Feast of St. Francis of Assisi
Bala Yesu Nivas, Chikmagalur

The feast of St. Francis was celebrated at Bala Yesu Nivas, Chikmagalur, on 14th of October, 2007 with pomp and gaiety. The celebration began at 10.30 a.m. with the welcome to the Bishop of Chikmagalur, Rt. Rev. Dr. T. Anthony Swamy with bouquets and garlands by the superior of Bala Yesu Nivas Rev. Brio. Victor Crasta and the Zonal President of the Secular Franciscan Order Rosy Sequeira and Leo Mathias. The Solemn Eucharistic Celebration began at 11 a.m. wherein the bishop was the chief celebrant and 21 priests concelebrating with him. The uniqueness of the Eucharistic Celebration was that 148 new members joining the Secular Franciscan Order (SFO) and 22 more making the final vows in the SFO. A new fraternity of SFO at Bala Yesu Nivas was inaugurated by the bishop and 106 members were among those who joined newly for this fraternity of Bala Yesu. The main celebrant Rt. Rev. Dr. T Anthony Swamy, the bishop of Chikmagalur Diocese expressed his great desire of starting SFO fraternity in all the parishes of Chikmagalur Diocese. Presently the SFO fraternities are spread out in 17 parishes of the Chikmagalur diocese which has 38 parishes. The total number of SFO members in Chikmagalur diocese has risen to nearly 400.

After the Eucharistic celebration, cultural programme was arranged by the members of SFO. The bishop was honoured and thanked for his continued assistance to spread the SFO in the diocese and also for spending more than 4 hours to make this day a great success. A sumptuous festal meal was served to all the participants numbering nearly 600.

Fr. Rocky D'Cunha, the national Spiritual assistant of SFO, Fr. Anthony Raj, the Zonal spiritual assistant of the SFO, Fr. Sunith Prabhu, SJ, the religious in-charge of Chikmagalur Diocese, were present for the festal celebration besides the other priests, brothers, sisters and other dignitaries.

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