Turin (Italy) On 24 August 2020, the Eucharistic Celebration for the installation of the new Provincial of Mary Help of Christians Province of Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta (IPI), Sr. Emma Bergandi, took place in Turin, in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians of Valdocco.
Born in Turin, Sr. Emma held the role of Provincial Vicar until her appointment as Provincial in May 2020. She succeeds Sr. Elide Degiovanni, who led the IPI Province in the 2014-2020 six-year period.
The celebration was presided over by Fr. Enrico Stasi, Salesian of Don Bosco, Provincial of the Piedmont, Aosta Valley, and Lithuania (ICP) Province. In his homily, starting from the Gospel of John on the Feast of St. Bartholomew the Apostle, the Provincial underlined that: “The task of a provincial is above all this: to help the communities live an experience of following Jesus and to invite the young to live it with us, as our Founders did. ‘Come and see’ (Jn 1:46): we are called to have an authentic experience of the Lord Jesus. May Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello accompany you, so that you can experience Jesus in this ministry, in mutual trust and in truth.”
After the homily, the Vicar General of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, Sister Chiara Cazzuola, on behalf of the Mother General, Sister Yvonne Reungoat, read the decree of appointment as Provincial.
In the final greeting, the Vicar General thanked Sister Elide Degiovanni on behalf of Mother, the General Council, and the Institute for her service carried out with generosity and dedication. She then turned to Sister Emma with these words: “We are in front of the picture that Don Bosco wanted and in front of Mary I renew the wish that we find on the cover of the booklet: ‘It is She who has done everything’. But I would like to use the verb in the present: it is She who does everything and who will continue to do so in your life and in the life of the Province.”
Sister Emma Bergandi, taking up the words of Paul VI in the speech of 1972, the year of the centenary of the Institute, said: “In front of this picture – which accompanied my life both in special moments and in the most ordinary moments – I want to say my yes to the Lord and to the sisters, assuring that ‘I will do what I can’, all that I can. We will do most of it together.”
Finally, she thanked Sister Elide for the involvement and trust shown in her in these six years in which she has joined her as vicar. She also thanked the Provincial, Fr. Enrico Stasi, and Fr. Leonardo Mancini, who concelebrated and who will shortly lead the ICP Province, Sr. Chiara Cazzuola, the sisters present, and all those who followed the celebration in live streaming, due to health restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Before the final greeting from the Celebrant, Sister Elide Degiovanni read a prayer with which she wished to entrust to Mary Help of Christians, from whom she felt supported in her mandate, the new Provincial, Mother, the General Council, the Animators, all the sisters, the laity involved in the mission, the young people, and the whole IPI Province which, as the land of the founders, has the privilege and the task of preserving and revitalizing the Charism for the whole world.
Photo: Andrea Cherchi
Sono molto contenta nel rileggere quanto è stato scritto per la festa del 24 agosto . Grazie