On
1 May 2023, the Feast of St Joseph the Worker, Patron of Workers, and St
Richard Pampuri, Patron of the Interprovincial and Regional Novitiate of Africa
and of the African Province of the same name, 13 young candidates entered the
Novitiate at Agoé-Nyivé Lomé (Togo), coming from three Provinces of the Order:
the African Provinces of St Augustine and St Richard Pampuri, and the French
Province's candidates from Madagascar.
The admission
ceremony was held during Morning Prayer, in the company of a large congregation
of Brothers and Co-workers who had come for the occasion. This was followed at
9 a.m. by the profession of simple vows by 11 novices from Benin, Madagascar,
Malawi, Senegal and Togo. Brother André Sčne presided at Mass in the presence
of a large number of priests and the provincial Superiors: Brother Donatus
Forkan, Brother Paulinus and Brother Hugues, the Provincials of Western Europe,
St Augustine and St Richard Pampuri , and Brother Jean Guillaume representing
the French Provincial , together with a large number of Brothers, Co-workers,
relatives and acquaintances from Benin, Ghana and Togo.
The admission
of these new candidates brings the total number of novices in the Novitiate to 28:
15 in their second year, and 13 in the first. Let us pray that Our Lord will
accomplish in them the work He has begun.