Receptions of habit, Professions and Ordinations 2021

Brother François-Xavier CAZALI, Prior General, the Brothers of Saint John and the families of the brothers are happy to announce:

The perpetual vows of:

Frère Elijas BUTKUS (Lithuania)
Saturday May 22 in Vilnius, Lithuania

Julien DJITENA DAGSA (Togo)
Olivier SOLETÉ EKOÉVI (Togo)
Samuel AMARE LEYKUN (Ethiopia)
Sébastien KENGNE NGONG (Cameroon)

Saturday May 22 at the novitiate of Our Lady of Light in Simbock (Cameroon):

 

Followed by the simple profession of five the brothers:

Alde-Épiphane AMEGANVI KOFI (Togo)
Francis-Marie DJOKA KOMLA (Togo)
Jean-Pascal AGBESSI (Togo)
Patrice-Marie NARMA (Cameroon)
Vincent de Paul KOUADIO ADJANE (Ivory Coast)

Saturday May 22 at the Noviciat of Our Lady of Light in Simbock, Cameroon

Three novices will take the habit at Pentecost:

Four brothers will make their perpetual profession at Pentecost:

Brother Antoine Martin KPEGBA (Togo)
Brother Dominique-Savio GALLEY (Togo)
Brother François-Emmanuel ZIGGAR (Togo)
Brother Isaac-Thérèse ADJIVON (Togo)

Sunday May 23 in Rimont, France

Two brothers will make their perpetual profession:

Brother Antoine de Padoue TOURÉ (Ivory Coast)
Brother Benoît-Réginald FOLIKOUÉ (TOGO)

Sunday June 6 at the Noviciat of Our Lady of Light in Simbock, Cameroon

Priestly Ordinations

The priestly ordination of Brother Jean Samuel GBAMOU (Guinea Conakry) will take place on Saturday June 26 in Montpellier.

The diaconal ordination of Brother Felipe de Jesus (Mexico) and Brother Benedicto (Mexico) will take place on Saturday July 10 at the priory of San Juan Parroquia Francesa Iglesia de Cristo Resucitado by Mgr. Carlos Enrique Samaniego López Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of México.

Brother John (United States) will be ordained a deacon and Brother Bruno-Thomas (United States) will be ordained to the priesthood on Saturday August 28, 2021 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel priory in Orange, New Jersey by Mgr. Manuel A. Cruz, D.D, Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of Newark.

For those unable to attend due to current health restrictions of each country, you are invited to come together in prayer.

Our Community in Rimont is in mourning once more with the passing of Our brother Lazare who died in hospital at 4:35pm, Wednesday 14 April.

Brother Lazare was taken urgently to hospital on Good Friday in Chalon-sur-Saône after consulting his cardiologist. It turned out he had Covid-19, made worse by his heart problems. He was put on life-support, Easter Wednesday 8 April, and later, into an artificial coma. With his condition critical and with no signs of improvement, the medical team took the decision to no longer keep him alive by artificial means. His family was also consulted and gave their consent. Brother Jovien-Andréa, Brother Gonzague and Brother Joseph-Marie were able to accompany him in his last moments with prayers for the dying. He received the Last Rites on Saturday.

The funeral Mass will be held here in Rimont cemetery next Tuesday 20 April, 2:30 p.m.

Brother Lazare entered the Community in 1988. He was first assigned to the Corbara priory where he resided between 1991 and 1998. His journey included short stints in Laus, La Chaise-Dieu and Cognac, before arriving at Rimont in the Spring of 2000, almost 21 years ago. Despite his heart surgery from around this time, Brother Lazare continued to make the most of his life. He was part of the postal team as ‘Vaguemestre’ and carried out various other tasks, heath permitting.

By providence, his ‘Last Supper’ with the community was on Maundy Thursday. May Our Lord be with him on his journey from this world to the next and Our Heavenly Father.

The work in Lumen Valley continues. The brothers have taken great heart as to how much the youth have invested of themselves to the project, a testiment to what can be achieved.

How the work has progressed has even surprised those who initiated it and has gone beyond a simple construtction project to a way of life. The work as a whole has brought with it much enthusiasm and sets out a good blueprint for the future.

Buiding Works

Everything is moving quickly and given that the work of the resourcing centre was launched not even a year ago, in June 2020, a great deal of credit goes to the work of the young people.

There are currently 5 bungalows of different categories of the major works nearing completion.

On the structural side, the 40-room building also is almost completed.

The 25 metre thatched roof water tower which has 4 rooms above it is almost finished too. Besides storing up to 70m3 of water to feed the entire center by gravity, it will also serve as a control tower for the entire estate.

The 300-seat conference room is in advanced stages of construction. It is intended for hosting seminars / conferences and retreats.

The other part in progress is the construction of the novitiate launched barely 8 weeks ago that is already in the process of being upgraded. The objective of this first phase is to launch operations in June 2022.

Business Schools

Business schools are making giant strides in terms of creation and work capacity. Training is given to support them in their progress each week.

Landscaping, thatching, the working of natural stones from Togo, honey production or even sheep-rearing, all the latest news can be followed in the Lumen Valley newsletter for the month of April.

Visiter le site internet de Lumen Valley

Page Facebook de Lumen Valley

Brother Guy-Marie sadly departed from us Saturday 10 April 2021 at 07h15 at the age of 94. He left us peacefully 5 minutes after Brother Timothée, who has been accompanying him for the last few months, had visited him. He was also in the presence of Brother Gonzague who was praying by his side at the time.

Most of us will remember him from his days at Rimont where he had been since May 1986, where he became Regular Oblate, 8 May 1987. He entered the Congregation at 58 having lived in a House of Charity in Africa.

With the death of Brother Jean-Pierre-Marie Rosins on 25 March, this year’s Easter celebrations have been enveloped by the departures of our brothers leaving us for heaven.

Funeral details

The funeral Mass of Brother Guy-Marie will be held Thursday 15 April, followed by his burial at Molamboz cemetery in the Jura region.

Let us turn in prayer to our mother Mary for whom he had a great devotion.

Brothers of Saint John Prior General, Brother François-Xavier, along with the brothers families are delighted to inform you of the temporary profession for: Brother Richard-Maria, Brother Samuel-Marie and Brother Vladimir.

They invite you to unite in prayer at their Profession Mass which will be held, Sunday, 9 May 2021, 11am at Saint Joseph Priory, Saint-Jodard (42).

Saturday, March 20, 2021, Brother François-Xavier, Congregation prior, announced the closure of Saint Jodard to the brothers and Oblates.

Many who visited the priory experienced strong spiritual and fraternal encounters there. The reasons that led to this decision are covered below.

It was to the patronage of Saint Joseph that the first Brothers of Saint John had entrusted this house. May this new chapter be entrusted to Saint Joseph once more by the brothers, as well as the future mission of the Brothers of Saint John in France and elsewhere.

Decentralization

Since the General Chapter of 2019, the question on the need to decentralize leadership and formation had become more apparent and it was clear that a change needed to take place within the Congregation. The current health crisis rules fast-tracked the decision regarding moving the years of philosophy away from the original vicariates the brothers once attended.

In addition to the novitiate formation in Africa and Asia, philosophy takes place on site and the same is in advanced stages of consideration for the pro-province of the Americas. The decline in vocations for several years throughout Europe had led to the question on what to do with Saint-Jodard.

During the last vicarial and pro-provincial chapters and assemblies, it was overwhelmingly voted to close Saint-Jodard. After consulting his Council, the Prior General took the difficult go ahead with this decision.

The Prior General shared: “This place is full of memories, good for some and less so for others. Closing Saint-Jodard could be compared to leaving a family home that has become too large, with an unjustifiable maintenance cost… Thank you to all those who have given so much time and effort here, making it a wonderful place for the brothers to live. A team of brothers, around the current priory will remain on site for the coming year for a smooth transition, under the authority of the Prior General. All will be done to make sure this house remains a place of prayer and Christian life.”

The philosophy studium will be established at least for now, in Rimont.

2021 Ordinations

Brother François-Xavier ended by saying that: “…because a family home cannot be left without at least a time of thanksgiving, we have decided to celebrate the ordinations on 26 June here at Saint Jodard with friends and family before Summer ends”.

Our Lady of the Annunciation came to collect our dear Brother Jean-Pierre-Marie-Rosins, Thursday 25 March 2021 at 3:05pm, a time he loved so much following a daily Rosary at the Lourdes grotto during the hour of Divine Mercy.

His carers had told us the previous day that he may not last the night and we were able to keep vigil with him in hospital until his last moments on earth. Brother Séverin-Marie and Brother Bernard-Vianney were by his side as he breathed his last peacefully while being taken care of by hospital staff.

Our brother had celebrated his 80th birthday on 24 January. He entered the Community in 1992 on the advice of Mgr Brincard, with his Simple Profession taken the 23 January 1994, followed by his Perpetual Vows on 16 February 1997 at La Chaise-Dieu.

It was also at La Chaise-Dieu priory that he was ordained deacon 19 June 1999, a place he was very attached to having spent 8 years there from 1993-2001, before being sent to Jaumes (2001-2014) and finally Saint-Savournin (since 2014) where he will be laid to rest until the Resurrection.

May Our Lord shine on his countenance and welcome him into His heavenly home with the Virgin Mary.

Please pray for him and the brothers of Saint-Savournin who were with him so beautifully to the end.

Funeral

After he is laid to rest, our brother’s body will arrive Firday 26 March at the church of Saint-Savournin. The funeral Mass will be held there Saturday 27 March at 2:30pm.

After having renovated the exterior side of their presbytery 2 years ago, that covered part of their guesthouse, the Brothers of St John in Austria are now tackling the interior by transforming the reception, with the restrictions imposed by the pandemic into an opportunity for improvements.

In conjunction with experts from the diocese of Vienna – because the German-speaking organization provides diocesan departments for almost everything – they launched a call for tenders. On 1st March, work began, overseen by a building engineer from the diocese. Among the works  – all the plumbing – and upgrades, like bathroom fixtures in bedrooms, new flooring and paint.

The brothers roll up their sleeves.

To keep costs down, the brothers also rolled up their sleeves. Helped by a few friends, they set out to install a new kitchen, living room and dining hall for guests. A computer room will also be created at the priory. These works bring back memories for many brothers from their community days in Rimont! A mention also goes out to the diocese who have promised the brothers a small grant, and the parish who own the building, will also put their hands in their pocket.

It goes without saying, “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders work in vain” (Psalm 126). So the Brothers of Saint John in Marchegg have entrusted all these works to Saint Joseph to whom they pray daily! They hope to be able to receive guests for this summer’s inauguration.

For those who are not afraid of the Goethe language…

Brother Samuel Mary had the idea that he would shoot the clip in the Philippines at the end of his internship. However, Covid put a spanner in the works to this project. Whilst taking some time off over the Christmas holidays his desire to shoot a short film resurfaced.