New Painting: Fruits of the Salesian Missions

New Painting: Fruits of the Salesian Missions

(ANS – Nice, France – February 7, 2025) – On the evening of February 6, Fr. Alfred Maravilla, general councilor for the missions, with all the members of the department team, gave a talk in a family setting to representatives of the educational and pastoral community of Don Bosco house in Nice, on the theme of the 150th anniversary of the Salesian Missionary Expedition.

This simple event also marked the start of the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the Salesian presence in Nice. It’s often forgotten, in fact, that on November 9, 1875, just a few days before the first missionaries were sent out from Turin – on November 11, 1875 – a small group of 2 priests, a seminarian, and a coadjutor brother began their journey from Turin to Nice, where they were finally welcomed at the Patronage St-Pierre on November 28. They’d been invited by Bishop Pierre Sola of Nice, on the initiative of the president of the local St. Vincent de Paul Conference, Ernest Michel. On their arrival, they began caring for 6 young Algerians and 3 youngsters from Nice.

Although they were not considered missionaries at the time, they were true pioneers of what is now called “Project Europe,” as they strove over the years to enculturate the spirit of Don Bosco in France.

Fr. Maravilla then explained the importance and relevance of “Project Europe” in revitalizing Don Bosco’s charism in Nice and France.

At the end of the conference, to emphasize the missionary importance of the arrival of the first Salesians in Nice, the missions councilor presented to the audience, and to the entire Salesian world, a new painting commissioned to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Salesian missions, titled The Fruits of the Salesian Missions, created by Argentine artist Juan Manuel Jaimes, who also did the official painting for the canonization of Artemides Zatti.

The artist interpreted Fr. Maravilla’s wish to present young saints who have achieved holiness thanks to the Salesian spirituality received from the missionaries:

- Simon Bororo, a young indigenous catechist at the Salesian mission among the Bororo people in Brazil;

- Blessed Laura Vicuna and Blessed Ceferino Namuncurá, heroic youths of Chile and Argentina;

- Akash Bashir, a Salesian past pupil in Pakistan, who died preventing a Muslim terrorist from blowing up a Catholic church during the celebration of Sunday Mass.

The painting shows how all 4 were deeply rooted in their culture and deeply attached to their Catholic faith. They became saints through their ordinary daily lives as Catholics; they lived with joy, commitment, and love according to the Salesian style passed on to them by Salesian missionaries.

The original painting is now in the office of the general councilor for the missions in Rome. The poster will be printed and sent to all Salesian houses and can also be downloaded from ANS.