"We have visited the villages of the new converts who accepted the Christian religion a few years ago. The country is so utterly barren and poor. The native Christians have no priests. They know only that they are Christians. There is nobody to say Mass for them; nobody to teach them the Creed, the Our Father, the Hail Mary and the Commandments of God's Law.

I have not stopped since the day I arrived. I conscientiously made the rounds of the villages. I bathed in the sacred waters all the children who had not yet been baptized. This means that I have purified a very large number of children so young that, as the saying goes, they could not tell their right hand from their left. The older children would not let me say my Office or eat or sleep until I taught them one prayer or another. Then I began to understand: "The kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

I could not refuse so devout a request without failing in devotion myself. I taught them, first the confession of faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit; then the Apostles' Creed, the Our Father, and Hail Mary. I noticed among them persons of great intelligence. If only someone could educate them in the Christian way of life, I have no doubt that they would make excellent Christians.

Many, many people hereabouts are not becoming Christians for one reason only: there is nobody to make them Christians.

I wish the university students would work as hard at converting these people as they do at their books, and so settle their account with God for their learning and the talents entrusted to them. This thought would certainly stir most of them to meditate on spiritual realities, to listen actively to what God is saying to them. They would forget their own desires, their human affairs, and give themselves over entirely to God's will and his choice. They would cry out with all their heart: "Lord, I am here! What do you want me to do?" Send me anywhere you like - even to India!"

From the letters to Saint Ignatius Loyola by Saint Francis Xavier

Our Goals

Hence, the site MISSIO MARIAE.NET is born. It is a site maintained by the Franciscans of the Immaculate in the United States. We intend to achieve the following goals:

• To INFORM the general public of the different works, life and apostolate of our missionaries throughout the whole world so as to provide means to be in spiritual and temporal solidarity with them.
• To ASSIST our missionaries in the work of evangelization by setting up for them the means to communicate to each other and to the general public regarding their works in the mission.
• To PROVIDE continuing formation both spiritual and pastoral to our missionaries by means of our online missionary magazine and review, video and audio conferences and discussion forums.
• To HELP our missionaries effectively proclaim the Gospel by tools and instruments from the collection of downloadable materials from our site.

Various Site Sections

The broad needs of the missionaries in the work of evangelization have led us to provide multimedia divisions and sections in our site. We believe, in the spirit of St. Maximilian Kolbe, that the modern means of communication should be used for the spread of the Gospel. Hence, you will find in our site:

• MISSION PAGE - which presents the different countries and the missions of our friars and sisters throughout the world. The missionaries are to contribute to these pages according to their mission territory.
• THE MAGAZINE - this is a missionary review "The Word Was Made Flesh" which is published on the monthly basis
• REFERENCES - are internet collection of basic Catholic references that are very useful and handy such as the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Catholic Encyclopedia, Church documents, etc for the missionaries.
• ARCHIVED VIDEOS - are collection of Catholic speakers and apologists who can provide a continuing formation to our missionaries both spiritual and pastoral.
• DOWNLOAD AREA - is a download system that provides the missionaries different printable resources and utilities necessary in the work of evangelization.
• FORUM - is a place where everyone can post information, questions regarding the missions, the Catholic Faith, etc. A helpful medium of interaction between missionaries and the general public.
• BLOG - this modern setup of communication is a "Youtubized" written communication where we present bits and pieces of information on the mission, our site and other related topics and are open for discussion and comment.

All of these are intended to achieve the goal envisioned by St. Maximilian Kolbe: "To spread the Kingdom of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary." May this humble initiative contribute even in small ways to the important and difficult work of our missionaries.