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Four decades of striving to follow Christ in the footsteps of the Beloved Disciple
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A community seeking to respond to Christ’s mission to “present the patrimony of the faith to men of our time… in an understandable and persuasive fashion” (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 3).
[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_column_text]At the beginning, the fundamental characteristics of the community quickly appeared: insistence on the quest for truth through philosophical and theological work; a life consecrated to God, emphasizing silent prayer in community and the Eucharist; the importance of communal life in intense fraternal charity.
Yet it is impossible to live all this without the discovery of a personal bond with the Virgin Mary whom we receive as our Mother, following the example of Saint John (Jn. 19:27): “And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they may also be consecrated in truth” (John 17:19).[/vc_column_text][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][media alignment=”right” animation=”none” image=”2044″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][vc_empty_space height=”25px”][vc_column_text]
[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text]Our Timeline
1975: Birth of the Community of Saint John: Seven students of the University of Fribourg in Switzerland asked Fr. Marie-Dominique Philippe, a Dominican philosopher and theologian, to be their spiritual father and to give them a solid theological formation. On December 8th, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception the first brothers consecrated themselves to the Blessed Virgin Mary and thus was born the Community of Saint John.
1978: First Canonical Recognition: The growing group of students was associated with the Cistercian Abbey of Lérins, which rooted the brothers’ life in a monastic spirit
1982: The Contemplative Sisters of Saint John were founded.
1984: The Apostolic Sisters of Saint John were founded.
1986: Recognition as a Religious Congregation of Diocesan Right by the Bishop of Autun (Burgundy, France).
1986: First priory in the United States (Laredo, Texas).
1986-1992: First foundations in Africa (Senegal), Asia (Taiwan) and South America (Brazil).
1995: The Community is structured into Vicariates. (Regions of Government covering several countries).
2000: Foundation of our English Speaking Novitiate in Princeville, Illinois.
2001: Our founder passed on his role as prior general to the first elected Brother to succeed him.
2006: Foundation of our priory in Orange, New Jersey.
2006: Our founder, Father Marie-Dominique Philippe, dies on August 26th.
2010: First foundation in Oceania: (New Zealand).
2015: Our latest priory in the USA opens its doors in September in Denver, Colorado.
2019: Election of our 3rd General Prior Father François-Xavier Cazali.
2019: Community decides to decentralize opting for a provincial structure.[/vc_column_text][vc_column_text][/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
