After spending the morning at the Mother House of the Order, named after St. Mary Magdalene, the religious of the General Chapter and the people entrusted with the auxiliary services (secretariat, translations, liturgical animation) returned to Ariccia, to the ‘Casa Divin Maestro, where at 16.30 the deliberations of the General Chapter began.

The greetings of the Superior General, Fr. R. Salvatore, were followed by video greetings from Fr. F. Alvarez, the Provincial of the Province of Spain, who could not be present at the General Chapter because of a grave illness from which he has suffered for some time. The assembly received the declaration of the presence and participation of Fr. Alvarez who, unable to be present, personally assured it that he was spiritually near, with moved applause.

The sitting then took place following the procedure laid down by the General Statutes, with the appointment of Fr. J. Ruiz Irigoyen and Fr. P. Guarise as scrutineers for the subsequent votes.

Br. L. Perletti, the General Secretary, read a roll call of the members of the General Chapter: with the only justified exception of Fr. J. Wanjau, of the Delegation of Kenya, the remaining 57 members of the General Chapter were present.

With the help of Fr. G. Lunardon, the associate secretary, the assembly proceeded to vote for the secretary of the General Chapter in the person of Fr. G. Martini (32 votes in favour) who accepted the post.

Subsequently, the Ordo Servandus (the rules for the General Chapter) was discussed article by article with a view to its approval: it serves as a guide for a streamlined  and harmonious holding of the successive stages of the General Chapter. With the exception of one article, the reformulation of which was entrusted to an ad hoc committee, the text was approved.

Now that all the formalities had been carried out, the General Chapter truly began with the first of the many presentations to supplement the Status Ordinis of the Superior General. Rosabianca Carpene, the world president of the Lay Camillian Family (LCF), outlined an up-to-date profile of the LCF and highlighted areas of growth and the objectives that had been reached. One perceived a sense of an increasing integration with, and nearness to, the Order, of which, as Fr. Renato concluded,  the LCF is an integral part not only because of its statutes but also because of shared values and the increasing appreciation of respective charisms.

At 19:30 the sitting was suspended and adjourned until 4 May.