Religious of Mary Immaculate
We are a religious Congregation of the Catholic Church founded in Madrid in 1876, on the initiative of a young Spanish woman: Saint Vicenta Maria López y Vicuña.
- We were born from the needs of young girls who migrated from the countryside to the cities in search of work, and found themselves without a home or means of sustenance.
- Today, we continue to welcome adolescents and young women in our Hostels, Social Centres, Day Centers, vocational schools and other apostolic platforms, guiding them in their personal growth process in all dimensions, so that they can find their own path in life and their place in society.
- We offer those who wish an opportunity to grow and mature in the Catholic faith.
SAINT VINCENTA MARIA LOPEZ Y VICUÑA
“Only to God, I belong”
Foundress of the Religious of Mary Immaculate, she was born in Cascante (Navarre, Spain), at the height of the “industrial revolution”.
Our pillars
Spiritual life
Our life is centred on Christ. It is in Him – especially through the Sacraments and Eucharistic Adoration – that we draw strength and love to accomplish our Mission. The Virgin Mary is our Mother, our model and our guide.
“Above all, Lord, I desire to imitate you in your continuous prayer… “
St. Vicenta Maria
Fraternal life
We share our faith and our mission in a simple, family and joyful community life.
“May exemplary charity and union reign among you.”
St. Vicenta Maria
Apostolic life
Our apostolate is oriented towards the integral formation and evangelisation of young women, through welcoming, being present, listening and guiding them (in homes, listening centres, schools, missions, summer camps…).
“What I long for, my Lord, is to work tirelessly so that these young women live well and be saved.”
St Vicenta Maria
Charism and spirituality
In search of our own sanctification and that of young girls, we want to be instruments of God’s tenderness and mercy for them.
CHARISM
Our Charism is “The sanctification and salvation of young people through love, responding to the challenges of today and putting into practice “all the means that experience will offer for the greater good of young girls”. (Const. 1882 [236])
We try to “extract good from all kinds of evil existing in the world and in man” (DM 6) with a preventive pedagogy that springs from the merciful love of God.
SPIRITUALITY
Our foundress, Saint Vicenta Maria López y Vicuña (1847-1890), received a charism that is still alive in the hearts of some 1000 sisters:
- Search for and fulfilment of the WILL OF GOD
- FRATERNAL CHARITY
- OBEDIENCE, expression of faith and Love
- APOSTOLIC ZEAL for the Evangelisation and Sanctification of youth
- Union with Christ through PRAYER
- Love of the EUCHARIST, source of our Charity and centre of our spiritual, community and apostolic life
- Union with the HOLY VIRGIN MARY, Mother, Guide and Principal Protector of our Institute
RMI COAT OF ARMS
Meaning of the traditional coat of arms of the Congregation of the Religious of Mary Immaculate:
In the lower part of the coat of arms, a rough sea appears, representing the many dangers of the world.
In the middle of this sea emerges a rock (which is the Congregation itself, founded on the rock that is Christ), formed of 7 blocks representing the 7 virtues (theological and cardinal).
This rock (on which the young women can take refuge) resists the onslaught of the waves.
Above, a lily, symbol of purity, is surmounted by the large monogram of Mary (A M – initials for Ave Maria), surrounded by 12 stars.
The Virgin Mary is the main protector of the Congregation and of all the young women who have recourse to her.
Today, as in the past, we want to help young people to face the difficulties of life, the many perils that still today can put their lives or their souls in danger.
The Congregation bears the seal of the IGNATIAN SPIRITUALITY, assimilated by Vicenta Maria in the Spiritual Exercises which forged her spirit (Const. 4):
CONTEMPLATIVE IN ACTION, JESUS IS THE MEANING OF OUR LIFE.
We seek and try to find God in all things, looking at reality with faith and an attitude of permanent gratitude
SPIRITUALITY OF INCARNATION.
We feel united to the compassionate gaze of the Trinity who contemplates the world in order to save it, and we want to identify ourselves with Jesus “poor and humble” for love in the mystery of the Incarnation.
MARIAN SPIRITUALITY, especially in the contemplation of the Mystery of the Immaculate Conception. Mary, the model of a woman “preserved by the Grace of God”, is the inspiration for our pedagogy of prevention and preservation.
The EUCHARIST is the essence and the root of our life and of our apostolic and contemplative action. From it we draw the strength to live communion and charity.
MOLAVIM
The Lay Movement Vicenta Maria (MOLAVIM) shares our Spirituality and our Mission of service and evangelisation of young women.
The members of the “Vicenta Maria Lay Movement” (MOLAVIM) are part of the “great family of Saint Vicenta Maria” and share with the Religious of Mary Immaculate the same spirituality and the same mission of service and evangelisation of young people.
The Movement was approved by the Holy See on 8 September 2005, but we must go back to the middle of the 19th century to discover its origins, in the youth work of a brother and his sister: Manuel Maria and Maria Eulalia Vicuña, Vicenta Maria’s aunt and uncle.
The members of MOLAVIM, as lay people in the Church, want to respond to the vocation received at their baptism, and they feel the call to do so through the prism of the charism of Saint Vicenta Maria López Vicuña.
The works of the Congregation of the Religious of Mary Immaculate (RMI) are the point of reference for their commitment and their witness to life as Christians, which is also expressed in other ecclesial and social areas: family, parish, work…
They take part in the mission of the RMI in favour of young people, trying to know better the reality in which they live, guiding them in their life journey, encouraging their talents and values and helping each young person to grow in faith.