From the first centuries of Christianity, there have been men and women, who soon were called monastics, who left everything in order to try to live the Gospel radically in celibacy and united in communities.

A need to express his desire and hope for the promises of God's kingdom in a radical way was what led the founder of the community, Br. Enzo - in those years an economics student at the University of Turin - to meet regularly in his Turin apartment at  8 Via Piave with a small group of Catholic, Baptist and Waldensian young adults, beginning in 1963.

Brother, sister, you have been called to follow Christ in community life and in celibacy. In answering this call, you are not undertaking a new way of living the Gospel. You should be aware of this and know that you are not alone on this road traveled by many Christians over the centuries. Before you, others with the same vocation, expressed in different ways according to the times and places in which they lived, have made this journey: Elijah and John the Baptist, Pachomius and Mary, Basil and Macrina, Benedict and Scholastica, Francis and Claire, and many others. As you can see, you are not alone, but surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses.

After this brief outline of the beginnings of the community, we can say a few words about how the community that has taken shape at Bose in the last thirty years understands itself as sharing in the monastic tradition.

In the night between 5 and 6 of August we celebrate the definitive monastic profession in the community.

Brother, sister, the first reality you discover when you enter the community is solitude. Before, you formed your relationships freely and spontaneously; in the community, your ties with people are based only on the same vocation. You have not only given up marriage, you have also accepted the fruitful solitude of the only love, that of Christ. Avoid compensating for the sacrifice you have made with specific attachments. The solitude of celibacy is also a way of living in solidarity with all who are forced to live alone, without family or friends, marginalized by everyone.

Brother, sister, your poverty according to the Gospel means sharing everything you own and living, as much as you can, from one day to another, in a provisional way: this will allow you to follow Christ who emptied himself completely, and to have in yourself the attitude of the one who, though he was rich, made himself poor among us. Your poverty will mean reducing your life, day after day, to what is essential: this daily work of simplification will make you one of the poor of Yhwh.

Brother, sister, the Gospel will be the absolute and supreme rule. No single community or person can fulfil in a definitive way all of the demands of the Gospel. Only the universal church, over the course of its history, is able to express all of the possible vocations the Gospel contains.

Brother, sister, it is not for yourself that you have come to this community, but for your brothers and sisters in the church and in the world. The element of mission belongs to every function of the church, and you will express this element of your vocation in your relationships with those who do not believe in Christ. The community is not an end in itself: it is called to go forth into the world to proclaim the good news of the Gospel. The life of the community should be pervaded by this understanding of its mission. To carry out this mission, the community may decide to create fraternities. Like the disciples of Christ sent out two by two, the brothers and sisters living in fraternities are a sign of the person and message of Christ.

In the course of its thirty-five year history, the community of Bose has been enriched by the arrival of new brothers and sisters from numerous regions of Italy and from abroad. The community now has about eighty members from seven countries.