Rome (Italy). On 6 August 2025 in Rome, at the Holy Mary of Hope Parish of the Salesians of Don Bosco, six young women from Mary Help of Christians International Novitiate of Castel Gandolfo (Rome) made their First Religious Profession in the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians.
“Making the Love of Christ present” (FMA Constitutions, 11) is the motto chosen by the newly professed women, belonging to the Italian Provinces St. Mary Mazzarello (ITV), Saint John Bosco (IRO), Mother Magdalene Morano (ISI), Our Lady of Good Counsel (IMR), and Saint John Bosco Province (SLK) of Slovakia.
The Eucharistic Celebration, animated in song and liturgy by the Novices and some young FMA, was presided over by the Rector Major of the Salesians of Don Bosco, Fr. Fabio Attard, and concelebrated by SDB and priests who accompanied the candidates on their journey.
The young women were welcomed into the FMA Institute by the Superior General, Mother Chiara Cazzuola, in the presence of the Novice Formator, Sister Luisa Menozzi, and the General Secretary, Sister Maria Luisa Nicastro. Also present at the Celebration were the Vicar, Sister María del Rosario García Ribas, the Councilor for Formation, Sister Nilza Fatima de Moraes, and some General Councilors, the Provincials, family members, young people, and the FMA from their respective Provinces.
The liturgy of the Word was followed by the rite of Religious Profession, with the presentation of the Novices by the Formator, who called them by name, and with their request to give themselves to God in the FMA Institute to participate in His mission of salvation.
“This is a privileged moment that we are experiencing, during which we can contemplate God’s loving initiative towards each and every one of us. The First Religious Profession is an experience that marks a very significant passage in the life of a person, who after constant discernment and serious spiritual accompaniment, feels that before the call of God, it is time to make a decision,” began the Rector Major in his homily.
Exhorting the newly Professed to keep with them the riches of the three chosen readings, he highlighted the exclusive initiative of God in calling, whose purpose “is not to limit us, to put us in a box. But to offer us a horizon of full and lasting joy. ‘I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be full’ (Jn 15:11). (…) The proposal we have within our reach is made of a love that fills the heart with authentic joy.”
He then indicated the Salesian response to this call: to live by love, sharing love, as a force of pastoral charity for the various paths of integral growth offered to young people, according to the experience of the Founders. “May their legacy of pastoral charity find in your heart the seat of the encounter with God, who calls you, who loves you, and who sends you.”
Hence, the final wish, “Dearest Sisters, in the light of the word of God we discover the amazement of being people chosen without any merit of our own. Let us commit ourselves intelligently, day after day, so that we do not lose the source of authentic joy.
And finally, be wise people, who do not give up the beautiful and happy responsibility of being the bearer of love in our daily reality in favor of young people. Every day we can start again from this triple certainty: God has freely chosen me, God loves me first, and responding to His love, God sends me to bear good fruit for young people, especially the poorest, most vulnerable and abandoned ones.”
Once the homily was over, the Celebrant asked the candidates for their willingness to consecrate themselves to God and each pronounced the formula of Religious Profession committing herself, in response to the Love of God the Father, to live the evangelical counsels according to the Constitutions of the FMA Institute.
After expressing the welcome in the Institute, the Superior General gave the Constitutions and the Crucifix to each one, signs of the spousal covenant with Christ. At the end of the Rite of Consecration, the New Professed Sisters entrusted themselves to Mary with the song, O powerful Virgin Mary.
The Celebration ended with thank-you from the new FMA, joined by those of Mother Chiara, especially to the Rector Major, for his fraternal accompaniment in the celebrations that mark the life of the Institute.
Mother, also remembering the two Sisters of the Novitiate who made profession the previous day in their Provinces, Mary Immaculate (CEL) and Mary Help of Christians (SPA), then thanked the families for having donated their “most precious treasure” and wished the young Sisters, we rejoice because, as a saying goes, ‘every time a child is born, it means that the Lord has not grown weary of humanity’, and so it can be said that ‘whenever an FMA makes this choice and enters this family, it means that the Lord continues to believe in the Institute and continues to entrust us with this responsibility to carry forward the Charism into the future’. This depends on all of us, but from today, on you too. (…) However, we also have a responsibility; they professed before us. Therefore, we can accompany them with prayer so that they may be happy and faithful FMAs as Don Bosco and Mother Mazzarello dreamed us to be.”
Photos: Flickr FMA
