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| THE BEGINNING |
 Even as a seminarian, Fr. Jaime Bonet was deeply aware of the urgent need to proclaim the Good News. He was already going to the surrounding towns of Majorca (Spain) conducting recollections for young people. He saw this as one of the most effective means of provoking the people to have a strong encounter with the Living Word of God, which is Christ, and from there to grow in faith in Him.Faith comes come from hearing the message, and the message comes through preaching Christ. (Romans 10:17)
 The Branch of the Female Missionaries
-From the different movements and groups that arose from these recollections, a group of young women were drawn to the same dynamism.
They started to live as a community with a common vision to dedicate their whole life to prayer and the ministry of the Word. (C.f. Acts 6:4)
They were to be the first Verbum Dei Missionaries.
In 1963, this young community of evagelisers was approved by the Bishop of Mallorca, Mons. Jesus Encisco Viana. At a simple Eucharistic celebration, he blessed the first Verbum Dei chapel at Santa Lucia, Sanctuary of Mancor Del Valle, Mallorca and encouraged them to go everywhere and spread the universal love of Christ to all people.?How can they believe if they have not heard the message?
And how can they hear if the message is not proclaimed?
And how can the message be proclaimed if the messengers are not sent out?
As the scriptures say, '"How wonderful is the coming of messengers who bring Good News!??
(Romans 10:14-15)
 The Branch of the Male Missionaries
And how wonderful is the Good News that in 1969, the missionary movement extended to young men who experienced the same attraction to live out the same charism with the accompanying evangelical style of life.
 The Branch of the Couple Missionaries
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In that same year, some couples and lay people joined the movement. From their own state of life, they too were drawn to the same mission of prayer and the ministry of the word as well as to be formed for this missionary task.
This later evolved to be the Branch of the couple-missionaries.
With the impulse of the Holy Spirit working in our times, the Verbum Dei Ecclesial Fraternity emerged as an apostolic-missionary family of the Catholic Church with one and a single charism: the dedication to prayer and the ministry of the Word. (C.f. Acts 6:4) | |
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In 1993, prior to the "nihil obstat" of the Holy See, the Branches of the female and male missionaries were approved as 2 religious Institutes with diocesan rights in the Archdiocese of Madrid by his Emminence Angel Cardinal Suquia, Archbishop of Madrid.
The branch of couples and Verbum Dei lay people also received the approval as an Association of Faithful with public rights.
It was also at that time that the common Statues of the Fraternity was approved. These Statutes regulated the relations between the 3 branches and expressed the union of the Fraternity?s mission and charism.
However, this approved state of the Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity - 2 religious Institutes (women and men) and an association of married couples - was not exactly what the Fraternity had envisaged itself to be, which was for all 3 Branches to be unified as a Family yet unique in their respective Branches.
Subsequently, with the Synod of Religious Life, to which Fr. Jaime Bonet was invited, the Verbum Dei Missionary FraternityÙs unique identity within the Catholic began to be clearer.
In 1998, the Fraternity was approved as a New Form of Consecrated Life (canon 605) and in the year 2000, Pontifical approval was given.
We are united by the same ideal and mutual commitment: aspiring to the perfection of charity and to propagating this same fraternal love, the vital nucleus of the Kingdom of God, throughout the world, by means of the ministry of the Word.
We commit ourselves to mutually help each other in our radical following of Christ and to imitate Him, reproducing His way of life and mission. (Verbum Dei Constitutions No.4)
 About our formation...
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From the beginning, the missionaries and Fr. Jaime Bonet saw that the preaching of the Gospel to all peoples demands a profound theological foundation.
In 1966, as they spread out from Mallorca to set up new foundations, the first missionaries also juggled studying in some of the best universities of the Church.
Then in March 25, 1987, the Verbum Dei Institute of Theology began to be affiliated to the Urbaniana, University in Rome.
The Fraternity was responding to the need to integrate the theological formation, the life of prayer and the ministry of the Word in such a way that the formation should prepare the missionaries to be effective evangelisers anywhere in the world.
 The Stages of our formation
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In the initial two years, the missionary would be in the formation course. Living in community life with people from different countries and styles of life, the missionary learns to live out the charism of the community: prayer and ministry of the word.
The subsequent six years would be invested in theological studies. At the same time, the missionary would be actively involved in the apostolate.
Effectively, the formation of our spiritual and missionary life continues even after these initial years. Missionaries and the lay people attracted to the same charism gather frequently for formations, congresses, symposiums, etc.
Depending on the needs of the people and the Church, the missionaries will further their studies so as to be of the greatest and most effective service.
Missionary expansion
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... in the 1960s
Realising that the great gift of the Good News was in their hands to be given for the world, the first missionaries set out from Majorca to the first foundation in Peru.
Later, they went to Rome as well as the different cities of Spain. Rooted in faith, these pioneers not only proclaimed the Good News with their words but with their poor and simple lives.
...in the 1970s
This decade saw the explosive sending out of the missionaries to many parts of the world. In 1977, the 3 Branches gathered in Spain for a retreat and a congress about its charism with the desire to send missionaries to all the 5 continents.
Supported by Cardinal Tarancon, the Verbum Dei missionaries landed in Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, United States, Portugal, France, Germany, Ireland, England, Belgium and the Philippines.
Carrying little else but going on a lot of faith, these missionaries set up new foundations not only in these lands but in the lives of many people who were to know God?s Love in a more personal and transformative way.
...in the 1980s
The missionary expansion stretched to Australia as well and to African lands ? Guinea Equatorial, Congo (Zaire) and Cameroon.
With lives guided by the universal Gospel values of love, peace and brotherhood, no frontier - be it language, culture, colour, etc, is a barrier for proclaiming the Good News of Life and Love.
...in the 1990s
Constantly urged by the last command of Jesus, ?Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples.? (Matthew 28:19), Verbum Dei extended to Poland, Russia, Equador, Honduras and Uruguay in 1990-92.
In the 2nd millenium, as the Church called for a New Evangelisation in Asia, home to 3/4 of the world?s population, Verbum Dei responded by sending missionaries to Taiwan and Singapore in 1997. |
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