The Community was born as a multi-vocational reality: consacrated men, consacrated women, clerics, singles and spouses, united by the same charism, spirituality and desire: to be a community for the mission ad gentes
The Missionary Community of Villaregia is composed of three distinct branches, united by the same mission:
Missionaries: celibate consecrated men, clerics or lay.
Missionary Sisters: consecrated unmarried women.
Missionary Spouses: married couples and widowed individuals.
Different ways of living the missionary call
Inside the Missionaries and Missionary sisters branches, the call can materialize in various ways:
- Missionaries of common life, they live in community and dedicate themselves full time to the mission ad gentes, bringing the Gospel to the whole world.
- Missionaries in the world, live their consecration in their own social context, working and operating in society as signs of communion and mission.
Among the members of common life are the missionaries of mercy, who are dedicated to the evangelization of the poorest. They live next to them with a simple lifestyle.
Others choose a more intense life of prayer as missionaries and missionary sisters of contemplative life. They offer a service of universal intercession and testify to the primacy of the Lord through prayer.
The missionary spouses bring their testimony starting from the experience of conjugal and family love, embodying the mission in the daily life of family and social life.
Every missionary, no matter his/her status, is committed to living and bearing witness to the Gospel according to the ecclesial recommendations. They take the private vows of poverty, obedience and celibate chastity (or conjugal chastity for missionary spouses). A fourth community vow for mission ad gentes keeps the missionaries united in the common desire to favor a way of communion and to spread it to the ends of the earth.
Next to the members, there are the Associates: they participate in the charism and mission of the Community, enriching it with their gifts and commitment. They find a space for personal and spiritual growth in the Community.
They benefit from and take part in the activities offered by the Community, participate to its charism and cooperate for its same end. They adhere to the spirituality of the Community and participate in its initiatives without taking any private vow.
They are divided into:
- Volunteers
- Members of the GimVi groups (groups committed in missionary activities and service)
- Missionary animators
- Friends of the mission
The Community currently has 410 members and a few thousand aggregated members.
