Missio Directors Annual General Assembly and Pauline Jaricot Beatification
200 year anniversary
Missio Malta Director at Annual General Assembly
Between Monday 18th May and Friday 20th May Missio Malta Director Mons Valentino Borg attended the Annual General Assembly of the National PMS Directors, which is usually held in Rome Italy, and this year it was taking place in Lyon. In the General Assembly the directors discussed the difficulties each country is facing in raising funds and a way forward for next year. Part of the plan for this year, discussions about the activities and initiatives for the Mission Month was also discussed. A substantial part of the conference is discussing best practices from various Missio offices from around the globe.
Another highlight was having the girl Mayline who’s miracle has led Pauline Jaricot’s Beatification. In May 2012, a three-and-a-half-year-old girl named Mayline, from Lyon, choked on food and suffocated. Unable to resuscitate her, doctors explained that she was ‘brain dead’ and that she would die in the next few weeks.
Upon hearing the news, pupils and parents of Mayline’s school decided to ask for Pauline Jaricot’s intercession by praying a novena for Mayline’s recovery. At the same time, as Mayline lay in a coma hooked up to a feeding tube and respiratory machines her parents had begun looking for a child-sized coffin.
Soon afterwards the doctors were surprised to confirm that Mayline’s condition had changed – indeed, she was coming back to life. Mayline was released from the hospital in December, fully healed. Doctors have been unable to explain the change in her health. A diocesan enquiry occurred in 2019, where a medical board validated the miracle of healing, and the theological commission certified the intervention of Pauline Jaricot in the full recovery of little Mayline.
The beatification of Pauline Jaricot attracts pilgrims from all over the world.
On the day nearly 12,000 people, including over 500 priests, gathered to celebrate Pauline Jaricot’s beatification, where she was raised to the order of Blessed. The beatification took place in the Eurexpo Exhibition Hall in the French city of Lyon which is the same city where she was born a wealthy heiress and died poor, having embraced not material, but spiritual wealth in the love of God.
A remarkable woman
The local Lyon community welcomed the beatification and being led by Archbishop de Germay, said Jaricot was “a contemplative and active woman -all at the same time.”
Jaricot lived a life dedicated to evangelisation and the missions. The motto, “A Penny and A Prayer” for the missions aptly sums up her life. It is a remarkable testament to a young woman who founded PMS, Missio, in her teens.
The prayers and the contributions encouraged by Jaricot for the missions were decisive for the growth and development of particular mission Churches in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Pacific.
Pauline was an extraordinary woman who can inspire us to live well our common missionary vocation as the people of God and people of goodwill. We can be inspired on three aspects:
- Commitment to mission every day. For Pauline, mission was not reserved for certain moments, but for every day. The “circles” of workers in her family’s silk factory pledged daily prayer and regular sacrifice. Each day, may we offer a prayer for those who serve in mission churches across the world, and for the poor and vulnerable who hear their message about the “hope that saves”!
- A vision of the whole world. Pauline felt strongly that help offered to the Missions of her day should be universal – that no one be forgotten.
- Live in love. As a young woman, Pauline expressed the desire to “love without measure, without end.”
Missio Malta is filled with joy at this special event, which recognises a woman who has shown us that small and simple initiatives, which bring people together in prayer and faith, really can change the world.
Everyone is welcome to join us on this journey of Beatification
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