Scalabrini and the timeliness
of his vision

A prophetic intuition

John Baptist Scalabrini combined his concrete action with a prophetic vision which he had left as a legacy to the Church and to us today. Scalabrini sensed that within the anguish of migration, with all its problems and difficulties, a hidden aspect was at work: the seed of the future.
This vision was not just the result of historical and sociological considerations. Thanks most of all to his faith in the death and resurrection of Christ, John Baptist Scalabrini was able to see God's plan in the unfolding of human history. He was convinced that through the suffering and the uprooting of the migrants, through the encounter and even clashes between cultures and mentalities, a new world was being prepared: in this new world nations and persons could discover themselves as belonging to the one human family in which there is no uniformity but, in the image of the Trinitarian God, communion in diversity is possible.

John Baptist Scalabrini


Giovanni Battista Scalabrini (1839-1905) lived in a time of great transformation and was aware of the dramatic events of his time. At that time, thousands upon thousands of Italians and other Europeans were leaving their countries because of poverty and had to face the uncertainties and suffering of migration. Confronted by so much pain, John Baptist Scalabrini could have simply stopped at a feeling of compassion, but instead he asked himself the question: "What should be done?”. He shouldered the responsibility for the migrants that he saw by intervening on their behalf at different levels.

“Deeply in love with God and extraordinarily
devoted to the Eucharist,
he was able to translate the contemplation of God and his mystery in an intense apostolic and missionary action, becoming all things to all to proclaim the Gospel.”

John Paul II

Scalabrinian family


"The Spirit’s gift to Scalabrini is alive in all whom the Lord calls to share in it. Creative fidelity to this gift has led to the development of a spirituality that has its roots in Scalabrini and in the gift (charisma) the Lord has given the Church through him for the world of human mobility. Confronted with the reality of migration, many today discover in the Scalabrinian spirituality a treasure from which they can draw in order to live their Christian life in fullness.
This common spiritual treasure has been entrusted to stories that differ in times, persons, vocations and approach: this spiritual inheritance is truly a wealth to be welcomed and valued as a first experiment in diversity."

The three institutes of consecrated life

Scalabrinian Missionaries

The Congregation of the Missionaries of St. Charles – Scalabrinian Fathers – is an international community of religious brothers and priests who serve migrants of different cultures, faith and ethnicities in thirty countries on all five continents.
It was founded on November 28th, 1887 by blessed John Baptist Scalabrini (1839-1905), bishop of Piacenza (Italy). The founding took place during the time of the great migrations from Italy and Europe to America, a major phenomenon of which Scalabrini was able to perceive the relevance both at a social and ecclesiastical level.

Scalabrinian
Missionary Sisters


The Congregation of the Missionary Sisters of St. Charles Borromeo – Scalabrinian Sisters – was founded by the blessed John Baptist Scalabrini in Piacenza on October 25th, 1895. The servant of God, Fr. Giuseppe Marchetti, and the blessed Mother Assunta Marchetti are jointly regarded as co-founders. The mission of the sisters is evangelical and missionary service to the migrants, preferring the poorest and neediest.

Scalabrinian Secular Missionary Women


On July 25th, 1961, the day of Adelia’s eternal yes to God, fifty-six years after the death of blessed John Baptist Scalabrini and drawn by his spirituality, the Secular Institute of the Scalabrinian Missionary Women began its journey in Solothurn (Switzerland).
Rising out of a Scalabrinian pastoral context and the phenomenon of migration, this new offshoot of the Scalabrinian charisma seeks to live the consecrated life in a secular context on the exodus roads of migrants. They received the Church’s final approval on Easter Sunday 1990.
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