First Missionary Expedition Rome, 14 February 2017. Dearest Sisters, What a great joy to be able to meet each other in this new ‘missionary appointment’! Many meaningful responses have come from various Provinces regarding the day of prayer for Mary Help of Christians Province (IPI). Communion with Piedmont, the land that formed and saw the departure of the first six missionaries for Uruguay is an invitation to unite even more in preparation for the GREAT MISSIONARY EXPEDITION to celebrate well the 140 th Anniversary of FMA presence in South America. This time, we wish to move to Uruguay, the land that became the “second country” of those young sisters who arrived there with a heart that did not know difficulty, nostalgia, regrets… but only the desire to love and bring Jesus to the ends of the world! Today, February 14, we unite in prayer for Immaculate Conception Province (URU). All our communities are invited to remember with affection and gratitude, the land of this Province which received the first six FMA missionaries ad gentes in that faraway December of 1877, after about a month of travel. As a concrete gesture, we can leave on the altar of the Chapel during the day, Volume II of the Institute Elenco, opened to pages 190-191. It would be lovely if we would place beside the Elenco, the names of the first missionaries written on a card: Sr. Angela Vallese, Sr. Giovanna Borgna, Sr. Angela Cassulo, Sr. Angela Denegri, Sr. Teresa Gedda, Sr. Teresa Mazzarello. With this gesture, we wish to raise to God and to Mary Help of Christians our prayer of thanksgiving and of intercession for Uruguay and for Immaculate Conception Province. Among the episodes that have marked the events of the first missionary expedition, we find one that is very lovely and meaningful, and which is narrated in Volume II of the Cronistoria. Soon after, while we were standing around the Superiors for these last moments of good-bye, Fr. Cagliero came with another beautiful painting: Mary Help of Christians holding in her arms a charming, smiling Baby. He told us jokingly, “I stole it from the sacristy in Valdocco. I stole it for you. It was painted by a man who was suffering from an illness of his eyes and was becoming blind. He went to Don Bosco who, after guiding the brush in his hand on the canvas for a few moments, he blessed it. From that moment, the man found he was perfectly cured and he gave us this beautiful Madonna”. Thus, it is a miraculous picture. It makes one happy only to look at it. Don Bosco blessed it and he sends it to the missionaries. “Bring it with you and the Madonna bless you and accompany you on your voyage”. In fact, that picture of Mary Help of Christians with the smiling Baby is still found at Villa Colón (Montevideo), in the Chapel of the Provincial House. We entrust our desire to the sisters who live there and in the nearby communities: we ask you, dear sisters, before this picture that crossed the ocean together with the first missionaries, to pray to the Madonna while looking at the eyes of the smiling Baby. Pray to the Madonna asking for a re-awakening of missionary vocations ad gentes for the Church and for the Institute: Vocations of the same caliber of the first six missionaries;
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Messaggio di Sr. Alaide Deretti - Consigliera per le Missioni (in inglese)
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Rome, 14 February 2017.
Dearest Sisters,
What a great joy to be able to meet each other in this new ‘missionary appointment’! Many
meaningful responses have come from various Provinces regarding the day of prayer for Mary
Help of Christians Province (IPI). Communion with Piedmont, the land that formed and saw the
departure of the first six missionaries for Uruguay is an invitation to unite even more in
preparation for the GREAT MISSIONARY EXPEDITION to celebrate well the 140th Anniversary of
FMA presence in South America.
This time, we wish to move to Uruguay, the land that became the “second country” of those
young sisters who arrived there with a heart that did not know difficulty, nostalgia, regrets… but
only the desire to love and bring Jesus to the ends of the world!
Today, February 14, we unite in prayer for Immaculate Conception Province (URU). All our
communities are invited to remember with affection and gratitude, the land of this Province which
received the first six FMA missionaries ad gentes in that faraway December of 1877, after about a
month of travel. As a concrete gesture, we can leave on the altar of the Chapel during the day,
Volume II of the Institute Elenco, opened to pages 190-191. It would be lovely if we would place
beside the Elenco, the names of the first missionaries written on a card: Sr. Angela Vallese, Sr.