St. Joseph Allamano made silence and discretion his lifestyle and the secret of his sanctity. A choice that can be summed up in the motto: “Good must be done well and quietly ,” that is, in the best possible way, in silence.
The newspaper Il Momento, the day after the death of St. Joseph Allamano, summarized his lifestyle and holiness in a few lines:
He was not a man of ostentation. He was not an eloquent man. He was a man of industrious silence .
Fr. Pier Giuseppe Accornero commented on the Turin newspaper’s statement as follows:
“A characteristic of St Joseph Allamano’s life: knowing how to act, monitor ¬, influence, and handle people and things while remaining as private as possible. Absent and present. Always and everywhere he acted and directed with his shrewd intelligence, his intuitive finesse ¬, his calm and far-sighted meditation, and the profound piety of a priest filled with the love of God.
Those who approached him sensed a man of integrity who, without unnecessary words, confidently indicated the direction, the path, and the decision to be made.”
In Allamano’s teaching, contained in the Conferences to his Missionaries, emerges the importance and insistence of seeking the quality of life by doing good well, of being extraordinary in the ordinary in the “silence”, rightly defined as: “industrious”.
The sentences excerpted from the Conferences, which concern “silence”, sound like recommendations, suggestions, advice from a Father and Master who indicates to his Daughters the “means” to walk, quickly, on the path of holiness.
From the Conferences of St. Joseph Allamano
The Language
The tongue must be moderated, restrained. The Lord closed our mouths with two gates, while leaving our ears open; two gates, indeed: the teeth and the lips, and why? In order that we speak slowly. So don’t always be silent, but think before you speak.
Use of tongue is a serious matter. We may complain about speaking, but never about remaining silent. Hence the importance of holding our tongues and not letting them run wild like a reined horse.
Judgments are formed in the head, but the tongue pronounces them. Once we master this language, then everything will be fine, because it will no longer flow if we don’t want it to.
How often are things exaggerated, or not stated precisely. How often are words said that are contrary to charity! There’s always a craving for words… What’s said can’t be taken back.
If you want to speak, speak, but with words that would be fitting in the mouth of the Lord. Your speeches must always be edifying, or scholarly, or devotional. Not everything that is true can and should be said.
Don’t speak out of place or uselessly; you should always speak of things that edify, that help to do good. Ah! no news, neither of this nor that, no curiosity!
To speak well, you don’t have to say everything that comes to mind. Some people, if something comes to mind, they say it at all costs, whether it’s good or bad.
The Silence
You don’t have to maintain perfect, continuous silence, but do it when it’s necessary. Don’t say after you’ve spoken: “But I didn’t think about that.” You have to be careful, you have to think first.
Silence: saying only what is necessary and letting those who need to speak, and not always wanting to speak ourselves.
Speak when there is necessity, utility, or convenience.
Every word spoken to men is one word less spoken to God. We will be held accountable to God for every useless word,…said the Venerable (St. Joseph Cafasso).
Silence in due time and place; don’t speak too loudly or when it’s not our turn; talk about serious matters.
Be silent during time of work and study; be attentive: every word you say is a word taken from the Lord.
You must speak, but first you must learn to be silent so you can then speak well. Those who can’t hold their tongue will talk too much and then say nonsense.
Let our speech be: brief and good; brief and sweet; brief and simple; brief and charitable; brief and amiable.
We must give an account to God for every idle word, not just every bad word; idle means without necessity or utility.
Either remain silent, or say something that is better than silence.
When silence is broken, our speech is generally not edifying, but now falls short of charity, of prudence, of piety.
Speak with utility, with necessity, and with convenience. This doesn’t mean we should eliminate those words that serve to cheer us up a bit, but not those…
I don’t want you all to become mute, but observing internal and external silence is necessary.
Inner silence is the most difficult thing to acquire. Sometimes you see a person, you believe they are completely united with God, and then… So many feelings there: envy, jealousy, malice… This is not good; we need to be silent with our passions, with ourselves.
When we speak of silence, we do not only mean material silence but also internal silence, which consists in not allowing the imagination and thoughts to work on things that are, if not vain, at least useless.
Without recollection, we will never achieve anything. Love silence, and love it because in silence and quiet, the Christian soul grows in virtue.
Make as much of your internal silence as you want, there’s never too much of it.
By being silent, you learn to speak. And then, speak softly, don’t shout, it’s not necessary to shout. Loud shouting breaks devotion and dissipates it.
(Sources : Conferences to the Sisters: vol. 1 July 1914, p. 79; vol. II 17 March 1918, p. 251; 25 May 1919, p. 585-588; vol. III 6 June 1920, 84-87; 21 May 1922, pp. 419-425).
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