A precise date on the origins of Regnum Mariae in Uganda is hard to define. The news that among the various expressions of the Servants of Mary sharing the original charism were also included Secular Institutes, was given by a friar Servant of Mary, through the Ugandan radio network of Radio Maria, in the year 2004.
Our brother was called to Radio Maria for a series of conferences, such as Mariologist and vocations promoter. He introduced Regnum Mariae as one of the expressions of lay Servite consecration, born in Italy in 1959 and of which he had heard extensively by another Servite friar already in Uganda since 1998. A young woman, librarian at the Makerere University in Kampala, listened to this conference, and shortly after, she contacted the brothers in Kampala and Jinja. The information that she could gather on Regnum Mariae was obviously still minimal, but she, looking on the Internet, found various details. She decided to enter immediately the OSSM in Kampala and, in the meantime, the brothers received news on Regnum Mariae from the OSM Secretary General for the lay groups. |
In August 2005, our brother was able to attend the UNIFAS Assembly in Mexico City where he met some sisters of RM attending the Assembly from Italy and those of the Mexican group and he asked for some information, took the brochures in English and listened to their testimonies.
In December 2007, the then-Elder Sister and a councillor decided to go to Uganda to hear directly the requests regarding Regnum Mariae. They were accompanied by a servant of Mary who had been in the Philippines, which had already seen the growth of RM, and who believed in the possibility of starting a small group in Uganda. The sisters met two women interested in RM, and they decided to entrust their journey of discernment to the friar who had the insight to speak on the radio in 2004. During 2008 they continued their formation and in the meantime another young woman joined them in 2009; yet another followed them in 2010 and another three in 2011. Since then, there have been many changes in this group and it became a juridically constituted RM Group on 6 February 2021. Today it includes sisters with definitive incorporation, with temporary incorporation and other sisters in formation. |