Rosminians
This article needs additional citations for verification. (May 2022) |
Institutum Caritatis | |
Abbreviation | I.C. |
---|---|
Nickname | Rosminians |
Formation | February 2, 1828 |
Founder | Blessed Fr. Antonio Rosmini, I.C. |
Type | Clerical Religious Congregation of Pontifical Right for men |
Headquarters | Via di Porta Latina 17, Rome, Italy |
Membership | 266 members (includes 175 priests) as of 2020 |
Superior General | Fr. Vito Nardin, I.C. |
Parent organization | Catholic Church |
Website | http://www.rosmini.org/ |
The Rosminians, officially named the Institute of Charity (
The order was formally approved by the
Foundation
In 1827 Rosmini was in Milan and met the Abbé Loewenbruck who informed him that he had been thinking about establishing a religious institute which would help to promote better education and spirituality in the clergy. Again, Rosmini saw the hand of God in this request. Still, as Rosmini believed that God would do the necessary prompting, he did not seek out anyone to join the new society he planned to establish. Two or three people who knew his thoughts joined him by their own request, and the three began to live according to the principles Rosmini had established.[1]
Such was the state of affairs when on 2 February 1831, Rosmini's friend, Cardinal Cappellari, was chosen pope and took the name of
It was not until March 1837, that Rosmini submitted the constitutions of his religious society for papal approval. The matter was entrusted to the
On 20 December 1838, the Vatican's congregation met again and gave its opinion that the society should have the status of a religious congregation; the pope immediately ratified this decision. On the following 25 March the vows were first made, by 20 in Italy and 5 in England. Five of these then went to Rome and on 22 August, in the Catacombs of St Sebastian made the fourth vow of special obedience to the pope. Apostolic letters embodying Rosmini's own summary of the constitutions were issued on 20 September, naming Rosmini as the first provost-general of the institute for life.
Spirit and organisation
The spirit of the Rosminian community is strongly characterised by the belief that God speaks to people in a variety of ways, and makes His will known according to the abilities of each person. For the Rosminian, the main ways God prompts people are:
- through the request of someone in need; - through someone speaking on behalf of a person in need; - through the needs themselves being seen.
Membership
There are two kinds of membership in the Institute of Charity. The first are those who take on themselves the discipline of the society and bind themselves by vows of
As with all religious communities, a person who wishes to embrace the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience, goes through a period of intense discernment. After two years of noviceship, first profession is made which includes the temporary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. He thus becomes a scholastic, but is not incorporated into the institute until he becomes a coadjutor after a further period of religious, spiritual and academic preparation. Coadjutors add the promise of not seeking any promotion either within the society or outside. Religious vows are renewed at this time, but now for life.
Vows
For Rosminians, poverty does not mean relinquishing all possessions, but rather in not being possessed by one's possessions; to this end, members of the congregation have always been permitted to own personal possessions. The vow of chastity is understood in the sense of not only remaining unmarried and abstaining from sexual activity, but also in how people are to be treated. The vow of obedience means listening to the requests of those in charge, taking into account the good of God's people, and prayerfully seeking to see the hand of God in what is being asked.
Further information
The institute is governed by a provost-general chosen by elected members. He has full powers except for a few exceptional cases. The institute is divided into provinces.[2] The Provincial Superior of the Gentili Province which covers England and Wales, Ireland, the United States and New Zealand is Father David Myers.
The main houses in
The founding of the English province is inseparably linked with the names of
The Rosminians serve in 15 parishes throughout England and Wales.
Irish Province
The Rosminians of the Irish Province were appointed by the Archbishop of Dublin to run services for the blind in St Joseph's, Drumcondra, Dublin in 1955, the School, originally called St Joseph's Asylum for the Male Blind was founded by the Carmelites in 1859, and moved in 1870 to the lands of Drumcondra Castle.[3] The School which became known as St Joseph's School for the Blind, and Visually Impaired, was residential for boys and was officially opened in 1960 by the Dept. of Education.
In 2012 St Joseph's became ChildVision[4] the national education centre for the blind children in Ireland. ChildVision run assessment, speech and language, education, garden, petting zoo, and an Equine Therapy facility in St Joseph's, there is also a centre in Cork. They run pre-school services, and vocational training, as well as assisting the on campus, primary and secondary school. In 2014 the Rosminian order sold the lands in St Joseph's, but took out a 25-year lease on the houses and buildings which it will use for ChildVision.[5]
St. Joseph's Primary School for Children with Visual Impairment, and works closely with ChildVision.[6] In 2003, visually impaired and blind girls, were first admitted to St Joseph's, when St Mary's School for Visually Impaired Girls closed in Mount Merrion.
In 1970 Rosmini College an all boys school was founded, which became PobalScoil Rosmini in 1982 in a new building, serving as a mainstream secondary school for the locality as well for the visually impaired students. In 2002 Rosmini Community College became co-educational, and in 2003 accepted in its first visually impaired girls.[7] The Rosmini Gaels GAA Club was set up by former staff of the school.
The Rosminians also ran Clonturk House, which closed in 2009 as a home for adult visually impaired men, where one of its former residents was the renowned Dublin character Thomas Dudley (known as Bang Bang), who is buried in the Cemetery on the St Joseph's lands.
Child sexual abuse scandals
St Michael's Catholic Boarding School, Soni, Tanzania
A prominent United Kingdom member of the order, Kit Cunningham, together with three other Rosminian priests were exposed after Cunningham's death as paedophiles.[8][9] While at Soni, Cunningham perpetrated sexual abuse that made the school, according to one pupil, "a loveless, violent and sad hellhole". Other pupils recall being photographed naked, hauled out of bed at night to have their genitals fondled and other sexual abuse.[10] Although known about by the Rosminians before Cunningham's death in 2010, the abuse was only publicly revealed by the media in 2011.[11][12] Formal action was launched by 22 former pupils at the civil court in Leicester on 20 March 2013.[13]
This section needs to be updated.(August 2023) |
Grace Dieu Manor Catholic School, UK
Victims of abuse by staff at Grace Dieu Manor School, England are suing the Rosminians. Their abuse was catalogued in the BBC documentary Abused: Breaking the Silence.[14][15][16]
This section needs to be updated.(August 2023) |
Industrial schools in Ireland
The Rosminians ran
Apology for English abuse by the provincial of English Rosminians
According to an online news story, issued on 23 June 2011: "Following the U.K. broadcast of a documentary detailing the abuse of some 35 boys by four Rosminian priests in the 1960s, the order's provincial in England released an apology for the acts of abuse and for our "inadequate response.""[19]
Settlement
The audited financial statements for the year ending 5 April 2015 report under the heading “Legal and safeguarding related costs" that "Last year’s report referred to legal claims which had been brought against the Charity concerning the welfare of children between approximately 1940 and 1985. A settlement has now been reached in relation to these claims." The Charity was liable also for the claimants' legal fees. The matter has had a significant impact on the Charity's finances with payment of their legal and settlement costs amounting to a total GBP 1,746,523 for the year.[20]
Schools
- Colegio Antonio Rosmini, Maracaibo, Venezuela
- Ratcliffe College, Ratcliffe on the Wreake, Leicestershire
- Rosmini High School, Tanga, Tanzania
- Rosmini College, Auckland, New Zealand
- ChildVision, Drumcondra, Ireland
- St Joseph's Primary School for Children with Visual Impairment, Drumcondra, Ireland
- Rosmini Community School, Drumcondra, Ireland
- St Peter's College, Gore, New Zealand
- Defunct
- Grace Dieu Manor School, near Thringstone, Leicestershire, United Kingdom
- St Michael's School, Soni (in the Usambara Mountains), Tanzania
People
The elected provost-generals, since Rosmini's death were
- Giambattista Pagani, who succeeded in 1855,
- Bertetti (1860),
- Cappa (1874),
- Lanzoni (1877),
- Bernardino Balsari (1901)
- Giuseppe Bozzetti (1935)
- Giovanni Gaddo (1956)
- Giambattista Zantedeschi (1989)
- James Flynn, an Irish priest (1997).
Other members of the order include:
- Aloysius Gentili (1801-1848), missionary in England and Ireland;
- Vincenzo de Vit (1810-1892), known principally for two works of vast labour and research, the Lexicon totius Latinitatis, a new and greatly enlarged edition of Forcellini, and the Onomasticon, a dictionary of proper names;
- Paolo Perez, formerly professor at Padua, and master of a singularly delicate Italian style;
- Archbishop of Turin;
- Peter Hutton, headmaster of Ratcliffe
- William Lockhart (1820–1892), an English convert
- Francisco Cardozo Ayres (1821-1870), Bishop of Pernambuco (Suriname), who died at Rome during the First Vatican Council, and whose incorrupt body was transported with great veneration to his see;
- Giuseppe Calza (1821-1898), philosopher;
- Richard Richardson, organizer of a temperance campaign who enrolled 70,000 names;
- Joseph Hirst, member of the Royal Archaeological Institute;
- Clemente Rebora (1885-1957), poet;
- Eugene Arthurs (1916-1978), Irishman, first bishop of Tanga (Tanzania);
- Antonio Riboldi (1923- ), Rebora's pupil, Bishop emeritus of Acerra.
See also
References
- ^ a b c Pollard, William Henry. "Rosminians." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 28 June 2019 This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "Provinces", Istituto della Carità
- ^ The Missionary College of All Hallows (1842-1891) by Kevin Condon CM, All Hallows College, Dublin.
- ^ ChildVision Official Website
- ^ Religious Order to sell 17 acre campus in Drumcondra by Jack Fagan, Commercial Property, Irish Times, 17 September 2014.
- ^ St Joseph's Primary School for Visually Impaired Children Official website
- ^ About Us www.pobailscoil.ie
- ^ "Devastation and disbelief when abuse case hits close to home". The Irish Independent. 20 June 2011.
- ^ Harvey, Chris (22 June 2011). "TV review: Abused: Breaking the Silence". London: The Telegraph.
- ^ Stanford, Peter (19 June 2011). "He was my priest and my friend. Then I found out he was a paedophile". The Guardian. London.
- ^ "Fr Kit Cunningham's paedophile past: heads should roll after the Rosminian order's disgraceful cover-up". London: The Telegraph. 21 June 2011. Archived from the original on 24 June 2011.
- ^ "Why didn't the Rosminian order tell us the truth about Fr Kit?". Catholic Herald. 20 June 2011.
- ^ "Ex-pupils seek 'abuse' pay-out". Leicester Mercury. 21 March 2013. Archived from the original on 22 March 2013.
- ^ "Abused: Breaking the Silence". BBC. 20 June 2011.
- ^ Crace, John (21 June 2011). "TV review: Abused: Breaking the Silence". The Guardian. London.
- ^ "Ex-pupils in legal bid 'after years of abuse'" Leicester Mercury 21 June 2011 Archived 26 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Justice Ryan (June 2009). "St Joseph's Industrial School, ('Ferryhouse'), 1885–1999 extract from Ryan Report" (PDF). pp. 3.140 & 3.325. Retrieved 2009-06-13.
- ^ a b Chapter 2, St. Patrick’s Industrial School, Upton (‘Upton’), 1889–1966, section 2.216, Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse
- ZENIT (Innovative Media) Archived 2011-09-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Institute of Charity English Province; Annual Report and Accounts 5 April 2015" (PDF). Retrieved 21 September 2016.
External links
- Rosminians official site
- Rosminian Fathers; Institute of Charity new site
- "Why didn’t the Rosminian order tell us the truth about Fr Kit?" Catholic Herald Monday, 20 June 2011
- Have the Rosminians learned nothing?
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Rosminians". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.