CONTENTS:

 

- Brother Titus Arimathil

- Doctoral thesis on a great missionary figure

- A documentary DVD on Sister Cristina Kaufmann

- More about Fr. Jean-Thierry of the Child Jesus

- International Discussion at Kinshasa

 

Brother Titus Arimathil

+ 5-04-2007

 

Brother Titus Arimathil was the welcoming and veteran receptionist at the Teresianum in Rome, well-known and appreciated by generations of Carmelites who have passed through the International College and our Pontifical Faculty. He succumbed to a heart attack on the morning of the 5th April, and died without any forewarning of such an event. That same morning, Holy Thursday, he prepared the bread rolls for the poor who came every Thursday to the main door. When he had finished serving them he went, as was his custom, to the chapel. After a few moments of prayer, he felt ill and lay back on the pew, but fell into a coma. He was rushed urgently to the hospital, but there was nothing the doctors could do except declare him dead.

The funeral took place on 11th April. In the absence of Fr General, the Vicar General of the Order, Fr Zdenko Krizic, presided. He was accompanied by 72 concelebrants, in addition to all the Community of the Teresianum, the Casa Generalizia, many of Br Titus's friends, as well as representatives from various religious congregations. Fr Virgilio Pasquetto, the Rector of the Teresianum, gave a beautiful and moving sermon, in which he drew attention to the eminent humility of Br Titus and his deep spirit of service. At the end, the Vicar General spoke, summing up the Paschal mystery in the life of Br Titus and thanking those who knew him who were present. A priest from the Marianum, Fr Ermanno Toniolo OSM, who had known Br Titus for more than 30 years, also spoke wishing that there remain in all of us the beauty of his memory of this faithful servant who was humble, obliging, always available and smiling in his commitment to duty. With the singing of the Rosa Carmeli, the funeral procession moved off to the Discalced Carmelites' mausoleum in Verano, trusting that our Mother of Carmel had welcomed this exemplary Carmelite to her bosom.

The obliging and ever attentive Brother was a member of the Manjummel Province in India. He was born on 8th June 1931 at Vayalar in the Kerala region. He made his first profession on 19th March 1959 and arrived at the Teresianum on 26th September 1964, where he lived until his death.

His first duty in Rome was assistant to the librarian. Then he moved to receptionist and liturgical service of the chapel. His smile was proverbial, as was his willingness, and attention to carrying out with the greatest fidelity the duties entrusted to him. We all remember Brother Titus, who was not just a receptionist, but one who would always make every effort to find out whatever information was needed, with the greatest of kindness. Thus he lived and worked in an attitude of service for nearly 43 uninterrupted years in Rome.

 

Doctoral thesis on a great missionary figure

 

On 29th March, a priest from the Vijayapuram diocese in Kerala, India, Antony George Pattaparambil, defended his doctoral thesis in Rome. It was of great Carmelite interest. He obtained his doctorate at the theological faculty at Holy Cross Pontifical University (of the Opus Dei Prelature). The subject of the thesis was “A study of ‘Viaggio alle Indie Orientali, Roma 1796’ of Paulinus a Sancto Bartholomaeo, ocd (1748-1806): Towards an ecclesiastical historiography of Malabar / Kerala (1776-1789)”. The central person of the thesis is a famous Carmelite from Austria, who came from the Croat minority in this country and had the reputation of being the greatest European Indiologist. He wrote in Latin, Italian, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Malayalam, Syriac, English, Tamil, Sanskrit, ….. We owe the first grammar of the Sanskrit language to him.

Fr Pattaparambil centred his study on Fr Paulinus' book “Viaggio alle Indie Orientali”. For this work and other of his writings, Fr Paulinus was recognised as “the father of the history of the Church in India”. The above-mentioned book has been translated, totally or partially, six times in five languages. Paulinus not only describes the history, but evaluates it by consulting the original manuscripts and gathering first- hand information through consulting people around the land.

The verdict of the tribunal was so positive that they suggested the author publish his thesis in its entirety and continue working afterwards on the publication of a biography of the great Indiologist, because of the additional value his work offers for knowledge of the missionary methods of the Carmelites in India. Another suggestion from the jury was that the new doctor publish, at least, the correspondence of Fr Paulinus of Saint Bartholomew.

            Opportunely, there was recently published a documentary by Croat Radio Television on this historical Carmelite of Croatian origin. The documentary is issued on a DVD of highest professional level and embraces the course of his human and religious life and his bibliographical work. It was all filmed in the actual places: Austria, Croatia, India, and Rome (General Archives, State Archives, the Missionary Seminary of San Pancrazio,....). It is also recalled that this studious person was a "Croat Carmelite from Burgenland (Austria), a missionary in India, pioneer of Indiology, father of Indo-European philology...."

 

A DVD documentary on Sister Cristina Kaufmann

 

It is less than a year from the death of Sister Cristina Kaufmann (1939-2006), Swiss Discalced Carmelite, professed in Mataró (Spain). A DVD documentary of 31 minutes with the title “Recreando soledades” (recreating solitudes) reproduces an unpublished interview, in which the Carmelite nun speaks about her experience of God, of silence, of love, of her vocation, her youth, pardon, .... The critics consider this presentation, which was also shown to the Spanish Episcopal Conference, as an example of a "spiritual documentary".

Sr Cristina Kaufmann expresses herself with a sense of humour, a poetical capacity, with a profound gaze before the camera. The spoken text is combined with symbolical images of footsteps, doors, cloisters, ..... The Carmelite replies in Catalan, but there are subtitles in various languages. The documentary, which caused a great religious sensation in Spain, is the work of Francesc Grané, while his brother Joan Grané was responsible for the montage.

Severino María Alonso, cmf, in the journal “Vida Religiosa”, dedicated an article in warm memory of her: “Cristina Kaufmann, Carmelita Descalza. Experiencia y testimonio” (Madrid, April 2007, pp. 33-36). Among other things, the well-known theologian of consecrated life in Spain, wrote of Sr Cristina: “Her silence was attentive listening, the presence of God, prayer; her solitude: communion and living encounter....."

 

More on Br Jean-Thierry of the Child Jesus and the Passion,

Edifying Cameroon novice

 

         The prestigious Italian publication “Testimoni”, of the Dehonians of Bologna, in its edition of 31st of March, published a well-documented article on Brother Jean-Thierry Ebgo of the Child Jesus (died 6/01/2006). At that time, Communicationes (N. 53: 15/01/2006) gave details of the life of this exceptional Cameroon novice of the Lombardy Province and his anticipated profession “in articulo mortis”. Now the Italian journal in it "Profiles" section presents him as "a gift from God to the Church and to Carmel in Africa". It is based on the witness of the progress of his vocation to Carmel, the amputation of a leg due to a cancerous tumour towards the end of his novitiate, the moving memories left by the doctors and hospital staff of the Italian hospitals where he was treated, and his holy death early on 5th January, 2006. Twenty-four years old, he offered his pain and death for Carmel in Cameroon and for the sanctification of African priests.

 

International Discussion in Kinshasa

 

The first International Discussion at the Theresianum in the Congolese capital was celebrated in 1992. It was on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the death of St John of the Cross. The central theme was “La mystique africaine”. Thus came about the first study, at an academic level, of African mysticism in comparison with the great saint and mystic of Carmel. The acts were published. Every two years another three Discussions were celebrated. The series was then interrupted.

From the 6th to the 10th of May, the fifth International Discussion of our friars in the General Delegation of the Congo will take place. Concerning the central topic of "Carmel facing the greater challenges of spirituality in Africa" the program presents a variety of questions and discussions to debate, soledades by the best African theologians and various participants from the Order. The acts will be published in French. The secretary general of the Discussion is Fr Valentin Ntumba Kapambu, ocd.