Saint Joseph Allamano always spoke of the Virgin Mary in his conferences to the Consolata Missionaries. His love for the Virgin Mary matured within his family history, and his Marian spirituality developed particularly in the environment in which he lived and carried out his ministry as rector of the Consolata Shrine.
Saint Joseph Allamano’s profound and intense communion with the Consolata nurtured in him a firm conviction that devotion to Mary is
“necessary not only to reach Heaven, but to make us more holy, to ascend higher, to reach the highest perfection. She defends us from the many difficulties encountered on the path of virtue, sustains us in temptations and in all the miseries that fill our lives; she defends us from the devil; she gives us the strength to walk the path of perfection amid so many adversities.”
Consequently, Mary becomes the model of holiness to which her missionaries are called to conform, living their vocation through the choices and responsibilities of daily life. In this perspective, we find Blessed Irene Stefani, Allamano’s spiritual daughter and a missionary from the very beginning, who embraced the charism of the Founder, Saint Joseph Allamano, in its purest and most concrete form.
Thus, Irene, faithful to her legacy, cultivated a deep and affectionate relationship with Mary Consolata, which she learned from her family.
Yes, Sr Irene grew up in a deeply Christian family, where Marian devotion marked their daily life. Her father, a man of intense prayer, would climb the stairs of the house reciting the invocations of the litanies; her mother, unable to go to church in her final days, continued from her deathbed to honor the Virgin with great fervor and ceaseless ejaculatory prayers.
In this family atmosphere, rich in interior life and marked by short prayers, the prayer of the Rosary, and acts of devotion to the Mother of God, Sister Irene learned to see life through Mary’s eyes, in trust, silence, and abandonment to the Lord.
This gift, received within her family, was not hidden, but soon became a living testimony: from a young age, she gathered family and neighbors to recite the Rosary, proposed little sacrifices in honor of Our Lady, and prayed constantly for the conversion of sinners.
About her father, Giovanni Stefani, she testified:
“When he was at the farmhouse during the summer, in the evenings he would gather with the neighboring families and recite the Holy Rosary with them, and talk a lot about religion.”
A Special Bond with Our Lady Consolata
Upon entering the Institute of the Consolata Missionary Sisters, Sr Irene further internalized her bond with the Virgin, venerated under the title of Consolata, whom she experienced as a living, familiar presence, a mother who accompanies and supports every step of the mission.
As a missionary, she promoted and supported devotion to Our Lady of Consolation. In this regard, Giuseppe Kaiga, her former student, recalled:
“She had Maria Consolata praised and honored, and she taught us hymns in this way: she had a book, she sang the first verse or the first line of the verse alone, then Christianity repeated it […]. The Church was filled with joy when everyone sang to Our Lady with full voices, which manifested the joy of their hearts.”
The spirituality of Blessed Irene Stefani’s did not lack the Marian exhortations, which she embraced for herself and proposed to others as an authentic life and mission plan.
Here are some of these exhortations, still very relevant today, which reflect her profound interior life, imbued with Marian sensitivity and missionary zeal:
“If you want to live well – turn to Mary Most Holy.
If you want to die well, turn to Mary Most Holy.
If you want to reach heaven, turn to Mary Most Holy.
If you want to achieve complete submission to your superiors and your parents, turn to Mary Most Holy.
This is the good habit to acquire; turn to Mary Most Holy.
Consider the love and humility she possesses, be modeled by her.
She will give you the strength to obtain what you need for salvation.”
“Courage… are we not daughters of the Most Holy Consolata?”
“We will pray to Mary, our consoler, to send an abundance of her graces into your heart.”
“Let us often turn to our Mother Mary, that she may assist us in all our difficulties.”
“The Consolata always smile upon you.”
There is no doubt that Blessed Irene Stefani lived her path to holiness heroically, following the example of the Virgin Mary.
Just as she walked with Mary throughout her life, so she ended her days in the serene certainty of belonging totally to Jesus and Maria Consolata; her last words, on her deathbed, are an eloquent testimony to this:
“I belong entirely to Jesus and Mary and Joseph, now and always, for all eternity, from eternity.”
By the Postulation
