WE FEW COMPANIONS are based at St. John the Evangelist in Calgary, Canada. As Companions of St. Gilbert, we pray for the full restoration of the Gilbertine Order and live out our Christian discipleship in friendship with our fellow Gilbertines, according to a Personal Rule of Life as well as the Statutes of our Association which include a number of common observances as follows:

Companions honour the Virgin Mother of God with special veneration, especially through devotion to Our Lady of Walsingham and through the Marian Rosary. We also honour our Holy Father Gilbert with special veneration, especially through prayer and by reflecting upon his holy life;

we pray the Divine Office;

we make a Spiritual Communion daily, and are to attend Mass on every Holy Day of Obligation and at least one additional weekday. (Daily Mass is ideal and is encouraged.);

each Gilbertine cultivates a spirit of silence for definite periods of the day and should observe a Little Silence for at least one half an hour during the day. One day a week should be set aside for greater silence and contemplation. One week a year should be set aside for a yet greater silence and contemplation;

we abstain from the eating of flesh on Fridays;

each Gilbertine attends to an Holy Hour (which is not to be used for recreational reading or study but rather in meditation and prayer) at the minimum once a week;

Companions are encouraged to meet regularly with their Spiritual Director or Father Confessor and are encouraged to make their Sacramental Confession twice a month; and

all make a regular study of the Rules of St. Benedict and St. Augustine.

These basic observances are augmented by the Companion’s Personal Rule.

The Companions of St. Gilbert, in partnership with St. John the Evangelist Church in Calgary, founded The Gilbertine Institute — a non-profit organisation, created with the vision of facilitating a variety of educational endeavours in the province of Alberta which acknowledge parents as the primary educators of their children. The Gilbertine Institute provides for home education through Wisdom Homeschooling, have shared responsibility programmes, Holy House of our Lady and St. John, and Holy House of our Lady and St. Benedict, for elementary students, and the Gilbertine Academy and Villa Spiritus for High School students.