37 Years of FMA presence in Angola

Luanda (Angola) On 24 October 2020, the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of  Queen of Peace Preprovince celebrated 37 years of presence in Angola.

In her writing “Poetry and Truth” composed for this occasion, the Provincial, Sister Maria das Graças de Souza – starting from the verse of the Gospel of Luke “The seed grows, it becomes a great tree …” (Lk 13:19) – narrates the main passages of the presence of the FMA in Angola from 1983 to today and the fruits of the Salesian Charism:

“I saw the first Daughters of Mary Help of Christians and the first Salesians of Don Bosco in Angola. I have seen girls and young people remain enchanted by the Salesian charism, with Don Bosco, Mother Mazzarello, Laura Vicuña, Domenico Savio, to the point of creating groups, associations, schools, songs, slogans, ways, to make eternal the spirituality that has sanctified us and to give a sequel. I saw the launch of new seeds in the following years, which saw the discovery of new lands and, in the year of Don Bosco’s centenary, the great fruit of the presence in Cacuaco. I have seen God sow seeds in various fields, multiply our presence, our recipients, our sisters, our works”.

The presence of the FMA in Angola is the result of the Project Africa, launched by the FMA Institute in 1982. The first sisters, coming from four provinces of Brazil – Sr. Theotonia Thiesen, Sr. Anna Bello Soares, Sr. Juraci Maria da Silva, and Sr. Maria das Graças de Souza – left Rome on 23 October 1983, World Mission Sunday, sent by Mother Rosetta Marchese and by Sister Carmen Martin Moreno, General Councilor for the Missions.

On 24 October 1983, at the request of Archbishop Fr. André Muaca, the FMA arrived in Luanda, in the Parish of St. Paul, associated with the presence of the Salesians of Don Bosco. Here the first vocations of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians are born.

In 1987, with the arrival of other missionaries, the presence in Cacuaco, near Luanda, opened. The FMA Community was born on 1 October 1988, on the centenary of Don Bosco’s death. The Home, the School, and the Professional Center bear his name.

The third community of Angola, dedicated to St. Maria Mazzarello, was opened in Calulo in 1991. The FMA, together with the Salesians, are dedicated to education, catechesis, pastoral care, and the reception of girls from the villages. In 1992, the Delegation of Angola, which had previously belonged to the Brazilian Province of São Paulo, became part of the Mozambique Province, with the Provincial Sr. Giuseppina Pescarini, a missionary. In 1995 it received the first visit from a Mother General, Mother Marinella Castagno.

Laura Vicuña Community is in Benguela, the city mentioned by Don Bosco in the last years of his life, while with his eyes and hands he explored the map of Africa, as Fr Lemoyne reports in the Life of Saint John Bosco: “He was often surprised looking at the map of Africa, Angola, Benguela, and Congo. He always spoke of Angola and said that the mission had to be accepted if it were offered to us.” It was opened in 1999, in a peripheral area of the city, where the Salesians have a parish. Since 2010, it has also been a Formation House for aspirants and postulants.

Our Lady of Light Community was born in Luena on the proposal of Mother Antonia Colombo, who visited Angola in 2001 on the occasion of the Feast of Gratitude, with the slogan “Turn on a light in Africa”.

On January 22, 2004, Mother Antonia Colombo erected the Preprovince of  Queen of Peace, of which Sister Zvonka Mikec was the first superior.

In 2007, Angola hosted the Celebrations of the 25^th  anniversary of  Project Africa, bringing together Provincials and FMA from all the African Provinces, together with the Councilors for Youth Ministry and Social Communication, Sr. Cármen Canales and Sr. Giuseppina Teruggi to Luanda who coordinated the seminar on Education. Subsequently, two other communities were born: the community of Our Lady Help of Christians in Cabinda, and the community of Blessed Mother Maria Romero in Zango.

Sister Maria das Graças de Souza ends the composition by opening the horizons to a rich reality to be discovered: “I saw four successors of Don Bosco and three successors of Mother Mazzarello happily crossing Angolan lands, sowing words of goodness, strength, and courage, and receiving the joy, beauty, colors, and harmony of Angola’s dances and movements. I have seen many things… that cannot be told here”.