Page 4 Pallottine Voices Pallottine Farewell Mr Seán Siuyu – that he had been very happy at Pallotti School for Girls and will have great memories of his time there. The Society of the Catholic Apostolate Seán McNulty was a teacher of Seán McNulty was born in Co, Mayo in Ireland and was Winter 2016 English and a Mentor to the staff at the second oldest in a family of nine. His association with Voices Pallotti Secondary School for Girls Pallottine Fathers Thurles Co Tipperary Ireland E41A271 Tel. (0504) 23678/21202 Web: pallottines.ie Email: [email protected] in Siuyu, Tanzania, for twenty one the Pallottines goes back to 1963 when he met the then years. “Mjomba”, or “Mr Seán” as Director of Vocations for the Pallottine Fathers in Ireland, he was affectionately known at the Fr. Paddy Murray. After a few years studying with the In This Issue: – Christmas Ferns Promotion Elisabetta Sanna Mr Seán school, retired earlier this year. Pallottines, Seán emigrated to Zambia where he worked as a lay missionary. Having spent seven years in Zambia and To celebrate his retirement, What is Christmas? enjoyment, happiness and “good cheer”. a further fourteen in Botswana, he joined the staff at Pallotti and to mark the special occas- Furthermore, I believe that businesses have forgotten Secondary School for Girls in 1995, where his sister, Sr Vulnerability and Trust ion of his return to Ireland, a farewell party for Seán was the true meaning of Christmas. Instead of seeing it as a Mary, was then the Headmistress. in a merciful organised in Siuyu on the 15th of May. In traditional time to come together and share in fellowship, the season He will be greatly missed by all at Pallotti School and by African style, Seán was escorted from his house by the Fr Alan Bukenya SAC of Christmas all too often is used by corporations and big students to the Assembly Hall in the school where a meal his many friends in the locality. We wish him good health businesses as a way to sell more consumerist items and at and hope he will enjoy a long and happy retirement back had been prepared in his honour. All the students, the staff As I refl ect during Advent on the high prices. Another aspect of the story is that was home in his native country. and the Sisters attended, as well as many past pupils. Christmas story, the thing that strikes born to Mary, a young woman who in today’s society would Speeches and an evening of entertainment followed which me most about it is the vulnerability be considered a teenage mother. would have faced went on for several hours and was thoroughly enjoyed by of Jesus Mary and Joseph that fi rst Christmas, and the way a lot of pressure to divorce her: Joseph was not the father of all. Fitting tributes were paid to Seán and he was presented in which they put their full trust in the God of Mercy. the child, rather God was the Father. with many gifts. Speaking as Provincial Superior, Sr At that time, similar to today, we are reminded of the story This is in stark contrast to the message of consumerism Mary said that he was the foundation stone of Pallotti of refugees as Jesus Mary and Joseph fl ed from Bethlehem which tells us that buying more will make us happy and that and thanked him for his commitment and the generosity to Egypt from a tyrannical regime in which babies below the we should be following the trends to buy the most wanted of his time, adding that Seán was responsible for Pallotti age of two were slain by Herod as a result of his quest for Christmas items. School being what it is today – a shining light in the north power and the need not to be usurped by another contender I therefore would encourage you this Christmas to of Tanzania. The Headmistress, Sr Martha, said Seán was to his throne. remember the true meaning of this Holy Season, and I urge inspirational, always on time and fully prepared, while Mr How do we treat immigrants who escape the atrocities you to help others as we celebrate this Christmas time, fresh Daudi, the Deputy Headmaster, said Seán was a “gift from in Libya, Iraq, and Syria? Christ was a refugee Himself. from the experience of living in the Year of Mercy. God to Siuyu”. Sr Rosemarie, a colleague of Seán since The Church teaches us to welcome and give the school had opened, spoke of him as being dedicated and shelter to the stranger in the Corporal Works hard working. of Mercy. A special mass was celebrated for Seán by his lifelong One thing that also strikes me in the story is friend Fr. Basil, who described him as an example of great the over-whelming vulnerability of Christ as he humanity and said Seán will always be a member of the chose to come on Earth as a baby rather than Pallottine family. Fr. Tom, a friend of Seán for twenty as a mighty ruler. Jesus acted against social years, said he will miss Seán very much and their twice Please Help the Pallottines. expectations by being born in a stable rather weekly jumuya (get-together). Please cut out this form and return it with your donation. than in a palace. Please remember the Pallottines in your will. Thank you. To round off the evening in style, an enormous cake Today we are immersed in the cult of wealth baked especially for the occasion by the school staff was Dear Fr. Martin, and forget those in need. Many go without, cut with pride by Mr Seán who was visibly touched by I enclose an offering of € …………….. to help the Pallottines’ while others live in plenty. In many African the celebration that had been organised in his honour. He mission to assist, educate and empower the people we minister to. countries, hunger is a daily reality for millions thanked everyone for attending and for their good wishes, PLEASE USE BLOCK CAPITALS. of people. Christ calls us to leave our comfort and said he felt humbled that they should organise such a zones and reach out to the suffering of our Name ...... big celebration for him. Seán said he felt sad to be leaving world: “For when I was hungry you gave me Address ...... to eat.” Jubilee Celebrations ...... Nevertheless, I believe that this is a message which has been lost. In today’s world the We celebrated the Silver Jubilees – 25 years of service in Send to: Fr. Martin Mareja, SAC Christmas story has been stripped of its Pallottine Fathers Missions the priesthood – of Frs. Liam McClarey SAC and James uncomfortable origins and often we forget the Thurles, Co. Tipperary, Ireland E41A271 Amasi SAC in September. fact that Jesus, as an infant, was also a refugee. Email: [email protected] Coincidently, at the celebration in the Pallottine College We also forget the fact that Jesus was If you would like us to acknowledge your on the 9th of September, Monsignor Seámus Freeman, donation, please tick this box. born poor. We don’t reach out to help the Fathers George Ranahan, Gerry Fleming and John Bergin, vulnerable and those are on the margins, such who had all been classmates many years before, met Registered Charity Number: 20011826 as the homeless and those using food banks for together again for the fi rst time after 25 years. whom the season of Christmas is not a time of Page 2 Pallottine Voices Pallottine Voices Page 3

A Beatifi cation Elisabetta’s remains were exhumed in July in the presence Promotion and Appeals the serving mission of the Church. of the Postulator of the Cause, Fr. Jan Korycki, SAC, and in Ferns Diocese 2016 On behalf of our Society, I wish to express our sincere Fr Derry Murphy SAC other Pallottines and offi cials from the Vicariate of . gratitude to the Most Rev Denis Brennan DD, for granting On the 28th of July her remains were there laid to rest under Fr Martin Mareja SAC us permission to do Mission animation and promotion in his Blessed Elisabetta Sanna was the altar in the Virgo Potens chapel and sealed with a marble Diocese. I wish also to say a word of thanks to all the Parish a close collaborator of St Vincent plaque bearing the inscription “Beata Elisabetta Sanna”. I began Mission animation and pro- , Associate priests, Religious and Lay Faithful who Pallotti and one of the fi rst members The Rite of Beatifi cation took place in the Basilica of the motion work in Ferns diocese, on the facilitated my visits, and for the great welcome, generosity of the Union of Catholic Apostolate. Most Holy Trinity, in Saccargia, Sardinia, on the 17th of 20th of February and completed and donations given in aid of our Missions in East Africa. She died in 1857 and was buried in September. The Principal Celebrant was Cardinal Angelo it on the 23rd of October. I visited On behalf of Fr. Derry Murphy, our Provincial, and Br. a side-chapel of Santissimo Salvatore in Onda in Rome, Amato, Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of the 26 parishes. The rest of the diocese were visited by the Steve, I extend a personal note of thanks to my brother the Church attached to the Generalate of the Pallottines. , accompanied by the Archbishop of , bishops Daughters of Charity. priests who generously and happily provided us with The side-chapel is known as the “Virgo Potens” chapel from Sardinia and Sao Paulo, Brazil, and almost 60 priests, As has been in the case for the past three years, the accommodation and food. The notion that the Church is in honour of the image of Our Lady with the Child Jesus brothers and seminarians from around the world, including visitation of the assigned parishes in the Diocese was universal takes on a special meaning for me as an African that hangs there. Elisabetta had this image in her living Frs. John Kelly, Derry Murphy and Rory Hanly, General another opportunity for the Pallottines to share news of our Pallottine working here in Ireland and the experience of quarters in Rome and when visitors asked for prayers she is Secretary of the Union of Catholic Apostolate. apostolate, work, vision and mission with the faithful of the feeling at home is always great. Thank you. reputed to have said ‘Come, let us pray together to the Most Also present were Sr. Ivete Garlet, SAC, General Superior Ferns Diocese. Happy Christmas and God bless you all. Powerful (Virgo Potens)’. of the Pallottine Sisters and Sr. Izabela Swierad, SAC, Br. Steve and Fr. Derry Murphy helped me with some of Elisabetta was born General Superior of the Pallottine Missionary Sisters, Sr. the animation and I happily shared the achievements we in 1788 in a village in Adalgisa Cammarata, Superior General of the Eucharistic have made so far and how grateful we are as a missionary Director of Mission Promotion (Pallottine Missionaries) Sardinia. Her parents Sisters of St. , many Pallottine Sisters of congregation for the help and support we get to continue the were farmers and one the Congregations as well as lay members of the Union of good work begun by earlier missionaries. of her brothers became Catholic Apostolate from many countries. It is estimated Our founder, St. Vincent Pallotti, believed that missionary a . Smallpox as an that almost 6,000 people in all took part. work is a collaborative effort where the prayers, sacrifi ce infant affected both her In order to be a candidate for Beatifi cation it is necessary and support of each individual plays an important role in arms, resuulting in little to have a miracle attributed to the person; one attributed the spreading of the . In his vision of the Catholic mobility in them. She to the intercession of Elisabetta Sanna occurred in 2008 Apostolate, Vincent Pallotti envisaged a type of community married in 1807 and had in Brazil. 31-year-old Suzana Correia da Conceicao, had where everyone could serve and be served and where the seven children, fi ve of surgery to remove a cancerous tumour from her forearm Church at home and abroad would be renewed by the love whom survived. When in 2003. Following the surgery the muscles in her forearm of Christ. “God”, he wrote “wants us to co-operate as much her husband died in and right hand atrophied and she lost all mobility in them. as possible in the salvation of our brothers and sisters”. Your Virgo Potens Chapel 1825 she made a vow of Suzana frequented a Pallottine parish in Niteroi, close to prayers, sacrifi ce, support and donations, you, the faithful chastity and intensifi ed her life of prayer and good works. Rio de Janeiro, and in 2007 she heard of Elisabetta Sanna. people of the Diocese of Ferns, continue to collaborate in St Aidan’s (Ferns) Cathedral, Enniscorthy Photo: Andreas F. Borchert Fr Giuseppe Valle, a priest in her parish, suggested Because Elisabetta had also suffered a disability in her visiting the and both of them set off in June arms she began to pray to her daily. In May 2008 in the 1831. Neither of them was to reach their destination. parish church in Niteroi, Suzana while praying rested her Events and Happenings benefactors who have contributed to their priestly education While awaiting onward documentation in Rome, the fi rst arm on the altar and over the course of an hour, recovered and formation. Egyptian-Ottoman war broke out, making travel diffi cult. full use of her hand and arm. This healing was certifi ed by Ordinations May you in this Year of Mercy experience in the deepest Fr Valle returned to Sardinia but Elisabetta was unable to a doctor and confi rmed by further medical inspections. way the love of God! return to her children due to health issues, a cause of acute The Holy See subsequently certifi ed the miracle through Our Province has been blessed with ordinations to the distress for her. It was at one of her lowest moments that she the intercession of Elisabetta. Suzana was present at the deaconate and to the priesthood this year. met Fr Vincent Pallotti, who became her spiritual director, a Beatifi cation and it was a special joy to speak with her and Liam O’Donovan SAC and Charles Lafferty SAC were role he exercised up to his death in January1850. listen to her acccount of her miraculous experience. ordained to the deaconate in Provincial House, Dundrum, During the twenty six years Elisabetta spent in Rome she on the 6th of June. lived in poverty and simplicity, attending to the sick, the poor and those in need of help, and she had a reputation for On Saturday, the18th of June, Cyril Ingosi, SAC and spiritual guidance and prayer. Dedan Munyinyi SAC were ordained to the priesthood in Sacred Heart Parish, Dagoretti, Nairobi, Kenya. In her fi nal illness, she was visited by Fr Raffaele Melia, one of Vincent Pallotti’s fi rst confreres in the newly formed Jaimie Twohig SAC was ordained to the priesthood in St. Society of the Catholic Apostolate, and at that time the Joseph’s Church, Little Island, Cork, on July the 16t. Rector General of the Pallottines. He was Elisabetta’s Brendan McCarrick SAC was ordained to the priesthood confessor and she asked him if she could be buried in the in the Church of the Sacred Heart, Mullinabreena, Lavagh, Church of SS. Salvatore in Onda where “her father and Co. Sligo on the 24th of July. teacher, Vincent Pallotti lay”. Her funeral was a huge one The Mission Offi ce congratulates all our newly-ordained and she was laid to rest there on the 20th of February 1857 members and we thank all our friends, associates and where her body remained until July of this year. Frs John Kelly and Derry Murphy with Suzana