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Summery of Fr. Justin’s life
Fr. Joseph Di Fusco, a diocesan priest and parish priest of Pianura, was very sick in bed and was dying. One night he had a dream: A young priest, unknown to him approached him and said, Courage, you will get well soon. A voice explained to him, You will get well because today, in your parish, is born a child named Justin. He will be a priest and will do great things for the church. Some days later, Fr. Joseph got well. He went immediately to the office to check the church books especially the book of baptisms to see if there was a child, any child, born in his parish. He looked and looked, searching for this child. He went to visit families asking the names of their newly born babies and when were they born. Finally, in the house of the Russolillo family; he found a newly born baby. He asked the boy’s parents the name of the child and the day of his birth. They told him, the child is called Justin and he was born on January 18. Fr. Joseph immediately remarked, it’s him! He explained to them his dream. It was snowing for days in Pianura and the streets were covered with snow. But Justin’s parents did not want to loose time to baptize their new baby. And so, the day after, January 19, they brought the child to the parish church to be baptized, Justin. When the priest was pouring water on his head, the little boy smiled. Justin seemed to have been born with priestly vocation. He had great piety, zeal in his studies, intelligence, good memory and strong will. Every one of his traits seems to lead him to the seminary. But there was one difficulty: the family was poor and could not afford to pay the monthly dues in the seminary. Two other children were already studying and his mother was again pregnant with another Russolillo child. His mother, full of courage and hope, went with Justin to a “baron” who was rich and lived in Naples at that time. From him, they asked for help. Unfortunately, the baron turned them down saying, He could work. But his mother replied. Look how skinny he is. It seems that he could only be a priest. The baron answered, Then if he could not work as a laborer, he could be a shoe repairman. Going out of the house, the mother looked at Justin who was in tears and told him, don’t worry, you will go the seminary. After his preparations in philosophy and two years of Theology in Pozzuoli, Justin passed to the regional seminary in Posillipo that just opened under the Jesuits. Like in Pozzuoli, Justin found virtuous priests. He also left a great example. Fr. Justin always said that the Vocationist Congregation was born from catechism lessons by a seminarian during his vacations from the seminary. This seminarian was he himself. He gathered many children during his vacation and taught them catechism in the backyard of his house in Pianura. He would prepare snacks for them, bring them out to trips, recount to them lives of some famous saints, play games with them, and many others. From these children came forth the first Vocationists. On September 20, 1913, Justin was ordained priest in the cathedral of Pozzuoli by the laying on of hands of the Most Reverend Michele Zezza who was Bishop of Pozzuoli at that time. In the morning of the same day, Justin made private vows to found a religious community. He made this vow, he said, in the hands of the Lord and in the presence of his guardian angel. The day after, the whole village waited for the first mass celebrated by the new priest. Everyone waited with eagerness and the whole town was in a festive mood. 7) First experience of Community life On April 30, 1914, Fr. Justin began the first experience of community life with his group Fidelissimi (which means most faithful). His Aunt Micahelina took care of the kitchen and Fr. Justin served at the table. He also took care to repair the boy’s clothes after he had tucked the young aspirants in bed. However, this experiment lasted only for fifteen days and the bishop ordered Fr. Justin to send the boys home. On August 15, 1914, Fr. Justin consecrated the First Servants of Mary, 12 young girls who were full of spiritual zeal. They would gather together regularly and slowly they were able to attract more young girls to their group and so their number grew. Eventually later on, these young girls would be the first religious sisters of the Sisters of Divine Vocations. The first world war in 1915 (1915-1918) called for the mobilization of all able-bodied men of Italy. No one was exempted, including Fr. Justin who was sent to a military hospital because he was too weak to be in the battlefield. In one of his letters, Fr. Justin was very clear in his intentions to return to his ministry and to his vow. With his young “Fidelissimi” and “Le Schiave di Maria” Fr. Justin was very zealous in organizing prayers in the courtyards of houses. Often, they would pray the rosaries together with the families always to attract more young men and women to this group. Fr. Justin made sure that he visited the families in his parish. He went visiting family after family and was very faithful in promoting vocations to the priesthood and religious life among the young. For Fr. Justin, the celebration of the Holy Eucharist was the center and heart of the day. He celebrated mass with the people very early in the morning. He would wake up very early and then celebrate mass with the people always preaching the Word of God everyday. 13) The Construction of the Vocationary Because of the number of young men who wanted to join Fr. Justin, The servant of God had a dream of building a Vocationary for those called by God to serve him as priests and religious. After receiving the permission to purchase a piece of land for the construction, Fr. Justin immediately began to build. Now, this building stands in the heart of Pianura and is the Motherhouse of the Congregation. Fr. Justin always trusted in divine providence. Most often the congregation was left with nothing but when the opportune time would come, God always provided for them. 15) Fr. Justin and the Sisters The Vocationist Sisters were always beside Fr. Justin. They had all their trust in him and for anything, they turned to him. They were always present with him especially during the most trying times of the congregation. One day, Fr. Justin was searching for a new superior of the sisters. He was very prudent in nominating one so as not to hurt others by his choice. All of the sisters were very good and holy. But it was difficult to find one with perfect qualities as a superior. One day Fr. Justin received an inspiration and wrote this inspiration down on his breviary. On 11May, 1929 he wrote, The Virgin Mary is our immediate Superior. And so he went to the sisters to announce that the Virgin Mary would be their immediate Superior. 16) Audience with Pope Pius XI On June 21, 1932, Pope Pius XI received in private audience the servant of God who asked counsel and blessing for the inauguration of the process of the pontifical approbation of the ….work of searching for vocation….saving and rehabilitating vocations….work for the missions in foreign lands especially in the formation of priests,….request for a house of studies in Rome….. 17) The Condemnation of the male community The Sacred Congregation for Religious, on August 3, 1934, responded negatively to the request of Fr. Justin. The Sacred Congregation appointed Mons. Alfonso Castaldo to rigorously watch the two of Fr. Justin’s communities. On December 4 or 5, 1934, a letter from the Sacred Congregation arrived banning the congregation to have new ordinations, admit novices to vows, and admit new novices. This was the condemnation to death of the congregation. The first Apostolic Visitor was Fr. Raffaele Baldini who made his apostolic visit to the Motherhouse from September 5-10, 1941. On May 16, 1945, the Sacred Congregation appointed Fr. Serafino Cuomo, OFM, and Superior General of the Society of Divine Vocations. Fr. Justin, who was always humble and disposed to the Superiors, was always docile to these superiors. Of course, all these were for the good of the congregation. After these two, there have been others who were sent by the Holy See as Apostolic Visitors. 19) The Decree of Cardinal Lavitrano With the visit of the cardinal perfect of the Sacred Congregation of Religious Cardinal Luigi Lavitrano, the congregation saw some hope in the future. The decree brought by the cardinal changed the dying spirit of hope of the congregation and its members. According to Fr. Justin, this visit of the Cardinal Perfect could be compared to the visit of the Blessed Mother to her cousin Elizabeth, to the house of Precursor, John the Baptist, and gave all Vocationist a feeling of a new and renewed spirit, a new and renewed spiritual vigor and health to the benefit of many youth called by Divine Vocation. With the decree of the Cardinal, all the other sanctions were lifted and the congregation was once again free to fulfill the will of God in the Church. Fr. Justin worked hard, not only to search for and form vocations. He also researched for them, always willing to find betrayed vocations. In this picture, the man standing was a former priest who left the ministry to join with this woman. They had a child and lived in Pianura. Fr. Justin did all to help him in all possible ways especially in making their life together morally acceptable in front of God and this church. This zeal to help out other lost vocations remains in the spirit of all Vocationists and their ministry. 21) Prayer in front of the map of the World In his study, Fr. Justin had the map of the World in front of his altar, between his kneeler and the picture of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. He would often pray and offer the sanctification of the whole World to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ. In fact, in every Vocationist Church and chapel, the globe or map of the World would always be seen under the altar as if to symbolize Fr. Justin’s practice of offering the whole World to the Sacred Heart of Jesus for universal sanctification. It was during the war that families who had children serving as soldiers came to Fr. Justin to seek comfort. Many families came to him to ask how their sons are doing. He assured them that they were doing fine, or a letter would be arriving, or they needed more prayers, etc. One time he promised one mother that a letter would be arriving from here son who was far away. Days later, a letter indeed arrived. One time, however, he told one mother that her son needed all the prayers he could get. Days later, they brought him back to his family dead. 23) Departure of the Vocationist for Brazil This was the 3rd departure for Brazil. Already there had been two departures for the same country. In this third group, we find Fr. Mario Muccitelli with some 7 or 8 young students who became priests after some years. Fr. Justin wrote the Constitutions of the congregation, a rule of life for each Vocationist. However, he did not write only one time. The constitution was revised several times but the spirit remained the same. This particular scene took place most probably in Baia, Province of Naples during one of Fr. Justin’s vacations. 25) Fr. Justin and Sr. Giovanna Fr. Justin’s blood sister became the first superior of the Vocationist Sisters. A young woman presents herself to Fr. Justin to receive his blessing while Sr. Giovanna was with them. 26) The Eucharistic Procession Fr. Justin had a very profound devotion to the Blessed Eucharist. Every Holy Thursday, he would not miss the Eucharist procession all over Pianura with all the people present. Fully concentrated on the presence of Jesus in the Most Blessed Sacrament, Fr. Justin went from street to street to bless every corner of his parish and everyone. Fr. Justin made his last and final trip to Cilento to visit the students who were there sometime before his death in 1955. He blessed them one by one during this visit which would be the last. Death came to the servant of God on the secondary day of August, 1955. He died of tuberculosis after a holy life filled with trials and difficulties but filled with God’s presence as well. Surrounded by his brothers and sisters in the congregation, the servant of God passed silently from this life to the next leaving to the Church his spiritual sons and daughters. Some days after his death, Fr. Justin was laid to rest in the cemetery of Pianura. There were present the Bishop Castaldo who celebrated the funeral mass and who delivered a touching homily, the Vocationist family, some other priests and religious, some friends from outside of Pianura, and the faithful of Pianura who were saddened by the death of their “father”. 30) Fr. Justin and the Future of the Congregation The future looks bright for the Congregations- both of the Fathers’ and the Sisters’. The dream of Fr. Justin to work for vocations to attain universal sanctification is becoming a reality with the opening of many other Vocationaries in many countries and the entry of many new and young Vocationists from other countries. Through them Fr. Justin’s work will always be continued. |
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2005 Vocationist Fathers |