Fr. Allamano’s Total Reliance on Missionaries of His Institute Confirmation “mission is not ours”: Kenyan Consolata Nun

In the October 19 interview with ACI Africa in Rome, Sr. Joan Agnes reflected on Fr. Allamano’s limitations and regarded them as important lessons in the mission of evangelization.

“Allamano remaining in Turin, but listening to the spirit was able and continues to be present in the world where there is mission, in every place where there is a Consolata missionary,” the MC member said.

She emphasized that the continued progress of what Fr. Allamano initiated despite his inability to travel out of Italy is “a confirmation that it is a work of God. And it means that the mission is not ours. The mission is of the Holy Spirit.” 

The Kenyan-born MC, who serves in Institute’s Rome-based General Council sees in Fr. Allamano’s limitation to travel a demonstration of an authentic initiative and fruit of prayerful discernment and collaboration. 

“Given that he was a man of prayer, of discernment, of reflection, before he founded the Congregation, the two missionary Institutes, he consulted with many people,” Sr. Joan Agnes.

What this also means is that the gift of the charism that Allamano “was given by the Lord to found the Congregation was very authentic,” she said, adding that the fact that he could not go to the mission himself “was able to impact the dream that he had on people who could go on his behalf. Those are the young missionaries who came after him.”

Currently serving in 40 countries, Consolata Missionaries started off in the East African nation of Kenya in 1902. They went to Ethiopia in 1913, to Tanzania in 1919, and then on to Mozambique in 1925, a year before Fr. Allamano passed on.

The news of the Canonization of Blessed Allamano were received at a time when IMC and MC members had started preparations for the centenary celebrations since his passing on. Pope St. John Paul II beatified him on 7 October 1990.

Some 1,300 representatives of the Consolata Missionaries in the 14 Provinces around the world have travelled to Rome to witness his Canonization alongside 13 others on October 20.

In the October 19 interview, Sr. Joan Agnes described the Canonization celebration as “a great feast.”

She explained, “The fact that the Church recognizes the holiness of our founder, it kind of adds, confirms that this Congregation was willed by the Lord and He sustains it, and that the mission that we are going through, we are taking on, is a mission that is led by the Holy Spirit.”

The Canonization also comes with “a responsibility”, the MC member, who has previously served in Tanzania, Argentina and Bolivia said, adding that in Allamano being decreed Saint, “it means that we are called to live the spirituality, the charism that he has shared with us, he has passed on to us.”

“We are called to live that holiness and to live the mission that he has given us, which is evangelization of the non-Christians, because even today, today more than ever, there are many people who have never heard about Christ and they are waiting to hear it from us,” she added. 

The Canonization of Blessed Allamano is “a call for dedication and for us to live that vision that he has given us,” Sr. Joan Agnes said. 

Blessed Joseph Allamano. Credit: Vatican Media

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She went on to recall Allamano’s teaching, “first be saints, then missionaries”, and added, “He's reminding us all over again that it is possible to be saints; it's not impossible.”

“He wanted us all to be saints. Maybe not all of us will go to the altar like him. But we are all called to be saints. And we can do it because the mission that he has given us, we can only do it through being saints,” the member of the MC Council said about St. Allamano.

The call to prioritize holiness before missionary, she said, “is not only for those of us who are Religious, who are Priests ... It’s for every Christian, because every Christian is called to be missionary. And you can only be missionary if you carry within you that gift of faith that we have received.”

Sr. Joan Agnes called upon young people to participate in the mission of the Church, saying, “The mission is still valid today. It is not old fashion to consecrate your life for the mission today. As Allamano did, as many of us have done through the years, even today, the mission is valid.”

“There are still many people, more than ever, more than before, who are still waiting to hear the good news, who are still waiting to hear that Christ loved them and died for them, who are still waiting to hear that the Father wants all of us back home in His glory, in His joy,” she said. 

“So, you, young person out there, who may be feeling that maybe consecrating your life to Christ is old fashion. It is not. It is a reality today. And there is a person out there waiting to hear about the good news through you. So don't be afraid. Listen to the Lord calling and go forth,” the Kenyan Consolata Sister emphasized during the October 19 interview.