Theatines on the Way: Blessed Paul Burali (November 2023 Edition)
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S. Andrew Avellino, first biographer of Blessed Paul Burali
The Council of Trent becomes a reality in Piacenza
Shortly thereafter he initiated the visitation of the diocese, which is very vast (it has a diámetro of more than 50 miles. There was no castle or village that was not visited by him.
He then wrote the Synod, which was brief but of solid substance. His work was so heavy that after tiring himself for six years he fell ill from exhaustion. He retired to a palace called Gazzola, ten miles from the city, and there he led a solitary life, while expert vicars and able visitators went through the diocese enforcing the observance of his orders.
After two years of quiet life, he was elected archbishop of Naples: an office he absolutely did not want to accept, because he recognized himself as infirm and impotent to govern and considered the heavy labors and contrarieties he would have to endure there.
He notified the Pope of his willingness to say “no” to the appointment. The Commendatore Maggiore, who was the King’s ambassador to the Pope, interposed his offices with Pope Gregory XIII so that he would force him to come.
Forcibly, to his displeasure and the grief of the city, with tears and weeping of the Clergy, the People and the poor, he moved to Naples.
How he then entered and in what manner he behaved in Naples I do not know because I remained in Piacenza. Around his humility we seem to have spoken enough. But there is still much more to be said.
Prayer
O God, who manifested in Blessed Paul Burali the multiform and admirable ways of your call to Christian perfection, grant us the comfort of his heavenly protection to follow you wholeheartedly. Through Christ our Lord. Amén.
(there is a little silence to ask for the grace that each one carries in his heart)
Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be
Thought of Blessed Paul Burali:
“He who sets sail for a long voyage, prepares himself in time both in what concerns his person and in the stuff he must take with him; he arranges everything in its place, he takes leave of his friends, of everyone; he has with him everything he needs for the crossing. Quite different is the condition of another who, facing the same journey, does not care about the departure and everything he needs. Late at night he is suddenly aroused by those who intimate to him the departure, so he takes in bulk what comes under his hand and lazily, reluctant and rebellious, sets out for the ship. All he is left with is the regret of what he is forced to abandon and the yearning, if it were possible, to return to land.”
QPRD