The Congregation

The Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles – Scalabrinians – is an international community of religious serving migrants and refugees of different cultures, religions and ethnicities in 32 countries and on five continents. The Congregation was founded on November 28, 1887, by Blessed John Baptist Scalabrini (1839-1905), bishop of Piacenza (Italy). It was the period of massive emigration from Italy and Europe toward the Americas.

It was a far-reaching phenomenon whose importance Bishop Scalabrini was able to grasp in both its social and religious dimensions.

Our missionary focus for the last twenty-five years has been to be migrants with the migrants and to be in mission with people on the move along with a special priority for the poorest migrants. What has become very obvious is that as we have taken more missionary risks and made an effort to clarify our Charism we have been blessed with more and more vocations. The blessing is doubled by the fact that we are currently receiving the vocations that match our present need.

St. John Baptist Scalabrini

​

St. John Baptist Scalabrini (1839-1905), Bishop of Piacenza, lived the drama of the exodus of migrants who,during the last decades of the nineteenth century, traveled in great numbers from Europe to the countries in the New World. He clearly saw the need for a specific pastoral care of migrants through a suitable network of spiritual assistance. In this perspective, and giving proof of a keen spiritual insight and a concrete practical sense, he founded the Congregation of the Missionary Priests and the Missionary Sisters of Saint Charles. He strongly supported the need for legislative and institutional instruments for the human and juridical protection of the migrants against all forms of exploitation.

Today, in different situations, the spiritual sons and daughters of Msgr. Scalabrini, who were later joined by the "Secular Institute of the Scalabrinian Missionary Women", continue to give witness to Christ's love for migrants and to offer them the Gospel. In 1998, John Paul II declared him Blessed and defined him as the "Father of Migrants".

St Francis Cabrini Province

The 1952 Pioneer Scalabrinian group: Fathers Nino Setti, Dante Orsi, Ignazio Militello and Tarcisio Prevedello.

The first four Scalabrinian Missionaries arrived in Australia the 2nd of November 1952. But the Province of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini was officially established in Australia and given St. Frances Xavier Cabrini as its special patron and title on 7 October 1957, after the Scalabrinian missionaries had been supporting the local clergy in the pastoral care of the Italian immigrants for five years, under the administration of the North American Provinces.

With the arrival of more Scalabrinian missionaries, the Congregation established its presence in several parts of Australia and soon became a point of reference for the local migrant communities as well as for the local Church.

The changes in migration flows during the years were reflected in the transformation of the St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Province that expanded its mission beyond the originally assisted Italian migrants in order to provide care and support to migrants of other nationalities, like Spanish and Portuguese speaking migrants (especially South Americans), Filipinos and lately Chinese migrants.

In 1982 the St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Province opened its first mission outside Australia in Manila, Philippines. Other openings outside Australia soon followed: Taiwan in 1994, Indonesia in 2002, Japan in 2003, and Viet Nam in 2005.

The Scalabrinians in the Cabrini Province provide a variety of services to the migrants. In addition to the preparation of future Scalabrinian missionaries in formation houses or seminaries, they provide spiritual ministry and community building, education in schools, local organisations for cultural activities, care for the elderly and sick, counseling, legal referral, and advocacy. They also encourage the study of migration through research centers and the dialogue with political and civil groups through conferences and specialised magazines.

SCALABRINIANS IN THE PHILIPPINES

In 1980, the General Superior, in his report to the General Chapter of that year, stressed, among other points, the necessity of a wider vocational promotion in all the provinces. For the Province of St. Frances Cabrini (then only in Australia), its Provincial Superior, Fr. Dominic Ceresoli, CS in his report to the same General Chapter 1980, wrote that, “while a vocation promotion effort is being carried on in Australia, the question is raised whether this effort should be made in the countries from which the migrants come; in particular, in the countries of Asia.” He went on to state: “In Australia itself the need is felt to have missionaries of different nationalities, since migrants into Australia are no longer Italian, but of other nationalities.”

In his report to the General Chapter of 1992, the Provincial Superior observed that “our Province, from being a Province without direct commitment in seminary formation, became a Province in which seminary formation demands and will demand the commitment of a good portion of its personnel and financial resources."

​

SCALABRINIANS IN INDONESIA

The Scalabrinian presence in Indonesia began with the invitation to our Congregation and Province by a Mexican Servite Sister, Sr. Alicia Sandoval, to accept as candidates for the Scalabrinian Congregation. In 2001 our province accepted her invitation and, with the approval of our General Administration and of the Ruteng Bishop, it began vocation promotion and seminary formation in that country.

The Ruteng Scalabrinian seminary, adapted from an existing storage house, could adequately house up to 40-50 candidates. After the first two groups completed their preparatory or propaedeutic year in Ruteng, at first they continued with their philosophy studies in Manila, Philippines. But it became soon necessary to provide for their studies in Indonesia. After one year in a rented house in Jakarta, Java, a permanent home for the philosophy seminary was opened in Maumere, Flores, where they attend the philosophy faculty in nearby Ledalero, conducted by the Society of the Divine Word (SVD). Once they obtain their bachelor degree in philosophy, they transfer to the Philippines for their postulancy and novitiate.

​

SCALABRINIANS IN VIETNAM

It was in 2003 that surveys and consultations began to be made about a possible Scalabrinian presence in Vietnam. People in Vietnam and people in Australia and Philippines who knew about the situation in Vietnam, all encouraged our Province to begin vocation promotion in Vietnam.

More visits were made to Vietnam, more reports and discussions were held. Thus we arrived at the Provincial Assembly of April 4-7, 2005. The Provincial Administration, in its annual report for this Assembly, included the following proposal n. 5 about Vietnam. "We plan to begin accepting candidates for the 2005 school year, e. i. August-September. Responsible: Provincial Administration