Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Diabo (Agenzia Fides) – The Redemptorist Sisters, founded in 1731 by Italian religious Mother Maria Celeste Crostarosa, are now present on all the continents of the world. In southern Africa, they are in Burkina Faso, with two contemplative communities, mostly formed by Sisters from Burkina Faso.
The first community was established in 1963 in Diabo. Two years earlier, Redemptorist Bishop Berlier of Niamey (Burkina Faso) had visited the monastery in Grenoble and had expressed his desire that a new contemplative community be formed in Africa, allowing the youth of the continent to consecrate themselves to this apostolate. Not long after, a second appeal was made by Redemptorist Apostolic Prefect of Fada N'Gourma, Bishop Chantoux, who had found land in Burkina Faso on which a monastery could be built. Thus, on January 8, 1963 the first five sisters left Marseilles to go to Africa. After 15 days' journey, they finally reached Diabo on February 2, being received with great affection by the parishioners and the local Bishops. On Easter of that same year, Bishop Chantoux became the first Prior of the new monastery, built on land that according to local tradition was sacred. Next to the monastery, there was the parish church, built in 1960. In 1965, the monastery of Grenoble sent another two sisters and the new Prior was appointed the following year.
In 1973, ten years after the first arrival of Sisters, the Redemptorists celebrated their first celebration of temporal vows of two African Sisters. They continued work on adding on to the monastery and building a chapel. In 1983, the chapel was blessed in a ceremony that also celebrated the perpetual vows of three Sisters. Meanwhile, in 1977, another monastery had been founded in Kiri, Archdiocese of Bobo Dioulasso. In 2002, the chapel of the monastery was inaugurated. The two monasteries of Diabo and Kiri now have 40 nuns, almost all of whom are from Burkina Faso. The Mother Prioress, responsible for the two communities, is also from Burkina Faso. (AM) (Agenzia Fides 21/11/2008)
