150 years : Thank you Lavigerie !
Let us look at the past with gratitude
Advance out into the deep
This morning in my prayer I heard : « advance out into the deep »….
The miracle of Pentecost happened but once
“I have learnt with satisfaction that you have started learning the Kabyle language.
“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
If you want, you can become fire
“The missionary must be a person of fire, called by vocation to continue the work of Our Lord.
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.
His Itinerary
1825 Oct 31 Birth in Bayonne, France 1849 June 2 Priestly Ordination 1854 Professor at the Sorbonne in Paris, France 1856 Director of Education in the East His road to Damascus : 1860 His “Road to Dasmascus” Christians are killed in Lebanon and Damascus; Lavigerie is there to help refugees and orphans. His first contact with Muslims; he discovers his missionary vocation1861 Diplomatic function in Rome 1863 Lavigerie becomes Bishop of Nancy, France (aged 36) 1866 Lavigerie accepts the See of Algiers, a poor diocese, but “the gateway to all Africa… and her 200 million souls” Algiers : 1867 Lavigerie is named archbishop of Algiers 1868 Appointed Apostolic Delegate for the Sahara and Sudan Oct 19 First Novitiate of the “White Fathers” at Maison Carrée 1869 Sept 8 First Novitiate of the “White Sisters” at Algiers 1872 Lavigerie presents himself as candidate for the Latin Patriarchates of Jerusalem He is not going there, but some Missionaries of…
“Caritas” and the Pelican
Lavigerie, an apostle of charity :On becoming bishop, Father Lavigerie took the motto “Caritas” and as his episcopal coat of arms, a pelican – this bird which feeds its young with its own blood! His life illustrated the motto and coat of arms he had chosen. Arriving in Algiers, he addressed the Muslim Algerians: “I claim the privilege of loving you like sons …” At the bishop’s house he welcomed orphans and he founded two missionary societies to help them – the Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) and the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa (White Sisters). He required their members the same compassion that he himself had towards the Africans. “For our love to bear fruit, we must see Our Lord Himself in the patients we care for and in those touched by our charity and our patience.” Is that what you experience in your missionary life?…