110 years of women’s communication: the daughters of St Paul tell the story of sister Tecla digitally

At the heart of the twentieth century, there is a story, that speaks of women, faith, and communication. A story that, 110 years after its founding, continues to inspire. It is that of the Daughters of St Paul, a religious congregation founded in 1915 with a then-unusual mission: to proclaim the Gospel through the means of communication. Not only the press, but today also digital media, social networks, and new forms of storytelling.

Beside the founder, Blessed Giacomo Alberione, a woman gave shape to this vision. Her name was Teresa Merlo (1894-1964), who became Sister Tecla, a figure of intelligence and spirituality who combined practicality and prophecy. The first superior general of the institute, who was a model of female leadership at a time when this was far from guaranteed.

To share her life and her contribution to the history of religious communication, the Daughters of St Paul have chosen a contemporary language, which is “scrolltelling”. This format is an interactive digital storytelling form that unites texts, images, videos, and graphics into a smooth narrative, accessible also to young people and to those less familiar with traditional texts.

Scrolltelling is now also available in Mandarin, Korean, and Italian Sign Language, and makes this experience accessible to a wider, international audience, and attentive to the needs of people with sensory disabilities.

The project is accompanied by an introductory video, which is available on the official Paoline website (paoline.org) and their social channels. The scrolltelling also includes contributions from Sister Veronica Donatello, the Italian Episcopal Conference’s representative for pastoral care of people with disabilities, who recently spoke at the United Nations and Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, missionary and Archbishop of Ulan Bator in Mongolia, one of the new frontiers of the global Church.

Sister Tecla died at the age of 70 in Albano Laziale. She was initially buried in the Verano Cemetery in Rome, but three years later her remains were transferred to the crypt of the Basilica of Santa Maria Regina degli Apostoli alla Montagnola also in Rome.

“We are truly happy to be able to ‘recount’ the story of our co-founder, the venerable Sister Tecla Merlo, to many brothers and sisters far away, in the Asian continent, and to all who will come to know her story, a story that ‘carries the perfume of the Gospel,’ through communication that uses the visual-gestural channel”, says the Superior General Anna Caiazza.

This is storytelling by women that crosses the centuries and renews itself. From an early twentieth-century printing house to the global web, with the same desire to speak to people’s hearts.