29th JANUARY, 1887

Cardinal Massotti, Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for Bishops and Regulars, signed the Decree of  Pontifical Approbation of the Institute, after many months of working and hoping.

“Without wasting any time, M. Pilar sent a telegram to Madrid that same day. It was then three o’clock in the afternoon, and she was assured by the telegraph office that it would reach its destination within two hours. And so it did, “On Saturday at five o’clock in the afternoon we received the telegram with great joy…We sang the Te Deum, the Magnificat and the Laudate. The singing was not singing, but rather a shout of joy which all the singers were feeling…” (Letter of St. Raphaela Mary, 31st January 1887)

The final paragraph of the decree was an exhortation all the more beautiful because it confirmed the well-known path which the Institute had been travelling for years; it was not a matter of starting out, but of continuing to follow it.

“Therefore, let the above mentioned Sisters proceed, hating evil, doing good, loving one another with fraternal charity, serving the Lord joyful in hope, patient in tribulation, constant in prayer; let them continue to work with ever more fervor under the direction of the Ordinaries, to attain their own sanctification and that of others, and in striving each day more and more to attain the end they have proposed to themselves; and thus, joyful in the sweet heart of Jesus, they will merit to receive the crown of life.”

Let us ask the Lord that today He may keep us on that same path.

(Foundations for a Building, pp.222-223)