VATICAN - Dominican Missionaries of the Rosary

Vatican City (Fides Service) - The Congregation of the Dominican Missionaries of the Rosary was born in response to a missionary need to Christianise the forest peoples in Peru. In 1900 the Holy See created the Prefecture apostolic of Santo Domingo de Urubamba y Madre de Dios (today the Vicariate apostolic of Puerto Maldonado), entrusting it to the Dominican Fathers. In view of evangelisation in this vast territory in 1913 it was made a Vicariate Apostolic and the apostolic Vicar Bishop Ramon Zubieta O.P., felt it would be good to have some Dominican Sisters to help with the work. On a visit to Spain he contacted the Dominican Sisters at the Santa Rosa Convent in Huesca who accepted to co-operate in the mission.
On 30 December 1913 a small missionary expedition landed in Peru. With the Vicar Apostolic and a few Dominican priests there was also a group of Dominicans nuns led by Mother Ascension Nicol. After a first period in Lima they started making expeditions to the forest and although people in Lima wanted the sisters to help to educate the youth of the capital. This first group of sisters was followed by others who began their work of evangelising the poor.
From this seed a new religious congregation was born, independent of the communities from which the sisters came. The founders were Mons. Ramon Zubieta and Mother Ascension Nicol. On 5 October 1918 in Lima the Congregation of the Dominican Missionaries of the Rosary was founded and Mother Ascension was appointed Superior general. The aim of the congregation was to “evangelise the poor in missionary situations where the Church is most in need”.
After only three years in 1921, Bishop Zubieta died and mother. Ascension had to take over the management of the fledgling institution which grew with new foundations. In the same year that Mother Ascension died, 1940, Pius XII approved the Constitutions of the Congregation. In this new lap of its life the institute grew and spread to other countries and continents and the foundations multiplied, vocations flourished including many local girls. The sisters’ missionary work embraced new fields and extended to health pastoral.
Today the Dominican Missionaries of the Rosary are involved in various tasks according to where they live and work: always attentive to the cries of the weakest people, women in particular, and victims of injustice and exclusion, to defend life in all its forms, to promote justice and peace amn environment protection, in the field of education, health pastoral and social promotion.
The Dominican Missionaries of the Rosary are 785 of 24 nationalities present in 21 countries with 144 communities: Africa (Angola, Cameroon, Mozambique, Democratic Congo); Asia (China, Philippines, India, Taiwan, East Timor), America (Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Porto Rico, Dominican Republic), Europe (Spain, Portugal) and Australia. (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 12/5/2005, righe 37, parole 475)