General Guidelines for Formation and Studies:

Chapter V
ONGOING FORMATION
(Const. 110-111)
Woman is on the move.
And it is a marvelous thing, a true gift of the Spirit,
that the sister is associated to priestly zeal.
Inserted thus in the Church,
the Daughter of St. Paul, according to her mission,
is elevated to a dignity and an activity
so sublime that a higher one cannot be imagined.
Ever onward!
according to the motto of our Father St. Paul:
“I strain forward.”
Ever onward towards eternity.
J. Alberione (Exhortation from the documentary “In cammino,” Rome, April 1961)

5.1 Nature and purpose of ONGOING FORMATION -

Ongoing formation is a process of overall renewal and docile conversion to the
formative action of Christ the Master. Through his Spirit, he continues to urge individuals
and communities to progressive and constant growth, so as to reach the point of complete
maturity(1) in daily self-giving in the apostolate, assuming the project of God described
in the Constitutions.
The formative journey, which continues throughout life,(2) places us in an
attitude of continual discernment and evaluation, thus enabling us to assess the quality of
our response to the Lord and to the urgent needs of evangelization. It permits us to
express the original beauty and perennial newness of the gift of God that we have
received and that must be continually fanned into flame so as to release the wealth of
grace enclosed in it.
5.2 Objectives
Ongoing formation promotes the human, spiritual, intellectual and apostolic
growth of the Daughter of St. Paul. Its aim is to help her develop progressive interior
unity and to personally take on the apostolic anxiety of the Founder so as to announce the
Gospel in the heart of our rapidly-evolving society.
In order for our formation to be integral, it is necessary to keep in mind both the
personal and communitarian dimensions of our life. Personal formation aims at the heart
of the consecrated woman apostle; communitarian formation fosters the growth of the
Pauline community.
With regard to these two levels, ongoing formation aims primarily at the
following objectives:
—to fan into a flame the gift we have received so as to respond to the will of God
in an always new way;
— to continue the process of personal unification of life in Christ the Master and
the commitment to radically living the demands of the evangelical counsels;
 — to collaborate in the building of an authentic community, as a place which
draws vocations and in which the members are able to listen to and dialogue with
humanity, embroiled in the upheavals of the present historical moment, so filled with
both hope and uncertainty;
— to remain constantly ready to courageously and prudently take on the most
rapid and effective methods and means of evangelization, able to grasp in an active and
timely way the pastoral needs of the Church, reliving today the experience of Fr.
Alberione and Maestra Thecla;
— to adopt a constant attitude of studiosita…, to be able to undergo continual
renewal and updating, so as to improve one’s personal professional preparation and
competence by taking advantage of all the means at one’s disposition;(3)
— to live daily life with its problems, moments of solitude and aridity, and
failures as the context in which we encounter God, who works through our weakness;
— to constantly grow in our feeling of belonging to the Institute, making the
effort to penetrate its spirit and recreate it with fidelity and love.
5.3 Those responsible for ongoing formation
5.3.1 Each Daughter of St. Paul
Each Daughter of St. Paul is the primary person responsible for her own
formation because the process of development takes place within each individual and
embraces all the dimensions of her life. Nothing can take the place of the person’s free
and responsible decision to live in an attitude of continual learning and receptivity,
making good use of the times and structures provided by the community and the
Congregation for her vocational growth. The person carries out her own ongoing
formation in a responsible way when she becomes accustomed to thinking of herself and
her self-fulfillment in terms of the common project of life sketched out by the
Constitutions, and when she models her own project of life on this.
In the process of self-formation, the person makes the effort to attain, through
prayer, an always deeper understanding of the mystery of Christ; to unify her personality
in him; to deepen her understanding of the Pauline vocation and grow in a sense of
belonging to the Congregation. She revives her sense of creativity, courage, self-offering
and the ability to change herself, using to the best advantage organization and planning,
openness to universality and plurality. She demonstrates a willingness “to learn always
and from everything”—the “studiosita…” strongly recommended by the Founder—
committing herself to the serious and continual pursuit of her own updating. In this way
she can utilize the means of formation and information placed at her disposition by the
Institute, the Church and society.(4)
5.3.2 The community
The Pauline community, in its existential reality, is both the place and subject of
ongoing formation. In an atmosphere of prayer, freedom, communion and participation, it
fosters the development of the person and her vocation. In community, in fact, the apostle
lives her reality as a person consecrated for the mission; she grows in her capacity for
discernment so as to grasp the appeals of the Church and world.(5)
The superior has a particular responsibility to animate the community and
coordinate its life. With regard to ongoing formation, she must see to it that the four
wheels of the Pauline cart—piety, study, apostolate and poverty—move ahead together,
because “if one wheel is neglected, the cart will either come to a halt or veer towards a
precipice.”(6)
She is to involve the community in suggesting objectives and searching for
formative structures and stimuli. She is to encourage the sisters to formulate a
communitarian-apostolic project as a means of helping them grow in the various
dimensions of the Pauline life.
5.3.3 The General and Circumscription Governments
The superior general, with her council, is responsible for the ongoing formation of
the entire Congregation. It is her duty to animate the sisters in their Pauline vocation and
to provide the entire Congregation with common lines of action, following the directives
of the Constitutions and the General Chapter, in response to the demands of
evangelization.
The circumscription superior, with her council, is responsible for drawing up a
formation project and establishing a program that presents ongoing formation not as
something sporadic, but as a systematic process carried out according to specific
methods.
The governments at various levels are also called to attend to their personal
formation in a particular way in view of the service they carry out to the benefit of their
sisters and the entire Congregation. Even within the governing community, time should
be set aside for periods of reflection, sharing, and specific formation so that the service of
authority might be a prophetic sign and contribute to animating, unifying and motivating
the life of the sisters and communities in view of the mission.
5.4 Working guidelines
5.4.1 On the personal level
The work of formation encompasses all situations of life, viewing these as
favorable opportunities for growth in one’s vocation. From this perspective, it is
important to keep in mind a number of particular circumstances:
— the transition from initial formation to the experience of a more autonomous
lifestyle, in which the person must find her own balance so as to respond in fidelity to the
demands of her vocation and mission;(7)
— a certain number of years after perpetual profession, when it could be
important that the person have a prolonged period of time in which to distance herself
from her daily life and re-examine it in the light of the Word of God and the
Constitutions, so as to attain a more vital synthesis of life;
— full maturity, which requires a new integration and unification of life around
the values of the Pauline vocation so as to fully live one’s gift of self in the apostolate,
grow in a sense of belonging and in the effort to promote and help the younger sisters to
assume various responsibilities in view of necessary rotation;
— the moment in which one’s energies progressively decline, when the person is
called to participate more closely in the Lord’s paschal mystery,(8) and to witness to the
fact that the consecrated life and its value are not linked to one’s efficiency;
— the periods of crisis that can occur at any age due to outside factors (transfers,
failures, misunderstandings, marginalizations, etc.) or other personal factors (illness,
spiritual aridity, affective crises or a crisis of faith, etc.), thus making fidelity more
difficult. In these cases, the person must increase her trust in the love of the Father and
accept the various mediations (the Word of God, superiors, spiritual direction, the
community, periods of renewal or of more intense prayer) that can help her to overcome
the crisis.(9)
5.4.2 On the communitarian level
The community supports the formation process, helping its members to properly
balance the various dimensions of the Pauline life. With this goal in mind, the following
elements can be used to maximum advantage:
— times of communitarian prayer, of shared meditation, of reflection on Pauline
values, of revision of life, of monthly retreats and spiritual exercises, as well as the
communitarian and apostolic project;
— the weekly study period; a deeper study of the Constitutions, of the directives
of the General and circumscription governments, of the documents of the Church, and of
the pastoral lines of action of the local Church; knowledge of one’s socio-ecclesial
situation in view of the apostolate and of new developments in the field of social
communication; the continual updating required by the apostolate we carry out, through
participation in courses and in particularly significant times of renewal suggested by the
Church and our Institute;
— the specific choice of magazines, books and programs; the information
provided by the Congregation as a means of consolidating one’s sense of belonging to it;
— apostolic collaboration and communication on the communitarian,
circumscription and congregational levels; with the Institutes of the Pauline Family and
other religious institutes; with lay people;
— the effort to carry out a work for vocations that contributes to the spiritual and
apostolic vitality of the community;
<197> acceptance of our elderly or sick sisters, and of sisters who come from
different cultures, offering everyone the chance to feel herself a vital part of the
community.
5.4.3 On the circumscription level
At the beginning of its term of office, keeping in mind the directives of the
General Government, the circumscription’s journey, and the challenges offered to the
mission by the Church and society, the circumscription government is to plan the
updating and studies of its sisters in view of animation, formation and the apostolate.(10)
Some of the particular duties of the circumscription superior in this regard are:
— to see to the animation of the communities;
— to take advantage of the spiritual exercises as a privileged time of ongoing
formation;
— to encourage individuals and communities to study each week;
— to organize periodic updating sessions for superiors;
— to prepare vocation directresses, formators, and the sisters in charge of various
apostolic sectors;
— to program studies and encourage the professional training or re-training of
sisters in their apostolic work, according to the General Guidelines for Studies;
— to schedule renewal periods for the sisters who made their perpetual
professions some years ago;(11)
— to provide the sisters with the help they need to live each stage of life well;
— to provide suitable means and structures for the elderly sisters.
5.4.4 On the general level
 The superior general, with her council, will seek to determine the values that
contribute to a deeper understanding and updating of the charism and to the vocational
growth of the members. If she considers it appropriate, she can organize:
— sessions of Pauline spirituality and of deeper study of the charism on the
continental or congregational levels;
— courses and meetings for circumscription superiors, formators, those in charge
of the apostolate or of other sectors of the Pauline life.
Furthermore, she is to pay particular attention to the selection and preparation of
individuals capable of animating the Institute’s members with regard to Pauline values,
and above all to the choice of sisters to be entrusted with the service of authority.(12)
5.5 Preparation of the sisters destined for foreign countries
The universal character of the Congregation and its missionary vocation involves
a rotation of persons on an international level so as to respond in a suitable way to the
needs of evangelization, provide the members with mutual help, and consolidate unity.
(13)
It is the duty of the General Government to provide for the preparation of sisters
destined for foreign countries, but it can also delegate this responsibility to the superior of
the circumscription to which the sister belongs.
The legitimate authority is to make sure that these sisters:
— are genuinely ready to leave their own nation and insert themselves in other
cultures, and that they are open-minded and capable of accepting the people to whom
they are destined;
— learn the language and the socio-cultural situation of the country to which they
are being sent;
— possess the technical-professional training that will enable them to carry out
with competence the Pauline apostolate in that nation;
— possess a sufficient knowledge of the theology of mission and of the needs of
ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, together with a grasp of the current missionary
situation and the most effective methods of announcing the Gospel;
— possess sufficient human and spiritual maturity to face the difficulties
inherent in the missionary life.
 GENERAL GUIDELINE FOR STUDIES
INTRODUCTION
Intellectual formation is an integral part of the entire formative process of the Daughter of
St. Paul, both with regard to her personal growth through the assimilation of content and
values and the realization of her vocation as a communicator of the Gospel.
In numerous documents,(1) the Church has repeatedly urged religious institutes to
promote the intellectual formation of their members, providing them with a formation
which will permit them to move ahead with a sufficient amount of knowledge; which will
foster their integration in the context of a spiritual and ethical vision that unites
perspective and life, and which will enable them to meet the expectations and needs of
the contemporary world.(2)

In orienting the plan of studies of the Daughters of St. Paul, Primo Maestro insisted time
and again on the need to sanctify one’s mind(3) and on many occasions stressed the
importance of learning, declaring that “study is part of the very nature of the Pauline
vocation”(4). In another statement laden with meaning for every Daughter of St. Paul, he
said: “Study has achieved its purpose when it is applied to the apostolate” (5).

This Guideline for Studies brings together the urgings of the Church and of our Founder
and sets forth the general principles which should inspire the intellectual preparation of
the Daughters of St. Paul, together with the criteria for its realization through the creation
of a program which offers everyone a common educational foundation that is subject to
continual renewal and updating, according to varying situations.
Furthermore, the Guideline offers indications as to the criteria to be followed in
programming specialized studies and as to the fields of study towards which the sisters
should be directed, keeping in mind their concrete apostolic and formative needs.
The “General Guideline for Studies” of the Daughters of St. Paul is presented as a
companion text to the “General Guidelines for Formation,” to which it refers the reader
for whatever concerns the general principles of Pauline formation. Both texts are directed
in particular to superiors and to those in charge of formation and studies on various levels
of the Congregation, but it would be well to make it available to all the Daughters of St.
Paul. It is to be read and put into practice with attention to the socio-ecclesial contexts in
which our sisters live and work. Hence, it supposes a creative commitment in adapting it
to the needs, choices and concrete possibilities of the individual circumscriptions, without
neglecting whatever might aid knowledge of the faith, of life, and of our apostolic
mission, in keeping with the Pauline charism.
This calls for a periodic evaluation of choices and programs on the part of students,
teachers, superiors and communities, so as to attain a serious, concrete, up-to-date and
commonly shared Pauline intellectual formation. Above all, it calls for a theological life
which is transformed into a specific spirituality that fosters a synthesis of life in Christ
the Master Way, Truth and Life and opens us to communication with God, with our
community, and with all those persons to whom we “owe the debt of the Gospel.”
NOTES
1. Numerous Church documents deal with the topic of studies for the formation of priests
and members of religious institutes. We list here those texts addressed to the universal
Church that seem to us to be the most important: Optatam Totius, Ratio Fundamentalis
Institutionis Sacerdotalis, Sapientia Christiana, Potissimum Institutioni, Pastores Dabo
Vobis.
We can add many other titles to the above list, particularly those documents concerning
various disciplines and the documents of the local Churches. In view of our specific
subject, we mention here: Dio Sommo Bene and Aetatis Novae.
2. Cf. Talk of John Paul II to the Pontifical Council for Culture, 1986.
3. Cf. AD 92; SdM.
4. CVV 66.
5. Spiritual Exercises, Grottaferrata, January 1959, under the heading of “studies,” p. 48,
FSP Historical Archives, the Generalate.

THE STUDIES
OF THE DAUGHTER OF ST. PAUL
from the Constitutions
Our vocation requires
a cultural, doctrinal, spiritual,
apostolic and professional formation
that leads us to know Christ the Master,
to live in him,
and to accomplish our mission competently
in fidelity to the Church,
attentive to the ever new needs of society.
Moreover, we become capable
of responding adequately to our vocation,
making our own that attitude
which the Founder called “studiosita…,”
understood as the commitment
to renewal in life and in the apostolate
and as an openness
to learn always and from everything (art. 81).

Chapter I
GENERAL PRINCIPLES
1.0 Premise
The Congregation of the Daughters of St. Paul has a good tradition of commitment to
studies. From the first years of the Institute’s foundation, Fr. Alberione personally
followed up and formed the group of Daughters of St. Paul who were pursuing
theological studies similar to those in the seminary.(1) Initially the group was made up of
those sisters who were being prepared for the writing or formation apostolates. Later, the
group was enlarged, as possibilities permitted, to include a greater number of sisters
capable of pursuing higher studies in religious education, based on the literary and
humanistic studies they had completed either before entering the Congregation or while
in it.

In spite of the different situations in the various circumscriptions, we are gradually

moving towards a basic education common to all the Daughters of St. Paul, as is called
for by our Constitutions, and which is always more indispensable in the face of the
evolution of culture and the need to imbue it with the Gospel.(2)

1.1 The Perspective of Communication

Intellectual formation, like the rest of formation, is determined by the specific nature of
the Pauline vocation.

By virtue of our charism, our entire being is consecrated to God for the announcement of
the Gospel with the means of social communication. Consequently, we are consecrated
women who have chosen communication as our particular way of following and
announcing Christ, the Icon of the Father, and this fact urges us on to become totally
transparent to the message we bear.

This perspective of communication, which lies at the foundation of our relationship with
God and with our community, and at the basis of our mission, must orient the intellectual
formation of every Daughter of St. Paul, rendering her faithful to her distinctive Pauline
identity and enabling her to carry out the specific mission entrusted by God to the
Congregation and to each one of us.

It is important that study be considered a common good—something to be shared, to be

placed at the service of the Congregation, the community and the apostolate, and to be
continually expanded by means of reflection, updating, the exchange of ideas, and the
willingness to learn always and from everything.

Our charism places us at the crux of the reality of our time; it demands of us a constant
commitment to rendering ourselves fit to participate in an effective way in the prophetic
and evangelizing mission of the Church.(3)

1.2 Objectives of Intellectual Formation

1.2.1 General objective
The general objective of intellectual formation is the growth of the Pauline apostle, a
woman dedicated to communication of the Word. Studies are therefore directed to the
formation of the entire person in order that she might worthily respond to her vocation:
holiness in her specific apostolate, which is achieved through fidelity to God, to her
vocation, to humanity and to history, which is constantly evolving.(4)

1.2.2 Specific objectives

The specific objectives of our studies are:
To understand and live, on an always more profound level, the mystery of Jesus Master
Way, Truth and Life which we are called to communicate, achieving through the action
of the Spirit interior unity and the harmonious blending of various academic disciplines
and concrete experiences of life so as to manifest the hope that is in us.(5)

To acquire a scientific-experiential knowledge and Christian vision of the person and of

reality through the study of the humanistic and religious sciences, inculturation, and
discernment, so as to pinpoint the positive signs, the reasons for hope, and the traces of
God’s action in history (6).

To develop the ability to analyze, reflect on and critically examine reality, so as to read
our time in an objective and prophetic way and relate to situations, the sciences,
technology, cultures and peoples with the different languages of today, thus learning to
integrate these with the Christian message in the bold and universal spirit of Paul and
enlighten all the dimensions of human life with the light of the Gospel.(7)

To develop our creativity and the ability to act in a transforming way, so as to become
receptive to new suggestions and perspectives in the field of evangelization with the
media, as well as to the forms and processes of communication required by the
contemporary world and the cultures of its various nations.

To make us genuine communicators, with the totality of our being, attentive to the
phenomenon of communication and competent in the use of the most modern means and
forms of communication so as to communicate the Gospel in a manner understandable to
the different categories of persons to whom we are sent.