Welcome to Our Order
measure all things with Christ
History
Believing in God’s Word and Spirit
St John Leonardi was born in Diecimo Lucca in Italy. He was trained as a Pharmacist. As a result of the joy he derives in teaching Catechesis to Children and his devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, he desired to give his whole life time to this Mission. In pursuit of this, he abandoned his Pharmaceutical Profession and entered the Seminary to train as a Priest.
He was ordained priest on 22 December, 1571 and on 1 September 1574 in the church of santa Maria Corteorlandini he founded the congregation which he named Order of Mother of God. and in 1604, Pope Clement VIII approved the constitution of the Order. In 1607, St John Leonardi together with Mons Vives and P. Funes founded the Propaganda Fidei. He died in the year 9 November, 1609 and was canonized saint by Pope Pius IX on 8 March 1861. His feast day is on 9 October in the breviary.The Order is in many parts of the world including – Italy, Chile, India, Indonesia, Colombia and in Nigeria.
Our Charism:
Molding believers, influencing the world
The Charism of the Order is the Sanctification of his Sons and the generous Service of the Soul through the Profession of the Evangelical Counsel and the Community life in the availability to the Charism of the Spirit.
Apostolate:
OPEN ENDED
- CHILDREN AND YOUTH APOSTOLATE: Following the injunctionof Jesus in the gospel of Matthew 19:13-14 and Mark 10:14, “let the children come to me, do not forbid them, for of such is the Kingdom of God”. And in line with the desire of our founder St. John Leonardi, we embark on children and youth apostolate with the motto – “catch them young for Jesus Christ”. In the pursuit of this apostolate, in addition to teaching catechism classes, we have pastoral programmes geared towards grassroots children and youth evangelisation in the family, society and church levels.
- MARIAN APOSTOLATE:Our founder dedicated the Order to the Blessed Virgin Mary, thus we promote Marian devotion in parishes and schools
- PARISH AND SCHOOL: We equally embark on retreat preaching,parish and school apostolates.
- MEDICAL APOSTOLATE: Because our founder was a pharmacist before leaving the profession to the priesthood. In the year 2009, pope Benedict XVI declared him the patron saint of Pharmacists. In line with this, our apostolate covers – prolife activities, pastoral assistance to medical personnel such as – medical doctors, Pharmacists, nurses etc., we organise retreats, seminars, and other pastoral activities aimed on conscientizing them on the values of human life and assist in building up their faith in God.
OPEN ENDED – The words of our founder, “… according to the need of the place…” made our apostolate flexible to adapt to the kind of pastoral mission needed in the place of our mission.
Locations
Where we are working
- COUNTRIES WE ARE WORKING
- ITALY SINCE 1574
- CHILE SINCE 1920
- INDIA SINCE 1994
- NIGERIA SINCE 2002
- COLOMBIA SINCE 2013
- INDONESIA SINCE 2013