A year of growth: Sobea aspirancy and the first Novitiate on Kenyan soil
In 2025 the Delegation “Our Lady of the Rosary” opened two formation houses in the same year. For a Delegation erected only in March 2024, this is not administrative expansion. It is an answer to young Kenyans who keep knocking at the door.
Sobea: where the journey starts
The Aspirancy House at Sobea, in the Diocese of Nakuru, is the house where aspirants take their first steps in Orionine life — where a young man discovers whether what he feels is a calling or an enthusiasm, and where he is given the time and the silence to find out. Its director is Fr. Wycliffe Mumia.
Makutano-Mwea: the first novitiate in Kenya
The Novitiate House at Makutano-Mwea, in the Diocese of Murang’a near Mwea town, is the Delegation’s first novitiate on Kenyan soil. Until it opened, Kenyan novices travelled to the Philippines for their novitiate year — a long way from home for the year that is meant to root a man in his vocation. Now that year is spent here, dedicated to the Constitutions, to the life of the Founder, and to the school of Jesus. The Novice Master is Fr. Jeremiah Njoroge.
The Orionine path in Kenya
Aspirancy at Sobea → novitiate at Makutano-Mwea → philosophy and theology at the Formation House in Karen, Nairobi, with studies at Tangaza University College and Utume College.
What it means
When the Delegation was erected on 12 March 2024 in Tortona, it counted 21 Kenyan religious in perpetual vows, 15 in temporary vows and 3 novices. In 1996 there was one missionary and one house. The two houses opened in 2025 mean that the whole Orionine journey — from the first conversation to ordination — can now be walked in Kenya, among Kenyans, in Kenyan communities.
St. Luigi Orione said: “I have no other ambition but this: I want to be the priest of vocations!” In 2025 the Delegation took him at his word twice.
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