When a particularly intense interpersonal relationship develops, the first meeting becomes an essential space for presence and listening. It is not only the initial exchange of feelings and thoughts, but above all a space where we recognize together the inner place from which the journey of mutual understanding can begin, one step at a time, in trust, respect, and expectation.
The Impact of the First Encounter
We have all experienced the power of a first meeting that becomes a stage where life and the future are at stake, transforming into a decisive turning point, an experience so intense that it becomes a foundational event in our lives.
From this perspective, we can turn our gaze to Mercede Stefani (who would later be named Sister Irene), who retained in her memory and heart the permanent imprint of her first encounter with St Joseph Allamano. It was the period in which he had recently founded the Institute of the Consolata Missionary Sisters — founded on January 29, 1910, less than two years earlier.
On June 19, 1911, “Mercede said goodbye forever to her beautiful lake, her mountains, the large and comfortable house where she had been so happy, the parish church, before whose tabernacle she had spent such delightful hours.” Accompanied by her father, John, and the parish priest, Fr. Francis Capitanio, she set out for Turin, ready to embark on the journey that would lead her to become a Consolata Missionary.
In Turin, they were received by Joseph Allamano, a man of recognized sanctity and possessing exquisite human and spiritual qualities, which he had cultivated and developed over the years. He received them warmly, with openness, and with authority, knowing that this young woman, who had left everything to follow Jesus, was a new and precious gift that the Lord was offering to the Institute, and he would be its first custodian.
That encounter did not end there. The dear father, with a humble and simple gesture, was the first to kneel before Allamano, offering a much-loved daughter and placing her in his hands so he could present her to God, a gesture that was a sublime offertory, like the offering of the most precious good. The daughter, filled with fear and hope, also knelt beside her father while Allamano, moved by the spontaneity of that act, blessed them both.
Who knows what passed through the heart of young Mercede that day, and what she has treasured throughout her life from that first meeting, when her father entrusted her to a man of God who, in turn, became a father to her, the one entrusted with the task of forming her as an authentic Consolata Missionary Sister, of the highest quality, extraordinary in the little things of everyday life, a full-time missionary, and totally dedicated to the Lord, forever.
This first meeting is filled with spiritual and human significance: the father, with trust and abandonment to God’s will, gives his daughter to God; Allamano, in turn, welcomes a new young woman for the Institute and the mission, assuming the role of father and guide. John, for his part, does not return home empty-handed: he brings with him the Consolata, an icon given to him by Allamano, a tangible symbol of the blessing he received on that occasion.
On the back of the icon, remains a trace of that precious moment, with a note written by John Stefani himself:
“Memory given to me by the Canon Rector of the Consolata in Turin on June 21, 1911, when I handed over my daughter Mercede to religious life at the Consolata Missionary Institute.”
After that foundational encounter, the young Mercede began her journey of formation, a precious time during which her being was shaped by the spirit that animated the new family she had chosen to embrace with complete love. In every step, in every experience, in every encounter with the Founder, Joseph Allamano, she perceived God’s guidance leading her toward the fulfillment of a profound desire: to consecrate herself entirely to God and become a witness to His word as a missionary.
The fruit of this initial experience clearly emerges in the life of Sr. Irene Stefani, during her years of formation in Italy and, above all, in her mission in Kenya. There, she revealed herself as a true and faithful daughter of Allamano, capable of embodying his spirit in the daily routine of her religious life and her missionary commitment.
As a devoted daughter, she called him “Beloved Father,” because he showed her the path to authentic holiness, founded on a radical and total love for God and humanity. Her life can, in fact, be summed up as a constant commitment to live according to her fundamental program: “I will love charity more than myself.”
By Postulation
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