110 years... and not feeling them.
It's a special anniversary that the Daughters of St. Paul are celebrating today, recalling the day when Blessed James Alberione’s dream for them began to take shape: a future rooted in the Gospel, to be printed and shared, to be made known and loved through the press and every other language and form of communication that progress would offer in the future.

At Fr. Alberione’s side stood a woman: Teresa Merlo, who became Sister Tecla. She believed in this prophecy and would become the Founder’s closest collaborator, eventually becoming the first Superior General of the Daughters of St. Paul.

Last year, to celebrate the charism and brilliance of Sister Tecla Merlo – an original figure in the history of the universal Church, as well as in the world of communication – a highly innovative and accessible interactive storytelling tool about her life and work was launched: scrollytelling (from the combination of the English words “scroll” and “storytelling”). This digital narrative technique allows for the integrated and engaging use of text, images, video, and graphics.

This year, coinciding perfectly with the 110th anniversary of their founding, the Daughters of St. Paul are enhancing the scrollytelling experience by adding two Asian languages – Mandarin and Korean – as well as making the content fully accessible to the hearing impaired through sign language translation.

The launch video presenting these new features of the scrollytelling is available on the official website of the congregation (paoline.org) and across various social media channels starting Sunday, June 15, 2025. It includes a message from Sister Veronica Donatello, delegate of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI) for people with disabilities – currently at the United Nations to address this very topic – and from Cardinal Giorgio Marengo, Archbishop of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

With this new initiative, the Daughters of St. Paul continue their journey toward a more inclusive form of communication, one that is attentive to all needs, open to the world, and to the new frontiers of the Church. Asia – as reflected by the high number of cardinals from the continent who participated in the last conclave, and a vibrant ecclesial life – is certainly one of these frontiers.

“We are truly happy to be able to tell the story of our cofounder, the Venerable Sister Tecla Merlo, to so many brothers and sisters in distant places, in the Asian continent, and to all those who may come to know her story – a story that ‘smells of the Gospel’ – through communication that uses the visual-gestural channel. And we are especially glad that the launch of the scrollytelling in Mandarin, Korean, and sign language is happening today, on the anniversary of the founding of the Daughters of St. Paul and on Trinity Sunday, a day very dear to us: in 1961, precisely on the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity, Sister Tecla Merlo offered her life for our sanctification.”
— Sr. Anna Caiazza, Superior General, FSP