Arnold and Joseph on an (Francophone) African Trek

January 15 is officially celebrated, since 2009, in and by the Catholic Church of Togo as the feast day of St Arnold Janssen. A decree to this effect was signed and issued during the "centenary year" by Mgr Isaac Gaglo, the Bishop-in-charge of the Liturgy commission of the Togolese Bishops' Conference, at the same time approving the locally translated French version of the Mass in honor of Arnold Janssen for use here in the country – thus officially recognizing AJ as “the ancestor in the Catholic faith" of Togo. It may be recalled that the saintly Founder himself had sent the first Divine Word Missionaries to Togo in 1892 – Togo then being a German protectorate up until the WW I. The feast day is included now annually in the local Ordo.

In January of this year, a photo of our Saints Arnold and Joseph is carried on the back cover of “Parole de Vie” [Word of Life], a monthly missal in French, published in Lomé by the Augustinian Sisters, under that wonderful saying from AJ: “Proclaiming the Good News is the best expression of love for the neighbor”.

On the cover page of the same issue is a photo of Our Lady from a stained-glass window of the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace in Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast (see the photo).

Our own publishing office in Togo, EDIVERBUM-SVD, collaborates, for the last several years, with the publishing house of the Augustinian Sisters to print and publish Biblical Diaries, Liturgical and SVD mission Calendars as well as other booklets. The January issue of the missal has 14 000 copies being circulated not only in Togo and Benin, but also in the neighboring Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville; and some copies reach also to Senegal, D R Congo and Chad.  The current issue of the missal carries on the 15th day a brief presentation of the Founder and his missionary’s foundations, besides the Text of the Mass.