Xaverian missionaries

Saint Guido Maria Conforti (founder of the Xaverian order)

The Xaverian Missionaries , known as the Society of St. Francis Xavier for Foreign Missions ( lat. : Pia Societas Sancti Francisci Xaverii per Exteris Missionibus , religious symbol : SX ) were, on 3 December 1895 by Saint Guido Maria Conforti founded (1865-1931) and today are a clerical Congregation of pontifical right .

history

In 1894, the prefect of the Congregation for the Propaganda Fide , Cardinal Mieczysław Halka Ledóchowski , ordered the establishment of a seminary . The focus should be on training missionary priests. The then bishop Francesco Magani (1893-1907) of the diocese of Parma established the "seminary for foreign missions" near Parma on November 1, 1895 . At that time Guido Maria Conforti was vicar general in the diocese of Parma and founded on December 3, 1895, on the feast day of St. Francisco de Xavier , with the first seminarians the “Pious Society of St. Francis Xavier “On December 3, 1898, the congregation was given episcopal approval by priests and the first rules of the order approved. In 1899 the seminary sent its first two mission priests to China and North America . The Xaverian missionaries received the Decretum laudis from the Congregation of Propaganda Fide on March 5, 1906 and the papal approbation from Pope Benedict XV on January 6, 1921 . The last constitution was passed and approved in 1983 by the 11th chapter .

organization

The Xaverian Motherhouse is in Parma, while the General Curia is in Rome . Her superior general is the Italian Father Rino Benzoni SX. The order includes 661 priests and 187 friars , who are spread over 186 houses (as of 2005). The order is divided into order provinces :

Europe : France , Italy , Great Britain and Spain
Africa : Burundi , Cameroon , Chad , Democratic Republic of the Congo , Mozambique and Sierra Leone
North and South America : Brazil , Colombia , Mexico and USA
Asia : Bangladesh , China , Japan , Philippines , Indonesia and Taiwan .

So far, 13 members of the order have been ordained bishops (as of 2020). They were mainly active in the East Asian region. The Order currently provides Bishop George Biguzzi SX from Makeni in Sierra Leone and Bishop Adolfo Zon Pereira from Alto Solimões in Brazil.