We end the Month of January with BL. PAOLO MANNA, who was the first Superior General of PIME in Italy, although his heart remained in Myanmar.
Born in Naples, like Bl. Clement, his mother died when he was a small child. He studied in Rome and Milan, and right after ordination was sent to Burma. He served for 12 years in Myanmar until TB forced him to permanently resign from his mission. St Pope John XXIII attributed to him the title of “the Christopher Columbus” of missionary cooperation and Pope Paul VI described him as “one of the most effective promoters of missionary universality in the 20th century.”
He spent the following forty years of his life promoting missions to all Catholics: lay, religious, and ordained. In order to spread the mission call to all Catholics through missionary priests and religious, Bl. Paolo started the Missionary Union of the Clergy – which is now worldwide – in 1916, established the Sacred Heart Seminary in Southern Italy for overseas missions and founded the Society of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate.
Bl. Paolo also contributed to the current understanding and expanse of missions through his publications; he started a magazine for families, as well as one for children, educating younger people about missions. He authored many books, stressing new missionary methods that possibly inspired changes brought about by Vatican II many years later. Bl. Paolo died in 1952 and was buried at the seminary he founded in Italy.
According to the Vatican, “Fr. Manna’s greatest legacy is the example he left behind: he was driven by an overwhelming passion for the missions that sickness, suffering and setbacks could never diminish.”
He is also acknowledged for his “prophetic role” in promoting Ecumenism.
His book Thoughts and Reflections upon Vocations to the Foreign Missions was published in 1909. An edited version entitled “Forward with Christ” was published by Fr. Nicholas Maestrini, PIME in 1954.
