October, 2014 No. 14

ligious and lai News Re ty

th AAof the Assumption e same mission

EDITORIAL A year of the Rule of Life “The Assumption will find here, and here only, the secret of its vocation, of its common life and of its mission in the Church.” >>

Agenda Emmanuel • September 30-October 3, 2014: Inter-Assumption meeting in preparation for the Formators session in Nairobi (Africa). Ordinary General Councils • October 8-223: in Nairobi (Province of Africa). • November 10 to 14, 2014 • January: Council of the Province of Europe. • November 24, 2014: extraordinary Council on finance • December 12, 2014 John • February 2 to 6, 2015 • March 9 to 13, 2015 • September-December 2014: Chaplaincy of the Worcester • June 3 to 8, 2015 students in . • June 22 to 24, 2015 • January-April, 2015: Chaplaincy of the Worcester students • September 14 to 26, 2015 in Rome. • May-June, 2015: Chaplaincy of the American students in Rome. Plenary General Councils • End of July, 2015: Provincial Assembly of the Andean • December 1 to 10, 2014 (December 5, Wenger Province. Colloquium) • June 10 to 20, 2015 Marcelo • September 23-October 8: in Madagascar. Benoît • November 15-25: Meeting of the Latin-American Laity in • September 23-October 23, 2014: Canonical Visitation Bogota. to the Kinshasa region (RDC) and Nairobi • March 30-April 3: Visit to Bulgaria. • October 25, 2014: meeting with the San Egidio • May 1-9: Visit to Jerusalem. community. • May 29-June 1: Visit to Korea • November 25-28, 2014: Reunion of the USG. Launching of the Year of . Didier • December 19-24, 2014: Meeting of the Superiors General of the Inter-Assumption. • September 25-October 23: In the Province of Africa. • March 30-April 3, 2015: Canonical Visitation in • October 23-November 4: In Mexico and the USA. Bulgaria • December 19-24: In . • April 13-17, 2015: In Vietnam for the Asiatic • End of January: Visit to the communities of Madagascar. Coordination • April 13-May 5: Visit to Latin America. • May 1-9, 2015: Canonical Visitation in Jerusalem. • May 8-10: in the USA. • May 23-24, 2015: in Paris for the 150th anniversary • May 15: in Paris. of the Oblates. • May 16: Meeting of the General Treasurers in Rome. • May 29-June 1, 2015: Canonical Visitation in Athens. • End of July, 2015: Canonical Visitation in Quebec. • October 5-12, 2015: Canonical Visitation in Korea. Other Meetings • November 1-14, 2015: Canonical Visitation in Africa. • September 19-20: Local Chapter.

On the cover: The stained glass window, replacing the one destroyed by the tornado that devastated Greendale and the Assumption Campus in 1953, was restored on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the catastrophe. On Saturday September 20, 2014, Assumption College blessed four other stained glass windows that in the past were in the chapel of the Prep School in Greendale. It joined three others and is called the “Tornado Window”, in memory of the three religious who perished in the catastrophe of June 9, 1953.

2 OCTOBER 2014 nO 14 Editorial <<

A year of the Rule of Life

e will begin the Year of not pessimistic, but I invite each on to Consecrated Life decreed by leap up to go further in the knowledge WPope Francis. of it. It is thus that I propose that for the The Assumption, as all Congregations, Assumptionists, the Year of Consecrated will mobilize itself to live fully this time Life be a year of the Rule of Life. I wish of a return to the essentials of religious that each religious and each community life. You know, because I often insist on put in their program the study and the this point, we are consecrated people. deep study of our Rule. I would also Our legitimate pride resides not only wish that the Rule be translated in the in our religious profession but also in new languages of the Congregation so the remembrance that we have given that it can be better assimilated by the our word to follow Christ, chaste, poor young men who join us. and obedient until death. So what are Our Rule is a badly known treasure. It is we to do so that the celebrations of full of riches that only ask to be shared. this year be occasions to deepen our At the General Councils when we study Fr. Benoît Grière commitment? the requests for perpetual profession General Superior On November 21, 1984, thirty years or of ordination, we have the joy of of the Augustinians of ago, Father Hervé STÉPHAN, the reading the letters of the brothers. Often the Assumption Superior General, wrote the preface to their texts are studded with quotations our Rule of Life. He gave us a very clear from Saint Augustine or of Emmanuel text to introduce the new Rule of the d’Alzon. Sometimes it is the Rule of Life Augustinians of the Assumption. This that is chosen. But we can go further text, yet today, is a source of inspiration and deeper. The time of novitiate for all the religious. In speaking of the is a privileged moment to study our Rule Hervé wrote: “The Assumption will foundational texts, but it is necessary find here, and only here, the secret of to pursue that study all through our its vocation, of its common life and of life. I keep a lively remembrance of my its mission in the Church.” Truly it is novitiate where with other brothers we “here and only here” that we must seek were discovering these foundational to know the path to follow Christ “in the texts. I thank Marie-Bernard Kientz, manner of Emmanuel d’Alzon.” Jean-Paul Périer-Muzet, Hervé Stéphan, When I travel around the world, I am for having introduced us to them. Today often surprised to see that the Rule is let us take the time to re-read and to not sufficiently known and consulted. share them in community. Also let us Numerous religious still don`t know not forget the Lay Assumptionists. They the text that allows us to live in fidelity have received at Way of Life, but it to the spirit of Emmanuel d’Alzon. is directly inspired by our Rule. Soon Rare are the communities who do the you will receive my letter on “religious healthy exercise of reading the Rule fraternity”. It has no other ambition than together. How many brothers don`t to comment our Rule on that precise know entire sections of this document? point. Everyone is to go further in the Yet on the contrary how many others discovery of our treasure. So have a are inspired by it to live a greater good Year of Consecrated Life ! n fidelity to their consecration! So I am

3 >> Official (continued) Calls, Nominations, Changes...

ather Benoît Grière, Superior General, with his FCouncil, has called ■ TO PERPETUAL PROFESSION 1. Bro. WAWERU GICHUKI, Wilson (Africa) (09.11.14) 2. Bro. PHAM VAN, Huan (Europe) (09.11.14) 3. Bro. JERMAKOVICS, Victors (Europe) (09.11.14) 4. Bro. NGUYEN VAN, Ha Paul VI on the day of the beatification of the Ugandan martyrs (Europe) (09.12.14) 5. Bro. DOAN MINH, Tuan André (Europe) (09.12.14) Jean-Pierre, Anselme, Edmond, 6. Bro. ALIBERT, Arnaud we will not forget you (Europe) (09.12.14) On October 19, 2014 in Saint Peter’s Square in Rome, Paul VI, (Giovanni Montini) ■ TO ORDINATION TO THE DIACONATE was beatified. But for us Assumptionists, we 7. Bro. KAKULE MBAKULA, Jean-Baptiste remember that day two years ago, our three (Africa) (09.18.14) brothers were kidnapped in the of Notre 8. Bro. PALUKU KAMILI, Jean-Paul Dame des Pauvres of Mbau (Democratic Re- (Africa) (09.18.14) public of the Congo). We remember also that the newly beatified Pope is also the first ■ TO ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD Pope to have kissed African soil in July 1969 in Uganda where the martyrdom of Charles 9. Bro. PALUKU, SSIRIWENGE, Désiré Lwanga and his 21 companions (+1886) can- (Africa) (09.18.14) onized by him fifty years ago on October 18, 10. Bro. MABOU SIMO, Serge-Patrick 1964. (Europe) (09.18.14) For two years now we do not know the fate of our brothers, Jean-Pierre Ndulani, Anselme Kakule Wasukundi and Edmond Kisughu. But we do not forget them. We keep them in our fraternal affection and our prayers with the words of the Blessed Pope Paul VI: “We 1 2 3 4 thank God who, through his admirable but of- ten admirable designs hidden to the eyes of the world, always raises up for his church the pas- tors it needs, the missionaries that bear witness 5 6 7 8 to him and the martyrs that seal it with their blood. Let us thank the Lord for these gifts that he so generously gives to his Church, and let us show ourselves worthy of them.” (Homily

9 10 for the beatification by Jacques Berthier, Oc- tober 17, 1965).

4 october 2014 no 14 Life of the Congregation <<

The General’s 3rd Letter on Fraternity

ay this letter is a sign and manifests revive our de- How good and how pleasant it is to all eyes the presence when brothers dwell together as one sire to live as (Psalm 133) of the Triune God whose

M brothers and be united. aim is the communion

Our credibility in the among all men and no- eyes of the world de- tably in its most eminent pends on our resolute expression: in the Eucha- commitment in brotherly rist. love. The Assumption In the Assumption, has its own charism in brotherhood is to be which community life universal – such is the witnesses our commit- object of the fourth sec- ment for the Kingdom tion – notably in the dia- through our daily lives. log with other Christian

On September 8, 2014, groups and with other re- on the feast of the Na- Letter on Brotherhood ligions, with the stranger tivity of the Blessed Vir- and it is lived equally in gin Mary, As Superior the cadre of the Lay Alli- General, Father Benoît made up of “friendship, ance. The last section of Grière, signed his third listening, gentleness, the letter is consecrated letter to the Congre- Forgiveness support and forgiveness” to the attention that must gation titled: “How is necessary (RL 37, par. 2. See also animate the relationships good and how for all human 52). Fraternity supposes between the generations pleasant it is when groups. It is the stimulating service of in a family. Father Gen- brothers dwell also at the those called to exercise eral concludes by invit- together as one” heart of the authority (RV 60). ing each member to live (Psalm 133) Its Lord’s Prayer. The letter has five parts: his religious fraternity in theme is fraternity. How can we the first recalls the his- a spirit of shared poverty In our Rule of Life, forget this call torical dimension of re- and joy. fraternity is central. to forgiveness ligious fraternity. The In the northern hemi- It is understood as a that comes from second puts the accent on sphere this last part of the search (RL 3), as a Christ himself? its specific relationship year is that of the falling daily construction (RL and the manner in which of the leaves. That the 7) and a permanent de- it is witnessed in the As- leaves become colorful mand of community life sumption, underlining and fall is not a vegetable (RL 9), as a fundamen- its intrinsic link with the coquetry: it is a survival tal interior disposition mission, with the service adaptation. Let us then (RL 35, 39), as an imper- of authority and with the fully profit from those ative (RL 47 par. 2) for unavoidable characteris- that fall into our hands our mission (RL 59). It is tic of mutual forgiveness to live our lives and our made up of sharing with and reconciliation. The witness of religious fra- all those who make up third part called “liv- ternity better.. n the community, whatever ing together” point out B.L.L. the divisions and differ- the social dimension at- ent conditions (RL 19), tached to it. fraternal life

5 >> Spirituality

The short work that unites our small family as the heart of the body is our official reference since the Chapter of 1981, and our flag in some way.

To walk with the Rule is to walk with Jesus Christ

by Bernard Le Léannec

ur Rule of Life, in the tradition Oof the Rule giv- en by the great Founders of the Church, is a work of quite modest dimen- sion that does not fill a library stack. “I am dis- creet but not mute. I do not shout or raise my voice, I do not make my voice heard in the streets (Is. 42: 2). But to him who lends and ear and 1] Letter no. 27 bis, listens, I speak and to sion, a writing that is to Invitation of the him who knocks I open. be meditated to extract Rule, Documents Assomption, no. 7, It is perhaps because from it the secret; that p. 493. you live in an interior needs to be frequented 2] Since the noise that you think I am to be loved as our moth- A name and a face Apostolic mute or insignificant, er tongue because only Constitution Pastor empty of signs or calls. love gives knowledge all I am not anonymous, just any- Bonus of June body. I bear your name. The 28, 1988, it has But it is you who have its depth. And when it is name of your father. been named the filled me with calls!” It a question of putting it “Congregation of I express your birth and your is thus that Father Hervé into practice, the action the Institutes of family. Consecrated Life Stéphan has our small gives the finishing touch Take a good look and your will and Societies of book speak at its first to its understanding and recognize your face like in a Apostolic Life” (C.I. presentation1. makes it a word of life. mirror. V. C. S. V. A.). The small book that On November 24, 1981, 3] Mes Soeurs, For example take these few unites our little reli- the text was submitted words: Christ, Man, Kingdom. vos quatre vérités, Listen how I pronounce them. 12th instruction On gious family as the heart for approbation by the With what accent. the Rule, Cahiers of the body is our offi- of the Con- d’Alzon, t. VIII, p. Perhaps then will we begin to cial reference since the gregation for Religious 147-157. become closer. (*) 1981 Chapter, and is, and Secular Institutes, so to speak, our flag. as it was called at the The text is an example time2 who the following of balance and modera- year communicated their tion, of clarity and preci- remarks relative to the 

6 OCTOBER 2014 nO 14 link between the Rule of clusion and allowed the Life and the Statutes, to Congregation to walk A book

the canonical formula- in step with the Univer- >> Spirituality tion of the vows, to the sal Church in the Spirit Different from other books. Other. personal and community of the Vatican II Coun- You have some bigger, more presti- spiritual exercises, to the cil. Our minds had been gious, and wiser books. I am neither a theological compen- clerical status of the In- prepared for this recep- dium, nor a manual of spirituality or stitute and to the choice tion by a letter from the of law. to be imposed between General entitled: “Walk- I am different. In a way for you I am “promises and tempo- ing with the Rule is unique. rary vows”. The correc- walking with Christ”, a Is there another so close to you as tions on these various phrase from an instruc- to dare wake you up or re-awaken details were made. Thus tion of Father d’Alzon you, to call you or to call you anew to corrected, the Constitu- to the Religious of the what you must become? Is there one that has the words or the tions were again submit- Assumption at Auteuil 3 calls able to make the Assumption ted to the department on in 1872 . In sending this enter with the Spirit? Perhaps not. March 21, 1983, as the letter, Father Hervé add- Except the Gospel evidently. (*) new Code of ed a little blue insert as a had been promulgated second itinerary in which the preceding January he gave a voice to the 25th. That was, accord- Rule of Life to present ing to the expression itself to each religious resonate? As a succes- used by Father Hervé with the poetic words of sor of the Founder, Fa- Stéphan, the price to pay which he had the secret: ther Stéphan had simply for ecclesial solidarity “I pass, I knock on your placed us in the wake of and to concede in order door, I am a voice of the the first in line: Augus- not to be “outlaws”. The Gospel, like the murmur tine and Fr. d’Alzon, signed by Cardi- of a light breeze, do you but with the vitality, the 4] The Directory, nal Eduardo Francisco hear me, may I enter?” feeling, and the incarna- Part 3: the means of PIRONIO (1920-1998), Thirty years later, hav- tion for which they had sanctification, chap. 1 About the Rule, in the Prefect and his sec- ing reached maturity, the the genius. the Ecrits Spirituels, retary Augustin call of the Rule of Life In the part of Father p. 84-85. MAYER (1911-2010) has not developed a sin- d’Alzon`s library that 5] Ecrits Spirituels, was then delivered to gle wrinkle. In this Year we conserve in Rome we p. 165. 6] Méditations the Congregation on of Consecrated Life in have so many texts of destinées aux December 8, 1983. The which we are invited to Rules that were studied, Augustins de delicate project had return to our sources, worked over, consulted l’Assomption, p. 119- been brought to its con- will we allow this call to by him! Undoubtedly he 129. 7] Paris, 1927, consulted the majority included in the Ecrits of them before establish- Spirituesl, p. 629- ing the text of our first 632. Constitutions of 1855. 8] Documents Assomption, no. 7, An end, a mission In his Directory, Father 1982, p. 486. d’Alzon speaks of the 9] Notre Règle de Inviting you without tiring to “sanctify yourself by sprea- Rule as a living thing: Vie, Rome, 1985, ding the Kingdom of God” as the 1855 Elder said. To help “body and soul”4. He Centennial Series, you become, for these times, a brother of Emmanuel no. 9, 49 pages. th d’Alzon. A brother, not a photocopy. To gather with other specifies in his 4 letter brothers to become one heart and one soul, to love Jes- to the Master of Novices *) The inserts that us Christ, to let yourself be filled with the urgency of the that he writes in the fall accompany this arti- Kingdom, to love Man as God loves him. (*) of 1868 at Lavagnac, cle are extracts from Letter 27 bis of Fr. titles: “About our love Hervé Stéphan. for our Lord”: “The life

7 >> Spirituality

of Christ is for him [the religious of the Assump- tion] the living book of his Rule”5. We must continually come back to it, as he recalls again in the 10th meditation6 for the religious in mea- suring its importance in our lives and not in mak- ing it cheap (sic), so as to seize its breadth and understanding ever more sider these instruments fulcrum that is at the ori- its spirit, with its aim as so many very reliable gin of one of his most fa- to tend to holiness and means for their multiple mous quotations: “Give to consecrate oneself uses. It is the same for me a fulcrum point and to the extension of the Rule: insofar I will lift the universe”. the Reign of Jesus as we know how The Rule is that fulcrum Christ. to make good use that can reveal itself as In the second tome of it. “A glance the means to lift us ever of the “Médita- A road at the Rule,” said higher in our spiritual tions sur la perfec- Fr. Stéphan, “is a life. The aim of a Rule tion religieuse pour A Gospel road. A road traced momentary look at of Life is to allow each for you through the Gospel. A les Augustins de Jesus Christ.” person to live more and 7 road among others. It is the l’Assomption his one you have chosen and for It is still and al- better. reflections on the which you are called. I am ways for us a Ours, published on No- Rule are ordered worth what a road is worth. question or re- vember 24, 1984, is to- around three great Nothing for the lying down appropriating our day translated into 16 principles. Ac- nor for the angel that hovers “Rule of Life” on languages. In its purest cording to Father above. all levels of the form, the Rule of Life d’Alzon, the Rule There is much for the As- life of our Con- recalls us to the essen- sumptionist who wants to is there to separate gregation: “A per- tials. It would be useful walk in the “sequela Christi”. the religious from I am sometimes a city center sonalized, Rule in this jubilee year to the world, help him avenue and you will have to that is my right; dedicate some time to it to resemble Christ foresee signal lights and pe- that is my duty, if by studying it alongside more and finally destrian crossings. I have the ambi- the commentary that give him his spe- Sometimes I am a country tion to live under Father Lucien Guissard cific characteristic. road through fields. the reign of evan- left us9. This pamphlet In the past to guide Sometimes I am an impassa- gelical freedom. A that we should be able ble mountain path without himself at sea and true freedom – the to find in the library of steps in the ice or picks in the orient his always rock. one that allows me each community should perilous navigation, Sometimes I am a simple line to live, to love and allow each religious to the sailor used the in the sand where the wind to serve – requires permeate himself better sextant, and today, blows away my fragile lines. foundations, a with the content of its when we travel, A Good Friday or Easter Sun- firm and clear ba- five chapters to feel our- whatever our means day or Pentecost path. I am sis, a well enough selves more in commu- of locomotion, we only a road. traced and daily nion in the Assumption Get up and walk. “Walking follow the indica- path to be use- and take from it always with your Rule is walking with 8 tions of the GPS that Jesus Christ”. (Fr. d’Alzon). (*) ful” . more strength and light gives the indica- Archimedes had to live it better. n tions received from understood the satellites. We con- principle of the

8 OCTOBER 2014 nO 14 The Assumption <<

At the last meeting of the Plenary General Council (PGC) last June at Saint Lambert, the question of the Eastern Mission was largely discussed. Father Jean-Paul Périer- Muzet, impeded by the transportation strikes, was not able to be present. We publish here the contribution that he sent to the members of the meeting.

The question of Rite in the Assumption

by Jean-Paul PÉRIER-MUZET wanted by God and to assure its The Assumption and the maintenance. East1 By extension then, the Rite desig- Already in 1863, Fr. Galabert, he Assumption was born nates the liturgical forms proper in three places, Constantinople, in under an Ultra- to a Church. In the West, indeed, Philippopoli and Andrinopolis Tmontane sky very attached besides the Roman or Latin Rite, (three places of residence and ha- to the Roman Rite of the Latin existed at the time the Ambrosian bitual reference) was confronted language et committed itself vol- or Milanese, Celtic, Gallican, Ly- in his ecclesial vision (serve the untarily with Dom Guéranger for onese, Hispanic, Mozarabic, Vi- unity of the Church) by the ques- its universal extension against sigoth Rites. Are also designated tion of the diversity of Rites; all other national or local usages by the term, the liturgy proper to the Latin Rite for the Catholic whether it be for the liturgy, the a religious Order: Benedictine, Communities under the jurisdic- ceremonial, the sanctoral, the Carmelite, Carthusian, Cister- tion of the Vicariate of sacraments, the sacramental, the cian, and Dominican Rites, etc. Constantinople and the Latin Vi- liturgical vestments, the calendar The name Rite has also been giv- cariate of Philippopoli but also and proper practices. In the As- en to the various liturgical fami- the Slavic Rite or more precisely sumption of the origins, rituality lies of the East: Armenian, Byz- Byzantino-Slavic for the Bulgar- rhymes with unicity and Latinity. antine, Coptic, Egyptian, Slavic, ian Christians called Uniates, The word Rite designates the Maronite, Syriac… whom he approached with this whole of the liturgy of the Church Clearly a language and a form bishop Mgr. Popov, which im- or a specific liturgical action of participation in a Church or plies a break with the western (e.g. the rite of baptism, gestures to a particular religious eccle- mentality (diversity, eastern lan- and non-verbal language) or a sial society are associated with a guages,, eastern vestments, litur- part of that action (e.g. the rite Rite. In the West, the word rite gical calendar, practices proper of welcome, the offertory rite). is often understood in a narrow to the East, such as periods of se- Rita ou Ritus: that is what is in sense to the manner of celebrat- vere fasting, the rare practice of conformity with order. The Chris- ing the cult of the Church as it confession, no Eucharistic cult tian Rite assures order or the is fixed by rubrics. In contrast in outside of the Liturgy, a devel- world in its reference to Christ. the East, the word “rite” has an oped proper sanctoral, a married It has thus become a sort of fi- extremely broad and rich mean- clergy, a religious life only in the delity to observances transmit- ing: it is the whole of the forms monastic form… ted by tradition whose function and signs in which a specific Galabert was anchored in a is to express in a symbolic form Christian community expresses double conviction: the Assump- the order of the universe itself as and lives its Christian faith. tion was sent to serve the East- 

1 Cf. Two issues of the Cahiers du Bicentenaire d’Alzon, no. 4: L’Orient chrétien and no. 6: La Mission d’Orient de l’As- somption. Father Michel Kubler composed a teaching pamphlet : La Mission d’Orient. L’autre poumon de l’Assomption, 2007, 50 pages.

9 >> The Assumption

ern Christians, non-Latins, but by 1868 they privilege the ser- ity on the part of Bishop Reynau- he was not asked specifically vice to cosmopolitan Christians di and much hostility on the part to change Rites: he remained a and non-Christians: Bulgarians of Bishop Menini, a Capuchin Latin priest sent to the East. He of both Rites, Armenian Catho- lover of Austria, narrow and sus- accepted that eventuality if the lics, Gregorian Armenians, Jews, picious, who forbade the open- ecclesiastical institution asked Turks, Greek Orthodox, be they ing of a Slavic chapel in Sofia4 it of him or obliged him to, but Catholic, Orthodox or Muslim. and at Philippopoli the construc- he will never take that step2. His- The theological perspective is tion of a new high school on land tory had it that at the end of 1863 clearly unionist, but by tem- bought in 1882. In Bulgaria, the he began to serve the Latin Bul- perament, by conversion and by Assumption wasted 70 years be- garian Catholics “Paulicians of practical experience, Galabert fore being free to truly undertake Pavlicans” , but paradoxically by becomes fundamentally an irenic its mission in the Bulgarian Rite. 1866 he works personally at the Christian, kindly and tolerant by At Andrinopolis, the Assumption side of Bishop Popov in favor of adaptation. Truly by education sees itself limited in service to the United Bulgarians, the Uni- and by the Ultramontane tradi- the Eastern Rites because of the ates, that is, the Eastern Rite. As tion, he remains intransigent on presence of the Polish Resurrec- to the Oblates in Andrinopolis the dogmatic level, persuaded of tionists who have a jurisdictional the moral superiority of West- stranglehold on the Uniate Bul- ern Christianity, but he fights garians even though they were for easier ways to change re- Latin in formation! They showed ligion and refuses an aggres- themselves to be ambitious, sive proselytism… He adopts power-hungry, spiteful and even the maxim: “The Assumption- slanderous, in any case, intracta- ist missionary will do every- ble: they or no one! And the Con- thing to prove that the Catholic ventuals consider themselves as Church venerates and loves, in owners of the Bulgarian Latin its Latin Rite, the age-old litur- Rite Catholics! gies of the East and wants to On the other hand, for all the maintain integrally these pre- religious men and women of cious symbols of the race in the the Assumption in the East dur- religious domain”3. ing that first generation, it is re- Essentially, the difficulties of quired to learn progressively the the Assumption in Bulgaria three languages5 most in use in have their origin in several fac- the country: Bulgarian (the lan- tors concerning the practice of guage of the people), Turkish the Eastern Rite: (the language of the administra- In Philippopoli, the Bulgarian tion) and Greek (the language Catholic milieu is of the Latin of commerce and of the Eastern Rite; religious authority is in Christians) even if in the schools the hands of the Italian Capu- the study of a language of West- chins who have no opening to ern European culture: French for or esteem for the Eastern world. the Assumption6, Italian for the After Canova there is little am- Capuchins, the Conventuals and

2) Also he feared being reproached of favoring the passage of the Bulgarian Catholics to the Eastern Rite and of wanting to take charge of the Eastern Churches. 3) Maxim stated by Fr. Canisius Louis, Aux avant-postes du Monde Slave (Soixante ans d’Apostolat Assomptionniste en Bulgarie) in Xaveriana, 8th series, no. 85, Louvain, 1931, p. 17. 4) A Catholic Slavic chapel will be opened only after 1918, 35 years after the arrival of the AA’s!

10 OCTOBER 2014 nO 14 the Passionists, German with the Brother Jacques Chilier will be and Andrinopolis. But the erec- Redemptorists and the Daughters the first Assumptionist to adopt tion of an Apostolic Prefecture, of Charity, or yet Polish with the the Slavic Rite in 1883. With Ga- independent of the jurisdiction of Resurrectionists, English with labert, the ecumenical cause, ex- the local for the Uniate the Protestants and in the Evan- pression unknown in the Catholi- Bulgarians was refused to Picard gelical missions. It seems to me cism at that time and disliked by (it will be given to the Opus Dei >>The Assumption that we will never see a member the Vatican until the Council of with John Paul II!). of the Assumption there learn 19627, progresses: he set the first 2) The strong tendency of the Yiddish or Arabic! rules. We cannot begin a dia- Latin missionary bishops in the Rome opens the way for the logue with condemnations and East to ‘Latinize’ (Bonnetti) in Eastern Rite for the Assumption the point of departure must be an Salonika, the Capuchins in Plo- in two ways in 1882: “by autho- attitude of friendly listening, of vdiv (Bishop Menini), the Res- rizing the Congregation to open esteem, and of good will. That is urrectionists at Andrinopolis, at their schools opened or to be an immense progression in spirit. (Bishop Piavi) in Jerusalem. opened in Bulgaria public cha- Six major considerations Rome had set the tone: in 1847 pels in which the liturgy could be On the practical level, Galabert in restoring a Latin Patriarchate done in the Eastern Rite and to and the Assumption in the East in Jerusalem and in 1867 by re- accept into their Congregation suffered much in the first twenty straining the rights of election young Bulgarians who could years from some rather compli- for the Armenians (the Bull Re- keep their Eastern Rite”. That cated situations in Bulgaria: versurus). was the positive result of the visit 1) The regime of competing re- 3) The canonical non-recogni- to Rome by Galabert and Picard ligious Congregations in place tion in writing by Rome or the in October on the occasion of a before the arrival of the Assump- Propaganda of the Assumption- pilgrimage with 450 persons. tion: the Capuchins in Plovdiv, ist Mission that leaves it at the They had an audience with Leo the Resurrectionists and the Con- mercy of the local ecclesiastical XIII. Until then the Assump- ventuals in Andrinopolis/Bour- authorities, at least until 1882. tion had only opened chapels gas who allocated to themselves Everything is oral, nothing is for the private use of the Latin or had had their jurisdiction rec- written. Rite and the few Bulgarians who ognized and interpreted as exclu- 4) The concrete difficulty to put had become Assumptionists had sive territorially and on the Rite. in place an inter-ritual seminary: been received into the Latin Rite In 1882, the Assumption at last with whom? Where, under what (Schiskov, Dimitrov, Pistichki, received the right to have its own authority? There will be the Le- Marachliev, etc). foundations of Rites in Plovdiv onine seminary in Kadiköy in 

The setting up of a commission to help the government

What orientation do we want for 2017 and how can - Establish the state of our implantations (pastoral we establish a coherent project for Eastern Europe? activities, vocation ministry, Assumptionist resourc- Together with Sister Felicia, Superior General of the es, etc.) Oblates, a commission to help the government on - Define clearly the apostolic project of each com- the “future of the Mission to the East” will be set munity. up. The Eastern Mission is an apostolic priority of - Establish a realistic pastoral program for the next the Congregation. The last General Chapters remind ten years: number of religious, possible collabora- us of that. But the reality is marked by an extreme tions, formation of religious, etc. fragility. This precarious situation does not allow us - Prepare proposals for the Superiors General (AA to envision keeping all the communities. and OA) and their Councils (OGC and PGC) for the The Congregation wants to show its constant inter- next General Chapters (2017). est for this mission and understand the anxiety of The composition of this commission will be made the religious involved. It is urgent to reflect on the public shortly. A first intermediate report of the future of the communities together with our Oblate commission will be given in September 2015. Then Sisters. To that end, a mixed commission to help the a definitive report will be given in September 2016 government will be created. for the preparation of the Provincial and General Its objectives are the following: Chapters.

11 >> The Assumption

1895 after the first trial in Kum easing that no longer hesitates to Convoked by Leo XIII on Feb- Kapi and after the more or less entrust to Latin missionaries the ruary 2, 1895, Picard, sick, is clandestine alumnate in Kara- formation of Eastern seminarians replaced by Father E. Bailly be- gatch in 1877. of all Rites in their own Rite9. fore the cardinals’ commission 5) The uncertainty in which the The first effort (Galimberti, Ledochowski, Van- Assumption finds itself because Beginning in 1882 and during nutelli and the Secretary, Bishop if the religious members or the nine years 13 new AA/OA foun- Veccia). By a written act of June clergy formed by it are of the dations are built up in 28, 1895) the Congregation is Eastern Rite, they could be de and 4 in Bulgaria: Istanbul Koum given the parish of Kadiköy facto incorporated by the au- Kapou (1882-1883), Phanaraki with its annexed buildings and thorities of the Eastern Rite (1886), Brousse (1885), Kadiköy by the letter Adnitentibus Nobis and removed from the religious (1895). Bishop Rotelli authorizes of July 2, 1895, the Assumption obedience of the Congregation the Assumption to found, accord- receives jurisdiction on all the (which will later be required by ing to need, chapels, schools, and new foundations, Greek as well the Greek Uniate Bishops, Iasaïe all works in all of Bythnia all the as Latin in Anatolia. A school for Papadopoulos of the Roman S.C. way to Ankara. With recruits the Oblates is opened at Haïdar for the Eastern Churches, named from France because of the law Pacha, we take possession of in 1911, and Georges Calavassy of 1889 (the military service ob- the church of the Assumption at after 1920; that will be the ruin ligation for clergy is replaced by Kadidöy, Istanbul has its Greek of the Greek Uniate Mission of the dispensation from military church and its seminary, Saint the Assumption). In Bulgaria service for service to French cul- Peter. Kadiköy opens its Cen- the problem is straightened out ture) the Assumption could look ter for Byzantine Studies, An- in 1883 with the creation of two to make a series of stable or mo- drinopolis receives the Bulgar- Greco-Slavic of Thrace bile camp foundations along the ian seminarians, and Jerusalem and Macedonia which obtain full Bagdadbahn with the blessing of (1887) has also the possibility legal jurisdiction outside of Con- Bishop Timoni, Archbishop of of both Rites, an association of stantinople. Smyrna, who grants all jurisdic- prayers for unity is authorized 6) The long lasting weak num- tion on the Latins established all (1896) and Picard boldly asked ber of missionary personnel: the way to the confines of Ad- the unthinkable communication from 1862 to 1880 only a dozen ana, so then are founded Kartal in sacris. Three priests (Front, Assumptionists and 130 Oblates (1889, OA), Ismidt (1890: OA, Sophrone, and Eutychios) adopt with 15 residences, 19 public AA), Eski-Sheir (1891), Konia the Greek Rite at the Anastasis churches (four of the Eastern (1892) Caesarea of Cappadocia, with iconostasis. In 1898 the fa- Rite), 7 parishes, 3 Eastern semi- Sultan-Tchaïr (1893: AA), Zon- vor of establishing the Archcon- naries, two study centers, 1 ho- goudalk, Gallipoli. In Bulgaria, fraternity for Unity, called Our tel, 11 grammar schools, 1 sec- the Assumption founded in Yam- Lady of the Assumption (May 24, ondary school. In order to have bol (1888: OA, AA), in Bourgas 1898) with an icon presented by marked action, one must have a (OA), and in Roustchouk (OA). Leo XIII himself (Apostolic Let- free hand, initiatives, personnel A decisive step: the Eastern ter Cum divini Pastoris. In 1897 and resources! Rite seminary in Kadiköy Fr. Louis Petit launches a more The golden age of the (1895) intellectual magazine, the Echos Eastern Rites in the On June 28, 1895, Picard real- d’Orient, following the Echos de Assumption izes the vow of Fr. d’Alzon of N.-D. de France. The situation is unblocked for a 1863 to establish in Chalcedonia In 1900 there are then 15 As- first time in 1882 for the Istan- and Eastern Rite seminary, made sumptionist communities in the bul Assumption because of the possible after the Ori- East with stable and flying teams, Papal audience of October 1882 entalium dignitas Ecclesiarum, that is, 157 religious in Turkey and the kindly attitude of Bishop following a bold note of Decem- and Bulgaria among whom 63 Vincenzo Vannutelli, Apostolic ber 3, 1894: he refuses the offer priests, as well as 40 religious Delegate to Constantinople since of a Leonine college in Athens in Jerusalem, among whom 6 18808. It is true that at that time (October 1894), and declines that priests, a total of 200 religious in there is a more general Roman of the Saint Pulcherie School. the East serving 16 -

12 OCTOBER 2014 nO 14 es, 5 Greek Rite churches, 2 sem- inaries (one Greek Rite and one Bulgarian Rite) with 14 schools (1200 students). For the Oblates there were 12 communities, 120 religious, 12 schools (1045 stu- >> The Assumption dents), 2 hospitals, 10 dispensa- ries. Agony and resurrection, for what future? We know that the Eastern Eu- rope mission was deeply dam- aged in Turkey and Bulgaria by the Balkan wars and the Great Rite. In 1923, the Eastern Rite Uniate effort by an ecumenical War ’14-’18, by the crumbling Assumption revived in Greco- pacifying effort on the part of of the capitulations, by the con- Slavic Rumania that communism Rome, but not always symmet- tinued hostility of the Capu- killed in 1947, as in Bulgaria for ric by the Orthodox (accusations chins, the Conventuals and the the Slavic seminary. In Russia, of proselytism on its ‘canonical’ Ressurrectionists at Andrinopo- the Slavic Rite did not survive territory). The Christians of the lis, Karagatch, Dedeagatch, the the crisis of 1910-1911. East of all Rites, pulled apart in Franciscans at Kartal and Ismidt, With the fall of the Berlin Wall general and desiring to leave, are of the Franciscan Custodians in in 1989, hope was revived in the the prey of a radicalizing Islamic the Holy Land, then by the la- East, whether in Moscow, in Bu- policy. On all points the future ical policies of Ataturk, by the charest, in Plovdiv, in Jerusalem, is uncertain. Christians in the exodus of the Christians from but personnel is cruelly deficient Eastern traditions diminish ev- Asia Minor, the intransigent at- for which a solid and serious erywhere in their number in the titude of Bishop Calavassy of preparation would be necessary. countries of the East, The Rites the Greek Rite who wanted to The accords of Balamand also remain. n annex the Assumptionists of that seem to indicate an ebbing of the

5) Besides this question of the indispensable language study, Fr. d’Alzon, on December 22, 1863, an ambitious program of specialized knowledge for the Assumptionists in the East whose interest does not seem passé: “God seems to mani- fest his will. Our little Congregation has its specific aim: the reunion of the Eastern Church, the struggle against schism: that implies more particularly a spirit of humility and of charity to fight against the spirit of pride and of division that has torn the robe of Christ; the love of unity, the obedience to the head of the Church; as conditions, the study of the Eastern languages, the canons, the ecclesiastical history, the Rites and the theology itself…” Ecrits spirituels, p. 826- 827. 6) A phrase of Fr. d’Alzon on the occasion of his speech for the distribution of prizes at Nîmes on August 1, 1863 was much criticized as the expression of a Franco-French nationalism that needs to be replaced in context: “The resurrec- tion of the East can only come from a word come out of Rome and carried on the wings of France.” It can be said; but to write it…! 7) There were timid beginnings in the unionist under Leo XIII in his encyclical of June 30, 1893 : Praeclara gratula- tionis for his priestly jubilee. 8) Vincenzo Vannutelli (1836-1930) under Pius X became the Cardinal Protector of the Assumption. Here is the list of the Apostolic Delegates to Constantinople for the 1860-1914 period: Bishop Paolo Brunoni (1807-1877) from 1858 to 1869; Bishop Antoon Pluym (1808-1874) from 1869 to 1874; Bishop Serafino Milani (1819-1906) in 1874; Bishop An- tonio Maria Grasselli (1827-1919) from 1874 to 1879; Bishop Vincenzo Vannutelli (1836-1930) from 1880-1882; then Bishop Rotelli and Augusto Bonetti (1831-1904) beginning in 1887. 9) The Capuchins at Plovdiv, (Latins, circa 1867), the Dominicans at Mosul (Chaldeans, 1882), the White Fathers in Jerusalem (1882, the Melkite Syrians), the Capuchins (Constantinople, 1882), the Polish and Austrian Resurrectionists (Andrinopolis, 1862, Bulgarian Uniates), the Vincentians (Monastir, Bulgarians), the Benedictines (Saint Anselm, Rome, 1887 for the Eastern Rites), etc… Why then refuse a similar activity to the Assumptionists, preferably in a more cosmo- politan Constantinople?

13 >> The Assumption With the Church in the heart Next November 26 marks the 150th anniversary of the definitive approval of our Congregation by the

Constitutions are not yet ap- tolic horizons to the universal proved, but I have received the dimensions of the Church as animadversions”. Did Father he received the encouragement d’Alzon realize then that the of Pope Pius IX in that direc- problem was there? In effect tion. The General Chapter held the decree was accompanied in Nîmes in September 1962 by eight remarks relative to our adopted the reorganization of Constitutions as is reported in a few chapters and articles of the edition of Fathers Athanase our Constitutions so as to be Sage and Pierre Touveneraud submitted to the approval of published in 1966. What was the Holy See and for that end, the situation? The discussions Fr. d’Alzon was given full au- The precious document that of the Congregation for Bish- thority to follow through on marks this event will be given ops and Regulars had certainly the decisions of the Chapter. to Father d’Alzon only on the taken its time, but it was espe- At the time, the Congregation 28th of February, 1865 by his cially because of a dispute be- had only 18 Choir professed Bishop, Henri Plantier, on tween Mgr. Ludovic Chaillot and 3 Lay professed. How was his return from Rome. Father (+1891), ,1 and the the text submitted to the Ro- d’Alzon would have wanted Pro-Secretary of the Congrega- man approval in 1863 written? that the arrival of the bishop tion, Mgr. Stanislaus Svegliati, Fr. d’Alzon on his return from at the train station of Nîmes that things went badly. Did Fa- Constantinople on April 22, be as solemn as possible with ther d’Alzon really realize that 1863 had on his desk his report a procession to the cathedral as the unfavorable events was due on the trip to write, a mem- had been the case the previous to a too hasty writing, on his oir of some 50 pages destined year. Unfortunately the Prefect part, of the document submit- for the Pope. The work was of Nîmes opposed any pub- ted for the approval of Rome” heavy and he had to get down lic demonstration through the And if this approval was defini- to a definitive redaction of our streets of the city and prepared tive for the Roman recognition Rules on April 25 as he writes for it manu militari. His deci- of the Congregation and the to Mother Marie-Eugénie (Let- sion, motivated by a possible “ad experimentum” character ters of April 25, t. IV, p. 281). reaction of the Protestants, was of our Constitutions was main- The request that he addresses completely inappropriate and tained and would be for a long to Pope Pius IX for the defini- covered this famous Prefect of time! tive approval of the Institute the Gard, Mr. Dulimbert with Let us recall that our first Rules, and the approval of the Con- ridicule, for the bishop arrived as Father d’Alzon gave them stitutions ad experimentum” in Nîmes quietly with the great- to us date from 1855 and the for six years is dated on April est discretion. Two days later, Congregation quickly obtained 262. On April 30 the Pope, sick, Father d’Alzon wrote to Father the laudatory decree on May 1, receives him just the same in Galabert: “Good and excellent 1857. From 1860, Fr. d’Alzon a private audience but without news, we have the decree of would have wanted to give a really listening to him. The fol- approval of the Congregation.” new push to his Congregation, lowing Sunday, May 3, he left (February 22, 1865. Letters t. notably to favor its missionary Rome, in a hurry to return to V. p. 255). And he added: “The expansion and open its apos- Nîmes after so long an absence.

14 OCTOBER 2014 nO 14 Tying up a so important affair four letters to the Novitiate said that to go forward in Rome as the definitive approval of the written a the request of the one had to hold in one hand Congregation and the approval Chapter of 1868, become refer- the Fables of Lafontaine and of his Constitutions was a bet ence texts. in the other the Gospels. It il- against the odds. Would they Our first Constitutions ap- lustrates well the required atti- not have required more time proved by the Holy See will be tude. Some truth also is found >> The Assumption and meticulousness? Did not after the of the in a letter written by Madame Fr. d’Alzon manifest a certain Code of Canon Law of 1917 la Marquise de Barolo to the naiveté in believing too quickly and the 18th Chapter held in young Abbé d’Alzon: “Beware in the promises of Mgr. Chail- Rome at the end of 1921 and of the plans that you make be- lot and charging Fr. Vincent de the beginning of 1922 and fore Providence, so to speak, Paul Bailly, his young Procura- transformed into a consultative has given you the occasion. tor in Rome with handling this commission. At the end of that Saint Vincent, as you reminded affair promptly. An exchange Assembly, the text written in me yesterday, wrote Constitu- of letters between Fr. François 1918 during the “Chapitre des tions for his Order after forty Picard and Fr. Vincent de Paul Lumières”, refused by Rome, years of experience and Saint Bailly reveals that in Rome, as was the object of another re- Ignatius found himself doing anywhere, amateurism in the cast in 1922 that was judged something other what he first matter can only give poor re- insufficient. It was amended thought, and yet by what retreat sults. It was not sufficient un- on 35 points and it was at that and what penance had he pre- doubtedly to add the capitular cost that after 78 years of ex- pared his soul!4” decisions of 1862 to the text of istence, on January 30, 1923, Today our Rule of Life remains the Constitutions of 1855 with- that the Congregation received the fundamental reference to out other work. Mgr. Chaillot the Roman approval of its Con- express our charism and our showed himself to be a very stitutions, published with the heart of disciple of Christ and bad intermediary in the affair. title of: “Constitutions de la of his Church. May we remem- Before obstacles, precipitation Congrégation des Prêtres de ber that and in persuading our- is the mother of all ills. The l’Assomption, dits Augustins selves more, return to the spirit events that followed shows that de l’Assomption.” of our foundation. That sup- often, as witnesses the corre- “Patience and length of time poses inscribing our witness spondence of the Procurator accomplish more that strength in a true spiritual experience, and notably on May 17, 1863 and rage” concludes Jean de that of an authentic community with Fr. Picard: “This good Lafontaine in the fable that he and that of a deep meeting with Mgr. Chaillot can`t figure out wrote about the lion and the God. To see that vision each how he hurts our little efforts rat. Bishop Bernard de Lan- moment authenticated by the by the jokes that he makes versin (1923-2004), the man Church can only be a source about us on all levels and about from Marseilles who spent the and yeast for the future. the Father. He is our friend and greater part of his life in Rome, B.L.L. yet he will always be the big- gest embarrassment for a Supe- rior in Rome.” With the Congregation ap- 1) Mgr. Chaillot Roman Consultor and former classmate of Fr. proved and the Constitutions Galabert during his studies of Canon Law in Rome had undoubtedly “rejected”, Father d’Alzon got been presumptive of his strengths and his “chaillonesque” will, back to work. It ended with remembering the ease with which he had obtained the “laudatory” the editing of the Constitutions decree in 1857. of 1865 whose text is associ- 2) Letter of Father d’Alzon to His Holiness Pope Pius IX, on April 26, 1863, t. IV, p. 281-282. ated with that of the Direc- 3 3) The Congregation of the Oblates founded in 1865 received its tory . Later other texts, those definitive approval on July 3, 1934. of the Chapters of 1868, 1873, 4) Letters of Father d’Alzon, tome B, Letter from Mme la Marquise de 1876, and 1879, held while Fr. Barolo to M. l’Abbé d’Alzon. d’Alzon lived, as well as the

15 >> East European Mission

From September 25 to 28, specialists rendered justice to the fabulous work of the Byzantine Studies Assumptionists A colloquium on the IFEB in ? It’s Byzantium!

By Michel Kubler and the concern for apol- Director of the Saint ogetics that will long Peter – Saint Andrew mark their “scientific Center (Bucharest) apostolate”. Three beats in three places: the slow and laborious growth in italien Lau- Constantinople around rent, Venance Louis Petit (O. Delouis), VGrumel, Jean the too brief golden age Darrouzès, Raymond of Bucharest with, im Janin… We have to rec- particular, the four pre- ognize it : for us, As- viously named (I. Tu- sumptionists of Ruma- dorie) and the unavoid- nia today, as for all our able decline in Paris for generation and those a lack of successors (A. after us, these names Failler). were prestigious, but we This historic run, that did not know why. Did gave the greater part they even have a face to of the quantity of “first prop us our memory as class” work by a hand- weak as well as glori- ful of religious rarely ous that we had of them? prepared for that profes- The international collo- sion, was completed by quium held in Bucharest thematic approaches just at the end of September as entrancing: thus the produced a precise and library, become a world critical knowledge of reference for research- the “contribution of the ers but firstly dedicated French Assumptionists to a missionary project to Byzantine studies”. of “touching the Greeks Born in the context of by science” (M. Cassin), a nascent interest in or the Benedictine work the Western Church for of a Janin for the topo- Eastern Christianity (G. graphical listing of the Croce), “the impressive Byzantine shrines and work produced by the monasteries (“he had erudite Assumptionists” neither Google Earth or 1) Organized by the University of Bucharest (Ionut (M.-H. Blanchet) de- GPS, but we still need Tudorie) and the CNRS-UMR Orient et Méditéranée veloped in three beats, him!” – E. Mitsiou) (Marie-Hélène Blanchet), at the Collège Nouvelle like a waltz, not without without mentioning the Europe (NEC) of Bucharest. The Acts of the colloquium hesitation between the compilation of the Re- should be published at the end of 2015. requirement of erudition gestes of the Ecumeni- 

16 OCTOBER 2014 nO 14 cal Patriarchate (Grumel, Darrouzès) that yet today merit for our Congrega- tion the gratitude of all of Orthodoxy. It was also question of the unique contribution of our Institut français d’Etudes Byzantines in many ec- Mission European >> East clesiastical disciplines, such as Mariology, (Jugie, whose decisive contribu- tion to the proclamation of the dogma of the Assump- tion Pius XII recognized, and Wenger), iconography The point of view (C. Walter, deceased last April), liturgy (Salaville) of the researcher or yet spirituality. Those were as many do- By Olivier Delouis, have perhaps looked through indi- mains in which these Chargé de recherches at the vidual books, the precocious syn- religious, who admired CNRS UMR 8167 Orient et thesis of L’Église byzantine de 527 Eastern Christianity more Méditéranée – Paris à 847 by Jules Pargoire (1905), that they liked the Eastern the many times reprinted manual Christians, were able to of Raymond Janin on Les Églises evolve from unionist pros- ven if he wanted to, the spe- orientales et les rites orientaux elytism of the beginnings cialist on Byzantium could (1922), or yet the working tool of to a truly scientific project Enot bypass the research Venance Grumel on the Chronol- and ecumenical spirit. But works that the Assumptionist have ogy (1958); he would at last have from their beginnings 120 given on the Byzantine civiliza- discovered the Assumptionists ed- years ago to the end, their tion for close to 120 years, first itors of Greek texts in the exterior permanent ambition in at Kadiköy (1895-1937), then in collections, such as the Subsidia spirit and in heart was to Bucharest (1937-1947) and lastly Hagiographica or the Corpus fon- draw closer the Catholics in Paris. Let us be precise: the tium historiae Byzantinae. Many and the Orthodox. Is that historian, the philologist, the pa- of these works are at the head of not the ever actual mean- leographer, codicolographer, the the list in our research centers. ing of the whole of our sigillographer, the numismatist, The find a place in our personal Eastern European Mis- the theologian, the liturgist, the ar- libraries, and truly they are never sion? cheologist, the art historian, or any far from our work tables. Such a “Many Byzantine schol- other researcher who would de- success approved by the academ- ars, perhaps all of them to vote himself to a field of study on ic community already at the end some degree, directly or such a period of the Byzantine mil- of the 19th century, astounds and indirectly, are heirs of the lennium, will perforce have met up continues to pose questions. How Assumptionists,” –even with the Échos d’Orient, founded come, simple clerics, on an apos- if only to criticize their in 1897, which became the Revue tolic mission in Constantinople, methods or their prejudic- des études byzantines; he would became over a few years the es- es, concluded M.-H. Blan- have used the reference collections teemed colleagues of the best Eu- chet. We can ask how the of the Archives de l’Orient Chré- ropean researchers? Assumptionists in general tien, the Regestes of the acts opf The Bucharest colloquium dedi- feel themselves heirs, one the Patriarchate of Constantinople, cated to “the contribution of the way or another of these of the Géographie ecclésiastique French Asumptionists to the Byz- older brothers. n de l’Empire byzantine; he would antine Studies”: permitted the 

17 >> East European Mission

expression of the contribution of This duality seems fundamental gregation, little touched by this the Assumption to the Byzantine to us to understand the work of the intellectual apostolate to the non- Studies, but also to explain better Assumptionist Byzantine schol- clerical university people, judged the context that made such an ad- ars: it modeled their history and severely their contribution to its venture possible. Entrusted with fomented many tensions in the general works. an Eastern Mission for the Union Congregation. We should regret The historian of Byzantium can- of Churches by Pius IX in 1863, less this division foreseen from not then appreciate and under- the Assumptionists made the shift the origins than appreciate the stand the contribution of the As- riches, without minimizing the sumptionists of the IFEB without limits, the too limited approach placing them in the history of to the “separated brothers”, the contemporary Catholicism. That strict alignment on the Unionist is the rich contribution of the policies of Rome that shrank too Bucharest Colloquium with such quickly under Benedict XV, the a new subject and which was al- missed path to ecumenism after most entirely seized by historians the war, the erudition of the As- outside of the Assumption, with sumptionist that was no longer the exception of Fr. Albert Failler, seen as an instrument of dialogue the last active Byzantine scholar with the East. of the IFEB.

n the beginning, therefore, there ow for a last remark on the Iwas the “supernatural and apos- Npresent history: the collo- to research of Byzantium begin- tolic role” (Edmond Bouvy, 1989) quium in question took place in ning with the pontificate of Leo assigned to the review Échos Bucharest and nothing was less XIII. In his encyclical Orienta- d’Orient. This periodical was innocent insofar as this dual- lium dignitas (1894) encouraged especially the one “that allowed ity that formed the history of the the foundation of Eastern Rite us to enter into scientific rela- IFEB seems to exist still in our seminaries and the study of the tionships with the professors and days, though in a more peaceful Eastern Christian traditions. To researchers of France and other way. In Paris, in 2014, researchers know in order to convince bet- countries” (Siméon Vailhé, 1911). of the CNRS and the University ter: with this ambitious objective, Very rapidly only the scientific invest in the IFEB, which had be- the first part was attained beyond aapostolate was maintained, that come an association in 1952 and all expectations. Like the Jesuits is science alone without the apos- had been installed in the Catho- and the Society of Bollandists in tolate. Already in Kadiköy, even lic Institute of Paris in 1995, and Brussels specialized in hagiog- more in Bucharest, and especially they publish the Revue des études raphy, or like the Dominicans of in Paris, the Institut français des byzantines and a series of mono- the École Biblique of Jerusalem études Byzantines (IFEB) asso- graphs, and valorize, with the studying the Holy Scriptures and ciated with the university milieu help of personnel from the library the topography of Israel, the As- in erudite correspondences by a unique patrimony of docu- sumptionists quickly built in their means of conferences or teach- ments. Since 2011 in Bucharest, sector of Istanbul a “center for ing (such as Vitalien Laurent at installed in the historic buildings Eastern-Byzantine Christian stud- the University of Bucharest, and of the IFEB, on Christian Tell ies that is consulted and is author- at last – an outcome both logi- Street, the Saint Peter - Saint An- itative” (Siméon Vailhé, 1911). cal and unforeseeable – by its drew cultural center reestablished With this remarkable specificity, integration to the French CNRS, an Assumptionist presence in Ru- that distinguished the Assump- since 1950, of its five priests, Vit- manian society, organizes events tionists from their colleagues: alien Laurent, Jean Darrouzès, that attract many and is rapidly they only had as a specialty a still Paul Gautier and Albert Failler. establishing a beautiful library. living material, the Greco-Slavic The CNRS recognized the virtu- The double impulsion given to societies, heirs of Byzantium, that osity of their work and validated the IFEB by its founders has not constituted at the same time their the recognition of their peers, at fallen; it is on the road to moder- study subject and their apostolate. the very moment when the Con- nity. n

18 OCTOBER 2014 nO 14 >> Asia

Father General in Vietnam This first Canonical Visitation in this country coincided with the opening of a community in Vinh.

n Vietnam, step by step, the growth of the Assumptionist with Fr. Bernard Holzer, his del- Assumption is making its community in Vinh by getting egate for Asia accompanying Imark. From August 30 to new vocations. The vocational him, to the three communities of September 2, Father General ministry goes together with the the south allowed him to recall made his first Canonical Visita- development of our pastoral the fundamental orientations for tion to the Vietnam communi- and social perspectives: student this young foundation. In one of ties. This visit had the excep- centers, orphanages, and health his visitation letters, a working tional character of coinciding ministry. In this city that consti- paper for each of the communi- with the opening of the new tutes a true breeding ground of ties, Fr. General recalled how community of Vinh, made up of vocations, the Congregation has “a great love of Christ is nec- three members, a priest, a dea- already two student centers with essary”. He added: “We must con and a professed. The first some forty members. make progress in the knowledge two came from France and the After the celebration, Father of the Bible and in the under- third came from the novitiate General thanked the bishop standing of the faith, especially community of Ba Ria. This visit for having received us in his in a society that is changing as took place as the Christian com- . He also recalled that rapidly as in Vietnam.” He also munity celebrated its patron, our presence there today was a underlined the importance of Mary Queen. The presence of providential sign and remem- the Congregation being open to Father Benoît in the circum- bered that 14 years ago, Fr. internationality, the study of for- stances was very significant: on Bosco Dinh had spoken to him eign languages, and missionary the day of the installation of the about an Assumptionist founda- preparedness. Let us recall that new community, Bishop Paul tion in Vinh. many of our Vietnamese broth- Nguyen Thai Hop, the Domini- The three other communities ers already work outside their can Bishop of Vinh, during the of this foundation begun in country, not only for their for- celebration officially entrusted 2006 are all houses of forma- mation in France, in England, in the Assumption the mission of tion (postulate in Tran Van Ky, Canada, but also for the Korean being responsible for the Chris- Saint Augustine novitiate in Ba mission, in Russia, or yet in the tian community of Phan Thôn, Ria and the scolasticate Em- United States. an urban area and made it a par- manuel d’Alzon in Saigon). The Today, except for the Orantes, ish as well as the health ministry Phan Thôn house thus becomes all the branches of the Assump- in a sector that contains no less the first specifically apostolic tion Family are present in Viet- than seven hospitals. He encour- house. nam and together try to mutual- aged the religious to foster the Father General’s visit, done ize their means. n >> Financial Dossier Alienation of the Goods Reference of the Congregation texts Canon law. Our practice The key paragraph is Can. 638 - § 3: o good of the Congregation, whatever its value, may • Can. 638 - § 3: For the validity of be sold, given, mortgaged, or lent at the initiative or alienation and of any other affair Ndecision of a religious, even if he is the treasurer. Any in which the patrimonial condition alienation of a good of the Congregation must be approved by of a juridic person can worsen, the the competent superior with the approval of his council. The written permission of the compe- latter is the local superior, the provincial, or the superior gen- tent superior with the consent of eral, depending on the market value of the good in question. the council is required. Neverthe- less, if it concerns an affair which With regard to goods belonging to a legal entity of the Congre- exceeds the amount defined by gation, there are two ceiling amounts to be taken into account. the Holy See for each region, or The amounts vary by country, because they depend on the ceil- things given to the Church by vow, ing amount set, on behalf of the Holy See, by the episcopal or things precious for artistic or conference of each country. They cover three scenarios: historical reasons, the permis- sion of the Holy See itself is also 1. The first ceiling is proper to the Congregation and is equal required. to 75% (three quarters) of the ceiling amount set by the epis- copal conference of the country where the good to be alienated The other relevant canons can be is located: found in Book V « The Temporal a. when under a value equal to 75% (three quarters) of the Goods of the Church », and par- ceiling amount set by the of the coun- ticularly in Title III, « Contracts try, the superior who approves the alienation is the provin- and especially Alienation » (Cann. cial, with the approval of the Council of the Province. 1290 – 1298) 2. The second amount is the ceiling amount fixed by the epis- • Can. 1256 - Under the supreme copal conference of the country where the good to be alienated authority of the Roman Pontiff, is located: ownership of goods belongs to that juridic person which has ac- b. When the range of value of the good to be alienated is quired them legitimately.  between 75% (three quarters) and 100% of the amount set by the episcopal con- ference of the country where the good to be alienated is located, the superior general must give his approval, with the consent of the General Council.

c. When the value surpasses the ceiling amount set by the episcopal conference *) Please notify the General Treasurer of of the country where the good to be any change or any alienated is located, the superior gener- complementary infor- al must request the authorization of the mation relative to this Holy See, by addressing himself to the chart.. CICLSAL. (see annex 1)

20 OCTOBER 2014 nO 14 >> Study Sheet 3 Sheet >> Study

What is difficult in this regard By country, here are the ceiling amounts we were able to is finding, for each episcopal identify*) : conference, the ceiling amount above which the authorization of the Holy See is required. This information is not always easily available and is updated infre- quently.

A few remarks

• It should be noted that the ceil- ing amounts are set by country and not by Province. A Province that covers several countries must therefore, for each coun- try, consider the ceiling amount proper to that country.

• It is important to note that in all cases, authorization must be written.

• It is up to each Province eventually to fix another ceil- ing amount below which the approval of a local superior in council is sufficient and where the approval of the provincial is not necessary. ceiling amount for which it is of a certain value that might • Without getting into the details necessary to request an authori- have pastoral value. This isn’t of the argumentation, it should zation from the superior of the a question of getting authoriza- be noted that #3 of canon 1292 next level up. tion but of eventually allowing tries to avoid that the spirit of the the Dicoesse to acquire the good law be sidestepped by a subdivi- • The CICLSAL has expressly (at market value). Annex 1: con- sion of the good to be alienated requested that religious congre- stitution of a request dossier for into several parts, the value of gations inform the local bishop authorization from the Holy See. which would then be under the in the case of the sale of a good

21 >> Financial Dossier

• Can. 1257 - #1. All tem- ing amounts higher than poral goods which belong the ceiling set by the Gen- to the universal Church, eral Chapter and up to the the Apostolic See, or other amount authorized by the public juridic persons in the Holy See; Church are ecclesiastical • Any alienation of prop- goods and are governed by erty or loan which re- the following canons and quires the authorization their own statutes. of the Holy See. · Can. 1292 – o #1. [...]Without preju- 162 The Institute, the Prov- dice to the prescript of inces and the communities PETITION TO THE VATICAN can. 638, §3, when the may acquire, possess, ad- FOR THE ALIENATION OF value of the goods whose minister and alienate the PROPERTY alienation is proposed temporal goods which are falls within the minimum necessary or useful for at- Here is a list of the items needed and other interesting information. and maximum amounts taining their apostolic ob- a) a letter from the Superior General as- to be defined by the con- jectives. king for the ference of bishops for its 163 The spirit of poverty, b) document or statement in the peti- own region, the compe- community life, and civil tion showing that the Superior General tent authority is deter- and canonical laws oblige has obtained the consent of his council mined by the statutes of us to observe certain rules c) letter from the diocesan bishop giving juridic persons if they are in matters of administra- his opinion not subject to the dioc- tion. d) description of the alienation (Street address, lot numbers, or other relevant esan bishop. details) o #2. The permission of Acts of the General e) normally we need two external ap- the Holy See is also re- Chapter of the praisals of the commercial value of the quired for the valid alien- Augustinians of the property ation of goods whose val- Assumption - Rome, f) if available, the identity of the buyer and the amount agreed for the sale, ue exceeds the maximum May 2-23, 2011 amount, goods given to which should not be less than the com- the Church by vow, or mercial value unless there is a good rea- son for this. If so, give the reason. goods precious for artistic • 182 Ceiling amount You address the letter to the Prefect, or historical reasons. For all financial transac- Cardinal de Avis, at the Congregation for tions, concerning personal Institutes of Cons. Life .... Rule of Life: property or real estate, If there is an urgent need for an answer, sale or loans, the provin- you could say so in the sup. gen’s letter, 123 The following matters cial superior should seek give us the date you need it by and we shall be decided by the the permission of the Su- will try to be quick and even fax you the Superior General with the perior General when the indult when it is prepared. The charge is usually 0.1% of the sale consent of his Ordinary sum is equal or superior to price, that is, 1 € in every 1000. Council: three quarters of the ceil- You would pay by check normally, but • […] ing amount set by the Epis- you could pay by cash if you want to, I • All financial transactions copal Conference of the imagine. I am not sure. concerning personal prop- country. erty or real estate involv-

1) Varios documentos oficiales de la Iglesia señalan que este punto requiere que se realicen inventarios (valor, descripción, localización) de objetos de arte o preciosos.

22 OCTOBER 2014 nO 14 Roma <<

he Rome of Pope Francis is a work- At the doors of Saint Ting city, and the Due Pini community is not Peter`s an exception to this rule. Through the summer, the work of transformation de- The retrofitting of two floors of the cided by the Plenary Gener- house has been completed. al Council were practically all brought to completion. This restoration included: to deepen their knowledge his first Canonical Visita- the renovation of the guest of languages, one in Paris, tion to the communities of rooms on the 2nd and 3rd the other in London. Lastly, Vietnam. During that time, floors of the main building Fr. Augustin participated in the community of the Ob- (13 rooms), the replacing the animation of the Shrine lates gave themselves the of 49 windows for a better of Lourdes before follow- joy of gardening and an ex- insulation, the changing of ing in the footsteps of Fa- ceptional crop of tomatoes. the boiler and the instal- ther d’Alzon from Nîmes The face of our community lation of voltaic panels to to Boxtel, with Fr. Julio of sisters changed on the produce electricity. The Navarro as a guide. feast of St. Francis of As- general house is a general For the members of the sisi, patron of with the good of the entire Congre- , the dispersion was departure of Sister Lina for gation. It is in some way the occasion for preach or the Oblate community of the showcase, the house of to animate retreats in the Borgo Pinti in Florence and the father of the family and four corners of the world. the arrival of Sisters Clara each province according to If Gilles made his pilgrim- and Jeanine whom we wel- its means contributed to this age to the Holy Land, John come. n restoration. Soon we will and Luc preached in the have to foresee redoing the United States, Bernard in façade. May this example Chile, Didier took charge be followed in the houses of the animation and the that need renovation. Ev- formation of the treasurers erywhere, the buildings of of the communities in the the Congregation must be Philippines and in Vietnam cared for. Poverty does not and Benoît, after his partic- mean letting things go. ipation in the National Pil- To the exterior work was grimage to Lourdes, made added that of our students. The summer months were studious for many of them. Fr. Marcinos finished his licentiate at the Biblical A meeting in Santa Marta Institute and presented his work on the “project of a The news did not make the first page of the newspapers, and yet… The meeting new Exodus in the Gospel between the former Assumptionist Provincial of France on the occasion of the according to Mark: read- jubilee of his priesthood and the “former Jesuit Provincial of Argentina” pre- ing of Mk 5/1-20”. He left sently Pope Francis took place on September 5. Rome where he had arrived “Do not be afraid of changing things according to the law of the Gospel!” urged in 2010 to join the commu- Pope Francis at the concelebrated Mass at Saint Martha. It is always a question nity of Sao Paolo (Brazil). of “letting go of the broken structures” and taking new wineskins, those of the Fr. Joao and Jackson profit- Gospel”. But let us leave the last word to the Gospel: “The one who has drunk ed from the summer months the old wine never desires the new. For he says: “It is the old that is good.”

23 >> Africa

The Provincial Assembly of Africa

took place in a brotherly all the communities and atmosphere and a climate the works of the Prov- of listening to each other. ince. In order to be in The evaluation was nota- solidarity with the poor, bly on the fundamental the assembly notably en- orientations given by the couraged a greater inter- General Chapter of 2011. community solidarity Can we be men of faith and reminded to all its if we do not nourish our- poor origins. selves with interior and In a Province where the community prayer and median age is only 35, if we do not choose to all hopes are permit- discern by giving spiri- ted but the challenges tual direction its proper to be faced are equally Fr. Protais Kabila surrounded by the he Provincial As- place? Fr. Emmanuel great. In order to prepare newly professed for sembly of Af- Kahindo declared in one for tomorrow, in his fi- the Charles Lawanga rica was held of his interventions: “Be- nal remarks, Fr. Protais novitiate of Butembo. T at Butembo from last fore nourishing people Kabila, Provincial of Beneath: the parish August 23 to 25. It was from the outside… let Africa, underlined how of the same name at slated to be an moment us dialogue on the Word much `we must develop Kyabakkade (Uganda) of getting together to of God and extricate to- the sense of listening , of see where things were gether the message that dialogue, and of forget- at between two Provin- the Spirit wants to give ting ourselves and have cial Chapters. After three them!” fraternity as a priority years and waiting for In order to make commu- our path. the next chapter, it was nion grow, the Province The day after this assem- a question of evaluating has set up a bureau for bly, on Tuesday August the orientations of the intervention in conflicts 26, it was in the chapel chapter of application to which each commu- of the Oblates of Mapen- of 2011 and to see what nity is invited to partici- dano in Makia wa Mb- has been done since in pate: the CAREC (Cen- ingu that the first profes- order to be better able tre Assomptionniste de sion of ten Assumptionist to face tomorrow’s chal- Résolution des Conflits) novices was celebrated. lenges. The discussions proposes its services to n

Uganda

Official opening of the AA parish The Saint Charles Lwanga Parish of Kyabakkade (Diocese of Lugazi) was consecrated officially on Sunday August 31, 2014 by Archbishop Cyprian KIZITO LWANGA of Kampala. This parish entrusted to the Assump- tionists has two pioneer fathers who work there “like four” in the country of Saint Charles Lwanga and his companions. They mastered the local Luganda language for communication and for the liturgy. A dream has today become a reality but it continues to call for the kindly attention of all in order to attain its full realization. The still lack seats for the church! (Fr. François)

24 OCTOBER 2014 nO 14 History <<

On the occasion of the publication of the two volumes of the Journal of Father Antoine Wenger, on December 5 at the Embassy of France to the Holy See, will be held a meeting of specialists and historians organized by the Embassy of France to the Holy See and the Congregation of the Augustinians of the Assumption to honor an exceptional man.

The Wenger Colloquium in Rome A crossing of the 20th century and of its Church

nly five years ago, antine Studies (IFEB). His bassy of France as specialist on May 22, 2009, at research on Mount Athos of religious affairs. Russia Othe age of almost 90 led in 1955 to the discovery was undoubtedly his great- years, Fr. Antoine Wenger and the publication of the as est passion as is revealed in (1919-2009) died at the end yet unpublished “Baptismal his work Rome and Mos- of a very full life. In many Catechesis of Saint John cow, published in 1987. He ways, his example of an Chrysostome.” But on Janu- will reside in Rome until apostle of modern times can ary 1957, he was called at a 1999, before retiring to the serve as a model and inspire moment’s notice to the re- South of France, at Lorgues, the apostolic religious. Like ligious editorship of the La in the beautiful sun of many Alsatians who had fled Croix newspaper, post that Provence after a life rich by the German occupation, he he will occupy until 1968. the functions he had, the re- found himself in the South- That will be the rich period lationships that he weaved, west during the war when as of the Vatican Council that and the successes of his mis- a former alumnist he became he will follow step by step… sions, scientific, journalistic an Assumptionist and was After a brief period as pro- and diplomatic. ordained in the cathedral of fessor at the University of It is on the occasion of the Agen (Lot-et-Garonne). Af- Strasbourg (1969-1973) he publication of the two vol- ter brilliant studies crowned was called to Rome as Ec- umes of his journal by Ma- with the defense of his the- clesiastical Counselor of the dame Françoise Paoli that a sis in 1948 on the Assump- Embassy of France to the colloquium will be held in tion of the Blessed Virgin Holy See. It was at the end Rome at the Villa Bonapar- in the Byzantine tradition, of this period in Rome that te, next December 5th. This Father Antoine Wenger with he became a member of the he will have the joy of being meeting is organized under Paul VI French Institute for Byz- called to Moscow at the Em- the patronage of the Em- bassy of France to the Holy See and the Congregation of the Augustinians of the As- sumption. Such an initiative seeks to honor the person who was a major witness to the life of the Church and of the society of the 20th cen- tury by retracing the princi- pal stages of the intellectual and spiritual itinerary of this exceptional personality B.L.L.

25 >> Publications

Galabert Fourth Tome

The arrival of the lates who disembarked in the of the Bulgarian Orthodox first Oblates in the “marvelous and unknown” Exarchate, the military defeat East East, and by the development of France against Prussia and of the Assumptionist com- the occupation of the Papal he tome IV of the let- munity despite the death of States by the troops of Gen- ters of Father Victorin the young Brother Benjamin eral Cadorna with all the con- TGalabert concerns the at the age of 36. During his sequences that that will entail years 1868-1871 The years summer stay in France ac- for the mission in the East. of planting are succeeded companied by Bishop Popov, In this year that marks the by the years of germina- 150th anniversary of the tion. 1868 was a leap year Oblates of the Assump- and in three letters dated tion, it was normal to give on February 29, to Father voice to the Oblates, that d’Alzon, to Father Vincent is done in the prologue of de Paul Bailly and to the the work signed by Sister Abbé Carlo Testa, Father Bernadetta Zediu, Conti- Galabert reports on an nental Superior of Europe. event that marks the be- We also find an important ginning of that year: the and precious note on the death of Fr. Pantheleïmon presence of the Oblates in (1793-1868) , a kind of the East (p. 5-11), a syn- Saint Vincent Ferrier of thesis on the mission of the East who had an im- the Assumptionists in the mense influence, because East (p. 146-156) and the of his holiness, on this Fr. Galabert list of those who headed it simple, uncultured people Augustin of the Assumption (p. 307-309) and a note on and whom he will assist in the context of the Church his last moments. His funeral he participates in the General of the time both in its univer- was the first public manifes- Chapter in Nîmes. The fol- sal aspect as well as its more tation of the Bulgarian Cath- lowing year he goes to Rome specifically French aspect olic Uniates. Father Galabert to participate in the Vatican (p. 411-420). The letters ad- will say about him that he Council I as the theological dressed to Father d’Alzon was “successively a hermit counselor of his Bishop and take the lion`s share: of the on Mount Athos and in the becomes the translator for 68 written in 1968, 28 are to Sinai, founder of schools in several Eastern bishops who Father d’Alzon, in 1869 half Rodosto, at Andrinopolis, don`t know Latin. His corre- of the 60, in 1870 there are creator of the convents of spondence reveals the major 10 on 39, and in 1871 on 48 Psara, Samos, Athens, Thas- role that he will play during there are 31, that is a total of sos, Souadjak, and Mostrat- the Council for all the partici- 99 of the 208 published in lya, so often exiled and im- pants of the Eastern Church- this work. prisoned by hate of the truth es. 1870 marks the erection Bernard Le Léannec and of justice, he is sur- rounded in death by an halo of holy veneration by numer- 1) Lettres du P. Victorin Galabert, Tome quatrième, édité par le P. Jean- Paul Perier-Muzet, Rome 2014, 555 págs. ous disciples that he gath- 2) Ver la historia que sobre él escribió el Padre Portalier: Paul Christ- ered around himself.” Also off, Pantéleïmon. Histoire admirable d’un moine bulgare schismatique, this year is marked by the Paris, 1912, VI – 140 págs. arrival of the first five Ob-

26 OCTOBER 2014 nO 14 Two decisive meetings to allow the text destined for the Lay Assumptionists to be incarnated in their lives. >> Publications Florence – Bogota: A Pathway of Life

n the occasion of condition or formation. gate the “Path of Life”, its last session, It is to be a synthesis of to establish a more pre- Oon June 13 last the broad lines that Fa- cise formation program, at Saint Lambert-des- ther Emmanuel d’Alzon, to prepare the canonical Bois, the Plenary Gen- inspired by Saint Au- recognition of the Lay- eral Council adopted the gustine, proposes as the Religious Alliance and “Pathway of Life” pre- Gospel Path to all his the contribution of the sented by the “Interna- disciples: Assumptionist laity at the next General tional Commission Lay- religious, religious Ob- Chapter of 2017. Ques- Religious” (see supple- lates of the Assumption, tions concerning com- ment CGP, no. 6, p. 6). Lay People of the Alli- munications and the fi- It is now available on ance who share the spirit nances are also touched the Congregation`s Web- and the mission of the upon. site in three languages: Assumption. This international meet- French, English and The Commission contin- ing will be followed Spanish, and will be soon ues its work and it next by the Hispano-Latin- printed. The Pathway of international meeting American meeting which Life gives the funda- will take place in Flor- will take place in Bogota, mental dimensions, the ence from October 27 (Columbia) November “common bases” of the to November 3. It will 17-23 and has three ob- charism and of the spiri- be the occasion to pres- jectives: tuality of the Assump- ent the new International - Bring the participants tion, that every Lay As- Responsible person, Mrs. to reflect on their identi- sumptionist must assume Victoria Prada, examine ty of baptized and of dis- and live, whatever his or the progress realized in cipleship and what marks her age, culture, social the provinces, to propa- their relation to God and to others. - Dialogue on the way each one lives his/her Christian identity. « Vienne Ton Règne » - Find how to be an apos- tle today and answer the The 13th issue of the collection “Vienne Ton Règne” has just been published. Its call of Jesus “to be with theme is: “Les laïcs de l’Assomption” and presents the ties that unite the laity and him and to preach with the religious since the origins of the Congregation of the Assumptionists. It was the power to chase de- realized by the Association of the Laity of the Augustinians of the Assumption The booklet gives an idea of the broad diversity of the Lay Assumptionists whose mons” (Mk 3: 14-15). goal is to better “go towards our contemporaries.” The history of this Alliance is - These two meetings will presented by Fr. Patrick Zago and its theological bases by Fr. Vincent Leclerq and allow a broader stimulus Marie-Claire Rouquet. Vincent Fauvel presents the “Path of Life” and the four to the dynamism of this dimensions of the life of a Lay Assumptionist. Numerous testimonies, practical atmosphere of the As- information and a presentation of the area of the mission in France and in the sumption in the direction world completes in an attractive way the last born of this pleasing collection. of the Laity of the Alli- ance. n

27 Editor in chief 3 Editorial Bernard Le Léannec, General Secretary  A Year of the Rule of Life

2 Agenda 4 Official So that AA News 5 The Life of the Congregation can “talk” about you,  Letter no. 3 on Brotherhood please send information about the life 6 Spirituality of the Assumption in your countries  Walking with the Rule is Walking with Jesus Christ to the General Secretariat [email protected] 9 The Assusmption before the end of each  The Question of Rite in the Assumption General Council.  With the Church in the Heart Thanks especially 16 The East European Mission for sending photos and  A Colloquium on the IFEB in Cucharest? It Is illustrations. Byzantium  The Point of View of the Researcher 19 Asia  Father General in Vietnam [email protected] 20 Financial Dossier  The alienation of good of the Congregation 23 Rome Composed on Translators:  At the doors of Saint Peter`s 10/10/14. Eugene LaPlante, English 24 Africa This no. 14 of AA-News  José Antònio Echaniz, has 220 copies: The Provincial Assembly of Africa Spanish 130 in French 25 History Kees Krijnsen, Dutch 30 in English  The Wenger Colloquium in Rome 30 in Spanish Mock-up and page 26 Publications 30 in Dutch design:  Galabert, Tome IV And 350 electronic  Loredana Giannetti Florence-Bogota: A Path of Life copies

Agostiniani dell’Assunzione - Via San Pio V, 55 - I - 00165 Roma Tel. : 06 66013727 - Fax : 06 6635924 - E-mail : [email protected] Insert: Signs of God, no. 12

Some practical suggestions

Don’t be afraid: to begin with, you time you are to meet someone, are not doing a human work. So dress your soul with goodness and trust in the Spirit that will trans- peace. form your efforts. ‘Religious are ‘See the positive and heighten it, modest’: they don’t dare to say that encourages going forward and Our Deceased that they expect a word of the Gos- fixes itself in his personality more pel from you. Look! They are men! than a bunch of reproaches. Brothers But, despite the appearances they ‘Have big ears’ to listen, and if you hope for it. If not then what can can, have patience and take time. Bro. John Thomas McHugh they expect from you? It is a way of being poor with the died on August 13 at the St. Purify your vision: practice looking other. Francis Rehabilitation. His at your brothers with God’s look, a ‘Be discreet’. And then after, be dis- funeral was celebrated in the look that gives trust, that sees the creet and do not be surprised by Holy Spirit Chapel of Assump- qualities first of all, that welcomes anything! tion College. He was buried in with kindliness; in summary, a look ‘Share what you have in you.’ St. Anne’s Cemetery in Stur- that invites to take another step Pray a lot for and with your bridge in the section reserved because you can, my brother. Each brothers. for the Assumptionists. He was These rules are taken from a letter by Father Raphael Le Gleuher and quoted almost 89. in the Notices biographiques, t. III, p. 1825.