Vatican paper looks at faith connection between saints and their mothers

Italian historians are taking interest in the role mothers in transmitting faith to their sons. Referring to the examples of St. Jean Vianney, Popes Pius X and Paul VI, the Vatican newspaper suggests that this relationship is fundamental to religious vocations. According to an article published in the Vatican paper L’Osservatore Romano (LOR), historians at a recent conference in Modena, Italy commented on the need to study the relationship that ties the man of faith to his mother. In studying biographies, they asserted that faith is almost always transmitted to a man by his mother. LOR indicates that while research into this relationship can be useful in “reconstructing biographical events of public personalities, it assumes a deeper and almost essential significance” if one looks at the emergence and maturation of a religious vocation.