The Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity is a Roman Catholic contemplative-active missionary community. It was founded on 17 January 1963 in the Spanish island of Mallorca by Fr. Jaime Bonet. The community was ecclesiastically approved as an Institute of Consecrated Life of pontifical right by Pope John Paul II on 15 April 2000.

The community extends to and embraces people of all states and areas of life. However, at its core, it consists of consecrated women, consecrated men (brothers & priests), and consecrated married couples.

The first Verbum Dei missionaries arrived in UK in 1982.

Charism

The name Verbum Dei is Latin for ‘Word of God’. As such, the Verbum Dei Missionary Fraternity, with the motto of the first disciples of Jesus, “We will dedicate ourselves to prayer and service of the Word” (Acts 6:4) and the spirit of the first Christian community, centres its specific spirituality and mission in the Word of God: to pray with the Word of God, allowing it to transform one’s life on a daily basis, and teaching others to do the same.

Mission

The mission of the Verbum Dei community is to announce the Word of God and to propagate the Kingdom of God through prayer, the ministry of the Word, and the testimony of evangelical life.

We seek to promote the greatest dignity for all people by empowering individuals and communities to partake in the journey of Christian discipleship that is rooted in Scripture and Catholic tradition. Most celibate members of the community also undergo several years of academic study of philosophy and theology similar to that which takes place in a Catholic priestly seminary, in order to receive the formation they need to better carry out the mission.

Spirituality

The Verbum Dei spirituality is rooted in:

• the Trinity, dwelling within us
• the Eucharist
• Mystical Body of Christ
• Mary, mother of God

The daily life of a missionary involves several hours of silent contemplative prayer that is scripture-based.