Founded on 2 February 1992, the Institute of the Servantes de la Lumière du Christ is a religious institute of diocesan right. It was founded by His Excellency the late Bishop Robert Codjo Mawulawè Sastre (7 June 1923 – 16 January 2000), Bishop of the Diocese of Lokossa (6 August 1972 – 16 January 2000). This diocesan institute, with a universal vocation through its charism, began in 1983 with the aspirancy and the first vows in 1992 as a gift of the Holy Spirit to the Church, within the Family Church of Lokossa, to extend the service to the poor begun by their predecessors, the European missionary sisters. Faced with the enormous difficulty of obtaining sisters for his pastoral work on behalf of the poor and marginalised, while many young women of the diocese were answering God’s call through religious consecration in various indigenous and foreign institutes, our late prelate felt profoundly challenged by the Holy Spirit. Thus, docile to the Spirit of God, after mature reflection in union with his clergy, he resolutely decided to carry the project forward and welcomed the young candidates for religious consecration in October 1983.
Bishop Robert Codjo Mawulawè SASTRE, of revered memory, wished to provide parishes, especially rural ones, with indigenous sisters who could communicate more effectively in the local languages.
Their charism is to bear witness to the light of Christ in order to dispel the darkness of ignorance, falsehood, sin, sickness, poverty and selfishness among the poor in villages and urban neighbourhoods.
From this perspective, the work of the Servantes de la Lumière du Christ focuses on the human, social and Christian education of children and young people, women and men, and on supporting the sick and marginalised. The Servantes de la Lumière du Christ therefore attach great importance to:
- The advancement of women through income-generating activities in the villages of Aplahoué, agro-pastoral activities in Bopa, the sewing centre in Sè and Houéyogbé, and catering in Comé.
- Welcoming illiterate and orphaned girls, single mothers and girls forced into early or compulsory marriages and work that violates the rights of minors, etc., at the Possotomé boarding school.
- Education and literacy through teaching in our primary and secondary schools.
- Pastoral assistance through catechesis, parish movements and associations, bringing Communion to the sick, visiting the elderly and prisoners, serving in the sacristy and parish office, etc.
- Healthcare through the assistance provided in our nursing and midwifery facilities and our humanitarian health centres. This also includes the sisters who work on behalf of the diocese at the Siloé centre for visually impaired people in Djanglanmey; the Béthesda centre for people with physical disabilities in Lokossa; the Madjrè leprosy centre; and St Camille Diocesan Hospital in Dogbo.
The objective is to help each person escape the vicious circle of suffering linked to the grip of the darkness of underdevelopment, in its various forms of enslavement of African women, and to the chains of the surrounding modernism.
There are 124 sisters distributed across 34 communities in seven dioceses of Benin (Lokossa, Porto-Novo, Cotonou, Dassa-Zoumé, Djougou, Kandi and Natitingou) and, more recently, two mission experiences outside the country, in Germany and France.
Name of the Mother General
Madre Nadine Marie Aajagba
Charism of the Congregation
The charism of the Servantes de la Lumière du Christ is to contemplate the Light of the world, who is Jesus Christ, in the school of St John, and to bear witness to him like St John the Baptist, who was not the light but came as a witness to bear witness to the Light. For this reason, the Servantes de la Lumière du Christ have this phrase from the Gospel as their motto: “Bear witness to the light” (cf. Jn 1:7-8).
Provisional Mother House
LOKOSSA – Agnivêdji District – PO Box 235 Lokossa, Republic of Benin (headquarters under construction in Houin Agadji, Municipality of Lokossa)