Blessed Gabriel Allegra
Blessed Gabriel Allegra
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Known as “the St. Jerome of China”, Fr. Gabriele was born Dec. 26, 1907 in a village in the province of Catania, Sicily, and entered the Order as a youth of 16. While he was studying theology at St. Anthony’s College in Rome, an academic conference was held there on the work of Giovanni of Montecorvino, a Franciscan who journeyed to China in the late 13th century.
Inspired by Giovanni’s attempts to communicate Christianity to the Chinese people, Gabriel sailed to Hunan Province shortly after his ordination in 1930, and as soon as he gained knowledge of the language, began translating the Bible into Chinese. This was a task that would consume the next 40 years of his life: facing many obstacles, he persevered, establishing the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Beijing in 1945. Forced to move to Hong Kong in 1948, he and his friar collaborators completed the translation of the Bible into Chinese with full commentary in 1968. He died in Hong Kong on Jan. 26, 1976.
Although known primarily as a biblical scholar, Fr. Gabriele was well-read in other areas of theology, becoming an expert on the thought of John Duns Scotus and a friend of the Jesuit Fr. Teilhard de Chardin. He also carved out time to help the poor, victims of war, and the sick, especially a leper colony in Macau, where he often spent his holidays. Perhaps Blessed Gabriele might be venerated as the patron of workaholics. He was fond of saying: “The most enviable fate for a Franciscan who does not obtain the grace of martyrdom is to die while he is working. . . . Everyone thinks I’m sick! I can still work — so let’s go on!”
Giovanni Stefano Allegra was born on the 26th December 1907 in San Giovanni La Punta (CT, Italy); at the age of 11 he entered the Seraphic College of Acireale and on the 13th October 1923 he began his novitiate in Bronte and was given the name Br Gabriele Maria.
On the 25th July 1929 he made his Solemn Profession. He was ordained a priest in 1930 and immediately expressed his desire to go as a missionary to China. In one of his first Masses, he asked the Blessed Virgin Mary to accompany him in his intent which was to translate the Bible into Chinese.
On the 3rd July 1931 he arrived in China; within a short time he had studied and learned the language, so much so that he began to exercise his ministry after only 4 months of his arrival. He baptized, confessed, celebrated Mass, preached and taught the catechism, all in Chinese amongst the Chinese people.
In 1932 he was Rector of the minor seminary of Heng Yang. On the 15th September, 1935, he began the work of translating Sacred Scripture into Chinese; even Pope Pius XI was informed by the Apostolic Vicar of Heng Yang about the work of Br Gabriel. On the 2nd August, 1945, he founded the Beijing Studium Biblicum, which after the Maoist revolution of 1949 was transferred to Hong Kong.
In 1955 he was awarded a degree in Sacred Theology at the Pontifical University of the Antonianum in Rome, meanwhile, back in China, he founded a Sociological Study on the Social Doctrine of the Church; in Singapore where he wrote and published two treatises on sociology: "De doctrina sociali christiana" and "Tractatus de Ecclesia et Statu". In 1975 he published the "Bible Dictionary" in Chinese.
After a life spent in ecumenical contact with the other Christian religions present in China, Br Gabriele died on the 26th January, 1976.
On the 14th January, 1984, the cause for his beatification was introduced in Hong Kong.
On the 29th September 2012, in the cathedral of Acireale (Sicily) he was beatified by Cardinal Amato, Prefect of the "Causes of Saints", at the behest of Pope Benedict XVI. In Rome, in the International College of St. Anthony (CISA), the Fraternity takes its name from Blessed Gabriele Allegra and is composed of student friars and professors from different parts of the world.
Learning From Blessed Gabriel Allegra
On the day of our Custody’s autonomy, 25 April 2023, OFM Minister General Friar Massimo Fusarelli presented me with a relic of Blessed Gabriele Allegra, who was named as the copatron of our Custody, together with St Anthony of Padua. It was such a precious gift. This Blessed stepped on our humble shores and actually lived intermittently at St Anthony Friary from 1960 to 1963.
The Franciscan Friars in Singapore owe our existence to him as it was he who saw that Singapore was the ideal location for a sociological centre to offer the Church’s Social Teaching as an alternative to the Communist ideas then gaining popularity in the Far East.
His biblical spirituality is well-known, having established the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum (Franciscan Biblical Centre). Bl Allegra responded “yes” to God’s personal call to him to translate the bible into the Chinese language, despite not knowing Chinese and not being a specialist in Sacred Scripture. He set his heart and mind completely on God’s work, and he was known to have said that “the most enviable fate for a Franciscan who does not obtain the grace of martyrdom is to die while he is working!”
Bl Allegra was also respected in theological circles. He participated in international theological congresses, and championed the Franciscan vision of Christology and Mariology, after the likes of other Franciscan theologians such as St Bonaventure, Bl John Duns Scotus and St Bernardine of Siena. Bl Allegra paid special attention to the subject of the Primacy of Christ and the Immaculate Heart of Mary, to whom he had a special devotion.
Less known is his love of the poor and the attention he paid to them. Whilst living in Hong Kong, he often visited the leper colony in Macau during Easter and Christmas, deliberately choosing to celebrate these special days with lepers. His deep love for the Franciscan Order is evident in his desire to renew the Order especially after the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) when the Church herself was being renewed. He connected this renewal with his theological insights about Christ (Christology) and about Mary (Mariology). This is the genius of this man: knowing how to use his intellect and making real his insights into practical liveable values.
On his feast day, 26 January, especially, we remember this wonderful holy man and friar. There is so much more to learn about him, and so much we can learn from his radical following of Christ in the footsteps of St Francis of Assisi.
From: www.franciscans.sg
PRAYER TO BLESSED ALLEGRA
BLESSED GABRIELE ALLEGRA, ENLIGHTENED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
AND IN LOVE WITH THE WORD OF GOD MADE FLESH AND HIS Immaculate MothER, YOU BROUGHT THE HOLY GOSPEL TO THE LANDS OF THE FAR EAST.
OBTAIN FOR US A SIMPLE AND PURE FAITH FROM THE LORD JESUS,
THE ARDENT DESIRE TO FEED ON HIS WORD,
THE COURAGE TO LET OURSELVES BE GUIDED BY IT IN EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE OF LIFE AND THE STRENGTH TO TESTIFY TO IT WITH WORDS AND DEEDS,
TO ENJOY ETERNALLY THE BLESSEDNESS PROMISED TO THOSE WHO LISTEN TO THE WORD OF GOD AND PUT IT INTO PRACTICE.
AMEN.
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