SMA Foundation Day – the 8th of December is when SMA Missionaries all around the world celebrate and remember the fact that, in 1856, our Founder, Melchior de Marion Bresillac formally established the Society of African Missions (SMA) at the shrine of Our Lady of Fourviere, overlooking the city of Lyons, France. He was 43 years old at the time and had been Ordained 18 years earlier in 1838.
We know a lot about the Founder, from his own writings and from what others who knew him have written. However, there are very few images of him – the formal portrait of the bearded Bishop de Bresillac is an image we are all familiar with. There is also one actual photograph of the founder that, it is believed, was taken within a few years of his Ordination when he was a curate in his home parish of Castelnaudary. This is an image of the young de Bresillac, in his late twenties. The quality of the image is poor not just because of its age but also because photography was, at that time still in its infancy – the cameras and photographic plates that recorded images were very basic.
Now, more than 180 years after this photograph was taken technology has advanced greatly to the digital and artificial intelligence stage – With the help of these advances we can look into the past in a way we never thought possible.
This very poor image of our Founder can be transformed and reproduced giving us amazing detail of the man we have, up to now, only been able to read about. Now we can see him very much as he must have looked as a young man – a man who had hopes and dreams and the determination “to be a missionary from the depths of his heart” – This is the man. It is because of him that we are who we are today. We pray that through the intercession of the Venerable Melchior de Marion Bresillac that God will give us the strength to continue the mission of the SMA that he began in 1856. (Double Click on the image below to enlarge)
Mgr Melchior-Marie-Joseph de Marion Bresillac. Born December 2, 1813 in Castelnaudary (France). Ordained priest on December 22, 1838 for the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris. Appointed pro-vicar apostolic of Coimbatore (India) on March 16, 1845, receiving the episcopal see of Pruse, then ordained bishop on October 4, 1846. Vicar apostolic of the same vicariate on April 3, 1850, he remained there until March 18, 1855, date of his resignation. On December 8, 1856, in the chapel of the Virgin at Fourvière in Lyon (France), he founded the Society of African Missions responsible for evangelizing the west coast of Africa. On April 13, 1858, he was appointed vicar apostolic of Sierra Leone then embarked for Freetown to join a team of the first missionaries decimated by yellow fever. He died there a few months later, on June 25, 1859, of yellow fever. His remains lie in the house of the African Missions, 150 Cours Gambetta in Lyon (France).
To view a short video using the above text as a script CLICK HERE
For more detailed information about the life of the SMA Founder or to view a video about his life CLICK HERE
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