“I have loved everything in our Africa.”
“I have loved everything in our Africa, her past, her future, her sunshine, her mountains, her skies, the vast horizons of her deserts, the deep blue waves that bathe her shores.” Charles Lavigerie “Love the peoples to whom you are sent” Charles Lavigerie
This is a gratuitous gift…
“The gift of a religious vocation is a wholly gratuitous gift on Gods’ part, and a miracle of his mercy.” Mother Marie-Salomé Each of us, at one time in her life, experience the Love of God in a special way. Something simple yet wonderful happens to us. This is a totaly gratuitous gift… Someone Divine touches us profoundly and our life is changed ! Jesus Christ becomes for us an irreplaceable friend. He reveals the face of God to us, full of love and tenderness. Conséquently, we have only one desire : to live for him and make him known to other peoples. The God revealed to us by Jesus knows no frontiers : his Salvation is for all. Our free response to the call received is shown by following Jesus in obedience, chastity and poverty for the coming of God’s Kingdom. It is our particular way of living our…
Our family treasure
Since the beginning, Cardinal Lavigerie wanted us to be sent in apostolic international communities. Interculturality is an integral part of our “family treasure”, of our heritage… a heritage to which we hold firmly. “Be of one heart and one soul. Be truly sisters one to the other. To love and help one another are the two pillars of community life. Take with a good spirit whatever your companions do or say.” Mother Marie-Salomé We are not sent alone. It is together that we participate in the mission of Christ. He himself, from the beginning of his public life, surrounded himself with a community of disciples. It was not an international community, but he liked gathering together persons who were very different: by temperament, place of origin, trade or profession, political opinions… Was it not a way of showing how, in Him, all the differences can be harmonised? Thus it…
Can women be Apostles?
“In spite of the zeal of the Missionaries, their efforts will not produce sufficient fruit if they are not seconded by women apostles working with the women. Men cannot give this service themselves, only women have free access to pagan women and are able to maintain charitable relations with them; help them in their trouble and so touch their hearts. This apostolate does not stop with the women, for a woman is a fountainhead because she is mother.” Cardinal Lavigerie underlined the importance of woman’s place in the world and in the Church. He saw her as an agent in the transformation of society through her role as “head” of the family, parallel to that of man. Hers is a ministry of love and of humanity. “Women are destined to be the most effective missionaries of the African peoples” 1871
They do not let themselves be discouraged by these daily sufferings
As I was discovering how Mary personifies hope, I felt the strong link between Mary and the Congolese mamas. I understood why these mamas personify hope for me. MAMA SIFA rapidly comes down the hill. It is 6 am. She goes to Lake Kivu like every morning, with a plastic bag and … her rosary. On the shore, she fills her bag of roughly 50 kg of sand. She puts it on her back and ties it with a braided belt that encircles her forehead. With other mamas, she slowly climbs up the hill, a long calvary of a half hour, an hour or more … Whether the sun shines or the rain falls in torrents, She carries on, head bent. Mama Sifa is young. She can make three trips a day. Her rosary in hand, heart full of hope, she walks; happy to think of…
To carve is to think with the heart and speak with the hands
To carve is to think with the heart and speak with the hands. I admit that it is an exercise resulting in a lot of sweat … But this exercise shows how vital it is to go to the end of life just as the sculptor takes his time to go to the end and give life to his work. I was born in 1934 in Dordogne. In July 1956, I took my first steps in the congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa. I was sent to Africa where I had different activities. Since I am retired, I can practice the art of sculpture. In my missionary life, I was able to fulfill several services, thanks to my self-taught training;it is surely a gift from heaven, the greatest gift. Thus I was able to respond to various calls in my religious family. In Algeria, I…
22 African Religious Congregations
The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, participated in the founding and formation of 22 African religious congregations. The story of a great adventure ! Historical background: Feminine religious life is not new in Africa. We think for example, of the nuns of the Coptic Church. In the nineteenth century, young women entered the recently established international missionary Institutes (West Africa, Sudan). The novelty in the early twentieth century was the birth of truly indigenous active congregations. That happened as “missions” were established in the new evangelized territories. Religious life in Africa: The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, under the leadership of their founder, Cardinal Charles Lavigerie, collaborated in the formation of 22 new congregations. The first was born in Sumbawanga (now in Tanzania) in 1903. Other foundations followed throughout the twentieth century in: Uganda, Rwanda, Congo, Zambia, Burundi, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Mali,…
Break down all unjust structures
We join with other women in their aspirations and their struggle to be recognised in their dignity. Today women are called to unite in an effort to bring about the integral liberation of the human person and break down all unjust structures. Let us participate actively in all these efforts to make our world more human. This is also true for the Church. May it give women their rightful place; may it welcome and encourage women’s initiatives. Bishops of Uganda – 1997: “The absence of an adequate education was and still is a big obstacle to the full liberation of women. A community or a Church which ignores the educational promotion of their women will neither grow nor have a positive influence on the population, as it should have.” Mgr Mpundu – 2nd Synod for Africa – 2009: “Denial of equality to women is an affront to…
“I am proud…” 1910-2012 Burkina Faso
The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa and BURKINA FASO : 100 years of shared history, 1912-2012 ! “I am proud … Before beginning, I would like to thank God for all the benefits received in Burkina Faso and throughout Africa through this dynamic Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa. I am moved by a feeling of joy and above all gratitude. The Lord has done great things for us, and Holy is his name. Yes, what joy for me as a Missionary Sister of Our Lady of Africa novice and a Burkinabe to live this event so important for our Congregation and for the whole Church-Family of Burkina Faso. It was really a surprise and an honor to wear the habit of the Sisters of the past and to ride a horse! I was representing one of the 8 sisters who agreed…
A storm at sea
On the 9th September 1869, eight young women from Brittany in the West of France, arrived in Algiers. This was one day later than foreseen due to a very bad storm while they were crossing the Mediterranean. And thus begins the history of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa! Msgr. Lavigerie, bishop of Algiers, had been waiting for them. Not seeing their arrival, from a high hill in the city he sent his blessing on the troubled sea and on the troubled beginnings of the future congregation. From the time of his arrival at the Episcopate in Algiers in 1866, cholera was raging in the country. There were many victims both from the famine and the illnesses that followed, leaving many orphans. To answer these needs Msgr. Lavigerie wanted to found a Congregation of sisters. But where to find religious missionary vocations? He sent to France Father…