Fr Anastasio visits Singapore
(Article published in the Catholic News, Feb 2008)
As prior of the Church of the Infant Jesus in Prague, 69-year-old Carmelite Father Anastasio Roggero has met many pilgrims who visit the church and ask for blessings from the Infant Jesus – among them French President Nicholas Sarkozy when he was a government minister and Singapore President S. R. Nathan.
Father Anastasio is quite the linguist, with the ability to celebrate Mass in ten different languages, and he tries to welcome pilgrims in their own native language.
Father Anastasio was sent to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, in 1993. This occurred after a call by Cardinal Miloslav Vlk to the Discalced Carmelitesto return after a 200-year absence to their church in Prague to reawaken devotion to the Infant Jesus and to give pastoral care to Czechs and pilgrims from all over the world.
Under Father Anastasio, the first Carmelite community to live in Prague since 1784 was born.
Father Anastasio was in Singapore from Jan 9-14 to celebrate the inauguration of the new Infant Jesus shrine at the Church of Sts. Peter and Paul. He explained that his main reason for coming is to help Singaporean devotees to the Infant Jesus to realize that it is more than a devotion that they are called to. They are called to the mission of the Infant Jesus.
The Infant Jesus mission almost always begins with education, just as how the Infant Jesus Sisters were first invited to Singapore by Father Jean-Marie Beurel to start a school for girls here. “In developed countries, the emphasis for young people is education. But in developing countries like Africa, the emphasis is on work and production, not education,” he explained.
Through Father Anastasio, with the help of Muslim benefactors, the Infant Jesus mission in Central Africa Republic (where he was procurator for the Infant Jesus mission from 1975-1993) provides work to some 400 young people there because “work brings food”, he said. “Our main work is evangelization, but how can people pray without eating?” he asked rhetorically. Thus his focus is on providing education with work.
His creativity as a missionary has enabled him to create jobs for the young people there. Father Anastasio also emphasized that the school, hospital and nursery run by the mission welcomes all children of God with this message: “I welcome all children, Protestants or Muslims. Why is there such a division? Because we didn’t listen to Jesus to love one another.”
Despite having touched the lives of many, Father Anastasio’s greatest challenge is “to be faithful to my religious life, to be a true Carmelite”, he confided. “Fighting my own ego, trying to improve myself, and to help others to become better people are my biggest challenges.”
FATHER ANASTASIO ENTERED the Order of Discalced Carmelites at the age of 16. He studied in Rome and received his doctorate in church history from the Gregorian University.
He spent 30 years teaching the subject in Genoa, a city in northern Italy, before being sent, in 1975, to work as the procurator for the Infant Jesus mission in the Central African Republic, a landlocked country in Central Africa, surrounded by Sudan, Cameroon and the Republic of the Congo.
He taught church history at the seminary there, and visited the countryside frequently every year, spending time with the people and helping them out.
(The above article was published in the Catholic News, Feb 2008)
Blessing of the Shrine
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The church packed with laity who have come to see the Infant King.
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"Teach us, good Lord, to serve thee as thou deservest; to give, and not to count the cost, to fight, and not to heed the wounds, to toil, and not to seek for rest, to labour, and not to ask for any reward, save that of knowing that we do thy will." (St Ignatius of Loyola) |
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Fr Anselm raises the Blessed Sacrament for benediction
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"You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you." (St Augustine of Hippo) |
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Fr Anastasio, the main celebrant, with 5 of his brothers
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"Let nothing distub you, nothing frighten you; all things are passing; God never changes; patient endurance attains all things; whoever possesses God lacks nothing; God alone suffices." (St Teresa of Avila) |
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Fr Anastasio blesses the Infant Jesus shrine
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"Obedience is a whole burnt-offering in which the entire man, without the slightest reserve, is offered in the fire of charity to his Creator and Lord by the hands of his ministers." (St Ignatius of Loyola)
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The Infant Jesus shrine, decorated with flowers and candles |
"When does prayer sleep? When desire grows cold. So then, let us beg for these eternal blessings with all eager desire. Let us seek for these good things with an entire earnestness. Let us ask for these good things with all assurance. For these good things do profit him that has them, they cannot harm him. But these other temporal good things sometimes profit and sometimes harm." (St Augustine of Hippo) |
Moving closer to the Infant Jesus |
"Let us not find fault with the Master of the household for he is loving to us. He bears us and not we Him. He knows how to govern what he made. Do what he has bidden and hope what He has promised." (St Augustine of Hippo) |
The Infant Jesus of Prague |
"We need no wings to go in search of Him, but have only to find a place where we can be alone---and look upon Him present within us." (St Teresa of Avila) |
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IJ Talk & Show
Fr Anastasio gave a talk at Sts Peter and Paul Church on the evening of 12th January 2008. Many came from near and far to listen to him share about his marvelous mission which was started in 1975 in The Central African Republic between Chad and Sudan. A very jovial and unassuming Carmelite priest, he shared passionately about the sacred mission he and his fellow priests have set out to accomplish, and that is, to evangelise through work! The spiritual rewards they have reaped through the years is nothing short of a miracle! Father entertained the congregation throughout the 2 hour talk with his humorous anecdotes and all was treated to the viewing of 2 shows. The first was on the history of the Infant Jesus devotion in Prague and the other was a documentary of his awe-inspiring mission in Central Africa. The congregation sat rooted to their seats, throughout the sharing, enthralled by the Carmelite missionaries’ fervour and zeal! The whole programme ended on a high note with Father blessing the whole congregation and many remained behind to seize the opportunity to have pictures taken with Father!