CONSOLATA MISSIONARIES

A congregation whose official title is the Institute of the Consolata for Foreign Missions (IMC), founded at Turin, Italy in 1901 by Blessed Giuseppe Allamano, the nephew of St. Joseph cafasso. The plans for the foundation, however, can be traced back to 1891. The institute is a religious congregation, with simple vows, consisting of priests and brothers. Its principal objective is mission and evangelization, especially among non-Christians. The congregation was given final approval by the Holy See on Sept. 7, 1923. Missions were initially established in Africa, followed by the Americas and South Korea. The congregation arrived in the United States in 1946 and in Canada in 1947. Since 1994, the U.S. and Canadian communities have constituted the North American Region, with centers in Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Riverside, Calif., Buffalo, N.Y., Somerset, N.J., and a house of studies in Washington, D.C. The congregation has communities in 26 countries in Europe (Spain, Great Britain, Italy, Portugal and Switzerland), Africa (South Africa, Ivory Coast, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Liberia, Libya, Mozambique, Uganda, Somalia, Tanzania and Congo), Asia (South Korea), and the Americas (U.S., Canada, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela). The generalate is in Rome.

The Consolata Missionaries have a special bond of unity and collaboration with the Consolata Missionary Sisters founded by Allamano in 1910. Following the example of their founder, and the teachings of Saints fran cis de sales, John bosco, and Joseph Cafasso, the Consolata Missionaries cultivate a deep devotion to the Virgin Mary.

Bibliography: d. agasso, Joseph Allamano Founder of the Consolata Missionaries (Turin 1991). l. sales, The Spiritual Life: from the Spiritual Conferences of Joseph Allamano (Turin 1982). g. tebaldi, La missione racconta: imissionari della Consolata in cammino con ipopuli (Bologna 1999). i. tubaldo, Giuseppe Allamano: il suo tempo, la sua vita, la sua opera, 4 v. (Turin 1986).

[u. viglino/eds.]