Celebration of the Allegra Community

On Monday January 26, 2015, the International Franciscan Community “B. Friar Gabriel M. Allegra OFM” in Rome, celebrated the feast of its patron, on the occasion of the memorial of his birth into heaven January 26, 1976 in Hong Kong. He was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI in Arcireale, Catania (Italy) on April 29, 2012. The solemn celebration of the Holy Mass, animated by the Friar Students with beautiful liturgical songs in different languages, was presided by Friar Vidal Rodríguez ofm, Secretary General for Formation and Studies. He preached on text of the Gospel in which Jesus points to the testimony of a widow who gives everything she has to the Temple treasury (Mk 12: 38-44). He tied in the figure of Friar Allegra as someone who lived his Franciscan vocation as a total surrender to the Lord by turning study into a mission, by encountering the lepers as spiritual learning and turning prayer into sustenance for a genuine devotion rooted in the Word of God. This Sacred Scripture he and his team from the Studium Biblicum managed to translate completely for the first time in the world for the people of China. Friar Vidal also encouraged the friars to live deeply this year dedicated to the Consecrated Life so desired by Pope Francis, recalling the expectations indicated by the Holy Father in his Apostolic Letter written to to all consecrated for that purpose. The friar students are encouraged to live it in a house such as the Colegio, characterized by being an international community, with the mission of university studies in the context of ongoing formation with spiritual and academic support. The Guardians of the International College of St. Anthony, of the Community of Penitentiary Friars of the Basilica of St. John Lateran in Rome and the Friary of St. Francis in Palestrina participated in the celebration. The liturgical celebration was followed by a dinner party and fraternal recreation. [attachments size=small fields="title" target=1 docid="8944"] [gallery link="file" ids="8998,8999,9000,9001,9002,9003,9004,9005,9006,9007,9008,9009"]