Solemn Beatification of Maria Clementina Anuarite

Author: Pope Jon Paul II

Thursday, 15 August 1985, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Father beatified Maria Clementina Anuarite in Kinshasa (Zaire). In his homily the Pope spoke of how Anuarite loved the Mother of the Lord.


1. Today the Church contemplates the open heavens : “The sanctuary of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of the covenant appeared in the sanctuary” ( Rev 11:19).

We celebrate the Assumption of Mary , the Mother of God, the Virgin, the Mother of our Redeemer.

It is she, precisely, whom the Church recognizes in the grandiose sign that appears in heaven: “A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” ( Rev 12:1). Yes, Mary is the sign of the new world. Of the world reunited in God, of the world transfigured in God . Transfigured by the power of Christ's resurrection.

Indeed, “as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” ( 1 Cor 15:22): all will have eternal life in God himself . The first to enter this life in fullness is Mary.

2. This is why today, the day of the Assumption, the Church remembers the moment when Mary sang the Magnificat on the threshold of Zechariah's house:

“My soul magnifies the Lord / and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior . . . / For the Almighty has done great things for me / and holy is his name!” ( Lk 1:46-47.49).

That day, on the occasion of her visit to her kinswoman Elizabeth, Mary manifested with these words the exultation of her soul before the mystery of the divine motherhood that was destined for her by the grace of the Holy Trinity.

Today, with the same words she expresses the exultation of her soul before the mystery of the Assumption , the definitive fruit of her divine motherhood brought about by the grace of the Holy Trinity.

Mary worships God. Mary proclaims the “wonders” of God that the Almighty has accomplished in her and through her.

3. Today, with Mary ascended to heaven, the Church adores God, in the Church that is in your country, Zaire . In Kinshasa, the capital, and in all the provinces, in Kasi, in Shaba, in Kivu, in Lower Zaire, at the Equator, in Bandundu, in Upper Zaire where Anuarite Nengapeta lived.

I am happy to pray with you all, with all the Christians of the dioceses of Zaire, the parishes, the contemplative monasteries, and the religious communities. And I am particularly united with the Archbishop of Kinshasa, Cardinal Malula, and all my brothers in the episcopate. I also thank them for the zeal with which they prepared the beatification.

Behold, "God has bowed down to the humility of his servant" (cf. Luke 1:48) and to the undivided love of a daughter of this earth. And today he allows her to share in the glory of the Mother of God, in the glory of all the saints and blessed.

One day Anuarite wrote these words in her personal notebook: "To love the Lord, because he has done great things for me, how great is his goodness." She thus expressed the meaning of her life, echoing Mary's prayer.

It is beautiful that right here, in her country, your country, and on the day when the glory of the Virgin Mary is celebrated, the Church proclaims her daughter Maria Clementina Anuarite blessed. We can admire her and take her as a model, all the more willingly because she is close to us in time; she truly represents your Christian community and honors it with her merits and her fidelity to the Lord.

Anuarite spent her entire life in Upper Zaire , between Wamba and Bafwabaka. She did not appear to possess any extraordinary qualities. A modest girl, who accepted her limitations but worked persistently to overcome them, she had a temperament that was sometimes lively and playful; and at other times she was familiar with restlessness and suffering. With great spontaneity, she showed herself available to others, and with simplicity, she was happy with a gentle welcome towards others.

As a child, she was baptized with her mother. Her faith grew and became a powerful force in guiding her life. At a very young age, she wanted to consecrate her life to the Lord as a nun. In the community of Jamaa Takatifu, the Congregation of the Holy Family, dedicated especially to educational work, she brought her perseverance in work, her sense of service, her love for her young students, her concern for the poor and the sick, the joy she radiated, and her desire for spiritual growth. The members of her family and congregation, present today, are happy to testify to her qualities.

Anuarite had committed herself unreservedly to following the Lord; she had given him her fidelity and consecrated her virginity. And, day after day, with affection and depth, she prayed to the Mother of Christ; she could be seen immersed in prayer beside the image of the Madonna, or intently reciting the Rosary with her sisters or the children she cared for. Mary illuminated her faith , supported it, and encouraged it to progress. Simply put, Anuarite loved the Mother of the Lord. A moving sign of this was her attachment to the statuette, which she carried with her until her death.

When the time of trial arrives , this young nun faces it: faith, a sense of commitment, the primordial value that virginity has for her, intense prayer, and the support of faith allow her to remain steadfast. In the terrible anxiety of seeing her purity threatened, faced with the threat to her very life, Anuarite says: "Now my soul is troubled." These words recall those of Jesus (cf. Jn 12:27), and show how deeply the Gospel penetrated the life of this young consecrated nun. She overcomes the turmoil of anguish; her courage is unfailing, supported by the affectionate presence of her superiors and her fellow nuns.

Anuarite displayed a boldness worthy of the martyrs who, beginning with Stephen in Jerusalem, punctuate the history of the Church with their heroic imitation of Christ. To defend her superior, threatened because of her own refusal, she dared to say: "You will kill only me." When the fatal blows reached her, her sisters clearly heard these words she addressed to those who struck her: "I forgive you because you do not know what you do" ; and again: "It is as I willed ." In the most direct way, Anuarite follows Christ to whom she has given herself: like him, she forgives, like him she fulfills his sacrifice: and I myself, in the name of the entire Church, forgive with all my heart.

4. In the Gospel, when Mary arrives on the threshold of Zechariah's house, Elizabeth "cried out in a loud voice: Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord" ( Lk 1:42.45).

Anuarite Nengapeta , a daughter of your land, also believed in the fulfillment of God's promise to her: she was one of those who chose not to marry for the sake of the kingdom of God. She had meditated on the example of the ancient virgin martyrs , and had been impressed by the sacrifice of Maria Goretti and that of the Ugandan martyrs. Anuarite knew the price her faithfulness could cost her. She listened to the words of Christ: "There is no greater love than to lay down one's life" (cf. Jn 15:13).

In the hour of threat, she did not hesitate to place above all else the value of her consecration to Christ in perfect chastity . On the evening of her death, in the blue house of Isiro, she had said: "I have renewed my vows, I am ready to die." Anuarite is a steadfast witness to the irreplaceable value of a commitment made to God and sustained by His grace.

Blessed is she who, so close to us, demonstrated the beauty of the total gift of self for the kingdom. The greatness of virginity is the offering of all one's capacity to love so that, free from all other ties, the whole being may know how to love the Lord as a spouse and love those whom the Lord loves. There is no disregard for conjugal love in this. We know that Anuarite cared about helping the couples close to her to remain faithful to their own commitment, the beauty of which she praised.

What led her to martyrdom was the primordial value of fidelity. Martyrdom means precisely being a witness: Anuarite is one of those witnesses who attract and support the faith and generosity of their brothers and sisters. When, on the night of November 30, 1964, all the religious women of the community were threatened, beaten, and wounded, Anuarite's sacrifice, instead of frightening them, encouraged their steadfastness and helped them to pass through the trial in peace. This is an eloquent sign of the testimony of hope that the death of one of them constituted. Let us recall the reading from Saint Paul: "Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep . . . so that all will be made alive in Christ" ( 1 Cor 15:20, 22).

5. For this reason she - this daughter of your land - can sing the “Magnificat” today with Mary , as her sisters sang it at the moment when she gave her life among them.

In her sacrifice, the power of God was manifested, the "wonders" of God were renewed. She can rightly sing:

“The Almighty has done great things for me . . .

He showed the power of his arm . . .

He has lifted up the humble . . .

Holy is his name . . .

From now on all generations will call me blessed ” ( Lk 1, 49. 51-52. 49. 48).

6. This song of thanksgiving and praise, all of you can sing with Anuarite, dear brothers and sisters: here, in fact, for the centenary of the Baptism of your homeland, which we celebrated together not long ago, is the first fruit; the perfect fruit of the grace of holy Baptism , the first Zairian whom the Church solemnly proclaims blessed, a martyr of the faith among you!

This is a great event in the history of the Church in your land. I rejoice to be among you—as the Successor of Peter—on this important day. And to be able to sing, with you and your Blessed, the Marian Magnificat on the Solemnity of the Assumption.

Yes, the power of God is manifested in the "wonder" that is Mary, the Mother of God, who entered into the glory of the kingdom. First among the saints, she illuminates the path of all men and women.

Anuarite had responded to the vocation of freely offered virginity. And so she joins the long procession of those virgins who, from Roman times to the beginning of the first millennium, had given their lives for Christ: Blandina, Agatha, Lucia, Agnes, Cecilia, Pelagia, Solange... Along with the virgin martyrs who preceded her, Blessed Anuarite encourages those who commit themselves to chastity in response to their religious vocation.

7. But in every condition, place, and time, the Lord calls those for whom he gave his Son to follow him on the path of holiness. The vocation of spouses consists in living a demanding and generous love in their union, because the path to their perfection passes through the gift of their entire person to their spouse, passes through the transmission of life to their children, and the dedication that their education requires. Living their marriage as an active response to the Lord's love, spouses join in the thanksgiving: "The Lord has done great things for me."

Brothers and sisters, let us take up this prayer together, because he told all of us to welcome Christ, "the true light that enlightens every man." "To all who received him, he gave power to become children of God" ( Jn 1:9,12). "We were buried with him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life" ( Rom 6:4).

Young or old, known or unknown, humble or powerful, Christ allows us all every day to generously share the goods of the earth and of life, to overcome our weaknesses and divisions, to advance enthusiastically toward a renewed world, because the power of love breaks the chains of selfishness and hatred. Day by day, in the faith and love that God places in our hearts, we can hear the call to follow Jesus. With humility and joy, each of us can offer the pains and successes of humanity, united with the Son of God who gives his body and blood for the multitude, for the remission of sins. In this Eucharist, may the Spirit of the Lord gather us together in one body in the holiness of Christ! May he unite us to himself in his offering! May he make us firm in hope and capable of announcing to our brothers the good news that the saved world receives the holiness of God!

8. Thus the Church sees today, on the beautiful and rich land of Zaire, "the open sky" :

thanks to the solemnity of the Assumption of the Mother of God,

thanks also to this first beatification of a daughter of your land,

thanks to the generous commitment of the sons and daughters of this people in the service of the Lord and in the love of their brothers.

The people of your entire land rejoice. Black Africa rejoices . The entire Catholic Church rejoices and gives thanks for the witness of her brothers in Africa.

May the joy of this great day open a new chapter in the history of God's people on this sanctified and blessed land.

Amen.

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