The formation house for Redemptorist postulants and students at the Foyer Saint Alphonsus in Antananarivo has concluded the 2025-2026 academic, pastoral, and formative year.
Closing of the academic year
The academic year closed at the Catholic University of Madagascar on June 29, 2026, with a Eucharistic celebration that also marked the university’s patronal feast and the farewell to Archbishop Tomasz Grysa, Apostolic Nuncio to Madagascar, who was appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Uganda last May 14. Archbishop Grysa presided over the Eucharistic concelebration, which was attended by the bishops of the Episcopal Conference of Madagascar, students of the Catholic University, and state representatives. During the academic year, 14 students pursued theological studies, and 20 postulants pursued philosophical studies.
Closing of the pastoral year
The pastoral year concluded on Sunday, July 5th, in the five churches that make up the Alasora district. After eight months of apostolic work, the Redemptorist brothers bid farewell to the district’s parishioners. Among their apostolic activities were visits and communion to the sick, presidency of basic community meetings, and support, as chaplains, of ecclesial groups, movements, and associations.
A formative year marked by two events
The first took place on Saturday, July 4th: the induction of third-year students as lectors and acolytes, during solemn vespers presided over by Fr. Bary Théophile, vice-provincial superior, in the Foyer chapel. The second event, which marked the close of the 2025-2026 formative year, was the festive lunch shared on Tuesday, July 7th with the students in formation, formators, and members of the vice-provincial house, on the eve of the students’ departure for their families for the holidays.
Some highlights of the year
- September 27-28, 2025: first profession of novices, renewal of student vows, entrance into the novitiate, and priestly ordinations;
- February 7, 2026: participation in the World Day of Consecrated Life, organized by the Union of Religious of the Archdiocese of Antananarivo;
- April 2-5, 2026: During the Easter Triduum, some students had a mission experience in the bush, in Kianjavato and Anjiro;
- May 23-24, 2026: First meeting of Redemptorist formandi from Madagascar, promoted by the formation secretariat in Andranokobaka-Moramanga.
With the close of the academic, pastoral, and formative year, the Foyer Sant’Alfonso rejoices at the achievement of the three-year degree in philosophy by the five postulants, who are now preparing for the novitiate, and at the achievement of the three-year degree in theology by nine students—six from the Vice-Province of Luanda (Angola) and three from the Vice-Province of Madagascar.
Br. Baltazar Baptista, C.Ss.R.
