120 years after the ‘irrevocable decision’

Nizza Monferrato (Italy). On 3 September 2021, on the dies natalis of the Venerable Sister Teresa Valsè Pantellini, at the initiative of the Historical Archive of O. L. of Grace House of Nizza Monferrato (AT) of the FMA Province of Mary Help of Christians (IPI), the prayer of the Rosary will be broadcast, commemorating the 120^th anniversary of the start of the formation journey of the Venerable in the Congregation of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, which took place in Rome, via Marghera, on 1 February 1901.

Teresa Valsè Pantellini, born in Milan on 10 October  1878 into a wealthy family, goes through her life stages which, starting with her First Communion on 29 March  1891, strongly affect her choices. In fact on that day she promises the Lord to be all His and even though still a child, she makes a decision that leads her to moderate her fiery and tenacious character with  humility, meekness, and generosity.

In 1897, the family moved to Rome where Teresa continued with small daily gestures to show solidarity with those in need, especially the poor and the sick. She decides to enter the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians although coming from a noble and aristocratic family; other religious congregations had been indicated that welcomed girls more suited to her social condition.

Teresa is attracted by the Salesian Sisters, by their work among disadvantaged girls, and feels that it is there the Lord is calling her. In a letter written from Padua to her brother Italo, she says: “These are not things that are done overnight. There is a need for reflection … You can put any objection to me, any difficulty, but I warn you that they will not be new, because I have measured and pondered them all in the most real calm of mind, in the absolute and perfect indifference of the will, only to see and know what God’s will was and not to please myself. ”

On 1 February 1891, she was welcomed by the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in the House of Rome, via Marghera, where she lived the months of Postulancy. In that same year, she was admitted to the Novitiate in Bosco Parrasio, on the Janiculum Hill, in the popular district of Trastevere.

The rented house had once been a Villa, but it was almost in ruins, uncomfortable and miserable. Young Teresa is at ease in that environment, she had chosen to be poor. Sr. Piera Cavaglià, Secretary General of the FMA Institute, underlines: “It is wonderful to think that she let herself be molded by the Holy Spirit in a poor house, which helped her to imbue herself with the evangelical style and spirit of Mornese! She ‘irrevocably’ wanted to follow the poor Jesus to allow herself to be enriched by her poverty, but in her, this became a gift of love for poor girls.”

The life of Sr. Teresa Valsè Pantellini is current and leaves a strong message to young people: to live well the different stages, the fundamental turning points of the journey, open and sincere discussion with guides to reach like her, one’s own ‘irrevocable’ choice: “These are not things you do overnight. There is a need for reflection “…

In the celebration of the Rosary in direct streaming on the YouTube Channel of the Historical Archive IPI-Nizza, at 20:30 (Italy time), the young people of the Association of Devotees of Mary Help of Christians (ADMA), a group of the Salesian Family founded by Don Bosco, and the Novices of three Novitiates of the FMA Institute are especially involved: the International Novitiates Sr. Teresa Valsè Pantellini of Rome and Mary Help of Christians of Castel Gandolfo (Rome), and the International Novitiate of St. Mary D. Mazzarello of Morelia, Mexico.