The Missionaries of St. Charles Borromeo or
Scalabrinian Missionaries (abbr.: C.S.) are
a Roman Catholic religious institute of brothers
and priests founded by Giovanni Battista Scalabrini,
Bishop of Piacenza in Italy, in 1887.
Its mission is to "maintain Catholic faith
and practice among Italian emigrants in the
New World."
Today, they and their sister organizations,
the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo
(founded by Scalabrini on 25 October 1895)
and Secular Institute of the Scalabrinian
Missionary Women (founded 25 July 1961) minister
to migrants, refugees and displaced persons.
== History ==
The institute was approved in principle by
Pope Leo XIII in a papal brief dated 25 November
1887 and its Constitution definitively approved
by a decree of the Sacred Congregation of
Propaganda on 3 October 1908.
The expediency of providing for the spiritual
— and also, in some degree, for the temporal
— needs of Italian emigrants to the Americas
was forcibly brought home to Bishop Scalabrini
by the pathetic spectacle of a number of such
emigrants waiting in the great railway station
of Milan.
Acting upon this inspiration, and encouraged
by Cardinal Giovanni Simeoni, then Cardinal
Prefect of the Propaganda Fide, the bishop
acquired at Piacenza a residence which he
converted into "The Christopher Columbus Apostolic
Institution," forming there a community of
priests which was to be the nucleus of a new
congregation.
This congregation, which was henceforth to
be known as the Missionaries of St. Charles
Borromeo, was to be governed by a Superior
General, dependent upon the Congregation of
Propaganda.
Its primary aim was to maintain Catholic faith
and practice among Italian emigrants in the
New World, and "to ensure as far as possible
their moral, civil, and economical welfare."
It was to provide priests for the emigrants,
as well as committees of persons who should
give the good advice and practical direction
needed by poor Italians newly arrived in foreign
ports; to establish churches, schools, and
missionary homes in the various Italian colonies
in North and South America; and to train youths
for the priesthood.
The members of the congregation promise obedience
to their superiors in the congregation and
the ecclesiastical hierarchy.
Seven priests and three lay brothers of Scalabrini's
institute left Italy on 12 July 1888, of whom
two priests and one lay brother were bound
for New York, five priests and two lay brothers
for various parts of Brazil.
On this occasion, Cesare Cantú, the famous
Italian historian, addressed to the Bishop
of Piacenza some memorable words of congratulation,
asking leave to add to the bishop's blessing
on the departing missionaries, "the prayers
of an old man who admires a courage and an
abnegation so full of humility."
A welcome had already been assured these first
missionaries of the congregation by a commendatory
letter (1 June 1888) of Leo XIII addressed
to the American bishops.
Immediately after their arrival in New York
City, the new missionaries were enabled to
secure a favorable site in Centre Street,
where there was a colony of Italians, and
in a short time a chapel was opened; soon
after this the Church of the Resurrection
was opened on Mulberry Street; lastly, a building
on Roosevelt Street, which had been a Protestant
place of worship, became the property of the
Scalabrini Fathers, who transformed it into
the Church of St. Joachim, the first national
parish for Italian immigrants in the Roman
Catholic Archdiocese of New York.
The Society of St. Raphael, an emigrant aid
society, was organized at Ellis Island.
The good work thereafter spread rapidly through
the continent.
== Formation in the Philippines ==
The Scalabrini Formation Center
The formation of the first Scalabrinian seminarians
was set with the challenging reality that
a house must be built for such purpose.
In 1984, seminarians were living in the Mission
House were the first three missionary Fathers
lived.
With this setting, there had been found a
problem in terms of space since the community
had flourished in number.
By the fact that the community started to
grow, the shout for a new building was eminently
sounded.
Fr. Anthony Paganoni, being the local superior
took the challenge.
As was the case, and with the Father General’s
knowledge about the matter, the visit of the
Provincial Treasurer on July 1984 had posed
the hope that a new building be opened where
seminarians would formally concentrate on
the priestly formation after the image of
Christ, the High Priest.
“As grace from God overflows all the more”,
the construction of the formation center followed
as early after the shout was heard.
Hence, Scalabrini Formation Center (SFC) was
blessed on November 28, 1985 by Ricardo Cardinal
Vidal, the Archbishop himself.
“In designing a priestly formation program,
the fathers, led by the Director of Foramtion,
Fr.
Sabbadin, drew on Scalabrinian Models from
other countries but they were very conscious
they have been conceived in Western context.
They also drew on the experience of other
orders already working in the Philippines
but over the next almost twenty years there
would be experimentation.
Formation was perceived as a journey in faith
by the student to experience God and His Providence
in the world, especially in the world of migration”
(Desmond Cahill, pg. 369).
“In 1986, the first group of Filipinos was
sent to Italy for the novitiate.
This practice went on until 1993.
In 1989, Fr.
Nazareno became the second rector until 1995
when he went back to Italy.
The Eternal Father called him five months
later.
During his term, in 1992, the first four Filipino
Priests were ordained: on June 1, Florentino
Galdo, Mario Lorenzana, Fidel Magno, and on
August 2, Romeo Velos”
== References ==
This article incorporates text from a publication
now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles,
ed. (1913).
"article name needed".
Catholic Encyclopedia.
New York: Robert Appleton.
== External links ==
Scalabrinian Congregation official site
