Orionine Missionary Year

ORIONINE FAMILY: Announced the Orionine Missionary Year in the centenary of the first 'mission'.

In a conjoint letter dated on July 11th, 2013, Sister Mary Mabel Spagnuolo, Superior General of the PSMC (Little Missionary Sisters of the Charity) and Don Flavio Peloso, Superior General of the FDP (Sons of Divine Providence), announced the celebration of the Orionine Missionary Year that will extend from 20th October 2013 to 8th December 2014.

The Orionine Missionary Year coincides with the 100th anniversary of the start of the first orionines missionaries. In December 17th of 1913, Don Orione sent his first missionary group in Brazil. They departed from Genoa and landed at the port of Santos, the December 29th of 1913, and then came by train to their destination, Mar de Espanha, in the State of Minas Gerais, in January 2nd, 1914.

"That departure was the first opening of the Congregation beyond the borders of Italy - observe, the two Superiors Generals -. It is an important date because it marks the beginning of the embrace of the people in the name and in the spirit of Don Orione. To many other peoples arrived later the hug of Don Orione! Today we are present in 32 countries. "

The inaugural celebration will take place at the Marian Shrine of Aparecida in Brazil, during the pilgrimage of all the Orionine Family in Brazil and at the end of the General Assembly of the Sons of Divine Providence that will lit a broad representation of Brothers, Sisters and Laity of Don Orione.

"It is a centenary that involves the whole Orionine family, 'write in their letter Don Flavio and Sister Mabel. "In this missionary year we want to celebrate the meeting of Don Orione, who either personally or through his Sons and Daughters, has come in the various nations."

They invite "all communities and provinces in each country to celebrate the arrival of Don Orione charism and the founding of the first works, although they are less solemn anniversaries than the 100th. In the first missionary expedition of 17th December 1913, in fact, was included the missionary impulse started from the apostolic heart of Don Orione, seconded by the generosity of so many of his sons and daughters, which led to all subsequent openings."

The two Superiors hope that the whole Orionine Family booming this "Orionine Missionary Year not only as a historical event or external initiatives, but also as an internal event, such as a vocational call to return 'to the sources' of the radicalism and the centrality of Christ, of the Gospel, of charity, of salvation of souls."