WF 1992 - Texts

On 3 July 1888, Charles Lavigerie, Archbishop of Algiers, speaking to the Anti-Slavery Society in London, uttered a stirring denunciation of the slave trade in Africa. On 1 July, in the church of Saint-Sulpice, in Paris, he had begun his campaign by proclaiming to his audience: "Today, slavery threatens an entire population with extinction!" In August the Cardinal was in Belgium where at Oostende he met King Leopold and proposed the sending of an armed force to the Congo - a United Nations project before the fact! On 22 December he aroused a crowd of Italians in the church of the Gesù in Rome. He presented himself as a "witness for man" and a "defender of freedom". It is the kind of language used ninety years later by Pope John Paul II when he said that "man is the way of the Church".

Lavigerie, who was born in France, near Bayonne, on 31 October 1825, and had been Cardinal since 1882, was 62 years old at the time. Behind him there was already a very full life ... a famous name ... a formidable figure! He had been professor at the Sorbonne, next a very young Director of the Association of the Ecoles d'Orient, then Auditor of the Roman Rota; he was Bishop of Nancy when in January 1866 he was offered the See of Algiers. He accepted. Two years later, Pope Pius IX named the new Archbishop also Apostolic Delegate for the Sahara and the Sudan. Pope Leo XIII, immediately after his election, asked Lavigerie to organize the missions of Central and Equatorial Africa.

He was thus responsible for more than one third of the African continent. For his missionary ventures, he founded the institutes whose members were soon to be called the "White Fathers" and the "White Sisters", because of their white habits.

Lavigerie died at Algiers on 26 November 1892, worn out by his many and varied concerns. His anti-slavery campaign was not entirely successful. Still, he had succeeded in arousing international public opinion and made the defence of human rights a major concern. He is thus remembered not only by the Church and by his missionaries, who are present today in about thirty countries of Africa and the Middle East. In France, his memory is linked to the Toast of Algiers, the call he made on 12 November 1890 to his compatriots, asking them to give their support "without reservation" to the political régime then governing France, that is, to the Third Republic.

Well aware of the challenges of his century and especially of the confrontation between modern society and the Church, attentive to the problem of Christian unity, as evidenced by his foundation at Saint Anne's of Jerusalem, Cardinal Lavigerie, while above all a man of action, was a witness to the Gospel which throughout his life, remained faithful to the one word of this episcopal motto: Caritas - charity, by which the apostle touches the hearts of persons beyond the barriers of race, religion and ideologies, to open them up the truth that liberates.

Soon after his priestly ordination, Lavigerie was named Master of Conferences at the Ecole des Carmes, Pads. That was in October 1849. One year later, he won his doctorate in literature and later a doctorate in theology. He was also Professor of Church History at the Sorbonne. In a French Church divided by liberal and other trends, he took up The Problem of the Church and of Modern Society (Document 1).

* At 31 years of age, in 1856, he accepted a post as Director of the Association of the Ecoles d'Orient. In this function he went to Lebanon and Syria in 1869, after the massacres of Christians by the Druse. That is where he found his "road to Damascus". The report of his hip remains an important document for the history of the Christian Middle East. His missionary vocation found there its confirmation. In his thinking, the Orient and Church Unity would henceforth have a privileged place (Document 2).

* When he became an Auditor of the Roman Rota (Appeals Court), a position which at that time allowed its bearer to play a diplomatic role, Lavigerie considered the government of the Church and the role of the papacy. He advocated reforms leading to the internationalisation of the Roman Curia. In 1888, he even wrote that this might lead, in a hundred years' time, to the election of a non-Italian Pope. This came true at the last conclave in 1978, with the election of the Archbishop of Krakow, Karol Wojtyla, as Pope John Paul II (Document 3).

* Lavigerie became Bishop of Nancy in 1863, and remained there for three years. He chose as his episcopal motto the word Caritas. He wanted a clergy with a good knowledge of doctrine, leading to an understanding of true science, capable of taking part in the intellectual development of society in the light of the Church's teaching and not against society. When Pius IX published the Syllabus condemning atheism in its social applications - Lavigerie endeavoured to reassure his people concerning the legitimacy of aspirations to liberty and to progress (Document 1).

* The Apostolic See of Algiers being vacant in 1866, Lavigerie did not hesitate to accept a nomination to it. In this he was following an "overwhelming attraction" of his youth for the apostolate. For him, "Algeria is only a door opening out upon a continent of two hundred million souls. It is there especially that we must bring the Catholic apostolate." The Archbishop's broad perspective on Africa, with his quite original views, were encouraged by Popes Pius IX and Leo XIII, and began to be put into practice (Document 4).

* Lavigerie had barely arrived in Algiers when very urgent problems took up his attention: a famine was beginning in the country. He set himself to fight it, and in particular created orphanages for over a thousand orphans. He did his utmost to break down the barrier set up by the French military government of the Arab Bureau between the Church and the Muslim Population, loudly asserting his right to "go about doing good". From Napoleon III himself, he obtained the official recognition of the principle of Christian charitable endeavours in Algeria. The encounter with Islam thus became a question to be addressed (Document 7).

* To help him in his apostolic ventures, Lavigerie opened the first novitiate for Missionaries of Africa (White Fathers) in October 1868. A year later, he set up the Institute of the Agricultural and Charitable Sisters which, as time went on, was to become the Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa (White Sisters). The first "White Fathers" pronounced their missionary oath on 1 October 1872, in the chapel of St Joseph, Algiers (Section 3).

* In 1868, Lavigerie was placed at the head of the Apostolic Delegation of the Sahara and (French) Sudan. He sent two groups of missionary Fathers to the Region, in 1876 and then in 1881, but all were massacred by the desert tribes before reaching their goal. Lavigerie did not abandon hope of sending missionaries to West Africa, but meanwhile he turned towards East Africa, the Great Lakes Region. On 21 April 1878 two caravans of five missionaries each left Marseilles en route towards what is now Tanzania. These two groups reached their objectives after many adventures.

* It was in 1878, when he accepted the "guardianship" of the sanctuary of Saint Anne of Jerusalem, that Lavigerie returned to the great aim of union between the Churches of the East and of the West which had been his since 1856. Saint Anne's Seminary for the training of the Greek Melchite Catholic clergy opened in 1882 (Document 2).

* In 1882 the Archbishop received the Cardinal's hat; two years later, he was Archbishop of Carthage and Primate of Africa. In sub-Saharan Africa, the reports of his missionaries confirmed him in the conviction that the most atrocious plague striking the continent was the slave trade. The last years of his life were dedicated to the anti-slavery campaign, through resounding appeals to public opinion (Document 5).

* The "Toast of Algiers" on 12 November 1890, calling upon French Catholics to give the Republic their loyal support, marked a step forward for the Church towards the modern world; it had the complete approval and encouragement of Pope Leo XIII (Document 6). Exhausted by his years of intensive apostolic and pastoral work, Lavigerie died at Algiers on 26 November 1892.

* Taking Africa seriously in 1992, as Lavigerie did a century ago, means first of all keeping in mind the dramatic situations that affects almost all of its peoples, victims of violence. During the decade from 1980 to 1990, more than a dozen conflicts tore the continent apart. We need only think of Ethiopia, the Sudan, Mozambique, Angola, South Africa, Liberia, and others. Africa is rich in human resources, but also suffers from severe deficiencies: famine is a constant menace to millions of women and men, there are endemic diseases and, in our own day, the spread of AIDS. Even more, as John Paul II declared in September 1991 before the diplomatic corps in Burundi, many countries of the continent feel that they are under-estimated by various nations, who help them only when it suits their own interests. Over and above help for development, Africa needs a collaboration which would be, above all, a "meeting" between peoples, much more than a mere exchange of goods and a search for profit, however legitimate. This obviously presupposes the free and responsible participation of the beneficiaries themselves and a fight against corruption.

* Taking Africa seriously means, therefore, working for development and fighting for justice. This concern is the impetus behind the actions of the local Churches, most of which were established by the Missions in the nineteenth century, although a few (Egypt, Ethiopia) can boast the title of Churches of the Dawn, because of their apostolic origins. The fight for justice is an Integral part of evangelization, but evangelization cannot be reduced to this fight for justice. The Encyclical Redemptoris Missio, published by Pope John Paul II in January 1991, indicates this clearly.

Evangelization today is the responsibility of the Churches of Africa and of their Bishops, who come together regularly in five Regional Associations of Episcopal Conferences and, even more widely, in the Symposium of Episcopal conferences of Africa and Madagascar (S.E.C.A.M). Next year or soon after, this collaboration will be broadened by the special Synod for Africa announced by John Paul II on the Feast of the Epiphany in 1990. The preparatory document of the Synod called attention to five areas: Proclamation of the Good News of Salvation; Inculturation; Dialogue between Christians and between religions; Justice and Peace; Means of Social Communications. Obviously, White Sisters and White Fathers, like all missionaries, African or expatriate, feel concerned in the preparation of this Synod, and want to bring their experience, their expectations and the hopes of the basic Christian communities to it.

* Taking Africa seriously also means being concerned about the development of the missionary Institutes, for indeed, missionaries have an important role to play in Africa. The spirit which impelled their great pioneers, and the courage they showed, are required today of all the Christians of the continent. It is urgent for all the local Churches of Africa to rediscover the meaning of the "specific" mission, the sending-out to non-believers, which will necessitate their collaboration with the specialised Institutes whose recruiting has, in any case, become interracial and intercontinental today. In 1991, the White Fathers had 155 Africans in training, out of 233 candidates. The White Sisters had 36 Africans out of 62 young women in training. (1)

The Churches and the Institutes, by renewing their faith, need to rediscover the exigencies of Christ's call ("Go into all the world..."). Only thus will missionary Institutes be revitalised and their indispensable role better perceived in the Churches of Europe and America.

* Taking Africa seriously means daring to look at the Muslim problem clearly. Since Lavigerie founded his Institutes, and by the very fact of their origins, the Missionaries of Africa - Fathers, Brothers, Sisters - have always been particularly attentive to the believers of Islam. That explains their enduring presence in certain countries of North Africa and their intensive efforts to promote encounters and dialogue between Christians and Muslims in continental Africa. In Rome, the Pontifical Institute for Arabic Studies and Islamology (PISAI) has been entrusted to the White Fathers by the Holy See. It began in 1926, when the Fathers set up a house of studies in Tunisia for the training of those among them who were preparing to live in a Muslim milieu (see Document 7).

* Taking Africa seriously means, finally, working for union among Christians of various Churches or communities, all faced with the same challenges during the closing years of the twentieth century. This task is a priority for Africa. The spiritual sons and daughters of Lavigerie are particularly sensitive to it, remembering the prominent place the Oriental Churches held in the life of their founder, which led to the continuing presence of White Fathers at Saint Anne's of Jerusalem since 1878 (see Document 2).

(1) Among the 78 students recruited outside of Africa, the White Fathers had, in 1991, 28 from countries such as Brazil, Mexico and Poland, which are becoming more and more interested in Africa. It should be noted also, for the White Sisters, that they have helped to found 23 indigenous religious congregations since their arrival in Africa.

The year 1992 will mark a very important event for the big family of the Missionaries of Africa and the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa: it will be a hundred years since the death of our Founder, Cardinal Charles Lavigerie, and we would like to invite you to join with us in celebrating this Centenary.

The activities of his apostolic life were many and varied: a true son of the Church, Archbishop of Algiers and Carthage, he was a promoter of the Mission in Central Africa, initiator and organiser of the anti-slavery campaign of 1888 and a man very much involved in the history of his own country - perhaps you have heard of his courageous stand in his "Toast of Algiers".

But the impact and influence of Lavigerie were not confined to what he achieved during his lifetime: he was a man with a penetrating vision who carefully scrutinised the signs of the times, so that many of his insights are of extraordinary actuality even in our times. Today, when the African Churches have come into their own, he reminds us that evangelization, if it is to penetrate deep into their culture, must be the work of the Africans themselves. Today as we witness the universal struggle for Human Rights, his anti-slavery campaign reminds us of the dignity of every human person. Today with ecumenism a priority, we find him pointing the way by his respect and concern for the Oriental Churches and his appreciation of their rites. Finally, when the history of the world is evolving with such rapidity, he reminds the Church of the urgent need for her to be present there where the world is in the making.

The 1990 Lineamenta of the African Synod seem to re-echo the Instructions of the Cardinal to his missionaries a hundred years ago, when they state once more, as a basic option, that to evangelize is to work for the total development of every person in all the aspects of their vocation as children of God.

So, we desire to celebrate this year 1992 together, deepening the spiritual legacy of our Founder. At the same time, we want to take this opportunity to reaffirm our conviction that the tasks which have been confided to us within the Church are still of vital importance for the future. And lastly, we would like to take this opportunity to express our immense gratitude to all those who, in any way at all, co-operate with us in our mission.

So this Centenary will be a year when we look back on the past; a year of renewal also in our vocation, and a year when we hope to enjoy better co-operation than ever with everyone: with those responsible for missionary activity in the Church, especially in Africa and with all our associates and co-workers.

May the rallying cry of Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical Redemptoris Missio, sound throughout this coming year: "Today ... the Universal Church is called to have the same courage that inspired the missionaries of the past, and the same readiness to listen to the voice of the Spirit." (RM 30)

It is with great joy that we invite you to join us in our thanksgiving - and not only us, the missionaries, but all those African people, catechists, priests, religious and lay Christians who owe the joy and privilege of knowing Christ Jesus to the work of Charles Lavigerie.

This above material was published for the Centenary of Cardinal Lavigerie's death in 1992.

If you would like to receive a hard copy of our magazine, "White Fathers - White Sisters", (i.e. bi-monthly, 4 colour, hard copy) - subscription free - or any further information please send an email, or drop a line, to the Editor at the address below giving us your postal address:

The Editor, The White Fathers, 129, Lichfield Road, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands, England. B74 2SA.