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Sister Pauline Chirchirillo, P.B.V.M., shares more than just a first name with Pauline Jaricot, the devout, 19th-century French laywoman whose vision of living simply, “loving without end” and spreading the faith led to the founding of what came to be known as the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, the Church’s principal instrument for worldwide evangelization.
She clearly shares her namesake’s vision as well. The nun, whose New York office is decorated with little flags of all the countries she’s visited as director of the archdiocesan Office of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith, was honored Dec. 9 with the first Pauline Jaricot Award. She accepted the award on behalf of her entire staff, which joined her at the reception. Sister Pauline has served in the office for 20 years. Seven years ago Cardinal Egan promoted her to director.
“Pauline Jaricot saw that Christ’s mission to all peoples was not something to have in the mind from time to time, but daily,” said Father Andrew Small, O.M.I., national director of Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States.
Father Small made the surprise presentation to Sister Pauline at a reception that followed a Memorial Mass he celebrated at St. Patrick’s Cathedral marking the 32nd anniversary of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen’s death. Archbishop Sheen was the former national director of the Society for the Propagation of the Faith.
Father Small commended Sister Pauline for “modeling the qualities of Pauline Jaricot—living joyfully the vocation that God gave her, teaching a spirit of prayer and loving sacrifice, and bringing mission into every moment.”
Father Small said Sister Pauline’s personality was “ideal for a mission director.”
“She is gregarious, single-minded and carries the determination to spread the news of billions of souls in need of Jesus,” he said.
Sister Pauline, who just recently returned from a missionary trip to Nepal, thanked Father Small for the unexpected honor and expressed gratitude to the Lord for her missionary vocation. Later, she told CNY that she had a special affinity for the young French woman who shares her first name and established the paradigm for aiding world missionary work by raising funds from among her small circle of friends and acquaintances to send to overseas missions.
“It really started when I was on sabbatical,” she explained. “I was in a program in Rome and it was only myself and another sister from the United States and everyone else was from a developing country or else they were Europeans who were missionaries. And when they shared their stories I related to (Pauline Jaricot) immediately. I knew that I never could be a missionary and live indefinitely in one of those countries. But I just felt that whatever I could do to help them in any way possible would be very important to me. And that’s what she did.
“Her brother was a missionary in China and she wanted to go there but she wasn’t able to. So she felt the same thing, a calling to help them...We all are missionaries. One of the privileges and responsibilities that we get at baptism is to bring the message of God’s saving love to the end of the world. And we can do it right here, by prayer sacrifice and financial support. And I always stress prayer as most important.”
