Scholasticate History	Scholasticate Personnel

Scholasticate News 17th February

17th February 2009 – 183 Years of the Approval of the OMI Congregation and Constitutions and Rules!!!!

VOWS 2009

The oblate tradition of 183 years since the approval of the Constitutions and Rules lives on and as more and more young people respond to the call of Christ to being members of this religious oblate family hope is realized for society. It is with hope that as many young people respond to Gods call, the world might be nourished by the love of Gods presence who never ceases to say ‘I love you and you are mine’.

Anticipating our feast of February the 17th various oblates met at St Maria in Campitelli church (in the centre of Rome) to celebrate and to be united with the founder who spent hours and hours in that very church awaiting the approval of the constitutions and rules. It was in this very church that the founder prayed much for the new community to be entrusted to the blessed Mother Mary. Fr Gilberto Piñón, superior of the general house community, in his homily underlined the tradition which we as oblates have always kept – celebrating the founders awaiting in prayer and the approval of our constitutions and rules.

Religious life is a gift that we all come to appreciate daily. When one enters the novitiate the teaching received is that one joins a family of men who give themselves totally for Gods Kingdom. At the end of the novitiate period religious vows of Chastity, Poverty, Obedience and Perseverance are taken and renewed every year until the time comes for one to say ‘I want to be a religious for life’. Tiny yet profound steps are necessary in reaching that which God calls us to. It is a discovery of Gods calling, a mature realization of oneself and a peaceful time of prayer (communicating with God).

On the 17th of February Fr Eugene King the Vicar General of our Oblate family received the vows of NKADIMENG Thabang and MAJOLA Bonga(both from the Northern Province of South Africa), MARAMWIDZE Chikomberero and TSHUMA Ndodana (both from the Mission of Zimbabwe), POSHOLI Nathanael and THAMAE Andreas (both from the Province of Lesotho), and LÓPEZ PAREDES Elio Dennis (Delegation of Peru). Again these young men said ‘yes’ to being members of the oblate family.

On February 17, 1826, Pope Leo XII approved the Congregation and its Constitutions. The Founder rejoiced: “Somewhat puny as we are, being weak and few in number, we nonetheless have an existence in the Church no less than that of the most celebrated bodies…It is thus we are constituted”. (Oblate values 2000:197)