History

  • February 2, 1947

    Provida Mater Ecclesiaopens a new avenue in the life of the Church: secular institutes. 


    Ever since, secular institutes for men and women have been sanctioned by the Church

  • July 2, 1952

    The Oblates Missionaries of Mary Immaculate (O.M.M.I)

    a The Oblate Missionaries of Mary immaculate (O.M.M.I.), a secular institute for women, was founded by Father Louis-Marie Parent, O.M.I. The group Volontaires de Dieu (Volunteers of God) are affiliated to this Institute. 

  • Spring, 1958

    Father Leo Deschâtelets, O.M.I. Superior General of the Oblate Fathers, asks Father Parent to found a secular institute for men.

    In response to his Superior general’s request,Father Parenthas the inspiration to call the new groupVoluntas Dei. He met a few young men interested in the project and prepared the foundation of the Institute.

  • 8 mai 1958

    The Voluntas Dei group receives the approval of Bishop Henri Routhier, O.M.I., Vicar apostolic of Grouard, Alberta  (Canada), and the Church’s official recognition of the group as a Pious Society.

  • July 2, 1958

    The Voluntas Dei Institute (I.V.Dei), a secular institute for all the baptised, was founded by Father Louis-Marie Parent, O.M.I., in the chapel of our Lady of LaSalette (Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada). 

    At its founding, the Institute numbered ten young men, of whom four were received into profession, five began probation, and one started aspirancy.

  • September 18, 1958

    The I.V.Dei reaches out to the world, first in Laos, then in the United States, Bolivia, Ecuador, Sri Lanka, India, Chile, Mexico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Colombia.

  • 1963

    Laotian married catechists (men) are accepted in the Institute.

  • May 31, 1963

    The I.V.Dei is raised to the canonical status of an Association of Perfection by Bishop J.-Romeo Gagnon of Edmundston, New Brunswick (Canada).

  • July 2, 1965

    The I.V.Dei is canonically erected a secular institute of diocesan right by the same Bishop, and obtained thenihil obstatfrom the Sacred Congregation for Religious and Secular Institutes

  • July 12, 1987

    The Voluntas Dei Institute is officially recognised as a Secular Institute of Pontifical right by Pope John Paul II.

  • 1988

    The  I.V.Dei officially incorporates married couples as associate members with commitments.

  • September 21, 1988

    Our Constitutions are approved.

  • July 17, 2007

    Rome grants the Director General the faculty of granting dimissorial letters to members of the Institute who are candidates to holy order (diaconate and priesthood).  

  • June 2010

    Spiritually affiliated persons are accepted in the Institute.



For these documents, Please go to the “Members Area”

Good News of the Voluntas Dei Institute

1958-2008 

 

Part 1
Presentation – A tribute to our pioners – Foreword  –  I. Our founder, Fr. Louis-Marie Parent, O.M.I.  –  II. The beginnings of the secular Volutas Dei Institute  –
III. Missionary expansion

Part 2
IV. The canonical existence

Part 3
V. The assemblies general and the ground covered  –   VI. History of the districts and regions

Part 4
VII. History of the formation  –  VIII. Communication  –  IX. Our cultural diversity in spiritual unity  –  X. The testimonies  –  XI. Perspectives of the future  – XII. 50th anniversary celebrations of the Insitute, 1958-2008  – Conclusion

ADMINISTRATION CENTRALE

CENTRAL ADMINISTRATION

ADMINISTRACIÓN CENTRAL
Institut Voluntas Dei
Administration centrale
7385, boul. Parent
Trois-Rivières (Québec)
Canada G9C 0M5

Tél. : +1 819 375-7933
Fax : +1 819 691-1841

administration@voluntasdei.org
secretariat@voluntasdei.org