VincentWiki:Ephemerides/15 August
1662. In the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, in the thirty houses of ten provinces of the Company of the Daughters of Charity is read for the first time at the end of the sentence, the act of consecration of the Congregation of the Mission to the Virgin, whose text, which was sent to the houses of the Congregation by Fr. René Alméras, the 2nd Superior General, in his Circular letter of July 27. (Since then, this consecration of the Congregation is repeated every August 15. Elected by the nineteenth General Assembly on August 4, 1843, Fr Jean Baptist Etienne, also decided that the act of consecration to the Virgin Mary would be pronounced on December 8, Feast of Immaculate Conception, on the same way.)
1717. During the Council, chaired by Fr Jean Bonnet, the Superior General, Sister Catherine Naudin (53 years and 23 in vocation) was chosen to replace dispensed Sister Anne Godfrey who, shortly after her arrival at Mother House, was hit by an attack of apoplexy.
1779. Priests of the Mission are established in the major seminary in Evora, Portugal replacing Jesuits. They were called by the cardinal archbishop Jean-Cosme da Cunha. Maria,the queen was committed to providing the necessary funds for their livelihood.
1809. Angers. Birth of Fr. Eugene Boré, the 15th Superior General of the Congregation of the Mission.
1835. In Paris. Opening of the eighteenth General Assembly. In this year, a sexennial Assembly should take place. The Superior General, Fr. Dominique Salhorgne who, near his eighty years, was overwhelmed with infirmities and surrounded by assistants bent under the weight of age themselves, started the General Assembly. Twenty-nine members were present; visitors and delegates from Poland and Portugal did not participate. On the first session taking place on this day, Fr. Salhorgne gave his resignation and withdrew immediately to leave full freedom to the discussion. Fr. Richenet, second assistant, was bound to speak. He expressed all his reverence for the Superior General and pointed out that physical infirmities have not altered the intellectual faculties of Fr. Salhorgne. He came to offer his resignation because he did not feel sufficiently helped by a council which members were too old. Fr. Richenet proposed that Assembly have had accepted the resignation of Assistants rather than Superior General. Despite these considerations, the Assembly accepted the resignation of Fr. Salhorgne. A deputation of four members went immediately to communicate the decision to Fr. Salhorgne. The venerable old man welcomed it with joy and, hence, returned to the meeting room proclaiming his appreciation to the Assembly.
1900. In the evening, in Beijing, Fr. Pascal Raffaello Addosio CM, while returning from visit to Nan Tang in Pe Tang, was massacred on the street by Chinese soldiers, while allied troops were entering the city. His body was not even found. Fr. Addosio was born near Naples, December 19, 1835, but he entered the seminary in Paris and there he completed his studies and received priesthood on June 2, 1860. Fr. Addosio worked in the Vicariate of Beijing, apart from three years he ministered in the South-West Chi-li.
