Antonio Rosmini Serbati

As a visitor to Glencomeragh, especially if this is your first visit, you may not be familiar with the man who founded the Institute of Charity. In brief, Antonio Rosmini was born at Rovereto near Trent in Italy on the 24th March, 1797. His family was listed among the aristocracy since 1574, thus Rosmini enjoyed the benefits of a cultured and formal upbringing. He had an older sister and one younger brother. At an early age it became apparent that he was an unusual child. We are told that he was very studious and that he read voraciously. He also spent long hours in prayer. He wrote poetry and prose dialogues which showed great erudition. By the time he graduated from his second-level school the town of Rovereto recognised that he was no ordinary student.

In due course he was ordained to the priesthood and at one time it was expected that he would become a Cardinal. However, his life was marred by controversy regarding his theological and philosophical writings, which met with considerable opposition from some quarters. He was defended however, by Pope Gregory XVI. He has since come to be recognised by the Church as a great thinker and philosopher. The 150th anniversary of his death takes place on the 1st July 2005. As the cause for his beatification is now well advanced, Rosminians everywhere look forward to the day when he will be a saint as well as their founder.

The Institute of Charity, which Rosmini founded, was approved by Pope Gregory XVI on the 20th December 1838. Its aim was to seek the eternal salvation and sanctification of its members through prayer and by engaging in works of charity wherever and whenever such help was requested. Since then the Institute has spread from Italy to England, Wales, Ireland, North and South America, East Africa and New Zealand. Its headquarters is in Porta Latina in Rome where Fr. James Flynn, IC is the Superior General. A native of West Waterford, he is the first non-Italian to hold this position.

The first Rosminian House in Ireland was opened in Upton, Co. Cork, in 1860. In later years the Institute had a number of other houses, many of which have since closed. Today, in addition to Glencomeragh House, the Irish Province of the Institute continues to run a school for the visually impaired and also a secondary school in Drumcondra in Dublin. Its members run two Irish parishes, one in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary and the other in Faughart, Co. Louth. Irish Rosminians also serve as missionaries, most notably in East Africa.

Pope Gregory XVI, who knew him well, described him : A man of excellent and pre-eminent genius, adorned with extraordinary gifts of mind, illustrious in the highest degree for knowledge of things divine and human, but not less remarkable for his piety, religion, probity, virtue, prudence and for his wonderful love and zeal for the Catholic Religion and towards the Apostolic See,

After his death, one who lived with him had this to say: We who knew intimately such a man, and had heard him and seen him in such a variety of circumstances, can testify that there never was, in this world, such a man as Antonio Rosmini who wrote and laboured with such solid trust in God and such great hope for the future. (F. Paoli)

Headquarters:

No 1, Grace Park Gardens,
Drumcondra,
Dublin 9,
Ireland.

Tel. +353-1-8368730
Fax. +353-1-8368726
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Provincial: Fr. Joseph O'Reilly, I.C.