Paolo Manna

Paolo Manna (16 January 1872, in Avellino – 15 September 1952, in Naples) was an Italian Catholic missionary in Burma (now Myanmar) who was the superior general of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions. He was the founder of the Pontifical Missionary Union. He was beatified by John Paul II in 2001. His feast day is 15 September.

Life

Paolo Manna was born the fifth of six children in Avellino on January 16, 1872. Two of his uncles were priests, as was an older brother. He received his early education in Avellino and Naples, where he studied Latin and Greek.^[1] Manna studied philosophy at the Gregorian University in Rome and in 1891 entered the Theology Seminary of the Institute for Foreign Missions in Milan. On May 19, 1894 he was ordained a priest in the cathedral of Milan.^[2]

On September 27, 1895 he left for the mission of Toungoo in Eastern Burma. He worked there for a total of ten years until 1907. on three occasions he had to return to Italy, as he suffered from tuberculosis. In 1908 he became the editor of the magazine Le Missioni Cattoliche (the Catholic Missions), and in 1914 started publication of Propaganda Missionaria, a popular broadsheet newspaper.^[1] In Italy he relaunched the Mission Societies for the Propagation of the Faith and Holy Childhood and promoted other initiatives for missionary cooperation.

Founder

In 1916 Manna founded the Missionary Union of the Clergy to promote knowledge of the Missions.^[3] The Union spread rapidly after Pope Benedict XV recommended its presence in every diocese in his 1919 encyclical Maximum Illud.^[4] From 1937 to 1941 he was in charge of its International Secretariat.

In 1919 he founded Italia Missionaria (Mission Italy) for young people. He also founded Sacred Heart Seminary at Ducenta, Caserta, Italy in an effort to foster missionary vocations in southern Italy.^[1]

From 1924 to 1934 he served as Superior General of the Institute of Foreign Missions of Milan . In 1926, at the instigation of Pope Pius XI, the Institute united with the Missionary Seminary of Rome to form the Pontifical Institute for the Foreign Missions (P.I.M.E.).^[5]

In 1936, Father Manna played a primary role in the establishment of the institute of the Society of the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate.^[5] Shortly before his death, he invited the older churches to establish missionary seminaries so that they could participate directly in evangelization and give help to young mission churches.^[4]

Death

Fr Paolo Manna died in Naples on 15 September 1952 and was buried at the seminary he founded in Ducenta. In 1990 Pope John Paul II visited his tomb.^[5]

Works

Fr. Manna wrote a number of books and booklets. His proposals regarding missionary work anticipated developments at the Second Vatican Council, particularly the declarations of Ad Gentes 2, 39.^[4] He spent his entire life promoting the missions,^[6] while at the same time opposing all cultural imperialism.^[7]

• Missionari autem Pauci (Missionaries are Few)
• The Separated Brethren, (1941)
• Apostolic Virtues, (1943)

Veneration

Servant of God Paolo Manna was declared Venerable 18 February 1989 by Pope John Paul II, and beatified on 4 November 2001. He is commemorated on 15 September.

See also

• Pauline Jaricot
• Guido Maria Conforti

References