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St. Joseph Marello - 1889

having the care of a particular flock, must nevertheless, by the
grace of ordination, serve God in the holy ministries. You too,
dear priests, are to be images of the Good Shepherd, you too
must always attend to evangelizing peace. Look around you:
how many young people for whom you must break the bread of
the Word of God! How many troubled souls to whom lips
inspired by the charity of Jesus Christ can communicate
consolation! How many sinners to whom God, through his
minister, wishes to restore peace of conscience! May there be
among you, as among the Pastors, a holy emulation of zeal for
the salvation of souls, and one day you will receive your crown
of glory from the Prince of Pastors. Cum apparuerit Princips
pastorum percipietis immarcescibilem gloriae coronam.
I address a word of affection to you, Religious clergy, who
persevere in your sublime vocation in the footsteps of those
heroes of holiness: Francis of Assisi, Joseph Calasantius, and
Paul of the Cross. The good that you do in the Diocese is
precious; pleasing to the Lord is your ministry of evangelical
preaching. May your solicitude and labors for the young be
fruitful and blessed. Few in number, you multiply your zeal,
that zeal that aims only at God and the salvation of souls and
which worked marvels in you Founders; and the reward that you
do not receive here on earth, you will have abundantly in
heaven. Gaudete, et exultate, quoniam merces vestra copiosa
est in coelis.
Oh, dear students of the Seminary, how many things I
would like to say to you, but that I am not permitted to mention
now! Therefore, I feel the very strong desire to come soon to
you: to speak to you of the hopes that the Church places in you;
to urge you to grow in knowledge and virtue so that those hopes
may not be in vain; to rejoice in your response to the graces you
receive from the Lord to make you worthy of the very high
ministry to which He has called you. My heart will be filled with

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