Padre de los migranti

• A Spirituality of Incarnation

The spirituality of Bishop Scalabrini is focused on the centrality of Jesus Christ, on a great love for the Eucharist, for the crucified Jesus, to whom he entrusted himself in the most difficult moments of his pastoral work. Scalabrini was convinced that the Church is the continuation of the Incarnation of Christ in the world.

His spirituality can be defined as a spirituality of Incarnation. Every baptized person, every Christian is called to continue manifesting in the world the love of Jesus Christ, the love of the Father for everyone else. It is an open, universal spirituality. The bishop also had a great devotion to the Virgin Mary, a strong apostolic pastoral zeal.

He was never indifferent to social problems, such as poverty or situations in which he felt he had to get involved to alleviate the suffering of his brothers, he affirmed.

• His Work with Migrants

Scalabrini, with regard to migration, got involved not only at the religious and pastoral level, but also at the political-social level and also at the scientific level with studies, research, and statistics on the subject of migration with conferences, raising awareness in the society of his time. He promoted laws in favor of emigrants, and also involved lay people in legal support work at the ports of departure and arrival of immigrants. Scalabrini had a prophetic vision of migration. A structural phenomenon of his time with the industrial revolution and today with globalization.

• The Legacy of Scalabrini

More than a century after Scalabrini's death, his legacy and his charism remain very relevant in today's world, in the world of migration, considered by Pope Francis as one of the most important phenomena of our time, which the Universal Church must take into account in its pastoral action in all countries of the world.

The charism of Scalabrini is still present in his family, the Scalabrinian Family, in those who embrace it and become migrants with the migrants, to collaborate with God's dream of uniting all peoples into one family.

The Scalabrinian family is made up in particular of three institutes of consecrated life, the first are the Scalabrinian Missionaries, priests founded by John Baptist Scalabrini in 1887, around 650 religious spread across 33 countries. Their pastoral and missionary action is carried out mainly in parishes, Migrant Houses and also in Apostleship of the Sea Centers where they assist sailors and sea workers. They have schools and Study Centers on the subject of emigration.

The second Institute of consecrated life in the Scalabrinian family are the Scalabrinian Missionary Sisters, founded in 1895 by the future saint, in collaboration with Blessed Mother Assunta Marchetti and the Servant of God Father José Marchetti. The sisters continue to work today in 25 countries around the world, with 110 missions. Mainly schools, hospitals, psychosocial assistance centers, health centers, and Migrant Houses. Since 2018 the congregation has started the Itinerant Service project characterized by assistance to migrants and refugees in border areas.

The third Institute are the Secular Scalabrinian Missionaries who emerged in 1961, inspired by the spirituality of Bishop John Baptist Scalabrini. The institute began in Switzerland, with the yes of Adelia Firetti, a young teacher from Piacenza who came to Switzerland at the invitation of the Scalabrinian Missionaries to create a school for the children of Italian emigrants. That experience was for her the occasion to say her yes to a total consecration to God in lay life.

This charism leads them to live secular consecration along the paths of migratory exodus. They have no external signs that distinguish them from others and have no works, they work according to their profession in the most diverse environments and contexts of the multiethnic societies of our time, to transform from within each reality, especially that of migration, into an experience of encounter and welcome.

The Secular Missionaries are present in Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Brazil, Mexico, and Vietnam and work directly assisting migrants, but also in raising awareness and training young people. In particular, in the international centers John Baptist Scalabrini, and in their places of residence, where meetings are held with young people of various nationalities, cultures, and religions, there they learn to look at the foreigner, to see the migratory reality with new eyes, eyes of faith, in the hope that this path can lead them to make humanity one single family.

Luisa Deponti, September 2022

See the full interview

https://www.vaticannews.va/es/iglesia/news/2022-09/canonizacion-juan-bautista-scalabrini-papa-fracis...