ROGAZIONISTI. - A religious congregation of priests founded in Messina, alongside that of the « Figlie del Divino Zelo » (v.), by can. Annibale M. Di Francia (v.), assisted by p. F. Vitale, and approved by the archbishop of Messina on 6 Aug. 1926. Today it has approximately 200 members and some twenty houses in Italy and abroad.
The R. spread among the faithful the « Pia Unione della Rogazione Evangelica » (erected on 8 Dec. 1900), with its monthly periodical Rogate ergo, published in Trani since Jan. 1938; and among ecclesiastics, the Sacra alleanza (established on 22 Nov. 1897). They assist and educate orphaned children and support, especially through devotion to the « Pane di s. Antonio » (v. ANTONIO DI PADOVA, SANTO), thousands of children in modernly equipped institutions: for example, the Antonian boys’ orphanages, the Villaggi del fanciullo (that of Bari is the first of its kind under the Latin system), and institutions for the deaf-mute and the blind.
The R. also publish various other periodicals of sacred propaganda, for example: Dio e il Prossimo (which has at times reached 700,000 copies), l'Araldo di s. Antonio (150,000 copies), il Villaggio del fanciullo, la La voce dell'orfano. Lampejos.