As part of the feast day of St. Benedict Menni, founder of the Hospitallers Sisters and a leading figure in the charism of Hospitality, the Superior General, Idilia Mª Carneiro, shares her message for April 24, 2026. Under the theme “With Saint Benedict Menni, on the Path to Revitalization,” Sister Idilia invites the entire Hospitaller Community to renew its commitment to the mission, mercy, and care of the most vulnerable, at a particularly significant moment in the Congregation’s process of revitalization and restructuring.
This is the theme of my message to the hospital community on this April 24, 2026.
On behalf of the Sisters of the General Government, I wish you:
HAPPY FEAST DAY OF OUR FOUNDER, SAINT BENEDICT MENNI! HAPPY FEAST DAY OF HOSPITALITY!
The hospital community prepares for this day with great enthusiasm and dedication, spreading a spirit of hospitality and sharing opportunities for reflection and cultural activities, grounded in our values of hospitality and diverse experiences of hospitality. It is a deeply enriching time that allows us to feel the gift of being hospitable, walking together and generously continuing the bold mission begun by our Founders—especially St. Benedict Menni today.
We have inherited the legacy of our mission from the many lives that came before us and built what we can now touch, feel, and experience. We are part of a family with nearly 145 years of history, with a rich heritage of charism and service dedicated to caring for life, to COURAGE, and to the values of hospitality.
Following in the footsteps of their lives, we too are on a mission and are called to participate in this mission by doing good, like the Good Samaritan who went about doing good and healing the sick (cf. Acts 10:38). This is the meaning of our presence; there is no other; this is the charismatic hallmark of our identity as a Hospitaller Community.
Dear colleagues, you who play a special role in the hospital’s mission: thank you for your service, for the acts of care, generosity, humanity, excellence, kindness, mercy, and compassion with which you strive to weave your work into a tapestry of hospitality. Goodness, done well, will make you people of good will and instruments of good and peace in a world so in need!
Let us nurture the compassion in our actions, the humanity in our hearts, and the dignity that our presence brings to our work in the hospital ministry. Our lives and the way we interact with others and carry out our responsibilities have a significant impact on the spirit of hospitality that we are called to build, nurture, strengthen, and share with others.
The 22nd General Chapter entrusted the entire Congregation with the process of revitalization and restructuring. This process encompasses the life and mission of the Congregation and finds a particularly significant expression in the apostolic work we carry out throughout the world.
Together, sisters and collaborators, we are called to fulfill our mission: to weave together the realities of hospital life, through the merciful eyes of God, with the world and those who suffer.
On April 13, we began the second stage of the process at the Hospital Ministry level, which we have named “ESCRUTAR.” Its objective and scope are to bring about a charismatic revitalization within the ministries and to assess their alignment with our identity, in accordance with our Identity Framework.
This is an essential process that enables the Hospitaller Order, through its diverse ministries and services, to continue bearing the fruits of God’s mercy through its mission—which is the proclamation of the Good News of God’s compassion in a suffering world.
With this moment in mind, the Congregation has prepared a simple booklet, which we are presenting to you on this special day of Hospitality.
The logo captures the spirit and dynamic inherent in this entire process; it embodies the vision of the Chapter that guides our congregational journey, as well as the goal of this process of revitalization and restructuring.
We want to walk this path with Saint Benedict Menni, and his words guide and strengthen us:
Go on, go on, go on… (St. Benedict Menni, C 432)
May our holy founder intercede for the Hospitaller Family, teach us to live out hospitality with hearts filled with compassion, and may we together be guardians of the hospitaller charism as we serve and care for those in our care.
Together with the sisters of the General Government, I wish you a Happy St. Benedict Menni Day!
Idilia Mª Carneiro
Superior General
