I am Brother Séverin AGOSSOU, born on November 27, 1972 at Djougou (Republic of Benin).

I attended school for the first three years, and then I learnt welding. I entered the monastery at Kokoubou (Benin) in 1995, and took my temporary vows for three years on August 15, 1999.

In 1996 I suffered from underfoot verrucas and went to Afagnan to be operated on by Brother Florent. One year later the problem returned. In 1997 I had to undergo a second operation, in Tanguiéta. And this marked the beginning of my Hospitaller vocation.

I was very poorly during the period I spent in hospital at Tanguiéta, and spent sleepless nights there. All around me I could hear the cries of distress of so many sick people suffering in pain, and this plunged me into the world of suffering. Then I asked myself why it was that sickness became so acute during the night? And why night seemed so endless?

From then onwards, the world of suffering became my passion and I felt attracted to trying to understand it, and to be able to ease the pain, even a little, of the suffering members of Christ. For I found Him in suffering people. Easing and soothing the suffering of the sick is a noble task. I have experienced the stripping and littleness of Christ in the suffering.

When I went back to the monastery I could not wrench myself from the world of the suffering. They filled my thoughts, my days. I shared this experience with my confessor, my prior, who advised me to spend time with the Hospitaller Brothers of Saint John of God.

I applied to stay with the Brothers for three months in 2002. They accepted me, and I began my stay with them in March 2002. This merely confirmed my strong desire to live at the service of the suffering members of Christ.

Then I requested admission to the Hospitaller Order of the Brothers of Saint John of God. I began my Postulancy on August 28, 2003 and entered the Novitiate on August 15, 2004. I made my temporary profession on August 14, 2006.

After temporary profession I went to Tanguiéta to study physiotherapy while waiting to take a professional nursing course for the good of the sick.

Since October 15, 2012 I have been at the auxiliary nursing school of the State of Afagnan taking a three-year nursing course.