Dear relatives and friends of the Xaverian missionaries,
hristmas is drawing near and, with our annual letter, we wish to share our family news with you, the members of our extended family and our greatest benefactors. You constantly show us your interest and affection and we are truly grateful for the support of your prayers. We too shall remember you to the Lord.
On behalf of all the Xaverians, I wish you a very Merry Christmas. We shall remember you on Christmas Day and we shall ask Jesus, the Son of God and Son of Mary, to fill your hearts with hope and help you face the difficulties, large and small, that life throws our way.
As is our yearly custom, we now wish to share with you some news about our missionary
family scattered all over the world.
On 3 December, the Feast of St. Francis Xavier, our patron and model, we begin a
jubilee year of celebrations to mark the 500th anniversary of his birth
(April 7th, 1506). During this year we shall strive to strengthen the spirit of this great missionary in ourselves and in the Church. All our missions are preparing various initiatives to give life to the words Francis Xavier once wrote to his confreres in Rome: “it occurs to me that I should travel round the Universities of Europe … and shout like a madman wherever I go, in order to rouse the consciences of those who have neither intelligence nor charity”. St. Francis Xavier was right to say that it is charity that saves the world and we, his disciples, are called to live it as he did.
Next summer we shall also hold a Conference on Spirituality to help us grow, as Xaverians, in this charity towards God and the brothers. About fifty
Xaverians of all ages, from all our missions, will gather in our house in northern Italy, for this Conference and we ask you to pray for its success. The world needs men led by the Spirit; we therefore hope that this Conference, together with all the celebrations during this Xaverian year, may help us to strengthen the spiritual legacy handed on to us by our Founder. During the year 2006, we shall celebrate the 75th anniversary of Conforti’s death.
St. Francis Xavier was right to say that it is charity that saves the world and we, his disciples, are called to live it as he did.
We recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the martyrdom of our two confreres, Frs. Ottorino Maule and Aldo Marchiol, and Katina Gubert, a lay
missionary who worked with them. They were killed in Burundi, on 30 September 1995, simply because they worked for peace among people who were tormented by war. We believe that their blood is now producing good fruits. This year the lengthy
negotiations finally produced a peace agreement.
The year that is drawing to a close also gave us, as always, some happy and sad
moments. At all times we felt accompanied and sustained by Divine Providence.
The first Cameroonian Xaverian left for the mission in Colombia. In Bangladesh
the confreres are presently preparing for the priestly ordination of the first Bangladeshi Xaverian. At the same time,
Burundi has welcomed the first four young candidates to the Xaverian life.
This year 20 young men of various nationalities entered our missionary family
by making their First Profession; among them is the first young Xaverian from Sierra
Leone. Another 17 young men made their life-long consecration to God for the mission with their Final Profession and
9 young Xaverians were ordained priests.
Currently, there are more than 100 young men studying in our novitiate and theology communities. They will one day continue the work of proclaiming the
Gospel to the whole world begun by our family 110 years ago. We thank the Lord for these young men, who fill us with joy and encourage us to be more faithful to Him.
During this year the Lord called the following confreres to Himself: Fr. Vincenzo Mitidieri (missionary in Brazil, died in Parma,
Feb. 11, age 73),
Fr. Olivio Pietro Stragliati (missionary in Sierra Leone and Brazil, died in Parma,
March 15, age 83),
Fr. Domenico Nicoliello (missionary in Sierra Leone, died in Parma, May
15, age 84),
Fr. Ampelio Gasparotto (missionary in China and Bangladesh, died in Khulna, Bangladesh,
July 14, age 92),
Fr. Edmondo Lamanna (missionary in Bangladesh and Brazil, died in Curitiba, Brazil,
Sept. 29, age 75),
Fr. Giulio Mattiello (missionary in Sierra Leone, died in Vicenza, Italy,
Oct. 2, age 79),
Fr. Giuseppino Mattu (missionary in Burundi and Cameroon, died in Parma,
Oct. 11, age 58),
Fr. Giuseppe Zanardi (missionary in Mexico, died in Guadalajara, Mexico,
Nov. 12, age 75) and
Fr. Silvano Zennari (missionary in Bangladesh and Brazil, died in Parma,
Nov. 26, age 73). We know and believe that they now intercede for us with the Father.
These are some of the gifts we have received from the Lord during this past year. On Christmas Day we shall place them at the feet of the
infant Jesus, together with all the happy and sad events experienced by each of your families. As we do this, we trust that the Lord will accompany all of us with his love and his grace during the new year.
On behalf of the entire Xaverian family, especially the General Direction, I wish you a Christmas full of life and peace.
Merry Christmas,
(From Xaverian News)