Pope Leo XIV’s recent letter to the Major Archdiocesan Seminary in Trujillo, Peru, echoes a spiritual vision that resonates deeply with the foundational charism of our own Society. Just as the Pope urges seminarians to root their vocation in a genuine relationship with Christ—eschewing ambition and worldly motivations—our founder, Herbert Vaughan, articulated a similar conviction at the very heart of our missionary identity.
Vaughan made clear that his own call to mission was inspired by God’s Love, revealed supremely in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. In the appendix to our first constitutions, “On the Spiritual Formation of the Members by the Founder,” he wrote:
“God having manifested Himself through Jesus Christ, the Incarnation, Life, and Passion of Christ must become the special object of study, imitation, and love for all. The missioners of St. Joseph’s Society shall, therefore, never cease to examine and ponder over God’s character and proofs of His love as exhibited in the Gospels of which they cannot obtain too exact a knowledge. The Gospels declare that Divine Love is the inexhaustible source of the bountiful stream of all God’s acts of goodness and mercy to men.”
To help maintain this focus on God’s love, Vaughan recommended daily contemplation of Christ crucified, using our missionary crucifix. In his book, The Young Priest, Vaughan again emphasized that the motive for our missionary lives is the love of God as exhibited in the Passion of Christ. Quoting St. Francis de Sales’ Treatise on the Love of God, he wrote:
“The Passion of Our Lord is the sweetest and most constraining motive that can animate our hearts in this mortal life. Mount Calvary is the mount of lovers. All love that takes not its beginning from Our Saviour’s Passion is frivolous and dangerous…God suffered for all in general, but in particular for me, for I am a chief among sinners. ‘He has loved me’; yes, I say, He has loved even me. Even me, such as I am, and ‘delivered Himself’ to His Passion ‘for me’” (page 82, referring to Galatians 2:20, a favourite text of Vaughan which he had inscribed under the large crucifix for all to see in the main chapel of our original Mother house).
In this way, both Pope Leo XIV and our founder call us to a priesthood and missionary life rooted not in personal ambition or external achievement, but in the transforming love of Christ—an inexhaustible source for all ministry and service.
The Pope called on seminarians to reflect honestly on their motivations for pursuing the priesthood. He emphasised that becoming a priest is not about personal ambition or simply reaching ordination. Instead, he described it as a “total gift of one’s existence,” not an escape from life’s challenges or a step up in society. Pope Leo cautioned against seeing the priesthood as a privilege or a routine job, stating that those who do so “build on sand” and miss the true foundation of their calling.
