Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Rome (Agenzia Fides) – In 2009, the Society of African Missions (SMA) will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the death of its founder, French Bishop Melchior de Marion Brésillac (1813-1859), who arrived in Freetown (Sierra Leone) on June 25, 1859. “We honor the memory of our Founder,” says SMA Superior General Fr. Kieran O'Reilly, “as we recall his untimely death and, at the same time, we recall the first “SMA Community” on Mission in Africa, that was wiped out in the space of a few short weeks in 1859.”
On December 8, 1856, in Lyons (France), at the Shrine of Our Lady of Fourviere, Bishop Melchior de Marion Brésillac, who was first Bishop of Coimbatore (India), and six companions consecrated themselves to the service of the missions and thus began the institute as a “society of apostolic life” of priests and lay brothers, open to candidates from every country, and in close collaboration with the Congregation for Propaganda Fide. In November 1858, the first three missionaries left for Sierra Leone, followed in March 1859 by Bishop Melchior de Marion Brésillac himself and another two missionaries. Not long after his arrival in Freetown, he caught yellow fever. In a matter of two months, all the missionaries died, including the Founder. His first collaborators took up the honor of spreading the SMA and making it progress.
SMA Superior General Fr. Kieran O'Reilly continues: “Looking back over the past 153 years, since our foundation, the missionary torch that has been passed to each generation has faced challenges and difficulties from different forces but never quenched. Ultimately, for us, like the founder, the Mission is God's, we are the agents called and chosen to carry the Good News, so that those to whom we are sent may come to know and love Him through Jesus Christ. Our hope and prayer is that we are, as the Founder and his companions were, ever open to doing the will of God.”
Another significant event for the SMA, indicated by the Superior General for the new year, is that of the creation of three new districts for Africa: Bight of Benin, Gulf of Guinea, and the Great Lakes, in substitution for former structures. The inauguration marks the end of a process of consultation that has gone on over the past four years. Thus, beginning January 1, 2009, they will enter into activity as New Councils. One of the most important aspects of this evolution, the General Superior continued, will be that of a wider representation of African members of SMA, at all levels of decision making. The new Units will address many of the issues that were raised during the consultive stages of the structures dialogue, allowing them to “make a significant contribution to the work of mission and the life of the SMA.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 16/12/2008)
