April 30th - Our Lady of Africa

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April 30th - Our Lady of Africa

The first Bishop of Algiers, after the conquest of the country by the
French at the beginning of the nineteenth century, was without a
church or residence. He was also without funds and surrounded by
Moslems whose hostility was evident and whose friendship had to be
won. The Bishop returned to Lyon and related his distress at the
Convent of the Religious of the Sacred Heart; his appeal was spread
and he did not have long to wait before he was offered, by the
Sodality of Our Lady, a bronze statue of the Immaculate Conception. It
was the express desire of the donors that this dark-hued statue should
be considered the Protectress of the Mohammedans and the Negroes. When
he returned to Algiers, the Bishop gave the statue into the custody of
the Trappist Fathers, also recently arrived, who according to their
severe rules were beginning to cultivate the barren African soil.
Bishop Dupuch was not to see his plans for the construction of a
church realized; however, his successor, Bishop Pavy, laid the
cornerstone for the present Basilica in 1858, on a hill overlooking
the Mediterranean. This Basilica, which recalls the Cathedral of Our
Lady of Fourvieres in Lyon, was consecrated in 1872 by Cardinal
Lavigerie, famous for his activities to spread the Catholic faith in
Africa. When this appropriate shrine was ready, the Bishop asked the
Trappist Fathers to return the statue, which had previously been
placed before the entrance of the Trappist monastery. The Trappists,
however, had become so attached to this precious statue that they
acceded to this request reluctantly, and only because she was to be
placed in the new, magnificent church of Algiers, one of the gates to
the "Dark Continent." Shortly thereafter, the image became known as
Our Lady of Africa, Consolation of the Afflicted. The poor, the blind,
the crippled and especially sailors and soldiers came from all over to
implore her aid and the walls of the Basilica were soon covered by
great numbers of offerings which attested to miraculous cures. A lady
from France, who wished to perpetuate her thanksgiving for a great
favor, made a white satin gown for the statue and another lady offered
a blue silk mantle.

After the donation by Pope Pious IX of a golden diadem with precious
stones with which the statue was crowned, Cardinal Lavigerie placed
the newly founded Congregation of the White Sisters under the
protection of Our Lady of Africa, with the privilege of replacing the
gown and the mantle of the statue.

Though Our Lady of Africa's abode is a Catholic church, she is
venerated by Mohammedan men and women as much as she is by Christians.
Every day, one can see kneeling Mohammedans who have come to ask Lala
Meriem, as they call the Blessed Virgin, for her special favors.

Faithful Moslems are familiar with Our Lady and the Saviour because
Mohammed speaks of them in clear and penetrating terms in the Koran.
Chapter III of Sura quotes the words of Allah: "Oh Mary! Lo: Allah
hath chosen thee and made thee pure, and preferred thee above (all)
the women of creation." And Sura XIX is entirely dedicated to Mary,
and mostly to the history of the Annunciation. The Koran accepts the
fact of the Immaculate Conception, though Christ is considered only a
prophet. The devotion of the Saviour to his Mother is also known to
the faithful from Sura XIX where Mohammed attributes the following
words to Christ: "…And (hath made me) dutiful toward her who bore me,
and hath not made me arrogant, unblessed."

Thus, it is understandable that Mohammedans, who become aware of the
unique position of Our Lady among Catholics and generally among all
Christians, are devoted to her. There is much evidence, throughout the
centuries, of this Moslem veneration of the Gracious Lady. Though they
fought Christians because Mohammed, in the Koran, blames the followers
of Jesus for many evils, only the savage or ignorant would have done
any harm to an image of the Virgin. St. Louis, King of France, who was
the prisoner of Moslems in the Holy Land, was treated generously, and
received a gift, an image of the Holy Virgin, from the hands of the
Sultan. This image, later enshrined in Le Puy, France, was venerated
by the Moslems. The holy places in Palestine, and particularly those
of Lala Meriem, are kept in greatest esteem.

At present, the veneration is extraordinary because the Moslems
frequent Catholic churches. Once, the chaplain of the Basilica in
Algiers approached two Mohammedans after their prayer, and asked them
why they had come. They answered that they had come to ask Lala Meriem
to obtain the cessation of the famine in their village. A kneeling
woman cried: "I am sick and suffer so much. You must cure me, Meriem."
Another woman said: "I am praying to Meriem so that she will send me a
good husband," and innumerable people go by themselves to one of the
chaplains if he is around and say: "I was asking Meriem for her Haraka
(blessing)." Many women, with veiled faces, after having received
permission from their husbands, come simply to place a candle before
the shrine of Lala Meriem.

Update on Our Lady of Africa Shrine from Fides
The Basilica of Our Lady of Africa stands on a cliff overlooking the
bay of Algiers. The church, the construction of which was begun in
1872, is visited by Muslims as well as Catholics. Women, young girls
and grandmothers, alone or accompanied, can be seen praying here in
front of the beautiful bronze statue of Our Lady of Africa clothed in
a richly embroidered Tlemcen style garment. The church custodians say
many Muslim visitors ask about Mary, about the Bible, why the four
Gospels. They spend time looking at decoration, the Stations of the
Cross, and frescoes of the life of Saint Augustine the 4th century
Bishop of Hippo, born in Tagaste. Augustine is Christianity's first
and most famous Algerian. Below the frescoes runs a phrase of St
Augustine in Arabic, French and Cabila: “Brotherly love comes from God
and is God”. Strong words in a very difficult context of the country
where many kill in the name of Allah.

Algeria was Christian and Marian from the 2nd century AD. Numidia
(Berbers are Numids), was colonized long before the Christian era by
the Fenicians who settled along the coasts while the Berbers held the
center of the country. In 200 BC the kingdom passed under the dominion
of the Roman Empire for nine centuries until the Arab invasion and
Islamization. However the Arab-Islamic conquest was slow and arduous
because this part of northern Africa had a flourishing Christian
community.

The conversion to Christianity of Roman Emperor Constantine in the 3rd
century increased the Church's influence in northern Africa. Carthage
became important as the city of Saint Augustine a Berber Christian and
one of the most universally known Doctors of the Catholic Church.
Algeria has many Christian basilicas and shrines.

But with the Arab invasion the Church of Africa was decimated and was
only re-established here in 1830 with the arrival of France.

Although Islamized and shaken by bloody violence, Algeria, an ancient
Christian and Marian land, a land of martyrs' is still entrusted to
Our Lady of Africa. Muslims too respect the Blessed Virgin Miriam, the
Holy Mother of Jesus. And along with Christians still today many
Muslims come to pray and lay flowers in front of the statue of the
Blessed Virgin in this great Basilica dedicated to Our Lady of Africa
where underneath the main altar lies the inscription: “Our Lady of
Africa pray for us and for all Muslims”. (J.M.) (Agenzia Fides
25/5/2007; righe 45, parole 632)