Photo above: from left to right Father Armando Pasqualotto (General Manager of the Institute of Prado Priests),
Brother John Thomas Lane (Provincial Superior of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament)
and Father Luc Lalire (First assistant at the Institute of Prado priests).
On Tuesday 12 November 2024, the leaders of Prado General were honoured to welcome Fr. John Thomas LaneProvincial Superior of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament surrounded by priests, deacons and brothers from north-east Ohio (a suburb of Cleveland and headquarters of SSS USA), New York, Tampa and Houston.
A fraternal moment during which they were able to share, pray and discover the emblematic places of Prado like the Prado Chapel, " Our Lady of Sorrows" The museum retraces the main stages in the life and work of the apostle of La Guillotière.
Above all, the meeting was an opportunity to recall the links that unite the members of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament to those of Prado through their respective founders, Saint-Pierre-Julien Eymard (1811-1868) and the Blessed Antoine Chevrier (1826-1879). As chance would have it, they met again at the end of 1858 on the boat that was taking them back to France from Rome, when Father Chevrier had just taken the habit in the Franciscan Third Order and Father Julien Eymard had just returned from a month's stay in the Italian capital.
Fathers Pierre-Julien Eymard and Antoine Chevrier then met in 1861 at Prado, where they even envisaged the possibility of uniting their works in the service of the most disadvantaged. Although Father Antoine Chevrier eventually chose to work exclusively with the children of the Cité and First Communion, while Father Pierre-Julien Eymard founded a religious congregation, the fathers remained close and the current directors are renewing this shared history.
As a reminder, the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament (officially "Congregatio Sanctissimi Sacramenti"), founded by Saint Pierre-Julien Eymard in Paris in 1856, is a religious congregation of the Catholic Church structured into Provinces and Regions. The headquarters of the General Council of the SSS Congregatio are in Rome. To find out more, visit the official websites of the Congregation blessedsacrament.com (in English) or ssscongregatio.org.
Saint-Pierre-Julien Eymard (Founder of the Pères du Saint-Sacrement) and Blessed Antoine Chevrier (Founder of Prado) exchanged ideas on numerous occasions. Don't hesitate to download below the document (prepared by Father Dominique Nalis - First assistant to the Prado de France) which lists some biographical detailsand eyewitness accounts and bibliographical references.
Below are a few photos of the meeting with members of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament as well as the founders (icons and statues). Many thanks to Br. John Thomas Lane for sharing his photos.
