SVADD
Society of Apostolic Life Donum Dei
Who are we?
The Missionary Workers of the Immaculate
IDENTITY, CHARISM AND SPIRIUTALITY
The Missionary Workers of the Immaculate founded on February 11, 1950 by Fr. Marcel Roussel-Galle constitute the Society of Apostolic Life of Diocesan Right Donum Dei, called The Missionary Workers of the Immaculate.
The Society of Apostolic Life Donum Dei, called The Missionary Workers of the Immaculate, is a Society of Apostolic Life of Diocesan Right whose members assume the evangelical counsels by the sacred bonds, leading a life in common by the example of the Holy Family of Nazareth and in the spirit of an international family, tending towards the perfection of charity through the observation of the present Constitutions. (cf. can. 731).
As members of this Society, we realize our vocation by our work, our diverse apostolate and all our life.
The Society participates in the mystery of the Church, we live with respect, in the obedience of the Pastors of the Church, especially to the Pope. In all our missions, we have the heart to act in communion with them and with all the Church.
In response to the call of Jesus, Christian virgins, we give ourselves to Him for always as Spouses, by offering ourselves to the Merciful Love of God like Saint Therese of Lisieux. We participate in the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, very especially in His encounter with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (John 4:1-43).
Our mission is to let the cry of Jesus be heard: « Give me a drink », and to lead the men and women of our times to the Source of Living Water which gush forth from His Heart: « If you only knew the Gift of God » In this way, we pursue the distinctive apostolic goal of our Society.
The Virgin Mary is for us the perfect model of a virginal and spousal life. It is with Her and by Her that we accomplished our apostolate: to lead the souls to the Source of Living Water.
« A Missionary Worker of the Immaculate whose formation is fulfilled under the gaze of Mary, (…) will only achieve her vocation as a spouse and mother by maintaining her interior gaze towards the Immaculate. » (MR, DLSM n° 65-66).
On the footsteps of Saint Therese of Lisieux, we advance on the Little Way, way of confidence and of love. We progress on this way of holiness accentuating on the love as motive, humility as base, aiming for perfection in the ordinary actions, in abandonment to the will of God.
We learn to love God and to let Him be loved. We invite all those who want to walk on the Way of Spiritual Childhood, to offer oneself to the Merciful Love of God in order to receive in their own heart “the waves of infinite tenderness which are enclosed” in the Blessed Trinity.
Taking into account our deep rooting on the doctrine of Saint Therese of Lisieux, we recognize ourselves in the Carmelite Spirituality according to the Founder’s thinking.
We also put ourselves in the school of Saint Francis of Sales who « has remarkably known with wisdom and gentleness how to teach the science of the saints to all the conditions of the faithful »
Virgins totally offered to Christ and impregnated of the doctrine of these two spiritual masters, we commit ourselves in the heart of the world through the manner of Saint Joan of Arc.
¹ « The consecrated life, like all forms of christian life, is by nature dynamic and those called by the Spirit to embrace it need constant renewal in growth towards the full stature of the Body of Christ (cf. Ep. 4.13). It was born from the creative impulse of the Spirit which led the founders and foundresses on the path of the Gospel, giving upsurge to a marvelous variety of charisms. Available and docile to his direction, they followed Christ more closely, entered into his intimacy and fully shared his mission” (Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Instruction Distributing of Christ, 19.5. 2002, n.20 § 1).
² « Moreover, the consecrated person encounters in the Virgin Mary a Mother with a very special title. In fact, if the new motherhood conferred on Mary on Calvary is a gift made to all Christians, it has a singular value for those who have fully consecrated their lives to Christ. “Behold your mother” (Jn 19,27): Jesus’ words to the “disciple whom he loved” (Jn 19,26) have a particular depth for the life of the consecrated person. The latter is in fact called, like John, to take with her the Most Blessed Virgin Mary (cf. Jn 19:27): she will love her and she will imitate her with the radicality proper to her vocation, and she will experience, in return, of a very special maternal tenderness. Our Lady communicates to him the love that allows him to offer his life every day for Christ, cooperating with him in the salvation of the world. This is why the filial relationship with Mary constitutes the privileged way of fidelity to the call received and a very effective aid to progress in one’s response and to live one’s vocation to the full. » (Jean-Paul II, Exhortation ap. Vita Consecrata, 25.3.1996, n. 28 § 4).
³ Pie IX, Lettre ap. Dives in misericordia Deus, 16.11.1877
cf. SVADD Constitutions n. 1-9