The Origin of the Title

    This title of Mary as the “Queen and Mother of Evangelical Rogation” is a private title revered and proposed by Saint Hannibal Maria Di Francia to his sons, The Rogationists of the Heart of Jesus, and to his daughters, the Daughters of Divine Zeal. Its origin is therefore from the inspiration of St. Hannibal Maria Di Francia, and the first to practice the devotion to Mary in this title are the members of the Institute of founded by Saint Hannibal. Under this title, Mary is venerated as the Virgin who kept and lived the “divine command of the Rogate” known also the “Evangelical Rogation”.  

The Evangelical Rogation or the Charism of the Rogate

The Divine Command of the Rogate or the Evangelical Rogations is found explicitly  in Matthew 9:38 and in Luke 10:2 when the Lord Jesus seeing the crowd, felt compassion for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd said: “The harvest is great but the laborers are few. Pray (Rogate) therefore to the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into his harvest.” For St. Hannibal, the Evangelical Rogation is concretely realized in the mission of: praying daily for vocations, propagating the spirit of prayer everywhere and promoting vocations, and being good laborers for the coming of the Kingdom of God.   Thus, the very first way of fulfilling the command is that of obeying the command of Jesus to pray and become adorers and implorers for the highest and most beautiful mission, of meriting and preparing vocations for the kingdom of Christ. The second is to propagate the spirit of this prayer and give witness to the light of the divine command in the Church and in the world. Third, is to act and become the very answer to this prayer. Thus, the Evangelical Rogation demands from those who obey it, a qualified spirit of prayer, zeal, and generosity in their undertakings, to which they commit themselves without counting the cost; ready to sacrifice themselves completely for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.

Mary as “Queen and Mother of Evangelical Rogation”

This title of being the Queen and Mother of Evangelical Rogation is for Saint Hannibal a title proper and true of Mary. In his own words, St. Hannibal explained, “In her Immaculate Heart, I see, engraved with golden characters, all the words uttered by our Lord Jesus Christ. I consider how true is the saying of the evangelist St. Luke, Mary, on her side was persevering all these things and meditating them in her heart (Lk 2;19,51). Thus it is impossible for us not to find imprinted in her heart, with heavenly characters, the words coming from the divine zeal of the Heart of Jesus: Pray therefore to the Lord of the Harvest to send workers into His Harvest. Indeed Mary Most Holy accepted this divine command in her Immaculate Heart and accomplished it.”  Mary is the Mother of each vocation, she who is the first “called” and the first “redeemed”, is also the first “collaborator” of the Redeemer. She is always “in intimate communion with Christ”, she, the Virgin Mother, “was the creature who most of all the others has lived the full truth of vocation because none like her has answered with such great love to God’s immense love.”  Mary is thus the model of the obedience to the divine command, since through her prayer, she obtained the Redeemer and cooperated with him for the salvation of souls, becoming universal mother and queen.  

Angels are never just figments of children's imagination. They are real. Our Father Founder, St. Hannibal firmly believes that these holy angels are actively guiding, sustaining and protecting all through these years the institutions and charitable works of the congregations that he started. What better proof for the reality of the angels can we have than this!

As we celebrate the singular feast of the Holy Archangels on September 29, let us then be acquainted with the sublime spirit and devotion of St. Hannibal Di Francia to the Holy Archangels.

In the time of St. Hannibal, each Archangel had his own proper feast day to be celebrated, but with the reform of the Roman Liturgy after Vatican II, all other feasts of the archangels were joined together in the single feast of St. Michael which designated yearly on September 29. What remained very peculiar in our celebration of the feast of the Holy Archangels was the special Triduum that we all faithful observed up to this time. The day itself of the feast remained outstandingly celebrated in all houses of the Rogationists and the Daughters of Divine Zeal.

      Our beloved Founder, St. Hannibal Mary Di Francia had singular devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title Bambinella or the Child Mary. One of the testimonies given for the cause of his canonization affirmed that the Child Mary was the poetry of his heart. The Founder himself deemed it necessary to his sons and daughters-the Rogationists and the Daughters of Divine Zeal to have a solemn celebration of the feast by preparing a triduum, procession, sermons and vigil on the eve. It was a one of St. Hannibal’s dearest forms of piety as he was madly in love with the Bambinella. So much so that at the end of this saint’s earthly life, the Child Mary assured him of her love and protection.