Year of St. Joseph Marello

To the Josephite Marellian Family

Dear Confreres and Friends,

During these days, together with our Vicar General and General Delegate for

Formation, Fr. Maxi Sevilla, I am participating in the meeting of Formators from the Americas in Lima, Peru, dedicated to deepening our understanding of the Ratio

Formationis. This is an ideal opportunity for Formators of future Oblates to update themselves, deepen their knowledge, and share significant experiences of their service. As we stand at the threshold of a very special year, I would like to share with you some news from our religious family.

Beginning of the Marellian Year

On November 25, 2026, we Oblate religious, together with all those who are part of our spiritual family, will have the opportunity to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Canonization of our Founder. We wish to prepare for this occasion with prayer and a renewed commitment to our mission. We will dedicate a special year to Saint Joseph Marello “to rekindle our knowledge, love, and devotion to him” (Resolution 13). The primary objective of this time of grace, as with the Jubilees celebrated by the Church, is to awaken in each of us a true yearning for holiness and a strong desire for conversion, in a climate of ever more intense prayer and solidarity with others.

Each Province and Delegation will find the most appropriate ways to initiate this time of grace, while the official opening will take place on November 25, 2025, in Ranquish, Peru, the site of the miracle attributed to our Saint. In addition to the faithful and Oblate Confreres of the Province of “San Toribio de Mogrovejo” and myself, a special Mass in Ranquish will also include the Vicar General of our Congregation and the formators from the Americas, who from the 19th to the 22nd attended a meeting in Lima dedicated to the reception of the Ratio Formationis.

Let us welcome with open hearts the call to live this “time of grace” intensely, always attentive and in solidarity, especially with those in need.

A very important celebration… but unfortunately somewhat forgotten…

Every year on January 3rd, we remember the Most Holy Name of Jesus, which “…is

above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord!” (Phil 2:9-11).

According to the evangelist Matthew, Joseph gave the name to the Son born to Mary, as announced by the angel in a dream (1:20ff). In keeping with Jewish tradition, on the eighth day after birth, the newborn was circumcised and given a name, which almost always contained an invocation to God. Especially in the Acts of the Apostles, what can be called the “theology of the Name” emerges forcefully, and the name of Jesus makes God’s saving power present and operative: “Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame… Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Acts 2:20; Rom 10:12-13).

To understand the significance of Joseph’s gesture of naming the newborn, I would like to share a theologian’s reflection. “Husband” and “father” define the mission entrusted to Joseph by Providence. He “had the courage to assume the legal paternity of Jesus.” This is the central issue in our saint’s biography, which defines the, by no means marginal, role he played in history. In Jewish society, those without a father and therefore a name, and born out of wedlock, had no right to speak in public and were excluded from social life. Without Joseph’s paternity, Jesus would not have been able to proclaim the Gospel and carry out his mission.

For us today, a “father” is the one who gave life, not the one who adopted a child, while in the Old Testament, the legal father is the true father. Thus, Joseph’s genealogy determines the identity of Jesus: in the Gospel, this is highlighted both by the infancy narratives and by the passages that indicate Mary’s virginal conception (Giancarlo Pani, “With a Father’s Heart,” La Civiltà Cattolica, March 2021).

In fact, although the Gospels do not record any of his words, it remains clear that the only certain word Saint Joseph uttered was the name “Jesus” at his circumcision, as commanded by the angel (cf. Mt 1:21). It is Joseph, therefore, who makes manifest to the world the presence of the God-Man who “will save the people from their sins.” Furthermore, the origins of our Congregation are linked to the church dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus, within the Opera Pia Michelerio, where Canon Fr. Giuseppe Marello, for several years from 1873 onwards, held spiritual conferences, organized adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and also established an association of lay people who committed themselves to continuous adoration at home, day and night. A few years later (1878), this very small church became the cradle of the nascent Congregation of the Oblates of Saint Joseph, the first Brothers received their religious habit, participated in their first religious services, and also received the first instructions and meditations that the Founder shared with them.

Dilexi te and the “Poor Youth”

On October 9th, the first Apostolic Exhortation signed by Pope Leo XIV, Dilexi te, or “I have loved you,” was published. It is a powerful invitation to recognize in the poor, and not only the economic poor, the living, incarnate presence of Christ. The text analyzes the “faces” of poverty and offers numerous points for reflection and numerous incentives for action. Serving the poor is not a gesture from “top to bottom,” but an encounter between equals… The Church, therefore, when she stoops to care for the poor, assumes her most exalted posture (79).

The Pope dwells at length on almsgiving, rarely practiced and often disdained (115). “As Christians, we do not renounce almsgiving. It is a gesture that can be done in various ways, and that we can try to do in the most effective way, but we must do it. And it will always be better to do something than to do nothing. In any case, it will touch our hearts. It will not be the solution to poverty in the world, which must be sought with intelligence, tenacity, and social commitment. But we need to practice almsgiving in order to touch the suffering flesh of the poor” (119).

Following the example of the Founder – so our Constitutions state – we are aware that we cannot fully proclaim the Gospel without also attending with keen sensitivity to true human progress (C79).

In the 2024 General Chapter, we renewed our commitment to making youth ministry our apostolic priority, with particular attention to the “poor youth,” which for the Founder were those left to fend for themselves, despised, and judged (cf. Letter 31, 1869).

Today, the “poor youth” are identified with those “existential peripheries” in which so many young people live and which must become the focus of our apostolic attention. Let us seek to recognize within our context the peripheral realities that we can identify with today’s “poor youth” and take concrete action to alleviate their suffering. We are urged to continue our efforts to rekindle our dedication to God and to poor youth, and our identification as children of Saint Joseph and Saint Joseph Marello.

As we continue our journey, let us entrust ourselves to the intercession of our Patron Saints and oremus ad invicem.

Best wishes for the Year of Saint Joseph Marello!

Lima, November 25, 2025.

With fraternal greetings,

Fr. Jan Pelczarski, OSJ

Superior General