COMBONI MISSIONARIES OF THE HEART OF JESUS
(M. C. C. J.)

RATIO FUNDAMENTALIS

INSTITUTIONIS ET STUDIORUM

Principles and Norms

Vocation Promotion
Basic Formation
On-going Formation

ROME

"The community life and the useful structures of the Institute for the African Missions are not only helpful in binding together the missionaries in a holy bond of brotherhood and in creating that uniformity of method and of spirit which is the strength of Institutes and which plays such a great part in preserving and perpetuating the fruit of good works; it also helps to increase and develop virtues and to provide the missionaries with that store of special knowledge, experience and aptitudes required by way of proximate preparation for so sublime a ministry". (Daniel Comboni, Rules of 1871, Chapter IX)

COMBONI MISSIONARIES OF THE HEART OF JESUS
(M. C. C.J)

RATIO FUNDAMENTALIS

INSTITUTIONIS ET STUDIORUM

Principles and Norms

Vocation Promotion
Basic Formation
On-going Formation

ROME

Cum permissu Superiorum
Rome, March 15th 1991
PRO MANUSCRIPTU

INDEX

Abbreviations - Symbols - Documents

Approbation and Presentation 

RATIO FUNDAMENTALIS INSTITUTIONIS ET STUDIORUM

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

PART ONE
THE SCOPE OF THE DOCUMENT

Chapter One
Nature - Adressees - Contents

1.  Nature
6.  Addressees
7.  Contents

Chapter Two
Fundamental points of reference

14. Premises
15. The interest of the Founder in formation
16. The charismatic conscience of the Institute
17. Orientations of the Magisterium
19. The Mission and its exigencies
26. Consequences for formation
27. Internationality and vocations
29. Human sciences

PART TWO
DANIEL COMBONI: SPECIFIC MEDIATION
IN THE FORMATIVE PROCESS

Chapter One
The Founder and the Institute

32. Charism of the Founder
35. Charism of Daniel Comboni
37. Spiritual itinerary of Daniel Comboni
39. Daniel Comboni: Founder

Chapter Two
Comboni: Father and Formator

42. Paternity of Comboni
46. Comboni formator
47. The spirit of the Rules

Chapter Three
Fundamental elements of the Comboni identity

54. Premises
56. COMBONI SPIRITUALITY
56. Trinitarian Base
56. The sense of God as "Father"
59. Christ, the Good Shepherd of the Pierced Heart
62. Under the impulse of the Spirit
63. Models and privileged intercessors
63. Mary, Mother and model of the missionary
65. St. Joseph, patron of the Church and protector of Nigritia
67. The Holy apostles and missionaries
69. Apostolic attitudes and virtues
69. Confidence in God
70. Total dedication
73. Obedience and fidelity
74. Ecclesial sense
77. Fortitude and apostolic zeal
78. Apostolic charity

80. STYLE OF LIFE
80. "A new cenacle of apostles"
80. A community based on love
81. One family with diverse ministries
82. Living and working together in community
85. Collaboration in diversity
86. PREFERENTIAL OPTION: MISSIONARY SERVICE
86. The most needy and abandoned especially regarding the faith
87. Actual "Nigritia" situations 
89. Missionary animation

91. MISSIONARY METHODOLOGY
91. The hour of God
92. "Save Africa with Africa"
95. Catholicity

PART THREE
COMBONI VOCATION PROMOTION

Chapter One
Missionary and vocational animation

97.  Comboni the animator
98.  Charism of the Institute
99.  Missionary animation and local Church
100. Missionary and vocational promotion

Chapter Two
Vocational promotion: pre-adolescents and adolescents

104. Premises
106. Responsibility of the Institute
109. Finality and target-groups
110. Objectives
111. Methodology and contents
114. Vocational promoters

Chapter Three
Minor seminary and alternative forms

115. Premises
117. Methodology
119. Educative charter
120. Formative exigencies

Chapter Four
Vocation promotion among young people

121. Premises
124. Finality
125. Target-group
126. Comboni vocational centre
127. Methodology
133. Contents
134. Vocational promoters
138. Requisites for admission to the postulancy
140. "Pre-postulancy" and/or "Propaedeutic Year"

PART FOUR
FORMATION OF COMBONI MISSIONARIES

Section One
GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND METHODOLOGICAL ELEMENTS

Chapter One
Comboni missionary identity

141. Premises
142. Formation and vocational identity
147. Essential elements of the Comboni identity
149. "Sense of belonging"
153. Mission "ad gentes"
155. Consecration
158. Communion and internationality
160. Vocational identity in its different forms
164. The Comboni missionary priest
165. The Comboni missionary brother
166. Comboni identity: aim of basic and on-going formation
167. Identity unified in the Spirit

Chapter Two
Vocational values in Comboni formation

169. Premises
171. THE HUMAN-CHRISTIAN DIMENSION
171. Physical equilibrium: health and work
173. Psychic equilibrium: fundamental areas and types of maturity
174. Affective maturation: capacity of true personal love
176. Intellectual maturation: capacity of reflection and of judgement
178. Volitive maturation: capacity of free choices
179. Social maturation: openness towards others, capacity of mutual acceptance

181. FOLLOWING OF CHRIST IN THE COMBONI LIFE
181. Experience of God and following of Christ
185. Prayer as union with God
186. Mission
187. Following of Christ for the mission
188. Chastity: gift of self at the service of the mission
194. Poverty: visible sign of liberty and solidarity
199. Obedience: fidelity to the salvific plan of God and the purpose of the Institute
203. The community
206. Gift of oneself and vocational coherence

Chapter Three
Methodological elements for the interiorization of the values

207. The central role of the person in the Comboni formative experience
208. Formation is "experiencing" vocational values
209. Equilibrium between the cognitive and affective-experiential dimension
210. Globality of formation
211. Unity and pluralism
212. Personalized formative accompaniment
214. Importance of motivations
215. The mediations of the formative experience
215. The person called
216. Daniel Comboni, element of unity in the formative process
218. Rule of Life, "code of the alliance"
220. Formators: identity, tasks and means
225. Formative colloquy
226. Spiritual direction
227. Discernment
229. Presence of values
230. The Comboni community, mediation of the vocational experience
231. The community of formation
232. Socio-ecclesial environment
234. Prayer: a privileged means for interiorizing values
235. Particular periods of "experience"

Section Two
SUSTAINING STRUCTURES

Chapter One
At a general level

236. Rule of Life
237. Ratio fundamentalis institutionis et studiorum
238. Revision of the "Ratio"
239. Superior general and his council
240. General secretariat for vocational promotion and formation
243. Council of the general secretariat
244. Continental assemblies
245. Re-unions of vocational promoters and formators

Chapter Two
At provincial and local level

246. Provincial directory
247. Provincial superior and his council
249. Provincial secretariat for vocational promotion and formation
252. Vocational centres
253. Vocational promoters
254. "Welcoming" vocational communities
255. Operative charter of vocational promotion
256. Community of formation
257. Educative charter
258. Annual programme
259. Register
260. Archive

PART FIVE
PHASES OF THE COMBONI FORMATIVE PROCESS

Section One
POSTULANCY

Chapter One
Nature and criteria of admission

261. Nature
264. Importance
265. Duration
266. Criteria  of admission
268. Level of studies
269. Candidates for the priesthood
270. Brother candidates

Chapter Two
Finality and objectives

271. Finality
272. Specific objectives
272. Vocation and sequela
273. Mission
274. The Founder
276. The Institute and its charism

Chapter Three
Aims and means

277. Premises
278. HUMAN MATURITY
279. Knowledge of oneself and of reality
280. Cultural identification and sociability
282. Responsibility
283. Affective maturity

287. CHRISTIAN MATURITY
288. Son of God
290. Actively belonging to the Church
291. Initiation to community life
292. Initiation to poverty

293. GROWTH IN VOCATIONAL IDENTITY
293. Vocational motivations
295. Formative colloquy and spiritual direction
301. Verification and development of the vocational motivations
302. Apostolic activities

Chapter Four
Postulancy for candidates to the priesthood and for brother candidates

303. Premises
307. CANDIDATES TO THE PRIESTHOOD
307. Elements of sacerdotal identity
308. Study

312. BROTHER CANDIDATES
321. Elements of lay identity
315. Elements of professional identification
316. Study
317. Human promotion

Chapter Five
Subsidies and initiatives

318. Inculturation of formation
320. Educative charter
321. Annual programme
322. Manual Work
323. Celebrations
324. Periods of vacation
325. Passing from the postulancy to the novitiate

Section Two
NOVITIATE

Chapter One
Nature and finality

329. Nature
330. Finality
331. Specific Nature
322. The formative environment
334. Methodology
336. Contents
337. The house and the community of the novitiate
339. Responsibility
340. Admission to the novitiate

Chapter Two
The desert Period

341. Significance and duration
344. Objectives - Contents - Means
345. Experience of God in Christ
346. Following of Christ in the consecrated life
347. Interiorization of the Comboni charism
348. Initiation the mission
349. Experience of community life
350. Self-knowledge and the interiorization of values
351. Celebration of the most significant moments of the novitiate
352. Catechesis

Chapter Three
Periods of apostolic activity and of community experiences

356. Significance
358. Objectives
359. Types of experiences and exercises
360. Duration and modality
361. Preparation and accompaniment
362. Evaluation

Chapter Four
Master of novices

363. Figure and preparation
368. Evaluation and admission to the vows
369. On-going formation
Chapter Five
Particular aspects

371. Inculturation of formation
372. Educative charter
374. Annual programme
375. Complementary nature of the ministries
376. Formation of the brothers
379. Manifestation of preferences
380. Study of languages
381. Testament
382. Holidays at home
383. Continuity of formation between the novitiate and the scolasticate/centre

Chapter Six
Interprovincial novitiates

387. Seat
388. Authority
391. The novice master
392. Admission to the novitiate
393. Profession
394. Dismissal
395. Economy

Section Thee
SCHOLASTICATE/BROTERS INTERNATIONAL CENTRE

Chapter One
Nature and requisites

396. Nature
397. Specific nature
398. Initial requisites
399. Duration
401. Passing from the novitiate to the scholasticate/centre

Chapter Two
Characteristics and objectives

405. Characteristics
406. Objectives
407. Growth in fidelity
410. Liturgical-sacramental life
415. Study: candidates to the priesthood
421. Study - work: brother candidates
422. Community life
426. Internationality - Acculturation
432. Apostolic activity

Chapter Three
Elements of educational action

435. Objective
436. The community
438. Formators
441. Formative colloquy
443. Spiritual direction
445. The study of theology and professional training
447. Socio-ecclesial insertion and apostolic activity

Chapter Four
Educative charter and annual programme

449. Educative charter
451. Formative contents
453. Comboni charism and mission
454. Consecrated life
455. Missionary priesthood
457. Scholastic vacation
461. Annual programme

Chapter Five
Personal and community evaluation

462. Significance
464. Evaluation of the persons
468. Evaluation of the community

Chapter Six
Juridical and normative aspects

469. Superior General and his council
470. Provincial superiors of origin
474. Local provincial superior
475. Formators
478. Admission to temporary vows
480. Admission to perpetual vows
482. The formula of the vows
483. Admission to the ministries
484. Admission to orders
488. Scholastics and brothers "in experience" without vows
494. Scholastics and brothers "in experience" with vows
500. Scholastics and brothers that leave the Institute
502. Archives

Chapter Seven
Economic administration of the scholasticates/brother international centres

505. Premises
507. Authority
508. Expenses to be reimbursed
511. Expenses to be met by the scholasticate/centre
514. Extraordinary expenses
515. Economic reports
516. Sharing

Section Four
ON-GOING FORMATION OF COMBONI MISSIONARIES

Chapter One
Nature and objectives

517. Premises
519. Nature and finality

Chapter Two
Target-group and responsibility

522. Target-group
523. First apostolic undertaking
524. Middle age
525. Personal re-qualification
526. The third age
527. Particular situations
528. Responsibility
529. The individual missionary
530. The local community
531. Major superiors
533. The provincial superior and his council
534. The superior general and his council
535. The central commission for on-going formation
536. Operational team
537. Bishops

Chapter Three
Initiatives of on-going formation

538. Premises
539. Contents of on-going formation
541. The Comboni course of renewal
541. Target-group and finality
542. Contents and means
543. Duration and place
544. Monographic courses
545. Conditions for participating in the Comboni initiatives

PART SIX
"RATIO STUDIORUM"

Section One
INTELLECTUAL AND PROFESSIONAL FORMATION OF COMBONI MISSIONARIES

Chapter One
Finality of the "Ratio Studiorum"

547. Significance
552. Objectives of the "Ratio"
553. Those responsible for the application of the "Ratio Studiorum"
553. Formators
554. Major superiors
555. General secretariat and provincial secretariats for vocational promotion and formation

Chapter Two
Intellectual formation

556. Role and importance
558. Essential components

Chapter Three
Human sciences

561. Role and importance
565. Essential courses
565. Psychology
566. Sociology
567. Anthropology
568. Economy
569. Mass Media
570. Universal History

Chapter Four
Suggestions and norms

571. Criteria for the choice of schools and universities
574. Subsidiary structures
576. Normative aspects

Section Two
INTELLECTUAL FORMATION OF CANDIDATES TO THE PRIESTHOOD

Chapter One
Humanistic and scientific studies

584. Basic Studies

Chapter Two
Philosophical studies

587. Importance
588. Philosophy and human situation
590. Philosophy and culture
591. Philosophy and theology
596. Essential programmes
596. Philosophical systems and history of philosophy
597. Logic
598. Epistemology
599. Philosophical anthropology
600. Ontology
601. Philosophy of nature
602. Philosophy of religion
603. Philosophy of culture
604. Ethics

Chapter Three
Theological studies

605. The mission as principle of inspiration and organization
611. Missiological prospectives for some theological treatises
611. Bible and mission
612. Fundamental theology
613. Revelation
615. Systematic theology and mission
617. Christology
619. Ecclesiology
622. Sacraments
623. Liturgy
624. Christian morals
625. History of the Church - Patristics
626. Canon law
627. Pastoral theology
629. Essential programmes
629. Biblical theology
630. Systematic theology
631. Pastoral theology
632. Spiritual theology

Section Three
INTELLECTUAL AND PROFESSIONAL FORMATION OF BROTHER CANDIDATES

Chapter One
General principles

633. Premises
635. Professional formation
639. Methodological notes

Chapter Two
Intellectual and professional formation in the postulancy

643. Professional formation
645. Study of human sciences
645. Psychology
646. Sociology
647. Anthropology
648. Mass media
649. Theological formation
650. Holy Scripture
651. Introduction to the mystery of Christ
652. Introduction to the mystery of the Church
653. History of the Church
654. Introduction to liturgy
655. Christian ethics

Chapter Three
Intellectual and professional formation in the international centre

656. Professional formation
657. Accountancy
658. Languages
659. Study of human sciences
659. Cultural anthropology
660. Sociology
661. Psychology
662. Mass media
663. Theological formation
664. Holy Scripture
665. Christology
666. Ecclesiology
667. Moral theology
668. History of the Church

Section Four
SPECIALIZATION

Chapter One
Orientations and norms

669. Necessity and conditions
672. Specialization of scholastics and brothers
675. Practical indications
680. Subjects to research

Chapter Two
Centres of study

682. Premises
684. Specialization in Rome
685 Specialization in other centres

APPENDIX
p. 

N. 1 - Outline for the "localization" of the "Ratio"
N. 2 - Outline for the formative colloquy
N. 3 - Identity card of the scholasticates/centres
N. 4 - Annual report of the local superiors on the scolasticate/centre
N. 5 - Fund for the scholasticates/brother centres
N. 6 - Inscription in courses of on-going formation
N. 7 - Archives of houses of formation
N. 8 - Documents

INDEX OF TITLES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER

ABBREVIATIONS - SYMBOLS - DOCUMENTS

Books of the Bible

Ac
- Acts
Col
- Colossians
1 Cor
- 1 Corinthians
2 Cor
- 2 Corinthians
Ep
- Ephesians
Ex
- Exodus
Gal
- Galatians
Heb
- Hebrews
Is
- Isaiah
Jn
- John
1 Jn
- 1 John
Jr
- Jeremiah
Lk
- Luke
Mk
- Mark
Mt
- Matthew
1 P
- 1 Peter
Ph
- Philippians
Rom
- Romans
1 Tm
- 1 Timothy
2 Tm
- 2 Timothy
1 Th
- 1 Thessalonians
2 Th
- 2 Thessalonians

Documents of the Church

AG
- Ad Gentes - Vatican II
CD
- Christus Dominus - Vatican II
CIC
- Code of Canon Law, 1983
CPV
- Pastoral Care of Vocations - International Congress of Bishops and others responsible for Vocations, Rome 1981
DIFR
- Directives on formation in Religious Institutes, SCRIS, 1990
EN
- Evangelii Nuntiandi, Paul VI, 1975
ET
- Evangelica Testificatio, Paul VI, 1975
FC
- Familiaris Consortio, John Paul II, 1981
Fl
- Liturgical formation in seminaries, SCEC, "In ecclesiasticam futurorum", 1979
Fm
- Formation of missionaries SCEP, "The study of renewal", 1970
Fs
- The teaching of philosophy in seminaries, SCEC, "En cette periode", 1972
Ft
- Theological formation of future priests, SCEC, "Among the many signs", 19
76
GE
- Gravissimun Educationis - Vatican II
GS
- Gaudium et Spes - Vatican II
MC
- Marialis Cultus, Paul VI, 1974
MR
- Mutuae Relationes, Directives on the relationship between Bishops and Religious in the Church, SCRIS, 1978.
OFCS
- Orientations for the formation of future priests concerning means of social communication, SCEC, 1986
OT
- Optatam Totius - Vatican II
PC
- Perfectae Caritatis - Vatican II
PO
- Presbyterorum Ordinis - Vatican II
RC
- Renovationis Causam, 1969
RCustos
- Redemptoris Custos, John Paul II, 1989
RFIS-RF
- Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis, 1970, 1985
RH
- Redemptor Hominis, John Paul II, 1979
RM
- Redemptoris Missio, John Paul II, 1991
SC
- Sacrosanctum Concilium - Vatican II
S.Coe
- Sacerdotalis Coelibatus, Paul VI, 1967
SCH
- Sapientia Christiana, John Paul II, 1979
SPFS
- The study of the Fathers of the Church in the formation of priests, SCEC, 1989

Comboni Documents

AC
- Archivio Comboniano
ACR
- Archivio Comboniano Roma
AC 75
- Chapter Acts '75
AC 79
- Chapter Acts '79
AC 85
- Chapter Acts '85
AI 82
- Inter-capitular Assembly '82
AI 88
- Inter-capitular Assembly '88
CEA
- Papers for the Evangelization of Africa, Pietro Chiocchetta, 1979
DC 69
- Chapter Documents '69
DC 75
- Chapter Acts '75
DCR
- Daniel Comboni, Rules of 1871, Study of Baritussio A. 1983
DCS
- Daniel Comboni, His Writings, 1991
DDG
- Directory of the General Administration
DGE
- General Directory for the Economy
MDC
- Daniel Comboni-the man and his message, Gilli A., Chiocchetta P., 1977
RL
- Rule of Life of the Comboni Missionaries, 1988

Comboni Documents not quoted but used in the preparation of the "Ratio"

- Conclusions of the Assembly of Formators of Scholasticates, Rome 1987
- Conclusions of the Assembly of Formators of Postulancies, Palencia 1987
- Conclusions of the Assembly on Formation of Brothers, Roma 1988
- Directory and Ratio Studiorum of the International Scholasticates
- Directory and Ratio Studiorum of the Brother candidates
- "Kinshasa '84", Final document of the Continental Assembly, 1984
- Letter of the General Councils of the Comboni Institutes on occasion of the "Positio", 1989
- Lomé, Acts of the Continental Assembly, 1987
- "México '84", Final Document of the Continental Assembly, 1984
- Nairobi, Acts of the Pan-African Assembly on the "Ratio, 1990
- "Novitiate (The Comboni), Orientations and Norms", Rome 1987
- On-going Formation, Acts of Inter-capitular Assembly, 1988
- Quito, Acts of the Pan-American Assembly on the Ratio, 1990
- Rio de Janeiro, Final Document of the Continental Assembly, 1987
- Venegono, Acts of the European Assembly on the Ratio, 1990
- "Vocation promotion and formation of brothers", Acts of the Inter-capitular assembly, 1988
- "Vocation promotion, minor seminaries and alternative forms", Final document of the European Assembly, Rome 1986

Comboni Documents not quoted but indispensable for a well founded knowledge of the Founder and the Institute

- "Positio super virtutibus" of the Servant of God Daniel Comboni, SCCS 1988 and "Summarium", (extract from the "Positio"), 1988
- "... The works of God are thus", spiritual itinerary of Daniel Comboni, General Postulation, 1991
- The spirituality of Daniel Comboni, Juan Manuel Lozano, 1989
- The Comboni Missionary Institute: "From the foundation until the death of Daniel Comboni", Aldo Gilli, 1979
- History of the Comboni Missionary Institute: "From the death of the Founder until the transformation into a Religious Congregation", Aldo Gilli, 1981
- The mission of the Central Africa and the Verona Institute for the African Missions 1846-1910", González Fidel, 1990

"RATIO FUNDAMENTALIS
INSTITUTIONIS ET STUDIORUM"

Approbation and presentation

Dear Confreres,

In the council meeting of 21st. December l990, the Superior General and his Council, after two days of reflection, gave their official approbation to the text of the "Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis et Studiorum" presented by the commission which had collected the material and co-ordinated the reflections made at different levels over a period of months.
In presenting to you this document, of such great importance for the Institute, we give thanks to all who have collaborated, in different ways, for the fulfilment and outcome of this undertaking which was entrusted to us by the Chapter. At the same time we wish to underline some aspects that make manifest the necessity, urgency and importance of this document for vocational promotion, as well as for basic and on-going formation.

1. Necessity of the Ratio

The Rule of Life speaks of the Ratio<$FRL 86.3; 90.7; 93.1; 97.5> as an indispensable point of reference for the basic on-going formation of Comboni missionaries in the context of the mission today. The indications of the Rule of Life respond to the demands of the official documents of the Church which prescribe the Ratio Fundamentalis as an important part of that "proper law" which each Institute ought to have. Indeed, the numerous documents of the Church, from Vatican II until today, have general characteristics; it is necessary therefore that the single episcopal conferences, Dioceses and Institutes apply the general lines to their own situations according to the charism that specifies their spirituality, their style of life and their ministry.
The publication of this document has been eagerly awaited and, considering that the time was ripe, the XII general chapter of 1985 gave an explicit mandate to the general council to prepare and publish such a document during its term of office by means of the general secretariat for formation.<$FCfr. AC 85, 116> The greater need was felt by the "bases": the youth in formation, the formators and a large number of confreres felt the need to know the master lines of formation in the Institute through which the Comboni charism is made present and transmitted today. Without a global formative project it would be difficult to avoid the impression of improvisation and overcome the inevitable fragmentation of the formative process.
Young men indeed, before committing themselves according to the Comboni project of life, want to have a fairly clear vision of the spirituality, of the style of life and of the ministry towards which they feel called by the Lord, and to see how the Comboni proposal satisfies their desires. Such a need is particularly felt at this moment which sees our candidates coming from various continents, where the Comboni tradition of formation is only beginning and the danger of uncertainty and of confusion is greater, also because the are no local models of Comboni missionaries 
The formators themselves have underlined the importance of such an instrument in order to integrate successfully fidelity to the charism of the Institute with the insertion in ecclesial and socio-cultural contexts from which the Comboni candidates come or in which they are receiving their formation. If the two aspects are not harmonised there is the danger of an incarnation of the abstract charism far from the local reality, or of a failure of reference to the history and traditions of the Institute, which are indispensable components and points of reference for the historic incarnation of the charism.
The urgency of this document also replies to the needs of on-going formation. Never as today has perseverance to one's vocation been such a challenge. Indeed we live in cultures that do not understand a life-long commitment, that reduce life itself to a "series of experiences" and that flee from a radical and profound fidelity to God, from a community, from a ministry to the most needy and abandoned. In the light of these realities one understands better the usefulness of considering on-going formation as a permanent and integral part of the global project of Comboni formation.
Finally, the necessity of a single global document on formation stems also from the fact that it is already twenty years - Chapter of 1967 and 1969 - that we have been conducting a style of formation renewed in the light of the Vatican Council and of the great transformations that occurred during the nineteen-sixties. There have been numerous documents at a general level in the Institute and at a continental level; there have been numerous meetings, again at general and continental levels. The Institute now possesses an experience of contents and of methodology that must be harmonised in a global project, overcoming the fragmentary and occasional nature which may be perceived in the actual documents on formation.

2. Iter of the Ratio

In order to realize the decision of the chapter there have been continental and sectorial assemblies from 1986 to 1988 which have co-involved almost all the confreres who work in the vocational and formative fields. The documents and the vocational and formative praxis of the Institute during the past twenty years have been verified and evaluated.
This reflection was channelled into the working paper prepared by the general secretariat of formation in the first half of l989. In the preparation of this paper were consulted the documents of the Church and those of the Institute (Rule of Life, documents and acts of the chapters, directory of the scholasticates, directory on the formation of brothers, orientations and norms for the novitiate, conclusions of the continental assemblies, indications and norms issued by the general council) as well as documents and studies of other Institutes.
A commission, nominated by the general council in April 1989, met in the month of July of the same year in Rome to consider this working paper. The result of the work of the commission was presented in a first rough copy of a document which was sent in October 1989 to all the provincial organisms responsible for vocation promotion and basic and on-going formation. The document was also sent to some twenty confreres (ex-secretaries of formation, formators, promoters, professors and experts).
The results of this consultation and reflection of the base have been gathered and discussed in three continental assemblies held in 1990 in Quito, in Nairobi and at Venegono. During the same period, the members of the general administration also dedicated two days to this subject.
The material thus gathered was put in the hands of the commission which had been strengthened by the addition of two members, an African and a Latin-American, to make it more international and more representative. The commission met in Rome in September 1990 and prepared the text of the Ratio presented to the general council for official approbation, which was granted in the reunion of the council held on 21 December 1990. Then began the iter of the publication which was entrusted to the general secretariat for formation and which necessitated a final "reading" of the text in order to harmonize the style and language and the care of the translations into the various languages.

3. Binding-force of the Ratio

The Ratio is addressed to all Comboni missionaries, but especially to the vocation promoters and formators, to the vocational communities and those communities open to young men testing their vocations.
The Ratio is an expression of confidence in the young men to whom it is directed as privileged interlocutors. Their exigencies and suggestions have been always present in the preparation of the document and they have helped to integrate the element of fidelity to the charism, incarnated in Comboni, with the attention to the signs of the times of the world of today, of which the same young men are a privileged expression which can not be substituted.
For all the Ratio is an indispensable and authoritative instrument for the application of the norms for formation found in the Rule of Life, Part Three, Section Three, dealing with basic formation and on-going formation, n. 80-101.
Its binding-force derives from the fact that it is the official explanation and concrete application of the Rule of Life and expresses the global project of formation in the Institute. The Ratio becomes a qualified point of reference in order to overcome individualism and formative improvisation and to contribute towards the creation of a "comboni tradition" in the formative process. It also facilitates pluralism because it presents a global vision of the Comboni project which is to take flesh in the various ecclesial and cultural ambients.
That it may in fact fulfil its function, the Ratio must be the object of reflection and study both at personal and provincial levels, especially for those who are more directly co-involved in the formative accompaniment: the major superiors, the vocation promoters, the formators and those responsible for on-going formation.

4. Accepting at the formative level the challenges of the Mission

The mission of evangelization, as Paul VI said, is "a rich, complex and dynamic reality".<$FEN 17> John Paul II reiterates the same aspect affirming that "today we are faced by a religious situation that is quite diversified and changing: the peoples are in movement; the social and religious realities that one time were clear and defined, today are evolving in complex situations".<$FRM 32>
Such realities demand a profound spirituality, a style of community life and of consecration that shows forth the values of the Kingdom, a methodology of missionary service that derives not only from the very nature of evangelization and missionary animation but also from our more than secular historical experience as well as the always more rich feed-ins from the local Churches.
We offer this Ratio to the Holy Spirit who is "the protagonist of evangelization, to Our Blessed Lady who is its "Star", to St. Joseph who is its protector and to our Founder to whose spiritual and missionary experience is owed our existence, presence and work.
May its publication contribute to make all Comboni missionaries convinced and efficacious signs and instruments of the presence and of the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Rome, l5th March 1991, 160th anniversary of the birth of Daniel Comboni

P.  Francesco Pierli
P.  Angel Lafita
Fr. Giuseppe Menegotto
P.  Otto Fuchs
P.  Venanzio Milani

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

Premises

1. The vocational promotion and the formation of the Comboni Missionaries has its own history. This confirms both the continuity between the actual renewal and tradition, and the discontinuity that occurred in certain periods of the history of the Institute.
The changes, that were realized during the passage of time, were assumed in order to assure a more enlightened and efficacious missionary service.

The Founder, Daniel Comboni

2. Daniel Comboni after having founded his institutes and elaborated the first rules of 1871 chose the persons considered most suitable to orientate the formation of the new missionaries. He gave also most exact orientations, dictated by an always more profound knowledge of the missions and its exigencies, writing personally to the rectors that followed one another in the direction of the Institute and visiting the houses of formation

3. Daniel Comboni died before he could give to his Institutes a stable organization and structure. The survival of the Institute, in a situation so precarious in which it had to overcome obstacles humanly insurmountable, may be considered a work of God and fruit of the iron will of the missionaries of Comboni, determined to continue the work of the Founder, notwithstanding all the difficulties.<$F"We are Comboni missionaries and we must be intrepid and constant like our leader" (cfr. Letter of Pimazzoni to Sembiante, 15.5.1882, ACR)>

Formation in the Institute after Comboni

4. In 1885 the Institute was transformed into a Religious Congregation introducing the novitiate with the presence of Jesuit novice masters, Pietro Frigerio and Samuele Asperti. The charism received from the Founder developed henceforth with a new characteristic, that of the consecrated life, which from that moment became an essential part of the Institute of Comboni.

5. Entrusting formation to the two Jesuits guaranteed the survival of the Institute and fidelity to its missionary identity, safe-guarding one of the deepest desires of the Founder; the continuity of the work for the salvation of Africa.

6. The profession of the first novices took place in 1887. In 1899 the Institute celebrated its first General Chapter and had its first Superior General in the person of Fr.Angelo Colombaroli. In 1910 the constitutions were definitely approved.
During this period Comboni formation underlined especially the religious consecration in view of the mission: above all it demanded apostolic zeal and willingness to accept martyrdom. Reference to the Founder was not always explicit, but his spirit and his ideals were always alive in the minds of his sons.

7. In his "Plan for the regeneration of Africa" Comboni expresses with clarity that his work must be "catholic", that is not tied in any exclusive way to a determined nationality. The fact that the Founder had procured missionaries of various nationalities for his Institutes, so that they could live and work together for the same end, indicates that openness to internationality was a characteristic of the Institute from the very beginning of its history.
"Because of tensions that emerged in the Institute, the S. Congregation of Propaganda Fide, with reluctance, on the 27th July 1923 decreed the division of the Institute in two Congregations, of which one, composed for the greater part of Italian members, maintained the original name of [Sons of the Sacred Heart of Jesus] (FSCJ), and the other, with members mostly German speaking, took the name of [Missionary sons of the Sacred Heart] (MFSC)"<$FRule of Life, Historical Introduction>

8. From 1920 until 1950 there was a growing interest in the Founder. Celebrations, biographies and other initiatives rising from the base stimulated the desire of a greater knowledge of Daniel Comboni and had their influence in the formation process, which during all this time gave priority to the consecrated life.

9. The years '50 and '60 were characterized by the opening of new houses of formation and by the presence of candidates from the various nations where the congregation was present. The necessity of a Ratio and the urgency of preparing formators became very apparent.
The actual international scholasticates arose to cater for the young men arriving from the different nations. The internationality of the Institute regained force and created an ambient which, stimulated even more by the conciliar proposal of reuniting the Institutes that had the same Founder and the same charism, facilitated progress towards the reunification of the two Institutes, which was sanctioned on 22nd. June 1979.

Special Chapters

10. The special chapters<$FChapters of 1969, 73, 75, 79> were the reply of the Institute to the renewal and the return to the fonts demanded by the Second Vatican Council. The sector of formation was profoundly renovated in the light of the council documents and with the insights of the experience of the Institute and of the human sciences. The fundamental poles which orientated this renewal were:

1
the personalization of formation: the person becomes the subject of formation with all the consequences that this change of perspective implies;

2
the structures are considered in relation to the persons: houses, programmes, formators are no longer considered as self-standing realities but in function of the persons they serve;

3
the graduality of the process of formation and the consequent necessity of defining the phases with their respective objectives, means and contents;

4
the vision of the Church, People of God, proposed by Vatican II, from which springs the irreplaceable value of the community in the formative process.

11. This path of renewal will lead progressively to the creation of the support structures (general and provincial secretariats), to the definition and structuring of the specific formative phases (postulancy, novitiate, scholasticate, brothers international centre) and to the codification of formation in the Institute (general and provincial directories for formation, educative charters).
The codification of this path of renewal in its essential outlines was made by the Chapter of 1979 in the Rule of Life.

12. The scholasticates, opened in various nations in the 1970s and later on the brothers' international centres, were the concrete expression of a formation that intends to live the Comboni vocation, having present the international dimension and the formative experience of smaller communities.

13. Inspired by an always more live conscience of its own proper charism and of the growing missionary sensibility of the Local Churches, the Institute has opened new centres of vocation promotion and of formation, especially in the countries of Africa, of Latin-America and of Asia where it is present.

14. The "Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis et Studiorum" wishes to situate itself on this path of continuity and fidelity to the Founder and the history of the Institute.

PART ONE
THE SCOPE OF THE DOCUMENT

Chapter One
Nature - Addressees - Contents

Nature

1. The present document, mentioned in several numbers of the Rule of Life,<$FRL 86.3; 90.7; 93.1; 97.5> is demanded by the orientations of the Church.<$FOT 1; CIC 641-661> It expresses and develops in an organic and didactic manner the totality of the principles and norms which govern Comboni vocation promotion and formation and are to be found in the Rule of Life, in various documents of the general administration and in documents of the Church.
In so far as it contains the global formative project of the Institute, the present document has a normative value.

2. The service which the present documents wishes to render is that of assuring the seriousness and the efficaciousness of formation and vocation promotion, considered in their diverse aspects and in their entire development, so as to safe-guard the unity of the contents and the essential orientations in the realization of the concrete expressions.

3. Therefore, the corresponding section of the Provincial Directory should be published or reformulated on the basis of the Ratio, and on the same basis the "operative charters" for vocation promotion and the "educative charters" of the various phases should be elaborated; in this way decentralization and pluriformity present themselves as legitimate expressions of the unity of the Institute.

4. Vocation is understood as experience of the "sequela Christi" lived according to the spirit of Daniel Comboni, constantly open to the signs of the times found in the life of the Church, in the life of the Institute, in history, in the cultures of peoples and in the conditions of youth in the world of today.

5. This vocation therefore is a dynamic reality that, while remaining itself, is solicited and is capable of putting itself in active connection with the deeds of the world and above all with the exigencies of the mission "ad gentes".

Addressees

6. The document is for all the Institute. It is addressed in a special way to the following: the general council and the provincial superiors with their councils, in so far as they have ultimate responsibility for vocation promotion and formation; the general and provincial secretariats for vocational promotion and formation, in so far as they are organisms of study and animation; the vocation promoters and the formators, in so far as they are directly responsible for vocational and formative activity; the young men who are the subjects of vocational and formative activity.

Contents

7. The nature, the addressees, the contents and the points of reference considered during its elaboration are presented in Part One of the document.

8. In Part Two, one of the points of reference is developed: Daniel Comboni as a specific mediation of the Comboni vocation pathway. This part illumines the whole vocational process considered under the aspect of the charism of the Founder, of the vocational and formative intuitions as conceived by him, and of Comboni missionary spirituality as it is lived today.

9. Part Three faces the theme of pastoral care of vocations. After a vision of missionary and vocation animation in general it presents Comboni vocational animation in its diverse forms and expressions.

10. In Part Four the methodological elements of Comboni vocational accompaniment are presented. Taking the Comboni missionary identity as parting point it presents the values and attitudes to interiorize, the lines of methodology and pedagogy that should orientate the Comboni formative process and the support structures at various levels, general, provincial and local.

11. Part Five develops in a specific fashion each of the phases of the basic and on-going Comboni process of formation: the postulancy, the novitiate, the scholasticate/brothers' international centre and on-going formation. In this part the document tries to express in operative terms the theories contained in parts two and three, individualizing for each phase its specific characteristic, its methodology, the means and formative contents.
On-going formation is presented as an integral part of personal growth. It therefore underlines the continuity between basic formation and on-going formation, its importance and necessity, the responsibility and the various initiatives organized by the Institute.

12. Part Six deals with the order of studies in the Institute. After a section on the intellectual formation of Comboni missionaries in general, it passes to the specific formation of Comboni priests and Comboni brothers, to general suggestions and norms, and specializations.

13. In its totality the document tries to consider vocation promotion and formation as a unitary process, determined and orientated by the nature of the Comboni missionary vocation, where the vocational and formative action emphasises the various aspects according to the phase of formation and the particular situation of the persons that are living it.

Chapter Two
Fundamental points of reference

Premises

14. The fundamental points of reference that inspire this document are:

1
the vocation, the experience of faith and the charism of Daniel Comboni;

2
the testimony of the Comboni missionaries who have lived the charism of the Founder and have interpreted it and re-proposed it in the Rule of Life, the General Chapters and the orientations of the authorities in the Institute;

3
the orientations of the Church;

4
the Mission and its demands;

5
attention for the youths, for the vocations to the Comboni life and to the growing internationality of the Institute;

6
the in-put of human sciences.

The interest of the Founder in formation

15. Daniel Comboni, parting from his missionary and spiritual experience as also from the comparison with other Missionary Institutes, elaborated his first Rules in 1871.
He was deeply convinced of the importance of formation for the Institute. "The first and most important mission of the Institute is the wise choice of the labourers chosen for the apostolic tasks on behalf of Nigritia".<$FMDC p. 262, n. 94> He chose the persons considered most suitable to guide the formation of the new missionaries. Besides the Rules and his writings, his example and his style of work are very important for the Comboni missionaries.
This first point of reference, fundamental for all the phases of the formative process in the Institute, is amply developed in part two of the present document.

The charismatic conscience of the Institute

16. Throughout its history the Institute has given proof of its fidelity to the charism through the testimony of its members in their total dedication to the missionary service "ad gentes".
The general chapters, the orientations and norms of the Institute have continually interpreted the Comboni charism in the Church according to the various moments of history, actualizing it in the diverse socio-cultural and ecclesial contexts where the Institute was present.<$FMR 11, 14b; LG 44; ET 50>

Orientations of the magisterium

17. The Church receives the charism of Daniel Comboni, it recognises it, it sustains it and, with the force of the Spirit, it helps it to grow in harmony with the diverse services and ministries in the Body of Christ.
The service of sustaining the various charisms, recognised and present in it, has led the Church to dedicate itself with particular interest to religious, priestly and missionary formation. There are many documents in which it expresses this solicitude and gives the orientations necessary for the renewal and the growth of the Institutes in fidelity to their charism, to be followed in the return to the Founder and their origins. Among the many documents can be quoted the constitution "Lumen Gentium", the decrees "Ad Gentes", "Perfectae Caritatis" and "Optatam Totius" upon which are based, and which develop their arguments, more recent documents such as the "Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Sacerdotalis", the new "Code of Canon Law" and other documents regarding religious, priestly and missionary formation.

18. The sense of fidelity to the Church that animated the Founder causes the Institute to feel itself a living part of that same Church and it obliges it to promote a renewed ecclesial conscience in the fidelity of its formative documents to the Magisterium of the Church.

The Mission and its exigencies

19. The mission must inspire Comboni formation, defining its objectives, its aims and its means. The missionary experience of the past and in particular of Daniel Comboni, present two great evangelic and prophetic choices that tell us how to undertake a new path: the absolute priority of the Gospel, over-riding all other interests, the missionary must feel himself sent to serve only the Kingdom of God;<$FRL 20; RM 20> the evangelic preferential option for the poor, a necessary pastoral pre-requisite for the Church.<$FRM 60>

20. The Good News is the mystery of Christ, mystery of death and of resurrection. This must be mediated in the present time through gestures and attitudes that show forth the love of God present in Christ here and now.

21. The reading of the socio-cultural reality determines the way to live the mission. In situations of conflict, the Church is called to seek the will of the Lord, without regard to any possible self-interest or advantage.

22. Some challenges must be faced. Among these the following are underlined:

1
the promotion of pluri-ethnic fraternity in all nations and in the various continents. One must therefore favour the birth of local Churches, ethnically differentiated, through the inculturation of the faith.<$FRM 53>

2
to evangelize the poor and to part from the poor as an evangelic option that gives credibility to the task of evangelization. This includes the denunciation of the economic and cultural dependence of many peoples who are victims of exploitation.<$FRM 60>

23. The missionary praxis must base itself on that vision of the Church presented by the Second Vatican Council. This supposes the conversion of consciences and the revision of the old ecclesial models. Also this undertaking is love for the Church and desire that it may be always more "the spouse of the Lord without speck or wrinkle".<$FEp 5,27>

24. Being realized in diverse ambients, Evangelization will assume different priorities, making evident aspects of the unique missionary project of the Church. Inculturation of the faith, liberation, proclamation of hope, religious dialogue, peace and safe-guarding of creation, will be underlined according to the needs of the place and time. These different perspectives are an integral part of the richness of the Christian message and as such must be accepted.<$FRM 52, 56>

25. The transmission of the Gospel and its incarnation must be faithful to the tradition of the Church and include, without reductions, the proclamation of the Gospel, the celebration of the presence of Christ and of the life of the people in the Eucharist, and the testimony of the love of God in history, announcing the glorious Kingdom of God.

Consequences for formation

26. Formation must be inspired by the mission and give due emphases to the essential characteristics of the missionary and Comboni vocation.

1
The young man must have a profound experience of Christ present in the Word, in the Church and in every event; it is Christ that calls him, he lives with Christ and identifies with Him, he feels sent by Him.<$FMk 3,13; RL 21>
He must be faithful to the teaching of Jesus and go forward like Him to face concrete human necessities. Evangelization must be the proclamation of realities that can be experienced; "Something which we have watched and touched with our own hands, this is our theme".<$F1J 1,1-4; RM 88>

2
The mission "ad gentes" proposes to lead groups and persons to take a decision before Jesus Christ through a conversion of heart and of the structures. Evangelization causes the action of God to be present among the various peoples so that these may meet with the Gospel. At the same time it proposes a new way of relating among themselves in evangelic fraternity. The young man who intends to be an evangelizer must undergo an authentic experience of conversion and of vocational decision.
The experience of fraternal life in the Institute makes belonging to the Institute a credible option for the young man and prepares him for the acquisition of attitudes that facilitate collaboration, respect, ecumenical dialogue and internationality.<$FRM 89>

3
The option to "evangelize the poorest and most abandoned especially concerning the faith"<$FRL 5> gives unity of inspiration to the life of the Institute and to formation. It is necessary therefore to have a critical vision of the causes that generate poverty and of the strategies that are proposed to overcome it. Concrete experiences of living among the poor, training oneself to learn from the evangelic values that they live, and sharing their anguishes and hopes, would be opportune.
It is necessary to overcome emotive and paternalistic attitudes that would reduce the poor to be merely objects of evangelization. 

4
The local Church is increasingly the subject of mission. The Institute places itself at the disposition of the universal and local Church so that they may express their missionary vocation. It must therefore learn to collaborate with other missionary forces and with these aim at ministerial autonomy for the young Churches.
In the future the Comboni missionary will be called upon always more to collaborate with other pastoral forces.<$F RL 65>

5
The mission requires men that are not scandalized in view of the slowness with which the Kingdom of God grows. Often evangelization occurs where injustice, division and violence sorely try the missionary, testing his physical, psychic and spiritual strength. For this reason formation must educate the young man in humility, a sense  sacrifice, confidence in the Lord who realizes his Kingdom by ways that do not always coincide with those of men.<$FCfr. Rule 1871, chap. X>

6
Formation must work first of all on the interior motivations and educate the candidates to face with creativity, competence malleability the challenges that emerge from new situations.
The rapid changes of these recent times, provoked by technology, by the creation of new world orders and by the meeting/clash of cultures, requires a great capacity of adaption in order to conserve the dynamism of the Gospel.

Internationality and vocations

27. The Institute, already present on four continents and stimulated by the growth of the missionary conscience of the young Churches, is enriched always more by the growing internationality of its members, who assume and actualize the charism of Daniel Comboni in their different cultural contexts. The Institute opens with gratitude to the world of the young, considering them as the group to which the missionary vocation is addressed.

28. The Institute pays particular attention to all those young men who, in the different countries where it is present, show sympathy and interest in the Comboni charism, it respects and accepts the different cultural richnesses and offers them its own diverse services of vocational accompaniment. These require:

1
the capacity to adapt creatively to the diverse local situations with regard to methods, structures and means;

2
the capacity to accept and guarantee the full insertion of the new members, with their social, cultural and ecclesial reality;

3
the capacity to live the unity of the Comboni charism in the plurality of persons and cultures, which more and more characterises the Comboni family.

Human Sciences

29. Pedagogy, psychology, sociology and medicine, backed-up by a christian anthropology respectful of the fundamental values of the religious life, have given and continue to give an important contribution towards the understanding of vocational phenomena in the different phases of vocational accompaniment.
They are very useful during the entire formation process, basic and on-going, and in some cases of particular difficulty are indispensable.

30. There exists an intrinsic relationship between the ability to correspond to the call of God and the human potentialities of the candidate. It is evident that the presence of grace does not depend from the psychological dispositions of a person, however the ability to correspond to grace has a strict relationship with the human maturity of the candidate. As a consequence, vocational perseverance and apostolic efficacy depend not only from the call of God but also from the coherent and mature correspondence of the candidate.

31. Given the demands of the mission and the complexity of the world of youth, there must be a rigourous selection of candidates and formative programmes that combine harmoniously the human and spiritual dimensions. It is furthermore indispensable to prepare formators who are, at the same time, convinced witnesses of the vocational value that they are proposing and persons capable of knowing sufficiently the psychological structure of the candidates.

PART TWO
DANIEL COMBONI
SPECIFIC MEDIATION
IN THE FORMATIVE PROCESS

Chapter One
The Founder and the Institute

Charism of the Founder

32. God encounters man in his history through a series of mediations. In the consecrated life the specific mediation is the Founder, whose charism has been an evangelic illumination granted as an ecclesial and personal grace.

33. The Spirit that has guided the Founder to a particular imitation of Christ and to a special participation in his mission, guides the comboni missionaries on the way of the same spiritual itinerary: in this sense the charism of the founder lived by the Institute throughout its history is the fundamental criterion and the specific touch-stone which must guide the formative process and inform it with its sapiential values.<$FCfr. Ph 4,9>

34. The testimony of the life of the Founder, his words and his writings, are therefore essential elements which inspire the finality, the style of life, the organisation and missionary methodology, the preparation and the renewal of all members of the Institute.<$FRL 1.1; 1.2; 2.1>

Charism of Daniel Comboni

35. The Holy Spirit called into being Daniel Comboni, missionary and founder, so that he could contribute to the evangelization of Africa and the missionary awareness of the Church. Inspired by God, Comboni lived a style of life and of action that he proposes to his disciples so that it may be shared by them, guarded, deepened and constantly developed in syntony with the body of Christ which is in perennial growth.<$FMR 11>

36. The Comboni Institute, heir of the spirit and of the work of Daniel Comboni, is called by the Church to protect the charism, to deepen it and to incarnate it for the mission in the world.<$FPC 1; RL 1>

Spiritual itinerary of Daniel Comboni

37. In the life of Comboni one is struck by the decisiveness with which he consecrated himself to the cause of Nigritia and the constancy with which he remained faithful to this ideal until his death notwithstanding all the difficulties. The secret of such apostolic force is found in the certainty of his own missionary vocation. God called him to be the apostle of Nigritia and therefore no human force could hinder or deviate his steps from the unique and supreme purpose which in the light of the faith guided his life.

38. From the initial formation in his family and in the Mazza Institute until the total donation of his life for the cause of Nigritia there is a spiritual itinerary by means of which Comboni experiences the love of God the Father in such a way as to be prepared to give his own life like Christ, the Good Shepherd, pierced on the cross.
Certain fundamental phases may be distinguished in this itinerary.

1
The first phase, during his stay in the Mazza Institute, leads Comboni to the consecration to the mission that will become the guiding principle of his very existence.
In this phase Comboni draws close to Christ and to His Heart in which he finds the model of love and total dedication to the most needy.

2
The second phase is tied to his African experience and lasts until 1864. Comboni discovers the reality of Nigritia and its extreme poverty, at all levels, and he becomes conscious that he can not help unless he is prepared to risk his life. Mission, death and martyrdom begin to be united and will never be disassociated in his life.

3
The third phase is the charismatic and has its central moment in the experience of 15th. of September of 1864. At the tomb of the Apostle Peter, Comboni is overwhelmed by the love that God has for humanity. Becoming totally absorbed in this love, Comboni has the inspiration for his Plan which, in obedience to the Church, will lead him to the foundation of his Institutes.<$F"Carried away under the impetus of that love set alight by the divine flame on Calvary hill, when it came forth from the side of the Crucified One to embrace the whole human family, he felt his heart beat faster, and a divine power seemed to drive him towards those unknown lands. There he would enclose in his arms in an embrace of peace and love those unfortunate brothers of his..." CEA p. 216>
At the same time Comboni realizes that it is possible to "immerse oneself" in Africa only by sharing fully in the mystery of Christ on the Cross.<$F"And entrusting myself to that most Sacred Heart that also beats with love for Nigritia and alone can convert souls, I feel myself always more disposed to suffer... and to die for Jesus Christ and for the salvation of the unhappy people of Central Africa". MDC p. 66, n. 341-346>

4
The fourth phase begins in 1873, when Comboni arrives in Africa as provicar apostolic, makes his discourse of 11/5/73 and identifies himself with the people entrusted to his pastoral care. Comboni understands the necessity of sharing fully the situation of the Africans; it is the moment of the valorization of the peoples to be evangelized, of inculturation and of incarnation. "I come", says Comboni, "to make common cause with you and the happiest day  of my existence will be that in which I can lay down my life for you".<$FMDC p. 203, n. 18>

5
The last phase, in 1878, is that of full identification with Nigritia, assuming the "anathema". The hardships, the privations, the diseases, the struggles and the contradictions suffered for many years, the death of so many of his missionaries, the abandonment of some of his closest collaborators, the calumny and apparent failure of his mission lead Comboni to experience how much it costs to incarnate the figure of the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his flock.<$F"I have been seriously considering if, given my nothingness and weakness, I may ever be of use to the African apostolate... But as the works of God are born at the foot of Calvary and must bear the adorable mark of his Cross, I have decided to abandon myself into the arms of divine providence". MDC p. 381, n. 241; Cfr. also p. 388, n. 252>
But the cross and death are only the way to arrive at the fullness of life. The last words of Comboni are already the living experience of the paschal mystery: "I am happy with the cross, that borne willingly for love of God generates triumph and eternal life".<$FMDC p. 392, n. 257>

Daniel Comboni: Founder

39. Conceived in the contemplation of the mystery of the Heart of Christ the Good Shepherd, the Plan of Daniel Comboni intends to co-involve the whole of the Church in a dynamic communion in favour of the whole of Africa and proposes to make the Africans into missionaries for their own people.

40. After having tried in vain, obeying an exhortation of Propaganda Fide, to co-involve various institutes in the realization of the Plan, Daniel Comboni decided to found in Verona on June Ist 1867, the Institute for the missions of Nigritia. It is an Institute of diocesan status, composed of priests and "coadjutor brothers" from various nationalities, without religious vows but bound by an oath of membership and of fidelity to the Institute and to the mission. Its finality is the evangelization of Africa. The first Rules are of 1871.

41. Daniel Comboni died in Khartoum on October 10th 1881, before being able to consolidate the Institutes that he had conceived on an international scale. The missions were destroyed during the revolt of the Madhi; his successor Mgr. F.Sogaro requested and obtained from the Holy See that the Institute be changed into a religious congregation. The first religious professions took place in 1887. The Congregation received official approval with a "Decretum Laudis" on June 7th 1895.<$FRL Historical Introduction>

Chapter Two
Comboni: Father and Founder

Paternity of Comboni

42. Comboni, although he was unable to foresee during his brief existence all the consequences of the gift he had received and transmitted to his foundations, had however a clear consciousness of the gift he had received and of his spiritual paternity with regards to the Christian communities of Africa and the Institutes that would be born from that gift.

43. The consciousness of his spiritual paternity caused him to take decisions that were humanly dangerous and gave him a force and constancy in every moment and circumstance. Clear examples are his attitude with regards to the Mazza Institute, the defence of his missionaries in humanly tragic occasions, his readiness to disappear (kenosis) as long as the evangelization of Nigritia should continue and his inheritance mature in his African Sons.

44. 0ctober 9th. 1881, the day before his death, he will say to his disciples: "My sons, courage for the present, but above all for the future".<$FDaniel Comboni, Capovilla, pp. 313, 317>
This consciousness his missionaries have perceived and it will be for them a source of courage after the death of their "father", whose presence "in mysterio" shall be for them a certitude of faith.<$F"His death has immersed us in the deepest sorrow, but the certainty that our Father is in heaven, has sustained us; we missionaries and sisters present at this death of the just, have repeated his battle cry: "Nigritia or Death". ibidem, p. 318>

45. The early death of Comboni, the precarious situation of his Institutes, the events accompanying his succession as Vicar Apostolic and guide of his Institutes caused the figure of the Founder to be left a little in the shade for various years.
Today we have at our disposal adequate instruments to understand and gather in its total dimensions the spiritual and human greatness of Comboni and the necessity of his presence in the formation of all future Comboni missionaries.

Comboni Formator

46. Comboni founded his Institutes and entrusted their direction to persons of his confidence. Although he may never have been directly formator of the missionary candidates, he was constantly pre-occupied to give precise indications to those who personally had that duty.
This results from the totality of his writings and, in a more specific way, from the Rules of 1871. These Rules like the orientations contained in his writings, remain an obligatory point of reference in the elaboration of the formative programmes of the Institute.<$FRL 1; 1.1; 1.2; 2.1; 80.1; 81.2>

The spirit of the Rules

47. The essential pre-occupation of Daniel Comboni with the young candidates that are accepted in his Institutes is to ensure that they receive a solid formation for the mission. 
The preface of his Rules reveals the spirit in which Comboni viewed the formation of his missionaries.<$FCfr. CEA pp. 161-182; Cfr. DCR>

48. Having as its aim the formation of Apostles, the Rules must base themselves on general principles and favour the capacity of the individual to "rule himself" in a way that is coherent with the principles, in the diversity of the situations in which the missionary will find himself. They must also give birth to a generous and free acceptance.<$FCfr. CEA pp. 250-251; MDC pp. 260-261, n. 92>
These guiding principles are for Comboni the principle of unity in the Institute and they confer the necessary stability.

49. Comboni wished the Institute to be a "Cenacle of Apostles".<$FCEA p. 252> That indicates the spirit of fraternity that must exist among the members and the importance of community life.<$FRL 3.3>

50. Comboni conceived the vocation to the mission as a consecration and as such he proposes it in his Rules. Fruit of an election on the side of God, this consecration expresses itself in a total and definite choice "for the conversion of the most abandoned souls in the world and the propagation of the Kingdom of God until death".<$FRules of 1871, chap. X, CEA pp. 264-270>
This total dedication is an essential condition in order to become a member of the Comboni Institute.<$F"No one shall be admitted to the Institute, neither Ecclesiastic nor Secular, unless he is disposed to consecrate himself entirely until death to the task of the regeneration of Nigritia" Rules of 1871, chap. II, CEA p. 253>

51. In the mind of Comboni the mission had an ample prospective, both in regards to the workers in the mission and to the services that these are called upon to exercise. "He is as much consecrated to the Regeneration of Nigritia whether he works as a master of piety, or instructor of technical or theological materials in the college of Verona, or helps in anyway in the Institute in the preparatory work in Europe destined to prepare elements for the Missions of Africa, as the missionary who is working directly for the conversions of the infidels in Africa itself..."<$FMDC p. 262, nn. 94, 95>

52. The Rule of Life, in defining the missionary service of the Institute as evangelization, missionary animation and formation is in complete syntony with the mind and testimony of the Founder who, in fact, spent his life in the evangelization of Central Africa, in the missionary animation of the Church in Europe and in the preparation of his missionaries.

53. In the Rules and in the correspondence with the rectors of the Institute and whit Propaganda Fide, Comboni often spoke of the virtues and interior attitudes to be cultivated in the candidates. These elements, dictated by his missionary experience and lived in a high degree by the Founder, constitute in a certain way the Comboni spirituality.<$FCfr. MDC pp. 259-271; Cfr. DCR, pp. 151-165>

Chapter Three
Fundamental elements of the Comboni identity

Premises

54. Daniel Comboni lived his vocation, striving to conform his life to that of Christ, the Good Shepherd of the Pierced Heart, choosing Nigritia as the field for the realization of his vocation, living it with specific attitudes and using a characteristic methodology and style of apostolic work. In these is expressed and made incarnate the Comboni missionary identity.

55. Comboni identity consists in the capacity of accepting the initiative of God as Comboni did, in letting oneself be consecrated by the Father with the gift of the Spirit and in recognising that one is sent by Him, in finding the model and source of the donation of one's very life in the Pierced Heart of Christ, the Good Shepherd, and in the ability to give one's life for the most "needy and abandoned" for love of Christ.
The fundamental elements of the Comboni identity may therefore be enumerated in the following way:

COMBONI SPIRITUALITY

Trinitarian Base

The sense of God as "Father"

56. Comboni had a profound "sense of God" in which he was educated in his family and in the Mazza Institute. While bidding fare-well to his first African expedition, Don Mazza declared: "Go therefore in the name of God, remember that the task to which you are dedicated is entirely His Work...And the glory of God, promote and seek only the glory of God..."<$FMDC p. 58, n. 8> This lesson remained always in the spirit of Comboni until the very end of his life.

57. The spirit of Don Mazza developed in Comboni on a double level: in the first place in the habit of judging things not by the miserable prism of human interests but in "the pure ray of the faith", secondly in the radical humility that will always lead him to consider himself a useless servant.
It is in view of this personal unworthiness, united to the certainty of his vocation, that the sense of trust in God acquires in Comboni a particular relevance.
It is from this living sense of God and from the consciousness of his own weakness that there breaks forth incessant prayer at all the moments of his life. Through faithful and constant prayer, God becomes a comfort in the uncertainties of daily life, in his anxieties and in his hopes.<$FMDC pp. 58-63, nn. 9-14>

58. Comboni desired to transmit to his missionaries this sense of prayer and in his Rules he wrote: "The life of a man who in a peremptory and absolute way breaks all his relations with the world and with all the things that are most dear according to nature, must be a life of spirit and of faith. The missionary who does not have a strong sentiment of God and a lively interest in His glory and in the good of souls, would be lacking in attitudes necessary for his ministry, and would end-up finding himself in a kind of emptiness and intolerable loneliness".<$FCEA p. 264>

Christ, The Good Shepherd of the Pierced Heart

59. "The mystery hidden for centuries in God", the eternal plan for the salvation of all men is realized in Christ Jesus Our Lord in whom we have the courage to approach with full confidence to God the Father.<$FEp 3,9-12>
The Church expresses this mystery of salvation with the eloquent words of the Preface for the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus: "Lifted high on the cross, Christ gave his life for us, so much did he love us. From his wounded side flowed blood and water... To his open Heart the Saviour invites all men, to draw water in joy from the springs of salvation".<$FPreface for the feast of the Sacred Heart, Roman Missal>
Comboni found in the mystery of the Heart of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, the source of his missionary zeal and the origin and model for his unconditioned love for the peoples of Africa.

60. The Comboni missionary, following the example of the Founder, is called to contemplate and to assume the interior attitudes of Christ, his unconditioned donation to the father, the universality of his love for the world and his coinvolvement in the sorrow and in the poverty of mankind.<$FRL 3; 3.2>

61. The Heart of Christ is a pierced heart, the Good Shepherd is also the Sacrificial Lamb. This mystery is made present in Comboni through an extraordinary experience of the cross, stemming from his missionary service. In the spiritual itinerary of the Founder, the Cross becomes always more an inseparable companion. Worn-out by illness, by suffering and difficulties of every kind, Comboni reaches a full identification with the mystery of Christ and will call the cross "his beloved spouse".<$FRL 4; MDC p. 372>
The Comboni missionary realizes that the cross is the "Royal Road" to salvation and "places at the centre of his life the Lord crucified, risen and always living"<$FRL 4.1>

"Under the impulse of the Spirit"

62. As the Scriptures say: "rivers of water shall flow from his breast".<$FJn 7,38> For the Founder the missionary is the man invested by the Holy Spirit who rises from the pierced heart of the Crucified One. Using the language of his times Comboni affirms that he is "inflamed by the spirit of charity of Christ Jesus":<$FMDC p. 226, n. 49> "Then he was carried away under the impetus of that love set alight by the divine flame on Calvary hill, when it came forth from the side of the Crucified One to embrace the whole human family; he felt his heart beat faster, and a divine power seemed to drive him towards those unknown lands. There he would enclose in his arms in a kiss of peace and of love those unfortunate brothers of his, upon whom it seemed that the fearful curse of Canaan still bore down".<$FMDC pp. 226-227, n. 50>
Comboni often speaks of the Spirit that issues from the Pierced One, "the grace of the Heart of Jesus"<$FMDC p. 204, n. 21; Cfr. AC, anno XXI (1983), vol. I, pp. 122-224> that renders the missionary capable of facing all difficulties and obstacles and to accept even martyrdom.

Models and privileged intercessor

Mary, Mother and model of the missionary

63. Devotion to Our lady had in Daniel Comboni diverse nuances, according to the various titles under which she was invoked: "Immaculate Virgin", "Queen of Nigritia", "Our Lady of the Sacred Heart"...<$FCfr. MDC pp. 346-352, nn. 199-203>
From his very first voyage to Africa (1857), Comboni considered the Virgin as "the precious comforter of the missionary"<$FMDC p. 347, n. 199> upon who she watches in order to defend him from dangers during his journey along the Nile.

64. To those in formation, Mary is presented as "the perfect model of the disciple of the Lord: artifex of the temporal and earthly city, but eager pilgrim towards the heavenly and eternal city; promoter of that justice that liberates the oppressed and of that charity which helps the needy, but above all industrious witness of the love which builds Christ in the hearts".<$FMC 37; Cfr. RL 24; 51.3>

St. Joseph, Patron of the Church and protector of Nigritia

65. Devotion to St. Joseph played an important role in the spiritual itinerary of Comboni. The just man, wise and faithful, was seen by Comboni in intimate union with Jesus and Mary with whom he forms a most holy triad.
Comboni entrusted Nigritia to the protection of St. Joseph and saw in him a privileged instrument of Divine providence to whom he had recourse with unlimited confidence.

66. St. Joseph continues to have for the Institute a special significance.<$FRL 51.4> Venerated as a model of that dedication to work which ennobles man and renders him a co-operator of God in the transformation of the world, he is also invoked as the patron of vocations.<$FR.Custos, nn. 22-24; 28-32>

The Holy Apostles and missionaries

67. In the writings of Comboni there appear with notable frequency the names of certain saints to whose protection the Founder entrusted the Institute and in whom he saw the embodiment of the essential characteristics of his missionary spirituality. The Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, St. Francis Xavier, models of apostolic zeal, audacity and total dedication to the missionary cause; St. Peter Claver, example of dedication to "the most poor and abandoned"; the Magi (the first converts) and the African Martyrs, indications of a preferential option for the first evangelization and the African continent; St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, expression of the contemplative dimension in the missionary life.<$FCfr. Rules of 1871, chap. I, n. 4>

68. The feasts of the saints who have a particular meaning for the Institute are celebrated in a liturgical and missionary context. In the formation of candidates these feasts become privileged occasions for recalling aspects and values of the missionary and consecrated life which have been lived and witnessed in a high degree by these Saints.<$FCfr. Rules of 1871, chap. X; Rules of 1872, chap. II, n. 32; RL 51.4>

Apostolic attitudes and virtues

Confidence in God

69. Faced by the obstacles and difficulties of his missionary work Comboni wrote: "I am certain of this, the Plan is of God... I am also certain that God has given me an unlimited trust in Him, so that I shall not leave this enterprise for any reason".<$FMDC p. 332, n. 183> This confidence is an attitude that can never be missing in the life of a missionary. "Confidence in God! it is so rare even among pious souls, because they little know and love God and Jesus Christ. If only they truly knew and loved Jesus, they would move mountains".<$FMDC p. 340, n. 192>

Total dedication

70. Daniel Comboni was distinguished by his total dedication (consecration) to the missionary cause. The source of this dedication was his unbreakable faith and the certainty that his vocation came from God.<$FRL 2> Contemplating the Pierced Heart, Comboni was unable to nourish any other love than that of giving his own life for the unfortunate Nigritia.

71. The Comboni missionary, following the example of the Founder, consecrates himself entirely to the missionary cause and makes it the guiding principle of his life; he is constant in activities, persevering in difficulties, patient and strong in supporting solitude, weariness and the apparent uselessness of his labours.<$FRL 2.2>

72. Total dedication is a fundamental attitude to cultivate in the formation of Comboni candidates. "They will often renew the offering of themselves of their health and life, to God. In circumstances of special spiritual significance, they will all make together and in common a formal consecration of themselves to God in which they will show how, with humility and trust in his grace, each one of them is ready for martyrdom".<$FMDC p. 263, n. 97; CEA p. 296>

Obedience and fidelity

73. From the Rules it appears that obedience "usque ad mortem" is the fundamental quality of the attitude of the missionary. Nothing more and nothing less can be demanded from the missionary in a vision of faith than to obey as the Son of God obeyed. He asked from the candidates "a firm and resolute determination to die to one's own will and to profess a perfect obedience to the legitimate superiors".<$FRules of 1871, chap. X> Obedience thus becomes, for the individual and for the Institute, a condition and expression of fidelity to the plan of God.

Ecclesial sense

74. Comboni was a man of the Church and he had for it indefectible fidelity and love. His love for the Church was born from a deep faith and from the certainty of the perennial and universal value of the salvific message that must be brought to the nations.

75. Comboni's love for the Church caused him to undertake untiring efforts to stimulate the missionary conscience of the pastors of the Church; filial and unconditioned obedience to the Pope and to the superiors of the Roman Congregations was no impediment to his reclamation and encouragement whenever he felt it necessary for the good of the Church and of the "souls" entrusted to his care. Typical is the effort he made during the first Vatican Council to open the Church to Africa.

76. At times his love for the Church sorely tried his patience, his constancy and his perseverance. In a particularly trying moment of his ecclesial service, Comboni wrote as follows: "Faced with certain events it is necessary to adore and keep quiet: Divine Providence will know how to realize to the last detail the diligentibus Deum omnia cooperantur in bonum".<$FRL 9; MDC pp. 214-258>
Comboni lived the "sensus Ecclesiae" not only in a vertical dimension by means of a perfect and even heroic obedience to the Pope and the Congregation of Propaganda Fide, but also in a horizontal dimension, because he was acutely aware of the necessity of far reaching Ecclesial collaboration in order to bring Africa to Christ.

Fortitude and apostolic zeal

77. Fortitude is one of the virtues that more clearly shines out throughout the life of Comboni. It has its roots in the contemplation of the Heart of Jesus and in the mystery of the Cross assumed as a path for the realization of his vocation and the salvation of Nigritia. It was never lacking at any moment in his life: he hoped against all hope.<$FCfr. MDC nn. 15, 21, 22>
The certainty of his vocation gave him such an apostolic courage as not to fear facing difficulties, obstacles and sufferings of every kind.
His words "Nigritia or Death" and "I have only one life to dedicate to the salvation of those souls: I would love to have a thousand to dedicate to that mission",<$FMDC p. 200, nn. 25, 26> are a clear expression of his apostolic audacity.<$FCfr. MDC pp. 234-239>

Apostolic charity

78. Animated by a profound love of God, Daniel Comboni poured out that love towards Nigritia for which he was willing to sacrifice a thousand times his life and his missionaries whom he loved with the love of a father and whom he wished to keep united notwithstanding immense difficulties.
The profundity of his love reached such a point that when he was betrayed and accused by those who were most dear to him, he made his own the words of the Apostle: "cupio anathema esse pro fratribus meis".<$FCfr. Rm 9,1-4>

79. The missionary is a man of charity, one who has "warm his heart by the pure love of God". So wrote Comboni to Sembiante in 1881: "They must be inflamed by charity that has its origin from God and the love of Christ; and when one truly loves Christ then privations, sufferings and martyrdom are indeed sweet".<$FMDC p. 273, n. 109>
This charity means that the life of the missionary "is to consecrate oneself until death for the mission", assuming at the due time fatigue, work, privations, continual hardship, exhausting labours, death and even the most brutal martyrdom. Every second of existence thus becomes an anticipation of the offering of one's life.

STYLE OF LIFE

"A new cenacle of apostles"

A community based on loved

80. The spirituality of the Founder generates in those who are called to live it a "style of life", that is a way of relating to one another, of welcoming, of sharing, of solidarity, that Comboni expresses by the words" a new cenacle of apostles".<$FLeter to Card. Franchi, 15.4.1876, DCS n. 4088, p. 1212; Cfr. also Rules of 1871, chap. I> "New" that is actualization of that primitive christian community presented by the Acts<$FActs 2,41-48; 4,32-35; 5,12-16> in which the interpersonal relationships were guided by the words of Christ: "I give you a new commandment: love one another; as I have loved you, so you should love one another";<$FJn 13,34> "I no longer call you servants... I have called you friends".<$FJn 15,15>

One family with diverse ministries

81. Comboni repeatedly stressed the importance of fraternity in the life, in the government and in the ministry of his missionaries, in the pluralism of the ministry of the priest and of the brother. "Our missionaries, be they priests or lay, live together as brothers in the same vocation... without competition or pretensions,... disposed to suffer one another and to help each other".<$FRules for the Missionaries in Cairo, 15th. March 1869, n. 1, AC anno XVI (1978), vol. I, pp. 50-58> "All live the common life"<$FIbidem, n. 6> "under the direction or dependence of the one who is appointed as local superior of the Institute".<$FIbidem, n. 1> "The Superior for his part shall consider himself as father and brother in the midst of them".<$FIbidem, n. 3>

Living and working together in community

82. Comboni was clearly opposed to missionaries being alone and isolated. "I shall never approve the system of leaving a missionary alone on his own".<$FLetter to Card. Barnabò, 30.6.1866, AC anno XII (1974), vol. I, p. 64> "If I did not know that Your Eminence had already experienced in other missions the tearful consequences of living alone, I would suggest with the warmest insistence that you should never permit a mission to be manned by only one or two missionaries".<$FLetter to Card. Barnabò, 5.6.1873, AC anno XX (1982) vol. I, p. 69>

83. In agreement with the thought of the Founder, the Institute attributes particular importance to community life. The Rule of Life fully illustrates its richness and defines its style and modality.<$FCfr. RL 36-45>
A good pastoral and community programme of action will permit the safeguarding of the essential values of community life even when, for apostolic motivations or personal situations, it is not possible to have a community with a sufficient numerical consistency.<$FCfr. RL 40, 40.1-5>

84. "Basic and permanent formation must tend to render the missionaries capable of living and working together, and promoting the growth of community so that they may be signs of that new humanity made possible in Christ".<$FRL 84.1.2, 90.2> "The will and the capacity to belong to a community of the Institute and to live in a different cultural ambient"<$FRL 88.1> is a sign of the Comboni vocation and a criterion of discernment as regards the vocation of candidates.

Collaboration in diversity

85. The Founder positively undertook to promote fraternity and co-operation among his missionaries, distinguished by origin (internationality) and by formation (priests and brothers formed in their respective dioceses or institutes). "These (missionaries) were all heterogeneous elements, whom I had to harmonize among themselves and lead to a unity of ideal under the one banner. With the greatest accuracy I studied the character, the gifts and attitudes of each one in order to give them an effective lead and in order to be able to use them to the benefit and success of our great enterprise".<$FMDC p. 266, n. 100>

PREFERENTIAL OPTION: MISSIONARY SERVICE

The most "poorest and abandoned" especially with regard to the Faith<$FRL 5>

86. The missionary choice of Daniel Comboni had as its object the peoples of Africa who, in that historic moment and in keeping with the missionary movement of the nineteenth century, appeared to him as "the most poorest and abandoned".<$FCEA p. 252>

Actual "Nigritia" situations

87. The choice of the most poor is an evangelical choice; in order to remain faithful to its own charism, the Institute must discern among the poor, those that are really the most "poorest and abandoned". The criterion of discernment must consider above all the condition of the people with regard to the Faith.<$FRL 5> The Institute, in fact, has as its purpose to actuate the evangelizing mission of the Church among those peoples or human groups not yet or only inadequately evangelized.<$FRL 13>

88. The Institute, faithful to the charism of the Founder, engages itself in the missionary situations of today: "preferring the poorest and most abandoned with regards to the Kingdom, especially those in situation of first evangelization; choosing the non-christian masses of Africa, Islam, Asia, Afro-american, frontier groups, city poor, situations of injustice and oppression, the young".<$FAC 85, 3; RL 14.2>

Missionary Animation

89. Daniel Comboni was also a great missionary animator. He travelled the whole of Europe, penetrating courageously into the most disparate ambients wherever he could hope to find aid and a solid base of support for vocations, prayers and means. He brought the missionary ferment and means. He brought the missionary ferment into associations, monasteries, and catholic congresses, calling the interest of Christianity to the redemption of Africa.<$FCfr. MDC pp. 275-317>

90. The Comboni missionaries, faithful to the charism of their founder, engage themselves in this specific field so that the Church may always be more conscious of its missionary responsibility and be more ready to assume it.<$FRL 72; 72.1>

MISSIONARY METHODOLOGY

The Hour of God

91. Through a reading of the signs of the times, Comboni realized that finally there had "dawned the time of grace that providence had designated to call all these peoples... to find refuge in the peaceful shade of the sheep-fold of Christ".<$FMDC p. 276, n. 111>
This intuition could only be the work of god, if we consider the situation of the Africa of that time and the opinion of the Africans that the Europeans had.
Faithful to this characteristic of the Founder, the Comboni missionary cultivates a particular sensibility for the signs of the times, for the history, the culture and concrete reality of the peoples to whom he is sent.<$FRL 6; 16>

"Save Africa with Africa"

92. Conceived in prayer and under the action of the Holy Spirit, the Plan inspired the missionary and apostolic action of Daniel Comboni and is a font of inspiration for his sons.

93. "Save Africa with Africa" signifies for the Comboni missionary that he must be at the service of the announcing of the Gospel and cooperate so that the local Church may reach maturity and ministerial self-sufficiency and in its own turn become a missionary Church.

94. "Save Africa with Africa" also means that the missionary must engage himself in the integral liberation of mankind oppressed by so many types of slavery. The life of Comboni was a shining example of engagement for this liberation on so many fronts. Comboni stood side by side with the peoples in situations of suffering, he struggled for the rights and dignity of persons, he made them realize their own ability so that could become masters of their own development.

Catholicity

95. Comboni through his Plan sought to co-involve and unite all the forces of the Church for the Evangelization of Africa. "The work must be catholic, not Spanish nor French nor German nor Italian".<$FMDC p. 243, n. 75>

96. It is part of the Comboni missionary methodology to be a ferment for unity, to help increase the missionary consciousness and endeavour of the Church, to overcome all prejudices caused by nationalism and to help people to live internationality.<$FRL 8, 17, 18, 19>

PART THREE
COMBONI VOCATIONAL PROMOTION

Chapter One
Missionary and vocational promotion

Comboni the animator

97. "Comboni considered it an essential aspect of his vocation to arouse the missionary conscience of the whole Church. He divided his time between the work of evangelization in Africa and the work of animating the Churches in Europe. In the work of mission promotion the Institute intends to remain faithful to the Founder's spirit of initiative and courage."<$FRL 72.1>

Charism of the Institute

98. In fidelity to the charism of its Founder the Institute considers missionary animation as an integral part of its own missionary service.<$FRL 72; AI 88, cfr. MCCJ Bulletin, 160, n.15> It must therefore be a distinguishing feature of all the Comboni provinces and of all the local Churches.

1
The missionary animation promoted by the Institute must clearly be "ad gentes" in order to help the local Churches to feel themselves responsible for the evangelization of the world. Such missionary promotion favours openness to the world, promotes ecumenism for the purpose of increasing collaboration among different religious groups and stimulates the pastoral agents, in a special way bishops and priests, in their zeal and in their apostolic motivations.

2
The task of Comboni vocational promotion has ecclesial value and apostolic efficacy only in so far as it inserts itself and becomes a qualified expression of the missionary sensibility and dynamism of a local Church.

Missionary animation and the Local Church

99. The local Churches are always more conscious that they are the subject of the mission and they are discovering their responsibilities with regards to the mission both "ad extra" and "ad intra". The activity of the Institute aimed at the missionary animation of the faithful takes place in the context of the ecclesial community. The Comboni missionaries offer their service through the witness of their lives and fidelity to what is specific to their charism.<$FRM 83>

Missionary and vocational promotion

100. A vocation is a gift from God. It is at the same time a call from God in view of a mission<$FCfr. Jer 1,5> and a free and generous response of a man with all his personal, familiar and cultural reality.

101. Therefore prayer for vocations is of the greatest importance. Each Comboni community must insert in its programme of life prayerful initiatives for this end.<$FLk 10,2; RL 74.1> In the tradition of the Institute particular importance is given to intercession to St. Joseph for this end.

102. Missionary vocational promotion is seen as an authentic ministry for the proclamation of the Gospel and the growth of the Church. It is also a service rendered to young people to help them discover their vocation in the Church and in the world.<$FDIFR 86-89>

103. Like every other ministry, the ministry of vocational promotion must be lived in the Church and in communion with it.<$FRL 72, 73>
Conscious that the Comboni missionary life is a gift from God to the Church and to the world, the Institute has the duty and right to present and make known its own proper charism in its concrete realizations: priests, brothers, sisters, seculars, associates and lay members.<$FRL 17, 77.2; RM 66; CPV 34, 36>

Chapter Two
Vocational promotion: pre-adolescents and adolescents

Premises

104. A vocation is a dynamic process which starts out from germinal attitudes and develops through vocational accompaniment.<$FRL 88>

105. Psycho-pedagogical sciences stress the importance of an formative presence during the period of early development. It is especially during this period that the person structures his own personality and, assuming values and identifying himself with models and ideals, gradually defines his own project of life.

Responsibility of the Institute

106. The Institute offers its vocation service by means of basic missionary animation, vocational promotion among pre-adolescents and adolescents and vocational accompaniment through
eventual formative structures which may be residential or non-residential.<$FRL 89>

107. The provinces which have residential formative structures for adolescents and pre-adolescents should establish, in conformity with their own proper socio-cultural-ecclesial reality and the concrete possibilities of the personnel available, which forms of vocational accompaniment they wish and are able to maintain in the province.<$FRL 89.5; 90.3>

108. The provinces which have no residential structures shall establish ways through which they may offer a contribution to the vocational growth of pre-adolescents and adolescents.

Finality and target-group

109. The vocational promotion of pre-adolescents and adolescents has as its aim to make the boys aware of the missionary ideal and to accompany the vocational development of those boys who are attracted by the Comboni missionary vocation, until such times as they may be introduced to the centres of formation.<$FRL 77; 77.1>

Objectives

110. The vocational accompaniment of boys is intended to reach the following objectives: a deepening, verification and discernment of the vocational intention; the development of those attitudes which are typical of this age-group, such as sociability, a life of friendship and willingness to serve others; awareness and knowledge of the Comboni vocation especially through direct contact with missionaries.<$FRL 77.2>

Methodology and contents

111. Every centre of vocational promotion has a programme that fore-sees the following moments: personal contact with the boys; visits and dialogue with the families of the boys; contact with their parish priests; special meetings during the course of the year.<$FRL 77.3>

112. During personal meetings, in the visits and above all during the special meetings the following themes should be developed: the urgency of proclaiming the Gospel; situations of under-development and injustice in the world; presentation of his own vocation on the part of the promoter; the missionary dimension of the Christian vocation and various forms of christian and missionary activity in the church; missionary testimonies.

113. The boys who have been accompanied in this phase are eventually directed to successive forms of vocational accompaniment if:<$FRL 89.1>

1
they manifest a sufficient openness to the missionary vocation;

2
they possess the necessary psychological and intellectual requisites;

3
they are fulfilling their role in the Christian community;

4
they come, normally, from a family background which is favourable to the development of a vocation, above all in regards to human values and the values that come from the faith.

Vocational promoters

114. In so far as regards the vocational promoters it is essential that: the vocational promotion be done in a team, in which at least one of the members has had an experience of mission work abroad; the personnel dedicated to this task have the necessary preparation; the entire Comboni community feels that it is responsible.<$FRL 76.2; 75>

Chapter Three
Minor Seminary and alternative forms

Premises

115. The minor seminary and its alternative forms are the programme of formation that the Institute offers to the pre-adolescents and adolescents who wish to discern and mature their Comboni vocational choice in its specific expressions: priest or brother.<$FRL 89.2>

116. Vocational accompaniment is offered to adolescents and pre-adolescents by the Institute for the following reasons:<$FRL 89>

1
the pre-adolescent and the adolescent periods are particularly significant moments for the discernment and development of the vocation and require an adequate accompaniment;

2
the parish and the family are often not prepared to assure, on their own, the successful outcome of this process;

3
the boy who desires to live our specific vocation needs to be in contact with those who already live it.

Methodology

117. The formative process passes through successive phases according to the ages of the boys and the educational system of each province and may be realized in different forms.

118. A common characteristic of these different forms is the vocational accompaniment which, in the minor seminary is realized in a residential setting; in the alternative forms it takes place in the family or in the local ecclesial community, which are thus co-involved in the growth and in the vocational discernment of the candidates.
Beyond the different forms and initiatives of individual accompaniment there shall also be communitarian formative encounters in a Comboni centre.<$FOT 2; PO 11; CPV 39, 40, 51; RFIS 11>

Educative Charter

119. In order to assure continuity and graduality it is necessary that the minor seminary and its alternative forms have their own educative charter. Each province provides for its formulation specifying the objectives of this phase and including those fundamental values which assure to the boy the development of a good personal identity. These are:<$FRL 90.1>

1
physical, affective and social maturity;

2
progressive personalization of the faith;

3
cultural growth;

4
openness to the values of the Kingdom, and to the problems of the world and of mankind;

5
education that enables the boy to confront himself and make a valid self-evaluation, self-awareness, spiritual accompaniment;

6
progressive insertion in the ecclesial reality;

7
a clear proposal of the Comboni vocation.

Formative exigencies

120. In order to ensure a valid educative-vocational process at this age it is necessary that:<$FRL 86.1; 87.1; 87.2>

1
the formative team be composed of persons identified with their vocation, pedagogically prepared and available for a certain stability in the work of formation;

2
where possible, the presence of a brother be assured in order to favour a more informed vocational orientation in the candidates;

3
the other members of the community favour a welcoming atmosphere and a style of life suitable to the formative exigencies and finality;

4
there be collaboration between the promoters and formators before accepting a boy into the seminary;

5
that there be contact between the formators, the family and the parish of the candidate.

Chapter Four
Vocational promotion among young people

Premises

121. Comboni vocational promotion is a service to the development of the missionary spirit of the local Churches. It corresponds to a growing local maturity and also to a more clear awareness that the promotion of Comboni vocations is an integral part of the missionary service of the Institute and an exigency of its internationality.<$FRM 79; AI 88, Cfr. MCCJ Bulletin, 160, n. 29>

122. Since the Institute is called upon to render a ministry of missionary animation and vocational promotion in diversified socio-cultural-ecclesial contexts, it is necessary to analyze carefully the reality in which it is situated so as to ensure an adequate comprehension of that reality and the efficacy of its service.

123. The provincial directories and above all the operative charters of vocational promotion must pin-point the characteristics, the values and the problematic aspects which condition and determine the type of vocational work in each province.

Finality

124. Vocational promotion has a specific dimension, that of the proclamation, the witness and the proposal of a life-long option for Jesus Christ, for the values lived and proclaimed by Him and for those to whom his message is preferentially addressed: the most poor.<$FRL 124>
The objective of Comboni vocational promotion is that of:<$FRL 77; 77.2>

1
helping young people who are considering their vocation to know the various options open for christian and missionary activity;

2
accompanying and helping young people to discern and progressively assume their own vocation;

3
proposing clearly the Comboni missionary vocation in its specific expressions: priest and brother.

Target-group

125. The Comboni vocational proposal is addressed to all young people in search of their own vocation, giving preference to those who are already engaged in the christian community. With due respect for their age, these young people are presented, with the missionary ideal "ad gentes" as it is lived in the Institute.<$FRL 77; RM 80>

Comboni vocational centre

126. For an efficacious vocational promotion it is necessary that in each province there be at least one vocational centre, organized and directed by a team of vocational promoters and which has as its scope:

1
to create an awareness in the province with regards to vocational promotion;

2
to introduce to the work the persons destined to vocational promotion;

3
to accompany the vocational development of the young people;

4
to prepare subsidies for use in vocational promotion;

5
to guarantee contact and exchanges with other eventual Comboni centres, the other Comboni institutes and the vocational structures of the local Church.

Methodology

127. The accompaniment of vocations is realized by means of a process articulated in various phases and normally lasting at least one year. In every phase the missionary vocation "ad gentes" is presented in a progressive fashion.<$FRL 77.1.2> The principal stages of this process are: the stimulating awareness, the information, the proposal, the accompaniment and the decision.

128. Providing information and creating awareness have the scope of stimulating the interest and the co-involvement of the young people in the reality of the mission. This is realized in a gradual manner by means of:

1
confrontation with the Word of God, lived in prayer and in the sacramental life;

2
study and reflection upon the reality of the mission;

3
personal engagement in apostolic activities in one's own ecclesial community.

129. The vocational proposal is the help offered to the young man so that he may gradually discover the project that God has prepared for him, identifying himself with a specific vocation. This is done by means of:

1
the presentation of the various forms of missionary dedication;

2
the presentation of the charism of Comboni and of the Comboni missionaries;

3
direct testimonies of missionary life;

4
the interiorization of the values proposed.

130. The accompaniment has as its objective the personal encounter with Christ that permits a value-judgement in view of the service of the Kingdom. This is done personally and in groups by means of catechesis, community prayer, confronting oneself with other young people.
Qualifying moments of this process are the frequent celebrations of Reconciliation and the Eucharist, participation in courses and retreats, and period of experience in vocational communities.<$FRL 77.3>
Personal accompaniment also includes spiritual direction, correspondence and other forms of personal contact.

131. The process of vocational accompaniment ends with the decision of the young man either to enter the postulancy or to follow another form of ecclesial commitment.

132. The continuity between the formative programme of the vocational promotion of the young and the formative programme of the postulancy should be guaranteed by means of periodic meetings between those responsible for these sectors.<$FRL 77.6; 87.5>

Contents

133. During the process of vocational accompaniment the following themes should be developed:

1
The plan of salvation. The missionary vocation is inserted in the plan of love of the Trinity which "desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth".<$F1 Tm 2,4> It is founded on the dynamism of the faith as a grace and commitment and arises directly from the christian vocation.

2
The encounter with the person of Christ. The young man must be educated to meet with the person of Christ and with his mission: his interior attitudes,<$FRL 3.2> his choices for the Kingdom, his preference for the poor, the little, the sinners.

3
The Missionary Church. The Church continues in time the mission of Christ. The young man must understand: the missionary responsibility of the christian community as a community of brothers at the service of the kingdom; the mission as proclamation of salvation. construction of christian community, listening-and sharing values among the different Churches, commitment for justice; the missionary component through-out the centuries, especially with reference to one's own continent; Mary, Mother of the Church, example of obedience to the call of God.

4
Daniel Comboni and the Comboni Institute. During the period of vocational accompaniment the young man enters in contact with the missionary experience of Daniel Comboni, with his charism and the actuation of it through the work and lives of the Comboni missionaries of yesterday and today. This experiential contact is essential in the process of vocational discernment.

5
The peoples to whom we are sent and their cultural and socio-political reality. So that the young man may be in a position to choose to share his life with the people among whom he will exercise his ministry as a Comboni missionary, it is necessary for him to know their reality and the riches of their culture.

Vocational promoters

134. For an efficacious work in this sector, vocational promotion among the young is entrusted to a team which normally includes a brother. At least one of the team must have missionary experience. The team has regular moments of prayer, planning and evaluation. From the vocational promoters it is required that:<$FRL 76.1; 76.2; 77.3>

1
they be identified with the Comboni vocation;

2
they have an empathy for and be in touch with the world of the young people;

3
they be prepared in the fields of vocational accompaniment and of the human sciences;

4
they know the cultural and human environment where they carry out their work.

135. The communities where the centres of vocational promotion function should be prepared to welcome young people who are considering their vocation. The presence and collaboration of the young men already in formation is an important element for the Comboni vocational proposal.<$FRL 75.1>

136. It is desirable that in this field there should be a fruitful spirit of collaboration with the Comboni Sisters and Secular.<$FRL 19.1>

137. Conscious of the importance and of the role of the mass-media in the world of the young, it is advisable that they be utilized in each province and that personnel be prepared for this sector.<$FRL 78, 78.4, 78.5>

Requisites for admission to the postulancy

138. The conditions and requisites required, so that a young man may be admitted to the postulancy, correspond to the distinct objectives which the Comboni vocational centre proposes by means of its programmes of accompaniment. They are presented in the present document under the numbers 266-270.

139. Before admitting a young man to the postulancy the necessary documentation must be procured. This is detailed in the provincial directory and, as a minimum, includes:

1
petition of admission with its motivations;

2
"Certificate of freedom";

3
certificates of baptism and confirmations;

4
scholastic and medical records;

5
opinion of a psychologist of confidence;

6
letters of presentation from the parish priest and from the guardian.

"Pre-Postulancy" and/or "Propaedeutic Year"

140. Although a period of vocational accompaniment of at least one year is the norm, there may arise the necessity of a supplementary period of formation before admitting the candidate to the postulancy.

1
The pre-postulancy is a form of vocational accompaniment that intends to favour the preparation of the candidates to the postulancy and to make-up for any eventual short-comings in their scholastic, human or christian formation.

2
The pre-postulancy is of variable duration according to the necessities of the candidates and the concrete situation of the interested provinces.

3
The interested provinces shall provide adequate initiatives regarding both the method and form of accompaniment and the formative structures.

PART FOUR
FORMATION OF COMBONI MISSIONARIES

SECTION ONE
GENERAL PRINCIPLES AND METHODOLOGICAL ELEMENTS

Chapter One
Comboni missionary identity

Premises

141. The consecrated missionary vocation is "an initiative of the gratuitous love with which the Lord calls to himself those whom he wishes<$FCfr. Mk 3,13; Jn 15,16; AG 23> transforms them strengthens them with his Spirit and sends them to carry his name to the nations".<$FRL 20; Cfr. Jer 1,5-lO; Is 49,1-5; 61,1-2; Gal 1,15-16>
The candidates, with the help of God's grace, commit themselves to correspond to the call of God, conforming their lives to that of Christ, the Good Shepherd, according to the charism and the spirit of Daniel Comboni that continues and expresses itself in the Institute of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus.<$FRL 1; 20; 21; 80>

Formation and vocational identity

142. The primary aim of formation is to enable the candidates to discover and then to assimilate and deepen their own proper vocational identity.<$FDIFR 6>
Formation, considered in its entirety, is therefore a process of gradual and continuous growth in the values related to the project that God has for each one he calls.<$FCfr. RL 81>

143. This process of identification and of development does not terminate with the end of basic formation but continues incessantly until the end of life.<$FRL 85> For the Comboni candidate, the process may be described according to the following stages:<$FCfr. DC 75, p. 70>

1
Before entering the postulancy, the young man must have reached a sufficient degree of human and christian identity, and have the desire, sustained by authentic motivations, to consecrate himself to the mission in the Comboni Institute.

2
At the end of the postulancy, the young man should have reached a degree of human-christian maturity and of missionary identity, that permits him to serenely undertake a first deep experience of Comboni life in the novitiate.

3
The novitiate permits the candidate to construct in himself the identity of a consecrated person, choosing freely as his own the Comboni family, having given proof of being able to commit himself by means of the religious profession.

4
The scholasticate and the brothers international centre give the possibility of living and verifying the commitments undertaken, affirming specifically one's respective identity as priest or missionary brother.

5
Finally, the Comboni identity continues to grow throughout the life of the Comboni missionary, affirming itself and enriching itself always more in fidelity, assuring to him perseverance and apostolic efficacy.

144. The process of identification described above implies an objective knowledge of oneself and of the Institute without reductionisms or idealisms. A person can not feel himself vitally part of an Institute unless he perceives and is aware of the limits of himself and of the Institute.

145. The internationality of the Institute leads the Comboni missionary to accept in a spirit of faith the plurality and the consistency of the ethnic groups that compose it, the differences of age and formation of the members and the diverse sensibility in methods of work and in forms of missionary presence.<$FCfr. RL 18>

146. The formative process helps to avoid, on one side, the idealization of the Institute, and on the other, negative or partial criticism that only discourages or blocks the process of identification with the Comboni family.

Essential elements of the Comboni identity

147. The Rule of Life contains the spiritual richness of the Comboni tradition, defines the project of life of the Institute and sets out clearly the unifying and essential characteristics.<$FCfr. RL 82-84>

148. These elements, which conglobe all other aspects, may be reduced to four: Sense of belonging, Mission, Consecration, Communion and Internationality.
The sense of belonging, the mission, the practice of the evangelical counsels and fraternal communion are characteristics of all forms of active religious life, but, in our Institute, they are lived according to the specific Comboni charism.<$FCfr. MR 11>

"Sense of belonging"

149. The explicit reference to the charism of the Founder during the period of basic formation, and also during the entire life of the missionary, is essential in order to construct the Comboni identity and a strong sense of belonging to the Institute. The process of identification is today more difficult because of a certain prejudice against institutions and also because of a strong attraction towards other centres of belonging. It is the task of formation to present models and create rapports that facilitate this process.

150. The "founding models", Christ, Mary, Daniel Comboni, are cultivated above all through that prayer which introduces to their presence. Living with these models puts in motion an important process of identification.

151. The "living models" (formator, spiritual director, community, missionaries) are cultivated by sharing with them everyday life and they become factors of identification in so far as they incarnate the charism. From this one can understand the importance of having formators and spiritual directors who are well identified with their vocation.

Mission "ad gentes"

152. The mission characterises all the existence and activity of the Institute. It determines its activities, its style of life, its organization, the preparation and renewal of its members.<$FRL 2.1> In this it is faithful to the testimony of its Founder, who made the mission the very reason for his life, and to the methodological indications left by him (Plan, Postulatum, Rules).

153. Since the candidate is called to pro-long in the Institute the charism of the Founder, it is indispensable that he go to the origins, to the very font and to Daniel Comboni in order to re-discover himself continually, to understand himself always more and to be more united as a person, so that he may realize in the same way the gift of himself to God and to the mission.

154. The demands of the mission today must be an indispensable formative element for purifying the motivations, for personal integration and for vocational discernment. They must stimulate and continually pass judgement on all the formative process.

Consecration

155. Daniel Comboni desired that his missionaries should be completely consecrated to the mission, but he did not found a religious institute. That fact, notwithstanding the form of religious life later assumed by the Institute, constitutes one of the elements of the Comboni identity.

156. The Comboni missionary feels called to live his baptismal grace with a greater fullness and in a radical way adhering totally to God, loved above all things, and to the service of Christ chaste, poor and obedient.

157. The religious consecration is, for the Comboni missionary, strictly connected to the mission and acquires it most profound significance in the Pierced Heart of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who gives his life for his flock.<$FCfr. RL 20; 20.1>

Communion and internationality

158. To live and work together is for the Comboni missionaries the secure path to the realization of their own missionary vocation. Community life corresponds to the intuition of the founder who wished his Institute to be a "Cenacle of Apostles".

159. Comboni Missionaries live in community sharing with responsibility the common mission and the richness of their gifts according to their specific vocations as priests or missionary brothers.<$FCfr. RL 23; 36-45>

160. A value of living together that is part of the Comboni vocational identity is internationality, sign of the catholicity of the Institute and of its missionary service.<$FRL 18>
Internationality is acquired gradually by means of suitable initiatives programmed during the periods of basic and permanent formation.

Comboni identity in its different forms: priest or brother

161. The Institute is composed of priests and brothers who live the very same vocation in fraternal complementarity and are called to become heralds of the Gospel as priests or brothers.<$FRL 10; 11>

162. United by the gift received in the grace of baptism and which they wish to live in its fullness on account of their religious profession, priests and brothers are sent to bear testimony that "the world can not be transfigured and offered to God without the spirit of the beatitudes".<$FLG 31; "The missionary is the man of the beatitudes. Jesus instructs the twelve before sending them to preach, indicating to them the paths of their mission: poverty, meekness, acceptance of suffering and persecutions, desires of justice and peace, charity, all of which expresses the very Beatitudes realized in the apostolic life. Living the Beatitudes, the missionary experiments and demonstrates concretely that the Kingdom of God has come already and that he has embraced it". RM 91>

163. By their life, their attitudes, behaviour and words, and by their freedom in front of the various forms of power, they live the prophetic mission, "educating" the community to be a sign of the Kingdom of God and engaging themselves by the side of the poor and oppressed in the struggle for the integral liberation of mankind.<$FRL 10.2>

The Comboni missionary priest

104. By reason of their missionary charism, the Comboni priests are called to found and develop christian communities for whose service they have been ordained. For this reason they listen like disciples and announce like apostles the Word of God, presiding at the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist;<$FCfr. PO 5> they promote the development and the growth of services and ministries which are necessary in the community for its life and its mission, paying special attention to those which refer to missionary service. They exercise the pastoral service of unity in the community and with other ecclesial communities.<$FRL 11.1>

The Comboni missionary brother

165. The Comboni missionary brothers realize their vocation participating actively in the building and growth of the human and christian community, through the exercise of their professional skill and/or a qualified commitment to pastoral service and the witness of their consecration. In this way they give a special contribution to that human promotion which is an integral part of evangelization.<$FRL 112; 61>

Comboni identity, aim of basic and permanent formation

166. Keeping in mind that the development of the definite Comboni identity does not end with the perpetual profession or priestly ordination, the formators create a sense of awareness of continual growth in a creative and persevering fidelity, inculcating a global and truly permanent conception of all the Comboni formative process. Thus are united, in a progressive and graduated process, the basic stages of formation and those that we now call "permanent formation".

Identity unified in the Spirit

167. The unity of the person of the chosen one is the serene integration of all his personality in the project of life that God has for him.
Interior unity is a gift of grace, fruit of the action of the Spirit of God, "which is Spirit of unity, of harmony and of reconciliation among men and in the person himself".<$FDIFR 17> It is, at the same time, fruit of a personal binding response that leads the chosen one to overcome progressively his own divisions and dichotomies, both internal and external, and to achieve a certain unity of life, patiently and constantly sought after, and never fully realized.<$FDIFR 18>

168. The love or God above everything, personal love for Christ, love of one's neighbour for the salvation of the world and the construction of the Kingdom<$FPC 6> form the principle of interior unity of every consecrated life.<$FDIFR 17-18>
"Unity of life may be verified in function or four grades of fidelity: fidelity to Christ and to the Gospel, fidelity to the Church and to its mission in the world, fidelity to the religious consecration, fidelity to mankind and to our times".<$FDIFR 18>

Chapter two
Vocational values in Comboni formation

Premises

169. The Rule of Life, in presenting the diverse aspects of the Comboni identity, places in evidence the values and attitudes necessary in order to live it in an authentic and renewed manner. Comboni himself presents a series of human and christian values that the candidate must acquire in order to be a missionary.<$FCfr. Rules of 1871, chap. VII, CEA pp. 259-262> Their possession and their Interiorization require the choice of determined activities, carried out in suitable environments and according to determined conditions.

170. Personal unity and interior equilibrium, besides being gifts of grace inherent in the vocations, are also the path for living in liberty and fidelity the apostolic consecration, for participating fraternally in community life, for growing in life in a mature and serene way according to the evangelical counsels and for integrating in a positive manner the commitments and the renunciations inherent in the Comboni vocational choice.<$FGS 12-22; GE 1-2; OT 11; DIFR 33-35>

HUMAN-CHRISTIAN DIMENSION

Physical equilibrium: health and work

171. The Comboni missionary style of life requires habitual good health and physical resistance: this favours harmony among the dimensions of the person.
In every community there should be found the normal conditions guaranteeing good health. The missionary himself shall be responsible for this, assuming habits of hygiene and order, participating in the common task of maintaining environment decorous and inviting, regulating his sleep and eating, practising gymnastics and sport.

172. Comboni desired his missionaries to be ready for sacrifice and a hard life, for work and temperance. The missionary had to be creative, able to make himself useful in the different services demanded by the mission.
For this reason, the basic formation demands that all comfort and ease, which weaken good-will and zeal, be shunned.
Work, not only is an occasion of ascesis and of education in domination of self but it is also a means of sustaining the candidates and makes them realize and share the situation of suffering and want common among mankind.
Temperance is the general dominion of one's self that is expressed in an austere and demanding style of life, accompanied by a sense of proportion and equilibrium, fruit of the ability to control positively one's emotions.

Psychic equilibrium: fundamental areas and types of maturity

173. Consecrated and missionary life in an international Institute requires the possession of a psychic equilibrium and the capacity to adapt, both of which pre-suppose the sufficient maturity of certain areas of the personality:

1
concept of one's self (personal concept of one's own worth, possibilities of success and limitations);

2
emotional stability (knowledge and self-control of one's reactions);

3
social responsibility (capacity of understanding the demands of the group to which one belongs and willingness to accept them);

4
interpersonal relationships (capacity of relating with the others, balancing the demands of the others with one's own individuality).

Affective maturity; capacity of true personal love

174. The whole process of formation is a process of continuous affective maturation and of growth in love towards one's self, towards the others and towards God. It is the capacity of loving in the gift of one's self and in letting one's self be loved, of giving and receiving, always with a generative and fecund attitude of one who procures the good and the growth of the other, overcoming all infantile dependence, adolescent rebellion and the narcissism of the adult who only considers himself.
In this process of affective maturation it is very important, above all in the initial stages (basic formation), to keep present two fundamental factors: the time that is demanded for respect and attention to the gradual growth in stages; the environment (witness) which must facilitate and not hinder growth.

175. A progressive critical orientation towards the truth of things, of mankind and of God helps to construct one's own identity and to give one's self in creative service.
This attitude, never fully possessed, is at the base of knowing how to give and of knowing how to give authentically. It is therefore an essential requirement for the maturation of human relationships and for the capacity of forming respectful judgements on men and events. It is also the foundation for a right intention, for the oblative will to place one's life at the service of the Lord, of the Church, of the brethren.

Intellectual maturation: capacity of reflection and of judgement

176. Society with its rapid and profound changes demands the capacity of overcoming the anxiety produced by these changes and the capacity for research without relying on solutions made once and for all time.
It also requires the disposition of creatively facing up to risk and novelty, learning to dialogue without preconceived notions, to accept interdependence, to exercise solidarity and to distinguish the permanent from the transient, without any extremism.
Intellectual capacity and, even more so, the capacity of reflection and of judgement are attitudes whose development must be continually cared for.

177. Signs of a sufficient intellectual maturity, which is not to be confused with the level of intelligence, are: the capacity of reading or interpreting reality as objectively as possible, without manipulating it or twisting it according to one's own personal needs; the capacity of recognising the problematic or harmful aspects of life and of procuring creatively the most adequate solutions; the capacity of sifting critically the many stimuli or messages, projected continuously by the mass-media; the dominion of reason over emotivity.

Maturation of the will: capacity of free choices

178. It is in the nature of human growth that the equilibrium between conscious and unconscious motivations should be more inclined to the former. A person is more integrated the more he succeeds in transforming his unconscious energies and motivations into conscious motivations and energies, in harmony with the exigencies of his vocational values.
This capacity for integration is the key of vocational authenticity. Some virtues contribute to this integration:

1
a sufficient psychological autonomy, sign of a well developed maturity of will. This means internal autonomy, which is freedom from every inhibition, rigidity and compulsion, and permits a person to put all his resources at the service of his own proper project of life. It also implies external autonomy which means freedom from environmental pressures, the capacity to take pondered decisions and to organize coherent initiatives, the capacity of forming plans and being faithful to them, the right use of liberty which knows how to assume the necessary responsibility for one's own decisions and choices.<$FOT 11>

2
strength and firmness of character, self-dominion; and, under another aspect, security, confidence, and the experience of liberty. One is in a condition to perceive with growing lucidity one's own internal and external experience, without distortions or negations (perception of own true worth, of one's limits, emotions, impulses, tendencies, motivations) and to accept it. In this way one can make even important renunciations without feeling negatively frustrated.

Social maturity: openness towards others, capacity of mutual acceptance and esteem

179. Community life and contact with people demand particular capacities for human relationships lived in serenity, in respect in reciprocal acceptance. Expressions of these attitudes are the following:

1
goodness, sincerity of spirit, constant respect for justice, fidelity to the given-word, gentleness in one's way of behaving, simplicity and the sense of proportion in relationship and behaviour, tactful solicitude towards others. Authenticity and freedom are not synonyms for through-otherness and ignorance, but knowing how to unite spontaneity and delicacy of manner.<$FPO 3; RL 38; 38.1; 38.4; 38.7>

2
the attitudes that facilitate dialogue, such as the capacity to listen and openness of spirit; those that render possible christian witness, such as the ability to establish relationships of friendship and to show one's self as an active member of the human group in which one lives;<$FRL 38.2; 38.3; RFIS 51>

3
the attitude of receiving the language of our time and of critically understanding that used by the means of social communication. This requires the comprehension and the esteem of human values, a constant up-dating in the actual culture of today and information on the problems;

4
the attitude of collaborating with persons near and far, and of accepting the authority of superiors as an intimate conviction and a duty of conscience.<$FOT 11>

180. This picture of values to be interiorized and of attitudes
to mature has a common basis: it demands that one be capable of putting one's self in rapport with others on an adult level, free from dependencies and rebellions of an infantile nature.

FOLLOWING OF CHRIST IN THE COMBONI LIFE

Experience of God and following of Christ

181. The ultimate objective of formation and of every formative initiative is to help the candidate in his progress towards an experience of God what will permit him to bear witness to it with his life and to communicate to the others the Good News.<$FRL 81; RM 91>

182. The values that inspire the Comboni life are those typical of the christian life and of the consecrated life in particular, lived and harmonized according to the experience of the Founder and the tradition of the Institute.

183. Like Daniel Comboni the young candidate is called to make an authentic experience of God the Person, Father of Jesus Christ, present in history and in the Church as a Saviour.
The following of Christ, Good Shepherd of the Pierced heart, renders the missionary his collaborator in the plan of salvation and so continues the work of Comboni. This is possible only by means of an intimate knowledge of Him and a continuous conversion of heart.<$FCfr. RL 21>

184. By means of a true discernment in the Spirit, the formator helps the candidate to verify his life of faith so that it may be not only an intellectual assent to the revealed truths but also a profound and personal experience of the God-Person.
Discernment on this point is indispensable and goes intelligently integrated with the suggestion of graduated and diversified exercises and methods of prayer that lead to a personal experience of God.

Prayer as union with God

185. Daniel Comboni was a man of faithful and constant prayer. In the life of the Comboni missionary, prayer must occupy necessarily a central role.
The formators find in the Rule of Life<$FRL 46-55> indications for a progressive initiation of the candidates to an encounter with God by means of:

1
personal prayer in particular, listening, meditation and contemplation of the Word of God;

2
community prayer which makes each Comboni community a praying community;

3
liturgical prayer, through which the Church celebrates and relives the mystery of salvation throughout the liturgical year;

4
prayer made together with the Christian community and through which the Comboni missionary expresses his solidarity with the people and assumes its desires, needs and hopes;

5
the celebration of the sacraments, especially the Eucharist and Reconciliation;

6
the celebration of the feasts of the Lord, of Mary and the more significant Saints, according to the tradition of the Institute and of the local Church, giving due value to popular religious sentiment.

Mission

186. The mission is the value that characterises all our being and our work of evangelization in the Church. At the light of the mission, which was the only passion of Daniel Comboni, we understand the sense and force of all the other values of the Comboni consecrated life.
It is indispensable therefore that love for the mission be the criterion that characterises from the very beginning of the formative stages the whole process of vocational accompaniment and discernment.<$FCfr. RL 13, 14>

Following of Christ for the Mission

187. Following Christ chaste, poor and obedient, the Comboni missionary gives himself entirely to the missionary service of the Church, actualizing the charism of Daniel Comboni.<$FCfr. RL 22; DIFR 11-12>

Chastity: gift of self at the service of the mission

188. Consecrated chastity is a gift of Lord that the Comboni missionary accepts with joy and gratitude, because it is a sign of God's love, font of fecundity and personal growth. By means of this virtue the missionary intends to follow Christ conforming himself to Christ's style of life.
This allows him to donate himself with more generosity and with more interior freedom to the service of the Kingdom. He chooses this evangelic way of loving with the constant commitment of giving himself totally to the persons that he evangelizes, making his own the sentiments of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.<$FRL 25; 25.1; DIFR 13>

189. The demands of missionary service and the fact that the vow of chastity "touches the most profound inclinations of human nature",<$FPC 12; S.Coe. 62-70> requires in the Comboni missionary a special degree of oblative-love and affective-sexual maturity.

190. The presence of oblative-love is manifested in the ability to live fraternal love, friendship, dialogue, internationality and sharing, above all in community. It is also manifested in the specific missionary service, seen as a true personal realization. This presupposes in the candidate the progressive growth of self-esteem, based on the confidence that God places in him. At the same time it makes possible a comprehensive knowledge and unconditioned acceptance of the other as such and respect for his values.

191. Affective-sexual maturity requires in the candidate the serene integration of his sexuality with the capacity to love. For this reason he is aware, with serenity and naturalness, of his own needs and of the affective reactions, especially with regards to the opposite sex and he learns to dominate and control his own sentiments.
He accepts the solitude inherent in the renunciation that the vow of chastity comports, joyfully giving witness with his missionary consecration, without taking refuge in activism, in closing in upon himself or in other affective compensations inside or outside the community.<$FRL 26.4.7; DIFR 39-40>

192. Concern and active participation for the good and the development of the other, with the ability to love and to allow oneself to be loved, whether in the community or among the people, places in evidence the generative and fecund attitude of a mature love, typical of one who lives concretely his vow of chastity.
By means of his consecrated chastity the Comboni missionary lives his fraternity in the community and becomes a constructor of fraternity among the people.<$F"And had come to love you so much, that we were eager to hand over to you not only the Good News but our whole lives as well". 1 Th 2,7-8; Cfr. Rom 12,10; 2 Cor 6,12-13>

193. To live his vow in fidelity, the Comboni missionary learns from the very beginning of his basic formation to contemplate the love of God. Conscious of his weakness he has recourse with humble trust to the help of the Lord, encountered in contemplation and experienced in the diverse situations of his daily life. He also has recourse to a healthy Christian ascesis that helps him to be faithful and he will be prudent and attentive t lo the sensibility of the people, among whom he is called to live.<$FRL 26.1.6; DIFR 36-38>

Poverty: visible sign of liberty and solidarity

194. The vow of poverty shows clearly that the richness of the Comboni missionary is only Jesus and his Kingdom. This implies the renunciation to personal and community self-sufficiency.
The choice of "the most poor and abandoned", made by the Founder, has an historical, geographical and social dimension that was motivated by the "sequela Christi" that leads one to assume the most profound attitudes of the Heart of Jesus.

195. The poverty of the Comboni missionary manifests itself in the choice of announcing the Good News to the poor in solidarity with them, with full confidence in Divine providence, realizing the relative importance of material means in the apostolate and prepared to share his life and goods.
The missionary accepts the changing and precarious nature of the missionary situation in which he finds himself and depends from the community in the use of material means. He also accepts the common law of work.<$FRL 27>

196. The tenor of life of the community must approach as closely as possible to the living conditions of the people. The testimony of the community and the education to a true sense of poverty are necessary conditions for the candidate to be able to assume and live this value.

197. Living with the poor and assuming their cause evangelizes the Comboni missionary and leads him to discover and participate in the values of the Kingdom already present in their lives. "It is not enough to work for the poor, but one must live with them and, in the limits of the possible, like them".<$FDIFR 28>
From the point of view of formation, it is important that from the very first stages of formation, apostolic experiences are proposed that put the candidates in direct contact with concrete situations of poverty. However "the exigencies of formation must prevail over certain apostolic advantages resulting from living in a poor environment".<$FDIFR 28>

198. Obedience to the common law of work is a concrete expression of the vow of poverty. During the period of basic formation, the principal work of the candidates is study, to be undertaken seriously and with a sense of duty.
Among the various formative activities of the candidates, let due importance be given to concrete forms of work, making the candidates realize the importance and indispensability of work for the apostolic life.<$FRL 27>

Obedience: fidelity to the salvific plan of God and the end of the Institute

199. The Comboni missionary, in so far as he is a disciple of Christ, expresses in his life, in his fundamental options and in those of every day, his unconditioned donation to the Father, for the service of the Kingdom.
He lives the vow of obedience as a profound actuation of his human and christian liberty, which leads him to assume and to make his the project of God as mediated by the Institute, in communion with the Church, open to dialogue and attentive to the signs of times.<$FCfr. RL 9; 16; DIFR 15>

200. Obedience demands from the Comboni missionary faith, human maturity, creativity and responsibility; it leads him to identify himself always with the end of the Institute<$FRL 33-35> and to accept actively and with a spirit of co-responsibility the role of authority; it gives great value to sharing and dialogue in the community, especially the community council and shared prayer.<$FRL 111; 50.4> It has as its purpose to discern the will of God<$FRL 39> with regards to the persons and the community. In this way the Comboni missionary interprets and lives the events, the problems and the situations of history in the light of the Gospel and in communion with his brothers.<$FRL 16; 35>

201. Obedience identifies the Comboni missionary with Christ "come not to be served but to serve"<$FMk 10,45> and who learned to obey through his sufferings.<$FHeb 5,8> United thus to Christ, the Comboni missionary experiences the mystery of life that springs from death.<$FRL 35.3>

202. The concrete experience of consecrated obedience purifies and directs the heart of the Comboni missionary in his need of self-realization. This implies an ascesis of the will, which is fruit at the same time of a growth in maturity of Faith and in human equilibrium.
Concrete signs of this human and christian maturity in the Comboni missionary are: knowing how to renounce and to offer himself completely, integrating his own personal projects with those of the community and also knowing how to reconcile his own personal values with those of the Church; assuming in his own person the situation of those who are marginalised by society, placing his talents and energies at the service of their growth and of their integral liberation.

The community

203. The community is a value lived and continually constructed in the context of Comboni missionary service. By means of fraternal fellowship and internationality it becomes a visible sign and instrument of the Kingdom of God. It helps to overcome individualism and it develops the abilities and gifts of the confreres for the common good.<$FRL 18; 23; 36>

204. In order to live in fellowship and to construct the community by means of his missionary service the Comboni missionary learns to recognise the fundamental laws of communication and to use the instruments and pedagogical technics which facilitate group dynamics and living together.

205. To adapt oneself to community life, in living together, in friendship, in dialogue and in respect for the differences of individuals, is one of the priorities of every Comboni formative programme.

Gift of oneself and vocational coherence

206. True personal and vocational realisation springs from the degree of donation of oneself to the Kingdom of God: it is only by losing oneself that one finds oneself.<$FMt 10,39>
This is possible only if the vocation puts down roots in the most deep centre of the Ego, balancing coherently its needs, its attitudes and the fundamental values of the vocation: union with God, imitation of Christ, vows, community, mission.
In this sense both basic formation and permanent formation must present a continuous process of purification of the motivations and strengthening of the values, so that vocational ambiguities or incoherences may be overcome and the candidate arrive at an always greater equilibrium between his deepest individual needs, his external attitude and behaviour and the demands of his vocation. This assures fidelity to his consecration, perseverance in his vocation and efficacy in his apostolate.

Chapter Three
Methodological elements for the interiorization of the values

The central role of the person in the Comboni formative experience 

207. Formation helps the candidate to make a free and responsible response to the action of the Spirit, the first and insubstitutable master, who transforms the person from within and models his existence upon that of Christ, according to a project of life similar to that of Daniel Comboni. The candidate responds personally and commits himself to a process of faith, cultivating attitudes and ways of behaving that are responsible and coherent with the call he has received.<$FRL 82; 82.1: DIFR 29>

Formation is "experiencing" vocational values 

208. In the formative process there are contents to be assimilated, dispositions to be acquired and attitudes to be lived. Formation has the purpose of making these pass from a proposal to a project, from values known to values lived. This takes place by means of an interior experience, a form of vital knowledge that springs, under certain conditions, from direct contact with God, with others and with reality.

Equilibrium between the cognitive and affective-experiential dimension

209. Values become the moving force and change attitudes only when they are found incarnated in models which are adequate to the age-group and are interiorized with the help of a personalized accompaniment within the process of the group or formative community.
Therefore, the transmission and comprehension of ideas and contents is not sufficient to ensure a change of attitudes and the acquisition of new habits. Leaving in second place the fundamental role of the sentiments and of experiences one falls into the excessive theorization of formation, and the result is that the values are accepted in theory but remain ineffective or provoke apathy and are rejected.

Globality of formation

210. The objective of formation is the development of the complete person through a process of human and christian integral growth, and of intellectual, professional, missionary and pastoral preparation. It is therefore important to ensure this global growth through an articulated process which is progressive and continuous<$FRL 83; 83.1; 83.2; 85> and in which the value to acquire are proposed progressively through objectives, aims, means and contents adequate to the age, exigencies and maturity of the candidates.<$FRL 90>

Unity and pluralism

211. In the formative process it is important to ensure the unity that must be constructed upon the Comboni identity and the sense of belonging to the Institute; but it is equally important to respect the pluralism that results from the internationality of the Institute and from the necessity of inserting the Comboni Charism in the different cultures.

Personalized formative accompaniment

212. A person matures in the measure in which he develops the totality of his constitutive parts, in an active relationship with other persons, the environment, the events among which he lives. Personal experience is always realised in these circumstances and must always be accompanied and guided by the formator.
Personalized formation places the accent upon the person as such and on the vocational values that must be freed and interiorized. The agents of this personalized formation may have a major or minor continuity of presence, different in its intensity and forms, according to the age, the maturity, the formative phases, the cultural situations and concrete possibilities.

213. In guiding the experience there are two possible extreme attitudes: the paternalistic that is imposed from outside and the "laissez faire" which leaves everything to the inclination of the moment and subjectivism.
The Comboni formator, instead, accompanies his charges by animating, suggesting, motivating. This pre-supposes in him the ability to dialogue, an attitude of listening, of communication and discernment, as well as the experience of moral authority, the awareness that he is the witness of vocational values that must be put forward with clarity and authority.
A personal guide ensures the Comboni candidate during his period of basic formation, and then later on, that he will receive that help which is necessary for the realization of his own personal vocation and the missionary work that will be entrusted to him.

Importance of motivations

214. The formative activities and relationships must be sustained by true and authentic motivations. The development of dispositions and gifts of grace demands a constant force of conversion, that purifies the motivations, and of renewal, that deepens constantly the vocational values.<$FRL 82.1; 85>
The true motivations belong to the nature of the vocation and to the Comboni charismatic patrimony. The Comboni missionary is also called to pay attention to the signs of the times, convinced that the Lord manifests himself through the necessities of the moment, of places and situations.<$FRL 6; 16>
These motivations become effective when the candidate makes them his own and makes them become the source and inspiration of his choices.

The mediations of the formative experience

The person called

215. Formation is a process of growth in which the young man is placed in front of his responsibilities and he assumes them in docility to the Holy Spirit. He accepts the ascesis that this process implies and he lives in a constant disposition of conversion and renewal. He develops in himself the typical aspirations of the youth of today to a life which is more personalized, more fraternal and responsible. He exercises himself in the virtue of perseverance, which respects the rhythms of his own process of maturity, but without discontinuity, and in a process which last all his life; he harmonises in a vital unity human growth, intellectual preparation, the deepening of his consecrated life and his gradual insertion in missionary work.<$FRL 82; 82.1; 83.2; DIFR 29>
When the young man has discovered his project of life and he loves it sincerely, he himself accepts actively the mediation of the formators in order to reach the aims and objectives of his vocational growth.

Daniel Comboni, element of unity in the formative process

216. Daniel Comboni is the mediation of the personal encounter of the Comboni missionaries with Christ and their living rule. The Lord has granted him as father and master and he is therefore trustworthy guide for the formative experience, indeed he is the living model for it. He is not simply a memory from the past, but an operative charismatic presence which looks forward towards the future.<$FRL 1; 1.1>
As Christ, through the communication of his Spirit, constitutes as "his mystical body" those who believe in Him,<$FLG 7> so in a similar fashion, the Founder constitutes as "an apostolic body" those who recognise themselves in the respective charism. His personal experience in the Spirit becomes the soul, the inward spirit, the motive of the life and apostolate of the group.<$FRL 1; 1.1>

217. The discovery and the experience of vocational identity begins therefore with the discovery of the Founder as the depositary of the original nucleus of the charism. He provokes a "sympathy", a common-feeling, an intimate consonance of values and ideals. In him the Spirit makes itself present and there is revealed that particular form of life and of mission which the Institute must fulfil in the Church. In him the candidates understand themselves better and they rediscover the true sense of belonging to the Institute. From him derives the unity of the Comboni missionaries notwithstanding the diversity of the cultures from which they come.<$FRL 81; 81.1>

Rule of life, "code of the alliance"

218. The alliance between God and the Hebrew people is the result of a profound experience of the attentive and liberating presence of God in the history of this people. Without obedience to the "code of the alliance" the liturgy and sacrifices become empty and useless, unity is destroyed, the vocation of the messianic people becomes corrupted and there arise new and more heavy forms of slavery.
The life of the Comboni Institute follows the same paradigm. God has called us to "an alliance" with Him and among ourselves;<$FRL 10> he consecrates us as his "property",<$FRL 20> he constitutes us as a community,<$FRL 36> he sends us to actuate the evangelizing mission of the Church<$FRL 13> according to the charism of Daniel Comboni.
The response to the alliance, lived first of all in and by the Founder, becomes now concrete and communitarian in the Rule of Life, our "code of the alliance". In fact entering into the Institute by his religious profession, the Comboni missionary commits himself to live "according to the constitutions of the Institute of the MCCJ".<$FRL 91> Without this point of reference there is a risk of falling into individualism, of seeing fellowship destroyed, the specific end of evangelization and animation covered-over, the "sequela Christi", which is the mystery of obedience,<$FPhil. 2,5-11> emptied of all meaning.

219. In order to ensure that the Rule of Life becomes the expression and source of Comboni spirituality, it is necessary that from the very first stages of formation the candidates are introduced to its understanding and interiorization by means of the following methodology:

1
Reading the Rule of Life in the light of the history of the Founder and of the Institute, so that they may perceive the experience that the "letter" has condensed. Indeed before becoming Rule it was life and lived experience, at times suffered and twisted by reason of human limitations.

2
Mediating the Rule of Life in order to apply it to life, to allow oneself to be judged and to be converted, to transform the "word" into wisdom, into attitudes, into a vision of life, into a mentality, into action.

3
Praying the Rule of Life, that is transform it into dialogue with the Father, with Comboni, for each one of the Comboni missionaries, for the Institute, for the various activities that it presents, in a deep experience of communion with the confreres.

Formators: identity, tasks and means

220. To evaluate the authenticity of the call and the liberty and maturity of the response, the Lord uses the mediation of the superiors and formators who must be recognised and accepted in a spirit of faith.<$FRL 86; 86.2>

221. The formators are at the service of the candidate in order to help him respond to the vocational project that God has for him. They must be men of faith, with a positive missionary experience, capable of communicating through their lives the Comboni ideal, endowed with the doctrinal and pedagogical competence required by their office and capable of living and working in a team.<$FRL 87; 87.2; DIFR 31-32>

222. The service of formator requires the following tasks: to animate and maintain an environment of fidelity to the Gospel, to the Rule of Life and to the educative charter; to cultivate the identity and complimentary nature of the different forms of the one unique Comboni vocation; to help the candidates to discern the action and the signs of God's Will; to accompany each individual according to his needs; to set out the spiritual, doctrinal and pastoral elements that correspond to actual necessities and future responsibilities.<$FRL 87>

223. The superiors and the formators have also the duty of verifying, in the name of the Church and of the Institute, the suitability of the candidates and of admitting them to the following phases of formation, to the vows and to holy orders.<$FRL 87,3; 88.2; DIFR 30> In order to facilitate the Superiors in carrying out their task of discernment, the evaluations of the formators concerning the candidates are, as far as possible, objective and complete, and they express clearly their judgement, negative or positive, especially when dealing with admission to perpetual vows and/or holy orders.

224. The means by which these objectives may be achieved and the forms of accompaniment, communitarian or personal are multiple. Personal and community encounters, conferences, catechises, community council, formative colloquy and spiritual direction are but a few of the many possibilities that serve this purpose. Among these, two merit particular attention: the formative colloquy and spiritual direction, both aiming at discernment.

Formative colloquy

225. The formative colloquy is one of the determining elements of personalized vocational accompaniment. The aim of the colloquy is to sustain and verify the process of vocational growth and of fidelity of the candidate to the commitments he has undertaken at a personal or community level, as regards prayer, apostolate, consecrated life, study and other values of Comboni missionary life. For this reason it also includes the life of the candidate in its deepest motivations and in its orientations.

1
According to the usage of the Institute the candidate will meet with one of the formators. The formator, because he shares the concrete situation in which the life of the candidate is developing, is the person qualified to help him to integrate the values, to construct progressively the unity of his personality and to reach the necessary Comboni identity.

2
A deep and serious formative colloquy also affords the formator the opportunity to express a serene and, in so far as is possible, a secure judgement upon the candidates and their attitudes towards the Comboni vocation. The candidates are informed that those aspects which emerge in the colloquy and are not strictly confidential shall be communicated to the other members of the formation team.

Spiritual direction

226. Spiritual direction is characterised by opening one's heart and conscience to another person so that one's life may be verified according to the Spirit and one may receive light and spiritual help in order to continue to progress. The principal object of spiritual direction is a personal rapport with God, prayer interior motives, self-dominion, and discernment of spirits. Frequent and profound spiritual direction is essential for the interior growth of a person and indispensable in order to assume serenely commitments for life, such as perpetual vows and holy orders, and to grow in fidelity and in the gift of oneself throughout one's life.<$FRV 54.3; 97.2; OT 8; RFIS 45, 55, 56; DIFR 30, 63>

1
The formators are, normally, the spiritual directors. However, the candidates must be given the necessary freedom of choice.<$FRL 86.3; CIC 239.2; 246.4>

2
When the formative colloquy and spiritual direction take place with the same person, the encounter may have different moments or times and the internal forum and external forum must be clearly distinguished.<$FCIC 240.2>

3
If the candidate chooses as spiritual director a person other than the formator it is preferable that he be a Comboni missionary. If this is not possible, the spiritual director must at least know the Comboni missionaries, the Rule of Life, the educative charter and the annual programme. At all events, the formators must know the name of the spiritual director of the candidates.
211 

Discernment

227. Formation may be understood as a process of discernment that is characterised as "attention" "to the movements of the Spirit" in the candidate, in the community and in the people, in order to grasp the "processes" that oppose and the "signs" that indicate its presence so that the proper decisions may be made and the corresponding dispositions assumed.

228. Discernment commits the candidate and the formator to a filial attitude towards God and to a loving research of his will. It also pre-supposes: interior honesty and an attitude of conversion, desire to conform oneself to Christ by following the gospel; openness to the community and especially to the formator; especial sensibility to the exigencies of evangelization.

Presence of values

229. The formator accepts in faith that a vocation may be present in the candidate. He assumes the attitude of a friend who accompanies and helps to release the values. He will be attentive to sift the authentic and coherent behaviour patterns and to question the vocation of the candidate when these are not present with sufficient intensity.

The Comboni community: mediation of the vocational experience

230. The Comboni ideal is normally perceived in persons who with their example and work make more easy the identification of the candidate with the Comboni charism.
The natural environment for vocational growth is the Comboni community where the candidate inserts himself with trust and collaborates with responsibility. The very life of the community, united in Christ, aware of the actual missionary situations and open to the demands of the world of today, is formative.<$FRL 84; DIFR 26>

The community of formation

231. The community of formation has special exigencies determined by the various periods of formation that require different rhythms. It is really efficacious when it concretely expresses in the lives of its members the Comboni identity. This requires:<$FDIFR 27, 28>

1
that community and candidates form a united family, where friendship and inter-personal rapport prevail;<$FRL 38; OT 5>

2
that among the various members of the community there be clarity as to their roles, always remembering that the formators are directly responsible for formation;<$FRL 86>

3
that formators and candidates, each in his own way, give life, through concrete actions, to a climate of co-responsibility and that they clearly actuate the formative purposes by periodically programming and verifying their way of living and working: for this purpose, especially in larger communities, the family council, group-work, revision of life, and other forms of encounter for fraternal correction and promotion, are very useful;<$FRL 38.5; 102.2>

4
that, although respecting the priority exigencies of the community, there be a reasonable flexibility in the timetable and in the distribution of the daily activities, so as to educate the candidates in the use and personal valorization of time and to encourage their spirit of initiative;

5
that due esteem be given to certain social values which familiarity does not diminish but rather demands and values: punctuality, discipline, cleanliness, good behaviour, practical norms, programmes of study, all to be harmonized with the various apostolic commitments.<$FRL 38.6.7>

Socio-ecclesial environment

232. Contact with the socio-ecclesial reality of the environment in which the candidate lives also serves as a preparation for the missionary service that he will be called upon to render. It is important to know how to balance the various values which must be interiorised during the period of formation so that the candidate may grow harmoniously.

233. Activities sustained by authentic motives are a formative moment in themselves. They mature in the candidates those dispositions and talents which are necessary so that the missionary service, in its due time, may be lived with full formative and apostolic efficacy.
This pre-supposes that all activities are previously programmed, accompanied and verified by both formators and candidates, having in mind the preparation of the candidates, the dosage and the specific Comboni aspect of the commitments, the gradual nature of the experiences and the other values of basic formation.

Prayer: a privileged means for interiorizing values

234. Prayer animates all the life of the community and is a radical condition for the experience of vocational values. Personal prayer in an intimate and vital relationship with God, prayer shared with the confreres and that shared with the people to whom we are sent, are all privileged moments of vocational growth.
The need to meet with God, which springs from the apostolic commitment, leads the Comboni missionary to personal and liturgical prayer; and God, encountered in an intimate and vital relationship, necessarily leads the missionary to the people to whom he is sent. Contemplation and action become two inseparable moments of the rapport life-prayer.<$F"The missionary, if he is not a contemplative, can not announce the Christ in a credible way. He is a witness of the experience of God and must be able to say with the Apostles: [that which we have contemplated, that is Word of life..., we have announced to you] (1 Jn 1,1-3)" RM 91>
Prayer is the daily bread of the Comboni missionary and without it "he would soon find himself in a kind of emptiness and intolerable loneliness".<$FCEA p. 264; RL 46-53> This is the privileged context for discernment.
In order to educate and form the candidates in a spirit of prayer is necessary to ensure:

1
an initiation to the fundamental elements of prayers (the Bible, Lectio Divina, liturgical-sacramental celebrations, the Liturgical Year, Liturgy of the Hours) and to some conditions which are particularly decisive (reconciliation with one's own history and acceptance of self, purification of one's heart, silence, conformity to the will of the father);

2
a gradual education to prayer in such a way as to accompany harmoniously the different moments of psychological maturity and of vocational commitment until a spontaneous union of life and prayer is obtained;

3
an initiation to the apostolic character of our prayer, so that the needs of the mission are always present in our rapport with God and this may always qualify our apostolic work;

4
a living perception of the Church which is first and foremost Missionary and whose liturgy orientates the communitarian and personal growth of vocational values;

5
a deep and rich experience of community life, as a determining condition for the interpersonal dialogue with God which is made in prayer, will create a climate of spontaneity and authenticity and place the basis of personal and community prayer always living and renewed, whose centre will be always the Eucharist;

6
an adequate valorization of the liturgical signs and of its musical expression, necessary and integral parts of the liturgy and every other moment of community prayer.<$FSC 12; Principles and norms for use of the Roman Missal; Principles and norms for the liturgy of the Hours>

Particular periods of "experience"

235. In the process of interiorization of the vocational values, eventual periods of "experience", which interrupt the normal formative curriculum, have a meaning if they are suggested and supported by the formators, are approved by the respective superiors and are motivated by a well enucleated problematic and with clear objectives to be achieved.
Such a finality must permit the candidate to arrive at a greater clarification and human and/or vocational maturity, in view of his probably continuing the formative process.
It is fundamental that the candidate be convinced of the necessity of the experience, that he accepts it with serenity, that he agrees with the concrete proposals elaborated by his formators and that he be accompanied by one of the formators or by another responsible person.

SECTION TWO

SUSTAINING STRUCTURES

Chapter One
At a general level

Rule of Life

236. The Rule of Life is the basic document for the determination of the vocational and formative process in the Institute. Every other document only makes explicit what is contained therein.

Ratio fundamentalis institutionis et studiorum

237. Vocational promotion and the formation of Comboni missionaries, in their principles and general norms, are presented in a specific and organic way in this document which substitutes all the other documents which were in use until now.<$FAC 85, n. 116>

Revision of the "Ratio"

238. The "Ratio" may be revised by decision of the General Chapter or of the Superior General with his council, who shall also determine the form of the revision, using for this purpose the general secretariat for vocational promotion and formation.

The Superior General and his council

239. The Superior General with his council has the ultimate responsibility for the vocational and formative process in the Institute. He exercises this responsibility above all:

1
approving and determining periodic revisions of the documents and orientative norms in the vocational and formative sectors;

2
programming the preparation of personnel for this sector;

3
nominating the masters of novices and the superiors and formators of the scholasticates and international centres for brothers;

4
visiting and animating the vocational and formative centres and giving directions in view of their adequate function.

General secretariat for vocational promotion and formation

240. The general secretariat for vocational promotion and formation is a tecnico-consultative-operative organism at service of the Superior General and his council and of the Institute.
It is constituted by a secretary and an eventual assistant. It has the purpose of evaluating, co-ordinating, promoting and strengthening vocational promotion and basic formation in the Institute.
The nature, objectives, tasks and structure of the secretariat are defined in the directory of the general administration.

241. Besides being at the service of the Superior General and his council, the general secretary ensures union and co-operation among the provinces by means of the provincial secretariats for vocational promotion and formation, and contact with the base by means of assemblies and re-unions.

242. The secretary general for vocational promotion and basic formation will keep himself informed about the situation of vocational promotion and formation in the provinces, he disseminates information and encourages the exchange of experiences between the provinces and offers assistance and collaboration in his sector.

The council of the general secretariat

243. The council of the general secretariat for vocational promotion and formation in the various continents, is formed by the provincial secretaries or those in charge of the sector during their mandate or their representatives, and by representatives of the brothers nominated by the Superior General and his council.

1
The council of the secretariat has a consultative character and it normally meets one year before the continental assembly of the sector and every time that it is considered necessary by the general council, in agreement with the general secretary of the sector.

2
The council of the secretariat has as its purpose: to verify and deepen the general lines of action of the general secretariat in the respective continents; to help in the realization and in the verification of the directives of the chapter and of the continental assemblies of the sector; to study particular problems of the sector.<$FCfr. MCCJ Bulletin, n. 169, p. 30, n. 2.1-5; Cfr. AC 85, 102>

Continental assemblies

244. Given the importance of facing the problems on a continental level, the general secretariat organizes continental assemblies for the sector, according to a programme agreed to with the Superior General and his council, and after consulting the provincial superiors and their councils. These assemblies are normally held every four years and have as their purpose: the permanent formation of the vocational promoters and the formators, the verification of the situation in the different provinces, the exchange of experiences and the programming of common initiatives in the formative and vocational sector.

Re-unions of vocational promoters and formators

245. Besides the continental assemblies, other specific re-unions may be organised for vocational promoters and formators, at the level of sectors and continents or at a global level, in order to study particular problems or when demanded by specific situations.

Chapter Two
At provincial and local level

Provincial directory

246. The provincial directory contains a section on vocational promotion and formation with the purpose of adapting the norms and directives of the "Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis et Studiorum" to the concrete reality of the province.

The provincial superior and his council

247. The provincial superior is ultimately the person responsible for the vocational and formative process in the province.<$FRL 90.3> He exercises this responsibility:

1
approving and establishing periodic revisions of the normative documents in the vocational and formative sectors of the province, and being vigilant so that they conform to the general directives of the Institute;

2
programming the preparation and rotation of personnel for this sector;

3
nominating the vocational promoters, the superiors and formators of the vocational and formative centres;

4
accompanying and following closely the vocational and formative situation in the province.

248. The provincial superior with his council gives particular attention to the sector of the brothers, freeing and preparing some brothers for the work of vocational promotion and formation. In particular, he ensures that at least one brother be employed full-time in vocational promotion and, in so far as is possible, that there is also a brother in the formation team.

Provincial secretariat for vocational promotion and formation

249. The provincial secretariat for vocational promotion and formation is a tecnico-consultative-operative organism at the service of the provincial superior and his council in the activities of vocational promotion and formation in the province.
Its activities and specific structures are defined in the provincial directory. It is appropriate that among the members of the secretariat there should be at least one brother.

250. The secretariat has the duty of animating and co-ordinating the vocational and formative activities for the province, verifying their functioning and proposing to the provincial superior and his council suggestions and initiatives suitable to vitalize the sector.

251. Through the secretary, the secretariat nourishes a good rapport and maintains a close union with the general secretariat, it regularly sends copies of the minutes of the secretariat and acts of sectorial assemblies and replies punctually to the queries and requests of the general secretariat.

Vocational promotion

Vocational centres

252. In every province there is at least one vocational centre, organised with the necessary means and staff in order to reply to the demands of vocational promotion in the province. Besides the normal vocational work, the centre can also initiate the personnel destined to the sector and prepare the subsidies necessary for vocational promotion.

Vocational promoters

253. In every province there is at least one full-time team of vocational promoters and they are given the opportunity to prepare themselves adequately for the task they are to undertake.

"Welcoming" vocational communities

254. In so far as is possible and following the evangelical methodology of "come and see"<$FJn 1,39> every Comboni community is prepared to welcome and help young people in search of their vocation.
Every province structures with suitable personnel and creates a propitious environment in one or two communities that will devote themselves specifically to this vocational ministry.<$FCfr. RL 75; 75.1;; 86.1; CPV 40, 51, 52>

Operative charter of vocational promotion

255. Every province has its operative charter of vocational promotion prepared by the respective secretariat and approved by the provincial superior and his council. The charter conforms to the general directives and norms of the Institute and clearly defines the objectives, the addressees, the methodology and the contents of vocational promotion programme.

Formation

Community of formation

256. The community of formation is the space offered by the Institute to adolescents and young men who wish to mature a Comboni vocational choice of life. The co-responsibility, the witness and the commitment of all the members of the community of formation are essential in order to ensure the attainment of the objectives of formation.

Educative charter

257. Each stage of formation has its own educative charter, elaborated in accordance with the general directives and norms of the Institute and approved by the provincial superior and his council, in which are clearly set-out the objectives, the aims and contents of formation and the means for realizing them.
The educative charter adapts the general criteria and principles to the concrete situation of each formative community.<$FCfr. Appendix n. 1> In conformity with the criterion of graduality and continuity, the educative charter of one phase takes account of the charters of the preceding and following phases.

Annual programme

258. The communities of formation prepare each year the annual programme in which the directives and general norms of the Ratio Fundamentalis, of the provincial directory and of the educative charter, are adapted and translated into a formative project for the concrete community.

Register

259. Every centre of formation has a register where the candidates who have passed through the respective educational process are registered. The register includes: the progressive number, biographical details, dates of arrival and of departure, other facts which may be useful for future statistical or historical research.

The archive

260. The provincial secretariats for vocational promotion and formation, the vocational centres and the communities of formation shall organize an archive for the preservation of documents of interest (directives and decisions of the general and provincial councils, conclusions of assemblies, minutes of meetings, operative charters, educative charters, annual programmes, subsidies, personal documents of candidates, historical dates and statistics) in order to facilitate the insertion of new promoters and formators, the continuity of initiatives and eventual studies and research.<$FCfr. Appendix n. 7>

PART FIVE
PHASES OF THE COMBONI FORMATIVE PROCESS

SECTION ONE
POSTULANCY

Chapter One
Nature and criteria of admission

Nature

261. The postulancy constitutes the first phase of Comboni formation; it is part of an organic process which is unitary and progressive and has as its objective to prepare the postulant for entry to the novitiate. In the postulancy the Institute offers to the candidate an environment and the necessary means for vocational growth, an initial experience of the Comboni charism and a responsible choice in view of the novitiate.<$FRL 91>

262. In so far as it is a period of trial and of vocational discernment, the postulancy, on the one hand, offers to the candidate the possibility of growing as a man and as a christian, clarifying his own vocational motivations and on the other, offers the Institute the possibility of verifying and discerning in the postulant signs of an authentic consecrated, Comboni missionary vocation.<$FRL 88.1; 91; 91.2>

263. The clear and explicit proposal of the Comboni vocation is made in an environment of freedom and responsibility that helps the candidate to mature a personal reply. This pre-supposes a certain flexibility of structures and programmes and a personalized formative accompaniment which respects the times and rhythms of growth of each candidate.<$FRC 4 c; RL 91.2>

Importance

264. The importance which the Institute attributes to the postulancy is in line with what is requested by "Renovationis Causam", by "CIC" and by the "Directives for the Formation of religious".<$FRC 4, 11, 12; CIC 597.2; DIFR 42-44>
The increasing internationality of the Institute and the fact that the postulancy is the only phase of formation existing in many provinces adds greatly to its importance and necessity. In the postulancy the candidates must assume their own cultural reality, familiarize themselves with the life and work of their province of origin and acquire the necessary human and christian maturity.

Duration

265. The postulancy is a formative structure at the service of the person and as such must be open to the youth of today, to the "actual physical and psychic conditions..., to the exigencies of the culture, to the social and economic circumstances".<$FPC 3> For this reason it require a sufficiently long period, from one to three years, and a clear personalization of the formative values and proposals.<$FRL 91.3>

Criteria of admission

266. Even though the postulancy remains essentially a period of trial and vocational discernment, there are certain requisites which are necessary for a person who aspires to live the consecrated, Comboni missionary vocation. In order to be admitted to the postulancy the candidate must:<$FRL 91.1>

1
accept to verify his vocational motivations in the Institute;

2
have substantially overcome the crises of adolescence;

3
have reached a certain level of affective equilibrium;

4
have already begun to live a personalised faith;

5
demonstrate sufficient apostolic initiative;

6
have a healthy physical constitution, psychological equilibrium and sufficient intellectual ability.

267. A knowledge of the candidates, of their families and of the home environment is a determining factor in vocation discernment. It is recommended to have recourse to experts confidence and psychological tests; these serve the young man (self-knowledge) and the formators (vocational discernment).<$FDIFR 43>
Experience and psychopedagogic sciences give some indications and practical criteria which are very useful for discernment in some particular cases.<$FDIFR 88, 89>

1
Age of the candidates. It must be less than 25 years. Beyond this age the candidates have a personality which is already structured and a style of life which is fixed, both of which cause excessive difficulty in adapting to the formative process. Eventual exceptions are to be decided by the provincial superior and his council.

2
Candidates who have not passed through the Comboni formative process. They must be guided for at least a year by means of a serious vocational accompaniment.

3
Candidates who come from other Institutes or diocesan seminaries. Full information and a positive evaluation of the formative process previously undertaken must be obtained.

4
Candidates from countries where there is no Comboni presence. It is necessary to evaluate seriously the danger of isolation, of being cut-off from one's roots and the serious difficulties that the candidate may encounter.

5
Only sons. It is necessary to evaluate with the candidate and his parents all the consequences of choosing a missionary vocation, so as to avoid in the future disagreeable situations for the candidate, his parents or the Institute.

6
Candidates that come from particular family situations: (sons of divorced or separated parents, sons of single mothers, sons of non-catholic families). A serious and deep evaluation must be made before admitting such candidates to the postulancy.

7
Candidates that present clear personal or family contraindications: (psychopathic, psychodependency, grave disorders in their ways of behaving, in their affective or sexual lives, past history of drug use, etc...). These candidates are not admitted to the postulancy.

Level of study

268. For admission to the postulancy a minimum level of academic study is required. This may vary according to the scholastic system of each country but it must be sufficient to initiate with seriousness the studies which are proper to this stage of formation and then to continue successfully in the following stages.

Candidates to the priesthood

269. Candidates for the priesthood must have successfully completed the minimum studies necessary in order to undertake or conclude the philosophical-theological curriculum.<$FCfr. n. 576, 584-586>

Brother candidates

270. For brother candidates, the scholastic levels necessary for admission to the postulancy are one of the following:

1
secondary education completed (pre-university maturity) according to the system of the country;

2
a profession with the respective title acquired or the possibility of completing or obtaining the relative title, normally during the postulancy and, in any case, before entering the Brothers International Centre.

Chapter Two
Finality and objectives

Finality

271. Supposing already present in the candidate a sufficient human-christian identity, the postulancy, as the first phase of the process of Comboni vocational identification, has as its finality the achieving of an initial identity with the Comboni family.
Its principal objective, therefore, is to permit the postulant a free and responsible choice of entering or not entering the Comboni novitiate.<$FRL 91> This requires that, at the end of the postulancy, the candidate is sufficiently mature to be able:

1
to follow Christ for the Kingdom by means of the evangelic counsels of chastity, poverty and obedience;<$FRL 21, 22>

2
to choose the mission "ad gentes" of the Church as an apostolic commitment and the reason of his very life;<$FRL 20, 56>

3
to choose the Comboni Institute as a community of brothers, where he intends to live his consecration and mission, identifying himself with its charism, its style of life and its apostolic methodology.<$FRL 10, 23, 36, 56>

Specific objective

Vocation and sequela

272. Accepting the missionary vocation as a gratuitous gift of God who calls, the postulant chooses to remain with Christ in order to be transformed by Him and sent to bring the Good News to the poor.<$FRL 20, 21> The postulant must be prepared to:

1
to perceive his vocation as, above all else, a gift from God to be accepted in faith and with a personal adhering to Christ and to His project of life;<$FRL 21.1>

2
to deepen and discern the motives that lead to the gift of self and to commitment to the "most poor and abandoned".

Mission

273. In so far as it is the choice and the very reason of life of the Comboni missionary, the mission springs from a personal encounter with Christ and must qualify the entire formative process in the Institute.<$FRL 21.1; 2.1>
Missionary awareness and interest, the sense of solidarity and the desire to share the life and lot of the poor, are values that must be encouraged and deepened during the postulancy.
So that the mission may not remain only an abstract ideal, the postulants should have:

1
the possibility of knowing and deepening their knowledge of the reality and significance of "mission today", by means of adequate catechises or brief courses of missiology;

2
the possibility of comparing themselves to figures or models of missionaries of yesterday and today;

3
the possibility of committing themselves to forms of missionary apostolate that are within their reach;

4
experiences of insertion in the midst of the poor.<$FDIFR 28>

The Founder

274. "The Institute receives its identity and its specific mode of following Christ from the charism of its Founder, lived in consecration in the light of the signs of the times". In order to identify himself with the Institute and its charism, the postulant needs to meet in a personal experience the person of the Founder, Daniel Comboni.<$FRL 1,1-3; PC 1; MR 11-12>

275. During the postulancy the candidate must encounter Comboni as a man of the Church, apostle and prophet of Africa, by means of a good biography and his principal writings, in order to:

1
grasp the ecclesial experience of Comboni and his significance in the history of the Church and of the Mission in the last century;

2
purify and reinforce his vocational motives in contact with and following the example of the Founder.

The Institute and its charism

276. During the postulancy the candidate is offered the possibility of knowing the Institute and its spiritual patrimony<$FRL 1.4; Cfr. PC 2b> by means of:

1
direct contact with the Comboni community and the knowledge of the concrete activities of the province and of the Institute;

2
the presentation of missionary figures, both priests and brothers, prominent in the history of the Institute and of the missions;

3
an historical perspective of the more important events in the history of the Institute;

4
the presentation of the Rule of Life in its essential elements: spirituality, style of life, complementary nature of the vocation to the priesthood or brotherhood, apostolic methodology, organization;

5
information on other Missionary Institutes, especially those with whom we collaborate in the various local Churches.

Chapter three
Aims and means

Premise

277. The realization of the objectives of the postulancy is possible only if pre-determined aims are met and adequate means are used. These aims may be substantially identified as: human maturity, christian maturity and growth in one's vocational identity. These are not separate realities but organically connected aspects and have as their unifying centre the person of Christ.
HUMAN MATURITY

278. The constitutive elements of human maturity, in this phase, are: knowledge of oneself and of reality, cultural and social identification, responsibility and affective maturity.

Knowledge of oneself and reality

279. This objective implies: a fundamental esteem of oneself, which is fruit of a good knowledge and acceptance of oneself, of one's own limits and qualities; authenticity, which is the effort of being more than appearing; the ability of reading facts with objectivity and of reacting to them in a suitable way.
In order to reach this objective the following are suggested:

1
information about the fundamental elements of the moral exigencies of Christian life as a point of reference for the construction of a sane hierarchy of values and a true self-knowledge;

2
conferences and subsidies about personality; application of some suitable technic and, if necessary, referral to an expert of confidence;

3
analysis of judgements upon others and of reactions in face of events, in order to discover the values that are at the base of one's personality;

4
education to sincerity, keeping in mind that it is always necessary to establish a rapport of confidence and therefore to give the time needed to make oneself known;

5
education to a profound and sincere acceptance of oneself with all one's aspects as an indispensable condition for proper evaluation of oneself and in order to accept and give due value to others;

6
critical reflection upon data and events of the local environment and of the world in order to analyze or elaborate them with objectivity.

Cultural identification and sociability

280. The young man who enters our Institute is called to live international community and, as a missionary, he will announce the Kingdom of God in other cultures. It is therefore indispensable that the postulant gradually learns to:

1
have his own proper cultural identity and sense belonging to a people, fruit of knowledge, critical acceptance and concrete experience of the typical values which unite him to his own people;

2
be open to the richness of other cultures, disposed to share with them their cultural values;

3
be prepared to listen and to dialogue with persons and groups that have different points of view.

281. Sociability implies openness to others, acceptance of diversity without fear or aggression, the ability to live in common, to collaborate and to sacrifice oneself.
As means to reach this objective the following are suggested:

1
overcoming nationalism, tribalism and diffidence towards different races or cultures;

2
stimulating a critical sense in relation to one's own and other cultures;

3
creating a family climate, a climate of spontaneity and responsibility, favouring communication, generosity, service and the creation of authentic interpersonal relationship;

4
study, work and apostolate in a team in order to encourage comparison and verify the ability to collaborate.

5
an effort to learn well the official language of one's own country; wherever it is possible, to learn a foreign language according to the indications of the Institute.<$F"The candidates who have a neo-latin mother tongue study English. Members of other linguistic groups study Italian or Spanish". Cfr. AI 82, 22>

Responsibility

282. To have a sense of responsibility signifies to carry out with seriousness the duties one has assumed, even when no one is watching or controlling; to be faithful to one's word and to community or personal commitments. 
In order to educate towards responsibility the following are suggested:

1
help in overcoming individualism, middle-class attitudes, time-wasting;

2
commitment in study and constancy in pastoral activity, above all when it is not gratifying;

3
collaboration in the running of the house, felt as one's own, where everyone must carry-out the work that has been entrusted to him and show a proper personal initiative;

4
education as regards the use of money;

5
a periodic verification of the commitments assumed.

Affective maturity

283. From the point of view of affective development, the specific stage of the postulancy, as also that of the novitiate, corresponds substantially to the progressive maturation of a fundamental capacity of "intimacy". This characteristic, indispensable for community life, pre-supposes already present in the candidate the basic human virtues of trust, autonomy, spirit of initiative and creativity, as well as a clear sense of identity and personal security. Intimacy integrates affectivity and sexuality in the subject, disposing him to an ablative love.

284. In particular, to acquire intimacy signifies first of all to be able to be at peace with one's self (an authentic sense of solitude and victory over egocentric isolation, spirit of reflection, of recollection and interiority also in prayer =intimacy with God); at the same time, it signifies being capable of empathy and comprehension, of friendship, communion and dialogue, collaboration and solidarity in all interpersonal relationships. Intimacy is therefore the human virtue that sustains the concrete practice of mature love even in consecrated chastity.

285. The complexity of modern society, the collapse of many taboos, the lack of adequate information and formation provoke a process of sexual affective maturation which is more difficult and drawn-out so that it may prolong the period of adolescence and youth.
In order to facilitate a good sexual affective maturation the following are suggested:<$FDIFR 39-40>

1
offer a serious catechises and information upon the values of sex, whose instincts are often presented only as physical needs to be gratified;

2
present sexuality and matrimony in a global Christian vision, and educate towards a positive acceptance of one's own sexuality and that of the others;

3
spiritual direction, conducted with respect and clarity;

4
lead to self-control in eating and drinking; help to assume gradually the virtues of temperance and Christian ascesis; serene and constructive meetings with girls, not in contrived situations, but in those situations offered by ordinary life (apostolate, religious celebrations, civil feasts, school, sport);

5
discern the motivations of the choice of celibacy and help the young man to progressively assume them;

6
knowledge, on the part of the formators, of the affective world of the postulants, of their families and of their environment.

286. Candidates who do not demonstrate signs of a serene and real control in the field of sexuality must not be admitted to the novitiate.<$FDIFR 39>

CHRISTIAN MATURITY

287. Gradually the postulant must be helped to understand and to live fully his Christian vocation, as proposed by the sacraments of initiation. The postulant, that is, must arrive at the point of accepting the Christian faith and life not only as something that he was given by the family or environment but as a gratuitous gift of the Lord and a free and personal choice.
As specific aims for a process of Christian maturation, importance must be given in particular to the deepening and developing of life as a son of God, a member of the Church in a community and as a person open to the local environment and to the world.

Son of God

288. The development of life as a son of God signifies in concrete: to live in Grace, leading an existence in which the Spirit gradually takes the paramount role; prayer, that is being in a stable and correct rapport with God; cultivating a personal and determining friendship with Christ.
In order to help the postulant become aware and deepen the awareness of the fact that he is a son of God, the following are suggested:

1
catechises on Christian initiation, according to the master lines of the preparation for Easter, underlining conversion, resurrection in Christ and the apostolic dynamism of the Christian community in the light of the Gospel of St. John and the Acts of the Apostles;

2
education concerning the central role of the Eucharist in DAILY life and as source of community life, by means of a catechises and celebrations, suitably prepared and lived.

3
formation of a sense of sin: a personal encounter with Christ is essential so that the postulant may truly know and accept his limitations and his sin, over and above all senses of guilt or legalism, and his inability to save himself by his own efforts; in Christ he makes an experience of God who pardons and saves, and of the new life which consists in assuming His attitudes and His style of life; appropriate catechesis, community penitential celebrations and the sacrament of Reconciliation help the postulant to undergo a profound process of conversion;

4
catechesis on personal and community prayer and, in particular, deepening and interiorization of the prayer of the Christian, introduction to the psalms and to the liturgy of the Hours, initiation in a method of meditation, as for example, the "lectio divina".

289. True to the principle that "one learns to pray by praying", the educative charter foresees moments of personal, community and liturgical prayer and other initiatives suitable for the spiritual formation of the postulants, such as moments of silence, spiritual reading, monthly retreat, spiritual exercises.

Actively belonging to the Church

290. The development of the sense of belonging to the Church, the people of God, implies the growth of apostolic zeal and of the sense of service. The following are suggested:

1
catechesis on the mystery of the Church, interest in the life of the Church, Sacrament of the Risen Lord, history of the Church and of the missions;

2
a gradual and stable insertion in a christian community where he may undertake some apostolic activity; such insertion is important because personal faith grows and matures when it is called upon by a concrete commitment to announce the Gospel and to construct the christian community; zeal, or its lack, is one of the signs which indicates the presence or absence of a missionary vocation.

Initiation to community life

291. The postulancy is always realized in a community of formation, in which one begins to experience the family spirit and 
fraternity open to the mission. The positive presence of the formators and of the other Comboni missionaries permits the postulant to know and love in a concrete way the Comboni community, verifying his own ability of choosing it as his new family. During this phase of formation, the postulant cultivates:

1
collaboration in the smooth running of the life of the community, developing thus his own sense of belonging;

2
openness to all the members of the postulancy, by means of sincere and authentic relationships;

3
the ability to accept the values and limits of the persons and of the community, educating himself to a spirit of realism and pardon;

4
an initial experience of sharing money and possessions;

5
initiation to the practice of community prayer, establishing his relationships with others at a level of faith;

6
a sincere and personal love for the Institute and its different missionary activities.

Initiation to poverty

292. The postulant, though not yet a member of the Institute and therefore without the obligations deriving from the vow of poverty, seeks to live the spirit of the vow. He frees himself from all attachment to things, imitating Jesus Christ poor and he identifies with the poor. Therefore:

1
he treasures the habits of industry learnt in his family;

2
he allows himself to be evangelized by the poor whom he proposes to serve;

3
he assumes with responsibility and availability the services required in the community;

4
he contributes to his own up-keep (study, board, clothing, travels) according to the criteria formulated in the educative charter, not hesitating to ask his own family to collaborate in the limits of the possible.

GROWTH IN VOCATIONAL IDENTITY

Vocational motivations

293. The postulant is assisted to discover the conscious and unconscious motivations for his choice. Discernment is a fundamental attitude in the process of faith and demands openness and willingness to allow oneself to be guided in the continual research of God's will. According to the Rule of Life, the signs of a Comboni vocation are:<$FRL 88, 88.1>

1
the desire and willingness to evangelize according to the finality of the Institute;

2
the comprehension of the consecrated life and the commitment to live it;

3
the will and the ability to belong to a community of the Institute and to live in a different cultural environment.

294. Notwithstanding the sincerity of the candidate, there may be, at least initially, insufficient and non-authentic motivations behind the application to enter the Comboni missionaries. Among these may be distinguished: to gain a position, entering in a respected social class; to have the possibility of continuing studies; to escape from one's own environment and travel abroad; to insert oneself in a group where one is protected from the uncertainties and difficulties of life; a commitment limited 
to the social and philanthropic field, external conscious an unconscious pressures.<$FCfr. DIFR 89>

Formative colloquy and spiritual direction

295. The postulancy is a process accompanied by the superiors and formators, to whom is entrusted the duty of discerning the attitudes of the postulant and deciding if he is sufficiently prepared for admission to the novitiate. Therefore in the vocational discernment the formative colloquy and spiritual direction play a decisive role.<$FRL 88, 88.2>

296. The formative colloquy and spiritual direction require a certain reciprocal trust and need a certain time in order to reach the necessary depth. It is important that the candidates understand that these methods are indispensable for personal growth and in order to permit a serene response to the call of the Lord.

297. The postulants are gradually instructed in the comprehension and practice of the formative colloquy and spiritual direction. They are taught the importance, the sense, the finality and the method of these means and also the tradition followed in the Institute.

298. The formative colloquy takes place at least once a month and is orientated above all towards the verification of the deep vocational motivations and of the process of the candidate towards the identification with the consecrated and missionary vocation in the Comboni Institute.

299. Spiritual direction is intended above all to verify the action of the Spirit in the life of the postulant and to help him to respond with fidelity to this action in his every day life. The frequency of the spiritual direction is agreed between the candidate and the spiritual director.

300. The postulants should have the possibility of choosing their own spiritual director from among the formators or the persons indicated by the Institute for this purpose.<$FRL 86.3; CIC 239.2; 264.4>

Verification and development of vocational motivations

301. In order to verify, correct and develop the vocational motivations, the following means are suggested:

1
study of the great "called" in the Bible (Abraham, Moses, the Prophets, Mary, Paul) and of outstanding missionary figures (above all Comboni and other significant Comboni missionaries);

2
analysis of the daily choices of the postulants in order to grasp the deep-lying interests that are the source of their actions;

3
analysis of the circumstances of the call of the postulants in order to see if it was an authentic moment of faith and therefore work of the Spirit;

4
personal testimony of the formator, including the narration of his own vocational history;

5
information about the life, the difficulties and the challenges facing the Church of today;

6
presentation of other Institutes, especially those present in the local Church;

7
education to a global vision by widening their interests, often limited by the small environment in which they live.

Apostolic activities

302. Apostolic activity plays an important role in formation; it can furnish precious indications about pastoral inclinations and attitudes, and construct a moment for verifying the apostolic dynamism of the postulants.<$FRL 90.8>

1
In the choice of apostolic activities one must keep in mind the preparation that the postulants have received so as not to place them in difficult or too demanding situations;

2
The apostolic activity of the postulants should be directed towards meaningful sectors and particular situations of poverty.

3
An area where the postulants could exercise their apostolic activity is that of missionary animation and vocational promotion.

4
The community of the postulancy is inserted in the life of the local Church in such a way as to become a true and active centre of missionary vocational animation.

5
Apostolic activities, in order to be formative, must be programmed, accompanied and periodically verified.

Chapter Four
Postulancy for candidates to the priesthood
and for brother candidates

303. According to the original inspiration of the Founder, the Comboni Institute is composed of priests and brothers. The diversity of their functions finds its unity in the common consecration to God for the mission, according to the same Comboni charism.
This fact renders more complete the ecclesial character of the Institute and more fruitful its activity, through the variety and complementary nature of their services.<$FRL 11>

304. Although they form a community whose members participate in the common baptismal priesthood and share the same life with equal rights and duties, making exception for those which are based on the sacrament of Orders, nevertheless priests and brothers carry out different ministries even though they are complementary.<$FRL 10; 11.1; 11.2>

305. The formative iter of the postulancy, even if it remains substantially identical for candidates to the priesthood and the brother candidates, is distinguished and characterised by the diversity of the ministries that the candidates will be called upon to carry out.

306. So that the candidates may assume more easily their own identity, the postulancies for candidates to the priesthood and for brother candidates are, normally, separate. However, in order to facilitate reciprocal knowledge and respect, common activities and initiatives are planned with a certain regularity.

CANDIDATES TO THE PRIESTHOOD

Elements of sacerdotal identity

307. During the postulancy, the candidates to the priesthood begin the process which leads to the ministerial priesthood and they are called to progressively interiorize some elements of sacerdotal identity. This objective is reached by cultivating in a special way those virtues and attitudes which characterize the life of the Comboni missionary priest.<$FRL 11.1; RFIS 45-58> The formators should begin to draw attention to the following aspects:

1
a deepening of the common priesthood of the faithful;

2
identification with Christ, Priest and Prophet of the new alliance, and Pastor of the People of God;

3
a taste for hearing and meditating the Word of God, education to a liturgical sense, preparation and celebration of the sacraments, in particular the Eucharist;

4
a spirit of prayer with and for the People of God through the liturgy of the Hours and other forms of prayer;

5
awareness and knowledge of the situations of the peoples, especially those among whom the Institute is present, comprehension of these situations in the light of the Word of God (education in reading the signs of the times);

6
a spirit of communion with the christian community; presence in its midst with a definite service.

Study

308. The priestly ministry demands a solid philosophical and theological preparation. During the postulancy, the candidates to the priesthood begin or continue the philosophical/theological curriculum, according to the indications of the Ratio Studiorum.<$FRFIS 59>

309. Study occupies much of the time of the postulants. It is important to insist on the importance of a serious and methodic study and to ensure a convenient space in the time-table.

310. The study of Philosophy may provoke in the postulant a crises of faith; it is the duty of the formator to help the student to motivate in a more rational and mature form his personal adhesion to the Christian values.
This requires that the student approach philosophy by means of a method of critical study which permits the student to undertake a rigourous research into the truth that will help him to ope himself to the faith in such a way as to succeed to grasp the relationship existing between the philosophical arguments and the mysteries of salvation.<$FOT 15>

311. It is important that at least one of the formators or member of the community of the postulancy be involved in teaching or be a member of the directive or representative council of the school frequented by the postulants and that there be a person in charge of studies.

BROTHER CANDIDATES

Elements of lay identity

312. Candidate brothers are called to realize their missionary vocation as lay people consecrated to God for the mission, sharing actively in the growth of the human and christian community especially through the exercise of a profession.<$FRL 11.2>

313. During the postulancy the candidates are helped to progressively interiorize the characteristic elements of their own lay vocation, to serenely assume their own identity and to make themselves evangelizers through the witness of life as men of God who live and work with the people and promote their condition of life and dignity.<$FRL 61>

314. In the formative team of the postulancy for brothers the presence of a brother is necessary.

Elements of professional identification

315. The exercise of a profession is the specific form, even if not exclusive, of the missionary activity of a Comboni brother.
Professional identity therefore is imposed as essential dimension to be acquired on the part of the brother candidates. The areas where the professional commitment of the brother finds its most ample space for realization are:

1
the commitment to promote and realize those initiatives which permit an bettering of the living conditions of the people;

2
the work of creating awareness among persons for the defence of human rights and social justice;

3
professional and technical formation of young people;

4
the preparation and animation of leaders for civil and ecclesial society;

5
participation in the administration of the works of the local Church and of the Institute;

6. the concrete exercise of a profession;

7
collaboration in pastoral work according to the needs of the individual communities;

8
service in the internal structures of the Institute.

Study

316. Study and professional preparation are essential commitments in view of the missionary service that the brother will be called upon to render. For this reason they are conducted with seriousness and according to the norms set out in the respective "Ratio Studiorum".

1
During the postulancy, the candidates must, normally, complete their basic professional training and obtain the human, theological and spiritual formation necessary to undertake the novitiate.

2
The professional courses that are not compatible with the normal duration of the postulancy are terminated after the novitiate, before entering the brothers centre.

3
The seat of the postulancy must be situated where there it is possible to carry out the studies required for the professional preparation and where the schools grant recognised titles or their equivalent.

4
Given the diversity of the preparation with which the candidates arrive in the postulancy, the duration of the postulancy has a certain flexibility, but normally it will not be superior to three years<$FRL 91.3>.

Human promotion

317. Given the specific nature of the vocation of the brother, during the postulancy the candidates shall have the opportunity to approach the world of work and social situations which may favour the growth of their awareness of the necessity of human promotion.
In so far as possible, the candidates make their apostolic experience participating in projects of human promotion.

Chapter Five
Subsidies and initiatives

Inculturation of formation

318. The postulancy is the formative phase most connected with the provinces and where the formation may assume more contextualized expressions. Since the "Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis et Studiorum" is a normative document of a general character, the Inculturation of formation is left to the provincial directories and the educative charters.<$FCfr. Appendix n. 1>

319. The acts and conclusions of the continental assemblies contain useful indications for adapting formation to the specific situations of each province.

320. Every postulancy has its educative charter, elaborated on the basis of the "Ratio" of the Institute, of the provincial directory for formation and the concrete reality of the postulancy.<$FCfr. Appendix n. 1> The educative charter helps the individuals and the communities to actuate the objectives proper to the postulancy. It:

1
is prepared by the formators and approved by the provincial superior and his council;

2
determines the entire activity of the postulancy as regards prayer, study, work, living in community, apostolate;

3
develops the formative lines and contents as regards human maturation, christian maturation and vocational identity, distributing them along the years of the postulancy;

4
specifies the means for the presentation of contents: catechesis, conferences, celebrations, community meetings;

5
gives directions so that hospitality and relations with the people do not draw the postulancy away from its finality and respect the rhythm of community life;

6
defines the concrete modality of the work of the formation team, according to the specific finality of the postulancy;

7
foresees moments of individual and community verification.

Annual programme

321. Each postulancy also prepares its own annual programme (timetable, services, activities, initiatives etc.etc.). In order to be an efficacious formative instrument, the annual programme must involve all the community of the postulancy, including the postulants. It is prepared in an environment of prayer and discernment, and keeping present the points of reference established in the "Ratio", the provincial directory and the educative charter.

Manual work

322. Manual work is a form of collaborating in the maintenance of the postulancy, an expression of solidarity with the most poor, and an exercise extremely useful for psycho-physical equilibrium. As such it is not remunerated and it gives no rights to any type of future remuneration. In the educative charter and in the annual programme moments of manual work are planned, to be organised according to the diversity of the situations of the postulancies.

323. Given the importance and the efficacy of celebrations for the young of today, it is recommended to plan these during the postulancy. In this sense one could:

1
organize a celebration of welcome for the arrival of new postulants;

2
introduce into the catechesis appropriate celebrations in order to give the postulants the opportunity to adhere in prayer to the values proposed;

3
organise some days of retreat on the occasion of petition for admission to the novitiate.

Periods of vacation

324. In the formative process of the postulant also the periods of vacation are considered as significant moments for his vocational maturation.
The educative charter establishes criteria for the different periods of formation, providing norms that define concretely the most adequate ways of occupying the holiday time.
Besides keeping in mind the necessity of due rest and contact with the family, it should also provide for apostolic activities agreed upon between the single postulant and the formation team (missionary animation, service in Comboni communities, work...).

Passing from the postulancy to the novitiate

325. The gradual, complementary and continuous nature of the formative process demands that the candidates reach substantially the objectives of one formative stage, before proceeding to the next.<$FRL 88.2>

326. The admission of postulants to the novitiate is the competency of the provincial superior with the consultative vote of his council.<$FRL 127.1> The presentation of the candidates on the part of the formator does not excuse the provincial superior from the pre-occupation of having a personal knowledge, even if limited, of the single postulants.

327. Only those candidates who can initiate the  novitiate with serious commitment and responsibility are to be admitted.<$FRL 92.1> This pre-supposes:

1
a discernment of the vocational motivations, matured during a serene and frank formative colloquy and frequent and profound spiritual direction;

2
a personal faith nourished daily by an encounter with Christ in prayer and in the sacraments;

3
a human maturity and an affective and psychological equilibrium that can guarantee that the candidate can live serenely the missionary and consecrated life;

4
a sufficient knowledge of the Founder and of the Institute and a clear choice of the Comboni vocation;

5
a theological and spiritual preparation sufficient to initiate the novitiate with profit.

328. In order to facilitate the continuity of formation and the unity of criteria, it is important to ensure:

1
frequent contacts between the formators of the postulancy and those of the novitiate;

2
contact between the master of novices and the postulants, especially those of the last year;

3
contact between postulants and novices.

@TITOLO2 = <P11M>SECTION TWO<P255D>
@TITOLO2 = <P11BI>THE NOVITIATE<P255D>

@TITOLO2 = Chapter One
@TITOLO2 = Nature and finality

Nature
@PICCOLO = 
329. "The novitiate, with which one begins life in the Institute, is ordered so that the novices, docile to the action of the Holy Spirit, may become more conscious of the divine vocation, which is proper to the Institute, experiment its style of life, and form their hearts and minds according to its spirit; at the same time their own intentions and suitability are verified".<$FCIC 646; DIFR 47>

Finality
@PICCOLO = 
330. The Comboni novitiate has the fundamental aim of leading the novice to the consecration to God the Father for missionary service, following Christ Jesus, the Good Shepherd, according to the experience and style of the Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus.<$FRL 92> As a stage of formation towards Comboni identity, the novitiate leads to the attainment of a clear consecrated identity.

Specific nature
@PICCOLO = 
331. The novitiate is a characteristic stage of formation to the consecrated life. In the long tradition and experience of the Church, sanctioned also by recent official documents, the novitiate has always been characterised by its own proper environment, contents and formative experiences, and by its own particular methodology: the initiation into a community under the guidance of a master.<$FDIFR 45-46>

The formative environment
@PICCOLO = 
332. An essential element of the structure of the novitiate is the "desert", understood as a dimension of life and that also includes an environment and structure that facilitates the encounter with God and the encounter with oneself, in recollection and solitude.

333. Independent of the "physical desert", the following aspects must be secured:
@PICCOLO = 
1
@EXBT = places and times of silence;
@PICCOLO = 
2
@EXBT = detachment from the world: moderate use of TV, radio, newspapers, contact with externs etc.etc.;
@PICCOLO = 
3
@EXBT = austerity of life which manifests itself: in a level of life which approaches as far as possible to that of the common people as regards the house, food, clothing, furniture etc.etc.; in responsibility in the use of goods; in the limitations of personal demands; in a poor and simple style of life.

Methodology
@PICCOLO = 
334. The characteristic methodology of formation in the novitiate is the initiation into the Comboni community under the guidance of a master and the alternative use of periods of "desert" and periods of apostolic experience.<$FRL 92.2; 93.1; CIC 648, 648.2; DIFR 52-53>

335. Initiation gradually leads to a conversion of mind, of heart, of attitudes and of the actions both of the single person and of the group, and to the following of Christ through the practice of the evangelical councils.<$FRL 90.1; 90.4>

Content
@PICCOLO = 
336. During the novitiate specific contents are presented by means of an adequate catechises, personal and community study and reflection. The points of reference around which the contents are programmed are:
@PICCOLO = 
1
@EXBT = the Word of God;
@PICCOLO = 
2
@EXBT = the Founder, Daniel Comboni;
@PICCOLO = 
3
@EXBT = the Rule of Life and the provincial directory;
@PICCOLO = 
4
@EXBT = significant figures among the Comboni missionaries;
@PICCOLO = 
5
@EXBT = the documents of the universal Church and of the local Church, especially those which relate to the missionary and consecrated life;
@PICCOLO = 
6
@EXBT = the witness and reflections of religious in the local Church.

The house and the community of the novitiate
@PICCOLO = 
337. The site of the novitiate, in so far as regards the geographical position, or the insertion into a concrete community, has a great importance for the functioning of the life of the novitiate and for reaching its aims. For this reason, no matter where it is sited, it is necessary:
@PICCOLO = 
1
@EXBT = to ensure to the novitiate an autonomous environment;
@PICCOLO = 
2
@EXBT = to avoid interferences and conditioning: the novitiate must have the necessary stability and prevalence over all other aims or activities;
@PICCOLO = 
3
@EXBT = to avoid the danger of activism or of escapism;
@PICCOLO = 
4
@EXBT = to ensure a formative community with a sufficient numeric consistency and in which all accept positively the project of the novitiate.

338. In order to ensure the finality of the novitiate, the master of novices may, if necessary, be also the superior of the religious community.

Responsibility
@PICCOLO = 
339. The novitiate is the second phase of formation in the Comboni life. It is organised in conformity with the Code of Canon Law<$FCIC 641-658> and is regulated by the Rule of Life, by the Ratio Fundamentalis and by the provincial directory.
@PICCOLO = 
1
@EXBT = The responsibility for formation in the novitiate belongs to the provincial superior and his council.<$FRL 90.3>
@PICCOLO = 
2
@EXBT = The opening or suppression of an novitiate and the nomination of the master of novices is of the competence of the superior general and his council.<$FRL 139.2; 139.3>
@PICCOLO = 
3
@EXBT = The necessity of ensuring unity in this phase of formation demands that some common directives be established for all the novitiates, to be made concrete in the educative charter, according to the diversity of the situations and the proper reality of each novitiate.<$FCfr. Appendix n. 1>
@PICCOLO = 
4
@EXBT = Normally, the novitiate is made in one's province of origin. However, there are some interprovincial novitiates and others may become so if difficulties of personnel or the restricted number of candidates in a province make it necessary, always bearing in mind the cultural factor and the language of the candidates.<$FCfr. DIFR 47>

Admission to the novitiate
@PICCOLO = 
340. The novitiate constitutes the first profound experience of the specific way of life of the Comboni missionaries; the candidate is admitted to the novitiate when he is sufficiently prepared to initiate it with a serious commitment and responsibility.<$FCIC 642; RV 92; 92.1; DIFR 49-50>
@PICCOLO = 

1
@EXBT = No candidate is admitted to the novitiate unless he satisfies the conditions laid down in the Rule of Life. In particular, if there are serious shortcomings in the field of affectivity or human qualities and if he has not reached a sufficient intellectual, spiritual, theological and Comboni preparation.<$FCfr. nn. 325-328>
@PICCOLO = 
2
@EXBT = For all candidates a minimum of one year's postulancy is required and a complete and clear evaluation from the formators of the postulancy.
@PICCOLO = 
3
@EXBT = It is convenient that the master of novices be present or at least that he be consulted when the candidates are admitted to the novitiate, especially in cases of doubt.

@TITOLO2 = Chapter Two
@TITOLO2 = The desert period

Significance and duration
@PICCOLO = 
341. The "desert" is a biblical dimension with two fundamental meanings: a place of meeting with God and a place of temptation, of the test that reveals the ambiguity of the heart and leads to self-knowledge.

342. So that it may reach its objective the desert must be a sufficiently pro-longed period, so that the novices may make a profound experience of God and of his action in their lives, and mature a decisive response to the call to announce the gospel.<$FRL 92.4>

343. The period of desert corresponds to the canonical year of the novitiate and lasts altogether not less than twelve months, divided in two moments: an initial period of at least eight months and a final period before the profession.<$FRL 93; CIC 648.1>

Objectives - content - means
@PICCOLO = 
344. The periods of "desert" are characterised by initiatives apt to reach the objectives of the novitiate, which are fundamentally the following:<$FRL 92.3; CIC 652.1; 652.2>

Experience of God in Christ
@PICCOLO = 
345. To lead the novice to the consecration to God the Father is the fundamental objective of the novitiate.
The deepening of the experience of God pre-supposes: listening to and mediating upon the Word of God; personal and community prayer; the celebration and the reading of the action of God in the life and in the happenings of every day; the liturgical celebrations.

Following Christ in the consecrated life
@PICCOLO = 
346. The novices are initiated into the understanding and the practice of the following of Christ made explicit in the vows and other values of the consecrated life.
As means to reach this objective the following are indicated: the presentation of the values of the religious life; the fortnightly colloquy with the master of novices; particular moments of desert; three courses of spiritual exercise, each to last eight full days, at the beginning, after the first year and before the religious profession.

Interiorization of the Comboni charism
@PICCOLO = 
347. No one can choose to belong to a religious family unless he knows and has experienced its specific charism.
In order to interiorize the Comboni charism the following are indispensable: contact with the Founder and knowledge of his writings, with the objective of grasping his spiritual experience in rapport to God, to the others and to the mission; an experience of the Heart of Jesus as the source of the spirituality of the Founder; the presentation, study and experience of the missionary consecrated life according to the Rule of Life of the Comboni Missionaries; the study of the history of the Institute; direct contact with the Comboni missionaries.

Initiation to the mission
@PICCOLO = 
348. The mission is the horizon towards which all Comboni formative initiatives tend and by which they are animated. In the tradition of the Church and of the Institute, the novitiate has its own proper characteristics that, in a certain way, limit the apostolic initiatives.
However, in order to ensure the missionary dimension of formation during the novitiate, the following means are suggested: the presentation of missionary spirituality; concrete knowledge of the missionary situations in which the Comboni missionaries work and the challenges of the mission today; apostolic activities as an initiation to the mission, especially during the specific period of apostolic activity.

Experience of community life
@PICCOLO = 
349. Community life is an essential dimension of the Comboni consecrated missionary life.
The following are offered as means which help to experiment and create communion: the presentation of the style of community life proper to the Comboni missionaries; participation in community life, favouring co-responsibility and sharing; the community council and group meetings; manual work and the various services in the community.

Self-knowledge and the interiorization of values
@PICCOLO = 
350. The period of desert is especially suited for a deeper selfknowledge and for the personal interiorization of values.
Suitable means for this scope are: the verification of the presence of values especially during the significant experiences of the novitiate; the regular colloquy with the master of novices; the preparation of personal histories and "profiles"; revision of life and fraternal correction and promotion.

Celebration of the most significant moments of the novitiate
@PICCOLO = 
351. The beginning of the novitiate, the beginning of the apostolic experience, the profession and other significant moments are marked with celebrations and particular signs.

Catechesis
@PICCOLO = 
352. The Rule of Life is the basic text and the point of reference for Catechesis. More than an academic lesson, this must have an experimental character and be followed by personal study and reflection and initiatives suited to help interiorize the contents.

353. The programme of catechesis, to be developed in the light of the Word of God, of the masters of the spiritual life and of the Rule of Life, besides general themes such as vocation, elements of ecclesiology, Christology, introduction to the Sacred Scriptures etc.etc., includes the following specific themes:
@PICCOLO = 

1
@EXBT = the novitiate: objectives, educational environment, methodology and content, educative charter;<$FRL 92; 93>
@PICCOLO = 
2
@EXBT = prayer: a deepening and experience of liturgical and personal prayer and of method of prayer;<$FRL 46, 48-52>
@PICCOLO = 
3
@EXBT = the Word of God: Lectio Divina, methods of meditation, contemplation and sharing;<$FRL 47>
@PICCOLO = 
4
@EXBT = the sacraments: in a particular way the Eucharist<$FRL 53> and Reconciliation;<$FRL 54>
@PICCOLO = 
5
@EXBT = the following of Christ: a general vision of the consecrated life: history, theology and  spirituality; consecration;<$FRL 20-23> Mary model of the consecrated;<$FRL 24> vow of chastity;<$FRL 23-26> vow of obedience-authority;<$FRL 33-35; 102-108> vow of poverty-administration of goods;<$FRL 27-32; 162-175>
@PICCOLO = 
6
@EXBT = community life:<$FRL 36-45> a visible sign of the new humanity; evangelizing Comboni community, internationality, interpersonal rapport; authority and co-responsibility; community charter; community council; collaboration and work in a team;
@PICCOLO = 
7
@EXBT = spiritual direction:<$FRL 54.3> nature, finality, methodology, discernment of spirits;
@PICCOLO = 
8
@EXBT = the Founder: charism and spirituality;<$FRL 1-9> fundamental papers (Postulatum, Plan, Rules of 1871);
@PICCOLO = 
9
@EXBT = the Comboni Institute and its missionary service: charism and spirituality;<$FRL 10-19> evangelization;<$FRL 56-71> missionary animation;<$FRL 72-79> formation;<$FRL 80-89> history of the Institute; significant figures; organization of the Institute;<$FRL 109-161> sense of belonging.

354. In the novitiate where the novices follow intercongregational courses, the specifically Comboni contents and the initiatives of interiorization are to be ensured.

355. Every novitiate has at its disposition the books and subsidies indispensable for the presentation and interiorization of the contents.

@TITOLO2 = Chapter Three
@TITOLO2 = Periods of apostolic activity 
and of community experience

Significance
@PICCOLO = 
356. The Rule of Life determines that there be, in the structure of the Comboni novitiate, periods of apostolic activity and of community experience, which should be organized outside the community of the novitiate.<$FRL 93; CIC 648.2>

357. This alternation between periods of "desert" and periods of apostolic activity responds to the exigencies of formation in a Missionary Institute, the members of which are called upon to leave for the service of the Gospel, in accordance with the actual praxis of the Institute and its original tradition.<$FCfr. Rules of 1895>

Objectives
@PICCOLO = 
358. The apostolic activity and the community experience are proposed in order to verify:
@PICCOLO = 
1
@EXBT = the vocational identification of the candidates;
@PICCOLO = 
2
@EXBT = the interiorization of values such as community and personal prayer, community life, consecrated life and missionary service, proposed during the periods of "desert";
@PICCOLO = 
3
@EXBT = the ability to integrate contemplation with action;
@PICCOLO = 
4
@EXBT = the ability to work in a team and to insert oneself in a concrete community different from that of the novitiate;
@PICCOLO = 
5
@EXBT = the ability to depart in the service of the most poor (also in one's own country) and to live in a different culture;
@PICCOLO = 

6
@EXBT = the ability to live in simplicity and austerity and a certain discomfort;
@EXBT = 
7
@EXBT = apostolic zeal.

Types of experiences and exercises
@PICCOLO = 
359. Among the various types of exercises and experiences, those which best help to reach the objectives of the novitiate are favoured:
@PICCOLO = 
1
@EXBT = experiences in environments of first evangelization or pastorally abandoned;
@PICCOLO = 
2
@EXBT = experience of difficult situations (hospitals, factories, marginalized, slums, city outskirts...);
@PICCOLO = 
3
@EXBT = experiences abroad in a different and demanding socio-cultural context;
@PICCOLO = 
4
@EXBT = experiences in Comboni communities; experiences of intense missionary animation;
@PICCOLO = 
5
@EXBT = pilgrimages (in small groups, on foot and in a situation of economic dependence for food, lodging...).

Duration and modality
@PICCOLO = 
360. The experiences are undertaken in the period between the two moments of desert and their entire duration is of at least seven months, including the periods of evaluation.<$FRL 93>
@PICCOLO = 
1
@EXBT = In order to better reach the objectives desired there are two distinct experiences of which one is in groups outside Comboni communities.
@PICCOLO = 
2
@EXBT = For the experience in the Comboni community, each novitiate regulates itself according to the possibilities of the respective provinces and the needs of the same.
@PICCOLO = 
3
@EXBT = Periods abroad with the sole purpose of learning a language are not foreseen during the novitiate.<$FCIC 648.2>
Preparation and accompaniment
@PICCOLO = 
361. The experiences are adequately programmed, prepared and accompanied by means of meetings for reflection, celebrations, prayer and personal dialogue.
@PICCOLO = 
1
@EXBT = The master of novices or his cooperator personally follows the experiences and has frequent and regular contact with the novices, always permitting a margin of freedom and initiative, according to the objectives that the experiences hope to reach.
@PICCOLO = 
2
@EXBT = The Comboni communities are informed and made aware of the significance and objectives of the experience and they choose a person to accompany the novices.

Evaluation
@PICCOLO = 
362. During and at the end of each experience there shall be an evaluation, both in groups and personally, considering the objectives prefixed for the experience.
@PICCOLO = 
1
@EXBT = The evaluations of the persons who have followed and accompanied the novices in their experiences, especially in the Comboni communities, shall be collected.
@PICCOLO = 
2
@EXBT = The indications which appear in these experiences shall be taken into consideration in the future progress of the community and of the single candidates.

@TITOLO2 = Chapter Four
@TITOLO2 = The master of novices

Figure and preparation

363. "The scope of the novitiate requires that the novices be formed under the guidance of the master, according to a rule of formation, to be determined by the proper law". "The direction of the novices, under the authority of the major superiors, is reserved entirely to the master".<$FCIC 650.1, 650.2; DIFR 52>

364. Since the formative methodology of the novitiate is initiation, the "master" is the spiritual guide who co-ordinates and animates the entire formative process. Catechesis conducted systematically, the personal and regular colloquy, re-unions for evaluation, are the principal means at his disposition to introduce the novices to the Comboni missionary life.

365. Given the specific nature and the importance of the novitiate in the formative process of the Institute, the superiors shall have the maximum care in the choice and preparation of the novice masters.
Besides the specific pedagogical, spiritual and theological preparation, the novice master must also possess:
@PICCOLO = 
1
@EXBT = good experience of prayer and the ability to communicate;
@PICCOLO = 
2
@EXBT = the ability to communicate in a vital way the Comboni tradition;
@PICCOLO = 
3
@EXBT = good missionary experience;
@PICCOLO = 
4
@EXBT = an openness to the signs of the times and to the condition of modern youth so as to present himself an up-to-date master, with a special friendship and interest in youth;
@PICCOLO = 
5
@EXBT = human richness that makes him capable of goodness in his human contacts and in dialogue, so as to inspire trust and confidence;
6
@EXBT = the ability to work in a team with his direct co-operator and with all the community of the novitiate.

366. It is convenient that the master of novices, before assuming his office, has the opportunity of passing some time of preparation in a Comboni novitiate with significant experience and tradition.

367. The stability of the novitiates and the continuity of the formative process requires that the novice masters remain in their office for a period not inferior to 6/8 years.

Evaluation and admission to the vows
@PICCOLO = 
368. The candidate is admitted to temporary profession by his provincial superior with the consent of his council.<$FRL 95; 127.2> For the admission of candidates to profession the judgement of the novice master is fundamental.<$FCIC 652.1>
@PICCOLO = 
1
@EXBT = Before the profession the novice master organizes the process for the evaluation of the candidates to profession. Besides the community and the formative team, each of the novices may be called to give his opinion according to the modality considered most opportune by the novice master.
@PICCOLO = 
2
@EXBT = No candidate may be admitted to profession unless a "moral certainty" as to his suitability is reached. If there are serious doubts, the hope of a positive evolution does not constitute sufficient motivation for admission to profession.<$FCIC 653.2>
@PICCOLO = 
3
@EXBT = When a sufficient moral certitude has been reached that a candidate is not suitable, the decision is communicated at once to the interested party and to his provincial superior.

On-going formation
@PICCOLO = 
369. Besides the specific preparation, today more than ever the on-going formation of novice masters is a necessity. For this reason, beyond their personal study, the novice masters shall take advantage of courses, assemblies, contact with other novitiates and periodic encounters with formators from the postulancies and international scholasticates/centres.

370. The siting of novitiates must be such as to facilitate contacts and the possibility of on-going formation for the masters and the collaboration of other persons in the formation of the novices.

@TITOLO2 = Chapter Five
@TITOLO2 = Particular aspects

Inculturation of formation
@PICCOLO = 
371. The novitiate is a formative phase with characteristics and objectives clearly defined by the directives of the Church and the Institute. However, it is inserted and incarnated in the socio-cultural-ecclesial context of the country and continent where it is situated. More concrete indications for this insertion are found in the provincial directory, in the conclusions of the continental assemblies and in the educative charter of each novitiate.<$FCfr. Appendix n. 1>

Educative charter
@PICCOLO = 
372. The stability and the continuity of the formative process are ensured by the educative charter of the novitiate, elaborated in conformity with the Rule of Life, the "Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis et Studiorum" and the provincial directory, as well as the established traditions that grow up in each novitiate.

373. The educative charter is prepared by the novice master and his co-operator, with the collaboration of the community of the novitiate, in dialogue with the novices and is approved by the provincial superior and his council. It:
@PICCOLO = 
1
@EXBT = specifies the objectives proper to the novitiate and the means for reaching them;
@PICCOLO = 
2
@EXBT = develops the formative lines and content proper to the novitiate;
@PICCOLO = 
3
@EXBT = structures the entire life of the novitiate with regards to prayer, community life, study, work, apostolate;
@PICCOLO = 
4
@EXBT = structures the periods of desert and periods of apostolic activity and community experiences;
5
@EXBT = foresees moments of verification for the individual and the community.

Annual programme
@PICCOLO = 
374. Each novitiate also prepares its own annual programme (time-table, celebrations, activities, initiatives, services...) keeping in mind the points of reference established by the "Ratio", by the provincial directory and by the educative charter. The preparation of the annual programme involves all the community of the novitiate and constitutes a moment for deepened awareness of the objectives of the novitiate.

Complementary nature of the ministries
@PICCOLO = 
375. According to the Rule of Life and the tradition of the Institute, the novitiate is the one and the same for candidates to the priesthood and candidate brothers. The educative charter foresees a serious reflection upon the variety and complementary nature of the ministries proper to the priest and to the brother.

376. Given the specific nature of the vocation of the brother, there shall be in the novitiate a brother who, possibly, can collaborate with the novice master in the formation of the brothers. The presence of the brother is seen as witness and occasion for reflection not only for the brother candidates, but also for the candidates to the priesthood.

377. During the novitiate there are some times reserved to the group of brothers. Due importance must be given to work, and in the limits of the possible, the novice brothers shall engage in activities that help them to exercise and extend their professional knowledge.

378. In directing the novice brothers to apostolic activity or missionary animation, care is taken to choose those sectors that are most in agreement with their specific missionary work.

Manifestation of preferences
@PICCOLO = 
379. The master will explain to the novices the significance of the preferences and the criteria followed by the superior general and his council in assigning newly professed to the scholasticates or brother centres. The indications that, from time to time, are supplied by the general secretariat for vocational promotion and formation are also kept in view.

1
At the end of the novitiate, the novice may present his preferences for the scholasticate in which he is interested.<$FRL 93.2>

2
In the case of novice brothers, as well as their expressed preferences, the titles of their studies, indications of their professional qualifications and other useful information should be forwarded to assist the general council in assigning the newly professed brothers to the international centres.

Study of languages
@PICCOLO = 
380. Learning foreign languages is a constant occurrence in the missionary life and meeting with this difficulty helps to create the personal discipline necessary for the future.

1
During the novitiate the novices continue to study a foreign language according to the indications of the Institute. The candidates whose mother tongue is a neo-latin language, shall study English. Those of other linguistic groups shall study Italian or Spanish.<$FCfr. Al 82, 22>

2
The study of a language during the novitiate does not have as its immediate objective the scholasticate/brothers centre but communication within the Institute.

Testament
@PICCOLO = 
381. Before the temporary profession, the novice makes his testament, disposing of the goods in his possession and those that may come into his possession in the future. The testament must be valid and in conformity with the law of the land.<$FRL 31,1-3>

Holidays at home
@PICCOLO = 
382. The following of Christ presupposes a radical evangelical option of which detachment from one's family is a necessary component.<$FLk 9,57-62; 14,26; Mt 8,21; 12,37> In order to educate the novices towards this progressive detachment, there are no holidays at home during the novitiate.

Continuity of formation between the novitiate
and the scholasticate/centre
@PICCOLO = 
383. Given the specific nature and the particular methodology of formation in the novitiate, the passage to the scholasticate/centre is a jump full of inevitable risks. The newly professed encounter a new language, a different culture, an international community, a serious commitment to study, a process of formation that is characterised by liberty and personal responsibility.

384. In order to safeguard the continuity of formation between the novitiate and the scholasticate/centre, the following suggestions should be kept in mind:

1
prepare and create an awareness among the novices that the scholasticate/centre is an ulterior phase of formation and personal and community growth in the values assumed during the novitiate;

2
present to the novices the formative process and the specific methodology of the scholasticate/centre, as it is described in the "Ratio" and in the educative charter of each scholasticate/centre;

3
forward to the formators of the scholasticate/centre an evaluation and complete information concerning the newly professed, focusing upon areas of growth, limits and the most significant problems encountered during the novitiate;

4
ensure regular meetings between the masters of novices and the formators of the scholasticate/centre, for an exchange of information, study of problems and comparison of the formative guide-lines.

385. From the date of profession until their departure for the scholasticate or Brothers International Centre, the newly professed are under the care of their provincial superiors. These shall establish a programme which, according to the circumstances, includes a period of holidays at home and the insertion in a Comboni community.

386. The newly professed reach the scholasticate or international centre to which they are assigned within the dates fixed by the general council or the respective formators.

Chapter Six
Interprovincial novitiates

Seat

387. The seat of interprovincial novitiates is determined by the superior general and his council in dialogue with the provincial superiors and the councils of the interested provinces.

Authority

388. The superior general and his council have the ultimate authority over the interprovincial novitiates. He has the right, in dialogue with the interested provincial, to:

1
nominate the novice master;

2
eventually change the seat.

389. The provincial superiors of the provinces of origin are the major superiors of their respective novices:

1
they admit them to the novitiate and to the first profession;

2
at the moment of their passing to the novitiate they transmit to the novice master the necessary biographical and formative documents;

3
they maintain contact with them, through the reports of the novice master, visiting them personally at least once a year, especially before the admission to the vows, and sending information about their respective provinces;

4
they have the right to make observations concerning the novitiate to the novice master and to the local provincial, and to send eventual points of some importance to the general council.

390. The provincial superior of a province which hosts an interprovincial novitiate, represents juridically the superior general and his council before the local civil and religious authorities. He:

1
is the delegate of the superior general and his council for accompanying the community of the novitiate and ensuring its proper functioning;

2
visits regularly the novitiate and each year, after having discussed it with his council, he prepares a report for transmission to the general council, through the office of the general secretariat for formation and vocational promotion, and to the interested provincial superiors.

Novice master

391. The novice master is an effective member of the province where the interprovincial novitiate has its seat. He:

1
participates in the initiatives of the province, above all in those regarding formation;

2
sends to the provincial superiors periodic information concerning the situation of their respective novices;

3
through the respective provincial, he recurs to the superior general and his council for directives, clarifications and requests.

Admission to the novitiate

392. The admission of candidates to the novitiate is reserved to their respective provincial superiors and their councils.

Profession

393. The admission of novices to the first vows is reserved to their respective provincial superiors and their councils.
Novices, admitted to the first vows, make their first profession in the novitiate or, eventually, in their province of origin.

Dismissal

394. The dismissal of a novice depends on the novice master, in dialogue with the candidate and the respective provincial superior.
In cases that require an immediate decision, the novice master informs as soon as possible the local provincial and the provincial concerned.

Economy

395. The financial onus of the interprovincial novitiate is borne by the interested provinces, according to agreements made by the respective provincial superiors and their councils.

SECTION THREE
SCHOLASTICATE
BROTHERS INTERNATIONAL CENTRE

Chapter One
Nature and requisites

Nature

396. In the formative process towards a full Comboni vocational identity, the period of temporary vows constitutes the moment in which the candidate is called upon to assume the Comboni missionary identity as a priest or brother. This process is characterised as:

1
a moment of verification of the personalization of the values assumed during the novitiate (life of faith, prayer, consecration, community) in an environment of sufficient autonomy which forms fidelity and coherence in different socio-ecclesial situations and contexts.

2
a moment of growth and of the deepening of these values in a serious facing up to the Word of God, the Rule of Life, the formators, the community, adequate formative structures and initiatives;

3
a moment of specific preparation for missionary service, by means of the study of theology, initiation to the priestly ministry or to professional work.

Specific nature

397. The scholasticate/brothers international centre is a community of young religious of different nationalities, united by the same missionary consecration and guided by a team of formators.
It offers the newly professed the possibility to experiment, with liberty and responsibility, his fidelity to God and to the community in the concrete situations of life and it prepares him for the perpetual profession and the ministry that he will exercise in the missionary service, as a priest or as a brother.<$FRL 97; CIC 659-660; DIFR 58-59>

Initial requisites

398. The newly professed enters into the scholasticate/centre with the following specific dispositions;

1
serene identification as far as concerns his own Comboni choice of life;

2
willingness to grow in fidelity to his own missionary consecration;

3
human-christian maturity and cultural identity sufficient to live positively in an international community inserted in the social and ecclesial reality.

Duration

399. The formative phase of the scholasticate has a minimum duration of four years and corresponds, normally, to the duration of the institutional theological course. In dialogue with the general council each scholasticate determines this duration in its own educative charter.

400. The duration of the formative period in the brothers international centres is, normally, two years plus the time necessary to learn well the local language. This period may be prolonged in particular cases.<$FCfr.DIFR 60>

Passing from the novitiate to the scholasticate/centre

401. The assigning of the newly professed to the various scholasticates and brothers centres is made bearing in mind the formative exigencies of the candidate, the needs of the missions, the preferences of the novices, the indications of the respective novice masters, of the provincial superiors and their councils and the concrete situations of the scholasticates/centres.<$FCfr. Appendix n. 3>

402. The formators of the novitiate and of the scholasticate/centre dialogue with the interested party and the respective provincial superior, programme the period between the first profession and the arrival in the scholasticate/centre in such a way is to avoid gaps and discontinuity in the formative process.

403. The formators of the scholasticate/centre have particular care and promote opportune initiatives to welcome the newly professed, introducing him to the community and to the environment, but avoiding conditioning him by too protective an attitude.
In particular, they take care that the new arrivals, through opportune means, learn adequately the language of the country that hosts the scholasticate/centre as the first step in inculturation.<$FRL 57.6>

404. The documents on the newly professed that the formators should have at their disposal at the beginning of the scholasticate/centre are the following:

1
certificate of baptism (only for the scholasticate);

2
certificate of confirmation (only for the scholasticate);

3
family status (only for the scholasticate);

4
original certificates or authenticated copies of the studies concluded and description of the programme of each subject;

5
reports of the formators of the postulancy and of the novitiate;

6
testament.<$FRL 31.1; CIC 668>

Chapter Two
Characteristics and objectives

Characteristics

405. Each scholasticate/centre, inserted in a socio-ecclesial environment that corresponds as closely as possible to the ends of the Institute, has its own characteristics. While keeping within the common lines traced for all the scholasticates/centres, each is in continual research of more appropriate ways of realizing an efficacious formation.<$FCfr. Appendix n. 1>

Objectives

406. The fundamental objectives that characterise the scholasticate/centre are: the growth in fidelity to the Lord and to the consecrated missionary life, a strong liturgical-sacramental experience, the preparation for missionary service by means of study and/or professional work, the concrete experience of community life, the deepened experience of internationality and of acculturation, pastoral initiation through apostolic activity.<$FRL 97.2; 61>

Growth in fidelity

407. In order to live more fully the life of the Comboni Institute and make oneself more suitable to realize its mission, the scholastics and brothers make an effort to grow in fidelity to the Lord and to their own consecration, according to the exigencies of the following of Christ proposed by the Gospel and expressed in the Rule of Life.<$FRL 97; CIC 659; 662; DIFR 60-65>

408. The first duty of the scholastics and brothers is contemplation and union with God in prayer.<$FRL 46-48; CIC 663.1> They live contemplation as the ability to walk in the presence of the Lord, to recognise him present in the religious and christian community, in the events of history and as a commitment to work for justice and fraternity. As a consequence they:

1
assume with generosity the daily commitment of personal prayer, to which they dedicate at least one hour each day;<$FRL 49>

2
participate actively in community prayer, above all in the daily celebration of the Eucharist;<$FRL 50-53; CIC 246.1>

3
are persevering in turning their hearts towards God, being attentive to the examination of conscience, respecting the rhythms established for the formative colloquy and spiritual direction and frequently receiving the sacrament of Reconciliation;<$FRL 54; CIC 246.4>

4
contemplate the Heart of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, in order to assume his interior attitudes<$FRL 3> and they honour, also with the recitation of the rosary, the Virgin Mother of God, model of every consecrated life;<$FRL 24; 50.5; CIC 246.3>

5
deepen their reflection upon the vows and they strive to live them in practice, in the light of the other vocational dimensions;<$FRL 20>

6
seek to reach a just equilibrium between action and contemplation.<$FRL 46.2>

409. The scholastics and brothers live out their belonging to the Church and to the Comboni Institute:

1
maintaining a disposition of sincere communion with the Pope, with the Bishops and with the christian community, as a condition of fidelity to the Gospel;<$FRL 9.1; 33.3>

2
deepening their knowledge of the Founder and accepting with faith and love the Institute in order to identify themselves ever more with its finality and its way of life.<$FRL 13.2; 81.2; CIC 578>

Sacramental-liturgical life

410. For a community of consecrated and future evangelists, the liturgical celebrations must be considered as a privileged instrument of communion with God and as an essential means of evangelization and personal sanctification.<$FRL 51> To relish and live the liturgical celebrations it is necessary to arrive at a synthesis between liturgy and life.<$FRFIS 52, 53> For this it is important to keep present some essential aspects at different levels.

411. At the level of catechesis. An adequate catechesis is necessary in order to grasp the profound sense of the liturgy and of the celebrations as:

1
a privileged place where, in the light of God's wisdom, the synthesis of all our experiences is realised;

2
a privileged place where one enters in contact with the salvific work of Jesus Christ who, with his Word and the gift of the Holy Spirit, communicates the life-giving energy of God and summons to an authentic experience of conversion and reconciliation with the Father and with the brothers;

3
an experience of illumination which liberates from self-sufficiency and helps to recognise, to experience and proclaim the gratuitous initiative of the love of God the Father, who has made our life a story of salvation.

412. At an existential level. Educate to a sense of celebration and to an experience of listening and interiorization:

1
cultivating the disposition of self-sacrifice and availability to the others, essential in order to approach the celebration of the mystery of Christ;

2
opening the liturgical prayer to the problems and situations of the world and of mankind;

3
favouring ecclesial, community and missionary openness;

4
deepening the significance of the celebration of the liturgy of the Hours so that it may be assumed in a convinced and responsible manner.

413. At the level of methodology. In order to reach the above mentioned objectives it is necessary to:

1
inspire the spiritual process of the community by the great themes of the liturgical year in order to favour an authentic ecclesial spirituality;

2
deepen the significance of the liturgical celebration paying attention to the texts (Word of God and prayer of the Church), to the symbols, to the internal and external attitudes of the persons, to the liturgical books and the documents of the Church;

3
give due value to the liturgical and religious experience of the different cultures;

4
undertake a remote preparation of the celebrations by means of personal prayer, an adequate programme and a serious dedication to liturgical commitments;

5
understand and appreciate the essential role of the rite in order to ensure the equilibrium between the different parts of the celebration;

6
take care of the ministerial nature of the celebrations, giving due importance to the presence of various ministers: lector, acolyte, deacon, priest;

7
direct the "ferial liturgy" towards the "festive liturgy" which we are called upon to animate in our ministry;

8
prepare, above all the candidates to the priesthood, to be animators of the liturgy.

414. The Eucharist must be the unifying element of the spiritual process of the community. In so far as we are men of God, the Eucharist is the centre of our life, source and vertex of evangelization, privileged moment for building up fraternal communion in the Lord and fount of renewed energies for the missionary commitment.
The daily celebration responds to the directives of the Rule of Life and to the norms of the Church.<$FRL 53; RFIS 52>

Study: candidates to the priesthood

415. Study is the principal task of the formative phase of the scholasticate. It aims at giving the ability of facing the missionary work with clear notions of the theological motivations and the pastoral needs.

1
To reach this end, besides the regular courses of theology, other initiatives are programmed that encourage the knowledge of cultural anthropology, of the history of the missions and missionary pastoral practice.

2
The scholastic is encouraged not only to a serious personal study, but also to undertake some theme for research together with one or more companions, experiencing thus the validity of collaboration and common reflection.

416. The seriousness and importance of their theological formation requires that the scholastics do not begin their regular course of theology until they have reached a sufficient knowledge of the language requested. The programmes of study and the relative methodological indications are contained in the "Ratio Studiorum".<$FRL 90.7>

417. When drawing up the annual programme there will be a study of the "Ratio Studiorum" and of the curriculum of the schools frequented.
In the annual revision and evaluation of the life of the scholasticate consideration will be given to the way in which the "Ratio Studiorum" was applied.

418. Given the actual necessities of the provinces and the local Churches, the scholastics are encouraged to undertake various specializations and the relative diplomas.<$FRL 97.3> In directing them to further studies, the formators keep in mind the indications of the "Ratio Studiorum".<$FCfr. n 669-685>

419. At the end of the scholasticate, the original scholastic evaluations and titles of study are forwarded to the province of origin, with photocopies being sent to the interested party and to the general secretary.

420. The course of philosophy/theology, no matter in what way is organised, must last at least six complete years.<$FRFIS 61> Possible exception may be suggested by the formators and by the provincial superiors of the scholastic, in dialogue among themselves, and decided by the Superior General and his council.

1
The final year of the course of philosophy/theology is organised and programmed taking into consideration the situation of the different scholasticates and the candidates.
It foresees, among other things, the immediate preparation for perpetual vows and Holy Orders, the exercise of the diaconate and eventual courses of immediate preparation for the activity that the candidate will be called upon to develop.<$FCIC 1031.1; 255-256>

2
The fourth year usually takes place in the scholasticate. For candidates who return to their own provinces without having completed the normal formative period of the scholasticate, a programme of formation and accompaniment until their ordination is foreseen.

Study - work: brother candidates

421. Study and work are the principal commitment of the formation imparted in the international centres. These aim at giving the ability of undertaking missionary service with a clear perception of the theological motivations and of the pastoral needs of the missions. By "work" one intends the exercise of each one's own proper profession and the training in other skills that would be useful in the missions.

1
The brothers attend courses organized by the local schools and are encouraged to take the respective diplomas. The centres' programmes of theological, missionary and professional formation are contained in the respective "Ratio Studiorum" and are developed integrally with systematic courses and adequate catechesis.

2
Work helps the brothers to re-think their formation in missionary terms, adapting it that is to the real possibilities of the environment and learning ways of communicating it to others in order to become agents of human promotion within the project of development of the local Church.

3
The relationship between work and study may have different rhythms and is determined by each centre in its educative charter on the basis of the concrete situation and in agreement with the general council.

4
During the period outside the centre, each candidate is, if possible, followed by a brother who is an expert in his chosen profession and able to accompany him in his first experiences of work.

Community life

422. Community life is an essential dimension of the Comboni missionary and religious consecration and has a fundamental role in formation.
Internationality is a qualifying dimension of community life and it is lived as an initiation and preparation for the missionary life.<$FRL 36-45; CIC 602>

423. Because of its numerical consistency and the specific objectives that it pursues, the community of the scholasticate/centre is not the prototype of the community in which, normally, the scholastics and brothers will be called upon to live. It has the aim of forming them to live and work together, of favouring the sense of belonging and identification with the Institute, of educating the candidates to compare and verify their personal initiatives with the community and of helping them to overcome all individualism in their style of life and work.

424. Vivified and united by the Spirit of Christ, the community of the scholasticate/centre helps to grow in maturity and in particular to:

1
accept with faith one's own self and the persons with whom one lives;<$FRL 84.2>

2
love a simple life, illuminated and sustained by the Gospel;<$FFRL 27>

3
feel the necessity of community dialogue as a way to seek and discover the will of God;<$FRL 33.4>

4
ask constantly the help of God to overcome possible contrasts and division by patience and pardon;<$FRL 38.5; 54>

5
welcome and give hospitality to one's neighbour, in the limits of the concrete possibilities and of the demands of the community.<$FRL 29.1; CIC 667.1>

425. The community life of the scholasticate/centre permits each one to grow in self-sacrificing love, indispensable for his continual human and christian growth, for his fidelity and vocational perseverance, for the fruitfulness and efficacy of his service to the mission.

Internationality - Acculturation

426. The ability to comprehend and to accept cultures different from one's own is an essential requisite of the Comboni vocation, not only because its specific element is the missionary service but also because of the concrete choice of the Institute to carry out its activity in international Comboni communities.<$FRL 8.4; 57.1; 10; 18>
In this field the scholasticate/centre represents the first important experience of acculturation in an international community.<$FRL 97.1.2>

427. Entering into the scholasticate/centre the newly professed is aware that he carries within himself an undeniable patrimony that he has received and made his own in his family, in his people, and in his Church of origin; he knows that the multiple riches of his original culture are able to enrich the others. He therefore proposes them and, at the same time, he recognises their limits.

428. The community of the scholasticate/centre, because of the common bond of its shared ideals, its study and its way of life, constitutes a favourable environment for a prolonged and profound encounter between peoples of different cultures.
Each scholastic and brother, therefore, assumes the commitment to deepen, enrich and re-express his preceding experiences recognising and accepting the values of the others.

429. The scholasticate/centre also prepares missionaries to the degree in which it is capable of inserting itself in the social and cultural context in which it is situated and helps the various members to communicate with the people among whom they live, in order to participate in their sentiments and values, in their history, in their experiences and aspirations, evaluating all these in the light of the Gospel. An authentic cultural encounter and dialogue presupposes basic attitudes that are so many qualities to acquire. Among these we may recall:

1
a vision of reality and a sense of the Church and of the Institute which makes the individual capable of reconciling apparently divergent positions;

2
a humble interior openness that causes one to recognise one's own limits and helps to understand those of the others, opening thus a space for constructive collaboration without prejudice of nationality, race or class.

430. In order to introduce concretely the scholastics and brothers to that process of acculturation which constitutes a "sine qua non" for evangelization it is necessary:

1
to give the possibility and demand that they learn and speak well the language of the country, according to the situation of the scholasticates/centres;

2
to put at their disposition a chosen and up-to-date library, and to organise some brief courses of introduction to the history and culture of the country;

3
to avoid that they limit their contacts to their own nation and that they only pay attention to external and picturesque aspects of the local environment, instead of inserting themselves in the situations that constitute significant cultural experiences of a people;

4
to encourage reciprocal knowledge and collaboration with the host province;

5
to help them to reconcile the demands of the Comboni way of life with that of the particular local Church in which they find themselves;

6
to preferably direct their apostolic activity towards those human groups where the encounter between culture and Gospel is most urgent and towards the "most poor and abandoned".<$FRL 5>

431. The preference for a scholasticate/centre is in relationship to the choice of determined activities and mission territories.<$FRL 93.2> The scholasticate/centre, however, does not shut one in nationalistic or regionalistic visions, and much less reduces the availability, that is that fundamental disposition by which each Comboni missionary holds himself free to be sent to any part of the world wherever his apostolic labour is required.<$FRL 35.4>

Apostolic activity

432. Study and work are accompanied by apostolic activity and human promotion in the local Church.<$FRL 90.8; CIC 258> In order that such activities may be formative it is necessary that they be:

1
directed towards sectors which are pastorally significant: catechesis, animation of the liturgy, ecclesial groups, the poor and marginalized, missionary animation; promoting and respecting the local ministers, and inserted in a shared pastoral plan;<$FRL 90.8>

2
carried out in small groups, planned and verified by the community, in order to integrate the personal initiative and lead to working in a team.<$FRL 66.2>

433. The brothers are put in contact with significant projects of human promotion existing in the countries where the centre is found or where they carry out their periods of work.

434. It is opportune that the formators also are committed to the apostolate, in order to know the environment and the problems faced by the scholastics and brothers.

Chapter Three
Elements of educational action

Objective

435. Educational action, in the phase of the scholasticate/centre, has the objective of deepening the identification with the Comboni charism and of helping to verify the vocational choice made with the religious profession.
The Spirit of God, that gradually forms in a person the dispositions of Christ, acts through mediations.<$FRL 83; 82>

The community

436. The community exercises an educational role by helping the candidate to live the concrete experience of the consecrated life in a religious community, internationality and fraternal promotion, above all in some specific moments, such as the renewal of the vows, the perpetual profession, admission to the ministries and to Holy Orders.<$FRL 36.1.4; 38.5; 84>

437. So that its action may be more efficacious it is desirable that groups of life function within the community. The educative charter determines their modality.

Formators

438. Within the community the formators carry-out their service walking together with the candidates as brothers in the following of Christ.
They, however, are not simple travelling companions, but authorities in so far as they are animators of the community, points of reference, of comparison and of decision.<$FRL 102.2; 105>

439. The Church, through the Institute, entrusts to the formators the role of true spiritual guides, the duty that is of proposing and bearing witness to the evangelical values, of being responsible for vocational discernment and of evaluating the formative process of the scholastics and brothers, even in the case of those who have a spiritual director from outside the community.<$FRL 87; CIC 618-619>

440. The formators do not substitute the young men in the diverse choices which they have to make in order to mature, much less in those decisions which determine their future.<$FRL 87.4> They exercise their role especially in the formative colloquy and in spiritual direction.

Formative colloquy

441. The formative colloquy is not limited to marginal and external aspects but includes the life of the person in his deepest motivations and inclinations and the essential dimensions of the Comboni way of life.

442. As a rule, candidates must meet with one of the formators. This does not exclude the possibility of some colloquies with the team. This colloquy should take place at least once a month.

Spiritual Direction

443. Besides the formative colloquy, in this phase of formation which prepares for perpetual vows and holy orders, spiritual direction is of the greatest importance. It helps the scholastics and brothers to discern the action of God, to walk in the ways of the Lord, to grow in the practice of the vows and to establish and consolidate a rhythm of personal prayer. Such an experience of spiritual help will enable the young religious to assume it as an essential element for their spiritual progress during the rest of their lives.

444. More detailed indications concerning the modality of the formative colloquy and of spiritual direction are found in the fourth part of this present "Ratio".<$FCfr. nn. 225-228>

The study of Theology and professional training

445. Study becomes an element of the educational process in the measure in which it is not limited to increasing the store of knowledge of the candidate but brings him to a wisdom of life and of the christian mystery, and it helps him in the process of vocational identity.

446. The formators help the candidates to assume the commitment to study as an element of the formative process. For this:

1
they motivate the commitment to study by an adequate catechesis, so that it may be assumed during the scholasticate/centre as a specific duty, and then during the rest of their lives;

2
they help to organize the programme of studies, both for the choice of courses and for the methodology;

3
they favour the study in community of some themes;

4
they verify the intellectual maturation of the candidates;

5
they keep in touch with the professors and with the faculties and scholastic institutions;

6
they take care of the equilibrium and integration between study and the other activities of the scholasticate/centre.

Socio-ecclesial insertion and apostolic activity

447. Insertion in the socio-ecclesial environment and the apostolic activities are important components of the educational action in the scholasticate/centre.<$FRL 45.1; 100.3>
So that they may be formative they must help the scholastics and brothers to:

1
insert themselves in a different cultural environment, living an experience of acculturation;

2
insert themselves with creativity in a project already existing, without seeking to dominate, but with a disposition of collaboration;

3
programme, execute and evaluate, as a community, their apostolic action;

4
give priority to the apostolic commitments that prepare specifically for missionary service.

Chapter Four
Educative charter and annual programme

448. Each scholasticate/centre has its own educative charter and an annual programme which help the individuals, the groups and the communities to reach the objectives proper to this phase of formation. These documents are a point of reference and of verification.<$FRL 97.4>
Each candidate must be encouraged to elaborate a personal formative programme based on the educative charter and the annual programme.

Educative charter

449. The educative charter applies to the situation of all the scholasticates/centres the general principles, the methodology and the formative content which are present in the Rule of Life and in the "Ratio Fundamentalis", bearing in mind the concrete situation of the community, the social, cultural and ecclesial context<$FCfr. Appendix n. 1> and the reality of the province that hosts the scholasticate/centre.

450. The educative charter is prepared by the formators, with the contribution of the scholastics and brothers, and is approved by the superior general and his council on the advice of the general secretariat for vocational promotion and formation.
It has a certain stability and contributes to guarantee the continuity of the educative process and to create a formative tradition in the scholasticate/centre.
The revision of the educative charter is made each time that, in the judgement of the general council and of the formators, there are new elements to take into consideration.

Formative content

451. The educative charter specifies the content to distribute throughout the formative period of the scholasticate/centre. This content, supported by opportune subsidies, must be deepened by personal experience, even when it is offered by the school at an intellectual level.
Of the contents listed below, some are common to the scholastics and brothers, others are specific for the candidates to the priesthood.
452. For the brother candidates, given that their specific formation is necessarily more flexible and developed according to its own rhythm, ulterior indications for the organization and presentation of their courses are found in the respective "Ratio Studiorum".

Comboni charism and mission

453. This theme is treated globally in the light of the Comboni charism, considering especially the aspects that regard missionary methodology and bearing in mind these indications:

1
a sociopolitical and ecclesial analysis of the country that hosts the scholasticate/centre and of the countries where we work;<$FRL 57.1.4>

2
theology of the mission: challenges and missionary methodology;

3
the missionary experience of the Founder: a deep study of the Postulatum and Plan in the historical and missionary context of the last century;

4
history and the more significant figures of the Comboni missionary tradition (priests and brothers), giving special importance to their missionary methodology;

5
the Comboni missionaries in the field: Comboni apostolic methodology.<$FRL 56-71>

Consecrated life

454. The deepening of the dimension of the consecrated life is made above all in reference to the mission and includes the following aspects:

1
a biblical and existential deepening of the vows in a Comboni missionary prospective;<$FRL 20-35; CIC 598-601>

2
a deepening of the Comboni charism in its particular connotations: spirituality, style of life and sanctification; deepening of the fundamental components of the charism in the world of today;<$FRL 1-20>

3
contemplative and sacramental dimension of religious and missionary life, with particular reference to the Eucharist and penance;<$FRL 46-55; CIC 607>

4
fundamental virtues and ascetic norms for growth in fidelity to one's consecration in the concrete situations of life.<$RL 26.4>

Missionary priesthood

455. For candidates to the priesthood, the deepening of this dimension of their vocational identity assumes special importance.
During the scholasticate the formation must lead the candidate to conformation with Christ, Priest and Pastor, dispose him to communicate with His charity, prepare him to announce the Gospel, to animate the christian communities, to preside at the liturgical and sacramental celebrations and to foster communion.

456. The study of the doctrine on the priesthood is made in the light of the missionary dimension with which it is lived and exercised by the Comboni missionary and includes:

1
the presentation of the priesthood as a charism and ministry in such a way as to cause to emerge the image and the dimensions that characterise the figure of the priest in the world of today;<$FCIC 1028>

2
the specific preparation for the ministries and holy orders, also through practical experience;

3
the responsible assumption of the liturgy of the Hours, as a way of rendering visible and ecclesial the eternal intercession of Christ in front of the Father;<$FRL 52; CIC 246.2; 276.3>

4
the theological and practical knowledge of the pastoral of the sacraments, the study of the introductions and texts of the liturgical books.<$FRL 63; AG 14; CIC 788.2; 789>

Scholastic vacations

457. Witnessing poverty demands that the scholastic holidays are planned bearing in mind the high economic cost of travelling and board. The awareness of the situation of so many people, who do not have even the bare minimum necessary for a decent life, helps the community to avoid the danger of considering the holidays as an opportunity for easy tourism.

458. The educative charter determines the criteria and the modality for the school holidays, bearing in mind that they are a formative period and therefore are seen in the context of vocational growth. They are programmed together with the community, keeping in mind the following possibilities:

1
the necessary rest;

2
maintenance of the house and other community services;

3
study to perfect the knowledge of the local language and culture, study of another language, courses of missiology;

4
prolonged experiences of prayer;

5
apostolic commitments, activity in hospitals, vocational activity among the young, experience of salaried labour, experience of missionary work and collaboration with the local province or other provinces.

459. After the first year of study in an international scholasticate abroad, the scholastics remain in the host country in order to perfect themselves in the language and to deepen their insertion in the local culture and province.
For the following periods, each scholasticate obeys the norms determined by the Chapters or by the general council. The application of such norms to the reality of each scholasticate takes place in dialogue with the superior general and his council and is laid down in the educative charter of each scholasticate.

460. During the formative period of the international centre, the holidays of the brothers, besides the necessary periods of rest and other useful activities, are seen, above all, as an occasion for direct contact and experience with the mission.

Annual programme

461. The annual programme presents the priorities, the initiatives and the modalities for living concretely the educative charter throughout the year.
It is prepared by the community, bearing in mind the evaluation of the previous year in its negative and positive aspects, the comments of the local provincial and the directives of the superior general and his council.
The organizing elements that must be included in the annual programme are:<$FRL 39>

1
daily and weekly timetable, monthly and annual calendar;<$FRL 39.3>

2
modality and rhythm of personal and community prayer, daily celebrations and liturgical times, retreats, spiritual exercises,<$FRL 48-54; CIC 663-664> preparation and time of vows, ministries and orders;

3
practical indications in order to live the vows, criteria and community and personal verification concerning the use of money and economic goods;<$FRL 31>

4
programme and distribution of the formative content,<$FRL 74.2.4> formative colloquy and spiritual direction, Comboni days and meetings with missionaries;

5
community life and internationality, structure and functioning of internal groups of life and of activities, organization and regularity of community councils, meetings with the community, distribution of the community services;<$FRL 39.2; 111>

6
programme and verification of pastoral activity, of missionary animation, of the periods of work and of participation in the ecclesial community;<$FRL 90.8; 84.3>

7
hospitality and relationship with the people;

8
programme of the recreative and sporting activities, of the holidays and periods lived outside the scholasticate/centre.<$FRL 100.5>

Chapter Five
Personal and community evaluation

Significance

462. By "evaluation" one understands that process of critical reflection upon the individuals and upon the community that is programmed and actuated in certain moments of the formative process. It is an essential part of the education process and is seen as a moment of growth.<$FRL 87; 88.2>

463. Each evaluation is based upon the evangelical criterion "by their fruits you shall know them"<$FMt 12,33; Gal 5,16-23>. The evaluation takes into consideration the totality of the aspects and of the history of the individual, as well as the educative charter and the annual programme.

Evaluation of the persons

464. The evaluation of the persons is made in a climate of prayer and fraternal charity, in such a way that they feel accepted and stimulated to striving after a continual renewal.
The evaluation may be made in different ways, according to the situations and needs of the single candidates. However, in order to have a formative efficacy, it must always include the following points:

1
analysis of the previous evaluations, also of those which were made in the postulancy and novitiate;

2
analysis of the facts and attitudes that have characterised the life of the person since the last evaluation; for this purpose the fundamental dimensions of the Comboni vocation are kept in mind;<$FCfr. Appendix n. 2. "Outline for the formative colloquy">

3
evaluation of the person that grasps, in so far as possible, the deep lying motivations of his global situation and of his occasional behaviour;

4
indications of some concrete points upon which to work for the correction of his dispositions, of his behaviour and for his vocational progress.

465. Normally, the evaluation required for the renovation of the vows springs from a meeting between the interested party and his own group of life<$FCfr. n. 461.5> and the team of formators. Once it has been written down by the formators, it is consigned also to the interested party and becomes a point of reference for his successive formative process.

466. All the members of the community are co-involved in the evaluation made in view of the perpetual vows. It may be done as follows:

1
The candidate personally asks the members of the community to put into writing the negative and positive points that they notice in him.

2
Taking into consideration what has emerged, the candidate prepares an "evaluation of himself" and he presents it to the formators along with all the writing of the confreres.

3
The formators prepare "their" evaluation; they discuss it with the interested party and they send it to the competent superiors together with that of the candidate and those of the other members of the community.<$FRL 98.1>

467. The official evaluations are signed by the formators and commit their responsibility which is expressed in a clear and motivated judgement in view of the admission to the vows and to holy orders.

Evaluation of the community

468. An annual global evaluation of the community is made in order to verify the progress made by the community. This evaluation:

1
is based on the community programme agreed at the beginning of the school year;

2
serves as a point of reference for the programme of the following year;

3
is sent to the general council, through the general secretariat for formation and vocational promotion, to the local provincial superior and to the provincial superiors of the candidates.

Chapter Six
Juridical and normative aspects

Superior general and his council

469. The law which regulates the scholasticates/centres is contained in the Rule of Life, in the present "Ratio" and in the directory of the general administration. The following are of the competence of the superior general and his council:

1
the opening of scholasticates/brother international centres;<$FRL 139.2>

2
the assignation of newly-professed to the various scholasticates/centres;<$FRL 97.1>

3
the nomination of formators;<$FRL 112.5; 139.3>

4
the co-ordination and approbation of documents concerning formation;<$FRL 90.4; 139.5>

5
admission to perpetual vows and holy orders;<$FRL 98; 139.4>

6
dispensation from temporary vows, the modality of the experiences of scholastics or brothers with vows, the re-admission to temporary vows and re-entry into the community of the scholasticates/centres.<$FRL 139.4>

Provincial superiors of origin

470. The provincial superiors of origin are the major superiors of their respective candidates.<$FRL 115; 116.1> It is of their competence:

1
admit them to temporary vows and present them to the superior general and his council for admission to perpetual vows and holy orders;<$FRL 95; 98; 127.2>

2
introduce them into the scholasticates/centres transmitting to the formators their scholastic and formative documents;

3
keep them regularly informed by means of the official publications of the province;<$FRL 128>

4
follow with especial care the candidates "in experience" according to the established modalities.<$FCfr. nn. 488-499>

471. The provincial superiors of origin maintain constant contact with their candidates by means of personal correspondence, the reports of the formators, and if opportune, by visiting them in person. The dates of visits to the scholasticates/centres are programmed in dialogue with the interested formators.

472. Aware of the co-responsibility of the superiors in the field of formation, as a general rule all the scholastics and brothers present themselves to the provincial superior on the occasion of his visit to the scholasticate/centre. The encounter serves to deepen reciprocal understanding, to discuss together future programmes and to create an awareness of the problems of one's own province.

473. The provincial superiors prepare a report of their visit to the scholasticate/centre. The salient points are discussed with the formators and eventually with the whole community. This report is then sent to the scholasticate/centre concerned, to the general council, through the general secretariat for formation and vocational promotion, and to the local provincial superior.
The observations of the provincial superiors regarding the various scholasticates/centres which the general council intend to make their own are forwarded to the communities concerned and to the local provincial superior.

Local provincial superior

474. The provincial superior of the place where the scholasticate/centre has its seat, juridically represents the superior general and his council before the local authorities, civil and religious.<$FRL 126.1>

1
He is the delegate of the superior general and his council for the accompaniment of the scholasticate/centre, helping it to insert itself in the socio-economic and ecclesial environment and to follow the norms contained in the "Ratio".

2
He regularly visits the scholasticate/centre and each year, he prepares a report, based on an apposite questionnaire,<$FCfr. Appendix n. 4> that after being discussed with the formators and his council, he forwards to the scholasticate/centre and to the general council through the offices of the general secretariat for formation and vocational promotion.

475. The delegate for scholasticates/centres not inserted in a Comboni province is the vicar general.

Formators

476. The formators of the scholasticates/centres are nominated by the superior general with the consensus of his council. They are effective members of the province in which they work; they participate therefore in its initiatives, above all those regarding formation.<$FRL 112.2; 112.5> The local provincial and his council give them the necessary help so that they may carry out their primary duty of formators in the scholasticate/centre.

1
For all that concerns the life of the scholasticate/centre the formators depend directly from the general council and follow faithfully the present "Ratio".

2
In the measure of the possible the team of formators of the scholasticate/centre is international.
In the brothers international centres one of the formators is a brother.

477. The major superiors and the formators have the duty of discerning the dispositions and the preparation of the candidates in view of the religious profession and holy orders. Even though the ultimate responsibility lies with the superiors, the formators are directly responsible for the formation of the candidates.<$FRL 86; 88.2> So that this delicate duty may be fulfilled in full communion and in a climate of reciprocal trust:

1
The formators maintain frequent contact with the superior general and his council, with the general secretary for vocational promotion and formation and with the provincial superiors concerned, forwarding regular reports on the situation of the scholasticate/centre.

2
Interferences which may cause disorientation of the candidates and a diminishing of the role of the formator are to be avoided. Eventual serious difficulties of the candidates are indicated in good time and discussed directly between the provincial superiors concerned and the formators.

3
The evaluations and suggestions of the formators are taken seriously into consideration. A clearly negative evaluation and above all the non-presentation of a candidate for the renovation of his vows, for perpetual vows or holy orders, are signs from the formator to the major superior that the candidate lacks the fundamental dispositions for the Comboni consecrated and missionary life.

4
Eventual periods of "experience" are supported by the formators and have as objective to permit a discernment and a fuller maturation in view of a probable continuation of the formative process on the part of the candidate.<$FCfr. n. 235>

Admission to temporary vows

478. It is of the competence of the provincial superior of origin and his council, to admit the individual candidates to temporary vows.<$FCIC 655-656; RL 95> The procedure for admission to the renovation of temporary vows is as follows:<$FRL 94.1-4>

1
The candidate, at least two months before his vows expire, sends to his provincial superior a personally written petition, in which he manifests his desire to re-new his own consecration to God for the missions, by means of the emission of vows of chastity, poverty and obedience in the Institute in view of his definite commitment to the mission and, for candidates to the priesthood, in view also of the priestly ordination.

2
The formators attach to the petition of the candidate their evaluation with a copy to the secretary general and the interested party.

3
The provincial superior and his council discuss the petition of the candidate and the judgement of the formators, formulating their decision by a deliberative vote.

479. The renewal of profession is made by the professed missionary in the day that his vows expire and may not be postponed. For justified motives, the renewal of profession may be anticipated but not by more than one month.<$FRL 95.2; CIC 657.3>

Admission to perpetual vows

480. Admission to perpetual vows is of the competence of the superior general and his council, who base their decision on the judgement of the provincial superior and his council and on the report of the formators.<$FCIC 657-658; RL 98; 139.4> For scholastics and brothers "in experience", see also nn. 494-499. The procedure for admission to the vows is the following:<$FRL 98.1>

1
The candidate, at least three months before the perpetual vows, prepares a petition addressed to the superior general, in which he expresses his desire to consecrate himself definitely to God for the missions, by means of the emission in the Institute of vows of chastity, poverty and obedience and, if candidate to the priesthood, in view of the priestly ordination; he then joins to his petition a letter in which he renews his preference for a determined mission indicating the motivations and, if it is the case, describing any eventual project agreed with his provincial superior concerning a service in the province or further studies.

2
The formators, or who for them, join to the petition of the candidate their own evaluation, a copy of the testament of the interested party, three passport type photographs and send everything to the secretary general, with copy to the respective provincial superior. A copy of the evaluation of the formators is also given to the candidate.

3
The provincial superior concerned and his council, by deliberative vote, decide whether or not to support the petition of the candidate; then they forward their clear and motivated judgement to the secretary general.

4
The superior general and his council decide, by deliberative vote, whether or not to admit the candidate to the perpetual profession.

5
In order to avoid unpleasant upsets, in beginning the process of forwarding the documents necessary for admission to perpetual vows, all the interested parties must keep in mind the times of the annual council meetings established by the superior general and his council.

481. The perpetual profession constitutes a fundamental step in the formative process of brothers and candidates to the priesthood. It is therefore conveniently programmed and preceded by an adequate period of intense preparation, for example, guided spiritual exercises, eight complete days of spiritual exercises, the Ignatian month, courses of spirituality, prolonged periods of prayer.<$FRL 98.2>

1
The brothers, normally, make their perpetual profession when they are already engaged in missionary work. For this reason, immediately preceding the perpetual vows, they pass a period of special preparation of about two months. For this purpose they may participate in courses of renewal organized by the Institute.<$FRL 98.2>

2
The perpetual profession may be anticipated, for a just cause, but not by more than three months before the date of the first profession.<$FCIC 657.3>

The formula of the vows

482. The formula of the vows, both temporary and perpetual, may never omit certain elements proper to the nature of the profession of public vows. It is therefore prepared according to the norms established in n. 94 of the Rule of Life and is compiled and signed in three copies for the archives of the general administration, of the province and of the scholasticate/centre.<$FRL 94.4>

Admission to the ministries

483. For admission to the ministries of reader and acolyte it is necessary to present a petition to the provincial superior, in a free formula and signed by the interested party in which is expressed the desire to serve God and the christian people (this petition is generally included in that of admission to the first vows).

1
The ministries of reader and acolyte may be conferred by a major superior or his delegate, according to the proper rite contained in the ritual.

2
Between the reception of one ministry and another it is necessary to leave a sufficient lapse of time to permit the exercise of the ministry received.<$FCIC 1033>

3
The certificates of the reception of the ministries are forwarded to the respective provincial superiors; a copy is sent to the secretary general and another is conserved in the archives of the house.

Admission to orders

484. For admission to the diaconate and the priesthood it is necessary:

1
to have completed respectively 23 and 25 years of age and have finished the fourth year of the philosophical-theological studies;<$FCIC 1031.1; 1032.1>

2
to obtain dimissorial letters from the provincial superior for the professed of perpetual vows, or of the bishop who accepts the incardination of the candidate until his perpetual profession;<$FRL 126.1; CIC 265-268; 1019>

3
undergo the examinations (if they are required) and present to the chancellor of the ordaining bishop the dimissorial letters, the request to be ordained, the profession of faith (if required) signed by the interested party and his superior, the certificate of the ministries received;

4
to be presented by the provincial superior or by his delegate when the request is forwarded to the bishop and during the rite of ordination.

485. The ordinands must make the spiritual exercises for at least five days. Besides this, there is provision for a rite of admission which for religious of perpetual vows is facultative. If it is considered useful to fulfil this rite as a preparation, it may be presided over by the provincial superior.<$FCIC 1039; 1034.2>

486. The diaconate is exercised for at least six months before proceeding to the priesthood.<$FCIC 1031.1> With it one assumes the moral obligation of celebrating daily the liturgy of the Hours.<$FCIC 276.2; RL 52> In programming the ordination to the diaconate and to the priesthood one recalls that only the ordaining bishop can dispense from the interstices.

487. The certificates of the reception of orders are forwarded to the respective provincial superiors; a copy is sent to the secretary general and another is conserved in the archives of the house.<$FCIC 1053-1054>

Scholastics and brothers "in experience" without vows

488. The experience of scholastics and brothers who suspend the renovation of their vows and intend to live for some time outside a community is justifiable only for a formative end; it pre-supposes therefore that there are well-founded hopes for the re-admission to the vows of the interested party.

489. The experience begins with the authorization of the provincial superior of the interested party and his council and after having informed the superior general and his council.
In agreement with the formators, the interested party forwards a motivated request to the provincial superior, with a copy to the secretary general and to the scholasticate/centre.
If the experience begins before the vows expire, the candidate must seek a dispensation from the superior general, a copy of which is also made for the provincial superior and the scholasticate/centre of the interested party.<$FRL 139.4; CIC 688.2>

490. The finality and the modality of the experience, as also the conditions for an eventual re-entry, are set-out in writing by the formators, in dialogue with the interested party and the superior provincial and his council; then these are sent to the provincial superior and to the secretary general. The experience has the duration of at least one year, it is lived in a serious commitment of work and study and accompanied by a person who is responsible for it.

491. Upon his return the candidate does not have the obligation of repeating the novitiate, however he passes a prolonged period in a house of formation in order to verify the experience.<$FCIC 690.1> The duration of this period is determined case by case by the superior general and his council, in dialogue with the provincial superior and the scholasticate/centre concerned.
At the end of the period of verification, the formator in charge prepares a report for the provincial superior of origin, with copy to the secretary general and to the scholasticate/centre which is to receive the candidate.

492. The provincial superior concerned and his council, basing themselves on the report of the formator and other elements in their possession, decide whether or not to present the candidate to the superior general and his council with a written and motivated request.

493. The permission to re-enter the community and to renew the vows is of the competence of the superior general and his council, in dialogue with the provincial superior and the scholasticate/centre concerned.<$FRL 139.4; CIC 690.1>

Scholastics and brothers "in experience" with vows

494. The experience of scholastics or brothers with vows who intend to live for some time in a Comboni community begins with the authorization of the superior general and his council, after having heard the opinion of the provincial superior of the candidate and his council.
In agreement with the formators, the candidate forwards to the superior general and his council a motivated request, with copy to the provincial superior of origin and to the scholasticate/centre.

495. The finality, the modality, as also the conditions are put in writing by the formators, in dialogue with the interested party, the superior general and his council and the provincial superior of origin; they are then sent to the secretary general, with copy to the scholasticate/centre, to the interested party, the provincial superior of origin and to the provincial superior of the place chosen for the experience.
496. The choice of the community which welcomes the scholastic or brother and accepts the responsibility of accompanying him, is of the competence of the superior general and his council, in dialogue with the provincial superiors concerned. Where it is possible, the candidate maintains contact with a formative community in the zone, which offers him the possibility of verification and complementary initiatives.

497. During the experience, the major superior of the candidate is the provincial superior of origin. As a consequence it is the provincial superior of origin and his council who admit him to the renovation of vows and eventually present him to the superior general and his council for the return to the scholasticate/centre or admission to perpetual vows.<$FRL 116.4>
For the rest the scholastic or brother depends from the local provincial superior to whom they are "entrusted" and from the community where they reside, conforming themselves to their directives.

498. The duration of the experience varies according to the cases. However when it is made abroad it normally lasts two years.
At the end of the experience the final report, to send to the secretary general and to the provincial superior of origin, is prepared by the community in which the experience was made and by the local provincial superior and his council.

499. The permission to re-enter the scholasticate/centre is of the competence of the superior general and his council, in dialogue with the provincial superior and the scholasticate/centre concerned.<$FRL 139.4> A copy of the letter sent to the candidate and containing the final decision of the superior general and his council, is also sent to the provincial superior and to the scholasticate/centre concerned.

Scholastics and brothers that leave the Institute

500. The scholastics and brothers who leave the Institute are invited to return home. In each case the provincial superiors concerned make known to the competent authorities the fact that the confrere has left the Institute.
The permanence in community of a candidate who has not renewed his vows or has already decided not to renew them is, normally, to be avoided.

501. The scholastics and brothers that leave the Institute do not receive, as a norm, a special financial contribution, beyond the cost of their journey home and their immediate needs. If they have particular problems, they present them to their own provincial of origin.<$FRL 161; CIC 702>
The date of leaving of a scholastic or brother is immediately notified to the secretary general and the treasurer general.

Archives

502. To ensure order, correctness and continuity in the rapports and life of the scholasticate/centre the formators keep in date and with every care the current and historical archives of the house, distributing the papers and documents concerning formation according to the following fundamental titles: history, government, persons, administration, activities, varia.<$FCfr. Appendix n. 7>

503. The current archive holds the recent material of five or six years, necessary for the formative and administrative activity of the scholasticate/centre.
The historic archive holds all the material that after five or six years has fulfilled its normal formative or administrative function, but remains a point of reference for the life and history of the scholasticate/centre.

504. The fundamental data of the scholastics and brothers are noted in an apposite register and their personal documents are collected in individual folders.

1
The register that lists the scholastics and brothers in order of their arrival in the scholasticate/centre, carries the following data: a progressive number; surname and christian name; paternity and maternity; place and date of birth; place and date of first vows, place and date of renewal of vows, ministries, perpetual vows and orders; date of arrival in the scholasticate/centre; particular annotations.

2
The personal folders hold the papers and all the documents, civil, religious and scholastic, that concern the individual candidates. All this material, once the interested part has definitely left the scholasticate/centre, is sent to the secretary general.

3
A photocopy of the data contained in the registers of the scholasticate/centres is also sent to the secretary general, once the candidates have definitely left them.

Chapter Seven
Economic administration
of the scholasticates/brother international centres

Premises

505. The scholastics and brothers intend to live in an atmosphere of poverty and communion of goods and to contribute in so far as is possible towards their own maintenance. In the scholasticates/centres the economic aspect is considered in the formative context of the community.<$FRL 27-32>

506. The annual community project establishes with clarity how the community of the scholasticate/centre intends to live its poverty (use of goods, expenses, etc.etc.), the forms and the rhythm for evaluating its practice.
In the community council the scholastics and brothers participate in the discussion of the financial questions and are given all the relative information.<$FRL 166.2>

Authority

507. In matters of economy the scholasticate/centre depends from the province where it has its seat and is subject to the provincial directives.

1
The scholasticates/centres appertaining to the district of the general curia depend from the superior general and his council through the treasurer general.

2
Although the scholasticate/centre has its own accountability, all the operations of exchange or upon a foreign account are made by the provincial treasurer, because they are acts of extraordinary administration.<$FCfr. General directory for the economy, n. 19>

3
For boarding and scholastic fees, the formators may ask directly for the contributions from the office of the treasurer general; all transmissions of monies, however, are made to the provincial treasurer who passes them on "intoto" to the interested parties.

4
The financing of the fund for the scholasticates/centres is arranged according to the modalities established by the superior general and his council as advised by the office of the treasurer general.<$FCfr. Appendix n. 5>

Expenses to be reimbursed

508. The expenses to be submitted to the office of the treasurer general for re-funding are the following:

1
first and last journey of candidates;

2
medical expenses;

3
boarding and study of the language, from their arrival until the beginning of the first school year;

4
scholastic fees and expenses and daily board.

509. The expenses for boarding are agreed with the office of the treasurer general. It includes the 365 days of the year, beginning with October 1st and continuing until September 30th of the following year and covers around 80% of the ordinary expenses. The rest is covered by mission appeals, offerings from benefactors etc. etc.
The data for establishing the cost of boarding and the scholastic fees are communicated to the office of the treasurer general within the month of September, after consulting with the local provincial treasurer.

510. The fund pays the contribution in three instalments: November, February and March, according to the tables of the fund for scholasticates/international centres situated abroad.

Expenses to be met by the scholasticate/centre

511. All other expenses, not included in the preceding number, are to be met by the scholasticate/centre or whoever has expressly authorised them, general or provincial council.

512. Journeys and holidays (language courses, meetings, etc.etc.) are the responsibility of the scholasticate/centre. Therefore they are programmed and regularly evaluated bearing in mind the formative and the financial possibilities of the community.

513. The scholastics and brothers who during the holidays render a service requested by a province or community have the right to receive from the province or community that housed them the money necessary for all extraordinary expenses and the return journey.

Extraordinary expenses

514. Extraordinary expenses must be approved by the local provincial superior and his council and are the responsibility of the province in which the scholasticate/centre has its seat, since the house is its property.
The province that does not have the possibility of financing "intoto" an extraordinary expense, may ask a special contribution from the superior general and his council, sending a request to the office of the treasurer general with the relative estimate well documented and with the indication of how much it can pay itself.

Economic reports

515. Each scholasticate sends to the office of the treasurer general a three-monthly economic report and the annual balance sheet and budget, this last being done within the month of February.

Sharing

516. In a spirit of sharing their goods, at the end of each year, after having deducted a certain amount to be agreed upon with the treasurer general, each scholasticate/centre devolves the rest of its "superavit" to the fund for the scholasticates/centres.
The determination of the "superavit" is made on the 31st of December of each year, bearing in mind the budget for the following year. The amount to be contributed to the fund is communicated to the office of the treasurer general within the month of February.

SECTION FOUR
ON-GOING FORMATION OF COMBONI MISSIONARIES

Chapter One
Nature and objectives

Premises

517. On-going formation, in continuity with basic formation, responds to the dynamic and evolved character of the human person, to the demands of maintaining oneself faithful to one's own vocational identity and of continuing to strengthen it by facing with faith the multiple demands of the missionary vocation. It permits an active insertion in society by being prepared to respond positively to the challenges of the profound cultural, social and ecclesial transformations now taking place.<$FDIFR 66-67>

518. Comboni demanded from his missionaries, even in the missions, a commitment to continue their formation.<$FRL 99.5>
The Rule of Life and the various general chapters of the Institute underline the necessity and urgency of on-going formation, thus placing the Comboni missionary "in a process of growth that lasts all his life".<$FRL 85; 99-101; AC 85, n. 69-84>
For this reason, the time and means spent for on-going formation "are not to be considered as subtracted from the missionary activity, but as an indispensable component of it".<$FRL 99.4>

Nature and finality

519. On-going formation is a process that comports: the continuity of the growth of the person; the progressive maturation in Christ and identification with the charism of Comboni and of the Institute;<$FRL 99> a disposition of constant conversion in order to discern the action of the Spirit and to allow oneself to be evangelized by the life and the concrete situations of the missions;<$FRL 99> the ability to respond to the challenges proposed by the Church and a world in constant change.

520. For this reason, on-going formation, ensures for the missionary, in the most important phases of his process of growth, particular times for stopping, reflecting, praying, deepening and verifying his progress.
This must happen, especially, when the missionary is called upon to face new undertakings.

521. Attention to the person of the Comboni missionary in his concrete situation and his need of renewal are the point of departure of on-going formation. Otherwise the missionary risks remaining a simple "object" of up-dating and will never manage to be "subject" of his formation and growth.

Chapter Two
Target-group and responsibility

Target-group

522. On-going formation, in so far as it is a process of continual and global growth of the person, regards all the Comboni missionaries.
Trusting in the faithfulness of the Lord, each Comboni missionary, undertakes to live always better his vocational response in the context of his daily life, using the means indicated by the Rule of Life itself.
In determined moments and situations of his life, he has however need of a particular help or of "special times" of on-going formation.<$FDIFR 70-71>

First apostolic undertaking

523. The first years of pastoral experience are significant for the future of the young Comboni missionary. In passing from a formative structure to the apostolic life and in assuming personally his first responsibilities, at times very demanding, he needs a particular accompaniment in order to be able to grow in fidelity to his own missionary consecration.
He is given a sufficient time for his preparation and gradual introduction to the missionary work or the specific task that is entrusted to him.
The province assists the young missionaries with apposite language courses, local culture, moments of sharing and of verification and other initiatives of accompaniment.<$FRL 57.3>

Middle age

524. The forties are an important and decisive moment for making a "re-reading" in depth of one's own life in the light of the Gospel and of the charism of the Founder, in order to overcome the difficulties that normally accompany the first period of intensive missionary activity and to ensure the continuity of the growth of the missionary. Therefore each Comboni missionary, in this phase of his life, must be given the possibility of having a prolonged "special time" of on-going formation.<$FAC 85, 80>

Personal re-qualification

525. In view of a specific service in the missions or in the Institute and in cases of radical changes of environment or of apostolic work, the missionaries need a time of formation more qualified for their specialization or re-qualification. They are placed in conditions of being able to participate in courses of preparation and they are offered a time of psychological and spiritual re-adaptation.

The third age

526. The Comboni missionary continues to be called to live in an always new ways his vocation in the Institute. Even when he is advanced in years, normally, he is given the opportunity to continue to live and to give his own witness in the place where he has worked. Each province accompanies the aged confreres with appropriate initiatives so that they may serenely live their "third age": it appeals to the wisdom of their experience and offers them a form of service or of apostolate, according to their possibilities. It tries to satisfy their particular physical and psychological needs in such a way that they feel always well inserted in the community.<$FRL 76.2; 100.2; 162.1>

Particular situations

527. The missionary who finds himself in serious vocational difficulties is offered an adequate accompaniment that allows him to evaluate in a positive way his crisis and to overcome it through a process of more profound and personalised growth. He himself manifests his difficulties to the superior or another confrere of his confidence and asks opportune help.
The competent superiors, whenever it may reveal itself as necessary, offer to the confrere the possibility of a qualified help through apposite centres or persons.<$FRL 42.4>

Responsibility

528. The responsibility for on-going formation is shared, in different degrees, by all the members of the Institute. It also requires that the Institute be open to collaboration with other religious Institutes and with the local Church.

The individual missionary

529. The missionary is the first subject and primarily responsible for his own on-going formation and has the duty of committing himself first of all. No one can substitute his free and convinced commitment, and no one can in any way undertake for him the process of renewal and growth.<$FRL 100.1> For this he:

1
makes a personal programme of on-going formation adapted to his concrete situation, in order to favour his spiritual growth, the development of his person and the efficacy of his missionary activity;<$FRL 100.1>

2
asks, around his fortieth birthday, for a prolonged "special time" of on-going formation.<$FAC 85, 80>

The local community

530. The local community is also the subject of formation: it is a favourable place for putting into motion a true process of growth of the missionary. Being essentially a communion of brothers and an evangelizing community it is called continually to verify and renew itself.<$FRL 100.2; AC 85, 22-34> Therefore animated by its respective superior:

1
it specifies its finality, its internal life and apostolic project in its "community charter" which is revised each year;<$FAC 85, 83>

2
it ensures in the programme of work that all the members of the community can participate in moments of prayer and in the community encounters;<$FRL 50.3; AC 85, 80>

3
it makes sure that each confrere has time for personal study and it favours opportune initiatives for elderly and ill missionaries;<$FRL 100.2>

4
develops the programme of on-going formation indicated by the superior general and the local provincial superior and their councils.

Major superiors

531. The major superiors have a particular responsibility in promoting the continual renewal of the missionaries of the Institute. They put in the first place their service of animating the spiritual and apostolic life of the confreres and, according to the different levels, they offer them opportunities, structures and programmes.<$FRL 100.4; MR 23>

532. The animators of on-going formation are chosen with attention and they are offered the possibility of an adequate preparation which renders them apt to carry out their role. What is more, the provinces ensure to such confreres the time and the means necessary in order to concretize the programmes and initiatives agreed upon with the respective superiors and their councils.

Those responsible at various levels

The provincial superior and his council

533. It is the duty of the provincial superior and his council to animate the religious life and to take care of the on-going formation of the confreres. For this reason:

1
he nominates the commission for on-going formation in the province, he defines its duties and ensures that there is "at least one confrere available and prepared" to animate the initiatives;<$FAC 85, 77>

2
he programmes an adequate preparation and gradual initiation to the first missionary experience of confreres and, if it is the case, of any new undertaking;<$FAC 85, 79>

3
he gives the confreres, around the forty mark, the possibility of a special time of on-going formation, in dialogue with the interested party and the superior general and his council;<$FAC 85, 80> such a moment could also coincide with a period of rotation;

4
at the beginning of each year he prepares a detailed programme of initiatives for on-going formation and the list of confreres that should participate in the different courses;

5
in communion with the superior general or according to the programme of the province, he proposes specific themes and initiatives of on-going formation for all the communities;

6
he encourages the participation in courses and initiatives organised by the local Church, especially in the pastoral area;<$FRL 101; AC 85, 81>

7
he programmes the specialisation and re-qualification of the confreres according to the needs of the province and of the missionary activity;<$FAC 85, 78>

8
he watches so that the on-going formation co-involves all the confreres, according to their different situations and ages;<$FAC 85, 76>

9
in so far as is possible, he programmes meetings of the provincial council in different communities, thus creating privileged moments of animation and on-going formation.

The superior general and his council

534. The superior general and his council have a particular responsibility in the field of on-going formation. In his service of unity, he promotes a constant and renewed fidelity to the charism of the Founder, animates the provinces and the confreres through his ordinary government, with doctrinal orientations, by visits and personal meetings. To this end:

1
he proposes, in particular circumstances, themes of on-going formation to the provinces and confreres, emphasising the priorities and the directives of the general chapter;<$FAC 85, 73>

2
he programmes the preparation of qualified personnel for the service of on-going formation at the level of the general administration and, at their request, of the provinces;

3
he approves the programmes and initiatives of on-going formation presented by the central commission and nominates the members of the executive team;<$FRL 101.1>

4
in dialogue with the provinces and the missionaries, he approves requests for specialisation and determines the number and the structure of the group of those who will specialize in Rome.

The central commission for on-going formation

535. The central commission for on-going formation is the organism that takes care of this sector of the life of the Institute.<$FCfr. DDG> It:

1
studies the problems inherent in on-going formation in the Institute, it orients and programmes the Comboni courses of renewal;

2
offers subsidies and collaboration for courses organized at continental or provincial level;

3
programmes directly or gives its collaboration to the secretariats for monographic courses or for distinct groups of confreres;

4
sends to the provinces, through their secretariats, subsidies for up-dating;<$FAC 85,72>

5
prepares each year a list of the various courses and initiatives organised by the local Church, by other Institutes and specialized institutions and it keeps the provinces informed about them.

Operational team

536. The operational team is the executive organ of the central commission and has the task of actuating the programmes of on-going formation approved by the superior general and his council. It:

1
animates and co-ordinates the courses in Rome and the group of confreres who are specializing;

2
maintains contact with those responsible for on-going formation in the various provinces;

3
promotes the exchange of initiatives of on-going formation among the various provinces;

4
offers collaboration to the provincial superiors and the confreres according to the necessity, and suggests qualified persons for courses of exercises in the provinces.

Bishops

537. The bishops have their own responsibility regarding the fidelity of religious and missionaries to their vocation and to their charism in the midst of the local Church. For this reason, the religious superiors collaborate with them in promoting common encounters, seminars and other initiatives of renewal and on-going formation.<$FMR 24>

Chapter Three
Initiatives of on-going formation

Premises

538. The initiatives of on-going formation must be directed to the whole person in his different dimensions: human, spiritual, cultural, religious, missionary, professional and ecclesial.<$FRL 99.2>
The criterion of unity, able to harmonize the contents of a programme, is found in the fidelity to the charism of the Institute.

The content of on-going formation

539. The initiatives of Comboni on-going formation propose to promote the deepening and the development of the following dimensions:

1
knowledge and development of the person: his capacity for interaction, dialogue and collaboration;

2
continuous conversion and growth in the faith: a process of renewal by means of listening to the Word, personal prayer, the celebration of the Eucharist, seeing with the eyes of faith the events which occur; consecrated life and fraternal communion lived in a missionary prospective;

3
fidelity to the charism of Comboni: assimilation of the Rule of Life, deepening of the charismatic experience of the Founder and of the history of the Institute; inculturation of the Comboni charism;

4
witness and apostolic service: insertion in the local Church according to the Comboni charism; missionary methodology and openness to new apostolic initiatives; analysis of the reality, a planned pastoral approach and collaboration with the local pastoral agents;

5
doctrinal and professional updating: a deeper study of the Bible, theology, pastoral and catechetics; study of the documents of the magisterium; knowledge of the different cultures, study of the local languages and personal re-qualification.

540. The lessons, the encounters and the other interventions, rather than limit themselves to a communication at a doctrinal level, must guide the participants to a reflection on their own experience in such a way as to be able to verify it, compare it and clarify it in dialogue and with the support of the others.
One of the most important elements that a course of renewal must give to the missionary is a method that will enable him to continue his own on-going formation.<$FDIFR 68-69>

The Comboni course of renewal

Target-group and finality

541. The Comboni course of renewal is open to all the Comboni missionaries and it proposes to offer the confreres the opportunity of a personal renewal by means of a prolonged time of spiritual life, of community life, of doctrinal and pastoral up-dating in an environment and rhythm of life that also favours a physical renewal of the missionaries.

Content and means

542. In order to reach its objectives, the following initiatives, along with others, form part of the programme of the course:

1
deepening of their Comboni identity:

2
a doctrinal up-dating on some principal themes of Christology, Ecclesiology, Liturgy, Holy Scripture, Missiology and Moral Theology;

3
eight complete days of spiritual exercises;

4
communication of experiences and group encounters;

5
an eventual pilgrimage/study trip to the Holy Land.

Duration and place

543. Normally, the course is held in Rome in the General House and lasts from the beginning of January until the middle of May. However, both as regards the place and the time and form, there may be changes, programmed and communicated in good time.

Monographic courses

544. Monographic courses have their specific and differentiated finalities:

1
they are aimed at distinct groups according to categories, ages and arguments;

2
they last about a month;

3
they may be organised at a general, continental or provincial level.

Conditions for participating in the Comboni initiatives

545. Participation in the renewal course requires the personal inscription of the interested party, accompanied by the presentation of his own provincial superior.<$FCfr. Appendix n. 6>

546. The participation in monographic courses organised at the general level is only possible by means of a request made by the provincial superior or an invitation from the superior general and his council.

PART SIX
"RATIO STUDIORUM"

SECTION ONE
INTELLECTUAL AND PROFESSIONAL FORMATION
OF COMBONI MISSIONARIES

Chapter One
Finality of the "Ratio Studiorum"

Significance

547. For the intellectual and professional preparation of its candidates, the Institute has its "Ratio Studiorum", even if it recurs to ecclesiastic and civil institutions and universities or inter-congregational centres.

548. The variety of the places of origin of the candidates from the ecclesial, cultural and scholastic point of view, and the fact that they frequent schools in different countries, makes it necessary to have a programme of intellectual and professional formation with normative points of reference in order to ensure a unity of inspiration and an essential convergence of programmes.

549. The "Ratio Studiorum" promotes a necessary missionary identification based on the Comboni charism; it casts light on the missionary dimension of the various aspects of the mystery of Christ and of the Church; it eventually makes up for the insufficiencies of the scholastic institutions which are not able to respond to all the exigencies of the Comboni vocation.<$FRL 56-101>

550. The "Ratio Studiorum" gives a global vision of the formative intellectual and professional process, and it helps to mature a personal synthesis between study and life. It casts light on the formative and apostolic value of study and helps to assume a global and critical vision of reality, giving ability to understand one's own culture and that of others.

551. Finally, the "Ratio Studiorum" contributes to a climate of interest and appreciation for the commitment of the Institute in the field of specializations in order to meet the internal necessities of the Institute itself and the specific requests of the local Churches.<$FAC 79, IV, 20>

Objectives of the "Ratio"

552. The "Ratio Studiorum" pre-supposes, and at the same time is inspired by, the more recent documents of the Church concerning the intellectual formation of priests and religious. It is expressly requested in the Rule of Life and has the aim of applying the directives of the magisterium of the Church to the situation of the Institute.<$FRL 90.7> The "Ratio Studiorum" intends to reach the following objectives:

1
to define an essential programme of philosophical, theological, missionary and professional formation in order to ensure to the candidates to the priesthood and to the brothers the preparation required by their missionary vocation; and to give some practical norms for its actuation;

2
to indicate for each formative phase the targets to reach in order to create a common approach in the various provinces;

3
to integrate the intellectual and professional formation into the globality of the Comboni formation;

4
to help to perceive the mission as the principal inspiration and organizer of the studies;<$FRL 90.6>

5
to indicate some structures and define some practical norms in the area of professional and intellectual formation;

6
to ensure the integrity of the curriculum and to enlighten the candidates in the choice of facultative courses.

Those responsible for the application of the "Ratio Studiorum"

Formators

553. The formators have the responsibility of helping the scholastics and the brothers to develop their duty of studying according to the principles of the "Ratio Studiorum". In particular they have the duty to:

1
orientate the students in the choice of the Faculties and Institutes and of the optional courses;

2
dialogue with the Faculty frequented by the students and to influence them in a missionary sense;

3
to complete any eventual faults in the studies with adequate initiatives;

4
to create in the house an environment favourable to study and to the practice of a profession.

Major superiors

554. In the application of the "Ratio" it is the responsibility of the major superiors:

1
to guarantee an intellectual preparation in line with the indications of the Rule of Life;<$FRL 90.6; 90.9>

2
to verify the adequate actuation of the programmes of doctrinal, pastoral and missionary preparation;<$FRL 90.6.7.8>

3
to ensure the specializations and up-dating according to the requests of the local Churches and the needs of the Institute.

General secretariat and provincial secretariats
for vocational promotion and formation

555. The general secretariat for vocational promotion and formation exercises a continual process of discernment of the studies, prepares subsidies for their eventual integration and elaborates alternative proposals. For this it avails itself of the corresponding provincial secretariats and of the contributions of qualified confreres.

Chapter Two
Intellectual formation

Role and importance

556. Intellectual formation has an indispensable role for the human-christian maturity and vocational identity of the Comboni missionary. It:

1
favours a methodologically and organically researched vision in depth of man, of the world and of God:

2
stimulates a more objective criticism beyond all subjective positions and opens to a dimension of ecumenism in the discernment and appreciation of what is true and valid in very culture;

3
makes one conscious of the historical aspect of every christian experience and of its theological-dogmatic formulation, thus creating the indispensable conditions for the process of inculturation of the gospel and of the faith;<$FCIC 248; RF 4; 59-64; Fm 9; Ft 4-8>

4
helps the missionary to justify his own faith to himself and to others.

557. A serious and complete study creates an adequate competence indispensable for ministers and witnesses of the Gospel among peoples with different histories and cultures. It helps both to perceive and appropriate for oneself the true evangelic-apostolic inheritance, and to communicate it with greater competence in new and changing socio-cultural contexts.<$FRL 81; DIFR 90-91>

Essential components

558. Intellectual formation requires attention to the vast and profound changes that characterise the world of today. This attention is so much more important for a missionary in so far as the categories of thought, the forms and the structures of the new humanity that is being born, co-involve in a dramatic way Christians and non-christians, and they require intellectual elasticity and commitment to a constant renovation.<$FFt 5, 10>

559. Another component of intellectual formation is its interdisciplinary nature, so necessary in order to avoid particularism and a fragmentary view. The various parts of the theological discourse, that is, must be seen in strict rapport between themselves and with all other sectors of the philosophic, scientific and technological universe. The world cannot be comprehended with the depth demanded by evangelization without the mediation of science.<$FCIC 254.1; RF 90; Ft 125; SCH III, 27.2>

560. Another essential element of intellectual formation is the achievement of an adequate method of study, of research and of redaction in the various disciplines.
This is indispensable in order to be able to study with profit during the years of basic formation, to continue to cultivate one's intellect later on and to grow in a personal, vital synthesis.<$FCIC 254.2; RF 91; Ft 128; Sch I, 40>

Chapter Three
Human sciences

Role and importance

561. So that there may occur a profound encounter between cultures and in order to ensure a true evangelization, it is necessary to have an adequate and critical analysis of reality, which permits one to understand as objectively as possible man and the world.<$FRF 65-69; Ft 14, 20, 54-58, 134; Fm 12; RL 90.6>

562. For this reason each Comboni missionary is given the possibility of a sound initiation in the fundamental human sciences: psychology, sociology, economy, mass-media.
The superiors have the responsibility of ensuring the eventual specializations in these disciplines, so necessary for the life and missionary service of the Institute.<$FRL 61; Ft 14; 20 b>

563. The process of inculturation requires a particular sensibility towards the cultures and the values that are expressed in them. The candidates are encouraged to cultivate interest and a taste for the literature, the art, the music and the cultural traditions of different peoples.

564. A true inculturation is not possible without the knowledge of one of the most important channels of communication among the peoples, the language. Therefore, already during the first phases of formation, the study of languages is encouraged according to the indications of the Institute.<$FCfr. AI 82, 22>

Essential courses

Psychology

565. At least one course chosen from the following: Theories of personality - Experimental psychology - Evolutive psychology - Psychology of education - Psychology of religion.

Sociology

566. At least one course chosen from the following: Introduction to sociology - Theory of Society - Principal theories of religious sociology.

Anthropology

567. At least one course chosen among the following: Introduction to the phenomenon of culture - History and Culture (the dynamism of cultural mutations and of intercultural dialogue) - Culture and language.

Economy

568. A course which includes the fundamental economic laws (demand-supply, variation of price etc.etc.) in view of their application to real situations.

Mass Media

569. Formation in the use of the means of social communication<$FRF 68; OFCS 5-8; RM 83> - Mass Media and evangelization - Study of mass communication.

Universal History

570. Characteristics of the various civilizations - Elements of literature, art and music of different peoples.

Chapter Four
Suggestions and norms

Criteria for the choice of schools and universities

571. When choosing the seat for the houses of formation, the major superiors, helped by the secretariat for vocational promotion and formation at the various levels, select those places where the centres of study respond as much as possible to the exigencies of formation and of the mission.

572. The insertion in a school or university takes place developing a constructive and critical dialogue with the school itself in such a way as to make present, in so far as is possible, the missionary dimension.

573. Wherever it is possible the students are orientated towards intercongregational schools which better respond to all the exigencies of missionary preparation. The Institute commits itself to prepare personnel qualified for teaching.

Subsidiary structures

574. The postulancies and scholasticates/centres must be furnished with a reading room complementary to the library of the school, where the students can find material suitable for giving a missionary prospective to their studies. It includes the following sections:<$FRL 92>

1
Books for general consultation: encyclopedias, dictionaries, fundamental works on philosophy and theology, above all on the Sacred Scriptures;

2
Spirituality: religious life, vows, priesthood, spiritual direction, prayer;

3
Missiology: analysis of reality, encounters with different cultures, the missions today, local Churches, African, Latin-american, Asian literature;

4
Comboni documents: Comboni, the Institute, Comboni missionaries;

5
Magazines: those considered more important for a house of formation, regularly bound and conserved.

575. The secretary general for vocational promotion and formation, in collaboration with the postulancies, novitiates and scholasticates/centres, keeps an up-to-date bibliography which covers the sectors of study indicated by this "Ratio". Attention should especially be drawn to the more important documents of the Holy See and of the Episcopal Conferences and those publications which develop the missionary aspect of a determined theme or thesis.

Normative aspects

576. Before being admitted to the philosophical-theological course the candidates must have completed their pre-university studies according to the norms in force in their respective countries.<$FCIC 234.2; RF 129; Ft 65>

577. In order to be able to have access to the fonts of theological reflection an adequate knowledge of Latin and the biblical languages is necessary.<$FCIC 249; RF 66; 80; Ft 130>

578. The study of philosophy lasts a minimum of two years and that of theology a minimum of four years.<$FCIC 250; Ft 132>

579. During the study of philosophy and theology the regular attendance at lectures has a value that cannot be substituted; it is therefore obligatory.<$FFt.131; SCH I, 42>

580. In the choice of optional courses one always keeps in mind the necessity of completing the study of theology in its missionary aspect. This choice, therefore, is always made in dialogue with the formators.

581. At the beginning of the postulancy and of the scholasticate/centre an internal course is organised for the study of the "Ratio Studiorum" and, if necessary, for a reflection on the methodology of study and scientific research.

582. In the revision and annual evaluation of the life of the postulancy and of the scholasticate/centre, attention is given to the way in which the "Ratio Studiorum" was applied.

583. Before ordination to the priesthood, or the perpetual profession for brothers, the candidates must have completed the programmes set-out in this present "Ratio Studiorum".

SECTION TWO
INTELLECTUAL FORMATION OF CANDIDATESTO THE PRIESTHOOD

Chapter One
Humanistic and scientific studies

Basic studies

584. Before entering the Postulancy, the candidates must complete the curriculum of studies required in their own country for university entrance and obtain the relative academic titles.<$FOT 3; CIC 234.2; RF 16-19>

585. In so far as possible, the students are encouraged to choose subjects that better prepare them for the philosophical-theological studies and their future priestly ministry.<$FRF 16-19>

586. The Institute may demand a supplementary propaedeutic period so that the students are able to recuperate any disciplines considered indispensable for priestly formation.<$FRF 65-69>
It is the duty of the provincial superiors, aided by the respective secretariats for vocational promotion and formation, to evaluate the intellectual preparation of the candidates before admitting them to the philosophical-theological studies.

Chapter Two
Philosophical studies

Importance

587. A good preparation in philosophy is fundamental not only in order to begin the study of theology but also as a an essential base for facing life, the situations and the problems that characterise the world of today.

Philosophy and the human situation

588. More than in the past contemporary man, at an individual and at group level, feels himself responsible for his own history, feeling called upon to construct a more human world. All this underlines the aspects of liberty, self determination, participation and solidarity; but it also causes to arise in an urgent way the problems of values, of ends, of meanings, of criteria of discernment and of justification.
If the centrality of man as subject of his own history has placed in deep crisis the content and the traditional way of teaching philosophy, it has not, for this, made them less necessary. It has, instead, created the necessity for their profound revision.<$FRF 70-75; CIC 251; Fs I-III; Fs II, 1; SCH III, 79-80>

589. Indeed, even if in a fragmentary and contradictory manner, the man of today adverts to the insufficiency of the particular sciences when faced with the essential and universal questions regarding the end and meaning of his very existence. He adverts, many times only implicitly, to the necessity of an interpretative sapiential science, through which he may rediscover himself in his entirety, universality and unity.
It is the task of philosophy to respond to this necessity, so as not to leave man a victim of mere ideologies and of the irrational and therefore in a situation in which the christian faith itself almost becomes impossible.

Philosophy and culture

590. Since man is not only interested in registering, describing and ordering phenomena, but also and above all in understanding its true value and ultimate sense, philosophical reflection is an essential part of one's own and of the other's culture. Indeed, the soul of a culture is constructed by the response that is given to these fundamental questions concerning human existence.
The study of philosophy, therefore, has a value that cannot be substituted for the comprehension and evangelization of the cultures.<$FFs II, 2>

Philosophy and theology

591. Theology has with philosophy, as also with the historical and humanistic sciences, a rapport which must be grasped exactly. In fact the faith is the response of man to the revelation which God makes of himself; revelation which, being addressed to man, assumes a human form and the characteristic of the historicity of man. For this reason theology, without losing its specific autonomy and methodology, pre-supposes and uses both philosophy and the results of the historical and humanistic sciences.<$FFs II, 3; Ft 32-42; 50-53; SCH III, 68.2>

592. The connection between theology and philosophy is double. Theology uses philosophical categories to express itself. But, more importantly, as a mediation of the dialogue of faith between man and God, theology requires a pre-existing comprehension of itself, of the world and of God on the part of a person or a people. It assumes this vision, even with all the critical and prophetic charge which it derives from the biblical revelation.
It establishes thus a dialectic rapport, in which and through which the theology purifies and renews the philosophical vision which it assumed and it itself is purified and rendered more capable of leading to the comprehension of the mystery of Christ, while accepting the critical challenge that comes from philosophy.

593. The fact that faith, although tied in its expression to particular philosophies, does not identify with any of them, posits a series of problems and instances that must be appositely taken into consideration in the philosophical formation in preparation for theology.
It is necessary therefore to take note of a philosophical pluralism tied to cultural pluralism. The study of philosophical systems ought not, therefore, be restricted to the western world or to the past.

594. The systematic study of philosophical themes must take into account the various modes of approach, of prospective and of solutions that are offered by the more important systems or are present in the diverse cultural experiences. Their limits, therefore, and their deficiencies must be indicated but, above all, it is necessary to integrate the various contributions in a unified synthesis that represents not so much a definite and complete possession of the truth, as a clear awareness and coming to the truth which always transcends man and his different philosophies.

595. Without losing its sapiential characteristic, the study of philosophy must be scientific, that is, based on its own proper criteria and methods of research and reasoning. Even here the learning of the methodology, and an adequate exercise in it, is of great importance for the Comboni missionary as he is called upon to dialogue with the different philosophies of diverse cultures.

Essential programmes<$FFs III>

Philosophical systems and history of philosophy

596. The courses must meet contrasting exigencies: capacity to dialogue with the principal actual philosophical currents, and a knowledge and just appreciation of a philosophical "tradition"; openness to the necessary pluralism and necessity of a synthesis that is not simply syncretist and opportunist. Particular attention is given to the study of the new philosophies which are emerging.

Logic

597. An introduction to the principal systems of logic, to the principles of induction and deduction, to the role of the method in every scientific knowledge.
The course must aim not only to give some notions, but also to initiate the student to a sound mental discipline.

Epistemology

598. The study of the value and limits of human knowledge, not in abstract, but in its principal forms - Origin and principles of knowledge - Problem of the certain knowledge of the truth - Rapport between scientific and philosophical knowledge - Problem of the unity in knowledge.
The course should also include a reflection upon the relationship between theology and praxis, and on the type of knowledge that is based on the human faith necessary for a correct comprehension of historical thought.

Philosophical anthropology

599. An introduction to the study of the essential structures of the human being. Man, a personal being situated by his body in space and time; not a natural datum, but a being called to transcendence (vocation) through the capacity to know intelligence), feel (aesthetic sense), decide (will) and create (work) with responsibility (subjectivity) and in communion (inter-subjectivity).

Ontology

600. The problem of immanence and transcendence - The problem of the absolute and the contingent - The truth as revelation, the good (love) as donation, unity as sharing and solidarity -Dialogue, in all its expressions, between God and man - The value, meaning and limits of the autonomy of created man.

Philosophy of Nature

601. The scientific method - Nature - Events and things - The structure of physical being: substance and accidents, hylomorphism, act and potency - The substantiality and individuality of bodies - The spatial and temporal co-ordination of the material world - Causality - Finality.

Philosophy of religion

602. The study of religion as an historical fact, that is with its potentiality of making history - The study of the origins of symbols, of religious language, of rites and forms of praxis - The dynamic structure of "religious consciousness" - The discovery of the religious subject in the search for God - The tendency to the personal Absolute, the ultimate foundation of religion as self-affirmation in God - The intimate conflict of modern and contemporary atheism.

Philosophy of culture

603. The knowledge of the other, as a psychic subject and as a human subject, condition of possibility and openness to the problem of culture and history - Culture: the phenomenon of cultural diversity, attitudes and responses to the phenomenon - General characteristics of culture - History: the philosophical problematic - Nature, cause, sense and value of history - Structure, end and historicity of man.

Ethics

604. General principles. Conscience, awareness and moral responsibility - Moral good and bad - Law and liberty - The moral structure of the person.
Principles of social morals. Person and community - Community and society - Socialization and political responsibility.

Chapter Three
Theological studies

The mission as principle of inspiration and organisation

605. An authentic theology has in itself a missionary dynamism. It represents a function of mediation between the mystery of salvation, as lived and celebrated by the faith of the Church, and the historical reality.
It is therefore studied in a typically prophetic-missionary function, as a provocation of the coming of the Kingdom of God in the various human situations.

606. The students are helped to see the mission as the principal inspiration and organizer of their theological studies. An efficacious theological-missionary formation cannot be ensured by courses of missiology alone. Although these courses may be useful and even necessary, a "missionary theology" is needed in order that the study of theology may become a missionary experience.

607. In a missionary prospective, the study of theology continually keeps in mind the christian and pastoral praxis, and it develops from them. The praxis itself is a component of theological formation and a source of a critical reflection on the faith.

608. A fundamental condition for a missionary theology today is that the study of theology become a place for a fruitful encounter-comparison between the "contextualized theologies" that express the experience of the christian communities in the various socio-cultural situations.

609. The formative curriculum is composed of a critically reviewed methodological and theological content, of pastoral activities and of structures that permit, by means of a guided reflection, the interiorization and integration of theory and praxis.

610. The formators ensure that the candidates, arriving in the international scholasticates, do not omit the prescribed theses, either because it is difficult to combine the present programmes with those already studied before the novitiate, or because some theses are not taken into consideration by the schools they frequent. For this reason there is a list of obligatory and optional subjects regarding both the philosophical and theological courses.<$FCIC 252; Ft 18-28; 59-62; 72; SCH III, 66-74; SCH Prologue>

Missiological prospectives for some theological treatises

Bible and mission

611. The study of the Bible is for the Comboni missionary a school of missiology. In fact the Bible contains the pedagogy that God has used for leading a people to the faith, preparing the announcing of Christ; it contains also the historical-cultural mediation that this pedagogy has utilised. It is necessary that the teaching leads the student to underline the salient points of this pedagogy.

Fundamental theology

612. Fundamental theology has a special importance for the intellectual formation of the missionary today. An actual theological discourse must bear in mind the critical and methodological instances that are presented by the emerging theologies, by religious pluralism, by secularisation and atheistic humanism.<$FFt 107-1130>

Revelation

613. The study of revelation must underline the historical-cultural mediations, grasp the possible elements of revelation in the non-christian religions and their relevance for evangelization, approach the Word in its existentiality, that is as proclamation, dialogue and celebration.<$FRF 78; Ft 79-84; SCH II, 67.2>

614. Especially in the more advanced courses and in specializations, the study of Scripture must be accompanied by the study of the "holy books" and religious traditions of other religions which do not derive from the Bible, so that they may identify and illuminate possible seeds of revelation.

Systematic theology and mission

615. Systematic theology aims at the scientific study of the Christian mystery which the Church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, possesses and transmits in a continual effort to understand it always better. Besides the Bible, which has a privileged position, the sources of this comprehension are the written and oral teaching, the praxis and the liturgical life of the Church.

616. In the continual effort to understand the Christian mystery, the missionary aims at: placing important themes in the globality of this mystery; grasping the analogy between the various traditions inside and outside Christianity; seeing the rapport between the life of the Church and that of the world.

Christology

617. The missionary prospective underlines the central position and the universality of Christ as the original universal sacrament of salvation and, as such, the obligatory and central point of the history of each individual and of every people: the mystery "in" history that gives origin to and reveals the mystery "of" history.

618. The missionary angle also gives more importance to the role of the Holy Spirit in salvation. It is in fact the Spirit that enables the Church to make a christological reading of the history of every people and renders it capable of being the faithful servant for the salvation which God offers to all.
Besides, only the Spirit leads the Church to the existential confession of Christ<$F1 Cor. 12,3> that is, at the same time, origin and end of the mission.

Ecclesiology

619. Ecclesiology must be based upon the Church as the universal sacrament of salvation which is sent to the non-christians. The mission is not a chapter of ecclesiology but, "the very reason for being of the Church".<$FEN 14> Therefore there cannot be a full understanding of the Church unless it is understood as the one that evangelizes and lives for evangelization.
This realization will illustrate as a consequence the rapport Church-world, the need of the Church to listen to the world and to be in solidarity with it.

620. Ecumenism. In the context of ecclesiology and in a proper missionary prospective, Ecumenism is seen as a reflection on the necessity of re-building the unity of the Church willed by Christ, in order to render credible its witness.<$FCIC 256.2>

621. Mariology. It must be borne in mind that without an adequate Mariology, presented according to the indications of "Lumen Gentium" and "Marialis Cultus", it is impossible to understand in a sapiential and dynamic way the mystery of the Church.<$FRF 80; 96; Ft II; SCH III, 69>

Sacraments

622. In the study of the sacraments, celebrations of privileged moments of the life of the Christian and of the community, one must: distinguish the theological content from the socio-cultural one; undertake a sufficient study of analogous rites in the non-christian religions; become aware of the way that each sacrament constructs the Church, with special attention to the problematic of the young Churches.

Liturgy

623. In the study of liturgy, special attention must be paid to the problem of unity and pluralism, because the missionary also has the duty of promoting the liturgy of the local Church. This requires fidelity to the essential and the ability to assume symbols and languages with equilibrium and theological preparation.<$FRF 79; Cfr. Fl>

Christian morals

624. In the study of christian morals one must underline clearly that the foundation is always the Spirit who, revealing Christ, reveals the new man and the new creation. One must present morals as an individual and social commitment to progress towards humanization in Christ. It is necessary to be able to see how the reality of the Kingdom of God and of eschatology constitute two essential elements for the christian moral decision.
In the study of morals the missionary must pay special attention on the link between moral praxis and culture. In fact, in the moral code proposed it is important to distinguish what is fruit of a culture, and therefore not necessarily valid for all, from what springs from the being inserted in Christ and therefore valid for every person.<$FRF 79; Ft 95-101>

History of the Church - Patristics

625. The History of the Church and Patristics must be approached ss a meeting-place between the Gospel and culture, the place in which one can be educated in the pluralism of the expression of the one faith and in the method of the incarnation of the Word.<$FRF 79; Ft 74; 85-88; SPFS 30.1>
In particular, the study of the history of the Church must not be restricted to events in Europe or America, in Africa or in Asia; although with different emphasis, it must include all.
To all is given the opportunity of deepening their knowledge of the XIX Century in Europe and Africa, in order to have an adequate understanding of the life of Daniel Comboni and of his Institute.

Canon Law

626. The study of canon law takes place in a pastoral and missionary prospective. Ecclesiastical law must be understood in its significance as service to the life of the Church, and in its essentially historic character, subject that is to revisions and adaptation.
The study of canon law opens the mind to the comprehension of the structure of the Church in rapport with the spirit, of its special value which cannot be substituted in the history of salvation, as the body of Christ in redemption and the symbol of the sacraments.<$FRF 79; LG 8>

Pastoral theology

627. The study of pastoral theology has special importance, both as a dimension of all the theological disciplines,<$FOT 4> and as a science that deals with the real problems of the People of God. It stimulates theological reflection on them and researches the practical application of the theological solutions according to the concrete situations.<$FCIC 255; RF 79; 94-99; Ft 102-106>

628. The study of pastoral theology, like all the other theological disciplines, must be accompanied and illuminated by serious experiences of pastoral work in the local Church, with the aim of integrating the principles and the praxis of missionary methodology.<$FCIC 258>
In the pastoral experiences there must be space for the ministry of the Word: homily, catechesis and spiritual direction. For this reason it is important that the student learns the fundamental principles of communication.<$FCIC 256.1>
For a stimulating and efficacious pastoral activity it is necessary to have sufficient knowledge of the local language and culture.<$FCIC 257.2>

Essential programmes<$FFt 71 e>

Biblical theology

629. Fundamental courses. Introduction to the Old Testament - Introduction to the New Testament.

Specific courses. The Historical Books - Prophetic books - Sapiential Books - Synoptics - Corpus Johanneum - Acts of the Apostles - Corpus Paulinum.

Preferential optional courses. Mission and missionary pedagogy in the Bible - The Alliance and the nations in the Bible - The concept of the Kingdom of God - Salvation and Liberation in the Bible - Biblical anthropology - Bible and preaching - Bible and catechesis - Bible and the Koran.

Systematic theology

630. Fundamental courses. The History of Salvation - Introduction to theology - Problems of fundamental theology - Introduction to the liturgy - Introduction to christian ethics - Fundamental ethics - Mystery and structure of the Church: theology of ecclesiastical law.

Specific courses. God: the actual problematic - Christology - The Holy Spirit: the role of revelation, ecclesial life, history and mission - The Trinity: anthropological, ecclesial and missionary reflections - The Church: messianic people and universal sacrament of salvation - Mariology - Christian anthropology: man in Adam and man in Christ - The sacraments of christian initiation - The sacrament of reconciliation - The sacrament of the anointing of the sick - Ministry, ministers and priesthood - Theology and Ethics of matrimony - Legal aspects of the sacraments - Eschatology - Christian praxis: at personal, political and social level - Social Doctrine of the Church<$FDSFS 71-72> - History of the Church.

Preferential optional courses. Culture and the experience of God - The Christian Faith in front of Marxism - Theology of religions - Faith and History - Faith and Politics - Mission and ecumenism - Theology of Liberation - African theology - Poverty, development and the justice of the Kingdom of God - Evangelization and human promotion - Structures of religious experience - The problem of God in other religions - Missionary dynamism in the Church - Popular religious expression - The evangelization of Europe - XIX Century: imperialism and the missionary awake - History of Christianity in Africa - History of Christianity in Latin-America - History of Christianity in Asia.

Pastoral Theology

631. Fundamental courses. Principles of pastoral theology - Initiation to practical pastoral activity - Missionary methodology - Theological reflection on pastoral experience - Pastoral counselling - Homiletics - Catechetics.

Preferential optional courses. The dynamics of inter-cultural communication - The Dynamics of dialogue - Mass Media and evangelization - Mass media and mass communication - Group dynamics.

Spiritual theology

632. Fundamental courses. History of christian spirituality: study of experiences in the Spirit in various epochs and cultural environments - The spirituality lived by great missionaries.

Preferential optional courses. Experience of God in the non-christian religions - Methods of prayer - Christian Asceticism - Apostolic and individual discernment (spiritual direction).

SECTION THREE
INTELLECTUAL AND PROFESSIONAL FORMATION
OF BROTHER CANDIDATES

Chapter One
General principles

Premises

633. Because of the link between evangelization and human promotion, the Comboni brother is called upon to give a particular contribution to the activities which favour the integral development of man and the advent of a type of society according to the christian conception of the world. He does this by means of the practice of his profession and his collaboration in the pastoral work, according to the concrete needs of the single communities and as a testimony of his consecration.<$FRL 11.2; 60; 61; AC 79, VII, 26 c>

634. The intellectual formation of the brother demands a content which is capable of ensuring his technical-professional preparation. It equally demands the content offered by culture and by the human sciences that renders him capable of having a critical vision of reality and of recognising the values, the contradictions and the injustices which it contains. These contents must be integrated by others that form and maintain his human-christian and vocational identity.

Professional formation

635. Professional formation is of fundamental importance for the brother. Given that it must be completed in the respective provinces, the duty of offering extended and more precise indications concerning the programmes of professional preparation belongs to the provincial directories.

636. Brother candidates have their own proper formation, in accordance with the demands of their Comboni vocation and their specific service. Professional preparation, as a general norm, must be continued until the conferring of recognised titles.<$FRL 90.9; AC 79, VII, 27-29>

637. The professions or professional fields that experience indicates as the most requested from the Comboni brother are the following: administration, agriculture, building, carpentry, electro-technical, engineering, graphic arts, informatics, law, mass-media, mechanics, medicine, nursing, pastoral animation, pedagogy, social services, sociology, teaching.

638. Professional preparation demands: competence in a determined profession and willingness to learn other techniques required by the concrete situations of the missions; the ability to communicate one's own experience and co-involve people in learning a profession; the comprehension of the actual significance and role of work; the assimilation of an evangelical professional ethic.

Methodological notes

639. In the intellectual formation of the brother methodology has a special importance, above all if one keeps in mind the differences of age and preparation of the candidates. Here are a few principles to follow:

1
human and theological formation must be proportioned to the degree of technical-scientific preparation;

2
the approach to the study of the human sciences and theology must be more experimental than theoretical, in order to develop the discourse on man and God based on personal experience and concrete facts;

3
a large space must be given to the active participation of the brothers, facilitating the development of essential themes with a bibliography which is useful because actualised and concrete;

4
the programme established for each educational phase must be conveniently divided in precise periods in such a way as to ensure its ordered and completed development.

640. The doctrinal content established for the different formative phases is to be presented in systematic courses and programmed catechesis, in such a way as to offer the entire content as foreseen in the "Ratio Studiorum".

641. The systematic courses, organised outside or in the community according to the local possibilities, require: a text that contains a complete programme, even if only basic; a number of lessons proportioned to the subject; a series of means for the comprehension, the appropriation and the verbalization of the content (study, summary, research, debate, exams).

642. For some candidates, the theological-pastoral formation may be made at a level that enables the candidates to undertake specialized pastoral services (pastoral work among youth, social work, direction of centres for leaders). In these cases the candidates follow the theological-pastoral courses until they obtain the relative academic titles.

Chapter Two
Intellectual and professional formation
in the postulancy

Professional formation

643. During the postulancy, normally, the candidate completes his basic professional training and obtains the relative diploma, he exercises the profession already acquired and learns other professional elements useful for the exercise of his missionary service.

644. During the postulancy, a certain artistic formation (literature, painting, decoration, sculpture, fretwork, music, theatre) is encouraged, in the limits of the possible and according to the gifts of each one.

Study of human sciences

Psychology

645. Elements of psychology of personality (characterology) for a sufficient knowledge of oneself.

Sociology

646. Elements for an analysis of the reality - A global vision of the socio-economic and political systems of the world of today.

Anthropology

647. Knowledge and acceptance of one's own culture.

Mass-media

648. Basic formation in the use of the means of social communication.

Theological formation

649. The principal objective of theological formation during the postulancy is that of preparing the candidate for the novitiate. This preparation may be made in the community or outside, using courses offered by the local Church or specific institutions. In organising the programme of studies due attention is given to the requirements and indications of the present "Ratio Studiorum".

Holy Scripture

650. Introduction to the Old and New Testaments - Study of "Dei Verbum".
Catechesis: Introduction to a personal, community and liturgical reading of the Bible - Introduction to the Psalter.

Introduction to the mystery of Christ

651. Jesus of Nazareth in the context of his time and his people.
Catechesis: Recall of the content of the course during the Christological celebrations of the liturgical year.

Introduction to the mystery of the Church

652. The Church as universal sacrament of salvation for the advent of the Kingdom of God - Church, messianic people with the duty of re-uniting in Christ all the nations - Fundamental truths of the faith - Sacraments.
Catechesis: Some figures of persons called in the context of the people of God: Abraham, Moses, Mary, Paul - The missionary vocation: qualified expression of the commitment of the Church in the world - Priestly vocation and consecrated lay vocation - Ministries in the Church.

History of the Church

653. Elements of Church History - Knowledge of the actual ecclesial reality.

Introduction to the Liturgy

654. The Christian Assembly - Liturgical celebration - The Liturgical Year.

Christian Ethics

655. Fundamental principles: sin and life according to the Spirit - The ten commandments as an expression of the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity - Overcoming legalism.
Catechesis: Conversion and reconciliation - Sexuality, matrimony and celibacy - Introduction to human work according to the documents of the Church.

Chapter Three
Intellectual and professional formation
in the international centre

Professional formation

656. The exercise of one's own profession and the acquisition of other skills useful for the missions.

Accountancy

657. A brief course that includes the following aspects: fundamental elements of banking laws, economical direction of a community, of a small co-operative, etc. - Indications and norms issued by the office of the treasurer general concerning internal accountancy - Balances, projects and economic reports in reference to works of human promotion.

Languages

658. The study of the official language of the country and of the language required for apostolic activity.

The Study of human sciences

Cultural anthropology

659. Fundamental concepts - Ethnocentrism and cultural pluralism - Dialogue between cultures - Incarnation of the missionary in the culture of the people: practical exigencies.

Sociology

660. General introduction - Sociology of religion - Notions of statistics - Methods and technics for simple social analysis.

Psychology

661. Psychology of religion - Elements of pastoral psychology.

Mass Media

662. The use of mass media in missionary animation and in human promotion.

Theological formation

663. In order to ensure a greater qualification for their theological studies, in the measure of the possible, the brothers frequent external schools. The subjects indicated by the Ratio Studiorum are therefore to be taken as the minimum orientations that are to be adjusted to the programmes of the schools that the brothers frequent.
The duty of completing the scholastic formation with practical catechesis and of developing the specifically Comboni programme of formation, is entrusted to the formators.

Holy Scripture

664. The Gospels - Acts of the Apostles.
Catechesis: Paul, missionary of Christ: personality, message, methodology - Meditated reading of the letters to the Corinthians.

Christology

665. Systematic course. Particular attention must be given to underline the figure of Christ the evangelizer.
Catechesis: Christ the evangelizer according to "Evangelii Nuntiandi" and other documents of the Church - The mystery of the person of Christ according to the theology and spirituality of the Heart of Jesus.

Ecclesiology

666. Systematic course - Mariology - Liturgy - Missiology - Ecumenism and contemporary atheism, based upon the more significant documents of the Church - The Church and evangelization of the different cultures - Evangelization and human promotion (role of the brother) - Pastoral: pastoral planning, popular religious sense, catechesis - Ordained and non-ordained ministries at the service of the christian community.
Catechesis: Pastoral applications - Small christian communities: economic, ministerial and apostolic self-sufficiency.

Moral Theology

667. The social doctrine of the Church - Professional ethics: social and political dimensions of one's own profession; implications for third parties which derive from one's own comportment; the just wage; the right to strike and the limits to this right, etc. - Justice and fidelity in contracts - The contrast between professional and other values.
Catechesis: Human work according to the documents of the Church.

History of the Church

668. History of the Church and in particular of the continent in 
hich the Centre is situated.
Catechesis: Documents of the local Church.

SECTION FOUR
SPECIALIZATION

Chapter One
Orientations and norms

Necessity and conditions

669. In order to face the complex missionary situations of the world of today and to respond to the exigencies of the local Churches and its own internal necessities, the Institute needs personnel who are qualified in diverse sectors of its activities.<$FAC 85, 78; RL 47.4; 59.4; 78.5; 81.1; 90.9; 92.6; 97.3>

670. The General Council, in dialogue with the general secretariats and the provincial superiors and their councils, annually programmes a series of specializations.
In choosing members for specialization according to the programme, beyond their intellectual capacity and personal interest, they must keep in mind the human maturity and vocational identity of the confrere.
Individual requests to study for a degree are only granted if they enter into the programme of the general council and the provinces.<$FCfr. Directory of the general Administration>

671. So that they may respond to the real needs of the Institute and the local Churches, specializations are normally tied to the destinations or duties that the interested parties are to undertake in the province to which they belong.

Specialization of scholastics and brothers

672. The superior general and his council, in dialogue with the provincial superiors, indicates each year some scholastics and brothers for specialization. The sector of study must always be approved by the general council.

673. When dealing with scholastics or brothers who, having finished their normal courses, are destined to specialization, the respective norms of the "Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis et Studiorum" are to be followed.

674. With regard to obtaining qualifications required for the ends of the Institute or the exigencies of the local Churches the following criteria are to be kept in mind:<$FSCH I, 46-51; RL 97.3>

1
the first academic degrees (bachelors degree, diploma) are to be obtained possibly by all during their normal course (philosophical-theological course, professional course);

2
the Licence is normally obtained immediately following the normal course, bearing in mind the destination of the confrere;

3
a superior degree, whenever the plan of studies permits it, is obtained after an adequate missionary experience.

Practical indications

675. The Comboni missionaries engaged in courses of specialization depend from the major superior of the province where the school is situated.<$FCfr. RL 116.3.4>

676. The subjects, the duration and the modality of the courses are always agreed upon by the students and the general council and the provincial superiors concerned.
All, then, is set down in a formulary to be conserved by the general secretary, the general secretariat for vocational promotion and formation and the office of the general treasurer, with a copy for the student himself, his provincial superior of destination and the superior of the student during his studies.

677. The expenses of courses (scholastic fees, board, personal expenses) are met by the authority that has taken the initiative of inviting the confrere to study, that is by the general or provincial council. For all other expenses the norms established in the community charter are to be followed.

678. During the period of study, travel abroad is not foreseen, except for urgent and grave necessity and, according to the cases, with the permission of the provincial superior or of the vicar general.

679. Copies of degrees or titles obtained are sent to Rome to the secretary general so that they may be conserved in the personal file. The original document is sent to the provincial archive.

Subjects for research

680. The subjects of the research carried out by students, at level of Licence or a superior level, must be in line with our missionary vocation and its Comboni characteristic.
For this reason, the secretary general for vocational promotion and formation, in dialogue with the general council and the "Studium Combonianum", prepares and maintains up-to-date a list of missionary subjects for study and research at the level of scholastic essays, licences and superior degrees.

681. Two copies of the essays or theses prepared for the diploma, licence or superior degree, must be sent to Rome: one for the library and the other for the general secretariat for vocational promotion and formation.

Chapter Two
Centres of study

Premises

682. Different centres today offer the possibility of good specializations. In order to favour a healthy theological pluralism it is wise to direct the confreres to the different existing centres.

683. The general secretariat for vocational promotion and formation keeps itself informed concerning the centres of study and their respective programmes in order to be able to furnish the necessary information to the confreres.

Specialization in Rome

684. The fathers and brothers that are enroled in the Roman universities form their own proper community, governed according to the norms contained in the directory of the general administration and by the community charter of the group.

Specialization in other centres

685. Those who undertake courses of specialization in other centres regulate themselves according to the norms agreed upon between the general council and the provincial superiors concerned.

APPENDIX N. 1

Outline for the "localization" of the "Ratio"

The "Ratio" wishes to be an instrument which favours at the same time the unity of inspiration of formation in the Institute and its "inculturation" in the provinces where the Comboni missionaries work.
This appendix has as its objective to help in this undertaking of "localization" of the "Ratio", above all for the preparation of the part of the provincial directory regarding formation and, in the light of this, of the operative charters for vocational promotion and the educative charters for the various phases of formation.
Points to be kept in mind:

1.   Understanding reality

1.1
comprehension of the socio-political and cultural reality, as seen by young people;

1.2
attention to the ecclesial reality, in particular to the choices which the local Churches have made in the field of the pastoral care of vocations;

1.3
attention to the Comboni reality, with its missionary choices and its formative structures.

2.   A re-reading of the charism, based on the local reality

2.1
The Founder and the Institute;

2.2
the mission as the source of inspiration for formation.

3.   Style of formation

3.1
style of the formative structure;

3.2
internationality;

3.3
formators.

APPENDIX N. 2

Outline for the formative colloquy

This outline for the formative colloquy is indicative and should be used bearing in mind the personal situation of each candidate, of the gradual and progressive nature of his spiritual process and of the rhythms of the respective formative phases with their fixed points, their events and particular situations. One must consider both the behaviour and the attitudes, as well as the motivations that are at their origin.

The educational praxis of the Institute is described in detail in the text of the Ratio. Here it is sufficient to recall that the fields of the formative colloquy and of spiritual direction compenetrate each other. They must not be separated, even if they are distinct and may be faced in different moments and with different persons. The formative colloquy takes as its starting point the attitudes and behaviour, which can be observed externally, and verifies their motivation. Spiritual direction instead concentrates on the process of faith, on an always deeper comprehension of the plan of God in one's own life. Through the discernment of the motions of the heart, spiritual direction helps to be always more open to the action of God and to overcome the resistances opposed to it.

This subsidy has been prepared in such a way as to be able to serve for all the phases of formation and therefore must be adapted to each of them. It may also constitute a scheme upon which to base the personal and community evaluation and the assessments which the formators must forward to the competent superiors for admission to the novitiate, to the first vows, to the renovation of vows, to perpetual vows and to Holy orders.

1.   The spiritual dimension

1.1
What moment are you passing through of your vocational growth as a christian and as a Comboni missionary? What are your desires, your motivations, your doubts, your understanding of the Comboni missionary vocation? (RL 81, 81.1)

1.2
Are you able to recognise, express and testify to your process of conversion and the personal significance that the paschal mystery of Jesus Christ has in your life? (RL 21, 21.1)

1.3
What is your understanding of and participation in the Eucharist, apex and source of the life of the Church and heart of missionary spirituality? (RL 53)

1.4
What is the importance and the role of personal prayer in your life? What are the times and the ways that you pray? How do you succeed in integrating it with community prayer (Eucharistic celebrations, Liturgy of the Hours and prayer in the groups)? (RL 46, 49, 50)

1.5
What use do you make of the means that sustain and nourish the spiritual life: Holy Scripture an "lectio divina", sacrament of reconciliation, spiritual direction, spiritual reading, rosary, silence, solitude, etc.etc.? (RL 47, 54, 54.3, 50, 51 ,97.2)

2.   The vocational process

Religious consecration

2.1
How are you preparing yourself for the missionary religious consecration? Are you deepening and assimilating existentially the content in your daily life? (RL 20, 22, 91, 94, 97)

2.2
What are the motives which sustain your life of christian and consecrated chastity? What difficulties do you encounter? What helps you personally to live this virtue and vow? What attitude needs to be more motivated and re-enforced, and in what concrete manner? (RL 25-26)

2.3
How does the commitment to follow Christ poor manifest itself in your attitudes? What are the motives which sustain your life of poverty? Are you sober, detached and prepared to share with others? What attitude of yours needs to be purified and more personally assimilated? (RL 27-32)

2.4
What is your understanding of the virtue and vow of obedience, and what are the motives that sustain it? How do you live your rapport with authority? What attitude still needs to be motivated and deepened and in what concrete way? (RL 33-35)

The Comboni charism

2.5
How do you live your communion with the Founder? Do you feel a growing identification with him through the deepening of your knowledge of him? How do you live your communion with the confreres and your belonging to the Institute as a family? (RL 1.1-4, 10, 11)

2.6
In what way does the missionary charism of the Institute become more each day the unifying centre of your life? How does it influence your way of living and behaving in the different circumstances of your life? (RL 13.1.2)

Identity as a priest or as a brother

2.7
Does your style of life manifest a growing attraction towards the missionary priesthood? What are the concrete attitudes that express this? What is the relationship between your prayer, your study, your pastoral commitment and your preparation for the priesthood? What aspect are you seeking to deepen and assimilate and in what concrete way? (RL 11.1, 58-61)

2.8
Have you an adequate understanding of the vocation of the Comboni missionary brother and do you feel identified with it? Which dimensions of your vocation and of your future missionary service do you feel the need to deepen? (RL 11.2, 58-61)

3.   Intellectual dimension

3.1
How do you fulfil your duty of studying? How much time do you dedicate to it and with which method?

3.2
A serious commitment to the study of the human sciences, of christian spirituality, of philosophy and theology or of a profession demands conviction, research, dialogue, clarity of ideas, obedience of faith. Are you developing these qualities? (RL 90.6.7.9)

3.3
Has Holy Scripture a central role in your study of theology? How do you accept and force yourself to understand the teaching of the Church?

3.4
What rapport has your study with your prayer and pastoral commitment? Are you able to recognise and criticise the theological pre-suppositions which lie behind you manner of understanding and planning your pastoral work and your spiritual life? (RL 90.8, 61.7.8)

3.5
How do you seek to give a missionary dimension to the study of theology and to deepen the theological-spiritual aspects of our Comboni charism? What contribution can you give by your study to the Institute and the mission? (RL 90.7, 97.3-5)

4.   Pastoral dimension

4.1
How do the dispositions required by missionary service manifest themselves in your life: a spirit of faith, fidelity, generosity, love for the people, solidarity, humility, sense of sacrifice, perseverance, dependence? (RL 90.2)

4.2
How does your capacity for communion and collaboration manifest itself? Are you able to accept others, recognise their gifts, encourage them and help them with a sincere and constructive fraternal correction and help? What difficulties do you find in collaborating and how do you strive to overcome them? (RL 38.1-4)

4.3
Are you aware of your attitudes and habits which can be a help or an obstacle to your pastoral action? Are you open to correction and prepared to change?

4.4
Do you carry out your pastoral commitments with a precise methodology? Have you realistic objectives? Do you foresee the consequences of your actions, do you accept your limits and failures with a spirit of faith? (RL 56, 38.4)

4.5
What are the missionary aspects of your priestly ministry or of the service of human promotion that you need to develop: proclamation of the Gospel, liturgical celebration of the mysteries of Christ, guidance of the christian community, sharing its life, choice of the most poor, proclamation or promotion of the values of the kingdom, promotion of ministries, knowledge and evangelization of the cultures, etc.etc.? How are you preparing yourself? (RL 16.1-3, 56-71)

5.   Community dimension

5.1
Do you accept each confrere as a gift of God and live the community as a "cenacle of apostles"? Do you participate actively and faithfully in the various moments of community life (prayer, meals, encounters, recreation, etc.etc.)? (RL 38.1, 39.1.2)

5.2
Do you assume your responsibilities and contribute to the smooth functioning of community life (respect for the time-table and of common decisions, services, presence, organization etc.etc.)? (RL 37.1.2)

5.3
Are you capable of authentic personal relationships? Do you initiate and develop healthy relationships with the others (confreres, friends, family, professors, girls, etc.etc.)? (RL 38.3.7)

5.4
How are you opening up to internationality, to the various aspects of the cultures represented in your community and to the values of the culture of the host country? (RL 8.1, 18.1.2, 97.1)

5.5
What is your contribution to the moments of discussion and community discernment? Are you able to see the decisions in the light of the commitments arising from the religious life? (RL 39, 41, 41.1, 111, 111.1)

5.6
How do you live your relationship with your formators? Do you seek the personal colloquy as a moment for verifying your vocational process, sincerely manifesting yourself? Are you able to serenely accept the role of authority? (RL 87, 88, 88.1.2, 102.1.2, 35.2.3)

6.   Personal dimension

6.1
Do you manifest respect and care for your person in its various aspects: physical (exercise, sleep, moderate food) social, cultural and spiritual? (RL 83)

6.2
Do you know and strive to integrate the various aspects of your life and your personality (personal history, emotions, sexuality, psychological and relational dynamics)? (RL 83.1, 87.4)

6.3
Are you growing in the knowledge of yourself and do you serenely accept your gifts, your limits, the areas and challenges that require growth and commitment? (RL 83.2, 90.2)

6.4
What new discoveries have you made about yourself, the faith, the mission, the Church? Why do you think you are called to the missionary service as a priest or as a Comboni missionary brother? What makes you believe that you are progressing towards your ideal? (RL 88, 88.1.2)

APPENDIX N. 3

Identity card of the scholasticates
and the brothers international centres

The identity card of the scholasticates/international centres, maintained up-to-date by the general secretariat for vocational promotion and formation, contains detailed indications on the following points:

1. Socio-cultural and ecclesial environment: the possibility of external activities and apostolic work; rapport with the province in which the scholasticate/centre is situated; requisites for learning the local language.

2. Study-work: programmes and didactic methodology; level and preparation required for admission to courses; possibility of courses and specialization; availability of work environments where it is possible to exercise one's profession and learn other skills.

3. Documents required for immigration and residence; the time necessary to obtain them.

4. Other information considered useful, such as the climate, location of the house, etc.etc.

APPENDIX N. 4

Annual report of the local provincials on the scholasticate/brothers centre

(Questionnaire)

1.   Spiritual and formative dimension

1.1
Is there in the scholasticate/centre a spiritually engaged environment and the awareness of the necessity of growing continually in fidelity to the Lord and to the commitments of the consecrated Comboni missionary life? (RL 82, 82.1, 85, 97, 97.2)

1.2
How is the daily duty of personal and community prayer undertaken? (RL 49, 50)

1.3
Is the Liturgy of the Hours adequately valued in personal and community prayer and is it assumed integrally by those who are obliged to it? (RL 52)

1.4
How are the liturgical celebrations prepared and lived? Is the celebration of the Eucharist, source and apex of evangelization, a daily occurrence and is it considered as the centre of the personal and community spiritual process? (RL 51, 53)

1.5
Is the sacrament of reconciliation valued at a personal and community level? (RL 54, 54.1.2)

1.6
Are the formative colloquy and spiritual direction esteemed by the scholastics and brothers as indispensable means for fidelity to the Lord and to the commitments stemming from their missionary consecration, for their personal growth and Comboni vocational identification? Are they practised with regularity and method according to the orientations of the Ratio? Are there particular difficulties in following the praxis of the Institute in this field? (RL 54.3, 86.3, 97.2)

1.7
During the period of the scholasticate/centre is the formation of the candidates integrated with the programme of initiatives and catechesis indicated by the Ratio (mission, consecration, Comboni charism, ministerial priesthood, evangelization and human promotion, complementary nature of the ministries, etc.etc.)? (RL 97.2.4.5)

2.   Dimension of consecration

2.1
Is the consecrated life considered an essential dimension of the life of the Comboni missionary and is the content deepened and existentially assimilated? (RL 20, 22, 97,97.2)

2.2
Are the environment of the scholasticate/centre, the friendships, the contacts, and above all the personal attitudes, consonant with persons who are committed to respond to the love of God with an undivided heart in consecrated chastity? Does the scholasticate/centre stimulate a healthy christian asceticism, prudence and respect for the customs of the peoples among whom they live? (RL 25-26)

2.3
Does the choice to follow Christ poor truly manifest itself in a poor and sober style of life, in the responsible use of money, in the sharing of goods in community and with the poor, in the dependence on the superiors and in daily work, especially study? (RL 27-32)

2.4
Is there in the scholasticate/centre a climate of attention and seeking the willing of the Lord both for individuals and the community? Do they have recourse to community discernment in the more important decisions and do they regularly hold family councils? Is the role of authority recognised and accepted in the process of discernment and decision? (RL 33-35, 39, 87, 88, 102, 107, 111)

3.   Community dimension

3.1
Is there in the scholasticate/centre a climate of fraternity based on profound and evangelic motivations? What are the concrete initiatives that prepare the candidates to live together? (RL 38, 39, 84, 90.2)

3.2
Is there a family spirit, reciprocal acceptance, co-involvement in the life of the community, active collaboration and participation in the various initiatives? (RL 36, 36.4, 38, 38.6, 41, 43)

3.3
Is there a serene atmosphere in the scholasticate/centre? What are the motives for eventual tensions? (RL 36, 36.3)

3.4
How do they carry out and define the personal evaluations made in view of the vows? (RL 88.2, 98.1)

3.5
How do they programme the holidays and periods lived outside of the scholasticate/centre?

4.   Intellectual dimension

4.1
Is study considered a priority in view of the preparation for missionary service? (RL 97.3)

4.2
Are the candidates assisted in organizing their own scholastic curriculum? Does the community time-table ensure the time necessary for study and an atmosphere of silence which favours it? (RL 97.3)

4.3
Do the scholastics and brothers frequent the school regularly and do they study seriously? Are the programmes established by the respective "Ratio Studiorum" developed "in toto"? (RL 97.5)

4.4
How is the missionary dimension of the studies concretely expressed? In the choice of optional courses is preference given to those more pertinent to a missionary and pastoral preparation? (RL 90.6-8)

5.   Pastoral and missionary dimension

5.1
Does the period of the scholasticate/centre offer the candidates an adequate preparation for the missionary service of the future brother or priest? Which aspects should be particularly taken into consideration? (RL 81.1, 90.2, 97, 97.2)

5.2
Beyond the preparation offered by the schools are internal initiatives organized to complete the preparation of candidates for the missionary ministry? (RL 90.6, 97.4)

5.3
Are the apostolic activities programmed and accompanied seriously, carried out in sectors which are important for the future missionary work and regularly evaluated in the community? (RL 90.8)

5.4
Does the scholasticate/centre carry out any activity of vocational and missionary animation? (RL 75)

6.   Dimension of internationality and inculturation

6.1
Is there in the scholasticate/centre an atmosphere of openness and respect that facilitates the first meeting of the candidates with the new socio-cultural context and helps them to open progressively to internationality? (RL 18, 97.1)

6.2
Are there internal and external initiatives which ensure to the candidates an adequate insertion in the cultural context of the country, of the local Church and of the province, and favour a reciprocal and fruitful collaboration? (RL 17.2, 57.3)

6.3
Does everyone make an effort to learn well and speak the official language of the country which hosts the scholasticate/centre? (RL 57.6)

6.4
Are the scholastics and brothers helped to reconcile the exigencies of their Comboni identity with their commitments in the local Church and other activities? (RL 17.2, 41.1.2, 84.3)

6.5
Does there exist a just equilibrium between incarnation in the local reality and availability to leave for other countries?

7.   Formators

7.1
Are the formators true spiritual guides of the community, do they propose ideals with coherence and authority, do they assume responsibility for the decisions made after community discernment? (RL 87, 88.2)

7.2
Do they consider the formation of the scholastics and brothers their fundamental preoccupation, knowing how to regulate themselves while assuming other personal commitments? (RL 87.1)

7.3
Do they strive to complete one another, to pray and plan together, to understand the candidates in depth and give a unitary vision of the formative process? (RL 87.2-5)

7.4
Are there any difficulties concerning the relationship between the candidates and the formators, signs of incomprehension or rejection?

8.   Final observations

8.1
What are the faults most frequently noticed in the new arrivals which can be attributed to their previous formation?

8.2
Is there equilibrium between the formative activities and the various objectives which must be pursued during the period of the scholasticate/centre? (RL 97.1-3)

8.3
Are there other observations to make or special problems to present?

APPENDIX N. 5

The Fund for the scholasticates/brothers centre

Scope of the Fund

1. The fund for the scholasticates/brothers international centres, administered by the treasurer general, finances the ordinary maintenance of the candidates who are in a scholasticate or international centre in a foreign country.

1.1
The candidates destined to a scholasticate/centre which has its seat in their own province of origin, depend directly from the respective provincial treasurer.

1.2
The Italians who study in Rome are covered by the fund.

Financing the fund

2. The fund for scholasticates/centres is financed by the provinces concerned and by the general administration. In particular the fund receives:

2.1
the contributions paid by the province of origin of the candidates;

2.2
the special contributions of certain provinces (the NAP annually assumes the maintenance of the scholastics in Chicago, while the school fees are debited to the fund);

2.3
the contributions of the office of the treasurer general and specific donations.

Sharing expenses

3. The province of origin of candidates who are abroad meets the following expenses in full:

3.1
the first and last journey of the candidate;

3.2
the expenses of the sick fund;

3.3
boarding and study of the language, from arrival until the beginning of the first scholastic year.

Board and tuition fees

4. From the beginning of the first school year until their departure from the scholasticate/centre, the provinces pay for board and tuition as though the students were studying in their own country.

4.1
The boarding fee is agreed between the office of the treasurer general and the provinces concerned and covers the 365 days of the year, inclusive of the holidays.

4.2
For some provinces the cost of boarding in their own country is superior to the cost of boarding in the host country (the actual cost of the candidate); for others it is equal or less. The difference which is active passes to the Fund and that which is passive is integrated by the Fund itself.

4.3
If a province is unable to meet the expenses of its own candidates, it may ask a special contribution from the superior general and his council.

Tariffs of the Fund for scholasticates/centres

5. The tariffs of the fund for scholasticates/centres which are situated abroad are prepared each year by the office of the treasurer general and they cover the period which goes from 1st October until 30th September of the following year.

5.1
Copies of the tariffs are sent to the general council, to the general secretariat for vocational promotion and formation, to the scholasticates/centres, to the provincial superiors and treasurers of the provinces of origin and of provinces which host scholasticates/brothers international centres.

APPENDIX N. 6

Inscription in courses of on-going formation

(Confidential)

Name and surname:

Date of birth:

Date of perpetual profession and/or ordination:

Province:

Courses of on-going formation in which you have participated, specifying the date, the place and the type of course:

In which course do you wish to participate?

What are your personal motives for choosing this course?
What are your expectations?

What is your actual state of physical and psychic health?

Brief presentation of the provincial superior:

Date

Signature of the Provincial

Signature of the candidate

APPENDIX N. 7

The archives of houses of formation

The titles which should be adopted in preparing the archives of houses of formation in order to ensure precision and continuity in the educational process, are the following:

1. History

Chronicle of the principal events
Publications, articles, folders on the house
Photo of the house, of groups, of the surroundings

2. Government
Ecclesiastic authority
* The Holy See
* The Episcopal Conference
* The Ordinary of the place
General administration
* The superior general and his council
* The general secretariat for V.P. and Formation
* The general secretariat for evangelization
* The general secretariat for missionary animation
Provincial superiors
Community councils
Civil authorities
* Laws, decrees
* Formalities
* Embassies

3. Persons
Register of candidates
Personal files

4. Administration
Documents
* Maps and registration, plans of the house, documents for the property
* Insurance (Fire)
* Works, restorations, constructions
Diary and register of administration
Book of masses to celebrate
Accounts
* Formulary for the accounts
* Monthly, six-monthly and annual accounts
* Annual budget
Secretariat for economy
* Treasurer general
* Provincial secretariats
Employees
* Work contracts, insurances, pay-slip (These records are to be kept even if the employees are no longer working with us)
Benefactors
Receipts (to be conserved for 3/5 years)
Bills to pay, deposits

5. Activities
Scholastic
* Programme, calendars, circulars from the schools
* Papers
Pastoral
* Requests, initiatives, evaluation
Spiritual
* Catechesis, celebrations
* Formularies (for ministries, orders, vows).

6. Various

N.B.: The real collocation and order of this material for the archives is also suggested by the volume of the different documents; thus while separate sheets may be gathered in files, the printed matter of a certain extension is placed apart. A short guide to the archive indicates where to find the material deposited in it.

APPENDIX N. 8

Documents

Documents to which the "Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis et Studiorum" makes reference and which the formators of the international scholasticates/centres must request or prepare.

ABBREVIATIONS

Ca  = Candidate
Eg  = Treasurer General
Ep  = Provincial treasurer
Pl  = Local provincial
Po  = Provincial of origin
Sc  = Scholasticate
Sg  = Secretary General
S/C = Scholasticate/Centre

DOCUMENTS
ORIGINAL
COPY

1. Entry to Scholasticate/centre

* Baptismal certificate
Po
Sc
* Confirmation certificate
Po
Sc
* Family status
Po
Sc
Certificates of studies completed
Po
S/C
Last Will and Testament
Po
S/C
Evaluation post/nov.
Po
S/C

2. Temporary vows (2 months previous)

Petition of the candidate
Po
Sg-S/C
Evaluation of the formators
Po
Sg-S/C-Ca
Formula of the vows
Po
Sg-S/C

3. Perpetual vows (3 moths previous)

Petition of the candidate
Sg
Po-S/C
Letter with option
Sg
Po-S/C-Ca
Evaluation of the formators
Sg
Po-S/C-Ca
List of philosophical/theological theses
Po
Sg
Last will and testament
Po
Sg
Three passport size photographs
Sg
Formula of the vows
Po
Sg-S/C

4. Ministries

* Petition (made with first vows)
* Certificate of reception
Po
Sg-Sc

5. Orders

* Petition (made with perpetual vows)
* Dimissorial letters
Diocesan Chancellery
* Petition of the candidate
Diocesan Chancellery
* (Profession of faith)
Diocesan Chancellery
* Certificate of the ministries
Diocesan Chancellery
* Certificate of the orders
Po
Sg-Sc

6. Experience without vows

A motivated request
Po
Sg-S/C
Dispensation from the vows
Ca
Sg-Po-S/C
The agreed project
Ca
Sg-Po-S/C
Final assessment
Po
Sg-S/C-Ca
Petition for readmission
Sg
Po-S/C
Letter of re-admission
Ca
Sg-Po-S/C

7. Experience with vows

A motivated request
Sg
Po-S/C
The agreed project
Ca
Sg-Po-Pl-S/C
Final assessment
Sg
Po-Pl-S/C-Ca
Conclusive letter
Ca
Sg-Po-S/C

8. Leaving the Institute

An explicative report
Po
Sg-S/C
Notification of the date of leaving
Sg
Eg-Po
Documents of the party as in N. 1
Sg

9. Each year

Evaluation of the community
Sc
Sg-Pl-Po
Three-monthly financial account
Eg
Ep-S/C
Amount of board/fees (September)
Eg
Ep-S/C
Annual budget (February)
Eg
Ep-S/C

10. At the end of the scholasticate/centre

Documents as listed in N. 1
Sg
Certificates and titles of studies
Po
Sg-Ca
Theses for Licence/superior degrees
Ca
Sg-Po-S/C

N.B.: The documents marked with an asterisk (*) are not required for brothers.

INDEX OF TITLES IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER

Acculturation
- in general 561-564, 557
- and internationality 27, 28
- in the novitiate 332, 333, 339.3.4
- in the postulancy 264, 280, 281
- in the scholasticate/centre 397, 403, 405, 426-431

Adolescents
- see vocational promotion 104-114, 111-120

Ambient
- formative (novitiate) 332
- of origin (postulancy) 267
- socio-ecclesial and apostolic activity (s/c) 447
- socio-ecclesial and formation 232-233

Admission
- ministries 483
- novitiate 340
- novitiate (interprovincial) 389, 392
- holy orders 484-487
- postulancy (criteria) 266, 267
- postulancy (level of studies) 268-270
- postulancy (requisites) 138, 139
- scholasticate/centre (initial requisites) 398-404
- vows, first 368
- vows, temporary 478, 479
- vows, perpetual 480, 481

Analysis of reality
- world of the young 121, 123
- in general 561-564

Animation, missionary
- and the charism of the institute 98
- and the local Church 99
- and the founder 97
- and vocations 100
- see also "preferential option" 89, 90

Archives
- of houses of formation 260
- of provincial secretariats 260
- of scholasticates/centres 502-504
- see also appendix n. 7

Assemblies, continental
- finality and modality 244

Activities, apostolic
- in the novitiate 355
- in the postulancy 574, 575
- in the scholasticate/centre 432, 447

Catechesis-formative content
- Postulancy
- catechesis, various 278-301
- founder 274-275
- institute 276
- Novitiate
- catechesis, various 346-351, 352-354
- contents 336, 373
- Scholasticate/centre
- consecrated life 454
- formative contents 451, 452
- mission and Comboni charism 453
- missionary priesthood 455, 456

Catholicity
- as methodology 95, 96
- see also "missionary methodology"

Celebrations
- of the more significant moments of the novitiate 351
- in the postulancy 323

Charism, Comboni
- deepening (s/c) 453, 454
- identification (postulancy) 274-276
- interiorization (novitiate) 347, 353.8.9

Charter, educative
- of the minor seminary 119
- of the novitiate 372, 373
- of the postulancy 320
- of the scholasticate/centre 449, 450
- structure 257

Charter, operative for vocational promotion
- province and vocational centres 255

Chastity
- affective maturity: capacity of true personal love 174
- gift of oneself in the service of the mission 188
- see also "Following of Christ" 187

Church
- actively belonging (postulancy) 290
- ecclesial sense (apostolic virtues) 74-76

Colloquy, formative
- in general 225
- in the novitiate 346, 350
- in the postulancy 295-300
- in the scholasticate/centre 441

Commission for on-going formation
- central commission 535
- operative team 536

Community
- action, educational of (s/c) 436, 437
- and house of novitiate 337, 338
- Comboni mediation of vocational experience 230
- communion and internationality 158-160
- of formation 231, 256
- evaluation of the (s/c) 468
- exigencies of Comboni life 203
- experience of community life (nov) 349
- initiation to community life (post) 291
- life in scholasticate/centre 422-425
- local, and on-going formation 530
- welcoming, vocational 135, 254
- see also "style of life"

Consecration
- consecrated life (s/c) 454
- Following of Christ 181-184, 187-202
- Following of Christ in the consecrated life (nov) 346
- growth in fidelity (s/c) 407-409
- in Comboni life 155-157

Continuity in formation
- between novitiate and s/c 383-386, 397, 398, 401-404
- between the postulancy and the novitiate 325-328
- between voc. promotion and postulancy 132, 266-270

Course, renewal
- content and means 542
- target group and finality 541
- duration and place 543

Courses, monographic
- organization and participation 544-546

Culture
- cultural identification (post) 264, 280, 281
- points of reference 27-28
- see also "inculturation"

Dedication, total
- see "apostolic virtues" 70-72

Desert (period)
- objectives, content and means 344-350
- significance and duration 341-343

Directory, provincial
- and formation 246

Direction, spiritual
- in general 226
- in the novitiate 346, 350
- in the postulancy 295-300
- in the scholasticate/centre 443

Discernment
- in formation 227

Documents (for admission to)
- the ministries 483
- the novitiate 340
- holy orders 484,1-5
- the postulancy 139, 268-270, 284-286
- perpetual vows 480.1-3
- temporary vows 478.1.2
- the scholasticate/centre 404
- see also appendix n. 8

Duration
- of the brothers centre 400
- of the novitiate 341-343, 360
- of the postulancy 265
- of the scholasticate 399

Economy (scholasticates/centres)
- accounts 515
- authority 507
- expenses to be met 511
- expenses to be refunded 508-510
- extraordinary expenses 514
- sharing 516
- style of life 505,506

Equilibrium
- between the cognitive and affective-experiential dimension 209
- physical: health and work 171, 172
- psychic: fundamental areas and types of maturity 173
- see also "values, human-christian" 171-179

Evaluation
- and admission to vows in the novitiate 368
- of the apostolic exercises and community experiences 362
- of the community (s/c) 468
- of the persons (s/c) 464-467-
 of the major superiors and formators 438-440, 477
- objectivity and clarity in 220-223, 465-467, 477.3
- significance (s/c) 408

Exercises, apostolic
- duration and modality 360
- evaluation 362
- objectives 358
- preparation and accompaniment 361
- significance 356, 357
- types of exercises and experiences 359

Experiences, community
- see "exercises, apostolic"

First apostolic assignment
- and on-going formation 523

Following of Christ in Comboni life
- experience of God and Following of Christ 182-184
- Following of Christ in the consecrated life (nov) 346
- mission 186
- prayer as union with God 185

Following of Christ for the Mission
- chastity 186-193
- community 203-205
- Following of Christ and mission 187
- gift of self and vocational coherence 206
- obedience 199-202
- poverty 194-198

Formation
- community of 203-205, 256
- continuity between novitiate and s/c in 383-386
- is to have experience of the vocational values 208
- of brothers in the novitiate 376-379
- globality of 210
- importance of motivations in 214
- inculturation of (novitiate) 371
- inculturation of (postulancy) 318
- and mediation of the vocational experience 230-231
- methodology of (novitiate) 334, 335
- the spirit of the Rules in 47-53
- unity and pluralism in 211

Formation, intellectual and professional
- aspects, normative 576-583
- components, essential 558
- criteria for the choice of schools and universities 571-573
- role and importance 565
- structures, subsidiary 574, 575

Formation of candidates to the priesthood,
intellectual and professional
- see: "human sciences", "study", "philosophy", "theology"

Formation of candidate brothers,
intellectual and professional
- formation, professional 635-638
- norms, general 633, 634
- notes on methodology 639-642
- Postulancy
- Formation, professional 643,644
- anthropology 647
- mass media 648
- psychology 645
- sociology 646
- Formation, theological 649
- ethics, christian 655
- History of the Church 653
- introduction to the mystery of Christ 651
- introduction to the mystery of the Church 652
- introduction to the liturgy 654
- Sacred Scripture 650
- International Centre
- Formation, professional
- accountancy 657
- anthropology, cultural 659
- exercise of one's own profession 656
- languages 658
- mass media 662
- psychology 661
- sociology 660
- Formation, theological 663
- Christology 665
- ecclesiology 666
- History of the Church 668
- morals 667
- Sacred Scripture 664

Formation, on-going
- bishops 537
- community, local 530
- commission, central for 535
- conditions for participation 545, 546
- content 539, 540
- first apostolic assignment 523
- initiative 538
- middle age 524
- nature and finality 519-521
- necessity 517, 518
- responsibility 528
- re-qualification, personal 525
- single missionary 527
- situations, particular 527
- superiors, major 531, 532
- superior general and his council 534
- superior provincial and his council 533
- target group 522
- team, operative 636
- third age 526

Formator
- identity, duty and instruments of 220-224
- in the scholasticate/centre 438-440, 441-444
- responsibility for the application of the Ratio Studiorum 553
- re-union of vocational promoters and 245

Founder, Daniel Comboni
- animator 97
- charism of the 32
- element of unity in the formative process 216, 217
- founder 39-41
- formator 46
- formative interest of the 15
- paternity of 42-45
- spiritual itinerary of 37, 38
- study and deepening in the novitiate 347, 353.8.9
- studying and deepening in the postulancy 274-275
- study and deepening in the s/c 453, 454

Globality
- of formation 210

God
- confidence in God 69
- experience of God in Christ (nov) 345
- experience of God and the following of Christ 182-184
- growth in fidelity to the Lord 407, 408
- prayer as union with God 185
- sense of God as "Father" 56-58
- son of God (post) 288, 289

Hour of God
- see "methodology, apostolic"

Identity (Comboni)
- communion and internationality 158-160
- consecration 155-157
- elements, fundamental of the 54-99, 147, 148
- end of basic and on-going formation 165
- formation and Comboni identity 142-146
- in its different forms 161-163
- missionary and brother 165
- missionary and priest 164
- missionary "ad gentes" 152-154
- sense of belonging 149-151
- unified in the spirit 167, 168

Identity, lay (in the postulancy)
- Complementary nature of the ministries 347, 453, 454
- elements of 312-314
- elements of professional identification 315
- promotion, human 317
- study-work 316

Identity, priestly
- complementary nature of the ministries 375
- elements of (postulancy) 307
- in the scholasticate 397, 406, 432, 447, 455, 456, 402, 403
- study (postulancy) 308
- study (scholasticate) 415-420

Inculturation
- of formation in the novitiate 371
- of formation in the postulancy 318
- internationality-acculturation (s/c) 426-431

Internationality
- and acculturation (s/c) 426-431
- and communion 158-160
- and vocations 27, 28, 145

Institute and charism
- consciousness, charismatic in the institute 16
- in the novitiate 347, 353.8.9
- in the postulancy 276
- in the scholasticate/centre 409, 453, 454

Languages
- in the novitiate 380
- in the postulancy 281.5
- in the scholasticate/centre 403, 430.1, 458.3, 459
- study of languages 564

Liturgy
- in general 185
- in the novitiate 345, 353
- in the postulancy 288, 289
- in the scholasticate/centre 408, 410-414

Magisterium
- the orientation of 17

Mary
- mother and model of the missionary 63

Mass media
- importance and use in v.p. 137-662
- formation in the language of 179.3
- formation and specialization 562, 569, 631
- preparation of brothers in 637, 648

Master of novices
- figure and preparation 363
- on-going formation 369, 370
- in the interprovincial novitiates 391
- evaluation and admission to the vows 368

Maturity, christian (postulancy)
- apostolic activities 302
- colloquy, formative and spiritual direction 295-300
- elements of 287
- initiation to poverty 292
- initiation to community life 291
- son of God 288, 289

Maturity, human
- elements of 278
- identification, cultural and social 280-281
- knowledge of oneself and of reality 279
- maturity, affective 283-286
- responsibility 282

Mediations of formative experience
- ambient, socio-ecclesial 232, 233
- Comboni community 230, 231
- Daniel Comboni 216, 217
- Formators 220
- person, called 215
- Rule of Life 218, 219

Methodology, missionary
- Catholicity 95, 96
- Hour of God 91
- "Save Africa with Africa" 92-94

Ministries
- Admission to 483

Mission
- "ad gentes" and Comboni identity 152-154
- consequences for formation 26
- exigencies of (point of reference) 19-25
- and the "Following of Christ" 186, 187
- in the novitiate 348, 356-362
- in the postulancy 273
- in the scholasticate/centre 453
- principle of inspiration and organization of studies 605-610
- prospective, missiological for some theological treatises 611-628

Motivations
- importance 214

Nature
- of the novitiate 329-331
- of the postulancy 261-263
- of the scholasticate/centre 396-397

Novitiate
- ambient, formative 332
- admission 340
- catechesis 352-353
- content 336
- experience of God in Christ 345
- experience of community life 349
- finality 330
- "Following of Christ in the consecrated life" 346
- house and community of the novitiate 337
- initiation to the mission 348
- interiorization of the Comboni charism 347
- Knowledge of self and interiorization of values 350
- methodology 334
- nature 329
- objectives-content-means 344
- responsibility 339
- significance and duration of periods of desert 341-343
- specific nature 331

Novitiates, interprovincial
- admission to the novitiate 389, 392
- authority 389
- dismissal 394
- economy 395
- master of novices 391
- profession 393
- seat 387

Obedience
- and fidelity 73
- ecclesial 74-76
- fidelity to the salvific plan of God and to the purpose of the Institute 197-202
- see also "Following of Christ" 187

Objectives
- Postulancy
- founder 274, 275
- institute and its charism 276
- mission 273
- vocation and Following of Christ 272
- Novitiate
- experience of God in Christ 345
- experience of community life 349
- initiation to the mission 348
- interiorization of the Comboni charism 347
- Knowledge of oneself and interiorization of the values 350
- Following of Christ in the consecrated life 346
- Scholasticate/centre
- apostolic activities 432-434
- characteristics 405
- growth in fidelity 407-409
- internationality-acculturation 426-431
- life, community 422-425
- life, liturgical-sacramental 410-414
- objective 406
- study: candidates to the priesthood 415-417
- study-work: candidate brothers 418

Option, preferential
- animation, missionary 89, 90
- actual situations "Nigritia" 87, 88
- the most needy and abandoned, especially with regard to the faith 86

Orders
- admission to holy orders 484-487

Person
- accompaniment, formative personalized 212
- centrality in the Comboni formative experience 207-214
- evaluation of the persons (s/c) 464-467
- the person called 215
- the presence of the values 229

Philosophy
- and culture 590-595
- and the human situation 588, 589
- and theology 591
- importance of the philosophical studies 587
- Essential programmes
- anthropology, philosophical 599
- epistemology 598
- ethics 604
- logic 597
- ontology 600
- philosophy of culture 603
- philosophy of nature 601
- philosophy of religion 602
- philosophical systems and history of 596

Pluralism
- unity and 211

Postulancy
- characterization 303-306
- celebrations 323
- criteria of admission, level of studies 266-270
- duration 265
- elements of priestly identification 307
- finality 271
- importance 264
- inculturation of formation 318
- labour, manual 322
- nature 261-263
- passing to the novitiate 325-328
- study 308, 316
- vacations 324

Poverty
- and formative environment (nov) 332, 333
- and economy (s/c) 505-516
- and holidays (s/c) 457-460
- growth in fidelity (s/c) 407-409
- initiation in the postulancy 292
- visible sign of freedom and solidarity 194-198
- see also "Following of Christ" 181, 187

Prayer
- as a privileged means for interiorizing the values 234
- as union with God 185
- in the novitiate 345, 353
- in the postulancy 288, 289
- in the scholasticate/c 407, 408, 410-414

Pre-adolescents
- see "vocational promotion" 104-114

Preferences
- manifestation of preferences 379
- significance 401

"Pre-postulancy" and/or "propaedeutic year"
- characteristics 140

Profession
- areas of realization 315
- elements of professional identification (post) 315
- exercise of 656
- in general 635-638
- preparation in the postulancy 316, 643
- previous and supplementary preparation 270
- sectors, most requested 637

Programme, annual
- in the novitiate 374
- in the postulancy 321
- in the scholasticate/centre 461
- structure 258

Promotion, vocational
- Pre-adolescents and adolescents
- finality and target group 109
- importance 104, 105
- objectives 110
- methodology and content 111-113
- responsibility of the Institute 106-108
- Young people
- centre, Comboni vocational 126
- content 133
- finality 124
- methodology 127-132
- necessity 121-123
- target group 125

Promotion, human
- in the postulancy 317

Promoter, vocational
- of pre-adolescents and adolescents 114
- of the young 134-137
- re-union of vocational promoters and formators 245
- structures 253

Priesthood, missionary
- in the postulancy 307-310
- in the scholasticate 455, 456
- see also "priestly identity"

"Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis et Studiorum"
- content 7-13
- nature 1-5
- point of reference and support structures 237
- point of reference in the elaboration 14-31
- revision 238
- target group 6

Ratio Studiorum
- objectives 552
- responsibility of the formators 553
- responsibility of the general and provincial secretariats 555
- responsibility of the major superiors 554
- significance 547-551

Register
- of centres of formation 259
- of the scholasticates/centres 504

Reports
- of formators on the candidates 220-223, 465-467, 470-479
- of master of novices 368
- of provincials of origin who visit the s/c 473
- of provincial, local on the interprovincial novitiate 390.2
- of provincial, local on the s/c 474.2
- of the scholasticates/centres (annual evaluation) 468
- of those responsible for accompanying candidates "in experience" 491, 498

Re-unions
- assemblies, continental 244
- council of the sec. general 243
- of vocation promoters and formators 245

Rule of life
- catechesis (novitiate) 352, 353
- "code of alliance" 218, 219
- content (novitiate) 336
- deepening in the scholasticate/c 453, 454
- interiorization in the novitiate 347
- presentation in the postulancy 276.4
- point of reference and support structure 236

Saint Joseph
- patron of the Church and protector of Nigritia 65, 66

Saints
- apostles and missionaries 67-68

Sciences, human
- point of reference for the Ratio 29-31
- role and importance 561-564
- Essential courses
- anthropology 567
- economy 568
- History, universal 570
- mass media 569
- psychology 565
- sociology 566

Scholasticate/brothers centre
- apostolic activities 432-434
- archives 502
- characteristics 405
- charter, educative 449
- colloquy, formative 441, 442
- community 436, 437
- content, formative 451, 452
- direction, spiritual 443, 444
- duration 399
- evaluation (significance) 462, 463
- evaluation of the community 468
- evaluation of the persons 464-467
- formators 438-440, 476-477
- growth in fidelity 407, 408
- internationality-acculturation 426-431
- insertion, socio-ecclesial and apostolic activity 447
- life, community 422-425
- life, consecrated 454
- life, liturgical-sacramental 410-414
- mission and Comboni charism 453
- nature 396
- objectives 406
- passing from the novitiate to 401-404
- priest, missionary 455-456
- programme, annual 461
- requisites, initial 398
- scholastics and brothers who leave the Institute 500, 501
- scholastics and brothers "in experience" with vows 494-499
- scholastics and brothers "in experience" without vows 488-493
- specific nature 397
- study: cand. to the priesthood 415-420
- study-work: candidate brothers 421
- study, theology and professional preparation 445, 446
- vacations, school 457-460
- Economy
- accounts, rendering of 515
- authority 507
- expenses to be met by the 511-513
- expenses to be refunded 508-510
- expenses, extraordinary 514
- poverty 505, 506
- sharing 516

Schools and universities
- criteria for the choice 571-573, 682-683

Secretariat general for v.p. and formation
- and centres of study 683
- and specialization 670-672
- and themes for research 680
- council of the secretary general 243
- duties 240-242
- responsibility for the application of the Ratio Studiorum 555

Secretariat, provincial for v. p. and formation
- duties 249-251
- responsibility for the application of the Ratio Studiorum 555

Seminary, junior
- charter, educative 119
- exigencies, formative 120
- finality 115, 116
- methodology and formulas 117, 118

"Sequela Christi"
- see "Following of Christ"

Situations, particular
- and on-going formation 527

Specializations
- centres of study 682, 683
- indication, practical 675-679
- necessity and conditions 669-671
- specialization in Rome 684
- specialization of scholastics and brothers 672-674
- specialization in other places 685
- themes for research 680, 681

Spirit, Holy
- agent, principal in formation 141, 207
- identity unified in the 167, 168
- under the impulse of the 62

Spirituality, Comboni
- attitudes and apostolic virtues 69
- foundation, Trinitarian 56-62
- models and privileged intercessors 63

Study
- basic, for candidates to the priesthood 584-586
- candidates to the priesthood (s/c) 415-420
- candidate brothers (s/c) 421
- in the postulancy 308-311
- in the postulancy, brothers 316
- theological and professional preparation (s/c) 445, 446

Style of life
- collaboration in diversity 85
- community founded on love 80
- "new cenacle of apostles" 80
- one family with different ministries 81
- working and living together in community 82-84

Superior General and his council
- admission to orders 484-487
- admission to perpetual vows 480-481
- authority (interprovincial novitiates) 338
- authority (scholasticate) 469
- duties regarding formation 239
- responsibility for on-going formation 534
- scholastics and brothers "in experience" with vows 494-499
- scholastics and brothers "in experience" without vows 488-493
- scholastics and brothers who leave the Institute 500, 501

Superior, provincial and his council
- admission to the ministries 483
- admission to the novitiate (interprovincial) 392
- admission to temporary vows (s/c) 478, 479
- authority (interprovincial novitiate) 388
- and formation 247, 248
- and presentation for admission to perpetual vows 480
- responsibility (novitiate) 339
- responsibility for on-going formation 533
- and scholastics and brothers "in experience" with vows 494-499
- and scholastics and brothers "in experience" without vows 488-493
- and scholastics and brothers who leave the Institute 500, 501
- superiors, provincial of origin (s/c) 470-473
- superiors, provincial local (s/c) 474, 475

Superiors, major
- and on-going formation 531, 532
- responsibility for the application of the Ratio Studiorum 554

Theology
- the mission: principle of inspiration and organization 605-610
- Missiological prospectives for some theological treatises
- bible and mission 611
- christology 617
- ecclesiology 618
- history of the Church-patristics 625
- law, canon 626
- liturgy 623
- morals, christian 624
- revelation 613-614
- sacraments 622
- theology, fundamental 612
- theology, pastoral 627-628
- theology, systematic and mission 615
- Essential programmes
- theology, biblical 629
- theology, pastoral 631
- theology, systematic 630
- theology, spiritual 632

Testament
- before the first profession 381

Titles, of study
- level of studies 269, 270
- titles, academic 584, 643, 674

Unity
- and pluralism in formation 211

Vacations
- in the novitiate 382
- in the postulancy 324
- in the scholasticate/centre 457-460

Values, human-christian
- equilibrium, physical: health and work 171, 172
- equilibrium psychic: fundamental areas and types of maturity 173
- importance 169-180
- maturity, affective 174-175
- maturity, intellectual 176-177
- maturity, social 179
- maturity, volitive 178

Virtues, apostolic
- charity, apostolic 78, 79
- confidence in God 69
- dedication, total 70
- fortitude and apostolic zeal 77
- obedience and fidelity 73
- sense, ecclesial 74-76

Vocation
- and accompaniment 115, 116
- and growth in vocational identity 293
- and vocational identity 54-55, 142-143
- initiative of God and response of the candidate 141, 207
- process, dynamic 104
- and sequela 272
- and verification and development of the vocational motivations (post) 301

Vows
- admission to first vows 368
- admission to perpetual vows 480-481
- admission to temporary vows 478-479
- formula of vows 482
- see also "Following of Christ in Comboni life" and "Following of Christ for the mission"

Work
- common law of work 195-198
- in general 171-172, 196
- in the novitiate 333, 349
- in the postulancy 282, 292, 322
- in the scholasticate/centre 357, 363, 458.5

Youth
- see "vocational promotion"

NOTE: Abbreviations

(nov) = novitiate; (post) = postulancy; (s/c) = scholasticate/centre; (voc) = vocational; (v.p.) = vocational promotion.