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.”

EDITORIAL

October, 2014 No. 14

AA AA Newsof the Assumption

Religious and laity

the same mission

OCTOBER 2014 nO 142

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AgendaOrdinary General Councils

•November10to14,2014•November24,2014:extraordinaryCouncilonfinance•December12,2014• February2to6,2015•March9to13,2015• June3to8,2015• June22to24,2015• September14to26,2015

Plenary General Councils

•December 1 to 10, 2014 (December 5, Wenger Colloquium)

• June10to20,2015

Benoît

•September 23-October 23, 2014:CanonicalVisitationtotheKinshasaregion(RDC)andNairobi

•October 25, 2014:meetingwiththeSanEgidiocommunity.

•November 25-28, 2014:ReunionoftheUSG.LaunchingoftheYearofConsecratedLife.

•December 19-24, 2014:MeetingoftheSuperiorsGeneraloftheInter-Assumption.

•March 30-April 3, 2015:CanonicalVisitationinBulgaria

•April 13-17, 2015:InVietnamfortheAsiaticCoordination

•May 1-9, 2015:CanonicalVisitationinJerusalem.•May 23-24, 2015:inParisforthe150thanniversaryoftheOblates.

•May29-June1,2015:CanonicalVisitationinAthens.•EndofJuly,2015:CanonicalVisitationinQuebec.•October 5-12, 2015:CanonicalVisitationinKorea.•November 1-14, 2015:CanonicalVisitationinAfrica.

Emmanuel

•September 30-October 3, 2014:Inter-AssumptionmeetinginpreparationfortheFormatorssessioninNairobi(Africa).

•October 8-223:inNairobi(ProvinceofAfrica).• January:CounciloftheProvinceofEurope.

John

•September-December 2014:ChaplaincyoftheWorcesterstudentsinRome.

• January-April,2015:ChaplaincyoftheWorcesterstudentsinRome.

•May-June,2015:ChaplaincyoftheAmericanstudentsinRome.

•EndofJuly,2015:ProvincialAssemblyoftheAndeanProvince.

Marcelo

•September 23-October 8:inMadagascar.•November 15-25:MeetingoftheLatin-AmericanLaityinBogota.

•March 30-April 3:VisittoBulgaria.• May 1-9:VisittoJerusalem.•May29-June1:VisittoKorea

Didier

•September 25-October 23:IntheProvinceofAfrica.•October 23-November 4:InMexicoandtheUSA.•December 19-24:InParis.•EndofJanuary:VisittothecommunitiesofMadagascar.•April 13-May 5:VisittoLatinAmerica.•May 8-10:intheUSA.•May 15:inParis.•May 16:MeetingoftheGeneralTreasurersinRome.

OtherMeetings

•September 19-20:LocalChapter.

On the cover:Thestainedglasswindow, replacing theonedestroyedby the tornado thatdevastatedGreendaleandtheAssumptionCampusin1953,wasrestoredontheoccasionofthe60thanniversary of the catastrophe. On Saturday September 20, 2014, Assumption CollegeblessedfourotherstainedglasswindowsthatinthepastwereinthechapelofthePrepSchoolinGreendale.Itjoinedthreeothersandiscalledthe“TornadoWindow”,inmemoryofthethreereligiouswhoperishedinthecatastropheofJune9,1953.

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Editorial <<

A year of the Rule of Life

We will begin the Year of Consecrated Life decreed by Pope Francis.

The Assumption, as all Congregations, will mobilize itself to live fully this time of a return to the essentials of religious life. You know, because I often insist on this point, we are consecrated people. Our legitimate pride resides not only in our religious profession but also in the remembrance that we have given our word to follow Christ, chaste, poor and obedient until death. So what are we to do so that the celebrations of this year be occasions to deepen our commitment?On November 21, 1984, thirty years ago, Father Hervé STÉPHAN, the Superior General, wrote the preface to our Rule of Life. He gave us a very clear text to introduce the new Rule of the Augustinians of the Assumption. This text, yet today, is a source of inspiration for all the religious. In speaking of the Rule Hervé wrote: “The Assumption will find here, and only here, the secret of its vocation, of its common life and of its mission in the Church.” Truly it is “here and only here” that we must seek to know the path to follow Christ “in the manner of Emmanuel d’Alzon.”When I travel around the world, I am often surprised to see that the Rule is not sufficiently known and consulted. Numerous religious still don`t know the text that allows us to live in fidelity to the spirit of Emmanuel d’Alzon. Rare are the communities who do the healthy exercise of reading the Rule together. How many brothers don`t know entire sections of this document? Yet on the contrary how many others are inspired by it to live a greater fidelity to their consecration! So I am

not pessimistic, but I invite each on to leap up to go further in the knowledge of it. It is thus that I propose that for the Assumptionists, the Year of Consecrated Life be a year of the Rule of Life. I wish that each religious and each community put in their program the study and the deep study of our Rule. I would also wish that the Rule be translated in the new languages of the Congregation so that it can be better assimilated by the young men who join us.Our Rule is a badly known treasure. It is full of riches that only ask to be shared. At the General Councils when we study the requests for perpetual profession or of ordination, we have the joy of reading the letters of the brothers. Often their texts are studded with quotations from Saint Augustine or of Emmanuel d’Alzon. Sometimes it is the Rule of Life that is chosen. But we can go further and deeper. The time of novitiate is a privileged moment to study our foundational texts, but it is necessary to pursue that study all through our life. I keep a lively remembrance of my novitiate where with other brothers we were discovering these foundational texts. I thank Marie-Bernard Kientz, Jean-Paul Périer-Muzet, Hervé Stéphan, for having introduced us to them. Today let us take the time to re-read and to share them in community. Also let us not forget the Lay Assumptionists. They have received at Way of Life, but it is directly inspired by our Rule. Soon you will receive my letter on “religious fraternity”. It has no other ambition than to comment our Rule on that precise point. Everyone is to go further in the discovery of our treasure. So have a good Year of Consecrated Life ! n

Fr. Benoît Grière

General Superior of the

Augustinians of the Assumption

FatherBenoîtGrière,SuperiorGeneral,withhisCouncil,hascalled

■ TO PERPETUAL PROFESSION1. 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(Europe)(09.12.14)

5. Bro. DOAN MINH, Tuan André(Europe)(09.12.14)

6. Bro. ALIBERT, Arnaud(Europe)(09.12.14)

■ TO ORDINATION TO THE DIACONATE7.Bro.KAKULEMBAKULA,Jean-Baptiste(Africa)(09.18.14)

8.Bro.PALUKUKAMILI,Jean-Paul(Africa)(09.18.14)

■ TO ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD9. Bro. PALUKU, SSIRIWENGE, Désiré(Africa)(09.18.14)

10. Bro. MABOU SIMO, Serge-Patrick(Europe)(09.18.14)

5 6 7 8

9 10

1 2 3 4

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Calls, Nominations, Changes...

4 OcTOBER 2014 No 14

Jean-Pierre, Anselme, Edmond, we will not forget you

On October 19, 2014 in Saint Peter’s Square in Rome, Pope Paul VI, (Giovanni Montini) was beatified. But for us Assumptionists, we remember that day two years ago, our three brothers were kidnapped in the parish of Notre Dame des Pauvres of Mbau (Democratic Re-public of the Congo). We remember also that the newly beatified Pope is also the first Pope to have kissed African soil in July 1969 in Uganda where the martyrdom of Charles Lwanga and his 21 companions (+1886) can-onized by him fifty years ago on October 18, 1964.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 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 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 for the beatification by Jacques Berthier, Oc-tober 17, 1965).

Paul VI on the day of the beatification of the Ugandan martyrs

5

May this letter revive our de-sire to live as

brothers and be united. Our credibility in the eyes of the world de-pends on our resolute commitment in brotherly love. The Assumption has its own charism in which community life witnesses our commit-ment for the Kingdom through our daily lives.On September 8, 2014, on the feast of the Na-tivity of the Blessed Vir-gin Mary, As Superior General, Father Benoît Grière, signed his third letter to the Congre-gation titled: “How good and how pleasant it is when brothers dwell together as one” (Psalm 133) Its theme is fraternity. In our Rule of Life, fraternity is central. It is understood as a search (RL 3), as a daily construction (RL 7) and a permanent de-mand of community life (RL 9), as a fundamen-tal interior disposition (RL 35, 39), as an imper-ative (RL 47 par. 2) for our mission (RL 59). It is made up of sharing with all those who make up the community, whatever the divisions and differ-ent conditions (RL 19),

Life of the Congregation <<

The General’s 3rd Letter on Fraternity

made up of “friendship, listening, gentleness, support and forgiveness” (RL 37, par. 2. See also 52). Fraternity supposes the stimulating service of those called to exercise authority (RV 60).The letter has five parts: the first recalls the his-torical dimension of re-ligious fraternity. The second puts the accent on its specific relationship and the manner in which it is witnessed in the As-sumption, underlining its intrinsic link with the mission, with the service of authority and with the unavoidable characteris-tic of mutual forgiveness and reconciliation. The third part called “liv-ing together” point out the social dimension at-tached to it. fraternal life

is a sign and manifests to all eyes the presence of the Triune God whose aim is the communion among all men and no-tably in its most eminent expression: in the Eucha-rist.In the Assumption, brotherhood is to be universal – such is the object of the fourth sec-tion – notably in the dia-log with other Christian groups and with other re-ligions, with the stranger and it is lived equally in the cadre of the Lay Alli-ance. The last section of the letter is consecrated to the attention that must animate the relationships between the generations in a family. Father Gen-eral concludes by invit-ing each member to live his religious fraternity in a spirit of shared poverty and joy.In the northern hemi-sphere this last part of the year is that of the falling of the leaves. That the leaves become colorful and fall is not a vegetable coquetry: it is a survival adaptation. Let us then fully profit from those that fall into our hands to live our lives and our witness of religious fra-ternity better.. n

B.L.L.

Howgoodandhowpleasantitiswhenbrothersdwelltogetherasone

(Psalm133)

LetteronBrotherhood

Forgiveness is necessary for all human groups. It is also at the heart of the Lord’s Prayer. How can we forget this call to forgiveness that comes from Christ himself?

OCTOBER 2014 nO 146

Our Rule of Life, in the tradition of 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

To walk with the Rule is to walk with Jesus Christ

by Bernard Le Léannec

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.

listens, I speak and to him who knocks I open. It is perhaps because you live in an interior noise that you think I am mute or insignificant, empty of signs or calls. But it is you who have filled me with calls!” It is thus that Father Hervé Stéphan has our small book speak at its first presentation1.The small book that unites our little reli-gious family as the heart of the body is our offi-cial reference since the 1981 Chapter, and is, so to speak, our flag. The text is an example of balance and modera-tion, of clarity and preci-

1]Letterno.27bis,InvitationoftheRule,Documents Assomption, no. 7, p. 493. 2]SincetheApostolicConstitutionPastor BonusofJune28,1988,ithasbeennamedthe“CongregationoftheInstitutesofConsecratedLifeandSocietiesofApostolicLife”(C.I.V.C.S.V.A.).3]MesSoeurs,vosquatrevérités,12thinstructionOntheRule,Cahiers d’Alzon, t.VIII,p.147-157.

sion, a writing that is to be meditated to extract from it the secret; that needs to be frequented to be loved as our moth-er tongue because only love gives knowledge all its depth. And when it is a question of putting it into practice, the action gives the finishing touch to its understanding and makes it a word of life. On November 24, 1981, the text was submitted for approbation by the Consultors of the Con-gregation for Religious and Secular Institutes, as it was called at the time2 who the following year communicated their remarks relative to the

A name and a face

Iamnotanonymous,justany-body. I bear your name. Thenameofyourfather.I express yourbirth and yourfamily.Takeagoodlookandyourwillrecognize your face like in amirror.For example take these fewwords:Christ,Man,Kingdom.ListenhowIpronouncethem.Withwhataccent.Perhapsthenwillwebegintobecomecloser.(*)

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link between the Rule of Life and the Statutes, to the canonical formula-tion of the vows, to the personal and community spiritual exercises, to the clerical status of the In-stitute and to the choice to be imposed between “promises and tempo-rary vows”. The correc-tions on these various details were made. Thus corrected, the Constitu-tions were again submit-ted to the department on March 21, 1983, as the new Code of Canon Law had been promulgated the preceding January 25th. That was, accord-ing to the expression used by Father Hervé Stéphan, the price to pay for ecclesial solidarity and to concede in order not to be “outlaws”. The decree signed by Cardi-nal Eduardo Francisco PIRONIO (1920-1998), the Prefect and his sec-retary Bishop Augustin MAYER (1911-2010) was then delivered to the Congregation on December 8, 1983. The delicate project had been brought to its con-

clusion and allowed the Congregation to walk in step with the Univer-sal Church in the Spirit of the Vatican II Coun-cil. Our minds had been prepared for this recep-tion by a letter from the General entitled: “Walk-ing with the Rule is walking with Christ”, a phrase from an instruc-tion of Father d’Alzon to the Religious of the Assumption at Auteuil in 18723. In sending this letter, Father Hervé add-ed a little blue insert as a second itinerary in which he gave a voice to the Rule of Life to present itself to each religious with the poetic words of which he had the secret: “I pass, I knock on your door, I am a voice of the Gospel, like the murmur of a light breeze, do you hear me, may I enter?” Thirty years later, hav-ing reached maturity, the call of the Rule of Life has not developed a sin-gle wrinkle. In this Year of Consecrated Life in which we are invited to return to our sources, will we allow this call to

resonate? As a succes-sor of the Founder, Fa-ther Stéphan had simply placed us in the wake of the first in line: Augus-tine and Fr. d’Alzon, but with the vitality, the feeling, and the incarna-tion for which they had the genius.In the part of Father d’Alzon`s library that we conserve in Rome we have so many texts of Rules that were studied, worked over, consulted by him! Undoubtedly he consulted the majority of them before establish-ing the text of our first Constitutions of 1855. In his Directory, Father d’Alzon speaks of the Rule as a living thing: “body and soul”4. He specifies in his 4th letter to the Master of Novices that he writes in the fall of 1868 at Lavagnac, titles: “About our love for our Lord”: “The life

4]TheDirectory,Part3:themeansofsanctification,chap.1AbouttheRule,intheEcrits Spirituels,

p.84-85.5]Ecrits Spirituels,

p.165.6]Méditations

destinées aux Augustins de

l’Assomption,p.119-129.

7]Paris,1927,includedintheEcrits

Spirituesl,p.629-632.

8]DocumentsAssomption,no.7,

1982,p.486.9]NotreRègledeVie,Rome,1985,CentennialSeries,no.9,49pages.

*) The inserts that accompanythisarti-cle are extracts from

Letter27bisofFr.Hervé Stéphan.

A book

Differentfromotherbooks.Other.You have some bigger,more presti-gious,andwiserbooks.I am neither a theological compen-dium,noramanualofspiritualityorofcanonlaw.Iamdifferent.InawayforyouIamunique.Is there another so close to you asto dare wake you up or re-awakenyou,tocallyouortocallyouanewtowhatyoumustbecome?Isthereonethathasthewordsorthecalls able to make the Assumptionenter with the Spirit? Perhaps not.ExcepttheGospelevidently.(*)

An end, a mission

Invitingyouwithouttiringto“sanctifyyourselfbysprea-dingtheKingdomofGod”asthe1855Eldersaid.Tohelpyou become, for these times, a brother of Emmanueld’Alzon.Abrother,notaphotocopy.Togatherwithotherbrotherstobecomeoneheartandonesoul,toloveJes-usChrist,toletyourselfbefilledwiththeurgencyoftheKingdom,toloveManasGodloveshim.(*)

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OCTOBER 2014 nO 148

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 its spirit, with its aim to tend to holiness and to consecrate oneself to the extension of the Reign of Jesus Christ.In the second tome of the “Médita-tions sur la perfec-tion religieuse pour les Augustins de l’Assomption7 his reflections on the Rule are ordered around three great principles. Ac-cording to Father d’Alzon, the Rule is there to separate the religious from the world, help him to resemble Christ more and finally give him his spe-cific characteristic.In the past to guide himself at sea and orient his always perilous navigation, the sailor used the sextant, and today, when we travel, whatever our means of locomotion, we follow the indica-tions of the GPS that gives the indica-tions received from satellites. We con-

sider these instruments as so many very reliable means for their multiple uses. It is the same for

the Rule: insofar as we know how to make good use of it. “A glance at the Rule,” said Fr. Stéphan, “is a momentary look at Jesus Christ.”It is still and al-ways for us a question or re-appropriating our “Rule of Life” on all levels of the life of our Con-gregation: “A per-sonalized, Rule that is my right; that is my duty, if I have the ambi-tion to live under the reign of evan-gelical freedom. A true freedom – the one that allows me to live, to love and to serve – requires foundations, a firm and clear ba-sis, a well enough traced and daily path to be use-ful”8.Archimedes had understood the principle of the

fulcrum that is at the ori-gin of one of his most fa-mous quotations: “Give me a fulcrum point and I will lift the universe”. The Rule is that fulcrum that can reveal itself as the means to lift us ever higher in our spiritual life. The aim of a Rule of Life is to allow each person to live more and better.Ours, published on No-vember 24, 1984, is to-day translated into 16 languages. In its purest form, the Rule of Life recalls us to the essen-tials. It would be useful in this jubilee year to dedicate some time to it by studying it alongside the commentary that Father Lucien Guissard left us9. This pamphlet that we should be able to find in the library of each community should allow each religious to permeate himself better with the content of its five chapters to feel our-selves more in commu-nion in the Assumption and take from it always more strength and light to live it better. n

A road

AGospelroad.AroadtracedforyouthroughtheGospel.Aroad among others. It is theoneyouhavechosenandforwhich you are called. I amworthwhat a road is worth.Nothing for the lying downnorfortheangelthathoversabove.There is much for the As-sumptionist who wants towalkinthe“sequelaChristi”.Iamsometimesacitycenteravenue and youwill have toforesee signal lights and pe-destriancrossings.Sometimes I am a countryroadthroughfields.Sometimes I aman impassa-ble mountain path withoutstepsintheiceorpicksintherock.SometimesIamasimplelinein the sand where the windblowsawaymyfragilelines.AGoodFridayorEasterSun-day or Pentecost path. I amonlyaroad.Get up and walk. “WalkingwithyourRuleiswalkingwithJesusChrist”.(Fr.d’Alzon).(*)

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The Assumption <<

The Assumption was born in France under an Ultra-montane sky very attached

to the Roman Rite of the Latin language et committed itself vol-untarily with Dom Guéranger for its universal extension against all other national or local usages whether it be for the liturgy, the ceremonial, the sanctoral, the sacraments, the sacramental, the liturgical vestments, the calendar and proper practices. In the As-sumption of the origins, rituality rhymes with unicity and Latinity.The word Rite designates the whole of the liturgy of the Church or a specific liturgical action (e.g. the rite of baptism, gestures and non-verbal language) or a part of that action (e.g. the rite of welcome, the offertory rite).Rita ou Ritus: that is what is in conformity with order. The Chris-tian Rite assures order or the world in its reference to Christ. It has thus become a sort of fi-delity to observances transmit-ted by tradition whose function is to express in a symbolic form the order of the universe itself as

wanted by God and to assure its maintenance.By extension then, the Rite desig-nates the liturgical forms proper to a Church. In the West, indeed, besides the Roman or Latin Rite, existed at the time the Ambrosian or Milanese, Celtic, Gallican, Ly-onese, Hispanic, Mozarabic, Vi-sigoth Rites. Are also designated by the term, the liturgy proper to a religious Order: Benedictine, Carmelite, Carthusian, Cister-cian, and Dominican Rites, etc. The name Rite has also been giv-en to the various liturgical fami-lies of the East: Armenian, Byz-antine, Coptic, Egyptian, Slavic, Maronite, Syriac…Clearly a language and a form of participation in a Church or to a particular religious eccle-sial society are associated with a Rite. In the West, the word rite is often understood in a narrow sense to the manner of celebrat-ing the cult of the Church as it is fixed by rubrics. In contrast in the East, the word “rite” has an extremely broad and rich mean-ing: it is the whole of the forms and signs in which a specific Christian community expresses and lives its Christian faith.

The Assumption and the East1

Already in 1863, Fr. Galabert, in three places, Constantinople, Philippopoli and Andrinopolis (three places of residence and ha-bitual reference) was confronted in his ecclesial vision (serve the unity of the Church) by the ques-tion of the diversity of Rites; the Latin Rite for the Catholic Communities under the jurisdic-tion of the Patriarch Vicariate of Constantinople and the Latin Vi-cariate of Philippopoli but also the Slavic Rite or more precisely Byzantino-Slavic for the Bulgar-ian Christians called Uniates, whom he approached with this bishop Mgr. Popov, which im-plies a break with the western mentality (diversity, eastern lan-guages,, eastern vestments, litur-gical calendar, practices proper to the East, such as periods of se-vere fasting, the rare practice of confession, no Eucharistic cult outside of the Liturgy, a devel-oped proper sanctoral, a married clergy, a religious life only in the monastic form…Galabert was anchored in a double conviction: the Assump-tion was sent to serve the East-

The question of Rite in the Assumption

by Jean-Paul PÉRIER-MUZET

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.

1Cf.TwoissuesoftheCahiers du Bicentenaire d’Alzon, no. 4: L’Orient chrétien and no. 6: La Mission d’Orient de l’As-somption.FatherMichelKublercomposedateachingpamphlet:La Mission d’Orient. L’autre poumon de l’Assomption, 2007,50pages.

OCTOBER 2014 nO 1410

ern Christians, non-Latins, but he was not asked specifically to change Rites: he remained a Latin priest sent to the East. He accepted that eventuality if the ecclesiastical institution asked it of him or obliged him to, but he will never take that step2. His-tory had it that at the end of 1863 he began to serve the Latin Bul-garian Catholics “Paulicians of Pavlicans” , but paradoxically by 1866 he works personally at the side of Bishop Popov in favor of the United Bulgarians, the Uni-ates, that is, the Eastern Rite. As to the Oblates in Andrinopolis

by 1868 they privilege the ser-vice to cosmopolitan Christians and non-Christians: Bulgarians of both Rites, Armenian Catho-lics, Gregorian Armenians, Jews, Turks, Greek Orthodox, be they Catholic, Orthodox or Muslim. The theological perspective is clearly unionist, but by tem-perament, by conversion and by practical experience, Galabert becomes fundamentally an irenic Christian, kindly and tolerant by adaptation. Truly by education and by the Ultramontane tradi-tion, he remains intransigent on the dogmatic level, persuaded of the moral superiority of West-ern Christianity, but he fights for easier ways to change re-ligion and refuses an aggres-sive proselytism… He adopts the maxim: “The Assumption-ist missionary will do every-thing to prove that the Catholic Church venerates and loves, in its Latin Rite, the age-old litur-gies of the East and wants to maintain integrally these pre-cious symbols of the race in the religious domain”3.Essentially, the difficulties of the Assumption in Bulgaria have their origin in several fac-tors concerning the practice of the Eastern Rite:In Philippopoli, the Bulgarian Catholic milieu is of the Latin Rite; religious authority is in the hands of the Italian Capu-chins who have no opening to or esteem for the Eastern world. After Canova there is little am-

ity on the part of Bishop Reynau-di and much hostility on the part of Bishop Menini, a Capuchin lover of Austria, narrow and sus-picious, who forbade the open-ing of a Slavic chapel in Sofia4 and at Philippopoli the construc-tion of a new high school on land bought in 1882. In Bulgaria, the Assumption wasted 70 years be-fore being free to truly undertake its mission in the Bulgarian Rite.At Andrinopolis, the Assumption sees itself limited in service to the Eastern Rites because of the presence of the Polish Resurrec-tionists who have a jurisdictional stranglehold on the Uniate Bul-garians even though they were Latin in formation! They showed themselves to be ambitious, power-hungry, spiteful and even slanderous, in any case, intracta-ble: they or no one! And the Con-ventuals consider themselves as owners of the Bulgarian Latin Rite Catholics!On the other hand, for all the religious men and women of the Assumption in the East dur-ing that first generation, it is re-quired to learn progressively the three languages5 most in use in the country: Bulgarian (the lan-guage of the people), Turkish (the language of the administra-tion) and Greek (the language of commerce and of the Eastern Christians) even if in the schools the study of a language of West-ern European culture: French for the Assumption6, Italian for the Capuchins, the Conventuals and

2)AlsohefearedbeingreproachedoffavoringthepassageoftheBulgarianCatholicstotheEasternRiteandofwantingtotakechargeoftheEasternChurches.3)MaximstatedbyFr.CanisiusLouis,Aux avant-postes du Monde Slave (Soixante ans d’Apostolat Assomptionniste en Bulgarie) inXaveriana,8thseries,no.85,Louvain,1931,p.17.4)ACatholicSlavicchapelwillbeopenedonlyafter1918,35yearsafterthearrivaloftheAA’s!

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the Passionists, German with the Redemptorists and the Daughters of Charity, or yet Polish with the Resurrectionists, English with the Protestants and in the Evan-gelical missions. It seems to me that we will never see a member of the Assumption there learn Yiddish or Arabic!Rome opens the way for the Eastern Rite for the Assumption in two ways in 1882: “by autho-rizing the Congregation to open at their schools opened or to be opened in Bulgaria public cha-pels in which the liturgy could be done in the Eastern Rite and to accept into their Congregation young Bulgarians who could keep their Eastern Rite”. That was the positive result of the visit to Rome by Galabert and Picard in October on the occasion of a pilgrimage with 450 persons. They had an audience with Leo XIII. Until then the Assump-tion had only opened chapels for the private use of the Latin Rite and the few Bulgarians who had become Assumptionists had been received into the Latin Rite (Schiskov, Dimitrov, Pistichki, Marachliev, etc).

Brother Jacques Chilier will be the first Assumptionist to adopt the Slavic Rite in 1883. With Ga-labert, the ecumenical cause, ex-pression unknown in the Catholi-cism at that time and disliked by the Vatican until the Council of 19627, progresses: he set the first rules. We cannot begin a dia-logue with condemnations and the point of departure must be an attitude of friendly listening, of esteem, and of good will. That is an immense progression in spirit.Six major considerationsOn the practical level, Galabert and the Assumption in the East suffered much in the first twenty years from some rather compli-cated situations in Bulgaria:1) The regime of competing re-ligious Congregations in place before the arrival of the Assump-tion: the Capuchins in Plovdiv, the Resurrectionists and the Con-ventuals in Andrinopolis/Bour-gas who allocated to themselves or had had their jurisdiction rec-ognized and interpreted as exclu-sive territorially and on the Rite. In 1882, the Assumption at last received the right to have its own foundations of Rites in Plovdiv

and Andrinopolis. But the erec-tion of an Apostolic Prefecture, independent of the jurisdiction of the local bishops for the Uniate Bulgarians was refused to Picard (it will be given to the Opus Dei with John Paul II!).2) The strong tendency of the Latin missionary bishops in the East to ‘Latinize’ (Bonnetti) in Salonika, the Capuchins in Plo-vdiv (Bishop Menini), the Res-urrectionists at Andrinopolis, (Bishop Piavi) in Jerusalem. Rome had set the tone: in 1847 in restoring a Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem and in 1867 by re-straining the rights of election for the Armenians (the Bull Re-versurus).3) The canonical non-recogni-tion in writing by Rome or the Propaganda of the Assumption-ist Mission that leaves it at the mercy of the local ecclesiastical authorities, at least until 1882. Everything is oral, nothing is written.4) The concrete difficulty to put in place an inter-ritual seminary: with whom? Where, under what authority? There will be the Le-onine seminary in Kadiköy in

Thesettingupofacommissiontohelpthegovernment

Whatorientationdowewantfor2017andhowcanweestablishacoherentprojectforEasternEurope?TogetherwithSisterFelicia,SuperiorGeneraloftheOblates, a commission tohelp the governmentonthe “futureof theMission to theEast”will be setup. The EasternMission is an apostolic priority oftheCongregation.ThelastGeneralChaptersremindusofthat.Buttherealityismarkedbyanextremefragility.Thisprecarioussituationdoesnotallowustoenvisionkeepingallthecommunities.TheCongregationwantstoshowitsconstantinter-est for thismission andunderstand the anxietyofthereligiousinvolved.It isurgenttoreflectonthefutureofthecommunitiestogetherwithourOblateSisters.Tothatend,amixedcommissiontohelpthegovernmentwillbecreated.Itsobjectivesarethefollowing:

-Establish thestateofour implantations (pastoralactivities,vocationministry,Assumptionistresourc-es,etc.)-Defineclearly theapostolicprojectofeachcom-munity.-Establisharealisticpastoralprogramforthenextten years: numberof religious,possible collabora-tions,formationofreligious,etc.- Prepare proposals for the Superiors General (AAandOA)and theirCouncils (OGCandPGC) for thenextGeneralChapters(2017).The composition of this commission will bemadepublic shortly. A first intermediate report of thecommissionwillbegiveninSeptember2015.ThenadefinitivereportwillbegiveninSeptember2016for the preparation of the Provincial and GeneralChapters.

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1895 after the first trial in Kum Kapi and after the more or less clandestine alumnate in Kara-gatch in 1877.5) The uncertainty in which the Assumption finds itself because if the religious members or the clergy formed by it are of the Eastern Rite, they could be de facto incorporated by the au-thorities of the Eastern Rite and removed from the religious obedience of the Congregation (which will later be required by the Greek Uniate Bishops, Iasaïe Papadopoulos of the Roman S.C. for the Eastern Churches, named in 1911, and Georges Calavassy after 1920; that will be the ruin of the Greek Uniate Mission of the Assumption). In Bulgaria the problem is straightened out in 1883 with the creation of two Greco-Slavic dioceses of Thrace and Macedonia which obtain full legal jurisdiction outside of Con-stantinople.6) The long lasting weak num-ber of missionary personnel: from 1862 to 1880 only a dozen Assumptionists and 130 Oblates with 15 residences, 19 public churches (four of the Eastern Rite), 7 parishes, 3 Eastern semi-naries, two study centers, 1 ho-tel, 11 grammar schools, 1 sec-ondary school. In order to have marked action, one must have a free hand, initiatives, personnel and resources!The golden age of the Eastern Rites in the AssumptionThe situation is unblocked for a first time in 1882 for the Istan-bul Assumption because of the Papal audience of October 1882 and the kindly attitude of Bishop Vincenzo Vannutelli, Apostolic Delegate to Constantinople since 18808. It is true that at that time there is a more general Roman

easing that no longer hesitates to entrust to Latin missionaries the formation of Eastern seminarians of all Rites in their own Rite9.The first effort Beginning in 1882 and during nine years 13 new AA/OA foun-dations are built up in Turkey and 4 in Bulgaria: Istanbul Koum Kapou (1882-1883), Phanaraki (1886), Brousse (1885), Kadiköy (1895). Bishop Rotelli authorizes the Assumption to found, accord-ing to need, chapels, schools, and all works in all of Bythnia all the way to Ankara. With recruits from France because of the law of 1889 (the military service ob-ligation for clergy is replaced by the dispensation from military service for service to French cul-ture) the Assumption could look to make a series of stable or mo-bile camp foundations along the Bagdadbahn with the blessing of Bishop Timoni, Archbishop of Smyrna, who grants all jurisdic-tion on the Latins established all the way to the confines of Ad-ana, so then are founded Kartal (1889, OA), Ismidt (1890: OA, AA), Eski-Sheir (1891), Konia (1892) Caesarea of Cappadocia, Sultan-Tchaïr (1893: AA), Zon-goudalk, Gallipoli. In Bulgaria, the Assumption founded in Yam-bol (1888: OA, AA), in Bourgas (OA), and in Roustchouk (OA).A decisive step: the Eastern Rite seminary in Kadiköy (1895)On June 28, 1895, Picard real-izes the vow of Fr. d’Alzon of 1863 to establish in Chalcedonia and Eastern Rite seminary, made possible after the encyclical Ori-entalium dignitas Ecclesiarum, following a bold note of Decem-ber 3, 1894: he refuses the offer of a Leonine college in Athens (October 1894), and declines that of the Saint Pulcherie School.

Convoked by Leo XIII on Feb-ruary 2, 1895, Picard, sick, is replaced by Father E. Bailly be-fore the cardinals’ commission (Galimberti, Ledochowski, Van-nutelli and the Secretary, Bishop Veccia). By a written act of June 28, 1895) the Congregation is given the parish of Kadiköy with its annexed buildings and by the letter Adnitentibus Nobis of July 2, 1895, the Assumption receives jurisdiction on all the new foundations, Greek as well as Latin in Anatolia. A school for the Oblates is opened at Haïdar Pacha, we take possession of the church of the Assumption at Kadidöy, Istanbul has its Greek church and its seminary, Saint Peter. Kadiköy opens its Cen-ter for Byzantine Studies, An-drinopolis receives the Bulgar-ian seminarians, and Jerusalem (1887) has also the possibility of both Rites, an association of prayers for unity is authorized (1896) and Picard boldly asked the unthinkable communication in sacris. Three priests (Front, Sophrone, and Eutychios) adopt the Greek Rite at the Anastasis with iconostasis. In 1898 the fa-vor of establishing the Archcon-fraternity for Unity, called Our Lady of the Assumption (May 24, 1898) with an icon presented by Leo XIII himself (Apostolic Let-ter Cum divini Pastoris. In 1897 Fr. Louis Petit launches a more intellectual magazine, the Echos d’Orient, following the Echos de N.-D. de France. In 1900 there are then 15 As-sumptionist communities in the East with stable and flying teams, that is, 157 religious in Turkey and Bulgaria among whom 63 priests, as well as 40 religious in Jerusalem, among whom 6 priests, a total of 200 religious in the East serving 16 Latin church-

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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-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 War ’14-’18, by the crumbling of the capitulations, by the con-tinued hostility of the Capu-chins, the Conventuals and the Ressurrectionists at Andrinopo-lis, Karagatch, Dedeagatch, the Franciscans at Kartal and Ismidt, of the Franciscan Custodians in the Holy Land, then by the la-ical policies of Ataturk, by the exodus of the Christians from Asia Minor, the intransigent at-titude of Bishop Calavassy of the Greek Rite who wanted to annex the Assumptionists of that

Rite. In 1923, the Eastern Rite Assumption revived in Greco-Slavic Rumania that communism killed in 1947, as in Bulgaria for the Slavic seminary. In Russia, the Slavic Rite did not survive the crisis of 1910-1911. With the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, hope was revived in the East, whether in Moscow, in Bu-charest, in Plovdiv, in Jerusalem, but personnel is cruelly deficient for which a solid and serious preparation would be necessary. The accords of Balamand also seem to indicate an ebbing of the

Uniate effort by an ecumenical pacifying effort on the part of Rome, but not always symmet-ric by the Orthodox (accusations of proselytism on its ‘canonical’ territory). The Christians of the East of all Rites, pulled apart in general and desiring to leave, are the prey of a radicalizing Islamic policy. On all points the future is uncertain. Christians in the Eastern traditions diminish ev-erywhere in their number in the countries of the East, The Rites remain. n

5)Besidesthisquestionoftheindispensablelanguagestudy,Fr.d’Alzon,onDecember22,1863,anambitiousprogramofspecializedknowledgefortheAssumptionistsintheEastwhoseinterestdoesnotseempassé:“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…” Ecritsspirituels,p.826-827.6)AphraseofFr.d’AlzonontheoccasionofhisspeechforthedistributionofprizesatNîmesonAugust1,1863wasmuchcriticizedastheexpressionofaFranco-Frenchnationalismthatneedstobereplacedincontext:“The resurrec-tion of the East can only come from a word come out of Rome and carried on the wings of France.” Itcanbesaid;buttowriteit…!7)ThereweretimidbeginningsintheunioniststyleunderLeoXIIIinhisencyclicalofJune30,1893:Praeclara gratula-tionisforhispriestlyjubilee.8)VincenzoVannutelli(1836-1930)underPiusXbecametheCardinalProtectoroftheAssumption.HereisthelistoftheApostolicDelegatestoConstantinopleforthe1860-1914period:BishopPaoloBrunoni(1807-1877)from1858to1869;BishopAntoonPluym(1808-1874)from1869to1874;BishopSerafinoMilani(1819-1906)in1874;BishopAn-tonioMariaGrasselli(1827-1919)from1874to1879;BishopVincenzoVannutelli(1836-1930)from1880-1882;thenBishopRotelliandAugustoBonetti(1831-1904)beginningin1887.9)TheCapuchinsatPlovdiv,(Latins,circa1867),theDominicansatMosul(Chaldeans,1882),theWhiteFathersinJerusalem(1882,theMelkiteSyrians),theCapuchins(Constantinople,1882),thePolishandAustrianResurrectionists(Andrinopolis,1862,BulgarianUniates),theVincentians(Monastir,Bulgarians),theBenedictines(SaintAnselm,Rome,1887fortheEasternRites),etc…WhythenrefuseasimilaractivitytotheAssumptionists,preferablyinamorecosmo-politanConstantinople?

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Constitutions are not yet ap-proved, but I have received the animadversions”. Did Father d’Alzon realize then that the problem was there? In effect the decree was accompanied by eight remarks relative to our Constitutions as is reported in the edition of Fathers Athanase Sage and Pierre Touveneraud published in 1966. What was the situation? The discussions of the Congregation for Bish-ops and Regulars had certainly taken its time, but it was espe-cially because of a dispute be-tween Mgr. Ludovic Chaillot (+1891), Consultor,1 and the Pro-Secretary of the Congrega-tion, Mgr. Stanislaus Svegliati, that things went badly. Did Fa-ther d’Alzon really realize that the unfavorable events was due to a too hasty writing, on his part, of the document submit-ted for the approval of Rome” And if this approval was defini-tive for the Roman recognition of the Congregation and the “ad experimentum” character of our Constitutions was main-tained and would be for a long time!Let us recall that our first Rules, as Father d’Alzon gave them to us date from 1855 and the Congregation quickly obtained the laudatory decree on May 1, 1857. From 1860, Fr. d’Alzon would have wanted to give a new push to his Congregation, notably to favor its missionary expansion and open its apos-

tolic horizons to the universal dimensions of the Church as he received the encouragement of Pope Pius IX in that direc-tion. The General Chapter held in Nîmes in September 1962 adopted the reorganization of a few chapters and articles of our Constitutions so as to be submitted to the approval of the Holy See and for that end, Fr. d’Alzon was given full au-thority to follow through on the decisions of the Chapter. At the time, the Congregation had only 18 Choir professed and 3 Lay professed. How was the text submitted to the Ro-man approval in 1863 written? Fr. d’Alzon on his return from Constantinople on April 22, 1863 had on his desk his report on the trip to write, a mem-oir of some 50 pages destined for the Pope. The work was heavy and he had to get down to a definitive redaction of our Rules on April 25 as he writes to Mother Marie-Eugénie (Let-ters of April 25, t. IV, p. 281). The request that he addresses to Pope Pius IX for the defini-tive approval of the Institute and the approval of the Con-stitutions ad experimentum” for six years is dated on April 262. On April 30 the Pope, sick, receives him just the same in a private audience but without really listening to him. The fol-lowing Sunday, May 3, he left Rome, in a hurry to return to Nîmes after so long an absence.

>> The Assumption

The precious document that marks this event will be given to Father d’Alzon only on the 28th of February, 1865 by his Bishop, Henri Plantier, on his return from Rome. Father d’Alzon would have wanted that the arrival of the bishop at the train station of Nîmes be as solemn as possible with a procession to the cathedral as had been the case the previous year. Unfortunately the Prefect of Nîmes opposed any pub-lic demonstration through the streets of the city and prepared for it manu militari. His deci-sion, motivated by a possible reaction of the Protestants, was completely inappropriate and covered this famous Prefect of the Gard, Mr. Dulimbert with ridicule, for the bishop arrived in Nîmes quietly with the great-est discretion. Two days later, Father d’Alzon wrote to Father Galabert: “Good and excellent news, we have the decree of approval of the Congregation.” (February 22, 1865. Letters t. V. p. 255). And he added: “The

With the Church in the heartNext November 26 marks the 150th anniversary of the definitive approval of our congregation by the Holy See

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Tying up a so important affair as the definitive approval of the Congregation and the approval of his Constitutions was a bet against the odds. Would they not have required more time and meticulousness? Did not Fr. d’Alzon manifest a certain naiveté in believing too quickly in the promises of Mgr. Chail-lot and charging Fr. Vincent de Paul Bailly, his young Procura-tor in Rome with handling this affair promptly. An exchange of letters between Fr. François Picard and Fr. Vincent de Paul Bailly reveals that in Rome, as anywhere, amateurism in the matter can only give poor re-sults. It was not sufficient un-doubtedly to add the capitular decisions of 1862 to the text of the Constitutions of 1855 with-out other work. Mgr. Chaillot showed himself to be a very bad intermediary in the affair. Before obstacles, precipitation is the mother of all ills. The events that followed shows that often, as witnesses the corre-spondence of the Procurator and notably on May 17, 1863 with Fr. Picard: “This good Mgr. Chaillot can`t figure out how he hurts our little efforts by the jokes that he makes about us on all levels and about the Father. He is our friend and yet he will always be the big-gest embarrassment for a Supe-rior in Rome.”With the Congregation ap-proved and the Constitutions “rejected”, Father d’Alzon got back to work. It ended with the editing of the Constitutions of 1865 whose text is associ-ated with that of the Direc-tory3. Later other texts, those of the Chapters of 1868, 1873, 1876, and 1879, held while Fr. d’Alzon lived, as well as the

four letters to the Novitiate written a the request of the Chapter of 1868, become refer-ence texts.Our first Constitutions ap-proved by the Holy See will be after the promulgation of the Code of Canon Law of 1917 and the 18th Chapter held in Rome at the end of 1921 and the beginning of 1922 and transformed into a consultative commission. At the end of that Assembly, the text written in 1918 during the “Chapitre des Lumières”, refused by Rome, was the object of another re-cast in 1922 that was judged insufficient. It was amended on 35 points and it was at that cost that after 78 years of ex-istence, on January 30, 1923, that the Congregation received the Roman approval of its Con-stitutions, published with the title of: “Constitutions de la Congrégation des Prêtres de l’Assomption, dits Augustins de l’Assomption.”“Patience and length of time accomplish more that strength and rage” concludes Jean de Lafontaine in the fable that he wrote about the lion and the rat. Bishop Bernard de Lan-versin (1923-2004), the man from Marseilles who spent the greater part of his life in Rome,

said that to go forward in Rome one had to hold in one hand the Fables of Lafontaine and in the other the Gospels. It il-lustrates well the required atti-tude. Some truth also is found in a letter written by Madame la Marquise de Barolo to the young Abbé d’Alzon: “Beware of the plans that you make be-fore Providence, so to speak, has given you the occasion. Saint Vincent, as you reminded me yesterday, wrote Constitu-tions for his Order after forty years of experience and Saint Ignatius found himself doing something other what he first thought, and yet by what retreat and what penance had he pre-pared his soul!4”Today our Rule of Life remains the fundamental reference to express our charism and our heart of disciple of Christ and of his Church. May we remem-ber that and in persuading our-selves more, return to the spirit of our foundation. That sup-poses inscribing our witness in a true spiritual experience, that of an authentic community and that of a deep meeting with God. To see that vision each moment authenticated by the Church can only be a source and yeast for the future.

B.L.L.

1) Mgr. Chaillot Roman Consultor and former classmate of Fr. Galabert during his studies of Canon Law in Rome had undoubtedly been presumptive of his strengths and his “chaillonesque” will, remembering the ease with which he had obtained the “laudatory” decree in 1857.2) Letter of Father d’Alzon to His Holiness Pope Pius IX, on April 26, 1863, t. IV, p. 281-282.3) The Congregation of the Oblates founded in 1865 received its definitive approval on July 3, 1934.4) Letters of Father d’Alzon, tome B, Letter from Mme la Marquise de Barolo to M. l’Abbé d’Alzon.

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A colloquium on the IFEB in Bucharest? It’s Byzantium!

By Michel Kubler Director of the Saint Peter – Saint Andrew

center (Bucharest)

From September 25 to 28, specialists rendered justice to the fabulous work of the Byzantine Studies Assumptionists

Vitalien Lau-rent, Venance Grumel, Jean

Darrouzès, Raymond Janin… We have to rec-ognize it : for us, As-sumptionists of Ruma-nia today, as for all our generation and those after us, these names were prestigious, but we did not know why. Did they even have a face to prop us our memory as weak as well as glori-ous that we had of them? The international collo-quium held in Bucharest at the end of September produced a precise and critical knowledge of the “contribution of the French Assumptionists to Byzantine studies”.Born in the context of a nascent interest in the Western Church for Eastern Christianity (G. Croce), “the impressive work produced by the erudite Assumptionists” (M.-H. Blanchet) de-veloped in three beats, like a waltz, not without hesitation between the requirement of erudition

and the concern for apol-ogetics that will long mark their “scientific apostolate”. Three beats in three places: the slow and laborious growth in Constantinople around Louis Petit (O. Delouis), the too brief golden age of Bucharest with, im particular, the four pre-viously named (I. Tu-dorie) and the unavoid-able decline in Paris for a lack of successors (A. Failler).This historic run, that gave the greater part of the quantity of “first class” work by a hand-ful of religious rarely prepared for that profes-sion, was completed by thematic approaches just as entrancing: thus the library, become a world reference for research-ers but firstly dedicated to a missionary project of “touching the Greeks by science” (M. Cassin), or the Benedictine work of a Janin for the topo-graphical listing of the Byzantine shrines and monasteries (“he had neither Google Earth or GPS, but we still need him!” – E. Mitsiou) without mentioning the compilation of the Re-gestes of the Ecumeni-

>> East European Mission

1)OrganizedbytheUniversityofBucharest(IonutTudorie)andtheCNRS-UMROrientetMéditéranée(Marie-HélèneBlanchet),attheCollègeNouvelleEurope(NEC)ofBucharest.TheActsofthecolloquiumshouldbepublishedattheendof2015.

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The point of view of the researcher

Even if he wanted to, the spe-cialist on Byzantium could not bypass the research

works that the Assumptionist have given on the Byzantine civiliza-tion for close to 120 years, first at Kadiköy (1895-1937), then in Bucharest (1937-1947) and lastly in Paris. Let us be precise: the historian, the philologist, the pa-leographer, codicolographer, the sigillographer, the numismatist, the theologian, the liturgist, the ar-cheologist, the art historian, or any other researcher who would de-vote himself to a field of study on such a period of the Byzantine mil-lennium, will perforce have met up with the Échos d’Orient, founded in 1897, which became the Revue des études byzantines; he would have used the reference collections of the Archives de l’Orient Chré-tien, the Regestes of the acts opf the Patriarchate of Constantinople, of the Géographie ecclésiastique de l’Empire byzantine; he would

have perhaps looked through indi-vidual books, the precocious syn-thesis of L’Église byzantine de 527 à 847 by Jules Pargoire (1905), the many times reprinted manual of Raymond Janin on Les Églises orientales et les rites orientaux (1922), or yet the working tool of Venance Grumel on the Chronol-ogy (1958); he would at last have discovered the Assumptionists ed-itors of Greek texts in the exterior collections, such as the Subsidia Hagiographica or the Corpus fon-tium historiae Byzantinae. Many of these works are at the head of the list in our research centers. The find a place in our personal libraries, and truly they are never far from our work tables. Such a success approved by the academ-ic community already at the end of the 19th century, astounds and continues to pose questions. How come, simple clerics, on an apos-tolic mission in Constantinople, became over a few years the es-teemed colleagues of the best Eu-ropean researchers?The Bucharest colloquium dedi-cated to “the contribution of the French Asumptionists to the Byz-antine Studies”: permitted the

By Olivier Delouis, chargé de recherches at the cNRS UMR 8167 Orient et

Méditéranée – Paris

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-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 (C. Walter, deceased last April), liturgy (Salaville) or yet spirituality.Those were as many do-mains in which these religious, who admired Eastern Christianity more that they liked the Eastern Christians, were able to evolve from unionist pros-elytism of the beginnings to a truly scientific project and ecumenical spirit. But from their beginnings 120 years ago to the end, their permanent ambition in spirit and in heart was to draw closer the Catholics and the Orthodox. Is that not the ever actual mean-ing of the whole of our Eastern European Mis-sion?“Many Byzantine schol-ars, perhaps all of them to some degree, directly or indirectly, are heirs of the Assumptionists,” –even if only to criticize their methods or their prejudic-es, concluded M.-H. Blan-chet. We can ask how the Assumptionists in general feel themselves heirs, one way or another of these older brothers. n

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expression of the contribution of the Assumption to the Byzantine Studies, but also to explain better the context that made such an ad-venture possible. Entrusted with an Eastern Mission for the Union of Churches by Pius IX in 1863, the Assumptionists made the shift

to research of Byzantium begin-ning with the pontificate of Leo XIII. In his encyclical Orienta-lium dignitas (1894) encouraged the foundation of Eastern Rite seminaries and the study of the Eastern Christian traditions. To know in order to convince bet-ter: with this ambitious objective, the first part was attained beyond all expectations. Like the Jesuits and the Society of Bollandists in Brussels specialized in hagiog-raphy, or like the Dominicans of the École Biblique of Jerusalem studying the Holy Scriptures and the topography of Israel, the As-sumptionists quickly built in their sector of Istanbul a “center for Eastern-Byzantine Christian stud-ies that is consulted and is author-itative” (Siméon Vailhé, 1911). With this remarkable specificity, that distinguished the Assump-tionists from their colleagues: they only had as a specialty a still living material, the Greco-Slavic societies, heirs of Byzantium, that constituted at the same time their study subject and their apostolate.

This duality seems fundamental to us to understand the work of the Assumptionist Byzantine schol-ars: it modeled their history and fomented many tensions in the Congregation. We should regret less this division foreseen from the origins than appreciate the riches, without minimizing the limits, the too limited approach to the “separated brothers”, the strict alignment on the Unionist policies of Rome that shrank too quickly under Benedict XV, the missed path to ecumenism after the war, the erudition of the As-sumptionist that was no longer seen as an instrument of dialogue with the East.

In the beginning, therefore, there was the “supernatural and apos-

tolic role” (Edmond Bouvy, 1989) assigned to the review Échos d’Orient. This periodical was especially the one “that allowed us to enter into scientific rela-tionships with the professors and researchers of France and other countries” (Siméon Vailhé, 1911). Very rapidly only the scientific aapostolate was maintained, that is science alone without the apos-tolate. Already in Kadiköy, even more in Bucharest, and especially in Paris, the Institut français des études Byzantines (IFEB) asso-ciated with the university milieu in erudite correspondences by means of conferences or teach-ing (such as Vitalien Laurent at the University of Bucharest, and at last – an outcome both logi-cal and unforeseeable – by its integration to the French CNRS, since 1950, of its five priests, Vit-alien Laurent, Jean Darrouzès, Paul Gautier and Albert Failler. The CNRS recognized the virtu-osity of their work and validated the recognition of their peers, at the very moment when the Con-

gregation, little touched by this intellectual apostolate to the non-clerical university people, judged severely their contribution to its general works.The historian of Byzantium can-not then appreciate and under-stand the contribution of the As-sumptionists of the IFEB without placing them in the history of contemporary Catholicism. That is the rich contribution of the Bucharest Colloquium with such a new subject and which was al-most entirely seized by historians outside of the Assumption, with the exception of Fr. Albert Failler, the last active Byzantine scholar of the IFEB.

Now for a last remark on the present history: the collo-

quium in question took place in Bucharest and nothing was less innocent insofar as this dual-ity that formed the history of the IFEB seems to exist still in our days, though in a more peaceful way. In Paris, in 2014, researchers of the CNRS and the University invest in the IFEB, which had be-come an association in 1952 and had been installed in the Catho-lic Institute of Paris in 1995, and they publish the Revue des études byzantines and a series of mono-graphs, and valorize, with the help of personnel from the library a unique patrimony of docu-ments. Since 2011 in Bucharest, installed in the historic buildings of the IFEB, on Christian Tell Street, the Saint Peter - Saint An-drew cultural center reestablished an Assumptionist presence in Ru-manian society, organizes events that attract many and is rapidly establishing a beautiful library. The double impulsion given to the IFEB by its founders has not fallen; it is on the road to moder-nity. n

Father General in VietnamThis first canonical Visitation in this country coincided with the opening of a community in Vinh.

In Vietnam, step by step, the Assumption is making its mark. From August 30 to

September 2, Father General made his first Canonical Visita-tion to the Vietnam communi-ties. This visit had the excep-tional character of coinciding with the opening of the new community of Vinh, made up of three members, a priest, a dea-con and a professed. The first two came from France and the third came from the novitiate community of Ba Ria. This visit took place as the Christian com-munity celebrated its patron, Mary Queen. The presence of Father Benoît in the circum-stances was very significant: on the day of the installation of the new community, Bishop Paul Nguyen Thai Hop, the Domini-can Bishop of Vinh, during the celebration officially entrusted the Assumption the mission of being responsible for the Chris-tian community of Phan Thôn, an urban area and made it a par-ish as well as the health ministry in a sector that contains no less than seven hospitals. He encour-aged the religious to foster the

growth of the Assumptionist community in Vinh by getting new vocations. The vocational ministry goes together with the development of our pastoral and social perspectives: student centers, orphanages, and health ministry. In this city that consti-tutes a true breeding ground of vocations, the Congregation has already two student centers with some forty members.After the celebration, Father General thanked the bishop for having received us in his diocese. He also recalled that our presence there today was a providential sign and remem-bered that 14 years ago, Fr. Bosco Dinh had spoken to him about an Assumptionist founda-tion in Vinh.The three other communities of this foundation begun in 2006 are all houses of forma-tion (postulate in Tran Van Ky, Saint Augustine novitiate in Ba Ria and the scolasticate Em-manuel d’Alzon in Saigon). The Phan Thôn house thus becomes the first specifically apostolic house.Father General’s visit, done

with Fr. Bernard Holzer, his del-egate for Asia accompanying him, to the three communities of the south allowed him to recall the fundamental orientations for this young foundation. In one of his visitation letters, a working paper for each of the communi-ties, Fr. General recalled how “a great love of Christ is nec-essary”. He added: “We must make progress in the knowledge of the Bible and in the under-standing of the faith, especially in a society that is changing as rapidly as in Vietnam.” He also underlined the importance of the Congregation being open to internationality, the study of for-eign languages, and missionary preparedness. Let us recall that many of our Vietnamese broth-ers already work outside their country, not only for their for-mation in France, in England, in Canada, but also for the Korean mission, in Russia, or yet in the United States.Today, except for the Orantes, all the branches of the Assump-tion Family are present in Viet-nam and together try to mutual-ize their means. n

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OCTOBER 2014 nO 1420

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Alienation of the Goods of the CongregationReference

textsCanon law.

The key paragraph is Can. 638 - § 3:•Can.638-§3:Forthevalidityofalienationandofanyotheraffairinwhichthepatrimonialconditionof a juridic person can worsen, the writtenpermissionofthecompe-tent superior with the consent of the council is required. Neverthe-less,ifitconcernsanaffairwhichexceeds the amount defined bythe Holy See for each region, or things given to the Church by vow, or things precious for artistic orhistorical reasons, the permis-sion of the Holy See itself is also required.

The other relevant canons can be found in Book V « The Temporal Goods of the Church », and par-ticularly in Title III, « ContractsandespeciallyAlienation»(Cann.1290 – 1298)

•Can.1256-Underthesupremeauthority of the Roman Pontiff,ownership of goods belongs to that juridic person which has ac-quiredthemlegitimately.

Our practice

No good of the Congregation, whatever its value, may be sold, given, mortgaged, or lent at the initiative or decision of a religious, even if he is the treasurer. Any

alienation of a good of the Congregation must be approved by the competent superior with the approval of his council. The latter is the local superior, the provincial, or the superior gen-eral, depending on the market value of the good in question.

With regard to goods belonging to a legal entity of the Congre-gation, there are two ceiling amounts to be taken into account. The amounts vary by country, because they depend on the ceil-ing amount set, on behalf of the Holy See, by the episcopal conference of each country. They cover three scenarios:

1. The first ceiling is proper to the Congregation and is equal to 75% (three quarters) of the ceiling amount set by the epis-copal conference of the country where the good to be alienatedis located:

a. when under a value equal to 75% (three quarters) of the ceiling amount set by the episcopal conference of the coun-try, the superior who approves the alienation is the provin-cial, with the approval of the Council of the Province.

2. The second amount is the ceiling amount fixed by the epis-copal conference of the country where the good to be alienated is located:

b. When the range of value of the good to be alienated is 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 of the country where the good to be alienated is located, the superior gener-al must request the authorization of the

Holy See, by addressing himself to the CICLSAL. (see annex 1)

*) Please notify the General Treasurer of any change or any complementary infor-mation relative to this chart..

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What is difficult in this regard is finding, for each episcopal 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.

• Without getting into the details of the argumentation, it should be noted that #3 of canon 1292 tries to avoid that the spirit of the law be sidestepped by a subdivi-sion of the good to be alienated into several parts, the value of which would then be under the

By country, here are the ceiling amounts we were able to identify*) :

ceiling amount for which it is necessary to request an authori-zation from the superior of the next level up.

• The CICLSAL has expressly requested that religious congre-gations inform the local bishop in the case of the sale of a good

of a certain value that might have pastoral value. This isn’t a question of getting authoriza-tion but of eventually allowing the Dicoesse to acquire the good (at market value). Annex 1: con-stitution of a request dossier for authorization from the Holy See.

OCTOBER 2014 nO 14

• Can. 1257 - #1. All tem-poral goods which belong to the universal Church, the Apostolic See, or other public juridic persons in the Church are ecclesiasticalgoods and are governed by the following canons and their own statutes.· Can. 1292 – o #1. [...]Without preju-dice to the prescript of can. 638, §3, when the value of the goods whose alienation is proposedfalls within the minimum and maximum amounts tobedefinedbythecon-ference of bishops for its own region, the compe-tent authority is deter-mined by the statutes of juridic persons if they are not subject to the dioc-esan bishop.o #2. The permission ofthe Holy See is also re-quired for the valid alien-ationofgoodswhoseval-ue exceeds the maximum amount, goods given to the Church by vow, or goodspreciousforartisticor historical reasons.

Rule of Life:

123 The followingmattersshall be decided by the Superior General with the consent of his Ordinary Council:•[…]•Allfinancialtransactionsconcerning personal prop-erty or real estate involv-

ing amounts higher than the ceiling set by the Gen-eral Chapter and up to the amount authorized by the Holy See;•Any alienationof prop-erty or loan which re-quires the authorizationof the Holy See.

162TheInstitute,theProv-incesandthecommunitiesmay acquire, possess, ad-minister and alienate the temporal goods which are necessary or useful for at-taining their apostolic ob-jectives.163 The spirit of poverty, community life, and civil and canonical laws oblige us to observe certain rules in matters of administra-tion.

Acts of the General Chapter of the AugustiniansoftheAssumption-Rome,May 2-23, 2011

•182CeilingamountFor all financial transac-tions, concerning personalproperty or real estate, sale or loans, the provin-cial superior should seek the permission of the Su-perior General when the sum is equal or superior to three quarters of the ceil-ing amount set by the Epis-copal Conference of the country.

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.

PETITION TO THE VATICAN FOR THE ALIENATION OF PROPERTY

Here is a list of the items needed andotherinterestinginformation.a)aletterfromtheSuperiorGeneralas-kingfortheindultb) document or statement in the peti-tionshowingthattheSuperiorGeneralhasobtainedtheconsentofhiscouncilc)letterfromthediocesanbishopgivinghisopiniond) description of the alienation (Streetaddress,lotnumbers,orotherrelevantdetails)e) normally we need two external ap-praisalsofthecommercialvalueofthepropertyf) ifavailable, the identityof thebuyerand the amount agreed for the sale,whichshouldnotbelessthanthecom-mercialvalueunlessthereisagoodrea-sonforthis.Ifso,givethereason.You address the letter to the Prefect,CardinaldeAvis,attheCongregationforInstitutesofCons.Life....Ifthereisanurgentneedforananswer,youcouldsaysointhesup.gen’sletter,giveusthedateyouneeditbyandwewilltrytobequickandevenfaxyoutheindultwhenitisprepared.The charge is usually 0.1% of the saleprice,thatis,1€inevery1000.You would pay by check normally, butyoucouldpaybycash ifyouwantto, Iimagine.Iamnotsure.

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23

The Rome of Pope Francis is a work-ing city, and the

Due Pini community is not an exception to this rule. Through the summer, the work of transformation de-cided by the Plenary Gener-al Council were practically all brought to completion. This restoration included: the renovation of the guest rooms on the 2nd and 3rd floors of the main building (13 rooms), the replacing of 49 windows for a better insulation, the changing of the boiler and the instal-lation of voltaic panels to produce electricity. The general house is a general good of the entire Congre-gation. It is in some way the showcase, the house of the father of the family and each province according to its means contributed to this restoration. Soon we will have to foresee redoing the façade. May this example be followed in the houses that need renovation. Ev-erywhere, the buildings of the Congregation must be cared for. Poverty does not mean letting things go.To the exterior work was added that of our students. The summer months were studious for many of them. Fr. Marcinos finished his licentiate at the Biblical Institute and presented his work on the “project of a new Exodus in the Gospel according to Mark: read-ing of Mk 5/1-20”. He left Rome where he had arrived in 2010 to join the commu-nity of Sao Paolo (Brazil). Fr. Joao and Jackson profit-ed from the summer months

to deepen their knowledge of languages, one in Paris, the other in London. Lastly, Fr. Augustin participated in the animation of the Shrine of Lourdes before follow-ing in the footsteps of Fa-ther d’Alzon from Nîmes to Boxtel, with Fr. Julio Navarro as a guide.For the members of the Curia, the dispersion was the occasion for preach or to animate retreats in the four corners of the world. If Gilles made his pilgrim-age to the Holy Land, John and Luc preached in the United States, Bernard in Chile, Didier took charge of the animation and the formation of the treasurers of the communities in the Philippines and in Vietnam and Benoît, after his partic-ipation in the National Pil-grimage to Lourdes, made

his first Canonical Visita-tion to the communities of Vietnam. During that time, the community of the Ob-lates gave themselves the joy of gardening and an ex-ceptional crop of tomatoes. The face of our community of sisters changed on the feast of St. Francis of As-sisi, patron of Italy with the departure of Sister Lina for the Oblate community of Borgo Pinti in Florence and the arrival of Sisters Clara and Jeanine whom we wel-come. n

At the doors of Saint Peter`s

The retrofitting of two floors of the house has been completed.

AmeetinginSantaMarta

Thenewsdidnotmakethefirstpageofthenewspapers,andyet…ThemeetingbetweentheformerAssumptionistProvincialofFranceontheoccasionofthejubileeofhispriesthoodandthe“former JesuitProvincialofArgentina”pre-sentlyPopeFrancistookplaceonSeptember5.

“DonotbeafraidofchangingthingsaccordingtothelawoftheGospel!”urgedPopeFrancisattheconcelebratedMassatSaintMartha.Itisalwaysaquestionof“lettinggoofthebrokenstructures”andtakingnewwineskins,thoseoftheGospel”.ButletusleavethelastwordtotheGospel:“Theonewhohasdrunktheoldwineneverdesiresthenew.Forhesays:“Itistheoldthatisgood.”

Roma <<

OCTOBER 2014 nO 1424

The Provincial Assembly of Africa

Uganda

Official opening of the AA parishTheSaintCharlesLwangaParishofKyabakkade (DioceseofLugazi)wasconsecratedofficiallyonSundayAugust31,2014byArchbishopCyprianKIZITOLWANGAofKampala.ThisparishentrustedtotheAssump-tionistshastwopioneerfatherswhoworkthere“likefour”inthecountryofSaintCharlesLwangaandhiscompanions.TheymasteredthelocalLugandalanguageforcommunicationandfortheliturgy.Adreamhastodaybecomearealitybutitcontinuestocallforthekindlyattentionofallinordertoattainitsfullrealization.Thestilllackseatsforthechurch!(Fr.François)

The Provincial As-sembly of Af-rica was held

at Butembo from last August 23 to 25. It was slated to be an moment of getting together to see where things were at between two Provin-cial Chapters. After three years and waiting for the next chapter, it was a question of evaluating the orientations of the chapter of application of 2011 and to see what has been done since in order to be better able to face tomorrow’s chal-lenges. The discussions

took place in a brotherly atmosphere and a climate of listening to each other. The evaluation was nota-bly on the fundamental orientations given by the General Chapter of 2011. Can we be men of faith if we do not nourish our-selves with interior and community prayer and if we do not choose to discern by giving spiri-tual direction its proper place? Fr. Emmanuel Kahindo declared in one of his interventions: “Be-fore nourishing people from the outside… let us dialogue on the Word of God and extricate to-gether the message that the Spirit wants to give them!”In order to make commu-nion grow, the Province has set up a bureau for intervention in conflicts to which each commu-nity is invited to partici-pate: the CAREC (Cen-tre Assomptionniste de Résolution des Conflits) proposes its services to

all the communities and the works of the Prov-ince. In order to be in solidarity with the poor, the assembly notably en-couraged a greater inter-community solidarity and reminded to all its poor origins.In a Province where the median age is only 35, all hopes are permit-ted but the challenges to be faced are equally great. In order to prepare for tomorrow, in his fi-nal remarks, Fr. Protais Kabila, Provincial of Africa, underlined how much `we must develop the sense of listening , of dialogue, and of forget-ting ourselves and have fraternity as a priority our path. The day after this assem-bly, on Tuesday August 26, it was in the chapel of the Oblates of Mapen-dano in Makia wa Mb-ingu that the first profes-sion of ten Assumptionist novices was celebrated. n

>> Africa

Fr. Protais Kabila surrounded by the

newly professed for the Charles Lawanga

novitiateofButembo.

Beneath: the parish of the same name at

Kyabakkade (Uganda)

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The Wenger Colloquium in RomeA crossing of the 20th century and of its church

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.

Only five years ago, on May 22, 2009, at the age of almost 90

years, Fr. Antoine Wenger (1919-2009) died at the end of a very full life. In many ways, his example of an apostle of modern times can serve as a model and inspire the apostolic religious. Like many Alsatians who had fled the German occupation, he found himself in the South-west during the war when as a former alumnist he became an Assumptionist and was ordained in the cathedral of Agen (Lot-et-Garonne). Af-ter brilliant studies crowned with the defense of his the-sis in 1948 on the Assump-tion of the Blessed Virgin in the Byzantine tradition, he became a member of the French Institute for Byz-

antine Studies (IFEB). His research on Mount Athos led in 1955 to the discovery and the publication of the as yet unpublished “Baptismal Catechesis of Saint John Chrysostome.” But on Janu-ary 1957, he was called at a moment’s notice to the re-ligious editorship of the La Croix newspaper, post that he will occupy until 1968. That will be the rich period of the Vatican Council that he will follow step by step… After a brief period as pro-fessor at the University of Strasbourg (1969-1973) he was called to Rome as Ec-clesiastical Counselor of the Embassy of France to the Holy See. It was at the end of this period in Rome that he will have the joy of being called to Moscow at the Em-

bassy of France as specialist of religious affairs. Russia was undoubtedly his great-est passion as is revealed in his work Rome and Mos-cow, published in 1987. He will reside in Rome until 1999, before retiring to the South of France, at Lorgues, in the beautiful sun of Provence after a life rich by the functions he had, the re-lationships that he weaved, and the successes of his mis-sions, scientific, journalistic and diplomatic.It is on the occasion of the publication of the two vol-umes of his journal by Ma-dame Françoise Paoli that a colloquium will be held in Rome at the Villa Bonapar-te, next December 5th. This meeting is organized under 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.

Father Antoine Wenger with

Paul VI

History <<

OCTOBER 2014 nO 1426

>> Publications

Galabert Fourth Tome

The arrival of the first Oblates in the East

The tome IV of the let-ters of Father Victorin Galabert concerns the

years 1868-1871 The years of planting are succeeded by the years of germina-tion. 1868 was a leap year and in three letters dated on February 29, to Father d’Alzon, to Father Vincent de Paul Bailly and to the Abbé Carlo Testa, Father Galabert reports on an event that marks the be-ginning of that year: the death of Fr. Pantheleïmon (1793-1868) , a kind of Saint Vincent Ferrier of the East who had an im-mense influence, because of his holiness, on this simple, uncultured people and whom he will assist in his last moments. His funeral was the first public manifes-tation of the Bulgarian Cath-olic Uniates. Father Galabert will say about him that he was “successively a hermit on Mount Athos and in the Sinai, founder of schools in Rodosto, at Andrinopolis, creator of the convents of Psara, Samos, Athens, Thas-sos, Souadjak, and Mostrat-lya, so often exiled and im-prisoned by hate of the truth and of justice, he is sur-rounded in death by an halo of holy veneration by numer-ous disciples that he gath-ered around himself.” Also this year is marked by the arrival of the first five Ob-

lates who disembarked in the “marvelous and unknown” East, and by the development of the Assumptionist com-munity despite the death of the young Brother Benjamin at the age of 36. During his summer stay in France ac-companied by Bishop Popov,

he participates in the General Chapter in Nîmes. The fol-lowing year he goes to Rome to participate in the Vatican Council I as the theological counselor of his Bishop and becomes the translator for several Eastern bishops who don`t know Latin. His corre-spondence reveals the major role that he will play during the Council for all the partici-pants of the Eastern Church-es. 1870 marks the erection

of the Bulgarian Orthodox Exarchate, the military defeat of France against Prussia and the occupation of the Papal States by the troops of Gen-eral Cadorna with all the con-sequences that that will entail for the mission in the East.In this year that marks the

150th anniversary of the Oblates of the Assump-tion, it was normal to give voice to the Oblates, that is done in the prologue of the work signed by Sister Bernadetta Zediu, Conti-nental Superior of Europe. We also find an important and precious note on the presence of the Oblates in the East (p. 5-11), a syn-thesis on the mission of the Assumptionists in the East (p. 146-156) and the list of those who headed it (p. 307-309) and a note on the context of the Church

of the time both in its univer-sal aspect as well as its more specifically French aspect (p. 411-420). The letters ad-dressed to Father d’Alzon take the lion`s share: of the 68 written in 1968, 28 are to Father d’Alzon, in 1869 half of the 60, in 1870 there are 10 on 39, and in 1871 on 48 there are 31, that is a total of 99 of the 208 published in this work.

Bernard Le Léannec

1)LettresduP.VictorinGalabert,Tomequatrième,éditéparleP.Jean-PaulPerier-Muzet,Rome2014,555págs.2)VerlahistoriaquesobreélescribióelPadrePortalier:PaulChrist-off,Pantéleïmon.Histoire admirable d’un moine bulgare schismatique,Paris,1912,VI–140págs.

Fr. GalabertAugustinoftheAssumption

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On the occasion of its last session, on June 13 last

at Saint Lambert-des-Bois, the Plenary Gen-eral Council adopted the “Pathway of Life” pre-sented by the “Interna-tional Commission Lay-Religious” (see supple-ment CGP, no. 6, p. 6). It is now available on the Congregation`s Web-site in three languages: French, English and Spanish, and will be soon printed. The Pathway of Life gives the funda-mental dimensions, the “common bases” of the charism and of the spiri-tuality of the Assump-tion, that every Lay As-sumptionist must assume and live, whatever his or her age, culture, social

Florence – Bogota: A Pathway of Life

Two decisive meetings to allow the text destined for the Lay Assumptionists to be incarnated in their lives.

condition or formation. It is to be a synthesis of the broad lines that Fa-ther Emmanuel d’Alzon, inspired by Saint Au-gustine, proposes as the Gospel Path to all his disciples: Assumptionist religious, religious Ob-lates of the Assumption, Lay People of the Alli-ance who share the spirit and the mission of the Assumption.The Commission contin-ues its work and it next international meeting will take place in Flor-ence from October 27 to November 3. It will be the occasion to pres-ent the new International Responsible person, Mrs. Victoria Prada, examine the progress realized in the provinces, to propa-

gate the “Path of Life”, to establish a more pre-cise formation program, to prepare the canonical recognition of the Lay-Religious Alliance and the contribution of the laity at the next General Chapter of 2017. Ques-tions concerning com-munications and the fi-nances are also touched upon.This international meet-ing will be followed by the Hispano-Latin-American meeting which will take place in Bogota, (Columbia) November 17-23 and has three ob-jectives:- Bring the participants to reflect on their identi-ty of baptized and of dis-cipleship and what marks their relation to God and to others.- Dialogue on the way each one lives his/her Christian identity.- Find how to be an apos-tle today and answer the call of Jesus “to be with him and to preach with the power to chase de-mons” (Mk 3: 14-15).- These two meetings will allow a broader stimulus to the dynamism of this atmosphere of the As-sumption in the direction of the Laity of the Alli-ance. n

« VienneTonRègne »

The13thissueofthecollection“Vienne Ton Règne”hasjustbeenpublished.Itsthemeis:“Les laïcs de l’Assomption”andpresentsthetiesthatunitethelaityandthereligioussincetheoriginsoftheCongregationoftheAssumptionists.Itwasrealizedby theAssociationof theLaityof theAugustiniansof theAssumptionThebookletgivesanideaofthebroaddiversityoftheLayAssumptionistswhosegoalistobetter“go towards our contemporaries.”ThehistoryofthisAllianceispresentedbyFr.PatrickZagoanditstheologicalbasesbyFr.VincentLeclerqandMarie-ClaireRouquet.Vincent Fauvel presents the “Pathof Life” and the fourdimensionsof the lifeofaLayAssumptionist.Numeroustestimonies,practicalinformationandapresentationoftheareaofthemissioninFranceandintheworldcompletesinanattractivewaythelastbornofthispleasingcollection.

Insert: sIgns of god, no. 12

3 edItorIal

AYearoftheRuleofLife

2 agenda

4 offIcIal

5 the lIfe of the congregatIon

Letterno.3onBrotherhood

6 spIrItualIty

WalkingwiththeRuleisWalkingwithJesusChrist

9 the assusmptIon

TheQuestionofRiteintheAssumption WiththeChurchintheHeart

16 the east european mIssIon

AColloquiumontheIFEBinCucharest?ItIsByzantium

ThePointofViewoftheResearcher

19 asIa

FatherGeneralinVietnam

20 fInancIal dossIer

ThealienationofgoodoftheCongregation

23 rome

AtthedoorsofSaintPeter`s

24 afrIca

TheProvincialAssemblyofAfrica

25hIstory

TheWengerColloquiuminRome

26 publIcatIons

Galabert,TomeIV Florence-Bogota:APathofLife

Some practical suggestionsDon’tbeafraid:tobeginwith,youare not doing a human work. Sotrust in the Spirit that will trans-form your efforts. ‘Religious aremodest’: they don’t dare to saythattheyexpectawordoftheGos-pelfromyou.Look!Theyaremen!But,despitetheappearancestheyhope for it. If not thenwhat cantheyexpectfromyou?Purifyyourvision:practicelookingatyourbrotherswithGod’slook,alookthatgivestrust,thatseesthequalitiesfirstofall,thatwelcomeswithkindliness;insummary,alookthat invites to take another stepbecauseyoucan,mybrother.Each

time you are to meet someone,dressyoursoulwithgoodnessandpeace.‘See the positive and heighten it,thatencouragesgoingforwardandfixes itself inhispersonalitymorethanabunchofreproaches.‘Havebigears’tolisten,andifyoucan,havepatienceandtaketime.It isawayofbeingpoorwiththeother.‘Bediscreet’.Andthenafter,bedis-creet and do not be surprised byanything!‘Sharewhatyouhaveinyou.’Pray a lot for and with yourbrothers.

These rules are taken from a letter by Father Raphael Le Gleuher and quoted in the Notices biographiques, t. III, p. 1825.

Our Deceased BrothersBro. John Thomas McHugh died on August 13 at the St. Francis Rehabilitation. His funeral was celebrated in the Holy Spirit Chapel of Assump-tion College. He was buried in St. Anne’s Cemetery in Stur-bridge in the section reserved for the Assumptionists. He was almost 89.

Agostiniani dell’Assunzione - Via San Pio V, 55 - I - 00165 Roma Tel. : 06 66013727 - Fax : 06 6635924 - E-mail : Assunzione@mclink.it

Assunzione@mclink.it

So that AA Newscan “talk” about you,

please send information about the life

of the Assumption in your countries

to the General Secretariat

bll719@gmail.com before the end of each

General Council. Thanks especially

for sending photos and illustrations.

Translators:Eugene LaPlante, EnglishJosé Antònio Echaniz, SpanishKees Krijnsen, Dutch

Mock-up and page design:

Loredana Giannetti

Composed on 10/10/14.This no. 14 of AA-Newshas 220 copies:

130 in French30 in English30 in Spanish30 in Dutch

And 350 electronic copies

Editor in chief

Bernard Le Léannec, General Secretary