . Then, all love, He (Jesus) told me (Luisa): “My daughter (Luisa), I (Jesus) love so much the acts done in My Will, that I Myself take on the commitment to keep them in custody in the unity of My Supreme Light, in such a way as to render them inseparable from Me and from My own acts. If you knew how jealous I am of these acts, how they glorify Me in a wholly Divine way…. It can be said that each of these acts (done in the Divine Will) is a new feast that starts in the whole Creation and in the whole Celestial Fatherland. Flowing in My Will like ray of light, these acts bring new joys, feasts and happinesses wherever My Will is. These acts are the joys, the feast and the happiness that the creature forms in the Will of her Creator. And do you think it is trivial that the creature can form and bring feast, joy and happiness to her Creator and wherever Our Will reigns?
The same happened with my Queen Mama. As She (Blessed Mother, Queen of All Saints) always operated in the Unity of the Light of the Supreme Will, all of Her acts, Her office of Mother, Her rights of Queen remained inseparable from Her Creator; so much so, that when the Divinity unleashes the acts of beatitude to make the whole Celestial Fatherland happy, It unleashes with them all the acts of the Celestial Mama. So, all the Saints feel invested, not only with Our (God’s) joys and beatitudes, but also with the maternal love of their Mother (Blessed Mother), with the glory of their Queen, and with all of Her acts converted into joys for the whole Celestial Jerusalem. Every fiber of Her maternal Heart loves all the children of the Celestial Fatherland with love of Mother, and She shares Her joys of Mother and Her glory of Queen with everyone. So, on earth She was Mother of love and of sorrow for Her children, who cost Her so much, as much as the Life of Her Son God, and by virtue of the unity of the light of the Supreme Will which She possessed, Her acts remained inseparable from Ours; while in Heaven She is Mother of love, of joys and of glory for all of Her celestial children; so, all the Saints have greater love, more glory and more joys, by virtue of their Mother and Sovereign Queen. Therefore, I love so much one who lives in My Will, that I lower Myself to her, to do what she does together with her, to raise her up to the bosom of the Eternal One, to render her act one with her Creator.” . . .
All Saints
Many of the greatest Saints of both the old and new Testaments are referred to in Luisa’s life and writings. Each of these Saints is known in particular for one or more heroic virtues that identify and make them unique from other Saints. Luisa possessed all their virtues to an exceeding degree being surpassed only by the Blessed Virgin Mary, and our Lord Jesus. Luisa does share with them the greatest of all gifts—the living in the Divine Will. Luisa did not have the gift of the Immaculate Conception, only Adam and Eve prior to their fall shared this with Our Blessed Mother. However they both fell, while Our Blessed Mother remains always and forever Immaculate. The following is a brief list of Saints related to Luisa’s life and writings
Volume 1
Sometimes, He Himself (Jesus) would make me the narration of the pains suffered by Him, and I was so touched that I would cry bitterly. One day, while working, I was considering the most bitter pains that my good Jesus suffered; I felt my heart so oppressed by the pain, that I could not breathe. Fearing something, I wanted to distract myself by going out to the balcony. But as I go about looking in the middle of the street – what do I see? I see the street all filled with people, and in the middle of it my loving Jesus with the Cross upon His shoulders. Some pulled Him to one side, some to another. All panting, with His face dripping with blood, He raised His eyes toward me in the act of asking for help. Who can tell the sorrow I felt, and the impression that a scene so pitiful made on my soul. I immediately went inside, I myself did not know where I was; I felt my heart crack with pain. I shouted, and crying, I said to Him: ‘My Jesus, if only I could help You! If only I could free You from those wolves so rabid! Ah! I wish at least to suffer those pains in your place, to give a relief to my sorrow. O please! my Good, give me suffering, for it is not fair that You suffer so much, while I, a sinner, remain without suffering.’
Saint Francis of Assisi – Feast Day October 4th, Patron Saint of Creation (Nature and Animals) – Of all the Saints of both the new and old testaments our precious Lord in just a few words gave the highest honors to King David of the Old Testament and our beloved Saint Francis of the New Testament. As for Luisa He gives even a higher honor comparing her to His Mother:
Volume 17 – April 15, 1925
…Furthermore, of David it was said that he was an image of Me, so much so, that all of his psalms reveal my person; of Saint Francis of Assisi, that he was a faithful copy of Me. It is said in the Holy Gospel: ‘Be perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect’ – no less; it is also added that no one will enter the Kingdom of Heaven if he is not similar to the image of the Son of God; and many other things. About all these, no one says that they have been exalted too much, and that these are things not conforming to truths spoken by my very mouth. Only because to you I said that I wanted to compare you to the Virgin – to make you Her faithful copy, I have exalted you too much? So, comparing those to Me was not exalting them, nor did anyone raise any doubt or difficulty; but then, comparing to the Virgin – that’s too much exaltation. This means that they have not understood well the mission of the knowledge of my Will. Indeed, I repeat to you that I not only place you near Her as Her little daughter, on Her maternal lap, that She may guide you, instruct you on how you must imitate Her, to become Her faithful copy by always doing the Divine Will; so that, from Her lap, you may pass onto the lap of the Divinity. In fact, the mission of my Will is eternal, and it is precisely the mission of Our Celestial Father, who wants, commands, expects nothing else but that His Will be known and loved, that It be done on earth as It is in Heaven. So you, making this eternal mission your own and imitating the Celestial Father, must want nothing else for yourself and for all but that my Will be known, loved and fulfilled. And besides, when it is the creature who exalts herself, one should think about it; but when she remains at her place and I exalt her, all is permissible to Me – making one reach wherever I want, and the way I want. Therefore, trust Me and do not be concerned.”
Volume 29 – May 19, 1931
Now, my daughter, listen to me; the most serious doubts, the gravest difficulties that they found in your writings are precisely these: that I told you that I was calling you to live in the Kingdom of my Divine Will, giving you the special and unique mission to make It known, so that, as I Myself said in the ‘Our Father’, and the Holy Church says still now, ‘Thy Kingdom come’ – that is, your Will be done on earth as It is in Heaven. It does not say in the ‘Our Father’ that this Kingdom is on earth, but it says: ‘Come’; and I would not have composed a prayer if I were not to obtain its effects. Therefore, in order to reach this, was I not to elect another woman, whom the infernal serpent so much fears; and as he, by means of the first woman, ruined the human kind to Me, I, to confound him, make use of another woman to make up for the ruin he caused, and make the good which he tried to destroy, arise for all?
Here, then, the necessity of the preparations, of the graces, of my visits and communications. This sounded bad to those who have read; therefore doubts and difficulties – that it cannot be possible that among so many other great Saints, no one has lived in the Kingdom of my Will. So, it is She alone that is preferred to all; and when they have read that I was placing you near the Sovereign Queen, so that, She having lived in the Kingdom of my Divine Fiat, you might imitate Her, wanting to make of you a copy that resembles Her; and I placed you in Her hands, that She might guide you, assist you, protect you, so that you might imitate Her in everything – this seemed so absurd to them; and sinisterly misinterpreting the sense, they spoke as if I had told you that you were as though another Queen. How much nonsense – I did not say that you are like the Celestial Queen, but that I want you similar to Her, just as I have said to many other souls dear to Me that I wanted them similar to Me; but with this they would not become God like Me. And then, since the Celestial Lady is the true Queen of the Kingdom of my Will, it is Her task to help and teach the fortunate creatures who want to enter, to live in It. By this, they show as if I did not have the power to elect whom I want, and when I want. But, after all, time will say everything, and just as they cannot deny that the Virgin of Nazareth is my Mama, so will they not be able to deny that I have elected you for the sole purpose of making my Will known, and that, through you, I will obtain that the ‘Thy Kingdom come’ may have Its fulfillment. It is certain that creatures are an instrument in my hands, and I do not look at who that be, but I look at whether my Divine Will has decided to operate by means of this instrument. And this is enough for Me to fulfill my highest designs; and of the doubts and difficulties of creatures I make use, in due time, to confound them and humiliate them. But I do not stop, and I move forward in the work that I want to do by means of the creature. Therefore, you too – follow Me and do not draw back. Besides, it shows from their way of thinking that they have calculated only your person, but have not calculated what my Divine Will can do, and what It knows how to do, and when It decides to operate in one creature in order to fulfill Its greatest designs in the midst of the human generations, It lets no one dictate to It the law – neither who it must be, nor the time, nor the way, nor the place – but It acts in an absolute way. Nor does it pay heed to certain short minds, which are unable to elevate themselves in the divine and supernatural order, or to bow their forehead to the incomprehensible works of their Creator; and while they want to reason with their own human reason, they lose the divine reason, and remain confounded and incredulous.’
On April 23, 1865, the Feast Day of St. George and the first Sunday after Easter (Divine Mercy Sunday), Luisa Piccarreta was born. Her baptismal name Luisa, after St. Aloysius (St. Luis), means “mighty in warfare.” She was born in the province of Apulia, which is located on the heel of the Italian “boot”—whose heel points to Jerusalem. In Genesis 3:15 God promised to crush the serpent’s head. In 1868, within 3 years after Luisa’s birth, the Church of the “Pater Noster” in Jerusalem was rebuilt for the third time, recalling the only prayer taught by Jesus: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”
St. George—Feast Day April 23rd. He is a Saint in both the Eastern and Latin Rites, was a soldier in the imperial army, and is Patron of England, Portugal, Germany, Aragon, Geona, and Venice. St. George suffered martyrdom at Lydda, Palestine. He was known to the Crusaders as the Christian knight because of the slaying of the dragon. His coat of arms is a red cross on a white background, which became the basis of the uniforms of British soldiers and sailors, and which also appears on the Union Jack.
St. Aloysius Gonzaga—Feast Day June 21st. He is known for his purity and the performance of great austerities and religious practices. St. Aloysius joined the Jesuits in Rome in 1585. He has been declared Protector of young students and Patron of Catholic Youth.
Volume 2 – June 20, 1899
…Afterwards, Heaven opened; it seemed that a very great feast was being prepared. At that very moment a young man of lovely appearance came down from Heaven, all dazzling with fire and flames. Jesus told me: “Tomorrow is the feast of my dear Aloysius – I must go attend.” And I: ‘And so You leave me alone – what shall I do?’ And He: “You too will come. Look at how beautiful Aloysius is; but the greatest thing in him, which distinguished him on earth, was the love with which he operated. Everything was love in him – love occupied him interiorly, love surrounded him externally; so, one can say that even his breath was love. This is why it is said of him that he never suffered distraction – because love inundated him everywhere, and with this love he will be inundated eternally, as you see.”
And in fact it seemed that the love of Saint Aloysius was so very great, as to be able to burn the whole world to ashes. Then, Jesus added: “I stroll over the highest mountains, and there I form my delight.” Since I did not understand the meaning of it, He continued: “The highest mountains are the Saints who have loved Me the most, and in them I form my delight, both when they are on earth, and when they pass into Heaven. So, everything is in love.” After this, I prayed Jesus to bless me and those whom I was seeing at that moment; and He, giving His blessing, disappeared.
Volume 19 – June 21, 1926
This morning, having received Holy Communion, I received It as usual in the Most Holy Will of God, offering It to my dear Saint Aloysius – not only the Communion, but all the goods contained in the Most Holy Will of God, for his accidental glory. Now, while doing this, I saw that all the goods contained in the Supreme Volition, like many rays of light, rays of beauty and of multiple colors, inundated the dear Saint, giving him an infinite glory. And my sweet Jesus, moving in my interior, told me: “My daughter, Aloysius is a flower and a Saint bloomed from the earth of my Humanity and made bright by the reflections of the rays of the Sun of my Will. In fact, though, holy, pure, noble and united hypostatically to the Word, my Humanity was earth; and Aloysius, more than flower, bloomed from my Humanity – pure, holy, noble, possessing the root of pure love, in such a way that in each leaf of his flower one can see written, ‘love’. But what renders him more beautiful and brilliant are the rays of my Will, to which he was always submitted – rays which gave such development to this flower as to render it unique on earth and in Heaven. Now, my daughter, if Aloysius is so beautiful because he bloomed from my Humanity, what will be of you and of all those who will possess the Kingdom of my Will? These flowers will not bloom from my Humanity, but will have their roots within the Sun of my Will. In It is formed the flower of their life; they grow and bloom in the very Sun of my Volition which, jealous of these flowers, will keep them eclipsed within Its own light. In each petal of these flowers one will see, written, all the specialties of the divine qualities; they will be the enchantment of all Heaven, and all will recognize in them the complete work of their Creator.” And while He was saying this, my sweet Jesus opened His breast and showed, inside it, an immense Sun, in which He was to plant all these flowers; and His love and jealousy toward them was so great, that He would not let them bloom outside His Humanity, but inside Himself.
Volume 26 – June 27, 1929
Having received Holy Communion, I was offering It for the glory of Saint Aloysius, and I offered, as a present for him, everything that Our Lord had done in His Divine Will with His mind, with His words, works and steps, for the accidental glory of Saint Aloysius on his feast day. Now, while I was doing this, my sweet Jesus, moving in my interior, told me: “My daughter, a more beautiful present you could not give to dear Saint Aloysius on the day of his feast. As you were offering your Communion and all my acts done in my Divine Will, so many suns were formed for as many acts as I did in It while being on earth; and these suns invested Saint Aloysius, in such a way that he received so much accidental glory from the earth, that he could not receive more. Only the offerings of acts done in my Divine Will have the virtue of forming their suns, because, containing the fullness of light, it is no wonder that It converts into suns the human acts done in It.”
Luisa was born and died in the Diocese of Trani-Nazareth, in the town of Corato, whose name in its original Latin, cor datum, means “a heart given.” This recalls the words of the Prophet Ezekiel:
“A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. You shall dwell in the land which I gave your fathers; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. (Ezekiel 36:27-28)
St. Cathal—Feast Day May 10th. He was known as the shipwrecked Saint. He is Patron of Corato.
Around 685, following the arrival of St. Patrick, holy men established small monasteries throughout Ireland. In the seventh century, a holy man named Cathal, having studied at the University of Lismore, made his way through the pass in the ancient Slieve Cua mountains and arrived at Rathan, where he established his monastic settlement. He was appointed Bishop of the area, even though it should be remembered that in those early years of the Christian Church, this did not mean that he was in charge of a diocese. After some years at Shanrahan, Cathal set out on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. On his return journey, he was shipwrecked off the coast of Southern Italy. There he realized that the people of the area had reverted to paganism, and he resolved to stay among them in an effort to reconvert them to Christianity. Within a few years, the people of Taranto in Southern Italy had selected Saint Cataldo (in Latin, “Cathaldus” or Cataldus”) as their Bishop. Today the popularity of Saint Cathaldus (St. Cathal) in Southern Italy is equal to, if not greater than, the popularity of St. Patrick in Ireland. Over one hundred and fifty Churches are dedicated to him in Italy, and the Cathedral-Basilica in Taranto proudly bears his name. He is the Saint Protector of Corato (Bari), Italy. In 1071, during the reconstruction of the Basilica in Taranto, the tomb of Cathaldus was discovered and opened. With his body was found a gold cross bearing his name and the word “Rathcau.”
Volume 6 – On February 12, 1904
I had neglected to say as much as I knew in writing, but now through obedience I tell you—although they are not sure things, but doubtful, because Our Lord was not present. “I found myself outside of myself, and it seemed that I found myself inside of a Church where there were many venerable Priests and souls from Purgatory and holy people talking among themselves about the Church of Saint Cataldo. And they spoke as with certainty that the permit would be obtained. And on hearing [this], I said: “How can it be? Only the other day word spread that the Church hierarchy (il Capitolo), had lost the case, so that the clerk of the Tribunal could not obtain the permit. City hall doesn’t want to give it, and you say that it can be obtained?”
And they answered: “In spite of those difficulties, all is not lost. And even when it comes to preparing it, one will also not be able to say all is lost, because St. Cataldo will defend his Temple well. Poor town of Corato if it comes to this!” But while they said this, they repeated: “Already they have brought the first things, and the Incoronata (the Crowned Virgin) has already been moved to Her House. Go before the Madonna and pray Her that having started the grace, She would finish it.”
I left that Church to go to pray, but while I did this I found myself in myself.
Luisa’s parents prayed the Rosary daily and attended Mass as often as they could in the Church of St. Dominic. As a young lady, Luisa became a third Order Dominican tertiary, and took the name of Sister Mary Magdala. At the age of 16, Luisa made her profession to Jesus as His victim. On October 16, 1888, Feast Day of St. Mary Margaret Alacoque, Luisa received the grace of the Mystical Marriage assisted by our Blessed Mother and St. Catherine of Sienna. This Mystical Marriage to Jesus was later renewed in Heaven in front of the Holy Trinity on September 8, 1889, Feast of the Nativity of Mary when Luisa was 24 and a half years old. This date is important because this was the moment and the occasion in which Luisa first received the gift of the Divine Will. Soon after Luisa received the Marriage of the Cross and from then until the end of her life she remained in a state of almost continuous suffering, enduring both the physical pains of the invisible stigmata, and the more terrible interior pains inflicted by Divine justice
St. Mary Magdalen—Feast Day July 22nd. She is known for her great love of Jesus. She was the sinner who anointed Christ’s feet in Simon’s house, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, and was at the foot of the Cross at the Crucifixion. She discovered the empty tomb, heard the Angelic announcement of the Resurrection of Christ, and was the first person to see Christ later that same day.
St. Catherine of Sienna—Feast Day April 29th. She is Patron of Italy, and one of the greatest of Christian mystics. She began to have mystical experiences at the age of six. A Dominican tertiary when she was 16, she experienced visions of Christ, Mary, and the Saints interspersed with diabolical visions and periods of spiritual aridity. She ministered to the ill and condemned prisoners, and was acclaimed for her holiness and abilities as a peacemaker. St. Catherine received the invisible stigmata, which was clearly apparent at the time of her death, and has been declared a Doctor of the Church.
Volume 1:
The morning of the aforesaid day, Jesus made Himself seen again—all affable, sweet, and majestic—together with His Most Holy Mother and St. Catherine. First a hymn was sung by the Angles; St. Catherine assisted me, my Mama took my hand, and Jesus put a ring on my finger. Then we embraced each other and He kissed me, and so also did my Mama.
St. Margaret Mary Alacoque—Feast Day October 16th. At the age of 20 she experienced visions of Christ, and on December 27, 1673 Christ informed her that she was His chosen instrument to spread devotion to His Sacred Heart. Our Lord instructed her in the devotion that was to become known as the Nine Fridays and the Holy Hour, and asked that the Feast of the Sacred Heart be established. She is called the “Saint of the Sacred Heart.”
In 1860, 28 years before Luisa’s Mystical Marriage, two French associations, the Apostleship of Prayer and the League of the Sacred Heart, had merged and launched the first worldwide movement of prayer for the reign of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Their motto, “ Thy Kingdom Come!”
Eleven months after Luisa’s Mystical Marriage, on the Feast of the Birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, September 8, 1889, Jesus took Luisa out of her body to Paradise to renew their Marriage in the presence of the Most Holy Trinity. On this occasion, Luisa was given the possession of the “Gift” of the Divine Will, her new “birth” into the Kingdom of the Divine Will.
Day Ten – The Queen of Heaven in the Kingdom of the Divine Will.
Here I am, O holy Mama, near your cradle, to be spectator of your prodigious birth. The heavens are stupefied, the Sun is fixed upon You with its light, the earth exults with joy and feels honored to be inhabited by its little newborn Queen, and the Angels compete among themselves to be around your cradle, to honor You and to be ready for your every wish. Everyone honors You and wants to celebrate your birth. I too unite myself with all, and prostrate before your cradle – where I see, as though enraptured, your mother Anne and your father Joachim – I want to tell You my first word; I want to entrust to You my first secret. I want to empty my heart into yours, and say to You: “My Mama, You who are the dawn, herald of the Divine Fiat upon the earth, O please, put to flight the gloomy night of the human will within my soul and in the whole world! Ah, yes, may your birth be our hope which, like a new dawn of grace, regenerates us in the Kingdom of the Divine Will!”
Child of my Heart, my birth was prodigious; no other birth can be said to be similar to mine. I enclosed in Myself the heaven, the Sun of the Divine Will, and also the earth of my humanity – a blessed and holy earth, which enclosed the most beautiful flowerings. And even though I was just newly born, I enclosed the prodigy of the greatest prodigies: the Divine Will reigning in Me, which enclosed within Me a heaven more beautiful, a Sun more refulgent than those of Creation, of which I was also Queen, as well as a sea of graces without boundaries, which constantly murmured: “Love, love to my Creator…” My birth was the true dawn that puts to flight the night of the human will; and as I kept growing, I formed the daybreak and called for the brightest daylight, to make the Sun of the Eternal Word rise over the earth.
My child, come to my cradle to listen to your little Mama. As soon as I was born, I opened my eyes to see this low world, to go in search of all my children so as to enclose them within my Heart, give them my maternal love and, regenerating them to the new life of love and of grace, give them the step which would let them enter into the Kingdom of the Divine Fiat, which I possessed. I wanted to act as Queen and Mother, enclosing everyone in my Heart, to bring everyone to safety, and to give them the great gift of the Divine Kingdom. In my Heart I had a place for everyone, because for one who possesses the Divine Will there are no constraints – only infinite expanses. I looked also at you, my child – no one escaped Me. And since on that day everyone celebrated my birth, it was also feast for Me. But upon opening my eyes to the light, I had the sorrow of seeing the creatures in the thick night of the human will.
Volume 11 – March 19, 1914
It seems that blessed Jesus wants to speak about His Most Holy Will. I was diffusing myself throughout all His interior – in His thoughts, desires, affections, in His Will, in His Love, in everything, when Jesus told me with infinite sweetness: “Oh, if you knew the contentment that one who does my Will gives Me! Your heart would break with joy. See, as you were diffusing yourself in my thoughts, desires, etc., you were forming the delight of my thoughts, while my desires, fusing in yours, were playing together with them. Your affections, united to your will and to your love, running and flying into my affections, into my Will and into my Love, were kissing one another; and pouring like a rapid rivulet into the immense sea of the Eternal One, they were playing with the Divine Persons – now with the Father, now with Me, and now with the Holy Spirit. Then, wanting to give no time to One Another, We play with her – all Three together, making of her Our own jewel. This jewel – our delight – is so dear to Us that We keep it with jealousy ‘ad intra’, in the intimate part of our Will; and when the creatures embitter Us and offend Us, in order to be cheered, We take our jewel, and We amuse Ourselves together.”
St. Dominic Guzman – Feast day August 8th, founder of the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans) and the Saint of the Holy Rosary. When he was preaching to the Albigenses, St. Dominic at first obtained but scanty success: and that one day, complaining of this in pious prayer to our Blessed Lady, she deigned to reply to him, saying :’Wonder not that you have obtained so little fruit by your labors, you have spent them on barren soil, not yet watered with the dew of Divine grace. When God willed to renew the face of the earth, He began by sending down on it the fertilizing rain of the Angelic Salutation. Therefore preach my Psalter composed of 150 Angelic Salutations and 15 Our Fathers, and you will obtain an abundant harvest.’
Why Luisa was a Dominican Tertiary and not a Franciscan? By Padre Bernardino Bucci
JML + FIAT
Come Divine Will to Reign Soon!
I am asked the question why Luisa is a Dominican tertiary, while she was surrounded by Franciscans and her contacts were always and for the most part with Franciscan monks. I can personally assert that all the monks from my provincial Monastery have had direct contact with the Servant of God Luisa Piccarreta, and I personally have collected various depositions from the senior Fathers.
Then why is Luisa Dominican? The matter is very simple.
During Luisa’s time, just at the period of her birth, the last suppression of the Religious Orders in Italy occurred. At Corato there formerly existed a Monastery of Dominican monks who left because of the governmental laws. They left the Third Dominican Order that was formed by lay people, over whom the government could not do anything; the Bishop at the time, His Grace Dottula, delegated as assistant of the Third Dominican Order the Priest Father Michael De Benedittis, who was also delegated by the Bishop as confessor of Luisa Piccarreta.
Father Michael De Benedittis put Luisa in the Third Dominican Order. How this act was done is not known, nor is the procedure known. However, I believe that Luisa never attended the Third Dominican Order that was located in the Church of St. Dominic (in Corato), a long way away from the house of Luisa. And it is well known that Luisa did not like to leave the house, especially during the time when the phenomenons began that worried the family, and also the clergy.
This notwithstanding, contacts with other Religious, especially the Franciscans and Capuchins, were not broken off. And Luisa sent vocations to the Order of Capuchins, and Father Salvatore-who was a favorite of hers who died very young, and by his holy and Priestly life one can say that he was a hymn to the Divine Will-has remained very famous.
Not the last, my person, of whom Luisa prophesized the Priesthood in the Order of the Franciscan Capuchins. It is also to be observed that when the Dominican Fathers left Corato, they did not return again, nor were they ever interested in Luisa.
When the undersigned spoke about Piccarreta to the Provincial of the Dominicans of Naples, I had little welcome, nor were they anxious to know her. It is clear to me from the depositions of Aunt Rosaria that not one Dominican Father ever went to the house of Piccarreta. It can even be said that the Dominicans in Italy are few, they are not as numerous as the Franciscans. Also because of this, contacts with Piccarreta were nullified.
In 1948 came the Archbishop of Trani, His Grace Addazzi (a Dominican), who was interested in Piccarreta even though he had not personally known her; it was through his intercession that the Servant of God was conveyed from the cemetery into the Church of St. Mary the Greek.
It was he who declared Luisa Piccarreta “Servant of God”, and permitted the printing of the first pictures for devotions with a prayer he himself composed. (published by the undersigned in the “Collection of Memories” and short biographies of Luisa)
I remember this episode: As a Capuchin student I went to pay a visit to the Archbishop, who received me with much curtsey, and when he learned that I was the nephew of Rosaria, he said these words: “You have a holy Aunt, and blessed are you because you too have known Luisa.”
FIAT
Father Bernardino Bucci
On, October 7,1928 the feast of the Holy Rosary, was the day of Luisa’s entrance into Fr. Hannibal’s Orphanage of Saint Anthony in Corato, run then and still today by the order of nuns, the Daughters of Divine Zeal, also founded by Fr. Hannibal. Then exactly 10 years to the day also on the Fest of the Holy Rosary on October 7, 1938, because of dispositions of the Superiors” (her Confessor says), “because of health reason” (Luisa says), she had to leave the Orphanage of St. Anthony. Fr. Hannibal was beatified (made Blessed) by Pope John Paul II in 1990 again on October 7th.
To stress the importance of the prayer of the rosary, to a prison inmate, Luisa wrote:
“My brother, have confidence, for you have a heavenly Mother who loves you very much and who will never leave you. If you listen to her, she will make a sanctuary out of your jail; and if human frailty has borne you to that place, the sovereign Queen will come with the strength of the Divine Will to bear you up to Heaven and to make your days seem less sad . . . Never neglect the Rosary of the Heavenly Mother. If you have the opportunity, be the jailhouse missionary, making it known that the Queen of Heaven wishes to visit all the inmates to give them the gift of the Divine Will. If you need anything else and cannot pay for it, you can count on me. I will see that you receive it free of charge.”
The Greek Schism occurred in 1054 when the exchange of excommunications between the two Sees took place in the Diocese of Trani. Another schism, the Great Western Schism, occurred when the Archbishop of Trani (Corato is in the Diocese of Trani) was elected Pope under the name of Urban VI. Two great Saints were involved to settle this schism, St. Catherine of Sienna and St. Vincent Ferrer, both of whom were among the Saints mentioned by name by Luisa in the Book of Heaven. God, by always drawing good out of evil, has destined the site of these and all schisms to become the birthplace of a spiritual renewal that will bring the traditions of Eastern and Western Christianity to a glorious fruition in the Kingdom of the Divine Will.
St. Vincent Ferrer—Feast Day April 5th. He is a famous Dominican missionary and miracle worker who traveled all over Western Europe preaching penance for sin, and preparation for the Last Judgment. Many believed he had the gift of tongues. He helped to end the Great Western Schism.
Volume 3 – November 11, 1899
I found a Priest of holy life, and, at another place, a virgin of pure and holy life. . . . And they said to me: “We see the strict necessity of these sad times, and that man would not surrender even if an Apostle were to be raised up, or if the Lord were to send another Saint Vincent Ferrer—who, with miracles and portentous signs, used to induce man to conversion.”
St. John the Evangelist—Feast Day December 27th. He is the son of Zebede and brother of James the Greater, the two of whom were referred to as “Sons of Thunder.” He was also a fisherman, the youngest of the Apostles, and the “Beloved Disciple.” He was, along with Peter and James, among the ones closest to Christ, and was present at the Transfiguration—as well as the only Apostle present at the Crucifixion. Jesus placed Mary in his care. He was the first Apostle at the tomb on Easter morning, and the author of Revelation and three other Epistles. He was known as “The Divine,” and is represented in art as a soaring eagle because of the majesty of his gospel.
Volume 4 – December 4, 1902
“The exact point you will find on Calvary. I, Priest and victim, [who was] raised on the wood of the cross, wanted a Priest who would assist Me in that state of victim, which was St. John, who represented to Me the nascent Church. In him I saw everyone—Popes, Bishops, and Priests—all together. And he, while he assisted Me, offered Me as victim for the glory of the Father and for the success of the nascent Church.
“That a Priest assisted Me in that state of victim did not happen by chance, but everything was a profound mystery, predestined even ab eterno, “from eternity,” in the Divine Mind—meaning that [by My] selecting a victim soul for the grave needs which exist in the Church, a Priest offers her to Me, assists her for Me, helps her, and encourages her to suffer. If they understand these things well, they themselves will receive the fruit of the work which they render, like Saint John—how many benefits did he not have for having assisted Me on Mount Calvary? If they do not, they do nothing other then put My work in continuous disputes, taking away from Me My most beautiful designs.
“Besides this, My Wisdom is infinite, and sending some crosses to the soul to sanctify her takes not only one soul, but five, ten, as many as I like, so that not only one but all of these together would be sanctified—as on Calvary it was not just Me alone. Besides having a Priest, I also had a Mother. I had friends, and also enemies, many of whom, on seeing the prodigy of My patience, believed in Me for the God which I was, and were converted. If I had been alone, would they have received these great benefits? Certainly not.”
But who can say everything that He said to me, and explain the least meanings? I have said it as best I can, as I have known how to say in my coarseness. I hope that the Lord will do the rest, illuminating them to make them understand what I have not known how to manifest well.
In Luisa’s writings, Jesus referred to St. Philip Neri is a model for all Priests and urged all Priests to follow his rule in a new organization He called the houses of the Reunion of Priests.
Volume 10 – January 17, 1911
Continuing in my usual state, my always lovable Jesus came, but so afflicted and so burning with love, that He was restless and asked for refreshment. And throwing His arms around my neck, He told me: “My daughter, give Me love – this is the sole and only refreshment to calm my restlessness of love.”
Then He added: “Daughter, what you wrote about the reunions of priests is nothing but a process that I am making with them. If they listen to Me – fine. But if they don’t, since the leaders of the ecclesiastics will not listen to Me because they too are bound by the laces of interest, and are slaves of human miseries, almost lapping them up – instead of dominating over those miseries, of interest, of high positions and the like, the miseries dominate them; therefore, since they are deafened by what is human, I will be neither understood nor listened to – I will turn to the civilian leaders, who will listen to Me more easily. Because of their desire to see the priest humiliated, and also because maybe these are a little more stripped than the ecclesiastics themselves, my voice will be more listened to; and what they do not want to do out of love, I will make them do by necessity and by force, and I will make the government take away what is left to them.” And I: ‘My highest and only good, what will be the name to be given to these houses, and what the rules?’ And He: “The name will be: The Houses of the Resurrection of the Faith. As for the rules, they can use the same rules as the Oratory of Saint Philip Neri.” Then He added: “Tell father B. that you will be the organ and he the sound for this work. If he will be mocked and disliked by those who have their interests, the good and the few true good will comprehend the necessity and the truth that he announces, and will make it a duty of conscience to get down to work. Besides, if he is mocked, he will have the honor of becoming more similar to Me.”
St. Philip Neri—Feast Day May 26th. He entered the religious life as the result of a mystical experience, and founded the Confraternity of the Most Holy Trinity. He is known for spreading the Forty Hours Devotion, and is also known as the Apostle of Rome and Patron of Rome. He had the ability of looking into men’s minds. He experienced ecstasies and visions, performed miracles, and had the gift of prophecy.
St. Francis of Paola – Feastday: April 2 – Francis was born at Paola, Italy and was educated at the Franciscan friary of San Marco there, and when fifteen became a hermit near Paola. In 1436, he and two companions began a community that is considered the foundation of the Minim Friars. He built a monastery where he had led his eremitical life some fifteen years later and set a Rule for his followers emphasizing penance, charity, and humility, and added to the three monastic vows, one of fasting and abstinence from meat; he also wrote a rule for tertiaries and nuns. He was credited with many miracles and had the gifts of prophesy and insight into men’s hearts. Francis died on April 2nd and was canonized in 1519.
Volume 8 – April 8, 1908
At night, while I was in these cruel torments, finding myself in my usual state, I found myself surrounded by people who said: “Recite a ‘Pater,’ an ‘Ave,’ and a ‘Gloria’ in honor of Saint Francis of Paola. This will bring some relief to you in your sufferings.”
Then, when I had recited those prayers, suddenly the Saint appeared. He brought me a small piece of bread, and gave it to me saying: “Eat it.”
I ate it, and felt myself totally strengthened. Then I said to him: “Dear Saint, I want to tell you something.”
St. Nicholas—Feast Day December 6th. He was Bishop of Myra. He was known for his holiness, zeal, miracles, devotion to the conversion of sinners, and giving his wealth to the poor. He is Patron of Sailors, Greece, Apulia, Sicily, Lorraine, and Russia. In the year 1087, the relics of St. Nicholas of Myra were transported to the port city of Bari in Apulia, Italy. St. Nicholas ranks next to the Blessed Virgin as the Saint most universally loved in those two great centers of Eastern Christianity, Russia and Constantinople. St. Nicholas appears more often in the Christian art of East and West then any other Saint, except for the Madonna. St. Nicholas is the Patron Saint of Apulia, of Greece, of many cities in Europe, of Russia, and, very importantly, of all children (including the Little Children of the Divine Will).
In Russia, upon whose conversion (according to Our Lady of Fatima) the peace of the world depends, devotion to St. Nicholas has endured. Up until the Communist Revolution of 1917, crowds of Russian pilgrims flocked to the Saint’s relics in Apulia. The Russian Orthodox Church still celebrates the Liturgical Feast of the transfer of the relics of St. Nicholas from Myra to Bari. Luisa Piccarreta’s father bore the name Vito Nicola in honor of Apulia’s Patron, the special Patron of Catholic Christian unity.
Following the Great Schism dividing Rome and the Eastern Patriarchates in 1054, the Church of Constaninople split and became the first Orthodox Church. The Ecumenical Patriarchate was founded in 38 AD by St. Andrew, the brother of St. Peter, and also the first Apostle called by Jesus. The Ecumenical Patriarchate continues today, as in the past, to be the spiritual center and beacon of the 250,000,000 member Orthodox Christian Church. It is looked upon as the Mother Church by the Churches of Russia, Greece, Bulgaria, Serbia, Rumania, Georgia, and Poland. (Source: A Light from the East, by Michael O’Carroll, C.S.S.p.)
Saint Faustina Kowalska, in her diary on Divine Mercy, wrote that Our Lord said to her: “I desire that the first Sunday after Easter be the Feast of Mercy. On that day the very depths of my tender mercy are open.” (Source: Divine Mercy in My Soul, 1987, Sister M. Faustina Kowalska) Jesus emphasized to Blessed Faustina that the depths of His Mercy were already open on that day, long before official recognition of the Feast by His Church. With the birth of Luisa Piccarreta on the day which would eventually be proclaimed the Feast of Divine Mercy, Jesus left a special sign of the unique importance of Luisa’s Mission, which her special confessor, Blessed Hannibal Maria Di Francia, described as “the triumph of the Divine Will in the entire universe.”
Volume 6 – April 16, 1904
Continuing in my usual state, I found myself outside of myself, and I saw a multitude of people, and in their midst one could hear noises of bombs and gun shots. People were dropping dead or wounded, and those who were left would flee up to a palace nearby; but the enemies would go up there and kill them, more surely than those who remained outside. So I said to myself: ‘How I wish I could see whether the Lord is there in the midst of these people, so as to say to Him: ‘Have mercy – pity on these poor people!’ So I went round and round and I saw Him as a little Child; but little by little He kept growing, until He reached the perfect age. I drew near Him and I said: ‘Amiable Lord, don’t You see the tragedy that is happening? You don’t want to make use of mercy any more? Do You perhaps want to keep this attribute as useless, which has always glorified your Incarnate Divinity with so much honor, forming a special crown on your august head, and bejeweling You with a second crown, so wanted and loved by You – which is souls?’
Now, while I was saying this, He told me: ‘Enough, enough, do not go any further; you want to speak of Mercy, and what about Justice – what are we going to do with It? I have told you and I repeat to you: ‘It is necessary that Justice follow Its course’.” So I replied: ‘There is no remedy – why then leave me on this earth when I can no longer placate You and suffer in the place of my neighbor? Since it is so, it is better if You let me die.’ At that moment I saw another person behind the shoulders of blessed Jesus, and He told me, almost making a sign with His eyes: “Present yourself to my Father and see what He tells you.’ I presented myself, all trembling, and as soon as He saw me, He told me: “Why have you come to Me?” And I: ‘Adorable Goodness, infinite Mercy, knowing that You are Mercy Itself, I have come to ask for your Mercy – Mercy on your very images, Mercy on the works created by You; Mercy on nothing else but your creatures themselves.’ And He said to me: “So, it is Mercy that you want. But if you want true Mercy, after Justice has poured Itself out It will produce abundant fruits of Mercy
In answer to Luisa’s request for Mercy, St. Mary Faustina of the Blessed Sacrament was born the following year on August 2, 1905
Poland, the birthplace of the Divine Mercy message, and also of Holy Father John Paul II (Mary’s “Masterpiece” in a message of the Blessed Mother’s to Fr. Gobbie), points to a more positive sign of the times—the gradual reconciliation of the Eastern and Western Churches. The period between Luisa’s death and the opening of her cause for beatification coincided with a grace-filled movement toward reconciliation between the Church of Rome and the ancient Churches of the East, especially the Orthodox Church. Luisa’s Cause was opened during the Pontificate and approval of Pope John Paul II.
As a meeting place for the Latin Rite Catholics of the West, and the Orthodox and Byzantine Catholics of the East, Poland gave to the world the devotion to the Divine Mercy that combined the Trisagion prayer of the Byzantine liturgy “Holy God, Holy Mighty One, Holy Immortal One, Have mercy on us and on the whole world” (Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostrom), with the use of the Rosary. Luisa is also connected to this same prayer, which the Priest would say while at the same time making the sign of the Cross on her hand to command her soul to return to her body. This connection between Luisa and Poland, the home of our present Holy Father John Paul II, is made even more clear by the date of Luisa’s death on March 4, 1947—the Feast Day of St. Casimir of Poland.
St. Casimir of Poland—Feast Day March 4th. He was third of the 13 children of King Casimir IV of Poland and Elizabeth of Austria, daughter of Emperor II of Germany. He was born at the royal palace in Cracow on October 3rd. Many miracles were reported at his tomb, and he was canonized by Pope Adrian VI in 1522. He is the Patron of Poland and Lithuania.
As Cardinal Archbishop of Cracow, Wojtyla ordered a theological review of St. Faustina’s diaries, which had been condemned by the Holy See. As a result of the inquiry, the prohibition against the spread of her writings was removed. Six months later, Wojtyla was elected to the Chair of Peter. As Pope John Paul II, he published one of his first encyclicals on the Mercy of God, and acknowledged the importance of Blessed Faustina and her writings by beatifying her on the Feast of Divine Mercy. The beatification of Saint Faustina attracted new interest in the prophetic content of her diaries, which predicted the Second Coming of Jesus.
Saint Padre Pio, the wonder-worker of San Giovanni Rotondo – In the bio on Luisa “The Little Daughter of the Divine Will” written by Fr. Pablo Martin Sanguiao, it states “…Luisa (as referred to by some witnesses) wrote to Padre Pio of Pietrelcina – the only time in her life. Padre Pio answered only this: “I Santi si fanno, ma guai a chi fa i Santi!” [“The Saints are made, but woe to those who make the Saints!”]
Luisa was bedridden in Corato since her teen years and Padre Pio was cloistered all his adult life at Our Lady of Grace Friary in San Giovanni Rotondo , therefore they never met in person. However, Luisa and Padre Pio exchanged greetings and prayers, and each one referred visitors to the other. This is evidenced in the follow excerpts from the letters of Luisa Piccarreta to Federico Abresch a close friend of her and of Padre Bio.:
“With all my heart, I thank the Lord, and additionally for the visit you made to venerable Padre Pio.” “Thanks be to God, for that young man returned safe and sound. He went to see Padre Pio, went to confession, and cannot thank you enough for your goodness and hospitality. He brought me your dear letter. ““Thank you, my child, for remembering me when you went to Padre Pio. Tell him to pray for me for I have great need of it.” “Very dearest Son, why not tell the holy Padre Pio to pray in a very special way that the Divine Will be made known?” “ Tell the holy Padre Pio to pray to the Lord that the Kingdom of His Will come if we want peace; but I believe that our lord will put His limit with a general scourge throughout the world and perhaps with an epidemic for only in this way will the heads of governments surrender.”
“Tell Padre Pio to pray for me, because I need it and with all respect I kiss his right hand.” The dearest Jesus says: “The first one to sacrifice will be I because you want to do My Will.” For this reason it will not harm the many miracles worked by Padre Pio to add this one also. Beg Padre Pio to pray to the Lord and obtain this cure that can produce much good for souls. Kiss His hand and tell him to pray for me.” “With respect to Padre Pio, He is right because, the poor thing, he has had to endure great problems and therefore it is necessary to obey the Holy Church; but we do not say what is printed in the books, but rather that which the Holy Church does not know yet and what is printed in the book is but a few drops; the seas of the Divine Desire are not known yet.” “I leave you all in the sea of the Divine Desire. I kiss the hand of Padre Pio and tell him to pray for me.” “I leave you in the Divine Desire so that you become holy; Kiss the hand of Padre Pio on my behalf, greet him with the love of the Fiat; pray for me.”“I leave you in the Divine Desire; pray for me, kiss the hand of Padre Pio for me and receive the greetings of the love of the Fiat.” “Kiss the hand of Padre Pio and I would like to know what he thinks of the writings.”
When Luisa was condemned by the Holy Office and her works put on the Index, Padre Pio sent her this message though Federico Abresch: “Dear Luisa, saints serve for the good of souls, but their suffering knows no bounds”. At that time Padre Pio was also in very great difficulties.”
Blessed Padre Pio sent many people to Luisa Piccarreta and would say to the people of Corato who went to San Giovanni Rotondo: “What have you come here for? You have Luisa, go to her”.
According to Padre Bernardino’s Aunt Rosaria Bucci: “No! During my confession Padre Pio told me that Luisa is not a human factor, she is a work of God and he himself will make her emerge. The world will be astounded at her greatness; not many years will pass before this happens. The new millennium will see Luisa’s
Padre Pio told Rosaria in his Benevento dialect: “Rosa’, va nanz, va nanz ca Luisa iè gran e u munn sarà chin di Luisa” (Rosaria, go ahead, go ahead for Luisa is great and the world will be full of Luisa). light”.
In the book “The Story of a Soul” St. Therese of Lisieux “willed to be as obscure as ‘a little grain of sand’ “ I have always wanted to become a saint. Unfortunately when I have compared myself with the saints, I have always found that there is the same difference between the saints and me as there is between a mountain whose summit is lost in the clouds and a humble grain of sand trodden underfoot by passers-by. Instead of being discouraged, I told myself: God would not make me wish for something impossible and so, in spite of my littleness, I can aim at being a saint. It is impossible for me to grow bigger, so I put up with myself as I am, with all my countless faults. But I will look for some means of going to heaven by a little way which is very short and very straight, a little way that is quite new. Her one dream as the work she would do after her death, helping those on earth. “I will return,” she said. “My heaven will be spent on earth.” She died on September 30, 1897 at the age of 24 years old. She herself felt it was a blessing God allowed her to die at exactly that age. she had always felt that she had a vocation to be a priest and felt God let her die at the age she would have been ordained if she had been a man so that she wouldn’t have to suffer.
By 1910, St. Therese’s book had become very popular with religious all over Europe. There is a photo in Corato of Luisa praying before the Cucifix with a picture of the Little Flower near by. This may have connection to the following conversation between Jesus and Luisa:
Volume 10 – November 29, 1910
Since a good and holy priest was coming, I was a little bit anxious to speak with him, especially about my current state, in order to know the Divine Will. Now, after he came the first and the second time, I saw that nothing would be done of what I wanted. So, having received Holy Communion, all afflicted, I was repeating my great affliction to my affectionate Jesus, saying to Him: ‘My Life, my Good and my All, it shows that You alone are everything for me. I have never found in any creature, as good and holy as he might be, a word, a comfort, a solution for the slightest doubt of mine. It shows how there is to be no one for me, but You alone: You alone – the All for me, and I alone, alone – always alone for You. And so I abandon myself in You, completely and always. As bad as I am, have the goodness of holding me in your arms, without leaving me for one single instant.’
While I was saying this, my blessed Jesus made Himself seen looking in my interior, turning everything upside down to see if there was something which He did not like. And while turning and turning, He took something like a grain of white sand in His hands, and He threw it to the ground. Then He said to me: “Dearest daughter of Mine, it is absolutely right that for one who is all for Me, I be all for her. I am too jealous that someone else might give her the slightest comfort. I alone – I Myself alone want to make up for all, and in everything. What is it that afflicts you? What do you want? I do everything to make you content. Do you see that white grain that I removed from you? It was nothing but a little bit of anxiety, for you wanted to know my Will from others. I removed it from you and I threw it on the ground so as to leave you in holy indifference – the way I want you. And now I will tell you what my Will is: I want Mass and also Communion;……
1910 was also very important because in 1910, while visiting the Trani Diocese to establish an orphanage, Father Hannibal Di Francia met Luisa Piccarreta for the first time, most likely at the suggestion of her confessor, Fr. Gennaro Di Gennaro. These greatest of all Saints in Heaven are working to establish the Reign of the Divine Will on Earth. Of all of these, the Saint closest and most important to Luisa and her cause is her special confessor, Saint Hannibal Maria Di Francia.
Saint Hannibal Mary Di Francia – Born in Messina, Italy on July 5, 1851 and died 6:30 AM on June 1, 1927. Early in his life he felt a special call to work for the poor and the orphans and founded the Anthonian Orphanages. His charity, however, went further. Tormented by the thought that countless people had not been evangelized, touched by the Spirit, he discovered the answer in the divine command of Jesus: “Pray therefore the Lord of the Harvest to send forth laborers into His Harvest”. (Mt. 9,38) He is the founder of the Anthonian Orphanages, the Rogationists Fathers of the Heart of Jesus and the Daughters of Divine Zeal. Many graces are continually attributed to his intercession. On October 7, 1990 (Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary), Pope John Paul II proclaimed him “Blessed” and Saint on May 16, 2004.
In 1910 Saint Fr. Annibale Di Francia arrived in Corato beginning a series of visits and a frequent and intimate spiritual relationship with Luisa, which lasted 17 years to his death (June 1, 1927). He knew that Luisa was for him a fundamental turning point in his life, and the manifestation of the Divine Will was decisive for his spirituality (In this regard, see, “L’anima del Padre. Testimonianze”, by Fr. Tusino R.C.J., pp. 222-234, as well as the numerous letters which he wrote to Luisa in those years; an intense spiritual correspondence). He was very often in the house of Luisa, being her extraordinary Confessor. In the last period (1926) the Archbishop of Trani designated him Director of all which concerned the writings of Luisa, with the view of doing a publication which the Father desired, although prevented by his death. He was designated as ecclesiastical Censor for the three united dioceses of Trani, Barletta and Bisceglie.
Saint Fr. Annibale Di Francia soon began the printing of the 24 Hours of the Passion. At his request, Luisa had to write them down around 1913-1914. Father Annibale gave them the title of “Orologio della Passione di Nostro Signore Gesu’ Cristo”, and published four editions (1915, 1916, 1917, 1925), with “Nihil Obstat” and “Imprimatur.”
During the reign of St. Pius X (1903-14) whose motto was “renew all things in Christ” it was an eleven year period where Luisa completed the very important book “The Hours of the Passion”, which was soon followed by WWI. In the year of 1903, Luisa completed the 1st volume of her life, up to the point on February 28, 1899, when she was given the obedience to write.
“Several witnesses relate that one day Father Annibale came to the house of Luisa more content than ever, and said that he had brought this book to the Holy Father, Saint Pious X, who had received him several times in private audience. Father Annibale was reading him one of the Hours (that of the Crucifixion), when the Pope interrupted, saying: “Not this way, Father, but kneeling one must read. It is Jesus Christ that is speaking.” Finally, Father Annibale, as Censor of the writings, obtained the Imprimatur from His Excellency the Archbishop of Trani for the volumes written by Luisa (at that time there were already nineteen).
St. Pius X—Feast Day August 21st. Giuseppe Melchior Sarto, St. Pius X, was the second of ten children of a cobbler and postman. He succeeded Pope Leo XIII, urged frequent reception of Holy Communion, especially by children, and demanded an oath against modernism by every Priest.
From the book “Father Mary Hannibal di Francia his life and works” by Rogationist Father Rev. Francis Vitale: A little friend of his prided himself on owing a medal of St. Alphonsus M. Liguori. After seeing it, Mary Hannibal could not help longing to have it. Thus he proposed an exchange: the medal of St. Alphonsus M. Liguori for many of his own. Eager to have many medals, his friend handed the prize over to Mary Hannibal, who in turn, gave his friend a rosary and some booklets besides the promised medals. His friend, who did not understand this type of trade, was amazed. The padre said, “I was beside myself with the joy of the medal.” Throughout his life, he wore that medal…..(Years later in 1900), …the padre along with his priests Fr. Bonarrigo and Fr. Ctanese as well as about ten youths wet to the archbishop asking his blessing. The shepherd blessed them tenderly, wishing the developing congregation great productivity and putting them under the protection of St. Alphonsus M. Liguori, to whom he was very devout.
Saint Anthony of Padua also assisted Bl. Hannibal in his life’s mission: “Even though there was no center of those devoted to St. Anthony in those days, aid for the orphans and the poor were increasing, owing to the devotion to St. Anthony’s bread, to the press, to the alms boxes, and to the devotion to the saint in the church of the Annunciation. Hence the padre felt inspired to make St. Anthony the special patron of this orphanages. Our founder was urged to do so by his helper Fr. Bernardo of the Friars Minor.”
St. Alphonsus Liguori—Feast Day August 1st. St. Alphonsus was born in Naples, Italy in 1696. He was a renowned Doctor of both Canon and Civil Law. St. Alphonsus was ordained a Priest in 1726. He founded the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer (The Redemptorist’s). He was chosen as Bishop of Sant’ Agata dei Goti. St. Alphonsus is the Patron Saint of Confessors, Moral Theology, and Vocations.
His literary output, however, was not limited to moral theology. His pen was as apostolic as his preaching. His one hundred and eleven published works were directed to every category of Christians: Bishops, Priests, Religious, and Laity. His themes were solidly pastoral, and his topics diverse; there was even one named “Conformity to the Divine Will.”
St. Anthony of Pauda—Feast Day June 13th. He is a Doctor of the Church known for his miracles and being one of the greatest preachers of all times. He is known as the “Hammer of the Heretics,” “Living Ark of the Covenant,” and “Wonder Worker.” He is Patron of the Poor. In art he is depicted holding the Christ Child. He is widely invoked for the return of lost articles.
It seems no accident that these two great Saints were both placed in charge of and protection of Blessed Hannibal’s Orphanages and Religious Institutions. Luisa also lived 10 years in the Orphanage of St. Anthony in Corato. These two saints are also important to Luisa’s cause because of the necessity of St. Liguori’s Patronage over Confessors, Moral Theology, and Vocations, and St. Anthony’s help to return man’s greatest loss—that of the Holy Divine Will.
The Holy Family
Last but not least of all is the special connection of Luis to Jesus, Mary and especially St. Joseph who is the most mentioned Saint of the New Testament in Luisa’s writings. One of the most beautiful of these writing is over 100 years old as follows:
Volume 4- December 25, 1900
Finding myself in my usual state, I felt myself leave my body and after wandering around I found myself in a cave, and I saw the Queen Mamma who was giving birth to Baby Jesus. What a marvelous wonder! It seemed to me that both the Mother and the Son were transformed into the purest Light, but in this Light you could clearly discern the human nature of Jesus, which served as a veil to cover the Divinity that He contained within Himself, so that, tearing open the veil of human nature, He was God, and covered with this veil, He was man, and this is the wonder of wonders: God and man, man and God! Who, without leaving the Father and the Holy Spirit, for true Love never disunites, comes to live with us and takes on human flesh. Then it seemed to me that the Mother and the Son, in this supremely happy moment, became spirits, and without the slightest difficulty Jesus emerged from the Mother’s bosom, both of them overflowing with an excess of Love. That is, these Most Holy Bodies were transformed into Light, and without the slightest obstacle, Jesus’ Light emerged from within the Light of the Mother, both One and the Other remaining whole and intact, returning then to their natural state. But who could describe the beauty of the Little Baby, who at the moment of His birth shone with the rays of Divinity even through to the outside? Who can tell of the beauty of the Mother, who was completely absorbed by these Divine rays? And Saint Joseph, who seemed to me not to be present at the act of birth, but who remained in another corner of the cave, quite absorbed by this profound Mystery; even if he did not see with his corporeal eyes, he saw perfectly well with the eyes of his soul, for he remained enraptured in sublime ecstasy. Then, at the moment the Little Baby emerged from the Light, I wanted to rush over to take Him into my arms, but the Angels held me back, telling me that the honor of holding Him first belonged to the Mother. Whereupon, the Most Holy Virgin, as if shaken, turned inwards and, from the hands of an Angel, received the Son into Her arms, and She held him so tight, in the enthusiasm of Her love, that it seemed She wanted to return Him inside of Her. Then, wanting an outlet for Her ardent love, She set him to suckling at Her breasts. At that moment, I remained perfectly still, waiting to be called, so that I would not receive another reproach from the Angels. Whereupon, the Queen said to me:“Come, come take your Beloved, and delight in Him also and show Him your love,”
As She spoke I drew close to the Mamma and She put Him in my arms. Who can describe my happiness, the kisses, the hugs, the tenderness I showed Him? After I showed my love for a while, I said to Him: “My Beloved, You have nursed the milk of our Mother, give some to me.”
And He, quite agreeing, poured part of this milk from His mouth into mine, and then He said to me:
“My beloved, I was conceived in sorrow, born in sorrow and died in sorrow, and with the three nails that they crucified me, I nailed down the three powers: intellect, memory and will, for those souls who yearn to love Me, allowing them to remain drawn completely to Me, because original sin had rendered them weak and scattered from their Creator, without any restraint.”
As for the Saints of the Old Testament, the most mentioned is Adam:
Volume 20 – October 26, 1926
After this, I was beginning my round in the Divine Will, and going into the terrestrial Eden, where Adam had done the first act of withdrawal of his will from the Divine, I said to my sweet Jesus: ‘My Love, I want to annihilate my will in Yours, that it may never have life, so that your Will may have life in everything and forever, in order to repair for the first act which Adam did, and return to your Supreme Will all the glory as if Adam had never withdrawn from It. Oh! how I wish to give back to him the honor he lost because he did his own will and rejected Yours. And I intend to do this act for as many times as creatures have done their own will – the cause of all evils, and have rejected Yours – the origin and fount of all goods. Therefore I pray You that the Kingdom of the Supreme Fiat may come soon, so that everyone, from Adam up to all the creatures who have done their own will, may receive the honor and the glory which they lost, and your Will may receive triumph, glory and Its fulfillment.’
Now, while I was saying this, my highest Good, Jesus, was moved and touched, and making my first father Adam present to me, let him himself tell me, with emphasis of love, all special: “Blessed daughter, finally my Lord God, after so many centuries, has delivered to the light of the day the one who was to think about giving me back the honor and the glory which I lost, alas, by doing my will. How I feel my happiness redoubled. Until now, no one has ever thought of giving me back that honor which I lost. Therefore I thank God profoundly for having delivered you to the light, and I thank you, the daughter dearest to me, for taking on the commitment to return to God the glory, as if His Will had never been offended by me, and to me the great honor that the Kingdom of the Supreme Fiat be established once again in the midst of the human generations. It is right that I give you the place which had been destined to me as the first creature that came out of the hands of our Creator.
Special honor throughout the writings is given to the Blessed Virgin Mary Queen and Mother of the Divine Will who below is described as our Lady of Guadalupe.
Volume 15 – December 8, 1922 –
Luisa was thinking about the great miracle of the Immaculate Conception of Our Heavenly Queen and Mother. Jesus responded by telling Luisa that Our Blessed Mother is Honored and Queen of Heaven and earth by the Holy Trinity and the Creation and She is described as the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Jesus says:
“My daughter, the Immaculate Conception of my beloved Mother was so miraculous and marvelous that Heaven and earth were filled with wonder and made merry…. how could We resist so innocent a creature, possessed by the power and holiness of our Will? That would be to resist Ourselves. We discerned in Her our divine qualities; the reverberations of the divine attributes flowed upon Her like waves, the reverberations of our Holiness, our Love, our Power, etc. It was our Will within Her that attracted all these reverberations of our divine qualities and Which was the crown and the defense of the Divinity dwelling within Her. If this Immaculate Virgin had not possessed the Divine Will as the center of her life, then all the other prerogatives and privileges with which We enriched Her would have amounted to nothing. It was this that confirmed Her and preserved her many privileges. Indeed, It constantly increased them.
“This is the reason We made Her Queen of everyone (when We act, We do so with reason, wisdom and justice): She never gave life to her human will. … All created things, …,seeing this sublime Virgin Who, almost as though She were their sister, had never wanted to know her own will but only that of God, they not only celebrated but felt honored in having Her for their Queen. They ran about Her, paying Her homage by putting the moon beneath her feet as her footstool, the stars as her crown, the sun as her diadem, with angels as servants, and with men attending Her. Absolutely everyone honored Her and paid Her homage. There is no honor or glory that cannot be given to our Will, whether It acts in Us, Its own home, or whether It dwells in creatures.
Volume 18 – August 15, 1925
I began to think of the feast of my Celestial Mama Assumed into Heaven, and my sweet Jesus, with a tender and moving tone, added: “My daughter, the true name of this Feast should be Feast of the Divine Will. It was the human will that closed Heaven, broke the bonds with its Creator, made miseries and suffering enter the field, and put an and to the feast that the creature was to enjoy in Heaven. Now, this Creature, Queen of all, by doing the Will of the Eternal One, always and in everything – even more, it can be said that Her life was Divine Will alone – opened the Heavens, bound Herself to the Eternal One, and restored in Heaven the feasts with the creature. Every act She did in the Supreme Will, was a feast that She started in Heaven; it was Suns that She formed to adorn this feast; it was melodies that She sent to delight the Celestial Jerusalem.
Therefore, the true cause of this feast is the Eternal Will operating and fulfilled in my Celestial Mama. It operated such prodigies in Her as to astonish Heaven and earth, chain the Eternal One with indissoluble bonds of love, and enrapture the Word, even from Her womb. The very Angels, enraptured, repeated among themselves: “From where comes so much glory, so much honor, such greatness and prodigies never seen before – in this excelling Creature? Yet, she is coming from the exile!” Astonished, they recognized the Will of their Creator as life operating in Her; and, trembling, they said: “Holy, Holy, Holy! Honor and glory to the Will of Our Sovereign Lord! And glory to Mary, trice Holy, She who let this Supreme Will operate!”
So, it is my Will that was and is celebrated more than everything on the day of Her Assumption into Heaven. It was my Will alone that made my Most Holy Mother ascend so high as to distinguish Her among all. Everything else would have been as nothing, had She not possessed the prodigy of my Will. It was my Will that gave Her Divine Fecundity and made of Her the Mother of the Word. It was my Will that made Her see and embrace all creatures together, making of Her the Mother of all, and loving all with a love of Divine Maternity. Constituting Her Queen of all, It made Her rule and dominate. On that day, my Will received the first honors, the glory and the abundant fruit of Its work in Creation; and the unending feast began, for the glorification of Its work in my beloved Mama. And even though Heaven was opened by Me, and many Saints already possessed the Celestial Fatherland when the Celestial Queen was assumed into Heaven – we waited for Her who had honored It so much and contained the true prodigy of the Most Holy Will, to make the first feast for the Supreme Volition, because She Herself was the primary cause of it, having fulfilled the Supreme Will in everything.
Oh, how the whole of Heaven magnified, blessed and praised the Eternal Will, upon seeing this sublime Queen, all surrounded by the Eternal Sun of the Supreme Will, enter the Heavens, into the midst of the Celestial Court! They saw Her all studded with the power of the Supreme FIAT, and saw that not one breath had been in Her which did not have this FIAT impressed in it. Astonished, all the celestial spirits looked at Her and said: ‘Ascend, ascend higher! It is justice that She, Who so much honored the Supreme FIAT, and through Whom we find ourselves in the Celestial Fatherland, have the highest throne, and be our Queen!’
The greatest honor that my Mother received, was to see the Divine Will glorified in Her.”
Fiat!
