The Institute of the Incarnate Word is the first branch of the Religious Family of the Incarnate Word, founded by Fr. Carlos Miguel Buela in 1984. The Institute of the Incarnate Word draws its spirituality from the mystery of the Incarnation; it was founded on the Solemnity of the Annunciation, March 25, 1984 in San Rafael, Argentina.
Fr. Buela wanted our Institute to be named “of the Incarnate Word” in order to honor the greatest event of history, an event which cannot be surpassed by any other: the Incarnation of the Son of God.
By means of the profession of the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience, we want to imitate and follow more closely the Incarnate Word in his chastity, poverty, and obedience. In addition, we profess a fourth vow of Marian slavery, according to the spirit of St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort. By means of this vow, we consecrate our whole lives to the Blessed Virgin Mary. We, the religious of the Incarnate Word, want to be anchored in the mystery of the Incarnation, which, as St. John Paul II has said, “is the first and fundamental mystery of Jesus Christ.” From this mystery, we want to undertake “to reestablish all things in Christ” (Eph 1:10), seeking to be as another Incarnation of the Word in order to make Him incarnate in all that is human. We are aware, as St. Irenaeus teaches, that “that which is not assumed is not redeemed.” Thus, nothing that is authentically human is foreign to us, because the life of grace that Jesus Christ came to bring to the world must be brought to everything and everyone.
The Institute of the Incarnate Word is a religious order that consists of priests, brothers, and seminarians. We are missionary and Marian.
We are a missionary order. “Missionary activity is nothing else and nothing less than an epiphany, or a manifesting of God’s decree, and its fulfillment in the world and in world history, in the course of which God, by means of mission, manifestly works out the history of salvation. By the preaching of the word and by the celebration of the sacraments, the center and summit of which is the most holy Eucharist, He brings about the presence of Christ, the author of salvation” (Vatican II, Ad gentes, no. 9). We are convinced that the world cannot be transformed apart from Christ and His Church. With the grace of God, we seek to evangelize all men.
We are Marian. In addition to our profession of the vows of the evangelical counsels, we profess a fourth vow to Mary, Marian slavery, following the spirit of St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort. Through this vow, we consecrate our whole lives to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary.
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