Rome Italy). In During the month of January, rich in Salesian events, the website of the Center for the Study of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians is a useful resource for deepening the educational charism of the FMA Institute.
Pope Francis, on October 22, 2021, in his address to the participants in the XXIV General Chapter in Rome at the Generalate, exhorted the FMA to creative fidelity: “Is Charisma a relic? No, it is a living reality, it is a life that creates and advances, not a museum piece. Therefore the great responsibility is to collaborate with the creativity of the Holy Spirit, to review and make the charism express its vitality today. From this derives the true “youth”, because the Spirit makes all things new. (…) Do not forget the grace of the origins, the humility and the smallness of the beginnings that made God’s action transparent in the life and in the message of those who, filled with amazement, began this journey”.
In this path of search for creative fidelity, of continuous deepening of the Salesian Charism, in order to continue experiencing the vitality, the website of the Center for Studies on the FMA it offers a precious contribution to the instances of deepening and formation of the Educative Communities, as well as to the needs of networking, providing a service to the FMA and to those who are sensitive to the feminine dimension of Salesian educational spirituality.
The Center for Studies on the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians was instituted in 2015 by the Pontifical Faculty of Educational Sciences “Auxilium” and connected with the Biennial course of Diploma in Spirituality of the FMA Institute.
Among its objectives is the digitization and dissemination of texts and documents on topics related to the educational mission of the Institute.
From 2015 to 2022, hundreds of files – sources and studies – on the FMA Institute and its Founders have been included. Some of the most important Sources have been included in the 5 languages (Italian, English, Spanish, Portuguese, French), such as the Chronohistory volumes and the Letters of Mother Mazzarello.
Among the variety of published material, some sources:
- The circular letters of the General Mothers.
- The various editions of the Constitutions and Manuals up to 1975.
- The manuals and regulations of the various Associations and of the works of the Institute.
- The Acts of the General Chapters.
- Biographical profiles and biographies of FMA, including the volumes Facciamo Memory until 1976.
- In 2022, the scanning and insertion of the General Lists of the FMA Institute began.
In addition to the sources, you can find numerous studies between volumes, contributions, articles and essays on the Salesian Charism in his experience and in the pedagogical and spiritual reflection.
On the other hand, since 2020 the Center for Studies on the FMA promotes training initiatives such as “Salesian Thursdays” online and activities cultural, such as collaboration in the preparation of the international conference upon The contribution of the Daughters of SeaAssistant to Education (1872-2022). Paths, challenges and prospects, held in Rome, at the Generalate, from September 25 to 30, 2022, and other events, presentations of volumes, etc.
The CSFMA also collaborates with the Don Bosco Studio Center (UPS) for the management of the site: salesian.onlineanother rich resource for research.
For the FMA that collaborate in the preparation of the material to be published online, it is an opportunity to do a service to the Institute and have direct contact with the historical, educational, and spiritual patrimony deepened by the FMA through research, teachings, and different experiences of the biennium of Spirituality.
The work, developed with passion, precision, commitment and a sense of responsibility, wants to be a contribution to look at the past as a grateful memory and at the future with new, creative eyes, faithful to a heritage that is continuously being discovered and deepened, to be renewed and to increase the Salesian experience.
A resource to deepen the Charism of the FMA Institute • Istituto Figlie di Maria Ausiliatrice