Solemn vespers with the Archbishop of Yaoundé: a successful introduction.
On December 5th, 2024, at Mvolyé, the Catholic faith citadel of the Capital city, the evening’s coolness descends and the hour is marked by thanksgiving. The Missionary Sisters of the Holy Spirit are celebrating the first centenary of their Congregation’s presence in Cameroon. The activities related to this century of missionary deployment will extend throughout the year.
This day commemorates, to the exact day, the anniversary of the pioneers’ arrival in Mvolyé. To highlight this milestone, Sister Marie Louise NDIME, District Superior, mobilized all her Communities in Cameroon for solemn Vespers. These were presided over by a distinguished guest, Archbishop Jean MBARGA, Metropolitan Archbishop of Yaoundé, in the Community chapel. The Rector of the Basilica of Mary Queen of Apostles and priests from the francophone Holy Spirit Parish of Mvolyé were also present.
The participatory presence of young novices from the Spiritan novitiate in Ngoya, united with the consecrated members of Mvolyé, school and dispensary collaborators, and numerous friends, added significant solemnity to these Vespers. This historic moment will certainly be recorded in the congregation’s annals, thanks to the presence of two Church historians from Cameroon: Professor Jean Paul MESSINA and Dr. Sister Gertrude KANA BELLA.
Beyond the excellent rhythm, the originality of these inaugural Vespers was the insertion of small excerpts from the Congregation’s history. The Superior’s reading, interspersed between Psalm singing, provided the praying assembly with a moving dive into the genesis of a missionary adventure a century old.
The intercessory prayer gave the large Spiritan Sisters’ Community, through Sister Helen’s voice, the opportunity to thank God for the inner strength and courage given to yesterday’s pioneers. They did not omit asking the Lord of the harvest to grant the same courage and self-denial to today’s missionaries.
“Never has the Lord done so much for a nation,” quoted from Archbishop François Xavier Vogt, the first apostolic vicar of Cameroon (1923-1943), was how Archbishop Jean MBARGA, amazed by the Missionary Sisters of the Holy Spirit’s founding faithfulness and genius, concluded the Vespers.
After a family photo of the Spiritan Sisters with the Archbishop in front of the altar, the visibly joyful guests were directed to the garden for a fraternal sharing. This moment of intense fellowship definitively gave the evening the fragrance of a fully lived communion between the centenary Community and the particular Church in Cameroon.
History will remember: these carefully prepared Vespers were, to the great satisfaction of the organizing Community, a beautiful introduction to the solemn opening of the Centenary, scheduled for December 7th at Mvolyé, to be led by Archbishop José Avélino BETTENCOURT, Apostolic Nuncio to Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea.
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