The Sant\u2019Egidio Community is a \u201cpublic association of the faithful\u201d that has three principal aims: prayer, the poor and peace. It was first founded in Rome and has since spread to 72 different countries around the world.<\/p>\n
The Community was born immediately after the Second Vatican Council in 1968. It was the initiative of an Italian layman, Andrea Riccardi, who started to gather a group of high school students together to put the Gospel into practice. The idea soon caught on and began to attract adults as well who wanted to help the marginalized of the city. By 1973 the Community began to hold meetings in the Church of Sant\u2019Egidio and in 1986 it was officially recognized as a public association of the faithful.<\/p>\n
According to the international directory, \u201cThe spiritual benchmarks of the Community have always been the first Christian community in the Acts of the Apostles, the Church\u2019s preferential love for the poor, and the primacy of prayer. A pronounced sense of God\u2019s mercy for the sick and for sinners, Jesus\u2019 compassion for the crowds, his invitation to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom and to heal all manner of disease and sickness \u2014 this all nurtures the life and personal spirituality of the members as they listen daily to the Word of God and persevere in personal and community prayer.\u201d<\/p>\n
The poor are the constant companions of the Community and members always seek to help those on the margins of society. Furthermore, \u201cIt is precisely this friendship that has given Sant\u2019Egidio a clearer understanding of the way that war is the mother of all forms of poverty, and hence their explicit commitment to working for peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
Being a group primarily composed of lay people, members of the Community live in the world and gather on a regular basis for evening prayer. In particular, the Community is inspired by the prayers and spirituality of Eastern Christians, which point back to the faith of the early Christians.<\/p>\n
According to their website, \u201cThe days guided by prayer are oriented towards the day that knows no sunset, when, together with the angels, the disciples will sing the Trisagion, which concludes the \u2018Prayer of Light\u2019 of Sunday evening. The \u2018Prayer of the Holy Spirit\u2019 reminds the Community to open its heart to the breath of God so as to fight the spirits of evil and increase the works of mercy upon earth. The Memory of the Apostles and their task of announcing the Gospel, sustains and encourages the commitment of the Community to follow the first witnesses of faith to the end of the earth. The icons, present in every church of the Community, introduce us to the riches of the spiritual tradition of the Eastern Church and help us to direct the eyes of our hearts towards the Lord and to place all our trust in Him.\u201d<\/p>\n