Greetings my brothers and sisters,
On September 19, 1868, St. Joseph Marello was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Asti. In this way, he
realized the vocation he had first felt called to 12 years earlier at the age of 12. On a pilgrimage with his
father, Victor, to the Shrine of Our Lady of Ransom in Savona, he first felt that call and told his father on
the train ride back to his hometown of San Martino Tanaro that he wanted to enter the seminary of Asti
that Fall, 1856. His father was reluctant to allow his son this step as he was hopeful Joseph would make
his way in the world, carrying on the family name. However, in the end, he allowed him to enter and
Joseph began his vocational path in earnest. There were a few bumps along the way!
The biggest bump was his decision in 1862 to leave the seminary and pursue business studies in the city
of Turin. Why this decision? One reason was the political and social environment at the time. The
Risorgimento, the movement to form the country of Italy, was in full swing. This movement was very
anti-Church and anti-clerical. This lead to the confiscation of church proprieties, one of which was the
seminary building in Asti. This led to the seminarians being housed in family homes in the city with the
consequent loss of a strict, formative environment. There were also a good number of stories circulated
about inappropriate actions of clergy (many of which were false, but not all) and this led to some
discouragement at the idea of pursuing a vocation in the Church. Marello was led to consider that it
might be better to be a good layperson instead of a corrupt priest! Finally, his father had never been
completely in favor of his pursuit of the priestly vocation and Joseph’s decision to leave the seminary
pleased his father much. So, it was that he left this vocational path begun with such earnest.
Clearly, he returned to this path since he was ordained a priest, and even eventually a bishop. What
took place to lead him back to the seminary? He fell very ill with typhus and was even at the point of
death. In this state, he had a spiritual experience with our Lady again in the mix. He felt her say that he
needed to return to the seminary if he hoped to be cured. With his father’s blessing, who only wanted
his son to be well again, he made the decision to return to Asti and the seminary and he was well once
again. The authorities at the seminary were very pleased to have him back and he never wavered again.
Years later, Marello was able to note two things in his heart and mind which had led to this vocation
crisis. The first was his lack of trust in the Church to be able to overcome any of her failings and still carry
out the will of God. These doubts in the holiness of the Church might have been understandable given
some of the scandals but Joseph was able to see that Jesus’ promise to not allow the gates of hell to
prevail over her could not be overcome. The second thing was what he refers to as “ambition”. This
essentially was his desire to do something great in the world, albeit in the name of God. What he
recognized was that this desire was not centered in the will of God but in his own will. It was his plan
and not God’s plan. Once this became clear to him, he abandoned himself completely into God’s hands
and was obedient to him from then on. He had never wanted to stray from God but had done so by not
staying close enough to his Church and by trusting more in his own ideas and plans than in those of God.
May we humbly follow the example of St. Joseph Marello by trusting in God’s Church and God’s plan
and will, even at the cost of our own desires and goals.
St. Joseph Marello, pray for us.
Fr. Brian, OSJ
