A Saint and Two Blesseds Praise Maria Valtorta’s Opus.

 

Book Review by Frank M. Rega, OFS.

The book: “Maria Valtorta’s Life of Christ: Treasured by Saint Teresa of Calcutta, Blessed Gabriel Allegra, Blessed Maria Ines Teresa Arias,” by Fr. Anthony Pillari and Stephen Austin; Regina Angelorum Press, 2019. 

 

This short book convincingly demonstrates that the favorable testimonies and praise of Maria Valtorta’s opus, The Poem of the Man-God, by the three Catholics mentioned in its title, indicate it is not only “safe” to read her book, but is imperative to do so in today’s unbelieving age. 

 

The first three chapters of the book deal respectively with the views of Mother Teresa, Blessed Maria Arias, and Blessed Gabriel Allegra. The fourth chapter is called “A Response to Some Objections.” Chapter five comprises a detailed critique by Blessed Allegra of The Poem of the Man-God, which has been renamed in its new edition as The Gospel as Revealed to Me. All this is followed by two appendices, which enumerate the many resources available for learning more about The Poem of the Man-God, and photocopies of some of the favorable testimonies.

 

Mother Teresa’s confessor had observed that when she traveled, there were three books that always accompanied her. One was the Bible, and the second was the breviary. The third book was The Poem of the Man-God. When he asked her what it was about, her response was “Read it!” This reminds me of the comment Pope Pius XII made in 1948 when he requested that Valtorta’s work be published: “Those who read it will understand.”

 

The fact that she has been canonized by the Church underscores the significance of Mother Teresa’s support of The Poem of the Man-God. The authors illustrate this by citing the Church’s procedure for determining the Causes of saints and blesseds, which was most recently promulgated in Pope John Paul’s Apostolic Constitution Divinus perfectionis magister, in 1983. The document states that by considering the lives of such persons, “we are most safely taught the path by which […] we can arrive at that perfect union with Christ, which is holiness.” The Church affirms that we can safely imitate the lives of saints and blesseds, because after a careful and thorough examination, they have been shown to be “heroically virtuous,” by their practice of the three theological and the four cardinal virtues. 

 

Therefore we can safely follow such persons on the path to holiness. It is in this light and with this perspective that Saint Teresa of Calcutta’s recommendation to read The Poem of the Man-God can be evaluated as highly important, and to some extent authoritative. As the authors state, “This does not mean she was infallible, but it does mean that her example is a relevant one when discerning the value of a Life of Christ such as the Poem.”

 

One of the most beautiful sources of spiritual reading

 

Blessed Maria Arias (Blessed Mother Maria Ines Teresa of the Most Blessed Sacrament) is best known for founding, in 1945, The Poor Clare Missionaries of the Blessed Sacrament, which now numbers 36 missionary houses in 14 countries. In addition, in 1979 she founded the Missionaries of Christ for the Universal Church. Two years later she died in Rome. She was beatified before an audience of 12,000 faithful at the Basilica of Our Lady of Gaudalupe in Mexico City, by the Prefect of the Congregation of the Causes of the Saints, on April 21, 2012. 

 

In 1978, while she was Superior General of her Order, she wrote, “I am very attached to the reading of the work The Poem of the Man-God. Truly it has really become one of the most beautiful sources of spiritual reading.” One of her spiritual daughters, Sister Maria Uranga, wrote that “Our Reverend Mother liked [the Poem] very much and asked me to order the series of four volumes in Spanish and Italian for the thirty-five houses she had founded up until then. […] She also gave them as gifts to Bishops, Priests, and other persons.” Thus Blessed Maria Arias was not only an ardent reader of The Poem of the Man-God, but also an avid promoter of it. 

 

Fr. Pillari and Mr. Austin, the authors of this book, determined that the Blessed’s actions regarding the distribution of the Poem had taken place during the last five years of her life. The Congregation for Saints looks especially closely at the last five to ten years of a person’s life to “verify the reaching of a heroic practice of all the Christian virtues.” Thus Blessed Maria Arias was exercising virtue to a heroic degree during the time she was ordering The Poem of the Man-God for her Sisters to read, as well as promoting it to others. The two authors write, “...the Church declares that in imitating her, particularly during this last period of her life, we are ‘most safely taught the path’ by which we can arrive at holiness.” 

 

Blessed Gabriel Allegra, a Franciscan priest of the Friars Minor, is a third person featured in the book. He is described as a “Valtortian” by the Vice-Postulator of the Friars Minor, Fr. Leonard Anastasius, because he was such a great admirer and diffuser of Maria’s writings. Fr. Anastasius affirms that “The judgment of Fr. Allegra is very valid, since he had been a biblical scholar of world renown.” In fact, as a theologian and biblical expert, Fr. Allegra is famed for being the first person to translate the entire Bible into Chinese, and his version is often considered the definitive Chinese Bible among Catholics. Since he spent 40 years on this effort, the study of Scripture can be considered his life’s work. 

 

To date, he is the only twentieth century Scriptural exegete to be beatified. He began studying Valtorta in 1965, and continued for eleven years until his death in 1976. As mentioned above, the Congregation looks especially at the last years of the person’s life to verify their heroic virtues. He wrote that, “After the Gospels, I do not know another life of Jesus that can compare to the Poem.” He held that the work came from the Spirit of Christ, and that “It is a work that makes one grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus and of His Holy Mother.”

 

Valtorta never falls into theological error.

 

Fr. Pillari and Mr. Austin devote a large part of their book to Fr. Allegra’s comments about the work of Valtorta, due to his “...unique combination of expertise as a world-renowned scriptural exegete, his heroic practice of the virtues, and an intense study of the Poem during the last 11 years of his life when he was at the peak of his scholarly knowledge.” Blessed Allegra wrote a detailed 16-page critique of The Poem of the Man-God, which their book presents in its entirety. 

 

Fr. Allegra feels that the “Poem...makes us better understand the Gospel, but it does not contradict it […] My own persuasion is that The Poem of the Man-God is the Work of Jesus first and of Maria Valtorta next.” He adds, “And what makes me marvel the more is that Valtorta never falls into theological error…” Further: “I find in it a living and complete exposition of almost all Catholic doctrine and morality […] the Poem pushes the reader to read the Bible with love and humility.” In a very revealing statement he says: “This book is for me an act of Divine Mercy for the Church, for simple souls, for hearts which are evangelically children.” 

 

The authors conclude that the support and promotion of The Poem of the Man-God by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Blessed Maria Arias, and Blessed Gabriel Allegra can be accepted with confidence, since the Church, after thorough investigation and deliberation of their virtues, has determined that one can safely arrive at holiness by imitating their lives and judgments. 

 

The book is available at Amazon Here.

 

My web page is Here.