Dear Brothers,

Two special events force us to think about those among us who gave witness in the past to Jesus Christ in a very special way: the approval of the beatification process of our Founder and the 40^th anniversary of the martyrdom of our Congo missionaries. Twenty-eight religious gave their lives in 1964, during the Simba revolution, for love of evangelization. Their deaths occurred during the month of November from the 3^rd to the 27^th. On the 26^th the Bishop of Wamba was killed along with six other missionaries.

“The Church has always believed that the apostles and Christ's martyrs who had given the supreme witness of faith and charity by the shedding of their blood are closely joined with us in Christ, and she has always venerated them with special devotion… (Lumen Gentium, 50). With identical devotion we wish to honor to our Dehonian brothers who gave their lives to serve the cause of the Gospel and to thank God for their gift.

Already in 2000, on December 18, Fr. Virginio Bressanelli, General Superior, when news was given the Congregation of the approval of the decree of martyrdom of Bl. Juan Maria de la Cruz, published a list of other martyrs and invited us to “reclaim the history and memory of our more significant brothers and sisters who can serve as models and inspiration of living the vocation and mission we have in the church and in the world today.” That same year, Fr. Bernd Bothe (German Province) published a small work on five SCJs who died during World War II (one German, two from Luxembourg, a Belgian, and an Italian) and made reference to 11 Dutchmen who died in concentration camps in Indonesia and in the Congo; he also gave a brief biographical sketch of Bl. Anuarite Nangapeta, a Congolese religious of the Holy Family, a disciple of SCJ bishops Camille Verfaille and Wittebols.

In addition to these people, we have to recall three French missionaries who died in the Cameroon in 1959 and another Dutch missionary from the North Brazilian Province who died in 1975 as a result of his protective assistance to poor fishermen in Northeast Brazil.

All of these “washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14) and achieved the ideal of the Founder who wished to be missionary and martyr. By their untimely demise, they became one with Him who loved us and gave his life for us (Gal. 2:20). Their deaths were the consequence of a life choice made much earlier and kept perseveringly to the end. They are our inspiration and a source of strength for our vocation and mission. We recall that martyrdom can be one possible outcome for each of us as we look at a life coupled with a daily faithfulness to the Gospel taken on and lived in observance of a charism marked by the reparatory oblation of Christ.

During the XXI^st General Chapter, Recommendation N. 8 offered by the German Province was approved: The 21st General Chapter recommends that the General Administration divulge and disseminate information about SCJ martyrs and notables in our history and pay tribute them.

The General Administration welcomes this recommendation with a deep sense of gratitude toward God for all its SCJ missionaries and religious who were and are faithful to our charism and invite everyone to give particular honor to our martyrs. For this reason, in a session of the General Council held on 11 May, an SCJ MEMORIAL DAY was decreed to be celebrated every year on the 26^th of November, anniversary of the death of Bp. Wittebols, SCJ.

The death of Bp. Wittebols, along with part of his presbyterate, tells us of witness to the church and in the church, a church that is both martyr and missionary. For this purpose, every missionary who leaves his homeland and his culture to spend his life with people of another culture in service to the proclamation of the Gospel believes with the church that to know and follow Jesus Christ is a good for every person, people, and culture. This good is worth the gift of one’s life. Their deaths symbolize the mission that the Congregation undertook in the Congo thanks to many of its sons who helped the “seed which is the Word” (Ad Gentes, n. 6) germinate in those lands in which the church had not yet arrived, seed which became leafy trees like the Archdiocese of Kisangani, the diocese of Wamba, and others. Their deaths are a significant moment in the mission that the congregation carries on in the church in various countries and with many forms of the apostolate.

This date should be opportunely prepared for and celebrated in all communities, especially in formation communities, and with lay people who share our pastoral, educational, and missionary activities. Let the celebration of this day become an occasion to learn about and remember those persons who have impacted the history of a province / region / district and the Congregation, or a particular work or section of our mission.

Counting on the intercession of Fr. Dehon, Bl. Juan Maria de la Cruz and all those who have gone before on the road to the Father, and

Fraternally yours in the Heart of Christ,

Fr. José Ornelas Carvalho, scj

General Superior

and his council