|
Dear Friends of Franciscan Missions,
In my last letter I wrote about the Tent Chapter which took place at the end of June here, in Nairobi. The joyful celebration of the Silver Anniversary of the Province was lasting also over July and August. In this jubilee year God blessed us in a special way because He gave us 10 fellow-brothers who took monastic vows in the Order of Friars Minor in our St Francis Province in Africa, Madagascar and Mauritius.
Br Florentine was the first one who took monastic vows. It was on 19th July in his family parish in Kashozi in Tanzania. There we have a monastic house in one of the missionary stations. One of our fellow-brothers is responsible for pastoral work in this station. The ceremony took place there and a few hundred faithful and Br Florentine’s family gathered to take part in it. The concelebrated Holy Mass was said by almost 20 priests from Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. The whole liturgy was celebrated in the Kiswahili language, known by almost all Tanzanians, but some chants were performed in the Kihaya language used by people from the Bahaya tribe (from the north-west part of Tanzania). Br Florentine comes from this tribe. This celebration was special for me because it was the first time I received monastic vows. After the Mass, which lasted for about 3 hours, all present were invited for dinner. Women from the station had been preparing this dinner for the whole night. The guests could appreciate their effort but those who saw the way it had been prepared did not eat it. Hygiene in not very important here. However, nobody fell ill after eating this dinner. God was watching over us. After the dinner there was time for entertainment, giving gifts and speeches which cannot lack during such a ceremony. Most of the guests stayed till the end, i.e. to 4 p.m., when the ceremony was officially finished. On the next day we celebrated a thanksgiving Holy Mass in Br Florentine’s family village. There we underwent a patience trial. We also admired, sometimes with gritted teeth, the Africans’ calmness. Only after they greeted us in their village did they start preparations for the ceremony. The Holy Mass started “only” twelve hours late. Nobody was hurrying. However, we quickly forgot about the delay when we became involved in the Holy Mass liturgy. After the Mass and the dinner we could admire beautiful folk dances performed by all the present but also by our fellow-brothers from the Bahaya tribe. We spent there almost the whole day as we returned back to our convent at about 6 p.m.
On the next day I went to our novitiate in Uganda. Br Aimable who is a guardian there accompanied me. He also took part in Br Florentine’s monastic vows ceremony. Two days later, on 23rd July, I enrolled 10 candidates to novitiate: three from Burundi, three from Kenya, two from Zimbabwe and one from Tanzania and Malawi.
On 26th July, on St Joachim and Anna’s celebration, next two fellow-brothers, Br Agapitus and Br Dismas, took monastic vows. Both of them come from Uganda. This celebration took place in a seminar chapel in our St Anthony convent in Langata district here in Nairobi. This ceremony was much more modest than the one described earlier but it was equally solemn. Apart from fellow-brothers and Sisters, there were also friends and acquaintances from the parish in which they worked as pastoral apprentices. The novices from one of Franciscan congregations took care of liturgical setting and chants. They did a good job. After a two-hour Holy Mass, Fr Guardian invited everybody for dinner to monastic refectory. There were not many quests, yet the refectory turned out to be too small to accommodate all the people. However, it did not disturb anybody. The guests sat down in the living room and veranda outside the house. Before the cake was cut, which is another important activity during such ceremonies, one of the brothers who took vows gave a speech in which he thanked everybody for their presence and their prayers. After eating the cake and giving presents to Agapitus and Dismas, people started leaving the ceremony. Finally, only members of family and fellow-brothers were there. Some of the relatives were pleased that the ceremony took place in Nairobi. Thanks to it they could go abroad for the first time and see something different than banana plantations. They see it everyday in west Uganda, where Agapitus and Dismas come from. Let us go back to the cake for a while. One of the Fathers offered baking the cake. I must admit, he knows a lot about this. However, we know from experience that during such ceremonies different things may happen. This time it was not different. Father Gianfrancesco baked the cake and showed it to me with pride. It looked great. However, when he started putting the cake from a baking tin to a big plate, the cake broke into several pieces. Fr Gianfrancesco did not get into a panic. He jumped into his car and drove to a shop. He bought butter and icing sugar and started making cream. It was happening one hour before the Mass started. He was not late for the Mass and when the cake was brought to the refectory nobody, apart from Fr Gianfranceso and me, worked out what had happened. The cake looked great and was delicious.
On 5th August the Secretary of our province and I went to Mauritius. Our destination was Madagascar but because there is no direct flight between Kenya and Madagascar we had to go through Mauritius. It is good that we have two monastic houses there; otherwise we would have to spend the night at the airport. On the next day, after a nice stay at our fellow-brothers’ we went on to Madagascar. There we were welcomed by the Custodian of the local Custody which is dependent on our province. After a night spent in the capital of Madagascar, Antanarivo, we went with the Custodian, Fr Pascal, to Antsirabe where we have two monastic houses: a novitiate and the postulancy. On Saturday, the 9th August the last monastic vows ceremony was to take place. This time 7 fellow-brothers were taking it. It was a beautiful ceremony. At 9.15 (it should have started at 9) the procession from the novitiate to the church set off. The distance is only 20 metres so it did not take us much time. The Custodian, Fr Pascal, was the main celebrant and there were about 15 priests at the altar with him. They were mainly our fellow-brothers from Madagascar. I had to receive monastic vows from 7 of my fellow-brothers: Jean Matio, Fidelis, Gabriel, Jean Baptiste, Lalaina, Elisee and Heri. This part was in French. Fr Pascal did most of the job. I only received the vows and said three sentences in French. It could not have been so bad because I did not hear any bursts of laughter at the church. Besides, most people did not know the language. The whole liturgy was well prepared by our fellow-brothers, especially by the Master of the novitiate. We also heard a lot of beautiful and good singing. For those of us who did not understand the language (Malagian) it was only listening but for local people it was a real musical feast. They like singing and they can do it. Before the final blessing a few speeches were given. I had to give a speech as well. Fr Raymond Pascal, the parson of the Andraikiba parish where the ceremony was taking place translated my words. We left the church at one o’clock. After a short break we were invited for dinner to a big parochial room. The dinner was delicious. On Friday we saw men killing five pigs. In my opinion, they chose a strange place to do it – the graves of our fellow-brothers. According to them it was the best place and our local fellow-brothers also did not have anything against it. I will go back to the dinner then. We ate slowly, without hurry. Everything was delicious. The head chef was our novice, Justin, and Fr Jean Pierre, the Master of clerical students, helped him skilfully. During the dinner a few choirs performed. Most of them were established by our fellow-brothers. They are very musically talented. After the main course it was time for the dessert. In the accompaniment of dances and singing a huge cake was carried. This cake was ceremonially cut by our seven fellow-brothers, Fr Pascal and me. Imagine that all of us were holding the same knife. After eating the cake and saying the prayer the ceremony was officially finished. We could get some rest. However, not everybody could do it. On Sunday another ceremony was to take place so work had to be continued. In the kitchen a few people were working on a new cake. Sisters were sifting rice and others were cooking it. They worked till late hours of the night.
Sunday, 10th August, was another big day for the fellow-brothers in Madagascar but also for all in the St Francis province to which the Custody in Madagascar belongs. The diaconal vows ceremony was taking place. At 9 o’clock we were waiting for the procession to start because this hour was given in the programme. However, the procession started at 9.30 but then everything went according to the programme. The bishop is a little bit sickly and not young but on that Sunday he was feeling very well. This time I was only a spectator. I only concelebrated the Holy Mass together with other priests. Bishop Felix Ramananarivo from Antsirabe presided over it. During the Mass five fellow-brothers who took monastic vows a day earlier, got the diaconal vows. The Mass was again well prepared by the fellow-brothers and the main author of it was again the Master of the novitiate, Fr Robert Alain. Beautiful songs accompanied us from the beginning till the end. I did not have to give any speech because the Custodian, Fr Pascal, did it for me. He did not make any speech on Saturday so it was his turn. The Holy Mass finished at 1 p.m. After taking off the liturgical vestments, we directly went for dinner to the parochial room. Before the cake was cut, the Bishop delivered a long speech. He was really in a very good form. The food was delicious again and the cake was even better and bigger than the one on Saturday. Before it was put on the table it was carried several times around the room. It was a very joyful event. It is impossible to describe it, you have to experience it on your own. The official part finished at about 15.30. Then, despite Sunday, a big cleaning took place.
I have to admit that for the Secretary of the province the trip to Mauritius was not very fortunate. Directly after the ceremonies we had to take him to hospital where he spent three days. Malaria and typhus overtook him. Sisters from the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary congregation took good care of him. Especially Sister Margaret from Miejska Górka looked after him. Then, on the day of his departure on 26th August, he did not get permission to get into the plane because he did not have the entry visa to Mauritius. An intervention in the Mauritius embassy did not help as well. He had to stay at Mauritius 10 days longer, buy a ticket at the South African Airways airline and fly to Nairobi through Johannesburg in the Republic of South Africa. I am sure that he will remember this journey for a long time. Mauritius is a small country, geared towards tourism, with rigorous immigration standards especially in relation to Africans. Poles have it easier. Two fellow-brothers from Poland work in our Chemin Grenier parish, in the south of Mauritius. One of them is from the Poznan province and the other from the Bernardine province (Kalwaria Zebrzydowska).
I send my best regards to all of you. Thank you for your prayers and all gifts and offerings given for the Franciscan missions. Let God bless you, protect you and bestow you with His peace.
Fr Sebastian Unsner, OFM
The Custodian, Fr Pascal and the Secretary of the province, Fr Augustine
The view from the cathedral square at the centre of Antananarivo
|
TOP