Father Corrado Berti: quotes in the work

P. Corrado M. Berti, o.s.m. - (Florence March 17, 1911 - Rome December 15, 1980)

This article compiles the writings of Maria Valtorta referring to Father Corrado Berti. He appears late (March 1946). Maria Valtorta’s monumental work (The Gospel as Revealed to Me) is already largely written, which is why Father Berti is not mentioned on this occasion, unlike Father Romualdo Migliorini.

However, it is quickly seen that Father Berti begins a thorough study of the work and takes care of submitting it to the Supreme Pontiff.

March 19, 1946: Father Berti designated among the confidants

This text is excerpted from the Notebooks from 1945 to 1950, March 19, 1946. It expresses Maria Valtorta's suffering following the departure of Father Migliorini, recalled to Rome because of his excessive proselytism. It is the first time Father Berti is mentioned.

"[...] I recall insistently all the dictations of Jesus, the foresighted and providential dictations of Jesus, from July 1943, on the necessity of keeping silence on the spokesperson and on the dictated pages to leave him in peace as long as he lives, to avoid disturbing him and to protect his work from traps. 'It is only when the eyes and hands that see and write today are in the grave that you will make known his Mission.'

He said more or less this… But following a series of circumstances, this order has not been observed. I am the only one who has always observed it, and I will always do so. Today we pay the consequences of not having strictly followed Jesus' advice. Even I, who am in no way guilty. May God repair the damage caused by men!

My guardian angel tells you, my Father, that intentions of masses for the "voices" must be read and known exclusively by my superiors and must not be disclosed to anyone, for any reason, until after my death. It follows that no one else but you, and naturally the Father General, the Procurator General, and that other teaching Father (= Father Berti) who gives the course on the Sacraments (if you deem it good), should know them in Rome or elsewhere."

April 17, 1946: Father Migliorini calls on Father Berti

(Letters to Mother Teresa Maria, Volume 1)

"[...] In his letter, Father Migliorini tells me that he confides in the Procurator General, Father Berti (chief theologian of the order), who is a good friend, as well as one of his friends from when they were novices, and that's all."

May 23, 1946: Father Berti is ready to endorse the value of the work

Father Migliorini considers the possibility of a donation of the work to the Servite order (Letters to Mother Teresa Maria, Volume 1, p. 143)

"[...] I also had the deed of donation read to Father Berti, who is enthusiastic about it. He has no difficulty issuing me a certificate in which he will declare having examined a good part of the Work and will state that he considers it of the highest importance for the order and for the faithful."

June 2, 1946: The theologian’s expertise is valuable

In his dictation of June 2, 1946 (The Notebooks from 1945 to 1950), Jesus extensively develops his instructions for the work. Unfortunately, his directives will not be followed. Opposition begins from then on. Father Berti rereads the work theologically, leading not to corrections of the original accounts, but to theological comments by him and Maria Valtorta.

"[...] Therefore, I want a priest to replace Father Romualdo (Migliorini) here, at the spokesperson's residence (Maria Valtorta), to make a first copy of the manuscripts. After correction by the spokesperson, it will be sent to Rome, to Father Romualdo who will continue the work. I approve the help that Father Corrado (Berti) provides to Romualdo for searching and correcting copy errors. Always keep in mind that the slightest error can give a phrase a meaning opposite to dogma and Doctrine. Therefore read, reread, compare so as not to give adversaries an occasion to detect errors. I finally want the correction of the three parts (the two pre-gospels and the genuine Gospel) to be accomplished one last time by little John (affectionate nickname of Maria Valtorta), using the manuscript text."

June 3, 1946: Heaven keeps the Servites under watch

(Letters to Mother Teresa Maria, Volume 1)

"[...] I am quite ready to heroically resist to obtain all guarantees, clear, sincere guarantees, without double meanings or arbitrary and human conditions. Even better, it is the Lord who insists! And if the Fathers knew what punishment hung over their heads, I assure you they would not make so much fuss! When I wrote to Father Migliorini and to Father Berti, the chief theologian who, according to Father Mariano, is good, intelligent and very convinced, I barely mentioned this punishment; good that my guardian angel advised me to speak about it."

June 13, 1946: The Servites seek how to publish the work

(Letters to Mother Teresa Maria, Volume 1)

Maria reports to Mother Teresa Maria a letter she received from Father Migliorini:

(This is Father Migliorini writing): "Today I spoke with Father Berti about the position taken by the Father General on the immediate publication of the Gospel. I made clear enough (to Father Berti) what the current standing of the writings is before the Authority, and it was agreed that the viewpoint of the Father General is correct. He related to me two other almost identical cases that have occurred in recent years, after which this dicastery became very suspicious and closely watches us (the Servites). He (Father Berti) believes it will be necessary to overcome all obstacles very gradually. He therefore proposes, and I agree with him, to submit a copy of the Pre-gospel to four cardinals and bishops for private examination and to provide their written opinions. They are chosen among the most pious and learned favorable to us and known personally by Father Berti. Since the Father General noted that currently the order does not know these writings well enough and they should be examined, he would propose Father Berti for the scriptural part [...]".

At this time, Father Roschini studies "at the request of the Superior General" the examination of the first volume of the work. As for Maria Valtorta, she is deeply hurt by Father Migliorini’s maneuvers and the dealings of the Servite order. She confides: "I felt very bad after reading those letters. They kill me, and I assure you that if my love for God weren’t total, my saddened soul would detach indignantly from what is no longer the Church of Christ, in other words the fatherly help of shepherds to the lambs: it is calculation, coldness, disobedience, and the opposite of charity."

June 17, 1946: Father Berti had dictations read to Monsignor Carinci who advises him

(Letters to Mother Teresa Maria, Volume 1)

Maria Valtorta receives a letter from Father Berti which she comments for Mother Teresa Maria:

"[...] Father Berti went to see one of the bishops: Monsignor Carinci, secretary of the Sacred Congregation of Rites. He gave him to read, as a trial, the dictations on Purgatory, on Hell and on the Bread of Life (John 6:22-59). He read the first two and was amazed. He gave advice on how to proceed to obtain printing authorization. I note that he would not have given such advice if he had not recognized the quality of the content."

July 12, 1946: For the first time, recourse to the Holy Father is mentioned

In this dictation (The Notebooks from 1945 to 1950), Jesus insists that the originals of the visions be kept by Maria Valtorta. It is a premonition of what will happen in February 1949 when the Holy Office attempts to destroy the work. For the first time, a Servite from Viareggio, Father Pennoni, suggests asking the Holy Father directly.

"[...] I weep because it’s Friday, day of communion, and I’m deprived of it .... My suffering, still intense, becomes atrocious. My entire soul groans under its wound and my body suffers as if mortally struck… Amid my tears, I think of my cruel brethren as well as the good ones, and I suppose the good ones suffer with me and for the same cause as I do. I offer therefore my pain to alleviate theirs and to wrest from Jesus a definitive ‘Yes’ regarding the manuscripts, for this time his divine intransigence yields to no prayer.

The Lord consoles me with these words: 'Here I am, little John. They prevent you from being only this: me in you, you the ciborium that holds me, for our common joy. Little, little John, let us love each other and may love be fusion. Come on my chest, little John, as the other John did, and let my love come into you to give what is refused to you…'

Union causes trust. All happy, I ask the Grace that Fathers Berti, Migliorini and others desire.

Jesus becomes severe, he has the unbearable look of those moments when he is justice more than mercy… I watch him with fear though this look is not addressed to poor Maria, he moves slowly in the room, bends over the handwritten notebooks returned from Rome for corrections to the pre-gospel. He repeats certain isolated phrases found there. I recognize them. Then he turns and says to me:

'You understand them, don’t you?

Yes, my Lord. Do you want me to write them?

- No. They are already written. Repeating them would provoke their judgment, always the same: "Is that how you speak to priests?" This is what the priests of Israel told me a thousand times, for the guilty speak imperiously to silence the one who is right, and affirm: "You have sinned" without saying: "I have sinned." Even when the words come from Wisdom and they know it, they declare: "It is you who spoke" to strike the person. Do not rewrite them then. They are already written here, for them to read. They are elsewhere also, where no human hand can destroy them and where no human eye can refuse to read them. That is why I affirm to you that, in truth, they will read them one day. But these notebooks as well as those in Rome must return to this house, under your guard. The granted delay does not change the decree. When, good even my Vicar himself took the Work and you under his Protection with the Heart of a true Christ — in that case, Grace and God’s blessing would descend upon his head —, the manuscripts should return here, to my spokesperson.

The sign of my disapproval of what is inflicted upon your Soul must serve as a warning to those responsible and their successors. The atrocious torture they caused you will never fade from your Soul, neither on earth nor in heaven: here a mark of pain, there a sign of glory, this great suffering becomes election, as said in the Apocalypse of John. May this sign remain in them as in you. Surely, I can forgive all that is inflicted upon the 'instrument’ because I pity the 'dead', like those of Sardis, and I give them time to strengthen what is not yet dead and to revive what is extinguished, that is the capacity to hear God through you, my little voice. But I cannot leave unpunished those who attack your Soul, and even more me, by refusing to unite us through the Sacrament and to nourish you with the Sacraments I instituted for all Souls in a state of Grace or needing to regain it. Moreover, they deny this even though they know your condition and that of this city.

I have paid with my blood for all Souls. I have paid in advance. I delivered myself so you might possess me. Who then can refuse me to my beloved children? I cannot forgive everything because, though I am the one who forgives, I put as a condition of the measure of forgiveness the measure of love the guilty has. But here there was no love—for God, for whom communicating is joy, nor for you, who receiving me is the life of your Soul. If I therefore forgive the suffering inflicted on the spokesperson, I punish for the pain caused to your Christian soul. Bring this to the knowledge of those to whom it must be told."

Jesus then walks away after blessing me.

This was at 9:30... At 11, the postman brings me two letters, or rather three: one from Father Migliorini, disagreeing with that of Father Berti of the same day, one from Venice from Sister Saviane, and a third from Father Pennoni announcing his intention to appeal to the Holy Father for his Protection. I make no comment. I only note that Jesus had already foreseen this possibility, while confirming that, even in this case, the manuscripts must return to me."

July 25, 1946: The Father General disengages. Situation summary

(Letters to Mother Teresa Maria, Volume 1)

"[...] Yes, you [Mother Teresa Maria] do well to pray to snatch me from death, at least until I finish my Mission and see this work approved. Because if I die, I who keep it active, those reverend Fathers will do nothing more, since the Father General is opposed to it at 1000%... Irremediably opposed. And it’s only because he has Against him Fathers Berti, Pennoni, Gargiani, Vannucci, Roschini, and others still, that is, the pillars of the order, that he dares not make manifest acts of rejection. But all fear he is brewing some mischief.

I explain who they are: you now know Berti and Pennoni. Vannucci is the doctor in Christian hagiography, and I don’t know what else. He is a giant! Gargiani is the Procurator General. Roschini is the general theologian of the order, moreover an accomplished writer, author of a Life of the Virgin printed in 1945. He is also a qualificator at the Holy Office, intimate of Monsignor Traglia, vice-regent of Rome, who approves everything Roschini presents to him on his own authority.

This Father, whom Father Migliorini had naturally fled like the plague, has now taken on the charge of advancing things until the end, because he read the entire Pre-Gospel (Birth and life of the Virgin until her Weddings, birth of Jesus, life of the Holy Family until the death of Saint Joseph, and departure for public life), and is enthusiastic. It is obvious that he, who wrote this Life of Mary and therefore scrutinized all books speaking of her by revelation or authors’ wisdom, must know what is said about her! He assures, however, that all is new to him, and at the same time conforms to dogmatics.

He has taken responsibility before the Holy Office and to ask for approval. He also convinced (on the 22nd) the Father General to print the Work. But, as Father Pennoni maintains, do not imagine that the general will persist in this idea, for “he will try to invent something to do nothing”— this is written literally in Pennoni’s letter of yesterday. Meanwhile, he has done too much: he killed me! He and Father Migliorini destroyed me, and without a miracle, I shall not live. I suffer horribly!"

September 30, 1946: Father Berti finally trusts Maria Valtorta

(Letters to Mother Teresa Maria, Volume 1)

Monday at 4pm, Father Berti came. Ring the bells! I was finishing eating and was about to lie down, exhausted by a crisis lasting four hours…

My impression? Excellent…

He is young—36 years old—humble yet erudite, pious, and frank. He did not deny the faults and responsibilities of the Father General nor others. I firmly expressed to him my point of view [...] Then various questions… and detailed answers. Finally, in conclusion: cautious confession that Father Migliorini is not sincere in the letter where he declares that Monsignor Carinci and Father Roschini are causing difficulties. Father Berti assures that both are convinced. And then?

After that, I sent Father Mariano away, who was present, and it was tête-à-tête with Father Berti that I said the rest. I mentioned the behavior of the Fathers here, their sly temptation game to trap me, I recounted the remarks… concerning Father Mariano's spiritualism and my surprise at hearing myself told: "But because you have indulged in spiritualism! — Me? Who says that? — In the convent, here. — I have always fought spiritualism because it frightens me greatly, to the point that I had the first house we owned here sold because, in winter, the tenants had made it a nest of spiritualistic séances."

[...] When Father Berti saw that notorious funeral memorial booklet of Antonia Dal Bo  bore the mention “dictated by heavenly voices,” he was terrorized. He could not restrain an exclamation typical of Florentine manner: "What a fool, this confrere!" Moral: after having stayed here three and a half hours and heard the last passage of The Gospel (chapter 8 of Saint John: "I am the Light of the world", etc.), after seeing that my… religious wisdom stops at the Catechism of Pius X and rests on it, after scrutinizing me in all directions, he assured me he would himself write to the bishop of Como for advice. His Excellency A. Macchi who cared for Sister Benigna and Sister Tommasina might enlighten me too [...]

October 11, 1946: Father Berti speaks respectfully of the "spokesperson"

(Letters to Mother Teresa Maria, Volume 1)

"[...] And the day before yesterday, Father Dal Pino [...] asked to greet me before leaving for Louvain. And he conveyed to me the greetings of Father Berti. He was very cautious, but I understood that Father Berti — and not only him — talked to him in Rome about the spokesperson, and with due respect, not to the creature but to the instrument God uses. I don’t know if I express myself as clearly as I would like. I demand no respect for Maria, but I want the instrument to be respected, because if he is treated as mad, it is the whole Work that is treated as mad. Do you agree with me?"

January 31, 1947: In view of the appeal to the pope, Father Berti prepares a dossier

That day (The Notebooks from 1945 to 1950), Maria Valtorta receives a letter from Father Berti asking her to prepare a dossier for the papal audience (which will take place one year later). He also begins scrutinizing the theological content and it is Jesus himself who answers one of his questions.

"[...] I allow myself to repeat to Jesus, who is present and so good, a question posed to me by a Servite father; I do not know exactly who it is, but it seems to me it must be Father Berti, and I don’t know if it is on his own initiative or on suggestion from someone else. It concerns Jesus’ descent to hell that I found by chance on January 15, 1944, which seems to have upset someone.

He answers me... Then the letter from Father Berti arrives asking me to write a note to present to the Holy Father. Hardly had this letter arrived when Jesus, smiling and radiant, said: "Open it and read it." I do so, still astonished as each time Jesus’ words correspond to what happens. Jesus says to me smiling: "This is why I satisfy you precisely now, after four months, and for this Father, to whom I already said you could communicate this passage. As for the others, you know to whom, when and how to forward them. Now listen to me, I will remind you of the principle."

Jesus says: "You will report the following to Father Berti, now that you know it was he who asked you"… (follows explanation).

February 1, 1947: Father Berti met the Holy Father’s archivist

This letter of Father Berti is fully reported in a letter that Maria Valtorta sends the next day, February 1, 1947, to Mother Teresa Maria (Letters to Mother Teresa Maria, Volume 2). Father Berti reports his meeting with "a good priest from the Pontifical Archives, charged precisely with placing on the Pope’s desk the requests exclusively reserved for him." Together they elaborated detailed conditions for this appeal to the Holy Father.

Dearest sister,

It is through a lost person that I came to know a good priest of the Holy Father’s Archives. charged precisely with placing on the Pope’s table requests that are exclusively reserved for him. This priest has already rendered me valuable services on various occasions. Here are the conclusions of the interview:

I° Given the nature and size of the Work, little is to be hoped from Bishops, maybe even nothing: they dare not take such responsibility and their approval – even if given – would guarantee nothing certain: an appeal to the Supreme Authority could always remain possible and effective.

II° Thus, it would be good for you to write yourself a memorandum for His Holiness, which we will transcribe putting it in the third person. In this memo you will explain what may shed light on your person and the Work. Accordingly:

• a) Name, first name, Age, address, studies completed, state of health.

• b) How and with what means you write: Using books or not. Little at a time or in long passages. With few corrections or many. Slowly or quickly.

• c) The general division of the Work and a brief description of its content. Its volume if finished or still in process.

• d) The writer’s opinion on the Work: supernatural visions or dictations (what you see and how you describe it; what you hear and if you write under dictation, and by whom).

This memorandum will be accompanied by a request for a special audience. The Holy Father will examine or have examined (I have been assured the examiners are learned and pious) the memorandum and the first three small volumes (Pre-Gospel and part of the Gospel), and he will give you his opinion.

If he is favorable, then (that is to say in a second phase) we ask permission to publish the Work explaining the manner in which you desire it to be published.

I only ask you to consult the Lord and send me promptly either the memorandum or at least a line. May the Lord's Grace be with all and help us always do His Holy Will. Signed P.C. Berti.

For the memorandum, I advise maximum clarity, order, accuracy and conciseness (one or two pages).

February 12, 1947: Father Berti was accused of "modernism" by the Holy Office

"[...] Father Mariano told me the day before yesterday, in casual talk, that Father Berti had been reprimanded and condemned by the Holy Office for 'modernism' at the beginning of his teaching career. Yet it is precisely to Father Berti that Jesus makes me send the dictation of February 3 (addressed to the Holy Father) in which modernism is precisely mentioned. By the way, I know nothing of it, I do not even know what it is. ... Are these not coincidences that make one think?"

This lesson of February 3, 1947, was fully taken up in EMV 652, the final dictation of the 'The Gospel as Revealed to Me and which recapitulates the seven reasons for the gift of the work. This dictation is the first cited, which indicates its importance. What is noteworthy is that the same Source (Jesus) chooses Father Berti as defender of the work before the Holy Office and dictates a work that intends to struggle Against modernism: "The deepest reason for the gift of this work is that in these times where modernism, condemned by my Holy Vicar Pius X, corrupts itself to give birth to increasingly harmful Doctrines, the holy Church, represented by my Vicar, has more resources to fight those who deny … (follows the constitutive elements of the eternal Gospel)" (EMV 652.1).

The reasons given by Jesus largely reprise what is called the anti-modernist oath, except notably for the rejection of scientific exegesis (which Pius XII had just rehabilitated). This oath, which all teachers had to take annually, is extracted from the Motu proprio Sacrorum Antistitum, published by Pius X on September 1, 1910, following his condemnation of modernism three years earlier. John Paul II subsequently promoted similar norms in his Motu proprio Ad Tuendam Fidem, of June 30, 1998, annotated by Cardinal Ratzinger. Opportunely, this dictation on modernism would be included in the dossier for the Holy Father.

February 24, 1947: The dossier for the appeal to the Holy Father is prepared

"[...] Father Berti writes me (received the 19th) as follows:

"I received your letter with the memorandum and another two days later. Everything is fine. It is well done. There is no difficulty. Everything is clear. What a miracle! you will say. Certainly, but that’s how it is.

I only have one question to ask you. How can Father M(igliorini) be excluded? I told him I would appeal to the Holy Father. At first, he was unfavorable, but then, after a few days, he spontaneously told me that the planned approach was the only really effective and sure one. I also informed him of the audience I was going to ask for him and myself with His Holiness, and he was favorable. He too is now opposed to mutilations [of the work].

It seems to me that henceforth, [Father Migliorini] should no longer harm but only serve.

Personally, I would do this:

In direct presentation to His Holiness:

1° I would submit the memorandum with the attached dictation (on modernism)

2° I would request a private audience for Father Migliorini and myself, or at least a special one (small group).

3° I would add the Pre-evangelical and the First Year (something concrete is needed)

Agreed? Answer me quickly: by express or telegram.

May the Grace of the Lord always be with you.

Father Corrado M. Berti"

I replied quickly, by express.

September 19, 1947: Jesus gives instructions for this appeal

In this dictation (The Notebooks from 1945 to 1950), Jesus insists on the prior "Nihil obstat" for publication, on the supernatural character, and on the need to keep a copy at Viareggio. He describes what should be done, but also sees what will be done contrary to his directives. Father Berti is not named explicitly, but these instructions concern him.

"[...] Jesus says: 'Start immediately to review the writings to make them readable by others. For you can no longer care of them, it is they who must take charge henceforth. You will soon receive a letter which you must believe and obey. When you have it, you will be convinced. Act to prepare what will be asked of you.

On how you must act, I only repeat what I have always said: Protection of the Work, secrecy on the spokesperson, supernatural character of the work since its first edition—you will indicate the parts reserved for the public from the integral work reserved for the clergy—, publication to avoid falsifications—there have already been some, as I told you—but publication after obtaining the ‘Nihil obstat’ from the Church. A document in two copies signed by the Father General or his delegate and by you, by which he commits in the name of the entire order to protect the work entrusted to him and to protect you as well, as well as to return the manuscripts and a transcribed copy that must remain with you until the first publication of the Work. You may then give the manuscripts themselves.

I will give you further instructions as needed. Suffice it to put these in writing to show them at the right time and demonstrate that it is I who guide you and that you obey.

May the others obey also. Given the situation today, the Father General should no longer feel aversion or fear. If he resists still, he will cause me much pain. Since what he could fear no longer has any reason to be, he can establish this document, then they as well as you will be able to move forward as I wish.'"

September 22, 1947: Maria Valtorta suffers because of the Servites

Maria Valtorta notes (The Notebooks from 1945 to 1950) the great pain caused by the Servites’ disobedience. The papal audience becomes more credible and gives human ambitions.

"[ ...] I correct … but I do not manage to decide to write to Father Berti... I fear them; I have suffered too much because of them. Jesus insists like an unceasing trumpet... If only it were true! But who can still trust?"

October 12 and 13, 1947: Mention of a visit by Father Berti

(The Notebooks from 1945 to 1950).

"At Fatima with the pilgrims. Night prayers and in the basin strewn with lights... And Our Lady of Fatima at my side... Even in the morning, while Father Berti is here, in the room..."

October 30, 1947: Father Berti is the confidant of the revelations

(The Notebooks from 1945 to 1950)

Everyone knows, the Holy Office as well.

"[...] One of my seven witnesses told me yesterday that a Dominican wrote him: 'I know through a Soul who receives communications from the Virgin that "we will be saved through Mary." I cannot tell you more, but remember this phrase and in two or three years you’ll be able to talk to me at length.'

My witness does not know the communications I received, on the necessity of resorting to Mary, our ultimate, extreme salvation. Except Father Berti, no one knows. Moreover, Father Berti himself does not know the penultimate of October 23 (on a Holy Year of Marian character (see note 18). This coincidence of seeing on the power of Mary to Save us causes in me one of those surges I always have when I hear repeated by other sources, as unknown to me as I am to them, things I was told.

The same witness tells me that Father Pietro Pennoni, during his recent visit to Camaiore (September 1947), told Mrs. Favilla (one of many exalted persons to whom Fathers Migliorini, Pennoni, De Sanctis, etc., imprudently handed out the booklets from 1943 to 1945, thus showing disobedience) that Father Migliorini continues to write and copy the ‘spokesperson’s’ communications, and that some notebooks have been presented to the Holy Father as well as to the Holy Rota (?) for examination. Will this obstinacy in indiscretion, imprudence, etc. never disappear? May God forgive them and provide for it Himself..."

October 31, 1947: Jesus gives Father Berti the nickname "Isaac (of Yutta)"

(The Notebooks from 1945 to 1950.)

"[...] This dictation makes me very uneasy... I did not know whether to transmit it… I ask Jesus, who answers me:

“When a person stubbornly offends charity, Charity tells him what his mercy had until then spared the culprit. But I leave it to you to decide whether to transmit these words to Romualdo (Migliorini) or not. However, I require that you never destroy them but submit them to the just Isaac of that time, Isaac for me as for you, so much like the one of my time: far from having the harsh severity of a furious Jeremiah, he had the gentleness of a lamb worthy to follow the divine Lamb and to guide others to him."

Jesus calls Father Berti: "Isaac." In the dictations or visions of gospel episodes, he often said to me: 'So and so, Father X or Father Y, is like this or that one.'; then he cited characters from the past described in the Work... It helped me to know them well, while completing my knowledge by visible illustration (I don’t know if I express myself well) of their Soul, their true Consciousness and spirituality... and quite often I did not like to know them so well. I preferred to nurture illusions...

I also ask my Master if I should speak to Father Berti about Father Pennoni's conduct. He answers yes. The face of my Lord is dark as rarely, very severe. It is only when he lays his hand on my head to bless me that his face lights up with a smile of pity for me."

November 9, 1947: Father Berti is the confidant of mystical visions

Maria Valtorta describes (The Notebooks) a series of mystical visions she had in May 1948. They concerned the Marian apparitions of Tre-Fontane.

On May 5, Maria Valtorta had the vision of Our Lady of Fatima and sees all her "The "Hail Mary" (Ave Maria)" turning into roses falling in various places around the world.

"[...] Other roses fall here and there in Italy—but I do not understand well at which particular places, in Spain and Portugal (mostly at Fatima), one in Belgium, three in Ireland, one near London, and on various places of the globe, as I told Father Berti.

A bit further:

[...] On October 19, I contemplate the vision — which takes place between heaven and earth — of the Archangels Saint Michael and Saint Gabriel, always at the same place, between the Tiber and the via Appia Antica, where I saw the roses fall in May (see the map I gave to Father Berti). Saint Michael shouts three times, pointing to the glorious Virgin: 'Oppose the weapon that is Mary to the great Serpent advancing,'

November 18, 1947: Father Berti is recipient of a "great lesson" on the Mass.

(The Notebooks)

Jesus develops a great catechesis on the meaning and course of the Mass starting from the genesis of the Eucharist (pp. 94 to 98).

"[...] You will give these Sheets to the new Isaac (Father Berti) as they were written under my dictation, reserving the right to copy them later, in the directions. You will tell him to type them and to send you a copy from Rome so that you may transcribe it, or join it to the ‘directions’. He will see thus that I love him, and that when I give you a dictation and give you the strength to follow me — which I do not always do fully for unfathomable reasons — you miss not a word."

January 6, 1948: Father Berti advocates with the Servites

(The Notebooks from 1945 to 1950).

"Before the Voice leaves me, I say: "Most divine Lord, now that you speak often again, they will say it is wrong. Because you gave me Father Berti who persuaded them that now, most divine Lord, you speak from time to time." He answers me: "I act as I want. I showed that I come daily or that I do not come for dozens of days, and that you do not fill these gaps with words of your own. Let that serve as a lesson to them. I have done everything to convince them. But as it is said: 'We played the flute, and you did not dance! We sang a dirge, and you did not beat your breasts!'" But these are not pages meant for them. I order you to remove them from here and to make a separate booklet to give to those you know, in the way you know. They have received what was necessary to obtain Jesus’ Work’s approval. The rest is a treasure that must be earned. Some earned it by perfectly doing our will on you with perfect charity and without having any claim on the work towards you. There is also another reason for divine Providence justifying this order."

May 20, 1948: Father Berti is the guardian of Jesus’ wills

(The Notebooks from 1945 to 1950).

"The lessons on the Epistle to the Romans continue here. The other lessons are found on the two notebooks given to Father Corrado M. Berti, who deemed it appropriate to withdraw them, even though the last is not yet finished, just as the commentary by the Holy Spirit on the Epistle to the Romans is far from being completed. But out of all the respect and gratitude — especially this — I owe to Father Corrado for the way he has always shown charity, patience and obedience towards the poor creature that I am and towards the desires of the Lord, I accepted to entrust him with everything I had.

It is fair to give as much to someone who gave so much to the Work. Father Migliorini too did much… Just think of all he typed! But … there is a ‘but’. And the Work has this 'but': if Father Berti had not been there, it is certain that the attitude of everyone, or at least of everyone except a few rare persons — real exceptions among the mass of Servite Fathers of Mary, who always obstructed, criticized, caused immense pain to Jesus’ Work and to his poor instrument, and who have just recently changed their minds and methods — the Work would have ended up not going to the Servites of Mary. But gentleness, sincerity, honesty disarm. Yes, they disarm God and his instrument, who must tenaciously defend the interests and desires of God even if it costs him greatly, because it is never pleasant to argue, reprimand and threaten with punishments.

I do not know how much longer I will stay on earth, nor if it will be given to me to see the Work printed. But I want to declare here that if it can bring light and good to Souls and renown to the Servite order, Souls and Servites of Mary will have to be grateful to Fathers Berti and Migliorini who, differently but with the same constancy, worked for God’s will to be fulfilled and for Souls to receive this gift from God. Following these first two constant workers of God, I wish to recall some others who cooperated with charity to bring comfort to the instrument and help to the first two artisans of the triumph of God's will and his Word: Fathers Gargiani, Sostegno Benedetti, Tozzi and Mariano De Santis."

July 11, 1948: The tomb of Saint Peter

Four and a half months after the papal audience, the Secretariat of the Holy Father asks Maria Valtorta, through Father Berti, where the tomb of Saint Peter was located. At that time, the tomb was being sought with costly archaeological excavations. This request, in which Father Bea (future cardinal) and Monsignor Carinci were involved, shows the high regard the circle around Pius XII had for Maria Valtorta's revelations. She had indeed seen the apostle’s burial. She describes it: it was at the Ostrianum, a place where Peter baptized and where Christians often gathered.

However, this cemetery was hard to locate after 20 centuries and the place where the body of the first pontiff was placed was not necessarily where his relic (mummified according to Maria Valtorta) remained.

Jesus, questioned, reveals the place and shows it to Maria Valtorta, but having no external reference, she cannot specify exactly. Jesus does not want the worship of the bones, but the return of His Church to the Spirit that animated St. Peter.

The dossier on the tomb of Saint Peter is inserted at the very end of the "Notebooks". It led to several researches by Italian scholars. Father Berti fulfilled his intermediary role from July 11, 1948, to September 21, 1948.

October 2, 1948: Father Berti is warned of a secret action being prepared

(The Notebooks)

"[...] Read this dictation to Father Corrado Berti, so that he realizes that we, the Three who are One, do not wait to warn the spokesperson (Maria Valtorta) of a secret action at the moment it occurs: we do it much earlier, for no human thought is unknown to us, even if it will exist only in a distant future.

Two paragraphs prior, Jesus warned about an anonymous person:

"But for this man, who does not have a pure Heart, this is what happens: what should enlighten him has turned into darkness, because he wanted to make a human arrogant judgment about what is supernatural."

December 16, 1948: The Holy Office manifests its opposition

(Letters to Mother Teresa Maria, Volume 2)

Sunday 5 [December]: at 5 pm, Father Berti arrived unexpectedly [...] the news he brought me about the work was like knives in my heart. He found me already immobilized and very ill but he had to speak anyway. Here is what he said, I leave you to judge.

As you know, on October 25, the Holy Father advised to follow the hierarchical path so that we were more certain to obtain the approval that would safeguard the work from future traps. He therefore addressed His Excellency the Bishop of Sora, who examined everything and declared himself disposed to approve.

But on November 29, just as the presses were about to start, the Holy Office called the Procurator General of the Servite Order and ordered him to tell Father Berti and Father Migliorini to no longer take care of the work, if they did not want to be struck by the Holy Office’s decrees for having illegally stolen (?) Monsignor Barneschi's approval contrary to Canonical Law, since that bishop is neither the bishop of the publishing house nor of the author, and especially because: 'He is the bishop of the Zulus' (Do the Zulus not have souls? And is an Italian bishop, just because he is in Africa, less bishop than one who lives in Italy?).

Father Berti rushed to Father Bea, then to Monsignor Carinci and Monsignor Fontevecchia, to other bishops, to other Jesuit Fathers, and all answered unanimously: 'Go ahead anyway. They cannot do anything to you.'

But, and I cannot blame them, the Fathers did not risk spending millions [of lire] for a publication that could later be blocked by the Holy Office. They also did not want to disobey its orders, after having been threatened with suspension a divinis.

What he told me must be true because he made me write to Father Bea — his intimacy with the Holy Father allows him to contact him without witnesses and whenever he wishes — to bring my cry to the Pope without the ordinary or extraordinary affairs substitutes of the Secretariat of State preventing it, as they prevent Father Berti from being received in audience...

[...] Father Berti decided to tell me everything (he wanted to spare me some details, considering my physical state) when I made him read a dictation from Our Lord, dated November 21, 1948, in which he curses the persecutors of his gift and threatens them with draconian measures.

Pray, pray that the devil, who holds too much, may finally be defeated and that God may triumph.

[...] Yesterday’s Osservatore Romano [December 15, 1948] told us that Father Roschini, O.S.M., member of the Holy Office, well known and companion of Father Berti at S. Alessio, was received by His Holiness. I do not know whether to connect this audience to the Work or if it was granted for other reasons. I say what I understand."

January 6, 1949: Father Berti and the Servites go too far

(The Notebooks)

The success (temporarily) of Maria Valtorta’s visions and the case of St. Peter’s Tomb push the Servites to consider her as a prophetess whom they interrogate on all subjects. Father Berti allows himself proselytism. Jesus intervenes to put order:

"[...] But truly, I tell you, it would be good never to tempt the Lord, nor his instrument, by taking him for a soothsayer, so you do not have to suffer what happened to Saul, like what Samuel, whom he invoked, said to him. I remind you also of 1 Corinthians, verses 7-11. Little John has received the gift to see me among men, me the Master, and to hear the Good News from my lips. But no other gift, as you want to claim. For oracles and tombs, refer to others in whom you believe more, even if they are not my beloved little John.

[...] To me: 'Look... Learn... Be silent... with all. Do not let yourself be seduced by flattery, nor frightened by threats. You who know obedience, obey only me.

I had asked that Father Berti not transmit anything. He transmitted. Another disobedience. And always a lack of charity. That is why I advise you: “Learn and be silent, with all, even with your close ones, even with the Father’…”

January 28, 1949: Father Berti and Jesus give other readings to Maria Valtorta

(The Notebooks)

Having finished the visions of Jesus’ life, Maria Valtorta discovers other seers like Anne-Catherine Emmerich (in whom Maria Valtorta does not recognize the visions she received) or Sister Josefa Menendez (in whom she recognizes herself). Jesus comments on her reactions:

"On the contrary, I am in Josefa’s book, and you immediately felt me there, just like in the few words Father Berti sent you, coming from writings sent by Monsignor Crovella. I have only one style. I can amplify my words to make a complete work like the one I gave you, or reduce them like for Josefa, but I am recognized. You will show this to the Father. And also read, if you can, what speaks of my divine life. Henceforth, you can read. For you have seen all of me for two years and written all about me."

"To make this dictation understandable," Maria Valtorta notes a little further:

"[...] On January 22, Giovanni Chessa brought me books of saints’ lives to distribute to Souls desiring good readings. He did it on other occasions, and these old books helped me do good for various people. I distributed them without reading.

This time, he brought me the book ‘A Call to Love’ (Writings of Sister M. Josefa Menendez). I had long wanted to read this since someone had sent me by chance a little image of the Spanish nun. But I always forbade myself to seek the book, since Jesus forbade me from reading revelation works, or the like: he said only he wanted to teach me.

With Sister Josefa’s book, which features a preface by the then Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (1938), Chessa brought me 'The revelations of Anne-Catherine Emmerich'. I said to myself: 'This time I want to read it! I always hear about it! Let’s see!'

Jesus then appears to me, and says: 'Read, so read! But start with this one.' He points to Sister Josefa’s book. His smile surprises me… It is not as usual. It almost seems he teases me. I obey. In the Spaniard’s writings I feel my Jesus. I fully find him, both in the lessons and in the descriptions of the Passion. But in the other… what a disappointment! I am so bewildered that after finishing it I ask myself: 'Did she really write, or at least say, what she saw? Or did the person who helped her write her visions arbitrarily change the descriptions?' I tend toward the latter idea, because it seems impossible to me that a Soul who loves God could alter the truth.

In his answer of today, Jesus has just replied to me. This lesson may also serve the Church. It is certain I will keep Sister Josefa’s book to myself, for I find my Jesus in it. But I will give the other as soon as I have shown Father Berti some details I noticed there. It may please those who have not seen reality. But not me: it grieves me rather, for it diminishes the grand aspect of the figure of Jesus and Mary."

March 16, 1949: This is a punishment for all who despised God’s directives

On Tuesday, February 22, 1949, Father Berti was summoned to the Holy Office by Monsignor Giovanni Pepe, in charge of book censorship, and by Father Girolamo Berruti. He has no right to speak, only to sign the Holy Office letter and hand over the manuscripts in his possession. Maria Valtorta, struck by a bad flu lasting more than 40 days, resumes correspondence with Mother Teresa Maria. She is internally boiling with frustration at her powerlessness.

"[...] I am of the same opinion as you: this is a punishment for all who despised God’s directives knowingly for six years (starting with Father Migliorini then with Father Berti and so on. Meanwhile, I am the one in torment although I never left obedience to the Lord.

And what increases my suffering over the unjust decree is the near certainty, based on factual proof in my hands, that the Fathers who always wanted to publish the work without approval and as a human work are in cahoots with the laity and the Holy Office, etc. They wanted to classify it as "scientific," in other words, given its style, as "mediumistic," causing me dishonor both humanly and spiritually. This made me look like a spiritist who saw and heard what I described and wrote in the work like a medium (in other words Satanically because for me all that is mediumistic or spiritist is Satanic).

[...] God had said not to diffuse the work. They diffused it. To avoid fuss. They made fuss. They involved thousands of people. They ignored my wishes based on God’s will. They lied.

Yes. They lied. I have to say this to excuse the Pope, for if the Fathers had not lied, the Pope would have lied, since for more than a year I am told that he wants the work published, etc., etc. I was told that on February 2, during the candle offering to His Holiness, he repeated to Father Berti and a Servite student his will to approve the work rapidly... yet 20 days later it was condemned ! I am told "His Holiness does not know."

August 16, 1949: The work is that of the Holy Spirit

In this dictation (The Notebooks from 1945 to 1950), Jesus does not explicitly name Father Berti but he stands out in the background, motivating the insertion of the following quote in this article.

"[...] Jesus says: '…What should I do to take care of the Work and make it triumph? I should intervene with the terrible God of Sinai, the God of the times of indignation and rigor, and I should strike them down in their sin, rather in their sins, for those led by their obstinacy Against my will are many. What else, if not this?

Through you I have given all the proofs. In you there is no sin of rebellion, simulation or pride. You are a docile victim of their will. Because they are "the Church", you yourself defend their will Against those who would trample it. Because of your crucifixion, it is certain you cannot scrutinize the books of the doctors. Because of your cultural level, it is certain you cannot write these pages. What else do they want, if that is not enough for them to recognize: "Yes. The Spirit of God is well present here"? There is no dogmatic error here; indeed there is none in the Work.

If the Spirit has given lights (lights of Grace) to make fully luminous what, in twenty centuries, such or such school has only illuminated with a ray on such precise point, let them bless God for his Grace instead of claiming: "But we say something else."

Who is Wisdom? Is she their servant or their queen?

But so as not to say they are rebellious by human pride, to disguise these wounds in themselves, they say: "This concerns God."

God has acted and still acts. But the prince of this world dominates in this world while the King of kings reigns in heaven and, faithful — him, at least, he is faithful — to free will he left man for his trial, reward or often condemnation; he does not force their will. He awaits them, quickly, at judgment.

They would do well to meditate the page of the Gospel where, as Master of masters, Wisdom, Word and Truth incarnate, I declare that sins Against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

But truly, this Work is of the Spirit of the Spirit of God, of the love of the Father and the Son, of the Spirit who knows all truth and comes to reveal it to men caught in the present turmoil as in ancient whirlwinds, so that they can defend themselves Against infernal Doctrines."

This dictation comes after a writing of Father Cordovani on the necessity that the laity also know theology and their request to obtain true and good theology..."

May 25, 1950: The conflict at its peak

(Letters to Mother Teresa Maria, Volume 2, pp. 304-305)

After the attempt to destroy the work on February 22, 1949, and the intervention of Luigina Sinapi ("Luciana"), agitation is at its height. "Partisans" and "opponents" of the work struggle to obtain or prevent arbitration by the Holy Father. The Holy Year mobilizes attention and the conflict is not conducive to the Vatican atmosphere. Pie XII is kept away from this. It is only in January 1952 that confrontation resumes with a petition to the pope, initiated by Monsignor Carinci, which will end ... at the Holy Office. Father Berti is not a signatory. He disappears from the Vatican corridors to focus on the publication of the works. He will return to the Holy Office only in 1960 after the Index.

[Monsignor] Carinci said Father Berti’s letter of April 17. He claimed in the letter that the Holy Father wanted to receive the four men in audience. Carinci says, on May 17, that the "Holy Father refused the audience more than a month ago." His refusal therefore dates to April 17. Was it he who refused it, or rather Callori, or the 'evil insiders', in the Pope’s name and without his knowledge? Mystery. I think it was the others, and not the Pope. I gave my opinion very clearly to Monsignor Carinci.

See also

• Le Father Corrado Berti and Maria Valtorta
• Text of Father Berti's conference, Thursday January 29, 1970
• Father Berti's sworn statement (1978)
• Memories of Father Berti by Emilio Pisani
• Final testimony of Father Berti (1980)

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