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Our Mission is to Bring the Immaculate to All Souls
The Mission Of The Franciscans Of The Immaculate
All over the world, the Family of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, Friars and Sisters, is moving step-by-step and from place to place, till the end of time, to lead all mankind to Heaven through the Immaculate.
“Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world.”(Mt 28: 19-21)
These were the last words of Jesus spoken to His disciples before ascending into Heaven, and this is the mission the Church received from Her divine Founder. In the history of the Church, the Holy Spirit inspired apostles for this mission. Among these apostles we find St. Francis of Assisi, the first Founder of a religious order to introduce into his rule a Chapter regarding the missions. The XII Chapter of the First Rule of St. Francis says, “Whoever of the friars, by divine inspiration, desires to go among the Saracens and the other infidels shall ask leave from his Minister Provincial. The Ministers shall grant permission to none save those whom they consider capable…”
“There is not a single heroic act that we are unable to accomplish with the help of the Immaculate”. St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe
In the footsteps of St. Francis, in our times, St. Maximilian Maria Kolbe brought to perfection the Franciscan missionarity by introducing a Fourth Vow: the Vow of Unlimited Consecration to the Immaculate which involves the missionary vocation. But during the Saint’s time this vow was only a private one.
The Marian Vow
Fr. Stefano Maria Manelli and Fr. Gabriele Maria Pellettieri, Founders of the Franciscans of the Immaculate- Friars, Sisters, Poor Clares (and now recently two new Benedictine Monks of the Immaculate in Italy!)- were inspired by St. Maximilian, and developed this Fourth Vow and brought it to perfection, calling it the Marian Vow, a vow that is publicly professed as the first of the other three vows of obedience, poverty and chastity.
The Marian Vow is the primary raison d'être, the primary reason for being for the Franciscans of the Immaculate. It is also called the "diamond of the Institute" and the "precious pearl" (Cf. Mt 13: 45), which enriches the three classic religious vows of obedience, poverty and chastity. The Marian Vow is the essential and specific vow of the spirituality and the discipline of the Franciscans of the Immaculate, a new branch of the First Order of St. Francis, whose constitutive elements are the following: 1) Unlimited donation of oneself to the Immaculate as Her absolute property; 2) Marian, apostolic action for the coming of the Kingdom of Christ in the world.
The Marian Vow, therefore, makes the Sister a true missionary, a Franciscan missionary of the Immaculate. The Franciscans of the Immaculate, in fact, are the forerunners of the Immaculate, and have the precious and unmerited mission of sanctifying all souls through Her maternal Mediation. Their presence on the five continents is sustained by the knowledge that they are instruments in the hands of Our Lady.
Today the Sisters have 8 contemplative-active Houses of the Immaculate (as we call our convents) in the Philippines, 17 in Italy, 2 in Brazil, 3 in Nigeria, 1 in Benin, 2 in Australia, 2 in the Holy Land, 3 in England, 1 in Poland, 1 in Portugal, 1 in the USA, 2 in Kazakhstan, 1 in Argentina (with a growing number of possible future Houses in these and other places). They currently have 4 purely contemplative Houses: 2 in Italy, 1 in the Philippines and 1 in England.
Let us pray to the Immaculate Mediatrix, Queen of the Missions, that She will allow us to open up new missions where the Truth is still unknown, and where there is most need for the salvation of souls!
The Marian Vow And The Missionary Spirit:
“The Franciscan Sister of the Immaculate is a missionary who has consecrated to the Immaculate her life, her death, her eternity. All belongs to the Immaculate then, even her death, and the Immaculate will decide where and how it must come about according to the plan of salvation, just as She decided in the case of St. Maximilian” (Directory #24).
"With this 'missionary spirit' St. Maximilian set aside the reservation of the twelfth chapter of the Rule of St. Francis which states that only friars moved by divine inspiration (that is, who have the separate gift of the missionary vocation) may be considered by the superiors as qualified for posting to mission lands.” (Directory #24)
"With the Marian Vow, in effect, every Franciscan Sister of the Immaculate already has the gift of the missionary vocation and can be sent anywhere, at any moment, by the Will of God expressed through obedience” (Directory # 25).
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