austraLasia #2723
Vietnam and Slovenia rejoice at 'Inquiry' opening for Servant of God Andrej Majcen
Llubljana: 1 October 2010 -- ANS has recently run an article on the formal and solemn opening of the so-called Diocesan Inquiry into the heroic virtues of Servant of God Andrej Majcen SDB, known affectionately in Vietnam as the founder of Salesian work there (after being expelled from China with other foreign missionaries, more because that was 'de rigeur' at the time, not really because the Chinese didn't like him. In fact they revered him).
It is a great moment for Salesian Vietnam especially, and for Salesians in Slovenia, and the fact that part of the solemn opening of the inquiry was celebrated at the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Llubjana, from whence Fr Majcen was commissioned as a missionary many years before, on the same day that 11 new Vietnamese missionaries were commissioned in the Valdocco counterpart, on 26 September 2010, was significant.
It would be good to know that we have recently placed material on sdb.org regarding the Servant of God. Before this, we simply had his name - not even a photo! Now there are several photos, and a brief writeup (provided by the Postulation, so any comments on contents to them, please). This might also be a good time to remind readers that the Servant of God has some 6,000 pages of diaries, spiritual notes, and that a good part of these are available in the Majcen collection on SDL. But you need patience and maybe good bandwidth! These were scanned as images because his notes were often handwritten and filled with jottings, pics and the like - so images were the only solution. But the end results is a very heavy PDF file! Could take half an hour to download the material. But at least you know where to find it.
There is still a long road ahead, you realise. The Diocesan Inquiry has just been formally opened. It needs to gather and examine all this documentation, witnesses depositions and the like, have them examined by at least two theological experts and a further three historical ones, after which there has to be a formal closing of the diocesan Inquiry and a formal petition made to begin the Roman phase, after which there is the possibility of a formal recognition of heroic virtues and the move to the 'Venerable' stage. Interestingly enough, these preliminary phases have to end up declaring that there is no evidence of public cult, which is only permitted after Beatification.
Once the process moves to Rome, it is normal for a period something like ten years to occur before the process completes the 'human' side of things and awaits divine signs by way of miracles!
Plenty of time for prayer on our part, then!
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2010 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
Vietnam and Slovenia rejoice at 'Inquiry' opening for Servant of God Andrej Majcen
Llubljana: 1 October 2010 -- ANS has recently run an article on the formal and solemn opening of the so-called Diocesan Inquiry into the heroic virtues of Servant of God Andrej Majcen SDB, known affectionately in Vietnam as the founder of Salesian work there (after being expelled from China with other foreign missionaries, more because that was 'de rigeur' at the time, not really because the Chinese didn't like him. In fact they revered him).
It is a great moment for Salesian Vietnam especially, and for Salesians in Slovenia, and the fact that part of the solemn opening of the inquiry was celebrated at the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians in Llubjana, from whence Fr Majcen was commissioned as a missionary many years before, on the same day that 11 new Vietnamese missionaries were commissioned in the Valdocco counterpart, on 26 September 2010, was significant.
It would be good to know that we have recently placed material on sdb.org regarding the Servant of God. Before this, we simply had his name - not even a photo! Now there are several photos, and a brief writeup (provided by the Postulation, so any comments on contents to them, please). This might also be a good time to remind readers that the Servant of God has some 6,000 pages of diaries, spiritual notes, and that a good part of these are available in the Majcen collection on SDL. But you need patience and maybe good bandwidth! These were scanned as images because his notes were often handwritten and filled with jottings, pics and the like - so images were the only solution. But the end results is a very heavy PDF file! Could take half an hour to download the material. But at least you know where to find it.
There is still a long road ahead, you realise. The Diocesan Inquiry has just been formally opened. It needs to gather and examine all this documentation, witnesses depositions and the like, have them examined by at least two theological experts and a further three historical ones, after which there has to be a formal closing of the diocesan Inquiry and a formal petition made to begin the Roman phase, after which there is the possibility of a formal recognition of heroic virtues and the move to the 'Venerable' stage. Interestingly enough, these preliminary phases have to end up declaring that there is no evidence of public cult, which is only permitted after Beatification.
Once the process moves to Rome, it is normal for a period something like ten years to occur before the process completes the 'human' side of things and awaits divine signs by way of miracles!
Plenty of time for prayer on our part, then!
_________________
AustraLasia is an email service for the Salesian Family of Asia Pacific. It also functions as an agency for ANS based in Rome. For queries please contact admin@bosconet.aust.com . Use Bosconet-wiki to be interactive. RSS feeds - just go to Bosconet, click on austraLasia 2010 in the sidebar. You will see the RSS orange icon in your browser address bar - add it from there. Or be interactive with the EAO blog Cetera Tolle. Avail yourself of the Salesian Digital Library at http://sdl.sdb.org
