The first Salesians arrived in Uruguay in 1876, in the second Salesian Missionary Expedition led by Fr Luigi Lasagna. In the past the Province has also sent numerous missionaries to Angola as a contribution to the Africa Project. Today in URU there are 61 Salesians in 10 communities, with 3 works under lay management.
The 150th anniversary of the first Salesian Missionary Expedition in 2025 will be immediately followed by the 150th anniversary of the Salesian presence in Uruguay. Today there is a shortage of religious vocations among religious communities and diocesan clergy, due to several factors . "The growth and development of the Salesian charism has allowed the Province to send many missionaries in the recent past. Now the Province is preparing to receive two young missionaries sent during the recent 155th Missionary Expedition. This is the solidarity of a worldwide Congregation: missionaries are sent where there is a need to strengthen the charism," Fr Maravilla explained.
Fr Lasagna and the members of the second Salesian Missionary Expedition arrived at the end of December 1876, and in February 1877, just two months later, they welcomed the first students at the Villa Colón school offered to Don Bosco. "The memory of the missionary expeditions sent by Don Bosco is an invitation and challenge for us today to relive the vitality of our beginnings," said Fr Maravilla during his time with the novices.
"The memory of their example spurs us today to live our Salesian life with a lively missionary spirit and to courageously relaunch ourselves towards the future with renewed vitality and hope," he concluded.
