Chance or Hand of God?

The
Catholic Weekly
Online

Sydney
23 November 2003

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Chance or Hand of God?

‘A WORTHY CHURCH’ Inside Cardinal Pell’s titular church of St Maria Domenica Mazzarello in Rome. Photo courtesy of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians

By Dr Joe Morley

Was it coincidence or the Hand of God that assigned to Archbishop George Pell the titular Church of Maria Domenica Mazzarello in Rome when he became a cardinal priest last month.

The Church of St Maria Domenica Mazzarello is dedicated to the Salesian saint of that name who, with St John Bosco, the founder of the Salesian order, co-founded the order of the Salesian Sisters - the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.

And Cardinal Pell’s archiepiscopal church is St Mary’s Basilica in Sydney, which is dedicated to Our Lady Help of Christians.

St John Bosco attributed all he had achieved in the education of boys to the intercession of Our Lady Help of Christians who, he said, “must have nagged God”’ to supply him with all he needed for his work.

Situated in the south-eastern outskirts of Rome in the area named CineCitta East (the home of the Italian film industry), the Church of St Maria Domenica Mazzarello is so new that you will not find it listed in any guide to Rome (not even in the official guide book for the Jubilee Year 2000).

Cardinal Ugo Poletti began construction on March 15, 1982.

It was completed under the direction of Cardinal Camillo Ruini on March 1, 1997, as one of 14 new churches built in Rome for the Jubilee Year 2000.

Pope John Paul II visited the church and celebrated Mass there on Sunday, December 14, 1997.

“The parish finally has at its disposal a worthy church,” he said in his homily.

“Now it is a matter of proceeding in the missionary effort to communicate the gift of faith to those who have not yet personally found Christ who loves us and comes to meet us with his mercy.

“How many people, how many families of this crowded neighbourhood await a word of hope?”

At the consistory on February 21, 2001, the Pope established St Maria Domenica Mazzarello as a titular church and assigned as its first cardinal Salesian Ignacio Antonio Velasco Garcia, who was made a cardinal that day. Cardinal Garcia, who was Archbishop of Caracas, died on July 6 this year.

Cardinal Pell was assigned to the parish and church with his elevation to cardinal on October 21.

The parish was entrusted at first to the diocesan clergy of Rome.

But since 2000 it has been under the care of the clergy of the Lombardy diocese of Lodi.

The parish was created from parts of the parishes of St John Bosco and St Bonaventure, both of which were deemed to have become too large.

Given its proximity to the parish of St John Bosco, it is not surprising that it is named after St Maria Domenica Mazzarello.

The origin of assigning a titular church to a cardinal can be traced back to the earliest days of the Church, when Pope St Evaristus who reigned from 97-105 is reported to have divided Rome into parishes.

In 499 Pope Symmachus held a council of 25 presbyters attached to the principal churches of Rome who were then known as cardinal priests and were addressed with the names of their titular or title churches.

The practice was extended in the Middle Ages to embrace cardinal archbishops of sees other than Rome, such as Milan, Ravenna, Constantinople, Naples, Sens (in France), Trier, Magdeburg and Cologne (Germany).

In 975 Pope Benedict VII (974-83) assigned the Roman church of SS Quatro Coronati (Four Crowned Martyrs) to Cardinal Dietrich of Trier (the oldest city in Germany), making him the first foreigner to receive a titular church in Rome.

Through the ages, until recently, the cardinals played an active role in the administration and upkeep of their titular churches.

The Council of Florence (1431-45) read: “For the preservation of the titular churches of the cardinals, some of which have sadly deteriorated both in divine worship and in their buildings, to the shame of the

Apostolic See and of the cardinals themselves, this holy synod decrees that from the revenues and incomes of the territories of the Roman Church - half of which belongs to the cardinals in accordance with the constitution of Pope Nicholas - a tenth of what each cardinal receives shall be applied each year to his titular church.

“Moreover, each cardinal shall leave to his titular church, either in his lifetime or at his death, enough for the upkeep of one person.

“If he fails to do so, regarding both this and the said tenth, all his goods shall be sequestrated until due satisfaction has been made.

“We place the burden of carrying this out on the first cardinal of the order in which he died.

“Each cardinal present in the curia should make an annual visitation of his titular church in person; each one not present should make it through a suitable deputy.

“He should also inquire carefully concerning the clergy and the people of his dependent churches, and make useful provision with regard to the divine worship and the goods of these churches, as well as the life and conduct of the clergy and parishioners, about whom, since they are his sheep, he will have to render an account at the severe judgment of God.”

However, Pope John XXIII changed all that in 1962 by naming resident bishops to the sees.

And in April 1969, Pope Paul VI abolished all the administrative and governmental privileges of the cardinals in their titular churches, leaving them only with the duty to promote the church’s well being by their advice and protection.

Clause 357 of the Canon Law Code of 1983 states: “When a Cardinal has taken possession of a suburbicarian church [a titular church] in Rome, he is to further the good of the diocese or church by counsel and patronage.

“However, he has no power of governance over it, and he should not for any reason interfere in matters concerning the administration of its good, or its discipline or the services of the church.”

St Maria Domenica Mazzarello, to whom Cardinal Pell’s titular church in Rome is dedicated, was born on May 9, 1837, the eldest of seven children of Maddelena and Guiseppe Mazzarello who farmed vineyards and fields near Mornese in northern Italy.

As was the custom at that time in her area girls did not go to school. Maria helped her mother with housework until her younger sister Felicina took over those duties and Maria went to work with her father in the vineyards and fields.

She worked hard learning about her religion from her mother and from a priest in a town nearby and began going to daily Mass.

Maria topped her religion class at the church.

She was 17 when she joined a group of girls in her town who formed a class to study their religion and help people in need.

With the permission of John Bosco their group was called the Daughters of Mary Immaculate.

Seven years later, while caring for her uncle during a typhoid epidemic, Maria contracted the disease herself.

She recovered but was left so weak that she could no longer work in the vineyards and fields.

She and a friend established a dressmaking shop in Valentino Campi where they taught sewing and religion to local girls and orphans.

Maria heard John Bosco preach at Mass when he visited Mornese in 1864; they were to correspond for years.

In 1871, John Bosco informed Pope Pius IX about the work Maria and her friend were doing and sought permission for them to found an order of nuns. The Pope agreed. Maria’s group chose her to be the leader, even though she maintained she was not smart enough to hold the position.

On August 5, 1872, they became the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.

When Maria Domenica died at Nizza Monferrato, Italy, on May 14, 1881, there were 139 sisters of her order - known as the Salesian Sisters - in 27 convents in Italy, France and South America.

Today the order is the second largest congregation of women religious in the Church, with more than 15,000 sisters in 87 countries.

Pope Pius XII canonised Maria Domenica Mazzarello in 1951.

Her remains are preserved in the Church of Our Lady Help of Christians in Turin, Italy, with those of St John Bosco and St Dominic Savio.