VATICAN - Meeting on Blessed Paolo Manna at the Pontifical Urban College: "Go out of yourself" and follow and bear witness to Christ

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - He was a missionary in Burma (Myanmar), Superior General of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions (PIME) and founder of the current Pontifical Missionary Union. These are the main biographical details of Blessed Paolo Manna, whose feast is celebrated today, Thursday 16 January, on the 152nd anniversary of his birth (16/1/1872).
Born in Avellino, southern Italy, after completing his studies and being ordained a priest in Milan in 1894, at the age of only 22, Father Manna went to Burma (now Myanmar), where he "sowed the seeds" of the Gospel among the Ghekkú tribe. In the 12 years of his missionary activity, he returned to Italy three times for serious health reasons (he suffered from tuberculosis); In 1907, to his great regret, he stayed there for the last time before returning definitively to Italy. He had dreamed of mission among non-Christians and had to humbly accept his condition and his own limitations, entrusting his whole life to the work of redemption through which Christ himself mysteriously works in the lives of men and peoples. This aspect of his existence and experience will be the focus of a missionary prayer and reflection next Sunday, January 19, organized by the Pontifical Missionary Union (PUM), one of the four Pontifical Mission Societies, in collaboration with the International Center for Missionary Animation (CIAM) and the Pontifical Urban College. At 6.30 p.m., solemn Sunday Vespers will be celebrated, followed by a panel discussion entitled "Father Manna and his going out of himself as a missionary of Christ the Hope" "In the life and thought of Blessed Paolo Manna, the going out of himself is shown in the docility to accept the Lord's inspirations, both in the missionary vocation when, as a young priest, he went and worked in Burma, and in the acceptance of the Lord's new inspirations to continue his missionary commitment in his homeland when his health no longer allowed him to follow his original vocation," says Father Dinh Anh Nhue Nguyen (OFMConv), Secretary General of the Pontifical Missionary Union. Father Anh Nhue underlines "the humility with which, at every moment of his life and in every situation, Blessed Father Manna listened to the Lord's will, accepted it and put it into practice. As Saint John Paul II said, Paul Manna is a shining example of apostolic boldness. Driven by ardent love for Christ, he founded a new Society [i.e. the Missionary Union], pointing to previously unknown possibilities and bold new horizons of mission (Address to the participants in the Plenary Assembly of the Pontifical Mission Societies, 11 May 2001)" The speakers at the Round Table are Father Armando Nugnes, Rector of the Pontifical Urban College, Father Alessandro Brandi, Official of the Pontifical Society of St. Peter the Apostle and Director of CIAM, and Father Anh Nhue himself, who explains: "The round table is intended first and foremost to be a dialogue between all those who will take part in the initiative, especially because the chosen theme is an opportunity for everyone, especially for the seminarians of the Pontifical Urban College, to delve deeper into the theme of their current year of formation, 'Called to Hope': going out of oneself to be credible missionaries in the light of the life experience and thought of Blessed Manna". Finally, the evening of missionary reflection and prayer aims to enrich the concrete initiatives of the ongoing missionary formation launched by the Pontifical Missionary Union in collaboration with CIAM for priests, religious and faithful from all over the world, as well as for the pilgrims who will stay during the Holy Year in the Center named by Pope Paul VI after Blessed Paolo Manna. (EG) (Agenzia Fides, 16/1/2024)

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