DECREE OF ELEVATION OF THE
SALV VICARIATE (
December 6,
By the authority
given me by our Constitutions (Nº 104), and in agreement with the major
Superiors Fr. Frans Damen,
Provincial Superior of the
May the Lord,
through the intercession of Mary most holy, patroness of our Congregation, and
St. Paul of the Cross, our Father and Founder, the Blessed Congolese martyrs, Blesseds Isidore Bakandja and Maria Clementine Annuarite
and the Saints and Beati of the Passionist
Family, bless this part of the Congregation, so that in fraternal communion
with the African conference, they may continue to grow and to give witness with
their lives and with their words to “the
greatest and most overwhelming work of God’s Love”: Christ Crucified and
Risen.
I trust that the present religious that comprise the Vice
Province will continue the apostolic endeavor of the Passionist
religious who exerted such great effort to establish the Catholic Church, to
make the Congregation flourish and to prepare for this glorious day.
The religious who have preceded us since 1930, left their
families and country in a spirit of generous fidelity to Christ, in order to
zealously cooperate with the saving action of Christ for all people. Two of
them gave their very lives. All of them have made great sacrifices to travel,
some of them by foot, during the early years so that people might come to know
Christ the Savior. By means of their austere life, the missionaries, together
with the help that the Belgian Catholics sent them, despite the financial
difficulties of the country, were able to build schools, health-care clinics,
and other charitable works for the benefit of the people and also their own
homes and churches. It is my wish that the present and future religious will
all keep Christ the Savior in the primary place of importance in their lives. Out
of love for him, may they know how to avoid whatever would create an obstacle
for community and apostolic life and thereby be able to dedicate themselves
totally to the mission of evangelization. Following the
example of the early Christian communities, may they live soberly, poorly and
in a spirit of sharing, placing their talents and whatever they earn by means
of their own work at the service of the community so that they may possess what
is necessary for living, for the apostolate, for their material needs and also
to be able to help the poor.
Rome, 6 December 2004 Fr.
Ottaviano D’Egidio, C.P.
Retreat of