MISSIONARIES OF SAINT CHARLES (SCALABRINIANS). - The Pious Society of the M. of S. C. originated at Piacenza on 28 Nov. 1887, the day on which the first two missionaries, Fr. Domenico Mantese and Fr. Giuseppe Molinari, made their profession in the hands of the founder, Msgr. G. B. Scalabrini, bishop of Piacenza. The Constitutions were definitively approved and promulgated by decree of the Sacred Congregation Consistorial on 15 Aug. 1948. The particular end of the Congregation is that "of keeping alive in the heart of emigrated Italians and of their descendants the Catholic faith and of procuring for them their spiritual good and also, as far as possible, their temporal good" (Constitutions, chap. 1, no. 2). It depends directly on the Sacred Congregation Consistorial, as do all the other religious activities on behalf of emigration.

MISSIONARIES OF ST. CHARLES (Scalabrinians) - Parish church at Turvo, in Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil).(by courtesy of the M. of S. C., Rome)

At present it numbers more than 500 professed religious, of whom over 200 work in the missions and 200 attend to their formation. The mission stations are 87, distributed as follows: United States of America 37, Brazil 30, France 7, Argentina 6, Belgium 3, Switzerland 3, Luxembourg 1. For the formation of missionaries the Pious Society has 5 apostolic schools, of which three are in Italy, one in Brazil and one in the United States, with a total of 600 pupils; three novitiates, six colleges for the formation of religious, of which 3 are in Italy, 2 in the United States and 1 in Brazil. Strangers to any nationalistic aim, the M. of S. C. have worked and work, emigrants with the emigrants, to realize the charge received from the founder: "To bring wherever an emigrated Italian may be the comfort of the faith and the smile of the homeland."

Bibliography11 works

BIBL.: G. B. Scalabrini, L'emigrazione italiana in America, Piacenza 1887; id., Dell'assistenza alla emigrazione italiana, ivi 1891; D. Vicentini, L'apostolo degli Italiani emigrati nelle Americhe, ivi 1909; A. Scalabrini, Trent'anni di apostolato, Roma 1909; V. Gregori, Venticinque anni di Missione fra gli immigrati italiani di Boston, Mass., Milano 1913; G. Capra, I Padri nell'America del Nord, San Benigno Canavese 1916; V. Pancotti, Mons. Scalabrini nella luce della storia, Piacenza 1930; F. Gregori, La vita e l'opera di un grande vescovo, Torino 1934; G. Sofia, Le missioni scalabriniane in America, Roma 1939; F. Milini, 50 Años de vida brasileira da Pia Sociedade dos Missionarios de S. Carlos, S. Paulo-Brasile 1946; Le missioni scalabriniane tra gli italiani emigrati, rivista mensile, Roma 1939-1950.

Ugo Cavicchi

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Missionaries of Saint Charles (Scalabrinians)

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