Three confreres Ayi Séédem Firmin AFANOU, C.Ss.R., Sylvain TARPILGA, C.Ss.R., and Jean Paul BATIONO, C.Ss.R. were ordained in the last weeks in the Vice Province of West Africa.
During the Mass, which solemnly opens the platinum jubilee of the Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Togo on June 26, 2022, Mgr Nicodème BARRIGAH, Archbishop of Lomé, confers the sacred order of the presbyterate on Brother Firmin Afanou at the Holy Martyrs of Uganda Parish in Tokoin.
In the Cathedral of Ouagadougou, on July 2, 2022 at 4:00 p.m., the Mass begins, during which Brother Sylvain Tarpilga receives the sacred order of the presbyterate. He received this grace from God in the hands of the Apostolic Nuncio Burkina-Niger, Michael Crotty. Brother Sylvain welcomes the graces of the ministerial priesthood with 22 companions, including 10 Diocesan and 13 Religious. Happy Fruitful to them and to Father Sylvain TARPILGA in particular.
On July 09, 2022 at the Saint Augustin Cathedral Parish of Koudougou, deacon Jean Paul Bationo was ordained a priest, with ten companions (nine diocesan deacons and one Missionary of Africa), by Monsignor Joachim OUEDRAOGO, Bishop of Koudougou.
Let us give thanks to God for his benevolence towards his Church and the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. May these new priests be authentic witnesses of the abundance of redemption.
Fr. Ayi Séédem Firmin AFANOU, C.Ss.R.
Born on October 11, 1984, in Sokodé, Togo, Brother Firmin became a member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer on September 08, 2017, with his first vows at the Saint Alphonse’s Novitiate in Fada N’Gourma, Burkina Faso. Still wanting to continue following Christ the Redeemer, he professed his perpetual vows on September 08, 2021, in Saint Gérard’s House in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. With the desire growing, Brother Firmin decided to announce the Good News of salvation to the poor in the ministerial priesthood. He received the sacred order of the diaconate on January 09, 2022, at the cathedral of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Niamey, Niger, during the closing of the Alabaster Jubilee of the presence of the Redemptorists in West Africa.
Son of Saint Alphonse, son of Mary our Mother. He takes advantage of the grace of Our Mother of Perpetual Help to receive the sacred order of the priesthood. It should be noted that Firmin became familiar with Our Mother of Perpetual Help before his commitment to the Redemptorists, thanks to his mother (may she rest in the peace of the Lord), who devoted herself to Our Lady of Perpetual Help and who was even the head of the said Archconfraternity in Togo. One could say that the mother entrusted her son to Our Lady of Perpetual Help and wanted him to be ordained a priest under the control of this Wonderful and benevolent Lady for her children.
Indeed of grace from our Mother of Perpetual Help; considering the major event, the opening of the platinum jubilee (70 years of presence) of the Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Togo, the Vice-Provincial Council of the Vice-Province of West Africa decides of the priestly ordination of Brother Firmin AFANOU on the land of our ancestors, in Lomé. To this decision, the Archbishop of Lomé, Monsignor Nicodème BARRIGAH, gives a favourable opinion.
So, during the Mass which solemnly opens the platinum jubilee of the Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Togo on Sunday, June 26, 2022, Mgr Nicodème BARRIGAH, Archbishop of Lomé, confers the sacred order of the presbyterate on Brother Firmin AFANOU at the Holy Martyrs of Uganda Parish in Tokoin.
Let us give glory to God for his wonders for his Church, for the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer and for the Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. May Father Firmin AFANOU be a priest according to the heart of God and a worthy son of Saint Alphonse Marie de Liguori, filled with zeal, firm in the faith, joyful in hope, and full of charity.
Fr. Sylvain TARPILGA, C.Ss.R.
Sylvain TARPILGA was born on October 15, 1993 in Ouagadougou ; by TARPILGA Xavier and TIEMTORE Lamoussa Delphine. From the Parish of Saint Camille of Ouagadougou, Resident at the Parish of Our Lady of Fatima of Dassasgho, Archdiocese of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.
His vocational journey and his commitment to the Redemptorists
This young man heard God’s call from his tender childhood and expressed the desire to serve Christ like the Apostles. His contact with the Redemptorist Fathers was very banal, as he likes to say. The child Sylvain took part in the Masses at Saint Gerard’s House (Redemptorist Scholasticate). One day, a young man, after Mass, accosted him and said, “I know that you want to become a priest”. He adds: “If you want, there is a group of children who want to become a priest in this house. They have their meetings every 1st Sunday of the month. You can also participate”. Thus begins his adventure with the Redemptorist Fathers.
After a few years of watching, Sylvain entered the Redemptorist Postulancy after passing the baccalaureate. After 03 years of postulancy and philosophy, he entered the Saint Alphonse novitiate in Fada N’Gourma in Burkina Faso. He became a member of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer on September 08, 2017, with his first vows. At the end of the fourth year of theology spent at Saint Gerard’s House, Brother Sylvain TARPILGA professed his perpetual vows on September 8, 2021. During his pastoral internship at the Parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Kossodo, at the closing of the jubilee of alabaster, 75 years of Redemptorist presence in West Africa, he received the sacred order of the diaconate on January 8, 2022.
His desire to become a Redemptorist priest ever-growing, he was called to the sacred order of the presbyterate by the Vice-Provincial Superior and his Council.
The actual priestly ordination
Sylvain’s dream of becoming a Redemptorist priest will come true on July 2, 2022. In the Cathedral of Ouagadougou, on July 2, 2022, at 4:00 p.m., the Mass begins, during which Brother Sylvain receives the sacred order of the presbyterate. He received this grace from God in the hands of the Apostolic Nuncio Burkina-Niger, Michael Crotty. Brother Sylvain welcomes the graces of the ministerial priesthood with 22 companions, including 10 Diocesan and 13 Religious. Happy Fruitful to them and to Father Sylvain TARPILGA in particular.
Let us give thanks to God for his benevolence towards his Church and towards the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. May his name be blessed forever and ever. Amen
Fr. Jean Paul BATIONO, C.Ss.R.
Jean Paul BATIONO was born on May 16, 1989 in Koko-Bouaké in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. He is from BATIONO Bazombié Pema Grégoire and KANZEMO Ezombié Marie. He is originally from the Diocese of Koudougou in Burkina Faso, more precisely from the Parish of Saint Charles Lwanga of Ténado.
He began his adventure with the Redemptorists at the Parish of Our Lady of Lourdes in Tiébissou, Diocese of Yamoussoukro in Côte d’Ivoire. After his baccalaureate from Tiébissou, where he spent his time watching, he returned to Burkina Faso in Ouagadougou to begin the postulancy. It was in 2014. After three years of postulancy and philosophical studies, he asked to continue his adventure with the Lord at the novitiate in Fada N’Gourma (Burkina Faso). At the end of the canonical year of the novitiate, he put on the Redemptorist habit on September 08, 2017. A Redemptorist, he continued his journey in the scholasticate at Saint Gerard’s House in Ouagadougou to further mature his relationship with the Redeemer. He then led a religious life and theological studies for four years. To belong definitively to the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer, he asks to make a perpetual profession. He received a favourable response and professed his vows on September 08, 2021, at the Maison Saint Gérard. During his pastoral internship, he received the sacred order of the diaconate on January 08, 2022, during the closing of the alabaster jubilee of the presence of the Redemptorists in West Africa at the Parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Kossodo. in Ouagadougou through Monsignor Léopold Médard OUEDRAOGO, Auxiliary Bishop of Ouagadougou.
Deacon Jean Paul BATIONO, after 07 months of diaconal ministry, was then called to the sacred order of the priesthood. On Saturday, July 09, 2022, at the Saint Augustin Cathedral Parish of Koudougou, he was ordained a priest, with ten companions (nine diocesan deacons and one Missionary of Africa), by Monsignor Joachim OUEDRAOGO Bishop of Koudougou.
May the name of the Redeemer be blessed for the gift of new priests to his Church, and may these new priests be authentic witnesses of the abundance of redemption.
text and pictures submitted by Fr. Marc Toguyeni, C.Ss.R.
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