Board
Bicentenary of the Rosminian Family
Together, as one big family, we give thanks to God for the past, we live the present with passion and missionary zeal, we look to the future with confidence.
2025 – Hope
2026 – Vocation
2027 – Conversion
I pray you guard the holy fire which you have received into your heart: stir it so that although it already burns, it may burst into flame, and you, aflame yourself, may go forth and set fire also to the whole world.
Blessed Antonio Rosmini
Letter from Marco Tanghetti
Dearly beloved,
A greeting of joy and peace!
With joy, we celebrate the anniversary day of the Foundation of the Institute of Charity, the beginning of our Religious Family. Best wishes to you all for perseverance in your vocation; best wishes to every community in doing good for the Kingdom of God, living the charism of charity to the full in the service of the Church!
It is a beginning to which all those who walk in the light of the spirituality of Blessed Antonio Rosmini, the entire Rosminian Family, refer to.
Blessed Father Founder pondered, meditated and contemplated on that fundamental step of going to Calvario many times in his life, and the many letters in which he describes the Institute of Charity bear witness to this.
For example, twelve years after that 20th of February, when papal approval had recently been received, writing to the Rosminian Sister Teresa Alvazzi, he simply said: “However, I am not easily discouraged when it is a question of following projects that are not my own, but proposed to me by the zeal of pious people, since my maxim is to follow Providence, which is usually manifested in external circumstances” (10 February 1840).
Furthermore, dealing in those same days with layman Alexander Fletcher about what the Institute of Charity is, he writes: “The object of the Institute of Charity is the exercise of perfect virtue, as far as it is possible for man by divine grace; and by perfect virtue is meant that which Jesus Christ taught us by word and example.
This object is also special in the Institute, since every other thought or view ends in it, and everything is subordinated to it, so that the general and common end is precisely also the special end of the Institute.
The perfect virtue taught us by the divine Master is universal charity, especially that which tends to the wellbeing of souls; and therefore, the Institute proposes to practise universal charity as much as it can and embraces missions and every other exercise of the holy ministry as means to obtain its end”.
And he also points out to him, for further enlightenment on the charism, “the booklet of the Maxims of Christian Perfection that contain the spirit of the Institute… and also the Rule inserted in the apostolic letters” (14 February 1840).
We begin tomorrow, 20 February 2025, the Path of Preparation for the Foundation’s Bicentenary in 2028, with a pilgrimage of hope, in response to the vocation, to live Charity.
With this letter, after due consultation and in agreement with the Carissima Madre and the General Councils, I appoint the Commission for the Bicentenary and its preparation during this three-year period.
The committee will suggest initiatives and proposals that can involve everyone, directed to the places where we live and work: religious communities, parish communities, oratories, schools, staff, volunteers, families.
The Commission will have contact persons in each area for coordination, communication and implementation of the different initiatives.
The members of the Commission are Fr. Sunny Kalathil (Chairman), Cons. Adscr. Glenda Villegas (secretary), Sr. Alba, Sr. Ilaria, Fr. Benny Denny, Br. Julius Thobias Tete, Adscr. Luca Costamagna.
The contact persons in the various areas of the Institute will be:
East Africa: Fr Francis Shayo and Fr Severine Kilala.
England: Fr. Aji Alphonse.
India: Fr. Jith Francis.
Ireland: Fr. Wilhard Shayo.
Italy: The Ascribed Maria Faggiano and Margherita Oddo.
USA: Fr. Alfred Kymaryo, Fr. Bibin Mathew, Ascr. Brent Sowards.
New Zealand: Fr. Vijoy Jacob, Adscr. Tony Raj.
Venezuela: Ascr. Maybelis Gonzalez, Ascr. Matilde Guevara.
Vietnam: Br. Nguyen Van Khuong Peter, Br. Son Phan Van Joseph.
Let us begin a pilgrimage of the heart tomorrow as Rosminian men and women, first year of preparation (20 February 2025 – 20 February 2026), towards the 2028 Bicentenary, pilgrims of hope, in hope!
There is a holy door of hope also for us as the Rosminian family, and it is the humble door of the religious cell of Blessed Antonio Rosmini, it is located at Calvario in Domodossola, and on its lintel Fr. Founder had the following words of Scripture inscribed: “It is good to wait in silence for the salvation of God” (Lam 3:26).
Listening to this word in our hearts and before crossing the threshold, we are illuminated by the colours of the Annunciation of the Lord: the encounter, God becoming man and Mary, the dimension of that waiting pregnant with silence.
Through the door of that little room, we glimpse salvation in the life and conversion experience of Fr. Founder
It is a salvation that I will be able to offer to others in daily witness, in ministry, in the commitment to live God’s will.
Antonio Rosmini had told his friends his intentions in those days, “away from the world, to give calm to spirit and body, and to give attentive ear to the voices that the Lord would have me hear”(To Pietro and Paolo Orsi, 19 February 1828).
Let us also enter and listen.
The humble door to Calvary, close to the cross, is a door of hope for a future of peace and opens up paths of fraternity.
It is for all of us a door of hope because so many who have passed through it have identified with the charism of charity as good missionary disciples.
And so, it will still be for generations of young people, boys and girls, men and women in the Rosminian family. Let us cross the threshold of hope together, as pilgrims, to live the charism of charity to the full together with Fr. Founder, a gift to the Church!
Let us wish each other well, pray for each other and begin the pilgrimage of hope together, blessing each other from the heart,
I embrace you,
Marco Tanghetti
First Letter from Commission
Brothers and Sisters,
With joy and gratitude, at the invitation of our Rev. Father General on the occasion of the Feast of the Cell, we are moving towards 2028, the year in which we will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the foundation of our Institute. This time of preparation is an opportunity to live our mission in the Church with a renewed spirit, to strengthen our communities and our being Rosminian family (fathers, sisters, ascribed members, friends) to witness to the beauty of the Charism that is given to us.
We invite everyone to join this journey, living each stage with faith, hope and charity.
Together as a big family, we give thanks to God for the past, we live the present with passion and missionary zeal, we look to the future with confidence.
We are living this three-year period with enthusiasm, aware that the journey towards the Bicentenary is not only a celebration, but also an invitation to renew our commitment to the service of the Church, to our neighbours and to the mission that has been entrusted to us as a precious gift.
Step by step we will share ideas, resources, moments of spiritual, intellectual and material communion.
From now on we would like to ask for the collaboration of communities and groups to accept what we propose and implement it together. We wish our contributions and initiatives will be fruits to be shared and enjoyed together, not alone.
In this three-year period, each year we will be guided by a theme: for 2025, by the theme of “Hope” to which the Jubilee invites us, for 2026 by the theme of “vocation” and for 2027 by the theme of “conversion”.
Follow us on our channels (www.rosminians.com, www.rosminiane.it and Rosminians Facebook page, Rosminian family) to make this extraordinary journey together!
The Commission for the Bicentenary 2028
