MISSIONARY. - The concept of mission suggests that of the missionary, which designates the one who is sent by the competent ecclesiastical authority to the mission lands to propagate and consolidate the faith among non-Catholics, that is, to plant the Church. Since, however, the office entrusted to the missionary is a participation in ecclesiastical jurisdiction, consequently, in juridical terms, only a priest can be called a missionary, by reason of his sacred ordination. Brothers and sisters can merit this title only in a derived sense.
I. LEGAL STATUS
The legal condition of the missionary today is clear and precise, but it was not always the same throughout the centuries. From the 12th century the missionary has always enjoyed ample faculties and privileges, which, even after the erection of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, he often received directly. Some were called apostolic missionaries, because, approved by Propaganda, they enjoyed special privileges and were bound to particular duties. Today the title of apostolic missionary is granted rarely and for some years it has no longer been attributed to anyone. It has had its day.
At present all missionaries must request from the local Ordinaries the faculties necessary for the apostolic ministry. They are sent by their own superiors and set out no longer furnished with letters patent, as once was the case, but only with the obedience of the superior. They will remain in the mission as long as it pleases the Ordinary and the religious superior, and both, following mutual prior notice, may remove or recall them. In case of conflicts, one may appeal to Propaganda. The missionary, if a religious, as a missionary depends on the local Ordinary and as a religious on his own religious superior.
II. MISSIONARY RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR
After the development of monasticism, especially in the West, and following the foundation of the mendicant Orders and the other religious Congregations, the ranks of missionaries were formed exclusively of religious, with the exception of very few secular priests. These joined them only later, in the 17th century, when the Seminary of Foreign Missions of Paris was established in France. At present foreign missionaries belong to religious orders and congregations or to societies without vows. The very few secular priests go preferably to Australia, New Zealand and to certain missions in America.
Some, especially among the early missiologists, dispute whether religious missionaries are to be preferred to secular ones. It cannot be denied that the religious state, with the practice of vows, makes its subjects more suited to the work of the apostolate, but it does not justify the conclusion of those who go so far as to say that the religious state has an eminently missionary character, since the same advantages can be found in those institutes of secular priests which, while remaining such, live in community bound by an oath under the direction of a superior. These indeed bring to the mission a mentality that can often make their work more effective.
III. MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL FORMATION
The Church, as well as all missiologists, ancient and modern, has desired that the missionary possess priestly virtues so deeply rooted as to be able to lead peoples to the truth first by example and then by word. Of the missionary, therefore, is required the observance of all the prescriptions of the canons and the exact observance of his own duties and, if he is a religious, of those of his own institute. He must be animated by a profound spirit of poverty, even if he is not bound by vow, lead a life of extraordinary purity and practice the virtues of humility, obedience and patience. Finally his spiritual formation must be crowned by the exercise of the theological virtues: faith, hope and charity.
The missionary also needs a careful intellectual formation, even if he is destined to evangelize rough and uncivilized peoples, among whom the work of civilization makes giant strides. Certainly it is not necessary that all missionaries have an equal intellectual preparation. The first who felt the need to give missionaries a specific intellectual formation were the Mendicant Orders, and they established schools and colleges for the purpose. At the present day, many discussions are outdated because courses in missiology have clearly established which subjects must be studied by future missionaries. These, therefore, in addition to the intellectual formation proper to priests, must have another that is specific or professional, which, if directed to all missionaries, will have a common character directed toward the apostolic ministry; if instead it is directed to a few, in order to deepen especially questions of ethnology and linguistics, it will have a character of specialization.
The first formation is generally given in the homeland in missionary colleges or in designated houses and completed in the mission, so that the missionary may well learn not only the language but also the usages and customs of the people. In territories under colonial rule the missionary, in addition to the native languages, must also know the language of the governing authority. The intellectual formation of the brothers and sisters must often embrace knowledge in the field of technical and health professions so that they may be better suited to develop the various works of charity and instruction.