Observed today, May 18, 2021, is the 101st anniversary of the birth of one of history’s greatest Popes, Saint John Paul II, the Great. Of him, Teresa of Calcutta said: “he has been the best gift of Christ to today’s Church.”
Being a wonderful Pope, the good he did the Church was immense. The attack he suffered, already in the first years of his pontificate, on May 13, 1981, weakened his vital strength enormously. The very course of history depended on his recovering sufficiently.
I will now argue that, through his suffering, Spanish Claretian Father Jose Maria Solé Romá greatly strengthened the Pope.
There are many of us who regard Father Solé as a great saint. He suffered an attack that preceded by three days John Paul II’s attack. A bullet pierced the Claretian’s neck, severing a nerve that affected an arm. On learning of the attack on the Pope, Father Solé was very affected, offering his life and pain for the Pope’s good. Surprisingly, while the Pope’s health improved rapidly, Father Solé continued with terrible, very acute, almost unbearable physical suffering, but he did not want to diminish the pain he offered. He never complained about how much he suffered, being happy to suffer the unspeakable to help the Pope, out of love. Father Solé did not die a martyr, but he lived this martyr’s pain for almost eleven years until he left this mortal life.
Despite so much torment, his spiritual physiognomy was one of serenity and full spiritual lucidity, of perfect balance, of the very great gift of Counsel. He is remembered by some women religious who knew him well as “joyful and jovial as if his arm belonged to another person (. . . ) a smile was always on his lips (. . . ) He seemed like an angel.” After his attack, I had the immense good fortune to meet Father Solé and to talk with him a lot and very intimately. I remember him as someone very dedicated, who gave himself with great generosity, always available, always helpful, simple, humble, very human, very attentive, very gentle, patient. To live this way, suffering so much can only be explained by his having an extraordinary supernatural <dimension> or a continual miracle. A great mystical union must necessarily have sustained his great martyrdom.
No doubt, by the Communion of the Saints, such a holy and great sacrifice would have done very much good to the Pope, helping his recovery, strengthening him a lot. Father Solé thus boosted the work of the great Pope, giving us a rain of roses, changing the course of history. I believe that this heroic deed of Father Solé, most beautiful example of affection for the Pope, which did the Pope so much good, deserves an outstanding place in all John Paul II’s biographies, as history is made by the saints.
