The St. Michael of the Saints Fund is a solidarity fund intended to assist jurisdictions that do not have sufficient resources to cover the costs incurred for the subsistence of religious in formation during the year of preparation for solemn profession.

Statutes

1. The Order of the Most Holy Trinity, attentive to the priority of formation and aware of the economic difficulties faced by some jurisdictions of the Order in adequately providing for the formation needs of their candidates, and in response to the desire expressed by the General Chapter to increase the sharing of goods among jurisdictions in order to strengthen communion, establishes the “ST. MICHAEL OF THE SAINTS FUND” for formation.

Establishment and Purpose of the Fund

2. The “St. Michael of the Saints Fund” is an economic fund made up of voluntary contributions from the Provinces, Vicariates, and Delegations of the Order, as well as donations received for this purpose from institutions or private individuals who wish thereby to express their effective solidarity with the formation of religious.

Administration of the Fund

3. The administration of the Fund is the responsibility of the Fund’s Board of Administration.
4. Members of the Board of Administration are: the Minister General of the Order, the President of the General Secretariat for Formation, the General Treasurer, and two Provincial Ministers (or ad instar Provincialis) from Provinces that contribute financially to the Fund, appointed by the General Council at the beginning of each six-year term.
5. The role of Treasurer of the Fund is carried out by the General Treasurer.

Operation of the Fund

6. The Board of Administration of the Fund shall meet once a year, in November or December, upon convocation by the General Treasurer, in order to approve the budget for the current year and the budget for the following year. This budget is drawn up based on the requests received by the Board, which will be examined and, if possible, approved during this annual meeting.
7. Provincial Ministers or ad instar Provincialis who submit a formation project for one or more religious of their jurisdiction, by written request addressed to the Board, may apply as beneficiaries of assistance from the Fund.
8. The deadline for submitting requests is October 31 of each year. Requests received after this date will be deferred to the following year.
9. In the request, the Provincial Minister or ad instar Provincialis shall indicate as clearly as possible: the name(s) of the beneficiary or beneficiaries, the nature of the formation project concerned and its significance, the financial cost required to cover the expense (never exceeding the limits set for the following year), and the reason for requesting assistance from the Fund.
10. Requests must be submitted exclusively by the Provincial Minister or ad instar Provincialis. As a matter of principle, no request submitted by any other person (not even a formator or a local minister) will be taken into consideration.
11. The Board of Administration, taking into account the available funds, the economic conditions of the requesting jurisdiction, the principle of equity, and the value of the formative experience, shall grant the assistance it is able to provide through an irrevocable decision, which will be communicated as soon as possible to the concerned minister.
12. Priority shall be given to ongoing requests related to the project “Year of Preparation for Solemn Profession”, as established by the General Chapter of 2007.
13. After reading each request, examining its content, and discussing the situation of the Fund and the actual availability of resources to be distributed, the Board of Administration shall decide each case by secret deliberative vote. In the event that one of the five voters is absent and there is a tie between favorable and unfavorable votes, the opinion of the Minister General shall determine the outcome. If the Minister General is unable to attend the session, the Vicar General shall be invited to participate, or, if unavailable, another General Councilor or a religious expert in the matter, with deliberative vote.
14. The decision of the Board shall be final and shall be communicated as soon as possible to the principal minister who signed the request.
15. In the event of the suppression of the Fund, decided by the General Council of the Order, any remaining balance shall be allocated to formation, according to the decision of the Minister General and his Council.