The novitiate, also called the noviciate, is the period of training and preparation that a Christian novice monastic, apostolic, or member of a religious order undergoes prior to taking vows in order to discern whether they are called to vowed religious life. It often includes times of intense study, prayer, living in community, studying the vowed life, deepening one's relationship with God, and deepening one's self-awareness. The canonical time of the novitiate is one year; in case of additional length, it must not be extended over two years. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the novitiate is officially set at three years before one may be tonsured a monk or nun, though this requirement may be waived. The novitiate is in any case a time both for the novice to get to know the community and the community to get to know the novice. The novice should aspire to deepening their relationship to God and discovering the community's charism. The novitiate in many communities includes a concentrated program of prayer, study, reflection and limited ministerial engagement.
The novitiate, through which life in an institute is begun, is arranged so that the novices better understand their divine vocation, and indeed one which is proper to the institute, experience the manner of living of the institute, and form their mind and heart in its spirit, and so that their intention and suitability are tested.
The Society of the Divine Word, abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men. As of 2020, it consisted of 5,965 members composed of priests and religious brothers working in more than 70 countries, now part of VIVAT international. It is one of the largest missionary congregations in the Catholic Church. Its members add the nominal letters SVD after their names to indicate membership in the Congregation. The superior general is Paulus Budi Kleden who hails from Indonesia.
The Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco, formally known as the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians are a female religious institute formed by Saint Maria Domenica Mazzarello in 1872. They were founded to work alongside Saint John Bosco and his Salesians of Don Bosco in his teaching projects in Turin. They continue to be a teaching order worldwide.
The Dominican Sisters of the Immaculate Conception are a religious community of women consecrated to Christ in the Dominican charism with the mission of living the Word of God through teaching, evangelization and health care. The community was founded in 1861 by Maria Rose Columba Bialecka (1838–1887) in Poland.
Don Bosco Formation Center (DBFC), formerly known as Don Bosco Missionary Seminary (DBMS), is a Salesian House run by the Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB) in Lawaan III Talisay City, Cebu, Philippines. It was established to provide salesian formation for the candidates to the priestly and religious life of the Salesian Province of Mary Help of Christians (FIS) in the Philippines.
The Don Bosco Foundation of Cambodia is a Non-profit organization of education founded in Cambodia in 1991 to give technical skill education to youth living in extreme poverty and to facilitate the schooling of marginalized children. The organization was a way to answer the needs of a country in its post-war period of reconstruction. DBFC is a branch of the Salesians of Don Bosco. The United Nations asked to the Salesians in Thailand to attend the children and youth of the Cambodian Refugee camps during the 1980s. DBFC answered this request by opening provisional technical schools in the camps. After the peace agreements, the organization was invited by the Cambodian government to settle in the country. The first printing press in Cambodia after the war, was provided by DBFC in the Don Bosco Technical School of Phnom Penh for the republishing, translating and writing of books and documents of education. Many schools were rebuilt in the villages and the Organization gained prestige as the first institution to provide technical education and to offer sponsorship to Cambodian children.
The Missionaries of the Company of Mary is a missionary religious congregation within the Catholic Church. The community was founded by Saint Louis de Montfort in 1705 with the recruitment of his first missionary disciple, Mathurin Rangeard. The congregation is made up of priests and brothers who serve both in the native lands and in other countries. The Montfortian Family comprises three groups: the Company of Mary, the Daughters of Wisdom and the Brothers of Saint Gabriel.
The Salesians of Don Bosco, generally known simply as the Salesians, is the third largest religious institute in the Catholic Church. It has operated in Hungary since 1913, where its clergy established numerous schools. It has a Hungarian province, the institute's smallest province.
The Rector Major of the Salesians is the head of all institutes and superior general of the Salesians of Don Bosco worldwide. It is the title of a Catholic priest that is elected as the general superior of the religious institute Salesians of Don Bosco. He is also considered the successor of Saint John Bosco in the top guidance of his Salesian Order. The first general superior of the order was Don Bosco himself from 1874, the year that the order was officially created and its Salesian Constitutions approved by the Holy See, until his death in 1888. Since then, the Salesians have elected their Superior in the General Chapter for a period of six years. Between 1888 and 2014 there have been ten successors of Don Bosco, seven of them of Italian nationality, one Argentine, one Mexican and one Spaniard. Following the Salesian tradition from their Italian origin, the Rector Major is addressed as Don (Father).
The Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT) is a Society of Apostolic Life within the Roman Catholic Church. It was founded in 1958 by Father James H. Flanagan, a priest from the United States. The Society maintains missions in various countries, describing itself as Marian-Trinitarian, Catholic, missionary, and family. Membership in the Society includes priests, permanent deacons, religious sisters, religious brothers, and the lay faithful.
José Luis Carreño Etxeandía S. D. B. was a Spanish Roman Catholic priest.
Aurelius Maschio, priest member of the Society of St Francis de Sales, missionary in India, pioneer of the Salesian work in Mumbai, founder of Don Bosco High School (Matunga), was born to Giuseppe Maschio and Orsolina Della Cia on 12 February 1909 at Vazzola, Treviso, Italy. He is considered the patriarch of the Salesian Province of Mumbai. Archived 2008-05-17 at the Wayback Machine He died on 9 September 1996 at Mumbai.
San Agustin Center of Studies is a seminary located in Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. It was founded in 1984.
V. Balan, popularly known as Artist V. Balan, was a sculptor and painter from India. He was born the son of Chellamma and Venketachelam Pillai in the small temple town of Perumbavoor, Kerala. In 1962 he earned a Diploma from the Cochin School of Art. Immediately after his studies, he started teaching at the same school. In 1970 he moved to Chennai as a freelance artist.
Bishop Jerome Dhas Varuvel, SDB, was born 21 October 1951 in Paduvoor in the diocese of Kottar. He attended Carmel Secondary School in Nagercoil. From 1967 to 1968 he followed the pre-university course at the Scott Christian College, Nagercoil. From 1968 to 1970 he attended the minor seminary at St. Aloysius Seminary in Nagercoil. He studied philosophy at Sacred Heart Seminary in Poonamallee (1970-1973). He also obtained a bachelor's degree in Economics from Arulanandar College, Karumathur, Madurai (1973-1976). In 1976 he decided to join the Salesians of Don Bosco. After completing the pre-novitiate (1976-1977) and novitiate (1977-1978), he made his religious profession temporary 24 May 1978. On 24 May 1981, he made his perpetual vows. From 1981 to 1986 he studied theology at the Salesians in Rome. He has a bachelor's degree in Economics and in Theology and a Licentiate in Pedagogy at the Pontifical Salesian University in Rome.
Pietro Ricaldone was a Catholic Roman Priest of the Salesians of Don Bosco, who was the 4th Rector Major of that Order between 1932 and 1951. He was the last Superior of the Salesians that knew Don Bosco alive. He was also the founder of the Salesian Pontifical University.
Jesu Pudumai Doss, M.J. is a Catholic priest and a religious, specifically a Salesian of Don Bosco, from Chennai, India.
Virgílio do Carmo da Silva SDB is an East Timorese Roman Catholic prelate who was appointed Bishop of Dili on 30 January 2016. He became an archbishop when the diocese was elevated in 2019.
The Salesians of Don Bosco in the Philippines is a Catholic religious congregation of pontifical right working in the Philippines under two jurisdictions: for Luzon, the Philippine North Province (FIN); for Visayas and Mindanao, the Philippine South Province (FIS). The Salesians started working in the Philippines in 1951. The FIN has 25 canonically erected communities while the FIS has 14 canonically erected communities.
