25 years of presence in Angola

In synodal spirit, we want to expand the space of our tent. (Cf. Is 54,2)

We believe that God has been here from all eternity and manifested Himself in time and space, when in May 1989 the itinerary of two Sisters was altered: Maria Benilde, of happy memory, and Ermelinda Neto, who traveled to S. Tomé and Príncipe with the objective of founding a community in that country. It so happened that the plane, making the scheduled stopover at Ilha do Sal in Cape Verde, did not go to S. Tomé. Only solution? To go to Angola in a military plane from Cuba, full of soldiers, with only two vacant seats, apparently reserved for us. With some suspicion, they ceded those seats. In Luanda they had to stay for six days. We were left there without knowing anything or anyone, so many extraordinary things happened that clearly reveal the presence of God guiding our steps!...

God allowed a “forced” stop in Luanda, to facilitate the realization of His project in Angola, as the Assembly of Bishops of CEAST was taking place, who, seeing the two Sisters, made instant requests for the Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady to come to work in Angola. And so it happened in June 1998, the year proclaimed by Pope Saint John Paul II as the Year of the Holy Spirit and of Mission.

When we arrived, we started our mission in Viana, in the area of ​​health, in the pastoral care of the Parish, especially with those displaced by the war, (vulnerable, among the vulnerable) it was such a rich experience that it will never be erased from our lives! Today, we continue this mission of care, in different aspects, human/Christian.

Later, in 2007, at the request of His Excellency D. Benedito Roberto, animated by Franciscan and Missionary Spirituality, in the name of Mother Church, we arrived in Porto Amboim, where we were welcomed by this Parish Community, in which we are integrated, with the great desire to love and serve everyone in: Health, Catechesis, Youth Ministry, Home care… embracing the mission with passion.

Little by little, some groups of lay people, admirers of Francis of Assisi (Frater, Giofrater) wish to walk side by side with the Franciscan Missionary Sisters of Our Lady who, at all times, try to accompany, form, support in  human, evangelical and ecclesial values... so that, on a synodal journey, we can be an active participant in the Church and in society, making unity and communion visible, so that: ”May they all be one; as You, O Father, are in Me and I in You, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.” (Jn 17,21)

We also praise and give thanks to Jesus, the Lord of the Harvest, who graced us with seven Angolan Sisters. Together, on a path of discernment, deepening and maturing of our vocation and mission, we want to continue to respond to the calls of the Lord, in the present day of our lives, in the manner of St. Francis of Assisi.

We give thanks to God for all the FMNS Sisters, to whom we pay homage, in the one hundred and seventy-eight years of the Congregation's history.

A welcome to all who join us in this Celebration, with which we begin the journey of preparation, of the twenty-five years of presence in Angola in 2023.

Angola on October 30, 2022

Sister Ermelinda Neto