In the spiritual family of the Franciscans of Mary there is a core of priests who, living this spirituality, exercise their pastoral mission from the perspective of love and loving Love, devoting part of their time and effort to nourishing the lay people who live this same spirituality of gratitude. The work of the heart, continually promoting this spirituality to the rest of the body, the lay people who make up this spiritual family. These priests are, at this time and from the legal point of view, diocesan, placed (incardinated) in their respective dioceses and dedicated preferably to parish work. They have two branches: the non-consecrated, who live and work where their Bishop sends them and that they are participating in the spirituality of gratitude but without living in community; and, on the other hand, consecrated persons, who live in community with permission of his Bishop, and who have been issued the three vows (poverty, chastity, and obedience); these priests of common life acquire a missionary commitment in order to be available to go to evangelize to any part of the world, always with the permission of their bishop.
The Statutes of the Franciscan priests of Mary, as an International Public Association of the Faithful of diocesan right, were approved by the Archdiocese of Madrid on 27 June 2007. They are chaired by the founder of the Association, P. Santiago Martin, and are present in 11 nations.
In Spain there is a house of formation for the future priests and religious of common life. To enter it demands some requirements, one of which is the prior involvement during a sufficient time in any school of gratitude, in order to know and live deeply the spirituality of which is then converted to full advocacy. At this time, in the house of training there are 15 seminarians from different countries.
Those interested in either of the two branches of this priestly fraternity can contact consultas@frmaria.org