Since last year, the religious order of Augustinians have finally been put in the spotlight thanks to Pope Leo XIV. Before him, the Jesuit priests became widely known because Pope Francis was one. But now we need to know of another priestly group most people are unaware of: the Rogationists.
There are so many religious organizations in the country but I have never heard or read about this group online before 2025. Did you know about them prior to reading this? If I as a renewed and now practicing Catholic never heard of them, for sure many more like me aren't aware of them too.
It all began when St. Annibale Maria di Francia (a.k.a. Hannibal Mary di Francia) was 17 years old. While praying inside a church, he was divinely inspired by God to spread His call for vocations. Then he eventually found the same message of Jesus in Matthew 9:37-38 and Luke 10:2. Boom!
And so when he became a priest, that's what he started to do. He put up the congregation of Rogationists and Daughters of Divine Zeal to do God's will.
Did you know? It was his 22nd canonization anniversary last May 16! Meaning he was declared a saint by St. Pope John Paul II on this day 22 yrs ago.
Look! His congregation also celebrated their 129th anniversary on the same day.
What's mostly unknown too is the founder, St. Hannibal, is also an incorrupt saint! Meaning his body has not decayed even after his death almost a hundred years ago! Wow right?! I never knew about this until early this month.
Of course they recently put silicone or wax on the face and hands, a common practice done to the incorrupt remains of holy people. His body will be exhibited beginning June 1st at the Basilica Shrine of Saint Anthony of Padua in Italy!
Watch: They Opened the Tomb of This Saint After 99 Years — What They Saw Was Astonishing!
When we talk about charism, that's the particular spiritual power or calling of certain groups of religious people or orders. This is the specific task, role or authority of each congregation/order.
For example, what makes Dominicans tick? They primarily study and preach/spread God everywhere. How about the Carmelites and the Benedictines? The former are contemplators while the latter are into monasticism and hospitality.
So what about the Rogationists? Their primary concern is to propagate and spread Jesus' call to ask God to send more laborers into His harvest. And yes they also pray primarily for God to send the people who will become priests, nuns, lay missionaries, church volunteers/workers, online evangelizers, etc. It means those who belong to this congregation help God in propagating the priestly and consecrated life.
In their own words, from the Rogationist Publications website it says:
Hence, they (Rogationists) carry out the mission of: praying for vocations to the priestly and consecrated life in the Church; Propagating this prayer worldwide; Caring for and promoting the human and spiritual welfare of orphans, needy children and the poor.
This mindset is very much needed right now. Why? Because we must not let sin and ignorance prevail in the world. We need prayer warriors who will offer up prayers for this intention.
Watch: World Day of Prayer for Vocations: St. Hannibal Mary Di Francia and the 'Prayer for Vocations'
Many people aren't familiar with the saint himself except those who are into a certain Catholic mystic. I myself never heard of St. Hannibal before until I started searching about prayers for priests and related topics.
Last year there was a moment when I was in quite a "panic" because of all the visuals being put up in a certain business street. Like, how could the moral decadence grow more when I was praying for their conversion? What the heck? It meant that I cannot do it alone. (Duh) We need more people to help many of us to accept God and/or finally get back into His flock! And so my online search began and I eventually found out about the Rogationists around May of last year.
Well here's a priest from their congregation sharing how it all began.
Watch: Reminiscence (EP1) - The Beginnings of the Rogationist mission in the Philippines
Did you know they also have someone quite holy who's on the road to sainthood? Oh yes, I never knew about him until I checked the names in the list from my recent post. I was actually surprised to see this unpopular congregation mentioned! Like, wow, they also have a saint-in-the-making!
If you've read two of my previous posts on the 5 Filipinos who are on the road to sainthood you'd have seen his name in there! This guy is Italian though but he became a Filipino at heart. Why? He's a missionary Rogationist and apparently have also been recognized by the Vatican as a Servant of God!
The Catholic Church has declared so many saints over the 2 millennia. Of course the popular ones are mostly nuns or priests from various famous congregations. This priestly organization is no different. How inspiring eh?
Why am I mentioning him here? Because it's another way of knowing this religious congregation. He became one of the formators in the local Rogationist seminary. Fr. Aveni was known to have lived a saintly life.
Here's a prayer we can all use to ask for his intercession.
For any miracles and graces received thru him feel free to inform their congregation about it:
Rogationists of the Heart of Jesus - St. Matthew Province
(Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, Australia, United States)
24 Calcutta Street, Merville Park
1709 Parañaque City, Philippines
Email: rogatesmp (at) gmail (dot)com
Tel. No.: +63 (2) 876603 92
FB Page: Fr. Joseph Aveni RCJ
And of course, let's not forget that we can be like the saints even if we aren't priests or nuns. How? One way is by joining lay religious organizations, in this case, their Secular Institute! What's that? It is different from third orders of religious groups that's for sure. Lol. I can't even properly define it so just do a quick search online to learn more.
Anyway for us laity, we can be a Rogationist by joining this other group of theirs. It's called the Union of Prayer for Vocations. I never knew there's such an organization until I saw their website. It's really unfortunate how they aren't too popular anywhere. I mean, I've never heard or even read about them before despite living in this predominantly Catholic and social media savvy country.
Last year was the 40th anniversary of this group. Unfortunately I still haven't joined them until now. hahaha. Becoming a member is not that easy from my experience because I live quite far from Parañaque City where the religious congregation and everything of it is based.
These days we really need to have a Union of Prayer for Vocations group in every diocese in the world but alas, not many people know about them! So, come on let's find out more about the group before we join. Let's pray that the Lord would help spread it all over our planet.
How to be a member? Read here from their website:
Well I've given you all the information I can. You can decide what action you'll take.
If you just wanna know what to pray, well here you go!
What do you think of everything you found out? Feel free to share in the comments.
XOXO,
