In 1816, when Emmanuel d'Alzon was only 6 years old, his family moved from the town of Le Vigan to the chateau of Lavagnac which his mother had inherited. Located in southern France near the village of Montagnac, this beautiful aristocratic residence was the place where d'Alzon grew up and where he would often come back once he set out to do his studies in Paris, Montpellier, and Rome. Even once he became a priest in Nîmes, he would return here to draw healing rest.

This past August 22 Bro. Donné Romuald Marcellin Randrianantenaina was ordained to the priesthood during the closing ceremonies of the bicentennial of Fr. d'Alzon's birth in the Vice-Province of Madagascar. The event took place in the Assumptionist parish of Our Lady of the Assumption in Tulear.

During a celebration the evening before,  after his parents gave him the traditional blessing, Bro. Romuald gave a moving testimony about his somewhat unusual path to the priesthood.

Sixty years ago, on November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption of Mary.  We may wonder how a religious family with the name “Assumption” might have contributed to this event. It would be presumptuous to think that the Assumption had any influence whatsoever on the Pope’s decision, but it is legitimate to think that certain of its most eminent members helped to bring this idea to maturity, thus preparing the Pope to make his proclamation during the Holy Year.

Among the steps leading up to this definition, the scholarly research, the meetings and the pontifical commissions that were organized, the work done by Father Martin Jugie (1878-1954) holds a particularly important place. The monumental work (747 pages long), The Death and the Assumption of the Virgin Mary published by this historical/doctrinal student in 1944, by the Pope’s own admission, furnished the solid foundation that prepared and hastened the definition of the dogma. This theologian of the “Echos d’Orient” team, a humble and austere man, in publishing this volume could hardly have imagined a better reward than the proclamation of the dogma of the Assumption. When this brilliant professor of Oriental Theological Institute published his book, he dedicated it naturally to Pope Pius XII, protector of the Assumption family. In fact, in 1931, Pope Pius XI had named Eugenio Pacelli, at the time Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal protector of the religious families of the Assumption.

This past October 1-13, a small group of American pilgrims made their way to Turkey and Israel seeking to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and St. Paul. This small venture carries on the tradition begun by the Assumptionists in the 19th century. In late April 1882, a group of Assumptionists organized the first modern large-scale pilgrimages to the Holy Land when they set sail from the port of Marseilles in two ships, the Picardie and the Guadaloupe, accompanied by some 1,000 stalwart pilgrims. It took 8 days to reach the port of Haifa. Once arrived, they traveled by foot, donkey, horse and camel, sleeping in tents or under the stars. Nothing like it had been seen since the time of the Crusades. In all, the pilgrims stayed for 40 days and began a tradition that would continue uninterrupted till Word War I in 1914 and would restart afterwards.

“Education is the formation of Jesus Christ in souls.”

Students, faculty and others will have to recall those words of Father Emmanuel d’Alzon when they walk by a new sculpture of him at Assumption College, the president said at a ceremony Saturday.

At the dedication and blessing on Homecoming/Family Weekend, college President Francesco Cesareo unveiled life-sized statues of two students listening to Father d’Alzon, founder of the Augustinians of the Assumption, who founded the college. The bronze sculptures on a granite bench are outside the library, which is dedicated to Father d’Alzon.

Fr. Jean-Luc Eckert has lived in the Assumptionist community in Jerusalem for many years. There he has been welcoming the many pilgrims who arrive to recall Peter's denial and repentance at this site considered by some experts to be the former site of the palace of Caiaphas, the high priest at the time of Jesus. He has also had numerous encounters with various Christian communities in Israel and Palestine and has tasted first-hand the warm welcome of the inhabitants of this land, both suffering and luminous. Here he shared with us some of his discoveries.

The seven schools run by the Oblate Sisters of the Assumption in France spent the last year preparing a colorful spectacle to mark the bicentennial of the birth of their founder, Emmanuel d'Alzon. The show includes two parts, the first a dramatic presentation of the life of Emmanuel d'Alzon in five acts and the second a musical tour of the countries where the sisters are located. The entire presentation is entitled, "Emmanuel d'Alzon: A Man with a heart on fire."

Bishop Louis-Armel Pelâtre is an Assumptionist bishop. Since 1992, he has been Apostolic Vicar of Istanbul in Turkey.  As such, he is a member of the Special Synod for the Near East, held in Rome from 10 to 24 of October.  He kindly shared with us some of his impressions.

What has been your experience of this Synod?

It’s wonderful to be able to experience the Church in all of its diversity and the many different ways in which the faith is lived. Yet despite this diversity it is possible to discover the unity of our Near Eastern experience, especially in contrast with the Church of the West. Having taken part in various Synods, I’ve been struck that this one has a very specific character. It is the entire episcopate of the Near East that has gathered around the Pope and not just a number of delegates. Together they are focusing on the theme: “Communion and Witness”. This is Benedict XVI’s first initiative of this kind; nothing like this has ever occurred. And that is particularly significant in the context of the situation today in the Near East: the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, war in Iraq, and the emigration of Near Eastern Christians.

Dedication Ceremony for the Statue of Venerable Emmanuel d’Alzon
Assumption College. October 23, 2010

This beautiful sculpture in front of the central place of learning on our campus, the library, already named after the founder of the Assumptionists, portrays d’Alzon the teacher: Thinking back to our visit, this past May, to Nimes and the original “Assumption College high school”, I can well imagine him, 150 years ago, sitting in front of the school, surrounded by his students, as we see it here. Well, he wouldn’t have had any female students at that school. It was for boys only. But he always thought of teaching in the “most absolute sense of the word” (as he called it), not just as “school education”, so that the many works of charity he did, e.g. the girls’ shelter he founded in 1836, can also be seen as educational endeavors. D’Alzon with a boy and a girl – that stands, I think, for the entire spectrum of pedagogical activities initiated by the French nobleman turned priest. He actually saw education itself as a “work of charity” and as one of those works “through which we shall seek to extend the reign of our Lord”, as he wrote in 1855.