The opening ceremony of the jubilee of the Madagascar Region and the inauguration of the SCJ family tomb took place from 10 to 11 August 2024 in Ambohimirary Antananarivo.
From 10 to 11 August 2024, the entire SCJ region of Madagascar (MAD), our parishioners, friends and benefactors, and the entire Dehonian family gathered at “Notre Dame De Fatima” Parish in Ambohimirary Antananarivo to celebrate the opening of the jubilee year of the fiftieth anniversary of the Dehonian presence in Madagascar.
Saturday 10 August 2024 was marked by the life witness of our first missionaries: Father Nicola Giampetro and Brother Filipo Butti came to share the history, the mission, the enthusiasm and the grace with which God has filled the life of our Region throughout these 50 years. This testimony was followed by Eucharistic adoration, the heart of our Dehonian spirituality.
On Sunday 11 August 2024, Father Superior of the SCJ region of Madagascar presided over the Jubilee Thanksgiving Mass and officially opened this great annual celebration. A “nofo-kena mitam-pihavanana à la Malagasy” was shared together in the large Don Luigi room of the Parish in the presence of representatives of our presence from all over the island.
The Famadihana and the inauguration of our family tomb took place at the novitiate in Andranobe Antsirabe on 01 and 02 October 2024. On the first day, in the morning, Monsignor Gaetano Di Piero scj and Monsignor José Alfredo scj, our Dehonian bishops in Madagascar, were present. Together with all the confreres of the region and the entire Dehonian family present, they celebrated a thanksgiving Mass in the Novitiate Chapel on the feast of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, patron saint of the Mission.
In the afternoon, in the presence of neighbours, the local authority and the families of our confreres who had already died, we exhumed the bodies of our confreres from the old tomb: Brother Philippe Rakotomarolahy, Brother Giuseppe Dubla, Brother Fidèle Ramarolahy, Father Ramanantsoa Jérôme Florent, Father Paulus Sugino and Brother Rakotoniaina Barthélemy.
The following day, the morning was devoted to welcoming the guests and the festive meal marking fihavanana and fiombonana according to Malagasy culture. In the afternoon, the Father Superior of the Region presided over the inauguration of the tomb and the steles commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Dehonian presence in Madagascar, followed by the deposit of the bodies of our deceased confreres in the new tom
