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7th Pastoral Letter of the Bishop of Acqui

offerings if they are clearly instructed by you on the nobility of
this work, on the many spiritual riches it brings, and how many
advantages it brings to the Christian cause".
Obedient to the invitation of the Supreme Shepherd, of
whose flock we too are members, we will speak to you,
Venerable Brothers and Beloved children, of the Pious Work of
the Propagation of the Faith, and although we know that it
already enjoys the favor of our beloved diocesans, thanks to the
solicitude of our venerated predecessors and the zeal of our
parish priests, we will add our exhortations so that it may always
be favored by every one.
No one is unaware that Our Lord Jesus Christ wished,
through the preaching of those he sent, to continue His work for
the salvation of the world. Go, He said to His Apostles, teach
all nations, preach the Gospel to all men; those who believe and
are baptized will be saved. Euntes docete omnes gentes:
predicate Evangelium omni creaturae: qui crediderit et
baptizatus fuerit, salvus erit. (Mt. XXVIII. 19. - Mk. XVI. 15).
Faithful to this command, the Apostles and their first disciples
dispersed throughout the world. After having preached Jesus
Christ in many provinces, Peter and Paul brought the Gospel to
Rome while the other Apostles ran to announce it in other parts
of the world. In sending His Apostles to preach, Jesus Christ
did not say he would dispense them from the common demands
of life nor provide them miraculously with the things they need
in the exercise of the worship they were going to establish.
This, which would have made of the life of the Apostles a
continuous miracle, was not in the plans of Divine Providence.
It was up to those who had participated in the great benefit, or
who were about to participate in it, to help the Apostles in their
needs and in the work of their heroic ministry. At the invitation
of the Apostles, that is precisely what the first Christians did by
contributing to the success of the Apostolate and for the support
of the new Churches not only with prayers, but also with

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