The Gilbertines.
The Companions of St. Gilbert of Sempringham (GSmp) with spiritual roots in the Order of Sempringham, founded by St. Gilbert in England in 1131, is an association of the faithful composed of practicing Catholics who wish to grow in personal holiness through a particular devotion to the Saint. The Association of a small group of men and women, in Calgary and in Brandon, Manitoba, live out their vocations in an individual and voluntary obedience to a Rule of Life composed in partnership with one’s spiritual director, each conducting themselves as according to the Statutes of the Association.
Gilbertine Companions are to persist in a unity of spirit and purpose towards the worship of God the Holy Trinity, the building up of the Kingdom of God and the salvation of souls under the patronage of St. Gilbert of Sempringham. Not bound as a community by vows, but rather by bonds of affection, Companions live a life of individual voluntary prayer, presence and service to specific parishes and neighbourhoods, according to one’s estate in life. Members encourage and empower those with whom they share common locality, experience, or fellowship of interests, to grow in holiness through an apostolate of prayer, presence and service informed by a recovery and celebration of the Anglican Patrimony envisaged in the Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum coetibus.
“It is the chariot of Aminadab, that is of a willing people, of the voluntary poor of Christ. It has two sides: one of men, another of women; four wheels, two of men clerk and lay, and two of women lettered and unlettered. Two oxen draw the chariot, the clerkly and monastic discipline of the blessed Augustine and the holy Benedict. Father Gilbert guides the chariot over places rough and smooth, over the heights and in the depths. The way by which they go is narrow, but the path is eternal life.”