Tambacounda, Jan 6 (APS) – The community of monks of Notre-Dame de Bàdi in the diocese of Tambacounda is preparing to solemnly celebrate, on January 26, 2025, the canonical foundation of its monastery.
The ceremony is scheduled from 10 a.m. at the Bàdi monastery, a locality located in the commune of Dialakoto, more than 70 kilometers from the town of Tambacounda.
The event will take place in the presence of Cardinal Théodore-Adrien Sarr, Archbishop emeritus of Dakar and honorary president of the community of monks of Bàdi and Mgr Paul-Abel Mamba, bishop of the diocese of Tambacounda, as well as other bishops of other regions of Senegal.
In a press release, the diocese of Tambacounda explains that “this event has a profoundly spiritual importance to the extent that it promotes a central aspect of Christian life, notably the life consecrated in prayer, which is a common good of the church” .
The installation of monks in a diocese, in a country, is a grace for the church which welcomes them, for the entire community but also, for all the faithful, welcomed in an interview with the APS, the bishop from the diocese of Tambacounda, Paul-Abel Mamba.
The bishop underlined that “the entire European civilization owes its greatness to the installation of monks who shaped and helped the populations to train and access work and techniques”.
»We are lucky to have monks, it is important that everyone can appreciate how lucky we are, when I was in Ziguinchor I ran for ten years to have monks there. I had to have monks from Vietnam, ultimately through a combination of circumstances, the promising one who was supposed to help me fell ill and died, so the project did not come to fruition,” he recalled.
»When I was transferred to Tambacounda, I came across monks that I had been looking for there for ten years, so it is a grace for our diocese, it can be a source of vocation but of quality of life for Christians since “They have a place of renewal where they can go and rebuild their Christian strength to be able to work,” he added.
Monsignor Paul-Abel Mamba thus invited all Christians to take ownership of this event to encourage the monks. “We must encourage them because this can open the path of vocations for the monastery,” he said.
The monastery of Bàdi, a village located in the commune of Diacototo (Tambacounda, east) and separated from the Niokolo Koba National Park by the Gambia River, welcomes eight monks driven by the desire to perpetuate the centuries-old tradition of the monks and whose daily life is punctuated by prayer, reading and work.
Named Notre-Dame, the monastery is located in the diocese of Tambacounda, which encompasses the eastern regions of Tambacounda and Kédougou. This place of contemplation, located 60 km from the town of Tambacounda, is a new foundation affiliated with the Abbey of Sept-Fons, in France.
Agriculture, market gardening and livestock breeding are the main activities carried out by the monks of the Badi monastery. In addition to the eight monks, the place is frequented by residents of the villages of Badi and Wassadou, who come there to look for work.
Brother Charles interviewed by the APS in May 2023, recalled that prayer is the main activity of monks, hastening to add: “we are obliged to work like everyone else to earn our living because work is a significant factor of human balance. ”There are these two activities, prayer and work, in addition to reading and everything that goes with it too,” specifies Brother Charles.
ABD/OID/SBS/AB/AKS
