(ANS – Liege) – Saturday 8 October for the Salesian house in Liege, Belgium was a day of rejoicing for the celebration of the 120th anniversary of its foundation. In December 1891, the first Salesians and the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians reached this industrial city on the banks of the Mosa to open an orphanage and training work-shops for workers’ children, in response to a request from Bishop Doutreloux, bishop of the “burning city”, the city of the Eucharist.

The Salesians in Belgium consider the house especially dear to the Blessed Virgin and Don Bosco personally had made the decision and then made every effort to send his missionaries to Belgium. It was the last request made to Don Bosco and was brought to a successful conclusion by Don Rua. When Fr Francesco Scaloni and Sr Maddalena Pavese arrived they had with them a very young team of missionaries which ensured the rapid development of the Society of Saint Francis of Sales and of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians in the area.

To celebrate the anniversary, the Don Bosco Multimedia Centre in Liege organised an extraordinary exhibition which re-evoked the social and political context of the time, life in the “Laveu” working district, the conditions faced by the miners and the development of the Salesian works up to the present.

The Rector Major, Fr Pascual Chávez, and the Mother General, Sr Yvonne Reungoat were in Liege for the celebrations, attended by about 800 people showing the vitality of the Salesian Family, an active part of the organisation.

The most significant moment of the day was the Mass during which 4 Salesians made their perpetual profession in the presence of  Fr Chávez, Fr Joseph Enger, Provincial of France-South Belgium, Fr Mark Tips, Provincial of North Belgium, Fr André Van der Sloot, Rector of the Liege Community and Fr Rudy Hainaux, the parish priest. The four young Salesians are the Belgian Xavier Ernst and the Vietnamese  Pierre Nguyen, Vincent Tran and Pierre Hoang, who for some years have been in France with the Project for Europe. The “Résonances” Choir helped in the Mass which was also full of signs and symbolic gestures.

There were many other activities during the rest of the day: the meeting of the young people with Fr Chávez and Mother Reungoat, folk dancing, a show put on by the children from the Circus School, other games and the presentation of projects launched by young people from other branches of the Salesian Family, and in particular the  Salesian Youth Movement. The day ended with a concert by the “Pour Quelle Fête?” Choir which started in the Salesian parish in Liege forty years ago.

Published 11/10/2011