The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) concluded its annual ordination ceremonies at its International Seminary in Gricigliano, in the Italian region of Tuscany, with four new priests, six deacons, eight subdeacons, and dozens of seminarians incorporated into the various stages of clerical formation.
The celebrations, held between June 29 and July 4, were described by the institute itself as “a week of grace and blessings for the Institute and for the universal Church”.
An intense week of ordinations
The ceremonies began with the imposition of the cassock on 16 seminarians and five clerical oblates, received from the hands of the institute’s superior general, Monsignor Gilles Wach.
Subsequently, the bishop emeritus of Luçon (France), Alain Castet, conferred the clerical tonsure and minor orders on 63 seminarians and 11 clerical oblates.
On July 2, the Archbishop of San Francisco, Salvatore Cordileone, ordained eight subdeacons and six deacons.
The culminating moment took place the following day, when Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke conferred the priesthood on the canons Mateusz Wlodarcyzk, Sebastian Hugoboom, Nicholas Johanni and Toan Nguyen. The celebrations concluded on July 4, with the first solemn Mass of the new priests, celebrated in the presence of their families.
More than one hundred seminarians
The Institute of Christ the King currently has more than one hundred seminarians, a figure that places it among the priestly communities with the greatest vocational growth in the field of institutes dedicated to the traditional Roman rite.
In recent years, the institute has experienced a particularly significant increase in vocations from the United States. In response, it maintains a pre-seminary program distributed across several of its North American houses to prepare young men before their entry into the international seminary.
Currently, the ICKSP brings together around 150 priests, oblates, and affiliated clerics, who carry out their apostolate in parishes, churches, schools, and missions in various countries, including several works in Africa.