Blessed Timothy was the first Pauline priest of the society of St Paul. His unique and unrepeatable relationship with the Founder, Father James Alberione, surely fell into the category of that mysterious kind of destiny which marks those souls who are particularly touched by grace. On the occassion of his Beatification, 22 October 1989, Pope John Paul II told the Pauline family: "Blessed Timothy Giaccardo was the heart and soul of the society of St Paul at its birth. He incarnated the Pauline ideal in its integrity, therefore you must always be well in your minds, so that faithfulness to your special tasks may never die and the tension of Paul of Tarsus may live among you and in you in its intergrity." Blessed Timothy was unique not so much for his ideas but for the way he lived out his spiritual convictions, handled his experiences, and managed his options as a man, a Christian, a priest, and a Pauline religious. What was important for him was his capacity to respond each day to the particular challenges he faced, to his vocation and mission.