NAPLES, Italy — Since its foundation 35 years ago, the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest has inspired men and women to embrace a traditional vocation dedicated to honor God and the sanctification of priests in the service of the Church and souls.
Animated by a deeply missionary spirit, the institute seeks to spread the reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ in all spheres of human life.
Today, the Institute of Christ the King includes 147 canons and 108 seminarians serving in 13 countries around the world, carrying out their apostolic work in the churches entrusted to them, in schools and missions in Africa and through retreats, catechesis and spiritual guidance.
While many are familiar with the priests, few know of the institute’s female branch, founded in 2001, dedicated to praying for the sanctification of priests, especially those of the institute: the Sisters Adorers of the Royal Heart of Jesus Christ Sovereign Priest, under the patronage of Mary Immaculate.
To this day, the sisters number 71, with nine convents across seven countries. On Oct. 16, four new sisters from around the world received the habit and made their temporary vows; their average age was just 25.
Drawn From Every Corner of the World
Sister Jean-Marie François, 25, grew up in Gothenburg, Sweden, in a devout Catholic family. While her parents, converts from Protestantism, gave her and her siblings strong examples of faith, Sister Jean-Marie François of the Pierced Heart of Christ the King told the Register that “the environment among [her] friends, and especially at school, was not very Christian.”
The turning point came in her late teenage years, she explained, when she “discovered the traditional Latin Mass through some friends.”
“The traditional Mass inspired me to give more place to God [in my life],” Sister Jean-Marie François said. “I started going to Mass more regularly during the week and it was one day after thanksgiving [after Mass] that I got a very strong conviction that I wanted to give myself to God and be a religious sister.”
Sister Jean-Marie François explained that the Sister Adorers were among the few communities of sisters whose daily life includes the Latin Mass, adding: “Even though I knew almost nothing about their life, I contacted the sisters that same day.”
Welsh-Mexican Sister Benedicta-Marie of Jesus Cruficied, 24, told the Register that already at 17 she was fueled by “a great desire to know who God.”
“While reading the Gospels,” Sister Benedicta-Marie said, “I understood that in order to find him in this world and save my soul, he was asking me to leave everything and follow him in the vocation of religious life.”
“God also gave me the desire to help him,” she added, “so that many other souls might come to know him and be saved.”
That same year, her family moved from Mexico to Wales, where Sister Benedicta-Marie spent some time looking for communities connected to the traditional Latin Mass. Providence, she said, helped her discover the Sister Adorers in England.
“I saw the beauty of their liturgy, their life of silence and prayer, the charity they showed toward one another and toward their neighbor, and their particular vocation of praying for the sanctification of priests,” she explained. “I thought that this was where God was calling me, because it fulfilled my desire: A holy priest can save countless souls, and it is he who teaches us who God is and how to love him.”
Sister Véronique-Marie of Jesus and the Church, 26, from Madrid, came to know the Sisters Adorers through the apostolate of the Institute of Christ the King in Madrid.
Coming from a Catholic family, Sister Véronique-Marie told the Register that “religious vocation appeared very early as an option” to her, adding: “I ‘felt’ Our Lord called me to be only for him, but I did not know where.”
“Several providential circumstances led me to the church of the institute in Madrid. There, I got to know traditional liturgy, and it was clear to me that God wanted me in this institute. I came to Naples to know the sisters; and from both sides it seemed that there was, at least, a possible vocation, so I entered to continue discerning.”
Leaving Everything Behind for God
Oct. 16 was a long-awaited day, filled with emotion for the new sisters — joy, gratitude and nerves — but beneath it all, there was a steady certainty in the call they had chosen to follow.
Sister Gabriella-Marie, 28, from the Spanish Basque country, told the Register that she “felt great joy and much peace”: “I wanted to raise my voice so that the whole world could hear all that the Lord has done for me.”
“I was a bit nervous for the ceremony, but above all I was full of a profound peace and happiness, knowing that I was doing the will of God,” Sister Véronique-Marie said. “I felt a great confidence in God, who will not abandon me in this path that I have started by his inspiration and an immense desire of helping souls.”
The profession was very longed for, Sister Jean-Marie François said: “I felt calm and not at all afraid, like being very small and being completely taken care of by God himself.”
Reflecting on the many sacrifices religious life demands, Sister Jean-Marie François said that she once “was attached in many ways to the world,” emphasizing: “I think God gave me so much joy and made me feel so loved in order to make the separation possible.”
Echoing similar sentiments, Sister Benedicta-Marie admitted: “The day of my profession was one of the most difficult days of my life because I knew I was renouncing everything in this world: my family, my own will, the free use of material possessions. I was leaving behind all natural consolations to give myself to God, to abandon myself into the hands of divine Providence.”
Yet at the same time, she stressed, her soul was “happy and at peace” because she knew she was “choosing God and his holy will”: “I was doing the most beautiful thing a creature can do for her Creator: giving back to him everything we have received from him.”
“When I pronounced my vows, I knew I had done the best thing a daughter of God could do to prove her love,” she added, “and in return, God granted me the grace of becoming a bride of Christ.”
Transformed Inwardly
What will their lives look like from now on?
“I would like to grow each day in the religious virtues and in the love of God, to be faithful to my vows and, like the grain of wheat, to fall to the earth so that I may nourish priests and all souls,” said Sister Gabriella-Marie.
While the rhythm of their daily routine will remain largely the same, they said, something interior has been transformed.
“What will be different,” said Sister Véronique-Marie, “will be the interior: All my acts can be influenced by the vows and so became acts of the virtue of religion and very pleasant to God.”
“I am looking forward to give myself to God in this community in accomplishing the little duties of every day,” she continued. “I want to please God and do his will, but I am conscient that it is impossible without his grace.”
“My union with Christ now has another meaning, for I am his spouse,” stressed Sister Benedicta-Marie. “I hope that, with his grace, I will carry out my duty of life with greater love and fidelity, as proof of my love for him, and also to obtain many graces for the sanctification of priests and, in particular, for the seminarians of my institute.”
Beyond offering daily prayers and sacrifices, particularly for the priests of the institute and the souls entrusted to them, the Sisters Adorers also respond to requests from the institute’s canons around the world, accompanying them on pilgrimages, assisting with catechesis for children, serving on retreats, and supporting other apostolic initiatives.
As the community founded to “show forth the adoration of God” continues to grow, new houses are expected to be established near the Institute of Christ the King’s apostolates, where the sisters will be able to aid the priests in their ministries and apostolic work.
“I rejoice in surrendering myself to divine Providence and in trusting that he will guide me toward heaven,” said Sister Benedicta-Marie, “and make use of my small sacrifices and my entire consecrated life for the good of the Holy Catholic Church and the salvation of many souls.”
Sister Jean-Marie François observed: “I have no doubt that my religious life will have both sacrifices and joys, but it is a consolation to think that God never will leave me alone or without his help.”
She continued, “He is the most faithful and loving Husband you could wish for.”
Silence and Separation From the World
Despite the apostolic dimension of their service to priests, contemplative adoration of the Heart of Christ remains the heart of their vocation and, ultimately, is what draws women to the community.
“I think that those who desire a deeper union with God are drawn to traditional religious life,” Sister Benedicta-Marie explained, “because silence and separation from the world provide a perfect way to find God, who is usually hidden and who speaks to a quiet soul.”
Sister Véronique-Marie also noted: “It is natural for man to search for God in prayer, in silence, separated from the noisy world.”
She added, “He speaks to the heart in a quiet way, and I think he himself makes us love silence and separation from the world to be able to listen to his inspirations. I think and I hope that, in our days, this life of silence is a testimony of the existence of God and of his transcendence.”
Observed Sister Jean-Marie François, “The silence and the separation from the world might seem like something frightening, but Jesus can also fill up that silence, loneliness or emptiness with himself; it is something that the religious life helps us experience.”
