The Pilgrim Mother Campaign, also known as the Schoenstatt Rosary Campaign, is an apostolic work founded by the Servant of God John Pozzobon and coordinated by the Schoenstatt Movement, counting presently more than 30 million members in over one million groups spanning 120 nations of the world.
Overview The Campaign consists in the regular visit of an image of the Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt Madonna to families, schools, hospitals and all places where families or people accept to receive her. It is carried out by lay volunteers - missionaries and coordinators - organized at the parish, diocesan, regional or linguistic levels.
The pilgrim image employed in the campaign is the same venerated in the Schoenstatt Shrines. They are replicas of the 'original pilgrim image' with which the campaign began and have the form of a sanctuary to express the essential link to the Schoenstatt Shrine and all the graces that there are received. They are blessed and sent from a Schoenstatt Shrine. The Secretariats of the Campaign of the Pilgrim Mother of Schoenstatt have the function of coordinating and help the missionaries in their work and relationship with dioceses and parishes.
History
It was initiated by the Servant of God, Deacon John Pozzobon, a Schoenstatt Movement's member, on 10 September 1950. Feeling an inner call to get involved in some apostolate with Our Lady, he receives an invitation from Sister Teresinha Gobbo, from the Secular Institute of Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary, to bring the image of the Mother, Queen and Winner Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt to visit the families. Sister Teresinha entrusts him the image that had been blessed at the Schoenstatt Shrine of Santa Maria (Brazil) by Father Celestino Trevisan, telling him: "This image will be under your care. You don't need to pray the rosary every night. You should only take care that it peregrinates from home to home."
John accepted this invitation. He assumes the task of taking the Pilgrim Mother of Schoenstatt to the families and exercises this mission for 35 years until the date of his death on 27 June 1985. With her, he travels over 87,000 miles carrying the Madonna picture in a shrine-shaped frame weighing over 25 pounds.
From 1959, the Campaign multiplies through smaller replicas of the Pilgrim Mother to visit families monthly. In 1979, Pozzobon visits Germany and Rome, and the Pilgrim Mother Campaign takes an international dimension.
Theological Rationale The Campaign is inspired by the attitude of Mary who went to visit her cousin Elizabeth (Luke 1: 39-41). It is an ecclesial ministry that the Church and the service of the Church, wants to collaborate with the ordinary pastoral care of parishes.
It is a popular apostolic work, as it seeks to reach all people in all situations of life, adapting to different pastoral realities: families, schools, hospitals, prisons, etc., following Jesus command: "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature" (Mark 16: 15).
Another source of inspiration is the idea of the universal apostolic work according to Saint Vincent Pallotti regarding Mary: "She is the great Missionary; She works miracles". It also performs a will of the founder of the Schoenstatt Movement, Fr. Joseph Kentenich, expressed in 1948, to bring the Mother of God to the homes and give Her a place of honor, for that they become small shrines.
Walking the pilgrimage way with Mary means, Father Kentenich argued, being drawn into Mary's mission by bearing, bringing, and serving Christ. becoming another Mary: "Each of us bears a large share of the responsibility for the form that the world will take in the future. If this future—regardless of the specific characteristics it will have — is to bear the resemblance of Christ, then Mary must step more into the foreground and be acknowledged everywhere as the official Christ-giver, Christ-bearer, and Christ-bringer."
Modalities There are various types of "pilgrim images", according to the ministry on which they are used:
The Original Pilgrim Image It is the image with which Deacon John Pozzobon began the Pilgrim Mother Campaign in September 1950. This image was his 'pilgrimage companion' for more than 30 years. In 1980, he returned it to Sr. Terezinha Gobbo. Since Pozzobon's death, in 1985, the Pilgrim Original is kept in the Marian Center, home of the Schoenstatt Movement in Santa Maria (Brazil).
Auxiliary Pilgrim Images They are the images intended for a diocese, a diocesan shrine or a more specific apostolic work. The first one was received by Ubaldo Pimentel, also from Santa Maria (Brazil), on 8 December 1979. They are exact replicas of the original Pilgrim Image. According to interpretation of Deacon John Pozzobon, the Auxiliary Images are like an 'extension' of Fr. Kentenich's blessing to the Campaign, on 4 August 1951. As an expression of their union with the 'Original', all 'Auxiliaries' are blessed and sent from the Schoenstatt Shrine of Santa Maria, where the campaign began.
Parish Pilgrim Images Similar to the Original image and the Auxiliaries, but made in a smaller size and without the doors covering the picture of Mary. Each parish can have its image to use it in novenas, processions and other activities. Some parishes organize an itinerary for its parish image, where it visits the various chapels, schools, church groups, etc. Normally, the parish pilgrim image is under the care of the parish coordination team, which may delegate responsibility to a leadership campaign.
'Occasional' Pilgrim Images
Used in various apostolic works of the Campaign of the Pilgrim Mother of Schoenstatt: the sick, in shops, hospitals, prisons, etc. They are entrusted to a missionary who organizes the itinerary and the form of ministry. All images are registered with the national secretariat of the Campaign.
Pilgrim Images for Families The most known and used in the world by the Campaign, they circulate monthly and on a permanent basis a group of families. Each image is in the care of a missionary, responsible for the image in his group. All have a number registered in the secretariat responsible for the geographic area.
Pilgrim Images for Children and Youth They are entrusted to young people and children who are placed as apostles for other young people and children. They can also be used in schools and catechism groups. All images used in this ministry are registered with the secretariat of the Campaign.
Pilgrim Mother Campaign per country
This list follows the geoscheme created by the United Nations Statistics Division. According to the UN, the assignment of countries or areas to specific groupings is for statistical convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political or other affiliation of countries or territories.
Some countries may have more than one website on this list, for linguistic or organizational reasons. Others, for the same reasons, may share a single site.
Countries with the field "website" in blank mean that the country doesn't have a webpage dedicated exclusively to the Campaign's Secretariat.
Source of the data: Pilgrim Mother Campaign Secretariat from Brazil for Southern and Southeastern regions and German-speaking Secretariat from Switzerland, except where another source be expressly indicated.
Africa Flag NameCampaignWebsite AlgeriaNo AngolaYes BeninYes BotswanaNo Burkina FasoYes BurundiYes CameroonYes Cape Verde (Cabo Verde)Yes Central African RepublicYes ChadYes ComorosNo Congo (Congo-Brazzaville)Yes Democratic Republic of the Congo (Congo-Kinshasa)Yes DjiboutiNo EgyptNo Equatorial GuineaNo EritreaYes EswatiniNo EthiopiaYes GabonYes GambiaNo GhanaYes GuineaNo Guinea-BissauYes Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire)No KenyaYes LesothoNo LiberiaYes LibyaNo MadagascarNo MalawiNo MaliNo MauritaniaNo MauritiusNo Mayotte (France)No MoroccoYes MozambiqueYes NamibiaNo NigerYes NigeriaYes Réunion (France)No RwandaYes Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)No São Tomé and PríncipeNo SenegalYes SeychellesNo Sierra LeoneNo SomaliaNo South AfricaYes South SudanNo SudanNo TanzaniaYes TogoNo TunisiaNo UgandaNo ZambiaNo ZimbabweYes
Americas Flag NameCampaignWebsite Anguilla (United Kingdom)No Antigua and BarbudaNoArgentinaYes Aruba (Netherlands)No BahamasNo BarbadosYes BelizeYes Bermuda (United Kingdom)No BoliviaYes Bonaire (Netherlands)No BrazilYes National Secretariat Secretariat for Northeastern and Southern Regions British Virgin Islands (United Kingdom)No CanadaYes Cayman Islands (United Kingdom)No ChileYesNational Secretariat Clipperton Island (France)No ColombiaYesNational Secretariat Costa RicaYesNational Secretariat CubaYes Curaçao (Netherlands)No DominicaNo Dominican RepublicYes El SalvadorYesEcuadorYesNational SecretariatFalkland IslandsNoFrench Guiana (France)No GreenlandNo GrenadaNo Guadeloupe (France)No GuatemalaYesGuyanaNo HaitiYes HondurasYes JamaicaYes Martinique (France)Yes MexicoYes Montserrat (United Kingdom)No Navassa Island (United States)No NicaraguaYes PanamaYesParaguayYesNational SecretariatPeruYes Puerto RicoYes Saba (Netherlands)No Saint Barthélemy (France)No Saint Kitts and NevisNo Saint LuciaNo Saint Martin (France)No Saint Pierre and Miquelon (France)No Saint Vincent and the GrenadinesNo Sint Eustatius (Netherlands)No Sint Maarten (Netherlands)No South Georgia and the South Sandwich IslandsNoSurinameNo Trinidad and TobagoNo Turks and Caicos Islands (United Kingdom)No United States of AmericaYesNational Secretariat United States Virgin Islands (United States)No National SecretariatUruguayYesNational SecretariatVenezuelaYes
Asia Flag NameCampaignWebsite AfghanistanYes Akrotiri and Dhekelia (United Kingdom)No Armenia No Azerbaijan No BahrainNo BangladeshNo BhutanNo British Indian Ocean Territory (United Kingdom)No BruneiNo CambodiaNo ChinaYes Christmas Island (Australia)No Cocos (Keeling) Islands (Australia)No Cyprus No East Timor (Timor-Leste)Yes Georgia No Hong Kong (China)Yes IndiaYesSecretariat IndonesiaYes IranNo IraqYes IsraelYes JapanYes JordanNo KazakhstanNo KuwaitNo KyrgyzstanYes LaosNo LebanonYes Macau (China)Yes MalaysiaYes MaldivesNo MongoliaNo Myanmar (Burma)No NepalNo North KoreaYes OmanNo PakistanYes PalestineYes PhilippinesYes QatarYes Saudi ArabiaNo SingaporeYes South KoreaYes Sri LankaYes SyriaYes Taiwan (China)Yes TajikistanYes ThailandYes Turkey Yes TurkmenistanNo United Arab EmiratesYes UzbekistanNo VietnamYes YemenNo Notes Transcontinental countries in Europe and Asia, classified as Eastern European countries by the United Nations Statistics Division: .
Europe Flag NameCampaignWebsite Åland (Finland)No AlbaniaYes AndorraYes AustriaYesNational Secretariat BelarusYes BelgiumYesNational Secretariat Bosnia and HerzegovinaYes BulgariaNo CroatiaYesNational Secretariat Czech RepublicYesNational Secretariat DenmarkYes EstoniaNo Faroe Islands (Denmark)No FinlandYes FranceYesRegional Secretariat for French-speaking countries Secretariat for Cambrai GermanyYes National Secretariat Secretariat for Czech and Polish-speaking groups Gibraltar (United Kingdom)No GreeceNo Guernsey (United Kingdom)No HungaryYesNational Secretariat IcelandYes IrelandYes Isle of Man (United Kingdom)No ItalyYesNational Secretariat Regional Secretariat for Sicily Jan Mayen (Norway)No Jersey (United Kingdom)No LatviaNo LiechtensteinYesSecretariat for the German-speaking Switzerland and Liechtenstein LithuaniaNo LuxembourgYesSecretariat from Germany MaltaYes MoldovaNo MonacoNo MontenegroYes NetherlandsYes NorwayYes North MacedoniaNo PolandYesNational Secretariat PortugalYesMission for the University Students RomaniaYesNational Secretariat (Romanian/Hungarian) RussiaYes San MarinoYesSecretariat for San Marino and Italy SerbiaYes SlovakiaYesSecretariat for Western and Central Slovakia SloveniaYes SpainYesNational Secretariat Secretariat for Catalonia Svalbard (Norway)No SwedenYesNational Secretariat SwitzerlandYes French-speaking Secretariat