The title Consolata is no longer a crown worn only by the Consolata missionaries but also by millions of christians who are being served by the Consolata Missionaries all over the world. This was clearly portrayed during the Consolata Feast at Madadeni. Madadeni is one of the Consolata missions in the delegation of South Africa. It is vast in size with a large christian population. It hosts three Consolata missionaries; Frs. Anthony Kazibwe serving Blaauwbosch, Rocco Marra serving Osizweni and Joseph Mang’ongo serving Madadeni.
Christians of Madadeni seem to have made their own, the words of our founder to his missionaries when he said, ‘we must be piously proud to belong to Our Lady the Consolata.’ { Ibid: 215}
The Consolata Feast at Madadeni was a celebration with a unique taste. It was magnificent with pomp and colour, dance and music. The function took place at Christ the King, thanks to its capacity to accommodate large numbers. It brought together over one thousand Christians among them the Merrivale community; students as well as Fr. Cassiano who was also the main celebrant. Fr. Joseph Mang’ongo concelebrated.
It was a three in one kind of celebration with the feast of Our Lady Consolata given the precedence. In addition, the parish was also marking the official closing of the year of St. Paul alongside the official opening of the year of priesthood.
It was so inspiring, so interesting and very challenging to hear the lay christians giving a comprehensive sharing about Our Lady Consolata and our founder Blessed Joseph Allamano. They gave the history of the congregation all the way from the moment of its birth in 1901 and the role Our Lady played in the founding of the congregation. The manner in which they presented the Consolata history with great passion and conviction portrayed a people who have deeply fallen in love with the Consolata.
The youth did not lag behind either; they celebrated the Consolata feast with power and might, dance and melody. As a supplement to the presentations given about the history of the Consolata Missionary Institute and on St. Paul, they dramatized the missionary vocation with Blessed Allamano as the father figure. They also dramatized the conversion of St. Paul; from Saul the persecutor to Paul the apostle.
During the presentation of gifts, flags of various countries where the Consolata Missionaries are working were offered as a sign of solidarity with all the Consolata Missionaries working in every corner of the world.
Even though the celebration went on for over four hours, a great number of Christians still managed to stay put until the last bit of it all.
It is amazing to see how God through the Virgin Mary gave the true consolation Jesus Christ to his people and how our founder through the Consolata missionaries managed to bring this very consolation to the people whom we serve.
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