THE MAN WHO

SILENTLY CROSSED

FRONTIERSFR MARK GRIMA MSSP

In a time where traveling was slow he appeared everywhere.

When the means of communication were minimal he found ways

how to pass on his spirit.

This is Joseph De Piro, a devout man of faith,

a priest and the founder of the

Missionary Society of Saint Paul.

He belonged to everybody

Born in Malta in 1877, he hails from a noble and

influential family. The 7th out of 9 siblings. Quite a

simple young man, sociable and determined in his

ways. If priesthood was his call, then that was what

he was going to follow even if he had to wait.

But priesthood was not another status to add to his

inherited ones. Priesthood was to become his being,

the soul through which he reached out to the others.

God’s call to become an ordained minister was not a

goal to be achieved but an instrument for service. In

but there were economical, political and cultural ones

that followed closely.

A noble of origin who loved so much the orphans.

An established priest in his country who longed to

become a missionary.

A man of great financial means who lived in tattered

clothes like the common man in the streets, many a

times driven to beg for them.

A man of modest intelligence asked to enter the

Crossing barriers for Joseph De Piro came

at a very big cost. It meant his reputation,

his personal achievements and his life...

Crossing boundaries requires wisdom which very few people posses.

the multitude of activities and

responsibilities which

accumulated in his life he

ministered faithfully as a simple

priest, with no pretension or

hidden motivations.

What is that thing that most of

us look for in life?

Establishing ourselves! Maybe

we do it for our families or maybe

we do it for our self-fulfillment.

This comes at a price. We will not risk our neck if the

end result is not compensative. We tend to build our

castles, high and impenetrable and then protect our

status quo.

Joseph De Piro followed the opposite route. Born in a

castle, with so much means at his disposal, he crossed

the drawbridge into the common world as if that was

the most natural thing on earth to do. Never taunting

his origins, his story and his background he embraced

the other side of reality, to what most of his

contemporaries might have thought, naively.

If I were to describe our founder in one sentence

I would say that he was a man who silently crossed

frontiers. The most obvious were the social barriers,

current political field with

so much intricacies and

implications.

A man of weak health becoming anything for the needy

Crossing barriers for Joseph

De Piro came at a very big cost.

It meant his reputation, his

personal achievements and his

life. His death at the relatively

young age of 56 is just one indication.

Crossing boundaries requires wisdom which very few

people posses. Joseph De Piro did it in a particular

way which is noteworthy. While many great saints had

given up everything and served the poor, De Piro kept

on bringing his everything and repeatedly making it

available for those who had no access to it. His position

in the church hierarchy was used to promote peace

in politically turbulent times. He used his position

to promote the foundation of the 1st and only

Maltese missionary and religious congregation. His

material means of the family became available for the

dispossessed who seem to be always at his heals.

There was a way that De Piro did all these frontier

crossings: silently. There was no pomp about his

giving, about his patient suffering, about his

sacrifices and about his oppositions. Humility was

the order of the day and the virtue which made his

life an authentic one.

If crossing barriers was his lifestyle this was very

much based on the one true model: that of the

incarnation. God, silently crossing the barrier

between heaven and earth giving us his all as if that

was the most natural thing to do and trusting us

that we will make the most out of it. In the process

we nailed him to a cross and as if to press the point

further he uses this betrayal to rise us up with him to

heights which we are still struggling to comprehend.

Joseph De Piro’s intimate relationship with Christ

transformed him into another incarnation of God for

us. And as with the original incarnation we are still

struggling to comprehend and assimilate in our lives.

Let me just share with you one example of this.

When Joseph De Piro, in 1933 at the age of 56, crossed

the last frontier that from this life into the next, he

was sure that he will carry with him the Missionary

Society which he gave his life for. He was sure that we

will flourish after his death, the time when this poor

noble man will plead for us once again in front of

the heavenly Father. Characteristic of his life he died

silently during a liturgical service. The small

congregation he left behind was too shocked to

take the reigns in its hands. He was everything

for the first members and they seemed to have

lost their soul. For decades our Society was left

in the hands of leaders outside of its charism

and the founder started to fade away into the

distant past – as if humbly letting go and trusting

others.

Yet holiness lasts and is passed on. 100 years after

our foundation we can say that Joseph De Piro is

becoming more alive and his spirituality more

recognized. We are his dream and we feel privileged

to be carrying on this flame and humbled by its

We are his dream and we feel privileged to be

carrying on this flame and humbled by its intensity.

But if we are to carry it forward in his style we have to do this

by risking our lives and doing it silently.

intensity. But if we are to carry it forward in his style

we have to do this by risking our lives and doing it

silently. De Piro always called us the small Society of

Saint Paul. There is something about being small and

that is flexibility. Today we are looking at this reality

as a responsibility rather than a handicap. Like our

founder, 100 years of existence is showing us that our

missionary call is not about establishing ourselves

but about sharing all our available resources with

those who are dispossessed. This includes bringing

beyond the frontiers our faith, our experience, our

compassion and our talents. And may we do this

silently, as silent as that time when God entered

humanity and when Christ carried us out of death

into life on the dawn of the 1st day of the week.

Today we are gathered here because years ago a man

dared to see the bigger picture. Rather then making

sure that he protected himself, he shared his all with

those who needed: the country he knew, people he

met on the road, children not cared for, and nations

beyond the frontiers of his nation. Like many dreams

it could have simply faded away, but Joseph De Piro

dreamt with God and that became a different dream.

He brought young man to dream with him and led

them to generously cross frontiers with him.

Today’s MSSP is not the sole effort of its founder, but

I firmly believe that from heaven he proudly points

his finger towards the many members who brought

all their gifts and pooled it into this dream. I imagine

him today encouraging us to give our all, but

silently and joyfully. And above all reminding us that

whatever goodness we pass on to others has its soul in the

compassionate God of ours.

Today we are in the privileged position that the

Missionary Society of Saint Paul crossed another

frontier. We no longer limit this charism for the priests

and brothers who belong to its communities, but

joining us in this mission are a number of lay people

from a wide range of life commitments who also feel

in their hearts the call to bring God’s love to others.

This is encouraging and we gathered here with

you, our friends, today to witness that the Spirit of

God is very much alive and active. This centenary

celebration is not simply about commemorating

history but mostly about dreaming a future, not ours

but that already in the mind of God.

“Put on the mind of Christ” 1Cor; 2:16 Paul says to

the Corinthians, and this is what Joseph De Piro did

with his whole being. And to us he repeats what he

stated in his secret testament to remain in mutual

love in Christ, because nothing may procure the glory

of God, one’s spiritual good and that of the neighbor

than this love which builds us up.

In humility let us be the pioneers in crossing the

frontiers which separate man from man, carrying in

our hearts that deep love for humanity witnessed to

us by Jesus Christ.