The first sisters considered the Blessed Mother their superior and they used to place her statue at the head of the table. Four of the five sisters were from Pianura. They together asked Fr.Justin to appoint, as their superior, the one who was from another town; the one designated by the sisters to be their superior, however, was and remained alien to the mentality that the founder had patiently instilled in the first sisters. She regarded the austerities of their life as excessive and she considered unacceptable the goal of the order. She used to say, “If you continue to get up at 4:00 a. m. without eating meat and without drinking any wine, you shall die of tuberculosis…. And isn’t it a utopia – the idea of working for vocations when the modest income from our work is not even sufficient   to provide for our most elementary necessities?”

The other sisters would answer, “If the Lord has so inspired our founder, it signifies that we can do it. There is no greater honor than to die of tuberculosis for Jesus.”

 She would insist: "Let us withdraw before the community is disbanded.”

And others would retort: “Better that we die with the congregation.”

 The day that Fr.Justin made clear to the sisters his desire that “every sister should support a priestly vocation,” the poor sister superior couldn’t take it any longer and left taking another sister with her. The distress of the remaining sisters was overwhelming; they cried both for the scandal that this would cause in town, as well as for the gossip that this might generate. Their agony was made more acute by the fact that they did not know what Fr. Justin’s reaction would be Humiliated and confused, they asked the mediation of aunt Michelina. Fr.Justin commented: "The weaker is the man, the stronger is God’s hand,” and immediately he began to comfort his spiritual daughters. “Often the Lord does what we do not understand or dare to… similar happenings have occurred in every religious foundation…” He talked at length on this same line of thought. Up to that day, Fr.Justin had never accepted any drink or food in the sister’s residence, but on that occasion, to ease the tension, he interrupted his talk, saying, “….give me a cup of coffee: I’ve been talking so long…” The sisters smiled and were reassured by the gesture. It was the calm after the storm.

 There remained, however, the difficulty of electing a superior, because the first sisters had grown up together more as blood sister than friends, and none of them seemed to possess outstanding or exceptional talents. The number of sisters had grown at that point to twelve, and Fr.Justin insisted that there should be a regular election; thus, Sister Clara Loffredo was elected superior. Fr.Justin, in accepting the result of the election, stressed the fact that the Blessed Mother should always be considered as the real superior of the Vocationist Community.

 On May 30, 1926, Fr. Justin wrote the following to his spiritual director: “The eleventh of May, without any preparation on my part, without any association of ideas that might have led me to it, sweetly, with intimate, unshakable certainty, it was infused into me (allow me this terminology) the firm belief that the Blessed Trinity was assigning the Blessed Virgin, in a very special way, really unique, as our immediate Superior, present and active in our midst, in all our missions, in all our present and future houses, the only and the most sufficient Superior.”

 Since that date, every year on the eleventh of May, the Vocationist Fathers and Sisters celebrate the Superiorship of Mary in all their communities; in every house they have a special room, the Room of the Blessed Mother, as a small oratory where they can visit and entertain themselves in conversation with the celestial superior.

 As a sign of their belonging to Mary, at the time of the first profession  all the Vocationist Fathers and Sisters add to their names the name of Mary; they used to carry visibly around their neck the rosary of the Virgin Mary with the Miraculous Medal.

Another title under which Fr.Justin used to inculcate an effective devotion to Mary, while reminding us of the real mission of Mary in our lives, is: “ Our Lady of the perpetual Visitation.” Mary is constantly on the go, visiting her children, bringing Jesus to them.

 The special devotion of the Vocationist Fathers and Sisters to the Blessed Mother and her Superiorship of their communities is for them a source of encouragement and pledge of God’s blessing in all their endeavors.

 (Edited from Fr. Justin's books of "Ascension" and "A Servant of Divine Vocations: Fr. Justin Russolillo", translated by Fr. Louis Caputo, S.D.V.)

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