Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate
VocationsCome and See
“If any would desire to adopt this life and would come to our brothers” (1223 Approved Rule – Ch. II)
We are a community of friars living and proposing to the youth of today daring ideals of evangelical Franciscan life lived “in the light of the Immaculate” in the footsteps of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Maximilian Mary Kolbe.
We live in convents called “Marian Houses.”
The life of prayer, poverty, penance, work and apostolate in our communities draws its driving spiritual motives from the life and teachings of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, in constant docility to the Magisterium of the Church and the directives of the Vicar of Christ, striving always to maintain a high level of living witness.
A precious novelty of our religious family of friars is the Marian Vow of unlimited consecration to the Immaculate. This is a fourth vow issued at Religious Profession. Along with the Marian Vow, the friars in fact profess the other three vows of obedience, poverty and chastity, which are common to all other religious Orders and Institutes.
One of the primary fruits of the Marian Vow is the all-embracing missionary activity with the intention to give to all souls She who is the Mother of Christ.
One who enters a community of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate does not take long to understand that the vocation is a call to a communion of life with God and with one’s brothers and sisters; it is a call to insertion into a living body in which one is joined, for life and death, with Christ Jesus the Head and with the brothers or sisters who are the members of the Mystical Body. The presence of Our Lady, Mother and Queen of this community unlimitedly consecrated to Her with the Marian Vow, serves magnificently to create a family atmosphere that often attracts from within and without.
In essence, it can be said that it is always the call to great things that stirs the spirits of the remaining daring young people, whether boys or girls. The life of St. Francis of Assisi and the Franciscan saints, the life of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, in particular, exerts a powerful appeal today on young hearts eager to accomplish spiritual and apostolic undertakings.
With a splendid image St. Maximilian M Kolbe once defined his “City of the Immaculate”, as the “hive of the Immaculate.” In it the friars are the industrious and hard-working bees producing the sweetest honey of love for Our Lady to be given to souls in need of true happiness: “The Immaculata will make you happy!” – Saint Maximilian exclaimed.
The Marian Houses of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate also strive, even in their smallness, to make themselves “hives of the Immaculate.” This is how St. Maximilian M. Kolbe wanted it; this is how we hope he will make us. Him, the “special patron of these difficult times,” as Pope John Paul II put it, and very special protector of these Marian Houses of the friars.
Vocation Directors:
P. Donato M. Donadello
Convento S. Francesco
Piazza Daga
50037 Tarquinia (VT)
Cell. +39 3392929806
P. Alfonso M. A. Bruno
(aspiranti alla vita religiosa e anche laici per M.I.M.)
Studentato Teologico Internazionale
Viale di Porta Tiburtina, 14
00185 Roma
Cell. +39 3474189255
Are you called?
Do you feel called to live in our communities and also be, like St. Francis of Assisi and St. Maximilian M. Kolbe, a builder of the Kingdom of God in the hearts of men through the Immaculate!
If the Immaculata calls you, don’t hold back!
She is waiting for you and welcomes you in the communities of these brothers and sisters, who are her beloved “property” of love on earth and in heaven!
