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Centenary of the Assumption in Romania
To the religious of Romania
Italia
A centenary that allowed the Assumption to «breathe with both lungs».
My dear brothers,
One hundred years ago, a religious adventure began. Religious, moved by the Spirit and responding to the calls of the Greek-Catholic Church of Romania, settled in this land for life and mission. In fact, this mission has the special privilege of having been already in 1862 in the mind of our founder, who planned to visit Bucharest as early as February 1863 (cf. L'aventure missionnaire assomptionniste, p. 134.) It's a story that is therefore more than a hundred years old. More than a hundred years that evoke so many personal and collective memories, made up of joys and difficulties. Today, as we celebrate these hundred years, the signs that give us hope are still there.
It was in September 1923 that Fathers Évrard Évrard and Adémar Mercks arrived in Blaj from the Constantinople mission, thus inaugurating a series of Byzantine rite establishments in Transylvania: after Blaj, Beius (1924) then Lugoj (1926), finally settling in Bucharest in 1934, where they were joined in 1938 by our prestigious Institute of Byzantine Studies, established outside Turkey. It is impossible to mention these dates without immediately adding that of the arrival of our Oblate sisters in Beius in 1925, for a mission that will always be close to ours, in the great and beautiful tradition of the "Mission of the East".
As we celebrate our centenary in Romania, we pay tribute to our confreres who have been great actors in the mission, whether in foundations or through persecution. Allow me to mention a few quiet heroes of the Assumptionist missionary adventure in this country: those who came from the West, such as Évrard Évrard, Adémar Mercks, Léandre Gayraud, Maxence Peyron, Judicaël Nicolas, Louis Barral or Austin Streamer, and our Romanian brothers such as Emilian Indrea, Cristea Vasile, Ioan Axente, Petru Barsan or Roman Ban, as well as Fathers Ioan Aron, Stefan Berinde, Iosif Zahan, Bernard Stef and so many others. I would also like to mention those who participated in our foundation in Moldova after the fall of communism, in Margineni, in particular Fr. Hervé Stéphan, former Superior General, and Fr. Maurice Laurent, who has just left us.
For several years now, the Mission of the East has always occupied a place in our reflections on the future of our Congregation, as witnessed by the last General Chapters. In 2017, we reaffirmed the importance of our mission here: "Under the impulse of the St. Peter - St. Andrew Center in Bucharest, the Mission of the East, our oldest mission, has a vocation to help the whole body of the Assumption to breathe with both lungs." (General Chapter 2017, n. 13). And at the 34th General Chapter last June, when the same questions about our presence and mission in the East were again raised, the response continued to be full of Faith and Hope: "The Mission of the East is an important mission for the Catholic Church and, as such, must be preserved and strengthened."
During this Chapter, we had the joy of a private audience with the Pope on June 22. Pope Francis reminded us once again of the importance of our mission in the East: "I encourage you to continue this mission in the Middle East, where the situation of Christians is threatened, and in Eastern Europe, where the war in Ukraine endangers the civil and religious equilibrium of the region". Love for the Church and her Unity, the main element of our charism, stimulates, motivates, and sustains our hope for the future of our Congregation here. There is no doubt that the work and visits during these days of the centenary will allow us to deepen it even more. I greet all the participants in these days, which will open tomorrow on the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, patroness of our Mission of the East.
To all the brothers and sisters, religious and lay, who, by their modest collaboration in the mission of the whole Church and of the Assumption in particular, have agreed to keep our hope alive, I want to express my deep gratitude: the whole Congregation is with you. My prayers are with you. May the Spirit, who led our Founder Emmanuel d'Alzon to envision a foundation in Romania, help you to continue to believe in the importance of our mission in this land, and give you the strength to continue despite certain signs of discouragement. May our Mother the Virgin Mary intercede for the Assumption in Romania.
Fraternally yours.
P. Ngoa Ya Tshihemba
Superior General
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