Charisms and new communitiesPope encourages Spanish consecrated men and women to "keep alive the foundational charism".Msgr. Luis Argüello: "All the charisms of the Church are necessary".The Theatines, the first religious order composed solely of priests, celebrated the 500th anniversary of their foundation on September 14, 2024. In addition to this occasion, a pilgrimage was made to the St. Peter's Basilicawhere Pope Francis received them with great affection. There addressed an invitation to themFidelity must be renewed. There can be no fidelity that is not renewed; remaining founded on the old, yes, but at the same time ready to demolish what is no longer necessary to build something new docile to the Spirit and trusting in Providence.".
Its name comes from the diocese of the Italian city of Chieti, Theate in Latin, where one of the founders, Pietro Carafa, later Pope Paul IV, was bishop.
Omnes had the opportunity to interview its Superior General, Father Salvador Rodea González, a 54-year-old Mexican engineer, who was re-elected at the 168th General Chapter for a second six-year term, until 2028. He shared some of his thoughts, among them the commitment to strengthen identity; to be creative in adapting whatever is necessary to make people fall in love with Jesus Christ and the process of discernment about future missions "ad gentes" to the East.
The Franciscans and Dominicans are older than you, but the Jesuits are not, are they?
-That's right, the Franciscans, like the Dominicans, are about 800 years old, although we are the first different form of religious, which is called "clerics". We were born in 1524, as an institute of consecrated life with religious life. We are not mendicants like the Franciscans or the Mercedarians, but we are clerics, that is, priests. And fraternal life is one of our great characteristics.
Are you the first religious order composed solely of priests?
-Yes, at the beginning they were all diocesan priests and they took the three vows and began to live in community.
It was said that at the end of the day the theatines gave to the poor everything they had not used.
-It was a very radical idea at the time of St. Caetanus, to live from the Altar and the Gospel, just enough, just enough, nothing more. No fixed income, no business, simply with what was necessary. Providence provided enough to eat. It was a very radical life at that time.
Can you give us some examples?
-There are always people, especially among the richest, who, wanting to save their souls, offer things or have churches and convents built or buy indulgences. There were many who approached us with this intention. For example, in his letters to Count Oppido of Naples, St. Caetan warns him: "If you continue to bring things, we will close this house"; in fact, we try not to have more than what is necessary, what is needed, so as not to lose this radicality.
Your order was born before the Council of Trent. Is it part of the Counter-Reformation?
The term Counter-Reformation has always been used, but the correct term would be Catholic reform, because St. Cajetan did not intend to respond to Luther and other reformers, but to carry out a Christian reform from within the Church, with the charism of the reform of the priesthood.
Let us not forget that St. Caetanus was an apostolic prothonotary, therefore he knew many details of the time about the religious and secular clergy, he knew the excesses and vices, and he considered that things could not go on like that.
So it was with St. Caetanus that a reform among the clergy began?
-In fact, the origin of the reform comes from St. Catherine of Siena, it was forged in the 15th century, ending in the 16th century with the Council of Trent.
What about the Jesuits?
-They were born in 1540, that is, 16 years after the Theatines. St. Caetano was related to St. Ignatius of Loyola and there are two theories: one that the Pope wanted the Jesuits to join us, and the other the opposite. But there were charismatic characteristics that prevented this fusion.
If I am not mistaken, in the audience Pope Francis indicated that "it is said that the Theatines had something with the Jesuits"....
-In fact, one of the founders of the Theatines was Pietro Carafa and it is said that when he was elected Pope Paul IV, St. Ignatius trembled, he considered the fact adverse to his order, instead Paul IV confirmed the Jesuits.
The charisma has changed today, what is the challenge before you?
-The charism should be the same, adapting it to the present time. The Theatines suffered in 1910 a loss of the originality of the charism, because there were only 16 Theatines left in the Order in the whole world. Then Pope St. Pius X, who had great devotion to St. Caetan, said that it was necessary to prevent them from disappearing. The Prefect of Consecrated Life at that time proposed that two congregations of Diocesan Right that were on the island of Mallorca unite to strengthen the Theatines.
Since the Theatines were already an order of pontifical right, the name was kept, but with this fusion they became more than a hundred with the Ligurians and those of the Holy Family, losing a little the essence by uniting these different spiritualities. Then the Superior General of that time asked to return to the study of the sources and then followed the foundations in Mexico, Argentina and later in Brazil, always looking for the originality of the charism, adapting it but without losing the essence.
What then is the main challenge for the Theatines today?
-I believe that we Theatines know our charism perfectly well, and we want it to be assumed as it is. That is why we are always working on initial and ongoing formation, because we want there to be a clear identity.
The second challenge is to be creative and, therefore, to understand the figure of the world; otherwise, we work as we did in the 16th century. On the other hand, today the image of the world is different and that of the 21st century even more so, so we must understand how to adapt ourselves in order to reach our people, inviting them and making them fall in love with Our Lord Jesus Christ. This is the great challenge.
What is most attractive about theatines in today's world, especially among young people?
-Among the young people who knock on our door to become theatines, what attracts them most is fraternal life in the face of a world that invites individuality, selfishness and consumerism.
They also have other apostolate structures, don't they?
-Even though we live from Providence, we have schools and houses of spirituality. These are part of a dynamic of Church life aimed at preparing young people, children and families through education. In this way, instead of giving them a bag of food, we prepare them for tomorrow by giving them the tools they need to face the future. Better than receiving an apple is being able to grow it. Although education was not a charisma that existed at the beginning, it is a charisma that we inherited from the Ligorians.
Could you give me an example?
-In the city of Cali, Colombia, when we arrived in a neighborhood with so much violence, we thought of a dining hall for the children, then we saw that it was not enough and we built a school. But how do you do it when the children come without having breakfast? And then when they leave they go to places where there is violence... So we adapt everything: they come to school, go to class, have breakfast, follow lessons, have lunch, play sports and in the afternoon they go home.
This neighborhood has changed after 30 years, to the point that it has been upgraded to a higher category, and now we are in difficulties because the taxes have increased significantly, before it was category 5, now it is category 3 and therefore we cannot maintain it. What do we do? Do we give it to the diocese or do we change the neighborhood to work in? We need to reflect on these things.
How many priests are in the order?
We are 147 priests, 7 deacons, 5 solemnly consecrated, about twenty first-professed theologians, as well as novices and aspirants, mostly from Mexico and Brazil.
In Argentina there is a lot of devotion to San Caetano as the patron saint of bread and work, why?
-It is a devotion that was born almost spontaneously thanks to Mama Antula. She was the one who brought it to the convent where they started. They built a chapel there and the train that came to Buenos Aires from the interior of the country used to arrive there, and when people got off the train they thought they would find work and there was the statue of San Cayetano. God uses unthinkable means.
Were there particular difficulties in some countries?
-We had a wonderful presence in some countries from which it was necessary to leave for reasons of war or because we could not get there, in Asia, in the Caucasus, in Armenia, in Africa. Although now we are receiving invitations from these places and listening to the voice of the Spirit, because some confreres feel the desire to go to other cultures and are opening their hearts. In fact we are in the West, but not in Asia or Africa. And probably we will have a missionary branch 'ad gentes' as it was said in the Second Vatican Council. We are in discernment. Although here in Europe we need to re-evangelize, the voice of the Spirit does not tire and opens new doors.
