We belong to the Congregation of Rogationists of the Heart of Jesus, a modern family of consecrated persons, founded in 1897 in Messina by Blessed Annibale Maria Di Francia (1851-1927) and currently widespread in many continents.
The name Rogationists, to DEROGATE (pray), defines us as those who pray and strive that the Lord of the harvest will send out labourers into his harvest. These words are taken almost verbatim from a famous passage of the Gospel (Matthew 9.35 to 38), that addresses, in a moving language, the problem of the multitude of men who have been abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus looks at them with human compassion and urges the remedy: prayer to the Lord of history, to send the ministers of grace, priests and elected callings to earth, capable of radical commitments for integral promotion, that is, the material, moral, social and spiritual commitments of the brothers.
With a specific dedication, while we are the “consecrated of vocational prayer,” we are good labourers for the harvest alongside minors, because of all the abandoned harvests, they are the weakest, the most vulnerable to the violation of rights.
The Antonian Institute of Padua is therefore positioned as a citadel for children in distress. Born as an “Orphanage”, it still is, but prefers the term Institute, even if the type of children that it welcomes remain substantially the same in about sixty countries, starting with the Paduan hinterland. A delicate problem: our language has taken cultural and social evolution into account and has adapted.
For correctness, we clarify that our centre stands out administratively and in all other aspects from any other similar educational and solidarity institution operating in Padua and the province.
Friend, as you may have already perceived, the Antonian Institute has a strong historical and charismatic character.
