During the quarter century (1978-2005) when Karol Wojtyla was Pope, the Assumption held four General Chapters (1981, 1987, 1993, 1999). The first of these was marked by an event that had repercussions all over the world: the attempted assassination of the Pope on 13 May 1981.

The audience, during which the capitulants were to be received by the Holy Father, was thus cancelled.·In a telegram sent on 16 May 1981, Fr. Hervé Stephan, Superior General at the time, wrote:·“Dear Holy Father, the members of the Assumptionist General Chapter…were looking forward to the great moment when they would be received in audience.·We have been deeply disturbed by the attempt on your life.·We join everyone in the Church in praying for your intention.

On the 6^th of June, the Superior General received a letter from the Secretariat of State: “The Holy Father has asked me to thank all of the communities in the Church who joined together in prayer. From this he hopes for a new grace of unity and of deepened faith, and asks for these gifts especially for your Institute at this time when the Chapter has re-elected you as Superior General.”

At the time of the General Chapter in 1999, Pope John Paul II sent this message to Fr. Richard Lamoureux, newly elected Superior General.·In particular, he wrote:·“I wish to encourage you, therefore, as you reflect together on the orientations that you intend to promote… placing special emphasis on the transmission and deepening of the faith, and on your commitment in favor of the poor and the marginalized.·I hope that your work for ecumenism, particularly in the Christian Orient and in Central and Eastern Europe, will give to all your apostolates a perspective founded on charity and fraternal dialogue as expounded in the encyclical Ut unum sint.·I cordially invite the Congregation to continue to foster the evangelical basis of its apostolic life, in keeping with the spiritual patrimony bequeathed to it by Saint Augustine.·It will be able to count on the pastoral experience of its one hundred and fifty years of existence…·By returning to your origins, you will be able to live the harmony that exists between the proclamation of the Gospel and fraternal life with new courage, and be animated by a growing spiritual and apostolic dynamism.”

But it is especially in 2002, on the occasion of the beatification of the three Bulgarian Assumptionist martyrs, that the Pope drew closest to the Congregation.·The 26^th of May in that year, in Plovdiv’s central square, John Paul II, considerably weakened by his illness, presided the Eucharist during which he proclaimed our three Bulgarian brothers blessed.·In his homily, he said:·“The three Assumptionist priests that I have had the joy of inscribing today among the Blessed were penetrated through and through by this truth:·the cause for which Fathers Kamen Vitchev, Pavel Djidjov and Josaphat Chichkov did not hesitate to give their life was faith in God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.·It was love for Christ, Son of God made man, to whom they gave themselves fully in view of service to His Church.”

After the Angelus, the Pope spoke once again to the Assumption family with these words:·“I greet the Augustinians of the Assumption with affection, many of whom have gathered today from many different countries to celebrate the great deeds of their brother martyrs, Kamen, Pavel and Josaphat, today proclaimed blessed.·In fidelity to the motto of your Founder, Father Emmanuel d’Alzon, ‘Thy Kingdom Come’, be fearless and generous in your mission of announcing the Good News of salvation!·From deep within my heart, I bless you, as well as the religious sisters of your family and all those who accompany you here today.”

It is with great joy and in a spirit of thanksgiving that the Assumption, today, greets Blessed John Paul II and entrusts itself to his intercession.

By André Brombart A.A.