February 17 + The Seven Holy Founders of the Order of Servites

Can you imagine seven famous businessmen from a metropolitan area, leaving their homes and professions, to live together in solitude and prayer all for a life dedicated to God? That is what happened in the cultured and prosperous city of Florence in the middle of the 13th century.

Seven wealthy, well-known cloth merchants found themselves in a society in which many people ignored God’s law. Riches and the easy life meant more than the love of the poor and service to the needy. These seven men decided to withdraw from the city and to lead lives of prayer and penance. They chose to turn their lives over to God and give witness to all that is good and true.

Their initial difficulty was providing for their dependents, since two were still married and two were widowers. This group of men fostered devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, particularly in her seven sorrows. They called themselves the Servants of Mary or Servites.

In 1244, under the direction of Saint Peter of Verona, this small group adopted a religious habit similar to the Dominican habit, choosing to live under the Rule of Saint Augustine.

Members of the community came to the United States from Austria in 1852 and settled in New York and later in Philadelphia. Community members combined monastic life and active ministry. In the monastery, they led a life of prayer, work and silence while in the active apostolate they engaged in parochial work, teaching, preaching, and other ministerial activities.