The Spiritual Family
Servants of Suffering
The Spiritual Family of the Servants of Suffering has been founded by the diocesan priest Mons. Pierino Galeone who, following the model and the inspiration of Padre Pio of Pietrelcina, wanted to assume for himself and for his children the service of those who suffer, as a testimony of charity regarding his brothers and sisters.
For all the members, personal suffering, associated with the sufferings of Christ, becomes an instrument of relief and of redemption of neighbour. The family began to take the first steps on the 16th July 1957 with the consecration of the then seventeen year old Giorgina Tocci, who is Mother and Cofounder of the Institute.
It includes men and women, clerics and laity, in a profound spiritual communion that is characterized by one specific charism. On the 25th December 1993, Mons. Benigno Papa, Archbishop of Taranto, having obtained the nihil obstat from the Holy See, and recognizing the reality of the Servants of Suffering as charismatically original and pastorally useful, erected it as a Secular Institute.
A Secular Institute
The Institute “Servants of Suffering” is a Secular Institute with two distinct sections, masculine and feminine, whose members live in the world, aspiring to the perfection of charity and sanctifying the world with the Gospel of Suffering.
For all members, personal suffering, associated with the sufferings of Christ, becomes an instrument of relief and redemption of one’s neighbour.
It is a Secular Institute, means an Institute of consecrated life whose members, in a stable form of life, profess the evangelical counsels in the world: chastity, freely chosen for the kingdom of heaven; poverty, in imitation of Christ who, being rich, became poor for us; obedience, in a spirit of faith and love for Christ obedient unto death.
Associate Members
In January 2004, some of the faithful, married and unmarried, having already made a spiritual experience under the guidance of Mons. Pierino Galeone, expressed the desire to form a stable group to follow the Charism more faithfully.
This is how the “Servants of Suffering” Association came into being. Its members carry out their consecration in the family and in the working environment where they live, work and perform the apostolate.
With prayer and penance, joy and charity they strive to permeate the world with the spirit of the Gospel.
