Yes to Missionary Life Without Leaving Home: Nuncio in Kenya on Lessons from Allamano, Consolata Missionaries Founder

Nairobi, 11 November, 2024 / 11:55 PM

The life of St. Joseph  Allamano, who never stepped outside his native country Italy owing to ill health but “prepared the groundwork” for great missionary work across the world, teaches that it is possible to be a missionary without having to leave one’s native country, the representative of the Holy Father in Kenya has said.

All it takes, according to Archbishop Hubertus van Megen, is a genuine desire to make Jesus Christ known where He is not known, and loved by those who do not love Him, following the example of St. Allamano, the founder of the Consolata Missionary Sisters (MC) and the Institute of the Consolata Missionaries (IMC).

In his homily during the November 9 Thanksgiving Mass following the canonization of Blessed Joseph Allamano on October 20, World Mission Sunday 2024, Archbishop van Megen acknowledged how the Institute that the newly canonized St. founded in 1901 had spread all over the world, “starting with Kenya”, where he sent the first four IMC members in 1902.

Archbishop Hubertus van Megen. Credit: Christ Our Joy

“St. Joseph Allamano never crossed the border, never left Italy, but he was always a missionary at heart,” he said at the event that was held at the University of Nairobi (UoN) Grounds in Kenya.

Credit: Christ Our Joy

The Vatican diplomat said that St. Allamano sent others to places where he himself could not go. He recalled, in particular, St. Allamano saying, ‘Since I couldn't be a missionary myself, I wanted to make it possible for those with this vocation to follow their heart’.

“Allamano would say, ‘the vocation to the missions is essentially the vocation of every holy Priest. All it takes is a greater love for our Lord Jesus Christ, which urges one to make him known and loved by those who do not yet know him and love him,” Archbishop van Megen said.

Archbishop Hubertus van Megen. Credit: Archdiocese of Nairobi (ADN)

He added, “It is fascinating to consider that Allamano would never cross the border, never learned foreign languages, never ate any other food than the food he knew from home, but this man became the founder of a missionary congregation which spread its wings all over the world, but first and foremost in Kenya.”

Credit: Seed Consolata

The Dutch-born representative of the Holy Father in Kenya since February 2019 liked the story of St. Allamano to that of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the French-born young Carmelite, who is also known as St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus. 

St. Thérèse, he said, “never crossed the high walls of her convent but at the same time, she became the beating and praying part of the Church.”

Credit: Seed Consolata

Archbishop van Megen said that the life of St. Allamano teaches that by Baptism, all the people of God are all called to be missionaries. 

While some are called to go out into the mission fields, others follow Christ into the mission “while never leaving home,” he said.

“There are others who follow the example of St. Francis Xavier who went to the ends of the earth to missionize, and others follow the example of St. Therese of Lisieux, and both are called to be missionaries to save souls,” he said.

Credit: Seed Consolata

The Nairobi-based Apostolic Nuncio lauded those, like St. Allamano, who “prepare the groundwork for the young men and women for the great missionary work they are called for.”

He went on to reflect on the life of holiness that St. Allamano insisted upon, noting that the IMC and MC founder, who passed on in February1926 was convinced that the mission deserved the best from the missionaries. 

Credit: Christ Our Joy

Recalling St. Allamano’s famous motto, “First saints and then missionaries”, Archbishop van Megen expressed regret that holiness is not always insisted upon in what he described as “the modern Church.”

Credit: Seed Consolata

“The holiness of life, of sanctity, are not words we use easily. We’d rather speak about skills and competencies,” he said, and added, “All of us, in our different situations and responsibilities, are called to be missionaries. Some through prayer and by educating their children in a Christian way, or by living their Christian life in their neighbourhood and in their communities.”

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He called for the missionary spirit to also inspire Diocesan Seminaries for the young men in formation to be courageous enough to cross the frontiers of life and go to “the peripheries.”

“We all need to be inspired and guided by the needs of the mission, which is outgoing, not inward-looking,” the Apostolic Nuncio since March 2014 following his appointment to Sudan said.

Credit: Seed Consolata

He explained, “It is not about saving our lives but about sacrificing them for the Church, indeed for Christ himself.”

“A church that is inward-looking, having eyes only for its challenges and problems is a Church that is doomed to fail, lacking the vigour to go out into the world to announce the good news, which is the basic vocation of every Christian of the entire Church,” he said.

Credit: Seed Consolata

According to Archbishop van Megen, holiness and missionary life were interchangeable for St. Allamano. He said that according to St. Allamano, “one can only be holy when a missionary; and one can only be an effective missionary when holy.”