The Pauline Sisters celebrated on Sunday 16 June in Rome – in the presence of their Superior General, sister Anna Caiazza, and Paolo Ruffini, Prefect of the Dicastery of the Holy See for Communication – the 60th anniversary of the death of Venerable Sister Tecla Merlo, charismatic and brilliant collaborator of Don Giacomo Alberione in the foundation of their congregation (the Daughters of Saint Paul), as well as an original figure in history of the Church.
Sister Tecla died on February 5, 1964 at the age of 70, at the culmination of an entire life spent to communicate the Gospel and spread the value of knowledge and culture. In fact, this hard-working and brilliant nun, who was originally a seamstress by profession, he had evangelization and the diffusion of the Word of God at heart; but he also understood – in communion with Blessed Don Giacomo Alberione, founder of the Pauline Family – that the promotion of culture and information was equally decisive in promoting, together with the growth of the Christian faith, also the integral development of the person, his growth human and spiritual and his thirst for peace and justice.
Sister Tecla, who was proclaimed Venerable by Saint John Paul II on 22 January 1991, was a precursor of her times. In fact, at that time there were few religious women personally engaged in a mission in the complex and risky world of publishing and journalism. You contributed significantly to the creation of many magazines, including Valsusa, Way, Truth and Life, The Newspaper And Christian family. The latter two are now part of the San Paolo publishing group. He also promoted the publication of books, radio broadcasts and films, as well as the production of short films and catechistic records. A life from times gone by which, however, also has a lot to say today: in the present time he would not hesitate, for example, to address the themes of faith and current events on social networks such as Tik-Tok or to make “stories” on Instagram.
«His was a story projected into the future, the beginning of a story that we Daughters of St. Paul continue today», said Sister Anna Caiazza in her speech. «Maestra Tecla taught us that evangelizing does not so much mean spreading the Gospel, but announcing it by living it firsthand». And she concluded: «How would you like us Pauline nuns today? Happy, generous, altruistic, compassionate for human suffering, wherever it may be.”
Paolo Ruffini, who gave his report on the digital impact in ecclesial contexts, underlined how the digital one is a challenge for the baptized to be taken up in a dismembered and divided world because it can be a facilitator of unity. After all, “the Church has always accepted the challenges of history”. For this reason “we must not be afraid of new languages to still tell the stories, the beauty, the good, a prospect of salvation when everything seems lost”. According to the prefect of the Dicastery for communication «we need to fight the idolatry of the self and make room for sharing, to the nostalgia for the future, to the rediscovery that we are all brothers and sisters.”
The way in which his life was presented through one was innovative “scrollytelling”, with creativity provided by Mediacor and written texts by Alberto Chiara, former editor-in-chief of Christian family. «To tell the story of Sister Tecla Merlo», explained Luca Olivieri, director and curator of the project created by the communications company Mediacor, «we built a scrollytelling. This term comes from the combination of the English words “scroll” and “storytelling”. This digital narrative technique allowed us to use texts, images, videos and graphics in a harmonious way, to tell Sister Tecla’s story in a compelling way. As the user scrolls down the page, the content progressively reveals itself, creating an engaging experience. By applying scrollytelling to the project on Sister Tecla Merlo, we believe we have obtained a result that is not only informative, but also visually attractive and interactive, allowing users to completely immerse themselves in her story and the impact that Sister Tecla had on religious communication » .
Today the Daughters of Saint Paul number around 2000 with 205 communities present in 50 countries and are engaged all over the world in the publication of books, newspapers, the production of music, videos, films and radio broadcasts, in the management of publishing houses and bookshops and in the management of websites and social networks. They also organize institutional New Media Education courses and online biblical courses.
