age of this saint [Anthony Mary is dear 10 me because he is one of the great figures of Catholic reform in the 1500's engaged as he was in the renewal of Christian life in an era of profound criss inthe area of faith and customs. is life coincides with a turbulent period in ‘which Luther, in his own way, atempted t0 feform the Church, an attempt that, as we well ‘know, ended in the tragic division of Christian iy, {In dealing withthe problems of his personal Tife and of his times, Luther had discovered the person of St.Paul, and with the intention of fol- Towing the apost's message, began his journey Unfortunately, he placed St. Paul in contast {o the hierarchical Church, the law against the Gospel, and in doing so, even though he redis covered him, he detached the saint from the totality ofthe Church, from the message ofthe Sacred Scripture “Anthony Mary Zaccaria also discovered St Paul he wanted to follow his evangelical dynamisi and he saw him in the totality ofthe divine mes ‘sage in the community ofthe Holy Church. It ‘seems to me that St. Anthony Mary Zaccaia isa saint of great curent relevance, an ecumenical and missionary figure, who invites us to dis: play and to live dhe Pauline message within the ‘Church itself. He shows our separated brethren that St Paul has his true place inthe Catholic Church, and itis not neces: ay to place his messge in ‘contrast with the hierschi ‘all Church, Rather, there ‘exists in the Catholi plenty of space for ‘evangelical fee ‘dom, for mission ay dynamism and for the joy of the Gospel ‘The Catholic Church fs not only a Church of Taw, but it must also concretely prove itself ax the Church ofthe Gospel and of is joy to open the way o unity. Anthony Mary Zaccaria, bor exacly five centuries ago, deserves to be rediscovered in his ‘moral greatness and for his appeal tothe funda: ‘mental values of Chriianity and tothe peren: nial lesson of evangelical radicalism. His entre brief existence—first as a young layperson, doctor and catechis, and then a pest and reli: sious—is dominated by what the liturgy offal 5 alls “the sublime wisdom of Jesus Crist” and is animated by the “folly of the cross,” as Acquired a the school ofthe “learned Pauli model and mentor In this ight shines his earaordinary devotion 10 ‘the two fundamental mysteries of ou faith, the ‘Crucifix and the Eucharist which he considered ‘with genial intuition tobe “the living Crucifix.” Tes not always easy to draw near to the image and the life of saint—only God has the key to ‘enter into the secret ofa soul dedicated to Him, Ieis even more difficult when that man lived jn a distant era, among the most complex and ‘woubled inthe history of the Church (.) [St Anthony Mary Zaccaria] was an au thentic man of God and of the Church, a man ‘burning with zeal, a demanding forge of con- sciences, a true leader able to convert and lead ‘others to good. [iis action has been} described as the action ‘of a “bonus miles Christi” (A Good Soldier of Christ) even in persecutions, which, however did not prevent him from anticipating the times and preparing forthe great event tha was the Council of Trent. Anthony Mary Zaccaria’s life was a constant struggle against the vice of spiritual “ukewarmness” and mediocrity that 80 “reigned” among his contemporaries. In his Leters and Sermons, and no the least in is Constitutions, there resonates an incessant call sinthood. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger Pope Benedict XVI Rome, October 11,2001 ° thins tice to FUSED NALA CTA vs