History
Fr. Judge's Chapel in Holy Trinity, Alabama
PONTIFICAL DECREE FOR INSTITUTES LEADS TO BTMI BECOMING A PIOUS UNION (ASSOCIATION OF THE FAITHFUL)
*The term "Pius Union" has been changed canonically to the Association of the Faithful.
In 1947, Provida Mater Ecclesia, an apostolic constitution that recognized secular institutes as a new form of official consecration in the Catholic Church, was declared by Pope Pius XII. As a result, Dr. Healy began the process of forming a secular institute within the Missionary Cenacle Family with the support of the Missionary Servants of the Most Blessed Trinity and The Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity. This secular institute was named the Blessed Trinity Missionary Institute (BTMI). Dr. Healy attracted a group of 6 women willing to live a new life in the world by taking the vows of the 3 evangelical counsels: Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience. In 1950, a celebration took place in the Mother House of the Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity to establish the BTMI. Since then, it has been considered an official branch of the Missionary Cenacle Family.
They began meeting in the Cenacle of the MSBT Sisters on 80th Street in New York in 1956. In 1959, Dr. Healy completed the BTMI constitution and rule of life and sent it to Cardinal Spellman in New York along with a brief history of the Institute. In a decree dated January 20, 1964, the Blessed Trinity Missionary Institute was approved as a "Pious Union"* in the Archdiocese of New York, under the leadership of Dr. Margaret Healy. She was appointed the first BTMI Custodian serving from 1964 to 1971.
TODAY
Today the BTMI has members located in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Nigeria, and London. Members come together through monthly meetings, to attend retreats and days of recollection, to continue developing their spirituality, and to support one another and the other branches of the Missionary Cenacle Family. They live out their mission in the providence of their daily lives according to their rule of life and God's will.