My dearly beloved formator read my latest blog and rightly complained, “You tell the whole world about Don Bosco, but what about Mother Mazzarello?”
*ahem*
Mother Mazzarello is a really great lady. There are not as many sources about her in English, but I have been trying to dig around and learn more about her. I could do better, though. I really knew next to nothing about her when I entered the FMAs last August, but based upon what I have learned from the Sisters this years, here is what I have concluded:
- Mother Mazzarello was a woman who was fully alive. St Iraneaus is known for saying that “the glory God is man fully alive”, and as I have learned about Mother Mazz, I have noticed how as a person, she accepted herself and lived life with zest. She had a good sense of humor, loved nature, and the good things of life, but in a balanced way. As a young girl she loved clothes, perfect hair, and socializing. As her vocation became more clear, she gradually “put the flag down” (as St Francis de Sales had advised Jane de Chantal when she was discerning), but never sacrificed her sensitivity to the beautiful things in life - above all as we experience it in other people.
- She was a saint of the “ordinary”. Salesianity believes that God reveals Himself to us in the “ordinariness” of everyday life, and in that revelation is the invitation to sanctity. There are a many saints whom people like because they had exciting lives (reform, apparition, great travels, etc), but Mother Mazzarello in comparison was very ordinary. If we look at her for who she is, though, and within her historical reality, she is not boring - she is real and palpable. I think that even more so than St Therese, Mother Mazzarello could be called the saint of the “little way” of fidelity in daily life. Her holiness was a stream of charity, prayers, and overall consistent goodness. The “little way” is very Salesian. Mother Mazzarello’s mannerism relates well to what de Sales said, “The spirit of the Visitation [the Nuns he founded] is one of profound humility towards God and of great gentleness towards the neighbor.” (S240) That is, in essence, how our Mother was.
- Mother understood the human heart. There are many stories related about how Mother Mazzarello understood people in a way that human wisdom alone could not. She had an intuitive sense of the human heart, which was deeply augmented by the God’s gifts to her. Her presence, her “forseeing love”, and her attentiveness to her sisters captivated the hearts of the members of the fledgling Congregation. I continue to draw great encouragement from her saying, “I do not want daughters without faults, but daughters who never make peace with their faults.” Mother knew that perfect love resided within the striving of the human heart, not an image of exterior of supposed “perfection” which often hides deeper issues.
- Mother Mazzarello’s prayer speaks to my heart. Sister Mary Greenan said, “The heart of her prayer was a contemplation of the people and the events of the day… every moment bears Christ, but requires being present to the moment.” I find that I am a deeply contemplative woman, but I could never be the type that removes herself from day to day interactions with “the world”. The “world” speaks so much to me of God, that to be separated from it would for me, be to separate myself from God. (I am well aware of there being different calls and charisms among people in the Church, so please do not interpret this as my saying they are bad! Not at all. I do not know where I would be with our my Carmelite and Passionist friends, but for me, that vocation would never “fit”.)
- Mother Mazzarello faithfully interpeted the feminine expression of Salesianity. Obviously how one is with boys is not the same way one can be with girls. Her experience in the workroom which she and Petronilla started, teaching the girls the sewing trade and catechizing them lead her to have a profound sensitivity to the needs of young girls/women in her era. She, by all accounts, was uneducated, but what she lacked in formal education she made up for in supernatural wisdom. Through many challenges (bizzare postulants, interfering townsfolk, misguided “helpers”, Don Bosco’s distance and lack of physical presence, difficult Salesians) she managed to guide and govern the Institute and assist in its growth. What Don Bosco lacked in understanding women, she more than made up for (and also understood how to get the men to cooperate with what her sisters needed!). The greatest testament to her is the deep love which her sister bore towards her, and even in our own time, she is beloved among the FMA.
I am still learning about Mother Mazzarello, but I can already detect her influence in my own life. I hope that she will continue to guide me, and along with Don Bosco, show me the path of Salesian holiness. Viva Madre Mazzarello!
