Presentation

The Institute was founded by Monsignor Gilles Wach and Monsignor Philippe Mora. Both received their priestly formation, notably under Cardinal Giuseppe Siri, Archbishop of Genoa, and were ordained priests on 24 June 1979 by Pope John Paul II in St Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Later working at the Roman Curia, they saw many young men come to them seeking a “Catholic and Roman formation to the priesthood.” Several cardinals encouraged them to lay the foundations of a community of priests wholly devoted to Christ the King Sovereign Priest. Msgr Wach is its founder and Prior General; Msgr Mora, co-founder, is rector of the international Saint Philip Neri Seminary.

The Institute was first canonically erected in Gabon, on 1 September 1990, by Bishop Cyriaque Obamba of Mouila, where the young community had been invited for missionary work. With the help of Cardinal Augustinus Mayer, it soon established its General House and seminary at Gricigliano, an ancient château in the Tuscan hills north of Florence; Cardinal Silvio Piovanelli, Archbishop of Florence, granted canonical recognition to the Saint Philip Neri Seminary. On 7 October 2008, by the decree Saeculorum Rex, the Holy See erected the Institute as a society of apostolic life of pontifical right, depending directly on the Supreme Pontiff. On 29 January 2016, Rome definitively approved its Constitutions. Discover our history in detail →

The first purpose of the Institute is the glory of God and the sanctification of priests, in the service of the Church and souls. Its particular missionary end is the spread and defence of the Reign of Our Lord Jesus Christ in every domain of human life: personal, family, social, and cultural. This mission rests on three pillars:

• the sanctification of priests through fidelity to the traditional liturgy of the Roman Church;
• the apostolate in the service of souls in a spirit of Salesian charity and gentleness: preaching, confessions, spiritual guidance, retreats;
• the cultivation of sacred beauty — Gregorian chant, polyphony, architecture, and sacred arts — where beauty is placed at the service of holiness.

The Institute celebrates the whole of its liturgical life according to the traditional books of the Roman Church: the 1962 Roman Missal for Holy Mass, the Breviary of Blessed John XXIII for the Divine Office, and the Roman Ritual and Pontifical for the other sacraments. This fidelity, confirmed by Pope Benedict XVI’s motu proprio Summorum Pontificum (2007), lies at the heart of the Institute’s charism. The founder, Monsignor Wach, likes to compare Holy Mass to “a precious diamond” that requires a worthy setting to reveal its full brilliance.

Around one and the same charism lives a true spiritual family. The canons, priests and clerics, live the common life under a rule inspired by Saint Augustine. The Sister Adorers of the Royal Heart of Jesus Sovereign Priest, canonically erected in 2001, support the canons’ apostolate through contemplative prayer and Eucharistic adoration. The oblates, clerical members not yet priests, make themselves the “guardian angels of priests” in the service of the altar and of the community. The Sister Adorers → · The oblates →

Dedicated to Christ the King Sovereign Priest, the Institute is placed under the principal patronage of the Immaculate Conception. It honours three secondary patrons who form a living synthesis: Saint Benedict, father of the unity between faith, culture, liturgy, and life; Saint Thomas Aquinas, guardian of fidelity to doctrine; and Saint Francis de Sales, model of gentleness and love for souls. From the latter the Institute draws its motto, taken from Saint Paul: “Veritatem facientes in Caritate” (Eph 4:15), “living the truth in charity.” Our patron saints and their writings →

Since its founding, the Institute has spread across several continents. It now numbers more than 170 members in about ten provinces — Italy, France, the United States, Germany, Great Britain, Gabon, Ireland, Spain, Belgium — together with missionary outposts in other countries. Its apostles serve parishes, shrines, chapels, retreat centres, and schools; among them the Shrine of Christ the King in Chicago, entrusted to the Institute in 2004. Discover our presence throughout the world →