• Constitutions OSM
• Part One
• Part Two
• Part Three
• Part Four

79. Our communities, following the pattern of community life created by our First Fathers and making use of what can be learned from tradition, wish to manifest their love to the world around them, to give new life to apostolic works which are characteristically Servite, to take on those called for by the needs of the Church and to carry out all their work in brotherly harmony.

80. In order to nourish their communion with the Lord and make their apostolic service more effective, the friars should devote themselves to the reading and careful study of the word of God, preferably with the laity.

81. Whenever possible, the celebration of the sacraments and other liturgical actions should be communal, so as to unite religious and laity in a more intense encounter with Christ and better manifest the nature of the Church.

82. The friars within a community who are responsible for a parish according to canon 520 should extend their brotherly love to others by building around themselves an ever growing faith community which has its fullest expression in the Eucharistic assembly. They give witness of this love by promoting the religious and social betterment of the people of God.

83. In the exercise of his office, the parish priest or pastor should co-ordinate and animate the various activities of the parish. He should direct them toward that unity of action which, if it is to be effective, must be born of the efforts of all, both religious and lay.

84. Servite communities entrusted with the direction and animation of places where the intercession of the Virgin is experienced in a special way should be centers of liturgical and penitential life as well as source of spirituality and genuine popular devotion.

85. The community should contribute to the religious and intellectual enrichment of the people of its area through teaching or other appropriate activities.

86. The friars, trained in the various contemporary forms of preaching, should communicate the word of God in an idiom that is concrete and current.

87. The friars should strive to communicate the significance of the living reality of the Mother of Christ to the people of their time by highlighting her service of God and her mission in the Church. For this purpose, they should deepen their knowledge of the Virgin, especially through study, in order to present her to God's people in their lives, words and publications.

88. The friars should always be available to help the aged and the sick; they should offer encouragement and co-operation to those who are dedicated to their care.

89. The friars should warmly welcome all who come to them, especially the most unfortunate, and listen to them with fraternal understanding. In serving their needy brothers and sisters, they should be aware of the importance of this attitude, which is an expression of Christ's love for the poor.

90. The community should actively encourage. and support individuals and groups in its area that wish to give themselves to the service of the most needy individuals and peoples.

91. Our communities, accepting the directives of the Church, should foster open dialogue with all people, Christian and non- Christian alike. They should cooperate in existing initiatives and, if possible, begin new ones to foster the movement toward unity.

92. Through the human and Christian formation of the youth, the community should strive to communicate to young people the meaning of fraternity and the Christian joy that comes from our life. This work should be done in the context of the family whenever possible.

93. In order to respond fully to its task, the community should have a certain stability. The ability of the friars to work together and continuity in apostolic commitments should be borne in mind when the community is formed.

94. The provincial chapter should examine the situation and the activities of each community. The chapter should determine whether the community's existence and work constitute an authentic witness and a true service in the spirit of the Rule of Saint Augustine and these Constitutions.





95. Responding to the command of the Lord to proclaim the gospel to all, Servants of Mary should feel an obligation to go where the Church is not yet established or where it is not yet self-sufficient. With their life, which is so eminently community centered, the friars constitute the first presence of the Church, which will develop and grow through evangelization and the sacraments into full maturity as a local church.

96. Like Christ himself, the friar should become one with the people he joins, adopting their language, understanding their ways of thought and belief and sharing their problems. In this way, through the proclamation of the gospel and the witness of his faith, the friar can assist the people in their growth, based on their own most genuine spiritual and cultural values, and lead them to the full stature of Christ.

97. The missionary community, while attentive to local needs, must be careful to keep itself up-to-date and sensitive to devel-opments within the universal Church. In planning its activities it should aim at the formation of Christian communities from which may come lay leaders, catechists, religious, deacons, priests and bishops to whom ecclesial responsibility can be gradually entrusted.

98. The missionary community should keep all the friars of the Order informed about the development and needs of its work in order to keep alive that interest which will lead to the formation and special preparation of new missionaries.

99. The individual communities and the provinces of the Order have a genuine responsibility toward the missions. Therefore they should identify with the work and concerns of their missionary brothers by offering their own direct assistance and by involving the laity among whom they work in this effort.



100. Aware that every Christian is a vital part of the people of God and that the religious state does not separate us from others but places us among them as a sign of unity, we shall encourage the collaboration of all, with due respect for persons, institutions and situations.

101. We shall foster our communion with the other members of the Servite family, both religious and lay. Through each one's personal consecration to God in the same Servite spirit, we shall achieve our common religious development and a more effective apostolic service.

102. We shall also collaborate with all the religious families involved in our apostolate when they request our ministry.

103. We should seek out and welcome the collaboration of the laity so that they may participate more directly in our common apostolic work and enrich it with the charisms of their specific vocation. We shall also recognize as true co-workers all those who support our apostolate with their financial contributions.



104. Since we have offered our entire selves to God through the profession of the vows and have consecrated ourselves to Love itself in imitation of Christ, we want our following of him as proposed in the gospel and expressed in our Constitutions to be our supreme rule of life.

105. The vocation of the Servants of Mary is a particular expression of the fundamental condition of the People of God, a people made up of brothers and sisters. It includes a gratuitous invitation from God and a free and deliberate response to follow Christ in an apostolic fraternity according to the spirit of our Order.





106. The life-long development of the Servant of Mary takes place in an atmosphere of authentic freedom which the community offers him with its constant assistance.

This development requires that he commit himself to the discovery of who he is in himself, in relation to God and in relation to others. He must accept the truth about himself, with his abilities and limits, so as to achieve enlightened awareness in his choices. In this way, set free from impediments and coercion, he will be able to give a fully conscious response to God's call as he commits himself to the pursuit of holiness.

107. Every friar should strive to achieve a real capacity for dialogue, using his own spiritual strength and human resources as well as those of others, so that he may know how to listen, understand and act. He should acquire the ability to speak the language of his contemporaries, assimilating the riches which are offered him by diverse currents of cultural and religious thought and by practical experience of the milieu in which he carries on his apostolate. Thus he will be able, in a spirit of charity, to open himself and others to all human needs.

108. By intensely living community life, the Servant of Mary is formed in responsible and active obedience and in open and fraternal dialogue. This dialogue makes him progressively more welcoming, available, ready for mutual assistance and free from selfishness.

109. A correct understanding of Christian love implies a positive appreciation of affective needs and leads the friar to those deep friendship which enrich his personality and bring him to the perfection of charity.

110. Home environment and relationships with our family have a profound influence on the development of our character and vocation. Every friar should know how to appreciate the value of these relationships and should foster them with a Christian sense of responsibility.

111. By living a truly fraternal life, the friar will discover and understand the special influence this life has on his apostolate. Thus he will come to appreciate the meaning of collaboration, flexibility and creativity in relation to apostolic initiatives.

112. The Servant of Mary should be aware that he is sent by Christ to serve as a living witness of the Gospel. He should be helped to develop and apply his talents for the apostolate and to involve himself in the ecclesial community through an authentic Christian life. In this way, he will be led to make a sincere effort to develop new approaches in responding to the needs of our time, according to the gifts he has received.

113. It is essential that the friar seriously apply himself to the progressive discovery of the value and necessity of prayer. He must be given opportunities for instruction and diverse experiences which will enable him to arrive at an adequate appreciation of it. Convinced in the interdependence of personal and community prayer,

he should find time to foster and express, both alone and with others, his union with God and with his brothers.

114. Active participation in the Liturgy is the most effective means for complete religious formation. The Liturgy, in fact, as it expresses and intensifies our communion with God, also develops our ecclesial awareness and facilitates true communion among the brothers. Furthermore, it fosters in the friar an ability to form assemblies of prayer.

115. The intellectual, cultural, and technical-scientific development of the Servants of Mary should be at least equal to that of his contemporaries so that he may enter into the life of society and personally contribute to its progress.

116. Every friar should develop the personal ability to discern the profound Christian significance of human events. This ability, nourished by constant contact with the word of God, especial-ly in the Sacred Scriptures, will enable him to recognize the influence of the mystery of Christ in the history of the human race and in the life of the Church. Acknowledging his responsibility to the world, he will give a Christian response to help to solve the problems of his environment and society.

117. A friar should have a balanced appreciation for the health of his body with its physical and psychic needs. He should exercise wholesome self-discipline and use the means necessary to preserve and develop the gift of health.

118. Manual work is an integrating element in formation and contributes to the equilibrium of the human person. The friar should discover in it the practical expression of his love for the brothers, a means for living poverty and a help in under-standing the life situation of the majority of people.

119. All friar should be assured periods of spiritual renewal and pastoral and cultural updating. These should be arranged in agreement with the community and competent authorities.

120. Since the personal development of the Servant of Mary continues throughout his life, the friar will have to apply these principles constantly and use all formative means at his disposal; they will give him the ability to cooperate consciously in achieving his own human and religious maturity for the building up and strengthening of the Kingdom of God.



121. Formation must take place within a community chosen for this purpose and seriously committed to offering a concrete witness to fraternal life which is the basis for the formation of the Servant of Mary. Unity in a life of prayer and work influences the integration of all into the life we profess and significantly contributes to personal development.

122. Efficient collaboration in formation demands the direct or indirect involvement of an adequate number of competent friars. By their concern and influence they should encourage new members to serve God and their neighbour.

123. There should be a master elected by the competent authorities for the various periods of formation and for candidates for holy Orders. He should have a background in theological studies and the life of the spirit as well as experience in pastoral work and formation; he should be available, endowed with psychological sensitivity, and capable of organizing group work. As the person primarily responsible for formation, he may suggest to the competent authorities his choice of co-workers, with whom he will draw up a unified formation program.

124. The apostolic activities of the master and his co-workers must not distract them from their principal apostolate which is formation, but rather contribute to it. The apostolic activities of those in formation should be chosen and planned according to each individual's development and abilities and they should be consistent with the demands of their particular stage in the formation programme.

125. The various stages of formation should be co-ordinated in a uniform manner by agreement among the friars of the different formation communities and in consultation with the responsible authorities.

126. These communities should be established in places where access to resources that contribute to formation is possible. When that is not the case, there should be co-operation between provinces of the Order, or with other religious communities seminaries or centers of formation.





127. Every friar and each community are responsible, by their life and witness, for attracting new members to our Order. Programs for discovering new members also pertain largely to individual community and should be planned in the light of local conditions. Communities should frequently examine the effectiveness of these programs.

128. The provincial vocation director offers specialized assistance to local communities in seeking and selecting candidates. He should be easily approachable, familiar with the psychology of youth and have a natural ability for fostering and organising vocation programs.

129. The director should determine a program for seeking vocations, the norms for judging their suitability, the competent authority and the process for accepting them, the necessary documents and the duration of the prenovitiate.

130. Candidates should be received in houses where they can develop fully as persons and arrive at a clear understanding of their vocation. For this purpose, the directory should determine an educational method based primarily on personal contact and on an adequate and gradual initiation into community life.



131. The Noviciate offers the candidate an appropriate period during which he may gain deeper knowledge and experience of our religious life by sharing in community living. The candidate who, with generous choice and responsible commitment, decides to enter the Order as a formal member will make hi request to the prior provincial. The norms of canons 641-653 are to be observed with regard to admission to novitiate and its program.

132. The candidate should show a positive desire to join us as a Servite and to take on the responsibilities inherent in our fraternal way of life. He should have an attraction to prayer, be willing to give himself to the service of others, possess sufficient maturity and suitable health of mind and body confirmed by proper documents. Normally, he should not be less than nineteen years of age.

133. Entrance into Novitiate should be marked by a simple and joyful rite during a community celebration.

134. While the novice seeks to discover if God is calling him to live our vocation, the community supports him in his human and religious development and examines with him his suitability to our community life and his assimilation of its values.

The novice should learn how important sincere and open dialogue with the brothers is for greater involvement and progress in community life. This is especially the case in relation to the master, who is primarily responsible for the Novitiate, and his co-workers. The novice himself must strive generously and courageously to remove all barriers to mutual understanding.

136. The program of studies during the Novitiate should include courses and seminars aimed at providing greater knowledge of our Order through study of his history and legislation; a more pro-found treatment of important themes in traditional and contemporary religious life; a study of Sacred Scripture as the source of spiritual life and the inspiration for religious life; introduction to the nature of prayer and the essential elements of liturgy; and a progressive understanding of the role of the Mother of God in the history of salvation.

All this enrichment should find expression in a living liturgy. Within the norms of universal law, the master, his co-workers and the novices themselves should take advantage of the cooperation of qualified people and institutions and a worthwhile experiences both inside and outside the community.

137. In order to carry out this program effectively. an adequate number of novices is required. If this is not the case, the prior provincial, with the consent of his council, should make other arrangements.

138. a) To be valid and to constitute an authentic and progressive experience of religious life, the Novitiate must last for one year and be made in a house designated for this purpose.

b) An absence from the Novitiate house for more than three months, either continuous or interrupted, renders the Novitiate invalid. c) An absence of more than fifteen days must be made up by extending the duration of the Novitiate for an equal amount of time. d) At the discretion of the prior provincial, the group of novices may live for brief periods in other priories of the province and the Order.

139. Whenever a novice possesses temporal goods, he is to cede to a person of his choosing the administration and use of them before making temporary profession and designate who should receive the revenues from his capital.

140. a) At least every four months the whole community, together with the novices, shall evaluate the program carried out.



142. a) Profession is received by the prior general, the prior or the vicar provincial, the conventual prior, or the delegate of any of these. In receiving the friar, the Order guarantees him the means to live out his commitment concretely.

b) Temporary profession is renewed every year. Renewal requires the consent of the prior or the vicar provincial, after he has considered the written report of the master.

143. Temporary profession of vows is celebrated in a community liturgy according to the Ordo Professionis Religiosae Ordinis Servorum Mariae, with the following formula:





144. With his commitment to live fraternal life according to the demands of celibacy for the Kingdom of God, evangelical poverty and religious obedience, the friar seek to strengthen his resolve to consecrated himself totally to God, develop his sense of responsibility to his community and the Order and grow in the service of god and neighbour. In this, he recalls the chaste, poor and obedient life that Christ and his virgin mother chose to embrace.

145. In order to live out his profession, the friar must continually deepen his understanding of the vows, of their foundation in the Sacred Scripture and in the tradition of the Church and of the implications of each vow in his own life and their apostolic value within the Church. His manner of living should be a sign of progressive observance of the spirit of the vows in community life and of his commitment to the building up of the Kingdom of God.

146. Supported by God's grace and the love of his brothers, the friar must come to see that a life of chastity for the kingdom of God means growth in the gift of oneself to Christ and all people. Through progressive self-discipline, in a context of psychological and affective maturity, he will arrive at genuine apostolic service so that, touched by his love, others will themselves learn to love.

147. The friar should learn during this period to live free from self-centered attachment to material things. By sharing every-thing with others he comes to value as a gift from God that love of life which animate the community. This sharing also makes him accessible to the poor and sensitive to their social problems. Because he trusts in Providence and lives in community he is liberated from the anxiety of economical insecurity and thus feels free to dedicate all his energies in wholehearted love to fulfill his apostolic mission.

148. Obedience is lived within community and is modelled in that of Christ who came to do the will of his Father. The Servant of Mary, therefore, must be helped to understand the needs of the community and the consequences of his own decisions. He must learn to perceive the complexity of human situations and to re-spond to them in faith with the personal contribution they demand. He must feel responsible for the judgements and decisions of authority, since the way in which he lives the Christian life helps the community and authority to understand the impulse of the Spirit. When he knows the strengths and weaknesses of his own judgements, he will act maturely when faced with the judgements of others.

149. Our commitment to willing service of the Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary entails, in our vows, the obligation of perfect continence in celibacy, limitations and dependence in the use and disposition of goods and submission to the will of chapters and priors when they make decisions in accordance with these Constitutions.



150. Solemn Profession is a public act which consecrates the friar for his entire life to the service of God and his people in the perfect following of Christ and in complete dedication to our Lady. It leads him, through the observance of the evangelical counsels, to the fullness of charity. With Solemn Profession the friar is definitively received into the Order of the Servants of Mary and fully assumes its life and responsibility.

151. A friar who intends to make Solemn Profession must present a formal written request to the prior or vicar provincial. The request should be accompanied by a report from the master and the result of the consultative vote of the conventual Chapter. Admission to Solemn Profession requires the collegial vote of the council of the province or vicariate to which the friar belongs and the consent of the prior general. Whenever the acceptance of the request for profession presents particular difficulties, the friar concerned will be duly informed and will have an opportunity to present arguments in his favour.

152. Before Solemn Profession, the friar must renounce the goods in his possession and dispose of those which are certain to become his. In making this disposition, the norms of universal law and the civil law of the friar's own country are to be observed.

153. Solemn Profession may not be made until three years of temporary profession have passed, nor can it be delayed beyond six years. The minimum age required for Solemn Profession is twenty-three years.

154. Solemn Profession should be celebrated with fitting solemnity. Neighbouring communities and the laity should be invited to take part. The formula of Solemn Profession in the Order of Servants of Mary is the following:





155. All details connected with the entrance into the Novitiate, temporary profession, Solemn Profession and with leaving the Order should be duly registered and communicated to both the prior general and the prior provincial. As soon as possible, the prior provincial will inform the parish priest or the pastor of the place where a new solemn professed friar was baptized.

156. A request from dispensation from solemn vows is made to the Holy See. The professed friar will forward his written request to the prior general together with the opinion of the prior or vicar provincial.