Franciscan Missions to Migrants and Migrant Missionaries in Marseille

On the pavement of the Old Port of Marseille, France, a flagstone commemorates the arrival of the Greeks from Phocaea, in present-day Turkey, around 600 BC. These voyagers landed in the ancient inlet of the Lacydon, then inhabited by Ligurian peoples of Celtic origin.

From its very beginnings, Marseille has therefore been a city shaped by encounters between peoples, languages and cultures.

Over the centuries, the port has welcomed merchants, refugees, sailors and migrants from across the Mediterranean and beyond. During the 1980s and 1990s, Marseille’s multicultural character became even more visible in public debate, alongside discussions about immigration, social inequality and secularism. Today, the city is often presented as a symbol of coexistence, while at the same time marked by tensions, social challenges and questions surrounding inclusion.

Within this plural setting, many initiatives for interreligious dialogue also developed among Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities. Everyday encounters, neighbourhood relationships and charitable works have helped to build mutual respect and social peace.

It is believed that the first Friars Minor arrived in Marseille as early as the 1220s. Today, at the parish of La Sainte-Trinité (the Holy Trinity), near the Old Port, there is an international fraternity of five friars between the ages of 35 and 76. The Guardian, Br Jean-Damascène Kuma, arrived in France 7 years ago from Togo; the parish pastor, Br Joseph Pham Ðinh Phung, is a young missionary from Vietnam; Br Patrick Sham, who is part of the Diocesan team for service of Dialogue, comes from Mauritius. The other two members of the fraternity, Br Florent Nibel and Br Alain Paget, are French but respectively from Alsace and Burgundy.

The fraternity lives simply in a predominantly Muslim neighbourhood, sharing the life of the local people and serving in a deeply fraternal spirit. The friars also take turns preparing the meals: there is always a baguette at breakfast and rice on the table every day with spicy sauces in the side and good French cheese at the end of each meal, a simple but meaningful sign of a fraternity that welcomes different cultures without erasing them.

The friars' ministries include parish pastoral and charitable works, outreach to the Gypsy community, French-language classes for migrants, interreligious dialogue, and care for the Franciscan Family, including the Poor Clares and the Secular Franciscans of the Regional Fraternity that also includes the island of Corsica.

The Monastery of Saint Clare likewise bears witness to this international dimension. Founded in 1254 by Blessed Beatrice of Assisi, sister of Saint Clare, the monastery today is home to fifteen sisters: four French sisters, one from India, and ten Vietnamese sisters who arrived in several groups since 2006 through a collaboration with the monastery of Thu Duc in Vietnam.

The Vietnamese sisters speak of the challenges of learning the language and adapting to a different culture, but also of the richness of sharing life with sisters from other countries. Despite the difficulties and differences, they testify that the joy of vocation, fraternity and life in God can be lived anywhere. One young Vietnamese postulant simply says: “The greatest happiness in my life is right here. That is everything.”