By Sr Christine Masivo, CPS
The Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives, also known as the Trinitarians, is celebrating 100 years of missionary presence in Madagascar, commemorating a century of evangelization, pastoral service, and witness to the Gospel that has profoundly shaped both the local Church and the Trinitarian Order.
A century of missionary witness
The anniversary recalls the departure of the first five Trinitarian missionaries from Rome on Jun 4, 1926, shortly after the Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity. Accompanied by the then Minister General, Fr Francis Xavier of the Immaculate Conception, they set out to establish the Trinitarian mission in Madagascar after the order withdrew from Somalia in 1924. They learned the Malagasy and French languages before settling in Miarinarivo, the mission territory entrusted to them.
Reflecting on the centenary, the Minister General, Fr Luigi Buccarello, told the Vatican’s Fides news agency, that the first missionaries demonstrated “the evangelical courage” to cross cultural, linguistic, and religious borders in response to the Holy Spirit’s promptings. Their journey, he noted, was not merely an expansion of the Order but an expression of its enduring missionary identity.
An apostolate of evangelization and human dignity
Inspired by the charism of St John de Matha and St Felix of Valois, the Trinitarian mission has always united the proclamation of the Gospel with the defense of human freedom and dignity. Founded during a period marked by conflict and slavery, the Order originally dedicated itself to aiding captives, a mission that continues today through service to those living on the margins of society.
In Madagascar, the missionaries centered their apostolate on extensive pastoral visits to remote villages, ensuring that scattered Christian communities remained connected to the life of the Church, which they invested in the formation of catechists and pastoral workers through a Catechetical Formation Centre, equipping local leaders for evangelization. At the same time, they built churches, schools, and multipurpose centers while restoring places of worship to support both spiritual and social development.
Throughout their ministry, the Trinitarians sought to respect local cultures and traditions while accompanying communities in faith. Their work contributed not only to evangelization but also to education, pastoral formation, and the strengthening of Christian communities across the island.
Flourishing mission to the future
The Trinitarian mission in Madagascar has grown remarkably over the past century, fulfilling its goal of building self-sustaining local churches. Beginning with the establishment of the Apostolic Vicariate of Miarinarivo in 1939, the first ecclesiastical territory in Africa entrusted to the Order, the mission later expanded to Tsiroanomandidy and Ambatondrazaka.
Today, the Trinitarians serve in twelve of Madagascar’s twenty-two dioceses, with flourishing local vocations, missionaries serving abroad, and five Trinitarian bishops emerging from the Malagasy Church.
Marking the centenary, Fr Buccarello described the anniversary as a call to renew the Order’s missionary commitment, especially to the cultural, social, and spiritual frontiers of today’s world. As the Trinitarians give thanks for generations of missionaries who served with dedication and sacrifice, they celebrate a century in which a small missionary presence has grown into a vibrant Church that continues to proclaim the Gospel as a sign of hope, freedom, and mercy. – Vatican News
