Who are we?
We are a community of laymen in the Catholic Church who dedicate their lives completely in a lay secular context to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the spread of His kingdom.
At the centre of our response to the Lord’s invitation is our own baptismal consecration. This consecration is lived more intensely through the profession of vows of poverty, celibate chastity and obedience, as per the traditions of the evangelical counsels lived in the Catholic Church.
Though we are a community, there is no common life and no common way to live this call. We are professionals, workers, entrepreneurs, salaried employees, politicians, public servants and even retired men and pensioners. We share in the lives of ordinary lay people. We do not wear any distinctive clothing or declare our consecration to Christ in any external manner, whether we are engaged in the world, or in the church. We are lay men.
The institute overall as a community is place of formation and spiritual nourishment which enables and helps us to discern God’s will for us to become holy.
Why, the name, “Cristo Re” (“Christ the King”)?
For our founder and for each of us, the Kingdom of God and Jesus’ kingship is central to our history and spirituality.
We follow a crucified King – Jesus Christ, whose kingdom we know is not one of amassing territory, power, wealth, or anything similar.
Just as Christ was obedient to the Father, we strive to be obedient to Christ, placing his will above all else first in our lives and through our act of obedience, conform ourselves and all things to Christ.
What is our spirituality?
We bear the name of Christ (like all Christians) and seek to live as every Christian is called to live, be the salt of the earth, a lamp that is lit and placed on the lampstand. We find ourselves in the words of Second Vatican Council, “By their vocation it is proper to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to God. They live in the world, that is, involved in all the different duties and works of the world and in the ordinary conditions of family and social life, of which their existence is as it were woven.”
How do we exercise our charism?
We dedicate a significant portion of our day to prayer, to meditation and reflection on the Word of God, frequenting the sacraments, study and at the centre of our life - the Eucharist as it is lived in the life of the Church.
It is from these especially the Eucharist that we view all work and activity, no matter which secular reality we are called to live. It is in this secular (lay) reality that we respond to God who consecrates us to himself. Our vows are in the Church, for Christ and lived in unison with all the faithful, seeking the spread of the Kingdom in both big and small ways.
How did we come to be?
Our founder was Giuseppe Lazzati, a layman from Milan, who along with ten companions, responded in the year 1930 to live out their faith in a private commitment in the world. They were deeply inspired by the words of the Mathew’s gospel, to be “leaven” and “salt”, that which is tasted, experienced but hidden or unseen. They were from different walks of life, yet each felt the call to live their vocation as a consecrated man in their own unique setting.
As their numbers grew, and no matter if involved in social action, politics, trade unions, or as factory/ office workers –they responded to God’s call in their daily, ordinary lives. There was a deep connection to Church and a conviction that as laymen, they were an integral part of the Church’s mission in the world.
The then Archbishop of Milan, Blessed Ildefonso Schuster, encouraged this small group of men and helped them find the necessary canonical way to establish a community they dearly desired. And so, in 1952, through a decree, the Archbishop canonically instituted the Secular Institute “Milites Christi Regis”, the small society of laymen as it was known in its earliest days. Later, the Institute adopted the name “Cristo Re: (i.e. Christ the King). In 1963, during the pontificate of Pope Paul VI, the Secular Institute Christ the King was granted an approval as an institute of Pontifical Right.
Where is Secular Institute Christ spread today?
Currently, members of the Institute live and/or work in United Kingdom, China, Congo (DR), Ghana, India, Italy, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. We are organised into Communities, each of which has a President; the whole Institute is governed by the General President and a Council that is elected every five years by the Congress of the Institute
You can find us @: ISCR – Christ the King Secular Institute – Consecrated Lay People (istitutosecolarecristore.org)
To contact us please use the form below
We are a community of laymen in the Catholic Church who dedicate their lives completely in a lay secular context to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the spread of His kingdom.
At the centre of our response to the Lord’s invitation is our own baptismal consecration. This consecration is lived more intensely through the profession of vows of poverty, celibate chastity and obedience, as per the traditions of the evangelical counsels lived in the Catholic Church.
Though we are a community, there is no common life and no common way to live this call. We are professionals, workers, entrepreneurs, salaried employees, politicians, public servants and even retired men and pensioners. We share in the lives of ordinary lay people. We do not wear any distinctive clothing or declare our consecration to Christ in any external manner, whether we are engaged in the world, or in the church. We are lay men.
The institute overall as a community is place of formation and spiritual nourishment which enables and helps us to discern God’s will for us to become holy.
Why, the name, “Cristo Re” (“Christ the King”)?
For our founder and for each of us, the Kingdom of God and Jesus’ kingship is central to our history and spirituality.
We follow a crucified King – Jesus Christ, whose kingdom we know is not one of amassing territory, power, wealth, or anything similar.
Just as Christ was obedient to the Father, we strive to be obedient to Christ, placing his will above all else first in our lives and through our act of obedience, conform ourselves and all things to Christ.
What is our spirituality?
We bear the name of Christ (like all Christians) and seek to live as every Christian is called to live, be the salt of the earth, a lamp that is lit and placed on the lampstand. We find ourselves in the words of Second Vatican Council, “By their vocation it is proper to the laity to seek the kingdom of God by engaging in temporal affairs and by ordering them according to God. They live in the world, that is, involved in all the different duties and works of the world and in the ordinary conditions of family and social life, of which their existence is as it were woven.”
How do we exercise our charism?
We dedicate a significant portion of our day to prayer, to meditation and reflection on the Word of God, frequenting the sacraments, study and at the centre of our life - the Eucharist as it is lived in the life of the Church.
It is from these especially the Eucharist that we view all work and activity, no matter which secular reality we are called to live. It is in this secular (lay) reality that we respond to God who consecrates us to himself. Our vows are in the Church, for Christ and lived in unison with all the faithful, seeking the spread of the Kingdom in both big and small ways.
How did we come to be?
Our founder was Giuseppe Lazzati, a layman from Milan, who along with ten companions, responded in the year 1930 to live out their faith in a private commitment in the world. They were deeply inspired by the words of the Mathew’s gospel, to be “leaven” and “salt”, that which is tasted, experienced but hidden or unseen. They were from different walks of life, yet each felt the call to live their vocation as a consecrated man in their own unique setting.
As their numbers grew, and no matter if involved in social action, politics, trade unions, or as factory/ office workers –they responded to God’s call in their daily, ordinary lives. There was a deep connection to Church and a conviction that as laymen, they were an integral part of the Church’s mission in the world.
The then Archbishop of Milan, Blessed Ildefonso Schuster, encouraged this small group of men and helped them find the necessary canonical way to establish a community they dearly desired. And so, in 1952, through a decree, the Archbishop canonically instituted the Secular Institute “Milites Christi Regis”, the small society of laymen as it was known in its earliest days. Later, the Institute adopted the name “Cristo Re: (i.e. Christ the King). In 1963, during the pontificate of Pope Paul VI, the Secular Institute Christ the King was granted an approval as an institute of Pontifical Right.
Where is Secular Institute Christ spread today?
Currently, members of the Institute live and/or work in United Kingdom, China, Congo (DR), Ghana, India, Italy, New Zealand, Philippines, Poland, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. We are organised into Communities, each of which has a President; the whole Institute is governed by the General President and a Council that is elected every five years by the Congress of the Institute
You can find us @: ISCR – Christ the King Secular Institute – Consecrated Lay People (istitutosecolarecristore.org)
To contact us please use the form below