Dear All, We are celebrating the Year of Youth Ministry in the Congregation and remembering the Tenth Anniversary of the First International Congress of Oblate Youth, which was held in Curitiba (Brazil) in 1998 and concluded with the Document “Novos Caminhos”.
On this 113th Anniversary of the return of our Founder to heaven I would like to propose to all of you a re-reading of his Fourth Pastoral Letter, sent to the Diocese of Acqui in 1892. The subject matter is on the instruction and education of children.
I would like to analyze with you some of the characteristics of the “Marellian pedagogy”.
The education of youth was a pastoral concern for the Bishop of Acqui
“Perhaps never so much as in our time has so much been spoken and written about the care of youth. The thoughts of many are turned to them...as to an object of great and serious concern and not little hope”.
The fundamental role of parents in the education of their children
“Oh Christian spouses, always remember that your children are a sacred trust.. .to you God has primarily entrusted the care of your offspring... you have a much greater and much more intimate influence on your children... even if schools are being multiplied, that does not dispense Christian fathers and mothers from thinking about the teachers to whom they entrust their children on the one hand, and on the other from being the first to do what they must and can do with regard to the good instruction and correct education of their children...from their birth, children have a right to be surrounded but he most solicitous care, and you have the duty of giving them everything that is necessary”.

Subsidiary role of other educators
In the Letter there is a strong appeal to all those who assist parents in their “ministry of Christian education”, since they are “called...to the great and, at the same time, formidable task of raising a family...”.

Integral Eduation of youth
“From their birth, children have a right to be surrounded but he most solicitous care...not only of body, but also and especially of spirit… Whether, along with the instruction, at the same time we think also of and provide for an education of the heart, we will not discuss here. What cannot be denied is that cultivating the in¬tellect alone does not suffice and is often harmful if the heart is not also educated in a Christian manner…to educate a soul, that is, to enlighten it with the light of truth, warm it with the fire of divine love, and guide it on the paths of good to its eternal salvation: oh! this is the noble and holy task of men and Christians, the great ministry that raises educators to being representatives of the Heavenly Father, even cooperators with him”. To our Founder it was a pressing need for youth to have an integral education, “that instruction that places them on the right path and makes them virtuous Christians and excellent citizens”.

It was the Holy Spirit who put in the heart of St. Joseph Marello the passion for youth, and this Pastoral Letter is proof of that. This passion has been inherited by his “spiritual children”. In 1883 the Oblates began working with youth in Santa Chiara. Responding to the needs of that time, in 1888 the students of the Boarding School were about one hundred and along with the orphans the number reached 140. In 1892 there were already 160 and not being able to take any more in Santa Chiara the Castle of Frinco was purchased (in a town near Asti) where a separate section of the Boarding School was set up. The following year there were 176 in Asti and 46 in Frinco. And from this Boarding School many vocations came whether for our Congregation or for other Institutes and Dioceses. This positive experience gave St. Joseph Marello the idea to put in the Rules of 1892 that the purpose of the new Congregation of St. Joseph was “the Christian education of youth according to the manner that God shall choose, either by caring for them in appropriate residences, or teaching in primary schools in the towns, or lending their assistance as catechists in parishes under the direction of the pastors.”.
So work with youth had always a priority springing from the charism of our Institute, which continued and which ought to continue in the future as well.
“The Congregation walks along the way of God and according to the directives of the Founder if it succeeds in forming members capable of inspiring and educating youth”. (Constitutions, article 65).
Mary, the second formator of the Apostles; St. Joseph, the Educator of the Word Incarnate; St. Joseph Marello, our Founder and Inspiration; and the Servant of God, Father Joseph Calvi, intercede to the Father for us Oblates of St. Joseph so that we might “be” in the midst of youth with passion.