PROMINENT ASSUMPTIONIST Fr. JÉRÔME MASUMBUKO TSONGO-NDARA (1934-1981)
First African/Congolese Assumptionist, Pioneer, Educator

Jérôme Masumbuko Tsongo-Ndara was born in the village of Kamituga in the province of North Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo, on September 20, 1934. His father had relocated his family to this mining region when he found work there as a nurse. Having completed his primary education, Jérôme entered the minor seminary in Musienene, where he first met the Assumptionists and stayed from 1947 to 1954, with a special emphasis in Latin, after which he attended the major seminary in Baudoinville (Moba), run by the White Fathers, for his philosophy studies from 1954 to 1957. For some time, the young Jérôme had been thinking about Assumptionist religious life, even though the Congregation had a firm policy of directing all vocations to build up the local clergy.

PROMINENT ASSUMPTIONIST  REV. GERVAIS QUENARD, A.A. (1875-1961)   SUPERIOR GENERAL (1923-1952)

First assignments in the Near East

Born in Chignin, next to Montmélian (Savoie), France, on January 11, 1875, Jean-Claude Quénard, after grammar school, already became somewhat of a founder by participating in the foundation of the alumnate in Miribel-les-Echelles (Isère) in 1887. After finishing his secondary education in Brian (Drôme) from 1890 to 1892, he received the Assumptionist habit on August 7, 1892 at the novitiate in Livry (Seine-Saint-Denis) with the name of Brother Gervais. Annually professed August 7, 1893, he finished his novitiate in Phanaraki, Turkey, where he made final profession August 15, 1894, and where he studied philosophy (1894-1896). He studied theology in Jerusalem (1896-1900) where he was ordained a priest August 20, 1899 by Latin Patriarch Luigi Piavi.

PROMINENT ASSUMPTIONIST Most Rev. Pie Neveu, A.A., “The Peasant of Makeyevka”  (1877-1946), Bishop and Apostolic Administrator in Moscow

Eugène Joseph Neveu was a French Assumptionist, bishop and apostolic administrator of Moscow, born in Gien on February 24, 1877 and died in Paris on October 17, 1946. His father was a manufacturer of chinaware. Eugene, one of 16 children,  pursued primary and secondary studies in his hometown before entering the minor seminary of Orléans and finally the Assumptionists in 1895 where he adopted the name Pie. In 1897 he made his final profession in Jerusalem and began his studies of philosophy and theology at Notre-Dame de France in the Holy City. He became a professor at the Assumptionist Slavic seminary of Karagrach (Turkey) in 1901 and was ordained on March 18, 1905.