Orionine Congregation in The Philippines, from a dream to a reality.
PREHISTORY
HISTORY
PRESENT
The
Philippines are part of the Missionary delegation Mother of the Church which
counts 7 countries having the English as first or second language: Ireland, UK,
USA, Kenya, India, Jordan, and the Philippines.
Prehistory
Regarding the Philippines, there are two connections with St. Luigi Orione: one was his
fervent wish to open a mission there, and the other concerned the Spanish Martyr,
the Blessed Fr. Ricardo Gil Barcelón.
Fr. Ricardo Gil Barcelón spent more than 12 years in the Philippines,
from 1893 to 1905, during the transition of the Spanish Colony to the American
Protectorate.
Being
here, he was first a soldier, and later studied philosophy and theology, being
ordained as a priest on September 24, 1904. He then worked as assistant
librarian at the Dominican University, and also as chaplain in the Cathedral of
Manila until February 1905, when he returned to Spain.
It was surely the Divine Providence which brought about a meeting
between Fr. Gil Barcelon and Don Orione in Rome on February 4th,
1910, after which the Founder received him into the Congregation. Fr. Gil
Barcelon worked in different houses in Italy (Cassano Jonio, Reggio Calabria,
Tortona and Rome), taught Spanish to the missionaries, and opened the first
Orionine house in Spain (December 1930), being a pioneer of the Congregation
there. He and the aspirant Antonio Arrué Peiró were killed by revolutionaries
because of their hatred for the faith, in Valencia (Spain), on August 3rd,
1936.
We can imagine how he must have shared his experience in the Philippines
with the priests, the seminarians, and the people, as well as St. Luigi Orione[1], telling them all about his stay here, his time in the army, his
studies, his vocation and so on, and describing the country, the customs, the
religious traditions, etc.
So, we can definitely state that the first link between the founder and
the Philippines was with Fr. Gil Barcelon and his experience.
Some days after his arrival in Argentina[2] and the
“32nd International Eucharistic Congress”[3] in Buenos Aires, Don Orione wrote a long letter to Fr. Sciaccaluga[4], in which he talked about 2 missions, one in Mato Grosso (Brazil),
which he had already accepted, and another in the Philippines. Regarding the
latter, he wrote:
“I
gave my word, but I have not made a definite decision yet, to open a mission in
the Philippines, where the bishop told me that there is much poverty and great
need, so great that they obtained permission, from the Pope, to change some
words of the Pater noster; they do not say: “panem nostrum quotidianum”, but
“cibum nostrum”, because they never eat bread.”
From this short excerpt, we can deduce that St. Luigi Orione had
received an invitation to open a mission in the Philippines and had given his
word, so he was definitely considering going. He had reflected and thought
about it, even though he had not at that time made any precise decision. The
bishop who invited him gave him some information about the place: its economic
situation “…much poverty and great need …” permission to
change some words in the Lord’s Prayer, and that they did not eat bread. There
was an impelling reason to go: poverty, because he saw Jesus
in the poor.
We do not know the reasons why St. Luigi Orione did not open a mission in the
Philippines, because there is no other letter or person to tell us what
happened. That is why we can only make some conjectures, such as a lack of
religious personnel to send, invitations to other places, more pressing
priorities, unfavorable conditions, various problems, etc.
Anyway, this can be seen
and accepted as the prehistory of the Orionine presence in the Philippines.
HISTORY
The history itself starts in a very amazingly rich
and instructive way. It is about a special place, Payatas.
"I have a
special place for you: Payatas."
On 5th October, 2011, the Sons of Divine Providence
celebrated the 20th anniversary of the arrival of the first missionaries to the
Philippines. This celebration can only be understood looking at the history.
Everything began with a Meeting with Cardinal Sin
In February 1991, Fr.
Giuseppe Masiero, the Superior General, Fr. Angelo Mugnai and Fr. Oreste
Ferrari met with Cardinal Jaime Sin, archbishop of Manila, who knowing that
they wanted to work on a depressed area, said, "Would you like to work
with the poor? I have a special place for you: Payatas." Then
they visited the area which was a just place for the Congregation. After
accepting it, they met some priests who worked in Payatas and began the
necessary preparations for this the new mission.
The prehistoric dream of Don Orione begins to become true
On October 5, 1991, the first Don Orione religious came to the
Philippines: Fr. Luigi Piccoli, Fr. Oreste Ferrari and two lay people, together
with Fr Angelo Mugnai. This was the beginning of a new missionary chapter of
the Congregation. Their challenges were to learn the Tagalog, to know the
Filipino culture and to organize the pastoral work. Meanwhile, the community
lived in Fillinvest, a neighboring district, because there was no the parish
house.
On 12th January 1992, Cardinal Sin created a new parish,
"Mother of Divine Providence" and appointing Fr. Luigi Piccoli as the
first parish priest.
The Mission Grows and Strengthens
After starting the pastoral activity, on 12th July 1992,
the community moved to Payatas and in that November, the first charitable
activities began: a daycare center for children in Sagrada Familia chapel.
The following years will be years of growth and strengthening, where new
missionaries arrived and the pastoral and charitable activities multiplied: the
orphanage in Payatas, the first Filipino aspirants, the feeding program, the
savings program, the Cottolengo Filipino, the Montalban community, the
novitiate, the educational programs, a clinics for general and specialized
health care, some computer libraries, a small school and some small
co-operatives program, the arrival of the little missionary sisters of charity,
the creation of PAOFI, the first Filipino priest’s ordination and recently the
third community in Lucena.
From the Present towards the Future
The 20th Anniversary celebration is also an ending as well as
starting point. An ending point because we can see the fruits of twenty years
of pastoral and charity work. A presence that is growing and has already a
Filipino face and heart. A starting point also because it invites us continue
offering the Don Orione charism to the Filipino people.
Divine Providence on his loving plan has given to the Sons of Divine
Providence the possibility of making true Don Orione’s dream, so pasalamatan natin ang Diyos sa Kanyang mga biyaya at mga
pagpapala! (Let us thank God for the
graces and his blessing!).
We can now
say with confidence and assurance that the Congregation in rooted in the
Philippines. But it is not enough saying it, looking how have been these twenty
years of presence. Looking just in terms of statistics, one may wander asking
20 years and only one Filipino Priest? Is it that our charism is failing to
attract young people willing to dedicate themselves and their life to religious
life? Will the Philippines remain a missionary country for the Congregation or
will one day new missionaries raise from this lovely country and among the
Filipino peoples to evangelize those people around and abroad who need also to
discover our spirit?
The future,
looking the big number of young people in our seminary will tell us more and
give surely answers to our questions. But to make it, we need committed
religious and missionaries to form them well and deepened in them the Orionine
spirit.
We thank all those
generous people who have helped with fund raising for our missions. We need
more funds to maintain our work and are grateful for all the kind support of
our benefactors.
Some Contacts:
PAYATAS
Activities:
Parish pastoral with 14 chapels, Payatas Orione Foundation Inc
(PAOFI), 8 Feeding programs, 3 Pre-Elementary schools, 2 Health clinic, School
sponsoring, TBC assistance, Dispensaries.
Mother of Divine Providence
24 San Juan Evangelista Street, Payatas - A
Quezon City 1119, Metro Manila
Tel.: +63 2 951 3683 (Community)
Tel. Fax.: +63 2 932 5018 (Parish)
Tel.: +63 2
932 6285 (PAOFI)
Email:
eucinei.souza@gmail.com
MONTALBAN
Activities:
Cottolengo Filipino for physic and mental disable children, Minor
Seminary, Noviciate.
+ Saint Luigi Orione Seminary
Gloria Vista Subd., Rolling Hills
San Raphael Rodriguez
Montalban Rizal 1860 Philippines
Tel. +63 2 656 4021
E-mail: fdpvocations@yahoo.com
+ The Cottolengo Filipino : Tel. +63 2 475 2431
E-mail: juliocuestortega@gmail.com
+ The St. Luigi Orione Noviciate: Tel: +63 2 696 4455
E-mail: steforionis@yahoo.it
LUCENA
Activities:
Socio-promotional, livelihood, school sponsoring for poor children
and youth, Dispensary, Assistance in the Dalahican Pastoral Mission (Diocese of
Lucena), Catechism animation, Youth and vocational pastoral.
Sons of
Divine Providence Congregation, (Former Agnus Dei Convent)
Barangay
Alupaye, 4302, Pagbilao,
Quezon
Province.
Tel.: +63 42
731 23000
E-mail:
martinmroz77@yahoo.co.uk ; josephvancu@hotmail.com
Sources:
[1] Rough copy of
a memorandum about Fr. Gil Barcelon. This memorandum was written in Messina and
is undated, but from the context, we can suppose that it was written after
1928.
[3] The “32nd International
Eucharistic Congress” took place in Buenos Aires from October 10th -
14th, 1934.
[4] Letter to then seminarian Sciaccaluga. Victoria (Buenos Aires,
Argentina), October 20th, 1934.
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