March
Newsletter
Abbaye Saint-Joseph de Clairval, France
March 3, 2001
Saint Katharine Drexel
Dear Friend of Saint Joseph Abbey,
Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone;
but if it dies, it bears much fruit (Jn. 12: 24). On May 7, 2000, at the
Coliseum in Rome, the place of martyrdom of numerous Christians, Pope
John Paul II commented on this verse from the Gospel: ³Christ is
the grain of wheat who by dying has borne fruits of everlasting life.
And down the centuries His disciples have followed in the footsteps of
the Crucified King, becoming a numberless multitude from every nation,
race, people and languageŠ In the twentieth century, and maybe even
more than in the first period of Christianity, there has been a vast number
of men and women who bore witness to the faith through sufferings that
were often heroicŠ Where hatred seemed to corrupt the whole of life
leaving no escape from its logic, [the martyrs] proved that love is stronger
than death (cf. Cant. 8: 6). Within terrible systems of oppression which
disfigured manŠ, they loudly proclaimed their loyalty to Christ crucified
and risen.²
Among these martyrs are many women who have lost their lives in defense
of their dignity and purity. Teresa Bracco, beatified May 24, 1998, on
the feast of Mary Help of Christians, is one of these heroic women. ³Martyrdom
crowned her journey of Christian maturation, developed day after day with
the strength she drew from daily Eucharistic Communion and a deep devotion
to the Virgin Mother of God² (Homily of the Mass of Beatification).
Where did they go?
Teresa Bracco was born on February 24, 1924, in Santa Giulia (in the Piedmont
province, in northern Italy), the sixth child of Giacomo and Angela Bracco.
These simple peasants developed their land with untiring labor. The father
was severe but just; the mother was gentle and peaceful. Each word which
came from their lips was weighed on the balance of the Gospel and measured
against the rule of the fear of God, a God who was approached with feelings
of respect and love. In the evenings, Giacomo himself presided over the
recitation of the Rosary as a family. Teresa received her name in honor
of the ³little Saint² of Lisieux, beatified in 1923. She was
a gentle and good child. In 1927, her two brothers died of typhus. The
little girl asked ingenuously where they had gone. ³To Heaven!²
she was told, which made her hope to go there so as to join them. Another
daughter, Anna, was born to the Braccos in 1928. The parents would have
preferred a boy, who would have been able to take over the farm. But,
in this Christian household, each event was regarded in light of the will
of God; therefore was Anna greeted with joy.
In 1930, a young, zealous priest, Don Natale Olivieri, arrived in Santa
Giulia. He noticed Teresa¹s piety, as she regularly attended his
catechism classes. The child desired very much to make her First Communion,
which grace was granted her in the spring of 1931. She spent her life
between her familial home, helping her mother with the domestic chores,
the church, the village school, and the fields, where she sometimes led
the livestock to pasture. The priest made of her an example: ³Be
like Teresa! If everyone were like her, I wouldn¹t have anything
to worry about.²
On October 2, 1933, Teresa received the sacrament of Confirmation. She
had engraved in her heart the words of Don Natale: ³We are here to
know, to love, and to serve God, and to see Him in Heaven in the next
life. Here on earth we must count on that. If not, we lose everything.²
The same year, she was moved reading the life of Saint Dominic Savio (1842-1857),
a disciple of Saint John Bosco. The young saint¹s motto fascinated
her: ³Better to die than to sin.² Meditation on Saint Alphonsus
de Liguori¹s Eternal Maxims centered on the importance of eternal
salvation and man¹s final ends, anchored in her heart the resolution
to avoid all sin. Teresa also loved very much the virgin martyr saints
Agnes, Lucy, Cecilia, and the patron of her parish, Saint Julia, who had
preferred to be crucified rather than to renounce her faith. Jesus¹
Passion, brought to life in a writing of St. Vincent Strambi, an 18th-century
Passionist, was frequently the subject of her contemplation. Attending
weekday Mass and Holy Communion became for her a necessity. She made the
nine First Fridays devotion, Communions of reparation to the Sacred Heart,
which Our Lord asked of Saint Margaret Mary. Teresa wanted to enter the
Society of Children of Mary, but her father did not allow it, because
the young women of this group had to make collections from door to door
for the parish. Teresa submitted without a word, but she continued to
follow all the practices of the interior life recommended to the Children
of Mary.
At the age of 16, Teresa was assigned to do harder farm chores, because
there was no other man in the family but the father. She led the oxen
to plowing, she sowed, harvested, and picked fruit, but she never complained
of fatigue. She never refused any task, and willingly took the place of
her sisters, to the point that Giacomo told them one day, ³I¹m
afraid that you do her wrong, because she is too good.² Her sister
Giuseppina described Teresa¹s character thus: ³I don¹t
know where her great strength came fromŠ for the love of God, she
accepted weariness and sacrificesŠ she always looked on the bright
side of lifeŠ I never saw her angry, or act without thinkingŠ
To die rather than to sin was her framework for life.²
A natural bulwark
Given Teresa¹s fervor, her parents believed her to be called to religious
life. But she had not yet made her choice. One of her friends said, ³She
was always good and modest in her manner of dress.² Her sister Maria
added, ³She was very subdued and balanced in everything. She didn¹t
wish to impress people. She always wore her hair long, and never wanted
to have it cut.² She didn¹t like to wear makeup, but her natural
beauty was noticed in the village, and many young men sought to accompany
her on the way out of Mass or on the way back from the fields. Obliging
towards them and always disposed to do a favor, the young woman remained
reserved, and she had ways of avoiding them, especially those who acted
too freely. Teresa found in her modesty the guardian of her chastity,
according to these words of Saint Ambrose: Modesty is ³the companion
of purity, in whose company chastity itself is safer² (De Officiis,
I, 20).
³[Modesty], said Pope Pius XII, ³is the natural bulwark of chastity.
It is its effective rampart, because it moderates acts closely connected
with the very object of chastity. Modesty makes man hear its warning,
like a forward sentinel, from the moment he acquires the use of reasonŠ
It accompanies him throughout his entire life and demands that certain
acts, which are good in themselves because they are divinely established,
should be protected by a discreet veil of shadow and the reserve of silence,
in order to confer on them the respect owed the dignity of their great
purpose² (November 8, 1957).
Purity is not protected without battles, as Pius XII again explains to
young women of the Catholic Action of Rome: ³With the exception of
the Blessed Virgin, it is vain to imagine a human life which could be
at once pure and lived without vigilance or combatŠ You do not know
the depth of human fragility, nor what corrupted blood runs from the wounds
left in human nature by Adam¹s sin‹leaving ignorance in intelligence,
malice in the will, greed for pleasure and weakness as regards the difficult
accomplishment of the good in the passions of the sensesŠ As long
as certain provocative clothes remain the sad privilege of women of questionable
reputation and as the sign that makes them known, you will not dare adopt
them for yourselves. But the day when these clothes will be worn by individuals
above all suspicion, women will no longer hesitate to go with the tide,
a tide which may bring about the worst falls² (May 22, 1941). Already,
the Blessed Virgin had warned Blessed Jacinta Marto of Fatima that there
would come ³fashions which will offend Our Lord very much.²
This warning spurs on vigilance against the dangers and spiritual downfalls
sowed by indecent fashions.
The Pontifical Council for the Family recalled, on December 8, 1995, that,
³Even if they are socially acceptable, some habits of speech and
dress are not morally correct and represent a way of trivializing sexuality,
reducing it to a consumer object. Parents should therefore teach their
children the value of Christian modesty, moderate dress, and, when it
comes to trends, the necessary autonomy² (Truth and Meaning of Human
Sexuality, no. 97). Fashion is not bad in itself. It comes spontaneously
from human sociability, following the impulse which inclines us to place
ourselves in harmony with our peers. Yet fashion is not the highest rule
of conduct. Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that there is a commendable act
of virtue in feminine adornment when it conforms to the state of the person
and is worn with good intentions (Commentary on the Prophet Isaiah). But
he likewise calls to mind that the good of our soul is more important
than the good of our body, and that we should prefer to the advantage
of our own bodies the good of our neighbor¹s soul (Summa theologiæ).
Therefore, a limit exists which no form of fashion may go beyond, a limit
beyond which fashion makes itself the cause of spiritual ruin.
What supreme criteria?
Fortified by the sacraments, Teresa was a model of joyful modesty. Her
exemplary life manifested a profound love of God and neighbor, a love
which forgot itself, according to Jesus¹ words to His disciples:
If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny his very self, take up
his cross, and follow me (Mt. 16: 24). Whoever loves his life loses it,
while whoever hates his life in this world preserves it to life eternal
(Jn. 12: 25). As Pope John Paul II explains, ³[These words] contain
a truth which today¹s world often scorns and rejects, making love
of self the supreme criterion of life. But the witnesses to the faith,
who also this evening speak to us by their example, did not consider their
own advantage, their own well-being, their own physical survival as greater
values than fidelity to the Gospel² (May 7, 2000). Teresa¹s
faithfulness to the will of God in the little events of everyday life
prepared her for the supreme battle of martyrdom.
With the approach of war, Pope Pius XII called all Christians to pray
for peace. Teresa increased her prayers. At the religious offices, she
was very recollected, her eyes focused on the altar where the Blessed
Sacrament was placed. During Lent 1940, two Passionist Fathers came to
preach a mission to the people of Santa Giulia. At the beginning of each
conference, the missionaries repeated these powerful sentences: ³Life
is short, death is certain; the hour of death is not certain; I have but
one soul; if I lose it, what will I be left with? Everything passes, everything
will soon end, but eternity will never end.² Teresa meditated on
these truths and understood the urgent necessity of working for the Reign
of God, according to Jesus¹ words: Remember, I am coming soon! I
bring with me the reward that will be given to everyone for what he has
done (Rev. 22: 12).
Tense situation
September 1943: two months after Mussolini¹s deposition, an armistice
was signed between Italy and the Allies. In reprisal, and in order to
prevent the invasion of its territory, the German Third Reich decided
to occupy the Italian peninsula. Armed resistance movements were organized
against the occupants, and these partisans were particularly active in
the Piedmont province. The Germans, exasperated by their Italian allies¹
³treason,² mounted a counterattack to the partisans¹ guerrilla
operations by means of severe repression. The diocese of Acqui, to which
Santa Giulia belonged, was submitted to a painful ordeal. At the risk
of his life, diocesan Bishop Dell¹Omo, defended the rebels and the
cause of civilian groups.
In the Bracco home, this troubled period saw the death after illness of
the father, Giacomo, on May 13, 1944. The six women remaining at home
had to support themselves. Teresa was twenty years old. Far from being
weakened and destabilized by her father¹s death, the young woman
became stronger and more courageous, as if she had been bequeathed her
father¹s virtues. On July 24, a bloody confrontation not far from
Santa Giulia brought a German detachment against a resisting group. After
killing several soldiers, the partisans hid in the village. The following
day, the Germans returned with reinforcements and engaged in the destruction
of the area. Five farms were destroyed. The rumor spread that some soldiers
had raped women and girls.
A fearless young woman
On August 27, there was another confrontation. The partisans fled. The
morning of the 28th, Teresa attended the 7 o¹clock Mass. She then
went to work in the fields, accompanied by her sisters, Adele and Anna.
All of a sudden, the three young women heard gunshots. Around 9 o¹clock,
the partisans on the run warned them not to return to Santa Giulia, because
the Germans were there. Despite her natural timidity, Teresa didn¹t
listen to them. ³What more can they do than kill me?² she asked
a neighbor. She wanted to help her mother and assist her in hiding the
most precious family possessions, among which was the photograph of her
father. With her sisters, she headed back to the village and reached the
location of the chestnut grove, where her mother was among the fleeing
villagers. A friend of Teresa¹s recalled, ³I told her about
the soldiers¹ barbarity and of their little respect for women. She
told me decisively, ŒI would rather die than be defiled.¹ ²
Mrs. Bracco urged all those present to recite the Rosary.
At 3 o¹clock, the Germans approached, along with the partisans who
had been captured. Angela and Teresa hid in the cavity of a rock. Suddenly,
the soldiers discovered the presence of the two sisters and ordered them
to follow the column of prisoners. Later on, they met with a woman with
her baby‹Enrichetta Ferrera, a cousin of Teresa¹s. Taken away
with the group, she exclaimed, ³My other children are still in the
woods!² She was allowed to go back there. Enrichetta gave her infant
to Teresa, but he began to cry, requiring the mother to take him back.
A soldier then ordered Teresa to go along with her cousin.
A sad adventure
Enrichetta¹s husband recounted, ³I saw my wife arrive carrying
the child, along with Teresa, who told me, ŒThey sent me to help
you to take the children.¹ ² Then four soldiers arrived, who
ordered the Ferrera family to go home, but detained Teresa and two of
her young companions. Teresa was sequestered by an officer who ordered
two soldiers to lead the two others away. These young women were raped
a few minutes later. When they rejoined their families in custody that
evening and told their sad adventure in the presence of Mrs. Bracco, Teresa¹s
mother felt her heart sink: ³My daughter would never come home again,
if something like that happened to her,² she thought. ³While
the group of women and children had made their way towards Sanvarezzo,
then were locked up in a parlor in my home,² said one of the residents
of this hamlet, ³the young women, who included Teresa, were forced
by the soldiers to follow them in various directions. I heard repeated
cries and calls for help; one of my neighbors, named Baldo Giovanni, already
up in years, encountered the soldier who had abducted Teresa; he was gripping
her by the neck and dragging her.²
Soon after the German army had left, Don Natale went to the scene of the
tragedy, accompanied by Venanzio Ferrari and the mother of the victim,
as well as her sister. He found the body in a place called ³the Plane
of Cherries.² Teresa was lying on her back, her hands crossed over
her chest, in an attitude of defense against an aggressor. A bullet had
gone through one of her hands and was lodged in her chest. On her throat
could be seen a pale mark. Her face bore bruises; on her chest and arms
there were horrible traces of bites. On her skull was a depression of
eight centimeters, most probably caused by a blow given by a hobnailed
boot. With great sorrow, the priest hurried to have the body covered with
a shroud, without letting anyone touch it. Then a physician, Dr. Scorza,
came to confirm the death and examine the corpse. ³Nothing happened
to compromise the young woman¹s integrity,² he affirmed. ³She
struggled until the soldier strangled her and killed her in a fit of rage
at not having made her yield.²
³To obey God who asked her to defend the temple of her body (cf.
I Cor. 3: 16),² wrote in 1998 Bishop Livio Maritano of Acqui Terme,
³Teresa disobeyed the man who would have raped her, but would have
let her live. Her attitude was not one of silent resignation when faced
by a brute ready for anything, but a positive refusal to allow her virginal
beauty to be tarnished. Teresa was not an anachronistic person; she is
close to the youth of today by her desire for authenticity and consistency
between what she was convinced of‹her Catholic faith‹and her
way of living. Teresa Bracco was truly ³in love with God,² and
it was for this reason that she decided to sacrifice her life. She preferred
to lose her life here on earth in order to find it again, forever, in
the infinite Love.²
On August 31, a very unassuming religious burial took place. But the occupying
force was frightened by the excesses of its own soldiers, and reprisals
ended in the area; Teresa¹s sacrifice thus began to bear fruit. The
local Bishop sent the German general a letter of protest for the outrages
perpetrated against women, leading the general to recognize that arbitrary
acts of violence had been committed, for which two German soldiers were
indicted before military tribunals.
A beacon for youth
Each year since 1945, the residents of Santa Giulia have observed the
custom of gathering on August 28 to commemorate Teresa¹s death. Many
people from the diocese join them; many go to confession and receive Communion,
especially youth. During Teresa¹s beatification ceremony, Pope John
Paul II remarked, ³What a significant Gospel witness for the young
generations who are approaching the third millennium! What a message of
hope for those who are striving to run counter to the spirit of the world!
To young people in particular, I hold up this young woman whom the Church
is proclaiming blessed today so that they may learn from her clear faith,
witnessed to in daily commitment, moral consistency without compromises
and the courage of sacrificing even life if necessary, in order not to
betray the values that give it meaning.²
Let us be grateful to the Holy Father for proposing to us as a model the
example of the martyrs, who teach us to place our conduct in harmony with
our faith. By faith, ³we believe in God and believe all that He has
said and revealed to us, and that the Holy Church proposes for our belief,
because He is Truth itself² (Catechism of the Catholic Church, no.
1814). But faith ³is not simply a set of propositions to be accepted
with intellectual assent. Rather, faith is a lived knowledge of Christ,
a living remembrance of His commandments, and a truth to be lived out.
A word, in any event, is not truly received until it passes into action,
until it is put into practiceŠ It entails an act of trusting abandonment
to Christ, which enables us to live as He lived (cf. Gal. 2: 20), in profound
love of God and of our brothers and sistersŠ Through the moral life,
faith becomes Œconfession,¹ not only before God but also before
men; it becomes witness. You are the light of the world, said JesusŠ
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father who is in heaven (Mt. 5: 14-16)² (John
Paul II, Veritatis splendor, 88-89).
May Saint Joseph and Blessed Teresa obtain for us the grace of absolute
consistency between our life and our Catholic faith, the source of innumerable
benefits for us and for all those whom we entrust to our Lord in prayer!
Dom Antoine Marie osb
P. S. This monthly letter is free of charge, and is also published in
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Also available free of charge are: tract about the Truths of the
Catholic Religion; scapular of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, with explanatory
notice; the promises of the Sacred Heart; the mysteries of the Rosary.
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