THE MISSION AD GENTES IN OUR INSTITUTES
MENDICANT-CONVENTUAL ORDERS GROUP

Premise: clarification about the physiognomy of the group.

This group is constituted of the 15 Orders, members of USG, known as Mendicant Orders. They were founded - error aside without taking into account reforms - practically between the end of the XII Century and XVI Century, mainly in the XIIIth .

According to the data of Annuario Pontificio, they total of 55,867 religious (of whom 34.642 are Franciscans)

To the term " mendicants " which practically characterises their foundation but less their present physiognomy, was added the term " conventuals " because it better characterises their present identity. This term does not refer to " conventualism " as different way of interpreting and practising the Rule with respect to " observance " or to several types of reforms - (this phenomenon of the past centuries, now crystallised, has very little influence on the present identity) but to the fact that religious members of those Orders, called " frati " live in " convents " and not in " monasteries " (religious of contemplative life ) nor in " religious house " (religious for apostolic or diaconal finality exclusively.

The term " conventual"  underlines the community dimension of their life (conventus from convenire) where communal prayer and other community duties are considered very important. Therefore, in these Orders the fraternal life in community constitutes an element which one should always keep in mind even when they are in full apostolic activity.

It is probably correct to say that the characteristic of these Orders (or the majority of them) is to strive to better harmonise the three basic dimensions presented in Vita Consecrata (Confessio Trinitatis, signum fraternitatis, servitium caritatis) avoiding sliding neither towards the style proper to contemplative Orders (a far-off danger today) nor towards the style of the Institutes of apostolic, pastoral or diaconal activity ( a closer danger today)