Cristifero Institute

Who We Are

The Institute CRISTIFERO is a female Secular Institute of consecrated life, of pontifical right, created according to the Catholic Church laws for the Secular Institutes and the Institutes' own Constitutions.

  The Institute is an instrument, a means that enables us to consecrate our lives to God in “praise of his glory” (Eph. 1, 12), immersed in everyday life, and to devote ourselves to the fraternal service of contemporary men and women.

The Institute is called Cristífero within the Church because it synthesizes our own Being and Life Style. Following the Blessed Virgin Mary -Mother of God- who was the first one to bear Jesus (first Cristífera), we all aspire to carry the same superabundance of the grace of Christ deep in our being, so that we can share it “within” and “from” the community we currently live in and serve. Civil and personally we do not carry any titles that distinguish us or set us apart from our fully lay lives. We usually live in our homes and exercise our professions or trades in our communities.

In order to accomplish our specific vocation of being an evangelist sign, we adopt the demands of the Evangelical Counsels through the sacred votes: Obedience as Christ was Obedient, Poverty as Christ was Poor, Chastity as Christ was Virgin.

The Institute Patrons: The Blessed Virgin Mary, under the advocation of Our Lady of the Visitation is the main Patron of our Institute. Our consecrated secularity is sealed with the song and attitude of Mary in the Magnificat.

We honor Saint Joseph, Jesus’ and Mary’s faithful guardian, with a special devotion. We also honor Saint Frances of Sales, special promoter of the christian lay spirituality, and Saint Therese of Child Jesus, a contemplative nun with a characteristic missionary spirit.