On 1 May 2023, the Feast of St Joseph the Worker, Patron of Workers, and St Richard Pampuri, Patron of the Interprovincial and Regional Novitiate of Africa and of the African Province of the same name, 13 young candidates entered the Novitiate at Agoé-Nyivé Lomé (Togo), coming from three Provinces of the Order: the African Provinces of St Augustine and St Richard Pampuri, and the French Province's candidates from Madagascar.

The admission ceremony was held during Morning Prayer, in the company of a large congregation of Brothers and Co-workers who had come for the occasion. This was followed at 9 a.m. by the profession of simple vows by 11 novices from Benin, Madagascar, Malawi, Senegal and Togo. Brother André Sène presided at Mass in the presence of a large number of priests and the provincial Superiors: Brother Donatus Forkan, Brother Paulinus and Brother Hugues, the Provincials of Western Europe, St Augustine and St Richard Pampuri , and Brother Jean Guillaume representing the French Provincial , together with a large number of Brothers, Co-workers, relatives and acquaintances from Benin, Ghana and Togo.

The admission of these new candidates brings the total number of novices in the Novitiate to 28: 15 in their second year, and 13 in the first. Let us pray that Our Lord will accomplish in them the work He has begun.