Assumptionist
Charism & Spirituality
As sons and disciples of Saint Augustine, we live our faith, prayer and apostolate in community. As brothers, we share everything that makes up life as a family, and at the center is our faith and hope in Jesus. The source and summit of our life together is the Eucharist. As our Rule of Life says. “no one can experience the joy of this life unless he commits his whole person to it.”
The spirit of the Founder, Emmanuel d’Alzon, inspires us to make the great causes of God and of Man our very own, and to go wherever God is threatened in Man and Man is threatened as the image of God (Rule of Life #4). We are called to be men of our time, to be protagonists in the story human family in helping all to become fully human in the image of God.
The Reign of God is the Assumption Family’s great passion, it opens us up to vast horizons. Emmanuel d’Alzon repeats this constantly: “Before working to make Jesus Christ reign over others, be sure he reigns over you.” The rhythm of our life as brothers is shared by our study, prayer and action. The mission of each community member nourishes fraternal life and enriches our mission. As the rule of Saint Augustine states the community becomes “one mind and one heart intent on God.”
Our Assumptionist Spirit and our Augustinian heritage can be summed up in three words: Truth, Charity and Unity. Our life and our work as Assumptionists are marked by a strong doctrinal, social and ecumenical character.
As Assumptionists we trace our founding back to Assumption School in Nimes, France, established by our founder, Fr. Emmanuel d’Alzon. Since then we continue to actively build Catholic educational institutions all over the world which focus on providing a transformative Christian formation for its students and promotes active involvement in society. Our lay partners in mission, with their talents and passion continue to enrich our works and involvements in the area of education.
Since our beginning, our founder never limited us to one type of apostolic work. All our activities are at the service of the Kingdom of God, and they are broad in scope: from theological scholarship to foreign missions, with a real propensity for the Eastern Churches and the search for Christian unity; pilgrimages, nurturing vocations for the service of the Church; the communication of the Christian message by our involvement in publications, education and the media; serving as parish priests, social workers, scientists, campus ministers and in other areas of ministry.
