Who We Are

“That the Comboni Missionary Sisters, gathered together for the celebration of their XIX General Chapter, sustained by the faithful presence of St. Daniel Comboni and enlightened by the Holy Spirit, may be able to accept the prophetic journey which Mission requires at this time.”

Let us pray.

Who We Are

The Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus or MCCJ, the first letters of our name in Latin: Missionarii Comboniani Cordis Jesu, is an exclusively missionary Institute dedicated to the evangelization of peoples. We were founded in Italy in 1857 by St. Daniel Comboni and are a congregation of priests, brothers, and lay-missionaries of many nationalities. We have the Eucharist as our daily strength and the center of our life and live in communities that are about:

MISSION ~ to announce the Good News to all Creation. Our charism is called “First Evangelization”, going where there is no church or where people are not sufficiently evangelized, building-up the Christian community until we can give a church to the diocese with local clergy. We then move on and start over again! Helped by the Spirit, we strive to always act in function of the growth of the Kingdom ~ in all human situations, with attention to the poorest and most abandoned ~ forming activities that favor the integral development and liberation of the people we serve. Our gifts and talents vary greatly but we are united in bringing about justice, compassion and love to God’s people with the motto: “The World is Our Parish”.

For over 150 years the MCCJ have walked faithfully in the footsteps of our founder St. Daniel Comboni, making common cause with those who are marginalized and living out the Church’s call to mission in new and unexpected ways. Together with Comboni Missionary Sisters and an ever-growing number of supporters and collaborators filled with the same missionary spirit, we form the Comboni Family.