Congregatio Clericorum Regularium Sancti Pauli | |
 One version of the Barnabite logo. "P.A." refers to Paul the Apostle and the three hills symbolize the vows ofpoverty, chastity and obedience. | |
| Abbreviation | B or CRSP |
|---|---|
| Nickname | Barnabites |
| Formation | 1530; 496 years ago (1530) |
| Founder |
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| Founded at | Milan,Italy |
| Type | Order of Clerics Regular of Pontifical Right for Men |
| Headquarters | Via Giacomo Medici 15,Rome,Italy |
| Membership | 335 members (including 279 priests) as of 2020[1] |
Superior General | Chagas Maria Santos da Silva, B |
Parent organization | Catholic Church |
| Website | barnabites |
TheBarnabites (Latin:Barnabitum), officially named as theClerics Regular of Saint Paul (Latin:Clerici Regulares Sancti Pauli), are areligious order ofclerics regular founded in 1530 in theCatholic Church. They are associated with theAngelic Sisters of Saint Paul and the members of the Barnabite lay movement.
Second in seniority of the orders of regular clerics (theTheatines being first),[2] the Barnabites were founded in Milan, byAnthony Mary Zaccaria, Barthélemy Ferrari, andJacopo Antonio Morigia.[2] The region was then suffering severely from the wars between Charles V and Francis I, and Zaccaria saw the need for radical reform of the Church in Lombardy, afflicted by problems typical for that era: dioceses without a bishop, clergy with inadequate theological training, a decrease in religious practice, and monasteries and convents in decline.[3]
It was approved byPope Clement VII in the briefVota per quae vos on 18 February 1533.[2] Later approvals gave it the status of aReligious Order, but it is still normally referred to as acongregation. Both the date and the vocation place it among the Orders associated with theCounter-Reformation.[2] Zaccaria's holiness moved many to reform their lives but it also moved many to oppose him. Twice his community had to undergo an official religious investigation, and twice it was exonerated.
The order was given the name of "Regular Clerics of St. Paul" (Clerici Regulares Sancti Pauli).[2] In 1538 the grand old monastery ofSaint Barnabas by the city wall of Milan was given to the congregation as their main seat, and thenceforth they were known by the popular name ofBarnabites.[4] After the death of Zaccaria in 1539, the congregation was favoured and protected by ArchbishopCharles Borromeo of Milan and later byFrancis de Sales because of their successful missionary work in Upper Italy. Charles Borromeo presided, in 1579, as Cardinal Protector, over the commission which wrote the Constitutions of the Order. TheGeneral Chapters of the Order were regularly held at Milan until the reign ofPope Alexander VII (1655–67), who ordered them to convene in Rome.[2]Pope Innocent XI (1676–89), however, finally decreed that they should be held in Rome and Milan alternately.[2]
These assemblies of theProvincial Superiors were held every three years for the election of a newSuperior General, whose term of office was limited to that period, only one re-election being allowed to each incumbent of the office.[2]
The Society started pastoral activity among the working classes and in monasteries. In the early 17th century, the Barnabites gradually entered the field of education – work which was to remain a mark of their apostolate. They entered France under Henry IV in 1608, and Austria under Ferdinand II in 1626.[4]
The present Constitution is an updated version dated 1983, which takes into account the changes from theSecond Vatican Council. There is a female branch ofReligious Sisters, the Angelic Sisters of St. Paul, found by Anthony Mary Zaccaria, and an organization for lay people, theLaity of St. Paul, originally called the Married of St. Paul and sometimes referred to in North America as the Oblates of St. Paul.
As of March 29, 2025, the new Superior General comes fromDemocratic Republic of the Congo:the Very Rev. Étienne Ntalé Majaliwa, until that day provincial father in Belgium.
As indicated by the official name of the order, the work of the Barnabites is inspired by St.Paul the Apostle. In an address in 2000, to the institute's General Chapter,Pope John Paul II noted, "[I]n pointing out the ideal of religious and apostolic life to his spiritual sons, St Anthony Mary Zaccaria emphasized charity."[5]
The members of the Order make, in addition to the three standardreligious vows ofpoverty, chastity, and obedience, afourth vow never to strive for any office or position of dignity, or to accept such otherwise than under a command of the Holy See.[2]
The focus of the goals of the Barnabite Order, besides preaching in general, catechizing, hearingconfessions, giving missions, ministrations in hospitals and prisons, and the education of youth, includes also a particular devotion to the thorough study and exposition ofSt. Paul's Epistles. Their habit is the blacksoutane which formed the usual garb of Milanesesecular priests in the time of Borromeo.[2] He himself was not a member but is venerated by the Barnabites as a secondarypatron saint of their Order.
The first missions undertaken by the Order were in Italy, France, the formerDuchy of Savoy, Austria andBohemia. In the 18th century, they started missions in China and Brazil. Today, they serve in 15 countries. Until 2021 they were active in Afghanistan, where they had run the Afghan Catholic Mission since 1933, interrupted only while theTaliban regime was in power.[6]
Saints
Venerables
Servants of God
Vincenzo Sangermano was a Barnabite who was amissionary in Burma and wrote several books about theBurmese people.[17]
Barnabites engaged in a wide range of teaching, scholarship, and technological practice during the early modern era. Many Barnabites became great scholars and scientists, including the astronomersRedento Baranzano andPaolo Frisi, the naturalistErmenegildo Pini and the meteorologistFrancesco Denza.
Several members of the Order becamecardinals. The first wasGiacomo Antonio Morigia, Archbishop of Florence (1683–1699), one of the founders of the Barnabites, who was raised to the cardinalate on 12 December 1695 byPope Innocent XII, though his appointment was kept secret (in pectore reservatus) until 19 December 1698.[18]Hyacinthe Sigismond Gerdil, a Consultor of the Roman Inquisition, and former preceptor (supervising teacher), from 1758, of thePrince of Piedmont, afterwards KingCharles Emmanuel IV, and then, in 1768, of Charles Emmanuel's sons, was named a cardinal in secret (in pectore) on 23 June 1777, and announced publicly on 15 December 1777.[19]Luigi Bilio (1826–1884), a Consultor of the Congregation of the Inquisition and collaborator in the production of theSyllabus of Errors (1864), was appointed a cardinal on 25 June 1866 byPope Pius IX, and named Secretary of the Congregation of the Inquisition byPope Leo XIII in 1883.[20] Others were:Francesco Fontana, appointed in 1816 byPope Pius VII;[21]Luigi Lambruschini, appointed in 1831 byPope Gregory XVI;[22]Antonio Cadolini, appointed in 1843 by Gregory XVI; andGiuseppe Maria Graniello, appointed in 1893 byPope Leo XIII.
John Bellarini (1552–1630), who was theVisitor of the Order, and twice held the office of Assistant Superior General, was also a theologian who wrote a number of works including an influential commentary[23] on theCouncil of Trent.[24]
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