Category Archives: Our first Sisters

  This is the Letter of the General Council on the 154th anniversary of the birth of the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of the Our Lady of Africa.    Rome, 8th September 2023                                                   Ladies! If it’s just us to get started, it’ll be lovely!   Dare to dream of a new creation!                                                 Dear Sisters, Happy feast day of the birth of our Lady and our Congregation! From the very beginning our Congregation has been on a journey of transformation within itself and within the Church. Our first heroic Sisters from Brittany, responding to the call of Cardinal Lavigerie, embarked on an adventure…

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On the 9th of April we organized a walk of 12 kilometers from the local history museum in Boxtel to the little village of Esch, a place from which many White Sisters left for Africa between 1895-2005. Since the 1st of January 2021 Esch belongs to the bigger village of Boxtel and to mark this date the local museum made an exhibition about the ‘Canon (history) of Esch’. Esch is an old village where Roman remains were found by archaeologists; it is around 1300 years old. One of the objects on the exposition is a big painting by one of our sisters, the almost blind Sr. Dymphna Kleemans (+), of the motherhouse ‘Sancta Monica’ and a doll of a White Sister in her old habit. The old mother house of the White Sisters, St. Monica (the mother of St. Augustin was named Monica and she was born in Algeria), is…

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Sister Carmen Sammut, Superior General of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa, has just completed six years (2013 to 2019) as President of the UISG: the International Union of Superiors General. She shares with us her experience during this engaging time.

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Crypta
baobabs

baobabsWhat links are there between a baobab tree and Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa in temporary vows?

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les noces de Cana
Conseil élargi worked 2015

Conseil élargi worked 2015A religious congregation—we are alive! Many changes in a year:

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conseil général 2011

tempête stormOn 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!

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st Charles

“But where is your Mother House?”  Some people ask us. A “Mother House” is normally where a religious congregation was born and where we joyfully return for various reasons (religious professions, general chapters …) It is well known, the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa have a nomadic soul!!! Our Mother House is no exception to the rule, as it has undergone many transformations and relocations following the vicissitudes of history! Our Congregation was born in Algiers in 1869 at the initiative of Msgr. Charles Lavigerie. At the time of his arrival there, a famine plagued the country. He appealed to all people of goodwill on the spot and abroad, to accommodate the many orphans. Where to lodge all these people? First it was in a local district of Ben Aknoun. Then Msgr. Lavigerie acquired a large estate in Kouba. The 300 orphans settled in the house and outbuildings. Lavigerie…

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