“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…