Since Thursday last week, our Sisters have been in Chemy, a small village in the north of France where three anniversaries come together: one hundred and seventy years since the founding of the Society of African Missions, one hundred and fifty years since the founding of our own congregation, and two hundred years since the birth of Augustin Planque, our founder, born in this same village.
The visit was two years in the planning, worked out in conversation with the people of Chemy well before this pilgrimage began. Sisters and Fathers travelled from nearly twenty-five countries to be there. On Saturday 25 July, the day of Father Planque’s birth, they gathered for Mass in the village church, and stood at the house where he was born and the farm where he grew up, both still standing, though the house passed out of the family’s hands some years ago. Fifteen young OLA Sisters made their first vows that same day.
The celebrations began in Benin and moved through several stages before reaching the village where both congregations trace their beginning.
“Today it’s been a day of great joy for the OLA Sisters, particularly those of us who are here in Chemy. Two hundred years since the birth of our founder, Father Augustin Planque, here in this beautiful little village. It’s a very special day in the life of OLA and SMA, because he, along with [Melchior de Marion Brésillac – please confirm this name, the audio was unclear], planted the seeds that today bore wonderful fruit. We are here from all parts of the world. There’s a great sense of joy, there’s a great sense of connection. The village have really come out to welcome us, and so we are giving thanks for what they have sown, but we are also sowing again something new, calling us into the future to continue to live our missionary calling, our missionary zeal. It’s also a very special day for OLA, as our fifteen novices make their first vows on this twenty-fifth of July, the anniversary of the birth of Planque. It has become a very significant date for all of us, and so we pray, through him, that we will all be inspired by his commitment, by his love of mission, to continue to do what we are called to do today.”
Sr Mary T Barron OLA, Congregational Leader