THE PROVINCE OF NORTH ITALY
Brother Ettore, the cause for beatification and canonisation will be opened
On Tuesday 19 December, at the Casa Betania delle Beatitudini of Seveso, the Archbishop of Milan, Msgr. Mario Delpini, will open the process relating to the Camilian Servant of God Br. ETTORE BOSCHINI.
We here publish the edict issued by the Diocesan Service for the Causes of Saints.
THE VICE-PROVINCE OF BENIN-TOGO
On 17 October 2017, at 15.00, our Camillian religious Fr. Epiphane Stéphane NAYETON, of the Vice-Province of BENIN-TOGO, completed his studies in clinical psychology of the life cycle at LUMSA University, Rome, with a thesis entitled ‘Psychological Trauma in Relation to the Development of the Islamic Fundamentalist Movement Boko Haram in the North of Nigeria’. Congratulations to our graduate!
ROME – ‘THE CHURCH OF ST. MARY MAGDALENE’
On Thursday 16 November 2017 the feast day of Mary ‘Salus Infirmorum’ will be celebrated at the Church of St. Mary Magdalene. Our church/rectory is the Mother church of the Order and conserves not only the spiritual memory and the body of our Founder Father, St. Camillus de Lellis but also seeks to cultivate and promote devotion to Mary Salus Infirmorum.
From the context of Marian elements present in the life of St. Camillus, one may deduce that the Blessed Virgin Mary for him was above all else the Mother of Holiness, a guarantees of the health of the body and the spirit, and every appointment of grace in him – his conversion, the original idea to found the Order, his thoughts about pain and suffering – found its source in a profound Marian dimension.
This feast day is especially dear to the spiritual tradition of our Order and to the many faithful who every day stand in prayer in front of the icon that we have kept for some centuries in our church.
The feast day will be preceded by a triduum of meditation and prayer.
The celebration of the Eucharist will be presided over by His Excellency Msgr. José Rodríguez Carballo, the Secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.
Cf. Prayer to our lady of health
Cf. Mary Health of the Sick in the spiritual experience of St. Camilus (Fr. Felice Ruffini)
PROVINCIA THAILANDESE
I Confratelli della comunità del seminario minore di Sriracha festeggiano solennemente i 7 martiri thailandesi (un gruppo di sette cattolici (un padre di famiglia, due suore e quattro laiche, del villaggio di Songkhon uccisi tra il 16 e il 26 dicembre 1940 per essersi rifiutati di abiurare la loro fede. Sono stati proclamati beati da papa Giovanni Paolo II nel 2001) insieme alla festa per i familiari dei giovani seminaristi.
THE VICE- PROVINCE OF PERU
On Sunday 15 October, our Camillian religious Arquimides Ramos Zurita was ordained a priest by Msgr. Alfredo Vizcarra in the cathedral of Jaén in the Department of Cajamarca (an area north-east of Lima). The Vice-Provincial Superior, Fr. Eduardo Morante, and our religious Fr. Ever Herrera, Fr. Meder Inga and Fr. Sixto Azabache, concelebrated at the event.
THE DELEGATION IN TANZANIA – THE PROVINCE OF GERMANY
12 and 13 October 2017 were two consecutive days of joy and fraternity in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, because of the celebration of the perpetual vows and ordination as priests of Raymond Athanass Mukhotya and Paschal Mapendo Kakule, both of whom belong to the Camillian Delegation of Tanzania of the Province of Germany.
The profession of perpetual vows of our two religious took place in the St. Camillus Parish of Yombo, Kiwalani, and was accepted by the Delegate Superior of Tanzania Rev. Fr. Festo Liheta Atanas. Brother Raymond is the fifth of ten children and comes from Singida (Tanzania); Brother Paschal, who is the sixth of eleven children, is the first Congolese Camillian of the Order. He was born in Goma, a huge city in the North-East of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The day after their perpetual profession, that is to say 13 October 2017, Brother Raymond and Brother Paschal were ordained deacons by His Eminence Cardinal Polycarp Pengo, the Archbishop of Dar Es Salaam, in the Church of Charles Lwanga of Dovya, a Camillian parish led by Fr. Camiel Neuray, one of the first missionaries who came to Tanzania from Holland in the late 1970s. The Camillian Delegation of Tanzania is made up of ten perpetually professed religious, five students with temporary vows, and two novices. Their activity ranges from pastoral work (the Muhimbili Hospital) to the administration of parishes (they have four) and on to the physical care for sick people (a dispensary), as well as the education of little children (a nursery school). These religious of ours manage this activity in places that are rather close to each other, located in a poor area of the capital Dar Es Salaam. At the present time, the Delegation is made up of just one community, but in November another community will be opened in Morogoro which will include students (of philosophy and theology) and a new parish (Fr. Paolo Guarise).
THE PROVINCE OF THAILAND – THE DELEGATION OF VIETNAM
On 8 October 2017, with a large participation by the faithful, in the chapel of the community of Samphran, Bangkok, the first religious profession of our Vietnamese religious Gerolamo Nguyen Dinh Can was celebrated. The Provincial Superior, Fr. Rocco Pairat Sriprasert, presided over the celebration. Everything took place with great solemnity.
THE PROVINCE OF SPAIN
After the celebrations for the perpetual religious profession of Francisco Berola and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the religious profession of Fr. Juan de Fuentes, which took place on Thursday 12 October 2017 on the feast day of ‘Our Lady of Pilar’, the religious of the Province of Spain announced the priestly ordination of Franklin Fuentes Huatangari which will take place on 16 December 2017 at the community of Tres Cantos (Madrid), with the laying on of hands and consecratory prayer of Cardinal Carlos Oroso Sierra, the Archbishop Madrid.
CADIS – THE BANGKOK CONFERENCE
We share with you news about the fourth annual conference on leadership organised by the Camillian Disaster Service International (CADIS) Foundation which will be held on 5-15 November 2017 at the Camillian Pastoral Care Center in Bangkok, Thailand. The subject of the meeting of this year for the heads and project managers of CADIS will be ‘Re-affirming our Vision and Strengthening our Strategies in the Reconstruction of Resilient Communities’. During this conference the following topics will be addressed: 1. the management of the development and the preparation of a project; 2. the drawing up of a proposal for a project; 3. the leadership of a ‘servant’; and 4. the intermediate assessment of a CADIS strategic plan. The conference will be in English. Your participation/support will be an important element for CADIS in growing and advancing in our mission in our Provinces/Delegations/organisations and in the Church in the world. There will also be special courses on Asia (the Philippines and Thailand) and Africa (Kenya), offered by selected members of CADIS (see enclosure).
Constructing the Camillian Disaster Service International at the level of Provinces/Delegations/organisations in the various countries in which we Camillians are present is of fundamental importance for us. This is the reason why we very much appreciate your presence and support.
DOWNLOAD HERE THE INVITATION AND THE PROGRAMME
THE CAMILLIANUM (Rome) 2017
On 30-31 October a meeting was organised for the inauguration of the thirtieth academic year of the Camillianum (the International Institute for the Theology of Pastoral Care in Health). The title of the meeting was: Pain and Suffering: Interpretations, Meaning and Care.
Taken from Vatican Insider News
‘Pain and Suffering: Interpretations, Meaning and Care’ is the title of the meeting organised by the International Institute for the Theology of Pastoral Care in Health, the Camillianum, to celebrate the thirty years of academic activity of this institution. This is an initiative that seeks to promote the Christian meaning of suffering in a pluralistic cultural context. Indeed, the horizon of hope and the commitment to explore and improve the conditions that help to relieve pain constitute the principal orientation contained in Christian faith.
The Camillianum – which is incorporated into the Pontifical Lateran University for the award of academic qualifications of a licence and doctorate in the theology of pastoral care in health as well as a diploma in advanced studies of pastoral care in health – has as its principal objective that of promoting a Christian civilisation of care in line with the approach of the pastoral charity that animated St. Camillus de Lellis. This is an academic pathway that in addition to offering instruments for cultural and theological debate also seeks to help students to embody a set of ideas and profound perceptions that are needed in interpersonal relationships and in listening to people who are suffering.
Among the principal aspects that on 30-31 October 2017 in the ‘Emido Spogli’ aula magna of the Camillianum this meeting wants to illuminate, there is the experience of suffering from the human, therapeutic and Christian point of view. When we have pain in front of us there are no explanations, the Dean Palma Sgreccia will emphasise, and faith constitutes a troubled starting point, a commitment to a collective search for conditions that help to relieve pain. Pain, in addition, teaches us finitude, from which we learn teaching about limitations, the moderation of behaviour, and the responsibility to provide care that is balanced, avoiding abandonment and exaggerated treatment.
The experience of pain also requires courage, avoiding fleeing in the face of suffering and the remote possibility of a failure of treatment, but it also means a capacity and a determination to implement all means that are available. The Christian meaning of suffering is nearness, compassion, a response of love in the light of the Cross of Christ, which is not satisfaction at suffering but, instead, an expression of a readiness to suffer with.
The publication during the pontificate of John Paul II of the apostolic letter Salvificis doloris (11 February 1984) and the motu proprio Dolentium hominum (11 February 1985), by which the Pontifical Commission for Pastoral Assistance to Health Care Workers (which subsequently became a Pontifical Council), were decisive factors in the foundation of the Camillianum.
During the two days of the meeting various academic authorities, medical doctors, theologians and representatives of the ecclesiastical hierarchy of an international level will make their contributions. ‘Socio-health-care humanism promoted through the theology of pastoral care in health’, Palma Sgreccia will make clear, ‘is nourished by dialogue and exchange in a pluralist context that invites us to search for possible convergences, without generating oppositions with the secularised world or other religious cultures. The pathways of studies of the Camillianum explore from many points of view the subjects of health, of illness, of suffering, of evil, of care, of healing, of hope and of salvation’
The meeting will examine pain and suffering and the possibility that these can become a setting for solidarity with other people and with God; a setting of trust and hope. ‘We must not think that pain’, wrote the French philosopher Emmante thuel Mounier, ‘is something that is ripped from us; rather it is something that we give…Days full of unknown grace’.
- Prolusion of the Moderator General, Fr. Leocir Pessini
- Homily of Fr. Leocir Pessini during the thanksgiving celebration of the Eucharist.
PROVINCIA BURKINA FASO
Ouagadougou, 27 ottobre 2017. Il confratello p. Jacques Simpore viene insignito di onorificenza da parte del governo burkinabe’ per l’eccellenza del suo servizio educativo di ricerca e di insegnamento.
THE PROVINCE OF ROME– the ‘St. Camillus’ Parish
On Sunday 29 October 2017, Fr. Sergio Palumbo entered the parish community of the ‘St. Camillus’ Basilicata as the new parish priest, taking the place of Fr. Luigi Secchi who for many years accompanied and animated the life of this Christian community.
THE DELEGATION IN TAIWAN
On 5 October, in the aula magna of the Urban University of Rome, the Camillian religious of Taiwan were awarded a prize by the ambassador of Taiwan to the Holy See, Matthew Lee, for their contribution to the development of the society of Taiwan on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the foundation of diplomatic relations between the Vatican and the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan. In 1922 the Holy See sent Archbishop Celso Costantini to China as the first Apostolic Delegate of the country. His principal function was to supervise the work of Catholic missionaries in various parts of continental China.
In 1942 the then legitimate government of the Republic of China and the Holy See established diplomatic relations. In 1949, with the withdrawal of the government of the Republic of China to Taiwan and the birth of the People’s Republic of China, two mutually independent regimes were born on Chinese national territory. After various vicissitudes, the then Apostolic Delegate, Archbishop Antonio Riberi, at that time in Nanking, went to Taiwan in 1952 to begin his mission as Apostolic Internuncio in the Republic of China. This is the origin of the current diplomatic relations between the Holy See and the authorities of Taiwan.
On 10 October 2017, the one hundred and sixth anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of China in Taiwan, Fr. Giancarlo Michelini was invited to take part in the celebration as a representative of the Camillians.
On 14 October the excellence of our nursing school of Lotung was celebrated: one of our students received the prize of being the best trained student in the field of public assessment of this area organised by the government.
On 22 October the Archbishop of Taipei raised our Church of St. Camillus to the dignity of a ‘sanctuary’.
THE LAY CAMILLIAN FAMILY
Following the agreement of the CCLCF, a subcommitte was formed to progress the Second Formation Manual. The sub committe members are Marie-Christine Brocherieux (CCLCF President ), Anita Ennis (CCLCF Vice President), Rosabianca Carpene (former President CCLCF),Fr Laurent Zoungrana (General Consulta and Spiritual Assistant CCLCF).
THE LAY CAMILLIAN FAMILY (LCF) IN PAKISTAN
On 7 October 2017 the Lay Camillian Family of Pakistan met for spiritual formation. The Camillian religious Fr. Mushtaq Anjum – from Pakistan – shared with them the story of St. Camillus, also offering to the new members of the LCF ideas about Camillian spirituality.
Mrs Asia Aslam and other members shared their experiences of service to the sick in nearby villages as well. They continue to work and serve in line with the commandment of love inspired by God and the spirituality of St. Camillus.
According to what they are able to do, they provide medical products free to those people most in need and help sick people go to hospital. The members of the Lay Camillian Family use all their resources and connections, with the government as well, to help sick and poor people in the best way possible.
The members of the LCF, under the guidance and with the coordination of Mrs Asia Aslam, expressed their commitment to reviving the charismatic ‘St. Camillus’ prayer group. In the past this group was very active and present in the homes of families with different forms of prayers for healing.
At the end of the meeting, books on the life of St. Camillus in Urdu were also distributed, as well as other forms of Camillian literature.
The Lay Camillian Family of Pakistan on the move to preach the Gospel and heal the sick
Okara. On 22 October 2017, on the occasion of the feast day of Our Lady of Mercy, a spiritual meeting took place in the Parish of Our Lady of Mercy, in Okara, Pakistan. This parish belongs to the Diocese of Faisalabad. On the second day of this spiritual meeting, Fr. Kamran Taj, the Vicar General of the diocese, presided over the celebration of the Eucharist. Hundreds of people took part, coming from nearby villages and parishes.
On this occasion, the LCF- Pakistan, and lay fellow workers, carried out a free medical mission, offering care to about eighty patients. Amongst other things, free medical products and diagnostic tests were provided for various kinds of pathologies. Sixty patients were vaccinated against hepatitis B and twenty people had tests for the diagnosis of malaria. Some of them were taken to the hospital for more advanced care.
MADAGASCAR
On Saturday 21 October 2017, Msgr. Fulgence RABEMAHAFALY, the Archbishop of Fianarantsoa, celebrated the inaugural Holy Mass for the EVA (Education in Life and Love) Centre and emphasised the value of this institution for human and Christian growth and advancement.
ROME – THE INTERNATIONAL MEETING OF PROVIDERS OF FORMATION AND ANIMATORS OF VOCATIONS – 12-18 OCTOBER 2017
Prolusion of the Superior General, Fr. Leocir Pessini
Papers by Fr. Pascual Chavez S.D.B.
Paper by Laurent Ouedraogo M.I.
INTER-CONGREGATIONAL CAMILLIAN MEETING
Following the communion style of Camillian inter-Congregational relations, on 25 November 2017, at the generalate house of the Daughters of St. Camillus in Grottaferrata (Rome), a meeting will be held of the Superior Generals, and their respective councils, of the men Camillians, the Daughters of St. Camillus, the women Ministers of the Sick, the Handmaids of the Incarnations, and the women Missionaries of the Sick ‘Christ the Hope’. The subject of the meeting will be ‘One Charism and many Faces’ (the spiritual-charismatic area). The chairwoman will be Sr. Riccarda Lazzari (in the morning). The objective will be to analyse and share the ‘common’ challenges and expectations that affect our institutes (the practical-technical area). The chairman of this will be Fr. Aris Miranda (in the afternoon).
DIARY OF THE SUPERIOR GENERAL AND THE GENERAL CONSULTA
On 26 November to 1 December 2017, Fr. Leocir Pessini and Fr. Laurent Zoungrana will take part in the meeting of the Delegates and the providers of formation of the Camillian communities of Anglophone Africa (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania).
LETTER FROM THE GENERAL SUPERIOR OF THE ORDERTO THE CAMILLIAN DELEGATION OF THE U.S.A.
Seconda visita pastorale, Milwaukee (U.S.A.) 19-24 ottobre 2017
A CURIOSITY FROM OUR HISTORICAL ARCHIVES
The privilege of the ‘portable altar’ to celebrate the Eucharist in the rooms of sick people granted to the religious of our Order (26 July 1905).
PUBLISHING SUGGESTION
Leocir Pessini – Bioética Tecnologia e genética
Série Bioética – Volume 5
Organizadores: Daiane Priscila Simão –Silva e Leo Pessini
Uma descoberta revolucionária na área genética – A CRISPR – CAS9: em confronto – o entusiasmo científico e interro gações éticas!
REB Revista eclesiástica brasileira
Bioética, humanismo e pós-humanismo no século XXI. Em busca de um novo ser humano?
P. Leocir Pessini
MEETINGS OF THE ORDER OF CAMILLIANS (2014 -2020)
DECEASED RELIGIOUS
‘See, now they vanish, the faces and places, with the self which, as it could, loved them. To become renewed, transfigured, in another pattern’ (T.S. Eliot).
Fr. VELOCINO ZORTEA
Father Velocino Zortea was born in Capinzal, SC, on 8 July 1930, the son of Efigênia Comaquio Zortea and Antonio Zortea. He was baptised in the Parish of St. Paul the Apostle in Capinzal on 21 December 1930 and received the sacrament of confirmation on 21 December 1937.
He entered the St. Camillus Seminary of Iomerê, SC, on 13 February 1944. Three years later, in 1947, he was moved to Villa Pompei where he completed his secondary schooling. On 2 February he entered the novitiate of the Camillians at Villa Pompéia, San Paolo, SP, and took his first religious vows on 4 February 1951. From 1951 to 1952 he studied philosophy at the Camillian studentate.
In 1953 he was moved to Italy (Mottinello) where he studied theology at the Theological Institute of the Province of Lombardy and Veneto. He made his perpetual profession in Mottinello on 11 February 1954. On 31 March 1956 he was ordained a deacon and on 17 June 1956 he was ordained a priest.
Download here the complete obituary
Fr. Lorenzo Rattin
(1933-2017)
Lorenzo Ratting was born on 8 October 1933 in Valle S. Floriano di Marostica (VI). His father, Vigilio, and his mother, Speranza Bragagnolo, had their home in Mottinello di Galliera Veneta (PD).
Following in the footsteps of his brother Leonardo, he entered the Camillian seminary of Villa Visconta di Besana Brianza (MI) on 16 October 1944. After junior school he was admitted to the novitiate on 14 July 1949 in Verona in the Casa di San Giuliano where he made his first religious profession of temporary vows on 15 July 1950. On 4 October 1954 he received his diploma from the Liceo Classico delle Scuole delle Stimmate in Verona. For his studies in theology he then went to the major Seminary of Mottinello in Rossano Veneto (VI) where on 1 April 1956 he made his perpetual profession and where on 21 December 1957 he was ordained a deacon by Msgr. Girolamo Bortignon. The same bishop from Padua ordained him a priest in Cittadella (PD) on 22 June 1958.
From 14 October 1958 onwards, Fr. Lorenzo exercised the ministry of chaplain at the sanatorium of Chievo in Verona. At the end of October 1959 he went to the Scuola Apostolica of Castellanza (VA) as the teacher of the aspirant brothers. In October 1962 he went to the Seminary of San Vito of Pergine Valsugana (TN). In 1963 he went to the St. Camillus Parish of Padua as assistant to the parish priest and as a teacher at the Professional Institute of the city. In October 1965 he was officially appointed the assistant priest of the parish. On 11 October 1966 he was appointed chaplain of the ‘Maddalena’ INPS Sanatorium of Rovigo. On 10 October 1963 he moved to the house of Bologna to enrol in the Faculty of Medicine. On 16 March 1988 he was awarded a degree in medicine and surgery at the University of Milan. From that date onwards, after moving to the St. Camillus Nursing Home of Milan, for almost three decades he was a medical doctor in addition to being a chaplain at a community of sisters in Cottolengo. After a summer malaise, which he concealed in line with his temperament, he had a major heart attack. Within a week this led to his death on the morning of 31 October 2017.
At a certain moment on his Camillian journey, Fr. Lorenzo, who was rather ‘lay’ in style, even in the way he dressed, felt a wish to exercise the charism of the Order by uniting care for souls with care for bodies. After becoming a medical doctor, he was able to pursue this vocation by working closely with the health workers of the nursing home. He accompanied this activity will an interest in the health of many elderly people who sought him out and were grateful to him and whom he visited in their homes as well.
His pastoral hortus was almost exclusively the Provincial generalate house of the sisters of Cottolengo, to whom his loyalty was ‘Teutonic’. He did everything he could to ensure that he was not replaced by one of his confreres. A keen sensitivity, which made criticisms especially painful to him, was probably the cause of a certain reticence of his and a distancing of his confreres from his apostolate and his life, even though he respected the need to be present during shared moments of prayer and meals.
On the other hand, he maintained very strong ties with his family, starting with his brother Father Leonardo with whom he cultivated a love and passion for Valtellina, in particular the area of Chiuro where he willingly spent his weekends and holidays and where he also engaged in a parallel pastoral care during the strong periods of the liturgical calendar. In Valtellina he learnt to love mountains and walks in natural surroundings. His other great love was classical music, a heritage of his family which numbered various musicians. He himself was an amateur violin player and recently he even organised in that beloved parish of his in Valtellina a concert for his family relatives who were musicians.
On his desk there is a quotation from H. Berlioz: ‘Love cannot give an idea of what music is. Love can give an idea of what music is’. Behind the thick lenses of his spectacles and his thoughtful and shy eyes, he had found ways that were especially suited to him by which to express and give voice to his deepest and most hidden feelings.
October was always the month of his moves. As a man of music, aware that a tempo has to be maintained once a piece is begun, he did not want to ruin the finale: his final move, this time towards our shared Homeland, took place in October, near the feast day of the deceased and the glorious feast day of saints in heaven.
His funeral will take place on 3 November:
At 10.00 with a Holy Mass at the St. Camillus Sanctuary
At 15.00 with a Holy Mass at the parish of Mottinello
His body will be buried in the cemetery of Galliera Veneta (PD)
‘Now they live in Christ whom they met in the Church, followed in our vocation, and served in the sick and the suffering. Trusting that the Lord, the Holy Virgin our Queen, St. Camillus, the Blessed Luigi Tezza, the Blessed Giuseppina Vannini, and our deceased religious brothers and sisters, will welcome them in their midst, we commend them in our prayers, remembering them with affection, esteem and gratitude’.
PRAYER FOR THE VICTIMS OF ALL TYPES OF DISASTERS
For all the victims of all types of disasters, for people who have lost their lives, for their loved ones, for the survivors, and for all those who work to provide help, we pray:
God in heaven, who has created and who preserves every existence,
You know all of our sadness and our suffering. May all the victims of all types of disasters be welcomed in your peace! Receive, we pray, in your mercy, our very many brothers and sisters buried by the forces unleashed by nature. Lead them to your home!
Comfort the pain of so many families, dry the tears of so many brothers and sisters, offer protection to the loneliness of so many orphans. Instil courage into everyone so that pain is transformed into a journey of growth and hope.
Generate in the hearts of Christians and all men and women of good will the wish to act so that the wounded and those who suffer because of these calamities experience the comfort of fraternal solidarity.
You who live and reign for ever and ever.
Amen.
Our Father – Hail Mary – Glory
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