MISSIONARIES OF THE SACRED HEARTS OF JESUS AND MARY (Naples). - A religious congregation founded in 1833 by the Venerable Gaetano Errico, in Secondigliano, Naples, for intense apostolic ministry and the education of youth. Its primary activity is the exercise of popular missions, especially in the suburbs and countryside, without, however, excluding or considering secondary the ministry of missions among the infidels. The Holy See approved it on 7 August 1846, confirming the supreme act with a brief on 15 September of the same year.
In its first twenty years, the Institute flourished and numerous colleges were opened in the dioceses of Naples, Avellino, Sora, Aquino and Pontecchio, Bari, Gaeta, Campobasso, Rome, Conza and Cerignola. The suppression of religious orders decreed by the Italian government brought all activity to a halt, leaving only the house in Rome, where Errico’s work survived until the true rebirth could begin. This occurred in 1894 with the reopening of the novitiate, after part of the Casa Madre in Secondigliano had been redeemed.
In 1912 the first missionaries went to Argentina, and now there are houses in Buenos Aires, Rosario, San Fernando and in the capital of Uruguay. In 1948 a large apostolic school was inaugurated in Secondigliano, and at the same time a novitiate was opened in Juan Ortiz for vocations from Latin America. At present, the Congregation has about a hundred members in 8 houses.