The Daughters of St. Paul is an international Catholic women religious congregation consecrated in the Church for the proclamation of the Gospel with the means of social communication. In this site, you will read about what we have been doing and are still doing, the news of our communities, our missionary activities and some inspirational stories of faith and life in this part of the world. A sho
rt note about us:
Our founder: Blessed (Fr.) James Alberione
He was an Italian priest who lived between the years 1884 and 1971, crossing the threshold of the 19th century into the 20th. A man of vision, he understood the urgent need of the Church moving towards the new centuries, amidst the advancement of science and technology in the area of communication. This intuition led him to found the Pauline Family that comprises ten congregations for the Church. No one before him in the centuries-old history of religious orders and congregations had founded as many as he did. These ten congregations are:
Society of St. Paul (SSP)
Daughters of St. Paul (FSP)
Pious Disciples of the Divine Master (PDDM)
Sisters of Jesus the Good Shepherd (SGBP)
Sisters of the Queen of Apostles
Institute of Jesus the Priest (IGS)
Institute of St. Gabriel the Archangel (ISGA)
Institute of Mary Most Holy of the Annunciation (IOLA)
Institute of the Holy Family (ISF)
Association of Pauline Cooperators (APC)
Father Alberione passed away on November 26, 1971, at the age of 87. On April 2, 2003 he was beatified by Pope John Paul II as Blessed. Today, the church is working towards the canonization process of Blessed James Alberione. Members of the Pauline Family fondly call their father founder as Primo Maestro, meaning “First Teacher” in Italian. Venerable (Mother) Thecla Merlo
Mother Thecla Merlo is the co-foundress of the Daughters of St. An Italian, Mother Thecla Merlo was born in the year 1894. At the age of 21, she accepted the invitation of Fr. James Alberione to form a group of girls who later became known as the Daughters of St. Paul, and she herself the first mother superior of the Congregation. She passed away in 1964 at the age of 70. On January 22, 1992, she was proclaimed Venerable by Pope John Paul II. Her daughters consider her their first and only mother and teacher, thus fondly call her their Prima Maestra, which means “first teacher.” You might like to read more about her life. How do the Daughters of St. Paul carry out their mission? Knowing the power of media in the formation of a person, we publish religious books and produce audio-visual materials (CDs/DVDs) of various subjects: scriptural, inspirational, on formation of youths, parenting and family life, for prayer and devotions, homiletics for priests, stories of saints, church documents, stories and coloring books for children and so on. We also produce mini media such as inspirational bookmarks, verse cards and the like for students. We operate religious media centers called Paulines Media Center in the main cities of the countries. It is from these Pauline Centers where the above publications & productions are made available for sale. For people who live far away from the vicinity of our media centers, we visit them and their families in their homes, bringing to them these materials as we do so. We also visit parish churches on Sundays, and on weekdays, offices. For people on the road, or too busy to read, we reach them through our radio programs. For the sick, the aged and the handicapped who cannot go to church on Sundays to worship, we help them feel closer to the Lord through cable TV Mass, although this never could replace the Holy Mass celebrated in the church. For the surfers on the Internet, they are welcome to visit: www.paulines.ph, fsp.paulines.ph, www.picafsp.org, voicesofpaul.paulines.ph & comensee.paulines.ph. Have you ever realized how important media have become in our life today? Daily, consciously or unconsciously, we absorb media messages from the news and songs we hear over the radio while traveling, from movies we watch in movie houses, or happen to watch while on the bus, the Ads we see on the billboards, besides the programs on television at home. Consciously or unconsciously, we are influenced by the values these media constantly propose to us. How do we really understand these media, their messages and their intention? How do we evaluate them, for ourselves and for our family? Perhaps we have never really given it a thought, but media literacy is indeed very essential to our living today. Aware of this need for our society, we have a school called PICA (www.picafsp.org) where media literacy seminars and courses are offered to students, teachers, parents and pastoral workers. PICA aims to train its students to understand, evaluate and appreciate media such as newspaper, magazine, radio, television, films, Internet, Ads, and to inculcate a media-spirituality in their lives. The Pauline Spirituality
The Daughters of St. Paul live the Pauline spirituality. Father Alberione attributed our foundation to St. Paul the apostle, who was outstanding in his zeal to spread the Gospel to the world of his time. That is why St. Paul is our father, founder and protector. Were St. Paul to be alive today, he would be using the means of today’s advanced communication technology to spread the Gospel, just as he did through his letters during his time. While we live the apostolic spirit of St. Paul, each of his Daughters also imitates the heart of their father towards his Master the Christ, whom he gave his life to serve so ardently. Daily, she spends an hour adoring Jesus her Master before the Blessed Sacrament. She looks to Mary as her Mother, Teacher and Queen of Apostles, from whom she receives formation to become an apostle as zealous as her father St. For a Daughter of St. Paul, Jesus is her Master, the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is the Truth of the Father as opposed to the lies of the devil as regards our salvation. He is the Way to the Father our true fulfillment, as opposed to the ways to fulfillment as proposed by the world (through the media especially). He is the Life given to us by our heavenly Father, as opposed to the life through the lifestyles offered to us by the world (again through the media, most of the time). So, the Daughters of St. Paul, after the footsteps of their father, live and work to spread the message of salvation in the world, yet are not of the world. Thus, the abbreviation ‘FSP’, behind the names of each Sister, which stands for Figliae Sancti Pauli (Daughters of St Paul in Latin). How old are we? Paul arrived in the Philippines in the year 1938. We shall soon celebrate our Diamond Jubilee. We have been present in Malaysia since 1965, in Papua New Guinea since 1987, and in Thailand since 1994. As a Congregation, we were founded on June 15, 1915 in Italy, 2015 shall be our centenary. Where are we in the rest of the world? We are present in 51 countries:
In the Americas: US, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay. In Europe: Italy, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Poland, Russia, Romania, Czech Republic. In Africa: Uganda, Tanzania, Angola, Sudan, South Africa, Democratic Republic of The Congo, Ivory Coast, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria, Kenya, Mozambique, Madagascar, Zambia. In Asia: India, Pakistan, Macao, Hong Kong-China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea. And in Australia.
