On Saturday, 9 April 2016, the Daughters of St. Paul held for the second consecutive year a pilgrimage on foot from Castagnito to Alba in honor of Venerable Thecla Merlo, who was born in Castagnito, and also so as to go through the Holy Door of the Cathedral of Alba to celebrate the Jubilee of Mercy.
In contrast to the bad weather forecast, the day proved to be beautiful and sunny, facilitating the trek of the large group of pilgrims, who hailed from Castagnito, neighboring towns and even as far afield as Turin. At the age of 21, Teresa (later, Thecla) Merlo, the first Daughter of St. Paul and the faithful collaborator of Blessed James Alberione, Founder of the Pauline Family, made this same trip on 27 June 1915. She was headed for the Church of Sts. Cosmas and Damian in Alba, where she had an appointment with Fr. Alberione, who invited her to become a “Sister of the Good Press.” Her acceptance of this invitation helped the Founder take his first steps in concretizing his dream of “doing something for the people of his time” by placing the fruits of technological progress at the service of humanity. Thecla’s pilgrimage blazed a trail for countless young women all over the world who, after her example, made the decision to follow the Lord like St. Paul and proclaim the Gospel in the culture of communications.
Saturday’s pilgrimage included 20 young Daughters of St. Paul from all over the world (Uganda, Nigeria, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Pakistan, Korea, Taiwan, Spain, Romania, Czech Republic, Congo, United States, Philippines and Malaysia) who are preparing to make their perpetual professions in the Institute. Their joyous songs in many different languages resounded along the 10-km. (6-mile) journey, creating an atmosphere of joy, cordiality and universality.