REPORT OF THE MISSIONARIES OF MARY

THE XAVERIAN CHARISM LIVED BY THE MISSIONARIES OF MARY

CONTINUITY OF A CHARISM

The charism of the Missionaries of Mary (Xaverian Sisters) can be understood only in the light of St. Guido Maria Conforti’s ideal for the Xaverian Missionaries1, an ideal that Fr. Giacomo Spagnolo absorbed and identified with since his childhood until it became his own way of being. It is this ideal, summed up by St. Guido in the famous passage of his Testament Letter2, that Fr. Giacomo transmitted to us as the most beautiful gift of his Founder’s heart3, and that Mother Celestina Bottego concretized first of all in our Family. In proposing the characteristics of the Xaverian spirituality, Fr. Spagnolo gives them a particular tone which, in our General Formation Project, we call “the identity of the Missionary of Mary”, the ideal that we pursue and against which we constantly measure ourselves4. Our identity is described there in seven traits that we will discuss briefly.