Thomas Mary Fusco
Thomas Mary Fusco, the seventh of eight children, was born on1 December
1831 in Pagani, Salerno, in the Diocese of Nocera-Sarno, Italy, to Dr Antonio,
a pharmacist, and Stella Giordano, of noble descent. They were known for their
upright moral and religious conduct, and taught their son Christian piety and
charity to the poor.
He was baptized on the day he was born in the parish of S. Felice e Corpo
di Cristo. In 1837, when he was only six years old, his mother died of cholera
and a few years later, in 1841, he also lost his father. Fr Giuseppe, an uncle
on his father's side and a primary school teacher, then took charge of his
education.
Since 1839, the year of the canonization of St Alphonsus Mary de' Liguori,
little Tommaso had dreamed of church and the altar; in 1847 he was at last
able to enter the same diocesan seminary of Nocera which his brother Raffaele
would leave after being ordained a priest in 1849.
On 1 April 1851, Tommaso Maria received the sacrament of Confirmation and
on 22 December 1855, after completing his seminary formation, he was ordained
a priest by Bishop Agnello Giuseppe D'Auria.
In those years, sorrowful because of the loss of his loved ones, including
his uncle (1847) as well as his young brother, Raffaele (1852), the devotion
to the Patient Christ and to his Blessed Sorrowful Mother, already dear to the
entire Fusco family, took root in Tommaso Maria, as in fact his biographers
recall: "He had a deep devotion to the crucified Christ which he
cherished throughout his life".
Right from the start he saw to the formation of boys for whom he opened a
morning school in his own home, while for young people and adults, bent on
increasing their human and Christian formation, he organized evening prayers
at the parish church of S. Felice e Corpo di Cristo. This was a true place of
conversion and prayer, just as it had been for St Alphonsus, revered and
honoured in Pagani for his apostolate.
In 1857, he was admitted to the Congregation of the Missionaries of Nocera
under the title of St Vincent de Paul and became an itinerant missionary,
especially in the regions of Southern Italy.
In 1860 he was appointed chaplain at the Shrine of our Lady of Carmel
(known as "Our Lady of the Hens") in Pagani, where he built up the
men's and women's Catholic associations and set up the altar of the Crucified
Christ and the Pious Union for the Adoration of the Most Precious Blood of
Jesus.
In 1862 he opened a school of moral theology in his own home to train
priests for the ministry of confession, kindling enthusiasm for the love of
Christ's Blood; that same year, he founded the "(Priestly) Society of the
Catholic Apostolate" for missions among the common people; in 1874 he
received the approval of Pope Pius IX, now blessed.
Deeply moved by the sorry plight of an orphan girl, a victim of the street,
after careful preparation in prayer for discernment, Fr Tommaso Maria founded
the Congregation of the "Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious
Blood" on 6 January, the Solemnity of Epiphany in 1873. This institute
was inaugurated at the Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in the presence of
Bishop Raffaele Ammirante, who, with the clothing of the first three sisters
with the religious habit, blessed the first orphanage for seven poor little
orphan girls of the area. It was not long before the newborn religious family
and the orphanage also received the Pope's blessing, in response to their
request.
Fr Tommaso Maria continued to dedicate himself to the priestly ministry,
preaching spiritual retreats and popular missions; and from his apostolic
travels sprang the many foundations of houses and orphanages that were a
monument to his heroic charity, which was even more ardent in the last 20
years of his life (1870-1891).
In addition to his commitments as founder and apostolic missionary, he was
parish priest (1874-1887) at the principal church of S. Felice e Corpo di
Cristo in Pagani, extraordinary confessor to the cloistered nuns in Pagani and
Nocera and, in the last years of his life, spiritual father of the lay
congregation at the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
It was not long before Fr Tommaso Maria, envied for the good he achieved in
his ministry and for his life as an exemplary priest, was faced with
humiliation and persecution and, in 1880, even a brother priest's slanderous
calumny. However, sustained by the Lord, he lovingly carried that cross which
own Pastor, Bishop Ammirante had foretold at the time of his institute's
foundation: "Have you chosen the title of the Most Precious Blood? Well,
may you be prepared to drink the bitter cup".
During the harshest of trials, which he bore in silence, he would repeat:
"May work and suffering for God always be your glory and in your work and
suffering, may God be your consolation on this earth, and your recompense in
heaven. Patience is the safeguard and pillar of all the virtues".
Wasting away with a liver-disease, Fr Tommaso Maria died a devout death on
24 February 1891, praying with the elderly Simeon: Lord, now let your servant
depart in peace, according to your word" (Lk 2, 29).
He was only 59 years old! In the notice issued by the town council of
Pagani on 25 February 1891 the Gospel witness of his life, known to one and
all, was summarized in these words: "Tommaso Maria Fusco, Apostolic
Missionary, Founder of the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious Blood, an
exemplary priest of indomitable faith and ardent charity, worked tirelessly in
the name of the Redeeming Blood for the salvation of souls: in life he loved
the poor and in death forgave his enemies".
His life was directed to the highest devotion of Christian virtues by the
priestly life, lived intensely in constant meditation on the mystery of the
Father's love, contemplated in the crucified Son whose Blood is "the
expression, measure and pledge" of divine Charity and heroic charity to
the poor and needy, in whom Fr Tommaso Maria saw the bleeding Face of Jesus.
His writings, preaching and popular missions marked his vast experience of
faith and the light of Christian hope that shone from his vocation and
actions. He had a vital, burning love for God; it enflamed his words and his
apostolate, made fruitful by love for God and neighbour, by union with the
crucified Jesus, by trust in Mary, Immaculate and Sorrowful, and above all by
the Eucharist.
Fr Tommaso Maria Fusco was an Apostle of Charity of the Most Precious
Blood, a friend of boys and girls and young people and attentive to every kind
of poverty and human and spiritual misery.
For all these reasons he enjoyed the fame of holiness among the diocesan
priests, among the people and among his spiritual daughters who received his
charism, and witness to it today in the various parts of the world where they
carry out their apostolate in communion with the Church.
The cause for the beatification of Fr Tommaso Maria Fusco was initiated in
1955 and the decree of his heroic Christian virtues was published on 24 April
2001. The miraculous healing of Mrs Maria Battaglia on 20 August 1964 in
Sciacca, Agrigento, Sicily, through the intercession of Fr Tommaso Maria Fusco
was recognized on7 July 2001.
With his beatification, Pope John Paul II presents Fr Tommaso Maria Fusco
as an example and a guide to holiness for priests, for the people of God and
for his spiritual daughters, the Daughters of Charity of the Most Precious
Blood.
Homily
of John Paul II
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