CONGREGAZIONE MARIANA. — A religious association established and promoted by the Society of Jesus, whose purpose is to form select members of every state or condition, so that they may devote themselves to their own sanctification, to the apostolate, and to the defense of the Church, especially through a special devotion to the B. V. Maria (Regole comuni, art. 1). It differs from the confraternity, whose purpose is the promotion of public worship and which requires a special habit (CIC, can. 707); from the Pious Union, whose purpose is the exercise of specific works of piety or charity; and from the Third Order, which necessarily depends on a religious Order, whereas the C. M. has no such dependencies (can. 702). It also differs from the “Centre” for social works and from the associations of Catholic Action both in purpose and in organic and hierarchical structure, although none of the characteristics belonging to Catholic Action is lacking in it, so that it may be called, according to the constitution Bis saeculari of Pius XII (27 Sept. 1948, AAS, 40 [1948], pp. 393–402), “Catholic Action under the auspices and inspiration of the B. V. Maria” (ibid., p. 398).
I. HISTORY
To free himself from anything that might impede his strictly priestly ministry was a principle dear to s. Ignatius; but, unwilling to sacrifice any good initiative, he entrusted its care to others. Thus, in 1547, he gathered at the Gesù a group of twelve gentlemen whom he formed in the spiritual life and in the practice of zeal and charity. On his advice and following this model, his principal disciples had promoted throughout Italy, and especially in Sicily, congregations or companies or societies that rapidly multiplied. In 1563 the young Belgian Jesuit Jean Leunis founded one in the class he taught at the Roman College. The following year the group, extended to the entire college, numbered 73 young men, and was called the Congregation of the Annunciation, the title of the college church at that time.From the Roman College it spread to the other colleges of the Society of Jesus, and within 20 years such associations had multiplied everywhere. With the bull Omnipotentis Dei (5 Dec. 1584), Gregory XIII, recognizing that it had become a worldwide center of attraction, canonically erected the C. M. of the Roman College, constituting it as the Primaria, to which the others were to be aggregated. The Primaria was divided into various branches, so that the original association was given the name Prima Primaria. From the beginning, the C. M. played a notable part in the reaction against the heresy, schism, and Islam that were attacking Europe, in the propagation of the faith among infidels, and in the spiritual improvement of the secular and regular clergy. Benedict XIV, in the bull Gloriosae Dominae (1748), praised the C. M. for the great good they accomplished in the world and enriched them with new indulgences and privileges. This apostolic success aroused the hatred of the Church’s adversaries. Even before the suppression of the Society of Jesus, the C. M. had been dissolved in various nations. Clement XIV, whose brief Dominus ac Redemptor (1773) seemed destined to submerge them, hastened to save them from shipwreck. They flourished again as soon as Pius VII restored the Society of Jesus. While their essential characteristics remained unchanged, certain things were modified. Formerly, the C. M. existed only in houses dependent on the Jesuits and only for men and young people: this twofold limitation disappeared, and the C. M. increased in number, if not always in merit.
As early as 1717, various Marian associations for women had asked to be aggregated to the Prima Primaria of the Roman College. The Holy See authorized the superior general, Fr. Muzio Vitelleschi, to aggregate some of them. Benedict XIV, by the brief Quo tibi (1751), extended this authority to all the female C. M. erected in Jesuit churches; Leo XII extended it to all the others (1825).
Each year about a thousand new C. M., from every nation, every rite, and every social condition, are aggregated to the Prima Primaria; the great majority (95%) are erected outside the houses of the Society. The aggregations made now amount to approximately 75,000.
II. SPIRITUALITY AND RULES
At first sight, the purpose of the C. M. seems very vague: worship and service of Mary, personal sanctification, the salvation of one’s neighbor, and the defense of the Church. In reality, however, the purpose is one: as a son of the Mother of God, the congregant, led by her to Jesus, lives through Mary the life of Christ with such intensity that, impelled by an irresistible inner force, he overflows outwardly in works of zeal and charity. He becomes “the minister of Mary and, so to speak, her visible hands on earth” (Pius XII, on the fiftieth anniversary of his consecration in the C. M., 21 Jan. 1945).Such a purpose presupposes, first of all, rigorous selection, not merely by eliminating the unworthy, but by choosing and co-opting those judged suitable and willing to pursue it effectively. Nor is this initial screening considered sufficient. After being instructed, formed, and tested, the candidates commit themselves for life through a consecration to Our Lady which, although it is not a vow, binds them under penalty of sanctions that may extend to exclusion from the C.
Its watchword is: “to form the chosen element for the masses, and to reach the masses through the chosen element.” Everything is directed toward conquest in breadth and depth. In breadth, through the unlimited variety of religious, apostolic, charitable, and social works. In depth, through personal action in domestic, civic, and professional life, which may be called “apostolate in one’s own milieu.” To facilitate this action, the C. M. have been organized from their origin by categories, according to age, social condition, and profession, so as to promote through such homogeneity both the formation of the congregant and his influence on his surroundings.
Although distinct from one another, the C. M. are linked and collaborate through periodicals, congresses, federations or unions (since 1948 also in Italy: V. below), through national or regional secretariats, and principally through the central secretariat in Rome which, without exercising jurisdiction, is charged with responding to the needs, wishes, and inquiries of each one, both directly and through its organ Acies ordinata, begun in 1924.
The C. M. are not dependent even on the Prima Primaria, to which they are aggregated only in order to share in its spiritual favors (can. 722), nor on the general of the Jesuits, whose intervention, outside the houses of the Society, is limited to aggregating them at the request of the Ordinary, after he has carried out or authorized their canonical erection.
Aggregation to the Prima Primaria, with participation in its privileges and indulgences, belongs to the general of the Jesuits; it is likewise his responsibility to establish the rules of the C. M. whose headquarters are in Jesuit houses and churches (the others depend on the Ordinary also for the formulation of their rules). The first rules were promulgated by Fr. Claudio Acquaviva in 1587; others were promulgated by Fr. P. Beckx in 1855; the latest, under the title of Common Rules, by Fr. F. S. Wernz (8 Dec. 1910), who brought them into conformity with the new decrees of the Holy See and the changed conditions of the times. Conformity to the spirit of these rules is a condition for aggregation to the Prima Primaria.
III. ITALIAN CONFEDERATION OF MARIAN CONGREGATIONS (C.I.C.M.). -
It is the union of the Marian Congregations established in Italy on 27 September 1948.
Envisaged by the Regole comuni (Reg. 68), it was preceded by numerous federations and unions outside Italy.
Its purpose is the internal strengthening of the member congregations and collaboration with the other organizations of the apostolate of the laity, especially with the organizations of Italian Catholic Action. Its consultative and executive bodies are the regional and national committees, composed of members of the congregations; its deliberative bodies are the regional and national councils, composed of directors. The national headquarters is in Rome; the regional ones are in Rome, Naples, Palermo, Turin, and Milan.