VOICES FROM CANADA/QUEBEC Lucille Paradis I arrived in Rome in March 1955 for my novitiate year. When I met Prima Maestra Thecla for the first time, I was surprised, but deeply encouraged to see her so simple, so warm, so approachable, so genuine. I had imagined a superior general quite differently. I worked at San […]
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A mother who accompanies
MY TESTIMONY ABOUT VENERABLE THECLA MERLO When I look back on my first steps in the Society of St. Paul, my memory is immediately colored by the discreet yet profoundly deep presence of Venerable Thecla Merlo. I did not know her personally, yet her figure reached me like a mother who welcomes without fanfare, […]
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Remembering Maestra Tecla
It was an evening, after dinner, when our formators accompanied us to greet Prima Maestra Thecla. I had arrived in Alba in September 1954. I barely knew that she was an important superior who had arrived from Rome—whom everyone called Prima Maestra. Sitting in the middle of a beautiful group of sisters, she was busy […]
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Thecla Merlo Lived the Two Secrets of the Saints and Apostles: Humility and Faith
In 1960, Thecla Merlo, co-foundress of the Daughters of St. Paul, visited Brazil for the last time. Her purpose was to encourage and inspire her daughters to follow Jesus, the Divine Master, Way, Truth, and Life, in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul and to communicate the Gospel through the media. At the time, the […]
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Maestra Thecla
I never had the privilege of knowing Maestra Thecla personally, but I’ve come to appreciate and love her through the testimonies of many sisters who have shared their experiences of her with me. One testimony remains etched in my heart—that of Sr. Antonietta Martini who passed away in 2003. Sr. Antonietta had met Maestra Thecla […]
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