(ANS – Kimihurura) – The final stage of the pilgrimage of the casket of Don Bosco in the Vice Province of “Saint Charles Lwanga” of Africa the Great Lakes (AGL) on its way to Sudan was also an occasion for celebration and joy in the local Christian community.

Early in the morning of 12 January the casket left the Salesian house in Kigali for the Institute of Apostolic Formation (IFAK) in Kimihurura. The school pupils of the 1st and 2nd  grade, lined up along the path leading to the school welcomed the casket with waving flags and banners while the choir sang a hymn to the father and Friend of Youth.

In a long procession the casket was taken to the Institute chapel where the Rector of Kigali Gatenga and Vice Superior of the AGL Vice Province, Fr Camiel Swertvagher, handed over the casket to Fr Vincent Da Silva, Rector of Kigali Kimihurura. Also present were the faithful from the local Christian community, a mission station of the Holy Family parish in the archdiocese of Kigali, who filled the chapel and expressed their respects to Don Bosco.

The welcoming ceremony – for which there had been a long preparation with catechesis on the devotion to relics and accounts of the life of Don Bosco – concluded with Mass at which the Rector Fr Da Silva presided.

On Saturday 14 January members of the groups of the Salesian Family present in the Vice Province met together at the IFAK for the official presentation of the Strenna for 2012. Beside the casket  the message of the IX successor of Don Bosco, Fr Pascual Chávez, was introduced and explained. The presence of Don Bosco’s relics made the invitation to come to know better the history of the saint of youth more significant.

The Superior of the Vice Province of AGL, Fr Gabriel Ngendakuriyo took the opportunity to thank  all those who worked so hard in organising the welcoming of the casket and in making the pilgrimage such a successful and pastorally fruitful event.

On 16 January, having completed its journey through the AGL Vice Province, the relics returned to the East Africa Province, to Sudan. The programme for the visit of the relics to the northern part of the country had to be cancelled through lack of Immigration authorisation.  However, the  Salesians carried out the programme of celebrations with a small statue of Don Bosco which accompanied a small relic from one of the Salesian houses. In the meantime, the  casket, having arrived in Juba, will resume its pilgrimage in Southern Sudan on 21 January.

Published 17/01/2012