1) Saint Justin De Jacobis is held up as an exceptional model of holiness and missionary life for Vincentians. 2) As a deeply human saint, De Jacobis was known for his tenderness and compassion towards others. He experienced loneliness and suffering from some fellow missionaries. 3) Despite obstacles, De Jacobis had a deep sense of belonging to the Congregation of the Mission. He drew strength from fellow Vincentians who supported him.

1. FROM AN ARTICLE BY
MARLIO NASAYÓ LIÉVANO, CM
PROVINCE OF COLOMBIA
SaintJustindeJacobis
ShepherdoftheBurningDesertPlains

2. Saint Justin De Jacobis, CM, is an
exceptional model of holiness and
missionary life; a light for his confreres in
the Community; a leader for the
missionary Church; and a paradigm for
those who are pastors today and will be
tomorrow, especially for bishops.
His personality and holiness are an
abundant wealth that could inspire many
pages of reading, reflection, and prayer. I
sketch out these few lines that will lead us
to deepen these topics and continue to
extract resources from the rich mine of
his life.

3. Adeeply
humansaint

4. Yes, our saint was a very human man. He
impressed by his tenderness. His homilies
were full of compassion. In the pages of his
diary, he refers to his mother, who
accompanied him from heaven when he
spent Christmas 1839 almost all alone. He
writes of the pain of remaining by himself
in the mission of Adwa, as his confreres
left for other mission centers.

5. Our saint was not a cynic. He was a
friend–– to his confreres in the
Community, to his faithful Catholics, and
he even won the hearts of the Orthodox
and Protestants. How special it is that
many still visit his grave today, years after
his earthly pilgrimage came to an end. It
was because he was so human that he
became very dear to the heart of God and
to the hearts of the poor.

6. Asaintwithadeep
senseofbelonging
totheCongregation
oftheMission

7. The life of this apostle within the
Congregation was not a rose garden. His
confreres in the mission made him suffer
much; for example Father Sapeto, who was
more a social climber than a missionary.
Monsignor Montuori, his auxiliary bishop
and then his successor, was a heavy cross
and an obstacle on Justin’s missionary
path. Not to mention the Superior
General, Father Étienne, who, instead of
being a support in his missionary work,
almost expelled him from the
Congregation. But let us be fair and
recognize that many other confreres
wiped away his tears, were his strength in
times of struggle, and a balm to heal his
apostolic wounds— for example, the
postulant Abba Ghebre Michael.

8. In our mission today, despite having access
to so many resources of one kind or
another, how “fragile” we can be. How
easily, and painfully, we see confreres
depart— those who started the
Vincentian way with us, and leave for other
fields different from those to which the
Lord called them. But at the same time, let
us recognize that we live in family and
close to our confreres, both those who
leave and those who continue as
Vincentians.
The CM is a flowering tree with lots of
shade for everyone. We need a lot of the
resilience that De Jacobis lived so deeply,
and we must ask the Lord for this gift.

9. Asainttowhom
Maryshowed
theway

10. When Propaganda Fide and the
Congregation of the Mission sent him to
evangelize Abyssinia, our confrere asked
permission to go first to the Rue du Bac,
where, nine years earlier, Mary, the
Mother of the Company, had given the
immeasurable treasure of the Miraculous
Medal to Sister Labouré.

11. When he reached the shores of his
mission, Mary already had arrived with her
outstretched arms. She whispered many
secrets in his ear, showed him the way of
the poor, was his guide and companion,
and opened the doors to the hovels of the
poor— and even more, the doors to his
heart for her Son to enter. And finally,
beside his headstone under the shade of a
tree, at the end of 20 years of missionary
life, “after this exile, she showed him Jesus,
the blessed fruit of her womb.”

12. Today’s and tomorrow’s missionary must
carry the Bible, the Crucifix, the Rosary,
and the Constitutions of the CM in his
missionary backpack, and, before cell
phones and computers, many, many
medals of Our Mother. For today, as
yesterday, she opens missionary
opportunities to us.

13. https://cmglobal.org/en/2019/07/30/saint-justin-de-jacobis-the-shepherd-in-
the-burning-plains-of-the-desert/
Saint Justin de Jacobis: The Shepherd in the Burning Plains of the Desert by
Marlio Nasayó Liévano, CM, Province of Colombia, Chinauta, Fusagasugá
24 July 2019
Images: Depaul Image Archive
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