The provincial superior of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate in the DRC and Angola, Father Constant Kienge-Kienge, officially proclaimed at the end of the Mass celebrated on March 23, 2026 in the parish church of Saint-Philippe in Kinshasa: March 23rd will now be the patronal feast of the school located in the Camp Luka district of the parish of Saint-Philippe in Kinshasa, served by the Missionary Oblates since 1989.
Brother Gustave Mwimbu, prefect of the School Complex, asked him to enter the year that ended in 2027 to mark the 10 years of the School Complex and the 30 years of the death of the Oblate priest whose name she bears.
Students and teachers of the school founded by the Oblates in 2017 acknowledged to be placed under evangelical virtues and values lived and shared by the Italian missionary Giovanni Santolini. The priest who arrived in Kinshasa in 1987 as a trainer of the young Oblates of the scholasticate Eugene de Mazenod died in a traffic accident at 43 on March 23, 1997.
He wanted to become a saint
An older sister, Giovanna Santolini, who came from Italy with her daughter Michele, testified that her brother, always smiling since childhood, showed a strong will and a desire for holiness. She thanked the students for being living monuments of her brother's life.
Father Kienge-Kienge stressed, in the homily, that faith in the gospel was the secret of the life of his missionary colleague.
And the provincial superior of the Oblates recalled that education is a field of Oblate mission, with parish ministry and health, among others. The Oblates sow in the students the Gospel values meditated on truth, justice, compassion, mercy...
A delegate of the parents of pupils thanked the Oblates, who gave the children instruction but also and above all strong basic values.
The next employers' holidays will thus concern Marcello Zago and René Toussaint colleges in Kinshasa.
New « Studio Giosa »
In the parish hall, before the festive meal, Father Constant Kienge-Kienge blessed new musical instruments for Studio Giosa at De Mazenod University. Giovanni Santolini (Giosa) had installed this studio of musical recordings. For the feast of the day, Father Jean-Baptiste Ngwangu, a musician from Songololo where he was parish vicar, embellished the day by opening these new apparatuses.
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