MISSIONARY. - The concept of mission suggests that of a missionary, who is one sent by the competent ecclesiastical authority to lands of mission in order 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, juridically only a priest can be called a missionary because of his sacred ordination. Brothers and sisters may merit this title only in a derived sense.
I. LEGAL STATUS
The legal status of the missionary today is clear and precise, but it has not always been the same throughout the centuries. From the 12th century onward, the missionary has always enjoyed broad faculties and privileges, which, even after the establishment of the Sacred Congregation of Propaganda Fide, were often granted directly to him. Some were called apostolic missionaries because they were approved by Propaganda, enjoyed special privileges, and were bound by particular duties. Today the title of apostolic missionary is granted rarely and for several years has not been conferred on anyone. It has served its time.At present all missionaries must request from the local Ordinaries the necessary faculties for apostolic ministry. They are sent by their superiors and depart no longer furnished with letters patent, as in the past, but only with the obedience owed to their superior. They will remain in mission as long as it pleases the local Ordinary and the religious superior, and both, after mutual notice, can remove them or recall them. In case of conflicts, appeal may be made to Propaganda. The missionary, if a religious, insofar as he is a missionary depends on the local Ordinary, and insofar as he is a religious depends on his own religious superior.
II. RELIGIOUS AND SECULAR MISSIONARIES
After the development of monasticism, especially in the West, and following the foundation of the mendicant Orders and other religious Congregations, the ranks of missionaries were composed exclusively of religious, with the exception of a very few secular priests. These only later in the 17th century joined them, when the Seminary of the Foreign Missions of Paris was established in France. At present foreign missionaries belong to religious Orders and Congregations or to societies without vows. The few secular priests go preferably to Australia, New Zealand, and certain missions in America.Some, especially among older mission scholars, dispute whether religious missionaries are to be preferred to secular ones. It cannot be denied that the religious state, with the practice of vows, renders its members more suitable for 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 who, while remaining such, live in community bound by an oath under the direction of a superior. Indeed, these bring to mission a mentality that can often render their work more effective.
III. MORAL AND INTELLECTUAL FORMATION
The Church, as well as all mission scholars, ancient and modern, has desired that the missionary possess priestly virtues deeply rooted in him so that he may first draw peoples to the truth by example and then by word. The missionary must therefore observe all the prescriptions of canon law and fulfill exactly his own duties and, if religious, those of his institute. He must be animated by a deep spirit of poverty, even if not bound by a 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 careful intellectual formation, even if destined to evangelize rude and uncivilized peoples, among whom the civilizing work makes giant strides. It is true that not all missionaries need to have some intellectual preparation. Those who first felt the need to give missionaries a specific intellectual formation were the mendicant Orders, which established schools and colleges for this purpose. In our own day, many debates have been settled because courses in missiology have clearly established what subjects must be studied by future missionaries. These, therefore, besides 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 aimed at apostolic ministry; if, instead, it is directed to a few, to deepen especially questions of ethnology and linguistics, it will have a specialized character.
The first formation is generally given in the homeland in missionary colleges or designated houses and completed in mission so that the missionary may learn well not only the language but also the customs and manners of the people. In territories under colonial rule, the missionary, besides the indigenous languages, must also know the language of the governing authority. The intellectual formation of brothers and sisters must often include knowledge in the field of technical and health professions so that they may be more suited to develop the various works of charity and instruction.