Pontificia Commissione Di Assistenza - The Magazino of Madre Pascalina Lehnert

The Magazino of Madre Pascalina Lehnert

To assist the pope in the many calls for his help and charity, Pascalina Lehnert, organized and led the Magazino, a private papal charity office, which began with 40 helpers and continued until 1959. “It started from modest beginnings and became a gigantic charity”. Pascalina organized truck caravans filled with medicine, clothing, shoes and food to prison camps and hospitals, provided first aid, food and shelter for bomb victims, fed the hungry population of Rome, answered emergency calls for aid to the Pope, sent care packages to France, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Austria and other countries. After the war, the calls for papal help continued in war-torn Europe: Madre Pascalina organized emergency aid to displaced persons, prisoners of war, victims of floods, and many victims of the war. Pascalina distributed also hundreds of religious items to needy priests. In later years, priests with very large parishes received small cars or motor bikes. ”. The Pope was personally involved, constantly asking bishops from the United States Argentina, Brazil, Switzerland, Canada, Mexico, and other countries for help. ”. cardinals and bishops freely visited Madre Pascalina, who by now was nicknamed Virgo Potens, powerful virgin.