“And I fraternally welcome you as a professed member with religious vows in the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer: in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” – with these words Fr. Mariusz Mazurkiewicz CSsR, Provincial Vicar, announced the admission of Franciszek Hans CSsR into the Redemptorist family.
Celebration at the novitiate house of the Warsaw Province
On September 26, the commemoration of Blessed Kaspar Stanggassinger, Franciszek Hans made his first religious profession in the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. Franciszek’s family and numerous Redemptorists from Poland and abroad were present at the solemn Mass celebrated in the Chapel of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary at the novitiate house in Lubaszowa. Among them was Father Olivier Nobila Sawadogo CSsR, superior of the Vice-Province of West Africa, currently serving in Burkina Faso. It was a moment of special joy and gratitude to God for the gift of vocations to our Congregation. Franciszek will soon join the seminary community to begin his philosophy studies in preparation for the priesthood.
The path to the first religious profession
After the postulancy period (which in the Warsaw Province lasts nine months), candidates for the Congregation begin their novitiate. It lasts a full year, from August 15th to August 15th of the following year. During this period, novices dedicate themselves primarily to prayer and spiritual discernment of their vocational journey. They also work in the novitiate house and garden. For many of them, this is not an easy period, as it involves a certain asceticism: abstaining from the use of electronic devices, limited contact with family and friends, and a rather monotonous lifestyle, quite different from today’s social norms. However, all of this serves a purpose: precisely that of a sound discernment of their vocation, since after this year, novices take their first religious vows. They promise to live in chastity, poverty, and obedience in our Congregation, thus becoming religious.
Every vocation is a gift
May the celebration of our first religious profession be an invitation for us to continue praying for those called and for new and holy priestly, religious, and missionary vocations. We ask this through the intercession of Blessed Kaspar Stangassinger, on whose feast day Franciszek entered our Redemptorist family.
Br. Jan Gawroński, CSsR.
Redemptorist Major Seminary in Krakow
