Sr. Pélagie Ilboudo has experienced a year of formation in Paris to prepare for becoming the Director of Novices in Senegal. It was a rich and profound time, during which she was hosted by the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis in Mehagne, Belgium.
We asked her to tell us about her experience when it concluded, which she shares here.
“I thank God for the time I spent in Belgium and France. It was a period showered with many encounters and profoundly transformative experiences.
This year of study allowed to me to enrich myself on a human, spiritual, and intellectual level. It has given me the tools to understand the current challenges of vocational guidance in faithfulness to our Franciscan charism and to the Gospel.
As the days passed, in the classrooms as well as in moments of prayer, one conviction took root within me: it is Christ, Servant and Brother, who shapes hearts, and we are only tools.
Having this experience with the sisters of Belgium and with other future novitiate directors in Paris, I savored the richness of the internationality and beauty of an open, simple religious life that is active with the poor and deeply evangelical and prophetic.
In Belgium, I lived in a place characterized by simplicity, fraternity, and human warmth.
An important moment for me was the trip to Germany in the footsteps of our founder, Blessed Frances Schervier, to visit the places where she lived, prayed, and served the poor. It was an internal pilgrimage for me.
The pilgrimage to Lourdes, the grace of experiencing the Easter festivities in Italy, and attending the funeral of Pope Francis really strengthened me in faith.
I am grateful for the guidance I received from the formation team in Paris, whose commitment and skill meaningfully contributed to the fruitfulness of this journey.
Their support allowed me to live this year not as a mere academic transition but as a fundamental part of my future mission.
Now, enriched by what I have received, I return with the burning desire to serve the Congregation with devotion and humility, placing the treasures gained from this year of grace at the service of the formation of the novices.
I thank the whole Congregation for its support, prayers, closeness, and affection. I also thank the Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis from the bottom of my heart for their hospitality, especially the Sisters of Méhagne for their sisterly kindness, faithful prayer, and their witness of life given.
Blessed be the Lord for everything he has sown during this time.
Sr. Pélagie Ilboudo, SFP
