What Are Perpetual Vows? 

Two OMV Seminarians Are About to Make Their Perpetual Vows

If you’ve ever attended a religious profession ceremony, you may have sensed that something profound was happening, even if you weren’t entirely sure what it was. For those who are newer to Catholic religious life, perpetual vows can seem mysterious. We want to demystify them, because on September 12, something truly extraordinary is going to take place at St. Clement’s here in Boston, and we want you to understand just how significant it is.

What Are Perpetual Vows?

When a man enters religious life with the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, he doesn’t make a lifelong commitment all at once. Like any serious covenant, the journey unfolds gradually. After initial discernment, he enters a period of formation: learning, praying, living alongside the community, and testing the call. Along the way, he makes temporary vows, renewable commitments that allow both the man and the community to grow in mutual understanding and trust.

Perpetual vows are different. They are forever.

In making perpetual vows, a religious man publicly and irrevocably consecrates himself to God through three evangelical counsels: poverty, chastity, and obedience. These aren’t simply rules to follow, they are a way of life, a radical re-ordering of one’s entire self toward God and His people.

Poverty

Poverty means detachment from material possessions and a life of simplicity, held in common with one’s brothers.

Chastity

Chastity means giving one’s whole heart, undivided, to God, a gift of total love that frees a man to love everyone.

Obedience

Obedience means entrusting one’s will to God through the leadership of the community, trusting that God speaks through discernment done together.

These three vows, taken perpetually, configure a man to Christ in a unique and lasting way. The Church has always understood this as one of the most profound acts a human being can make.

Why It Matters

In a culture that prizes optionality, the word forever can feel radical. But that’s the point. Perpetual vows are a sign of hope, a declaration that love is real, that God is trustworthy, and that a life given entirely to Him is not a diminishment, but a fullness.

For the Oblates of the Virgin Mary, perpetual vows are also an act of belonging. A man who makes his perpetual profession isn’t just committing to God in the abstract — he is joining himself to this particular family, this charism, this mission. He is saying:

This is my home, and these are my brothers.

September 12 — Save the Date

We are overjoyed to share that two of our own seminarians will be making their perpetual vows this Fall.

Br. Miggo Roque, OMV and Br. Chris Puglia, OMV will profess their perpetual vows on Saturday, September 12, at 11:00 AM at St. Clement’s Eucharistic Shrine, Boston.

This is a moment years in the making, formed through prayer, study, sacrifice, and the quiet daily fidelity that no one sees but God. To watch a man say yes to God with his whole life, irrevocably, is to witness something the world rarely offers: a love that does not hedge.

We invite you to join us for this Mass of Perpetual Profession. Whether you know Br. Miggo and Br. Chris personally or are simply drawn to witness something beautiful, all are welcome. Come and pray with them. Come and celebrate.

See the Livestream Details

And in the days ahead, please keep them in your prayers, that the God who called them this far would carry them faithfully into all that lies ahead.