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Luisa Piccarreta - Status of her Cause
For several years an incongruity has existed between the fame of holiness of
Luisa Piccarreta, which includes the canonization of one of her spiritual sons,
St. Annibale de Francia, and the establishment of a Cause for her own
beatification, and the confusion and controversy surrounding her name and
spirituality, especially in the United States. It has never seemed justified to
attribute this confusion to the Servant of God, but rather to poor translations,
rash interpretations of her writings, and a lack of theological competence by
some who try to explain her writings. For this reason, EWTN has always urged
Catholics to use great caution, until such time as clarity could be brought to
the situation by ecclesiastical authority.
Toward this end, EWTN contacted the Holy See and the new Archbishop of Trani,
Italy, Giovanni Picchierri, where Luisa lived and died and where in 1994 the
Diocesan phase of a Cause for her Beatification was opened. Until the Cause
arrives at the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints for its Roman phase,
the Archbishop is the competent ecclesiastical authority. This contact resulted
in a letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and the sending
of the Promoter of the Faith, Father Bernardino Bucci, OFM Cap., to the United
States, both to answer EWTN's questions and to meet with various groups who
promote the spirituality of Luisa Piccarreta. His official capacity is certified
by the Archdiocese in the Certificate he supplied. Deacon Bill Steltemeier and
myself met with Fr. Bucci for several hours, during which time he answered our
questions and provided the following important clarifications, many of them in
writing (as documented below). I have summarized our meeting and the documents
as follows:
The Servant of God
Luisa Piccarreta lived a holy life of prayer and suffering, attested to by her
contemporaries and with a fame of holiness to this day. She was always obedient
and submissive to the Church in everything. This is precisely known, since from
1884 until her death in 1947 she was under the care of confessors appointed by
her bishop. On this basis the Archbishop of Trani, with the permission of the
Holy See, opened her Cause for Beatification in 1994. The investigation has
confirmed these facts without any doubt. Any attribution of heterodoxy to her
constitutes a grave injustice [Clarifications 1-6].
On October 29, 2005, Archbishop Pichierri declared the diocesan process of the
Cause for the Beatification of the Servant of God completed, and he committed
the documentation to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints.
Her Writings
Writing under obedience, Luisa Piccarreta wrote two small texts Life of the
Blessed Virgin and Hours of the Passion, and later produced 36 numbered
manuscripts, in which she elaborated what she received in prayer about "living
in the Divine Will." These texts were written in her region's Italian dialect,
rather than in standard Italian, a factor which complicates accurate translation
of the sense. A number of the early volumes were reviewed, and published, by
Saint Annibale de Francia (+1927), in his capacity as confessor and diocesan
censor. In 1938, however, this activity ended, when three of her works,
annotated by another person, were put on the Index of Forbidden Books. The
balance of her writings were taken into custody by the Holy Office (now called
the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith), where they remained sequestered
until 1994.
In that year, the Holy See authorized the Cause for the Beatification of Luisa
Piccarreta, now designated Servant of God, by granting it the nihil obstat.
Retaining the originals, the Congregation allowed the Postulation to photocopy
the writings for study and the production of a critical edition, now in process.
Some other copies of the writings, however, are in circulation, both from before
1938 and rep roduced and translated from the 1994 photocopies. These latter have
neither the approval or the imprimatur of the Archbishop of Trani, who is the
legal owner of Luisa's writings. While the Archdiocese has allowed some small
publishers to exhaust their stocks of the first two books (Life of the Blessed
Virgin and Hours of the Passion), in the future the Archdiocese alone will
produce the authorized translations of the writings, based on the critical
edition. The Postulation is not now granting, or encouraging, publication and
promotion of the writings (except as noted above), so as not to create obstacles
to the Cause. [Clarifications 7-9, 11, 14; Communique, Iannuzi letter]
As for the status of the writings with the Holy See, the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith affirmed the following in a letter to EWTN of 4 October
2003,
The writings of Luisa Piccarreta have not been judged by this Dicastery: as such
they enjoy neither the official approbation, nor the official condemnation, of
this Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. In fact, they are currently
being studied, by reason of competence, by the Congregation for the Causes of
Saints, after this Servant of God, independently of the content of her writings,
received the nihil obstat of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
regarding her cause for beatification.
As such, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith makes, at this time, no
pronouncement on the writings in question.
It should be noted that as of the close of the Diocesan phase of the Cause in
October 2005, the typical edition of the writings had been prepared for delivery
to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints which, together with the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, will review it. Only after review
could the critical edition of the writings be publicly released. [Clarifications
2-3,7-8]
Interpreting her Writings
The Servant of God's writings should be interpreted according to the mind and
teaching of the Church. Even if they are ultimately judged to be of supernatural
origin, they necessarily correspond also to the mystic's own mentality, which
was that of a simple pious person and not a theologian. In keeping with Catholic
theology, this must be taken into account in judging what she wrote down of her
mystical experiences. At this stage in the Process there is no definitive
interpretation of her work. The Diocesan Process judged only her life and heroic
virtues, and prepared the critical edition of the writings with commentary, for
the review of the Holy See, which alone can give a definitive judgment and
explanation.
Conferences
In 1998 the now retired Archbishop of Trani, Carmelo Cassati, ordered the
suspension in the United States of Divine Will Conferences, because of the
controversies noted earlier. While this suspension no longer applies, the
following statements govern conferences in the U.S. and throughout the world.
The current Archbishop can only directly authorize priests under his authority,
such as Fr. Bucci, to speak on Luisa and her spirituality. However, priests who
have a letter from their own Bishop permitting them to speak on Luisa, and who
are conversant with both her writings and Catholic theology, can have their
Bishop request a letter from the Archbishop of Trani which authorizes them to
speak officially. They can then present the Archbishop's letter to the bishops
of locales where they wish to give conferences.
The Archbishop will only grant permission to speak publicly to priests, and then
only about the life and virtues of the Servant of God. Lay persons will no
longer be permitted to teach publicly, either about the spirituality of the
Divine Will, or regarding her life and virtues. All conferences presented by
priests without this letter, or by laity, would not represent the Postulation.
So, while unable to regulate what local bishops might allow, the Postulation is
discouraging Catholics from attending conferences given by individuals without a
letter of authorization from the Archbishop of Trani, Italy. (Clarifications 14)
Reading her Writings
While the Postulation does not have the authority to prohibit the reading of
Luisa's writings that are in circulation, no one is permitted to publish her
Diary of 36 volumes. Exceptions have been made for the following writings of
Luisa: The 24 Hours of the Passion, The Virgin Mary in the Kingdom of the Divine
Will, and her Letters, as well as for the works of Padre Bernardino Bucci about
Luisa. Prayer groups are encouraged to study these approved books until such
time as the official typical edition is published in conformity with the
doctrine of the Church and the approval of the Congregation for the Causes of
the Saints. [Clarifications 8, 14]
Prayer Groups
The Postulation encourages prayer groups in the various dioceses of the world,
in order to spread Luisa's fame of holiness. It especially desires that her
great devotion to the Mother of God be imitated. It urges, whenever possible,
that groups be conducted under the guidance of a prudent priest of proven
orthodoxy. The supervision of prayer groups falls under the competence of each
diocesan bishop.
The Postulation also encourages prayer to Luisa, and the careful documentation
and reporting of any favors received through the intercession of the Servant of
God. However, in keeping with the norms of the Holy See, while there may be
private prayer and veneration (i.e. outside the church setting), there must be
no public veneration (cultus) of Luisa, as would be given to a blessed or saint
(public liturgies or devotions, images in churches, etc.) . This would
constitute a grave obstacle to the Cause, as it belongs to the Holy Father
alone, with the Beatification of an individual, to permit public veneration.
[Clarifications 10, 12-13]
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Further Reading:
1913 Catholic Encyclopedia on Private Revelations
A Short Biography from the Postulation
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Answered by Colin B. Donovan, STL
15 October 2003, revised 21 November 2005