Paolo Manna

Unable to work directly in the field of the mission ad gentes, Paolo Manna dedicated the rest of his life to fostering and organizing missionary cooperation within the Church. His work unfolded primarily through the founding and direction of prominent institutes and works:

1. The missionary press: In 1909, he took over the direction of the magazine Le Missioni Cattoliche. To reach a wider audience, he founded the popular newspaper Propaganda Missionaria in 1914, and then the magazine for young people, Italia Missionaria, in 1919. 2. The Missionary Union of the Clergy (now the Pontifical Missionary Union): Founded in 1916 with the support of Saint Guido Maria Conforti, this work was based on the conviction that to mobilize the faithful, one must first inflame the hearts of priests. Approved by Benedict XV in October 1916, it was elevated to the rank of a "Pontifical" work by Pius XII in 1956. Saint Paul VI would later describe it as the "soul" of the other Pontifical Mission Societies. 3. The Southern Seminary of the Sacred Heart: In 1921, at the request of the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith, he founded a seminary in Trentola Ducenta (Caserta) intended to promote missionary vocations in southern Italy. 4. The Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME): In 1924, he was elected Superior General of the Seminary for Foreign Missions of Milan. This was followed in 1926 by the merger of this seminary with the Missionary Seminary of Rome, decided by Pope Pius XI to give birth to PIME. Paolo Manna became its first Superior General until 1934. 5. The Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate: In 1936, he played a leading role in the founding of this female religious congregation (often called the PIME Sisters), alongside Bishop Lorenzo Maria Balconi, Mother Josephine Dones, and Josephine Rodolfi.

From 1937 to 1941, he directed the International Secretariat of the Missionary Union of the Clergy. In 1943, he was appointed the first Superior of the new PIME province for southern Italy and settled in Ducenta, where he launched the family magazine Venga il tuo regno.

Father Paolo Manna passed away in Naples on September 15, 1952, at the age of 80, following a surgical procedure. His mortal remains were transferred and now rest at the seminary of Trentola Ducenta, the place he had cherished so dearly.

Nicknamed "a soul of fire" by his first biographer, Father Tragella, he left behind the memory of a man consumed by a passion for Christ and evangelization. His cause for beatification was introduced in Naples in 1971. On February 18, 1989, Pope John Paul II authorized the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to promulgate the decree recognizing the heroic nature of his virtues, thereby conferring upon him the title of Venerable.

The beatification of Father Paolo Manna was made possible thanks to the recognition of a miracle attributed to his intercession. It concerns the scientifically inexplicable healing of a missionary priest from his own institute (the PIME).

After an in-depth investigation validated by the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on September 29, 1995, the medical commission formally approved the miraculous nature of the healing on March 9, 2000. The theologians gave a favorable opinion on October 27, 2000. The official papal decree recognizing the miracle was signed by Pope John Paul II on April 24, 2001.

Father Paolo Manna was solemnly beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 4, 2001, in Saint Peter's Square in Rome.

The spirituality of Blessed Paolo Manna is deeply Christocentric and ecclesial. For him, personal holiness is the indispensable engine of all apostolic action. He wrote to his missionaries: "Indeed, the missionary is nothing if he does not embody the person of Jesus Christ... Only the missionary who faithfully copies Jesus Christ in himself... can reproduce his image in the souls of others."

His action and his writings, notably Operarii autem pauci (1909) and I Fratelli separati e noi (1941), made him a true precursor to the Second Vatican Council. He anticipated the conciliar orientations on ecumenism and on the intrinsically missionary nature of the entire Church. His famous motto summarizes his entire pastoral vision: "All the Church for all the world!"

His legacy remains alive through the dynamism of the PIME, the congregation of the Missionaries of the Immaculate, and the Pontifical Missionary Union, which continues to awaken the missionary conscience of priests, religious, and laypeople throughout the world.