The story of the ICPE Mission
A Cast of Light
In the early 1980s a Catholic couple on a small Mediterranean island gathered people to live the way the first Christians lived. Their promise: start where they were, and not stop until they had criss-crossed the world.
Available in English. Polish edition from October 2026; Italian and Spanish editions coming soon.
One audacious promise
From a small island to the ends of the earth
In the early 1980s, a Catholic couple on a small Mediterranean island gathered a group of people to live the way the earliest Christians lived: as a community, open to all and guided by the Holy Spirit. As their lives changed dramatically, they set out to share what they had experienced.
This is their extraordinary story, the story of the ICPE Mission, told by the woman who has been part of it from the very first day.
Inside the book
- How a small group united in prayer in Malta grew into an international missionary community.
- Inspiring stories from the places where lay missionaries were sent to share the Light of Christ.
- What it means to be a missionary disciple and how to form others for evangelisation.
- The journey of leading a community committed to bringing Christ to the world.
One story, many languages
The book is travelling the way the mission did. Choose your edition.
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English
Order on AmazonA Cast of Light. The Story of the ICPE Mission
Available now
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Polski
Polish editionPromyk Światła. Historia ICPE Mission
Launch: October 16, 2026, Kraków
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Italiano
Get notifiedUn raggio di luce. La storia dell’ICPE Mission
Coming soon
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Español
Get notifiedUn destello de luz. La historia de la misión ICPE
Coming soon · eBook
The journey the book tells
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Early 1980s
Malta
Anna and Mario gather people who want to live like the first Christians: a community open to all and guided by the Holy Spirit.
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1985
Malta
The Institute for World Evangelisation – ICPE Mission is founded and begins forming and sending lay missionaries.
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The decades that follow
Every continent
Missionaries reach some of the world’s toughest places, and HopeXchange, the humanitarian arm of the mission, is born.
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2025
The whole Church
The 40th anniversary of the ICPE Mission, and A Cast of Light is published in English.
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2026
New languages
The Polish edition launches in Kraków; Italian and Spanish editions follow.
What leaders of the Church are saying
This book, A Cast of Light, needed to be written. Forty years ago, a group of people in Malta had the burning conviction that the Gospel had to be lived radically and shared freely. This book on the founding of the ICPE Mission, those committed to that mission, and their wholehearted dedication to living and sharing the Gospel is timely and important in today’s world. Thank you, Anna.
The ICPE missionaries are pioneers! At a time when few Catholics were even talking about evangelisation, much less doing it, the ICPE Mission began forming and sending out lay people to bring the light of Christ into some of the darkest places in the world. The Church has much to learn from this inspiring story.
A Cast of Light is a must-read for any Catholic who yearns to “teach all nations” (Mt. 28:19) but has no idea where to start. It is the very personal account of the formation and travels of a growing, worldwide family of believers, told from the perspective of its mother. Like the disciples in Acts 1:14, who “devoted themselves with one accord to prayer,” these courageous men and women set out from Malta to be “intentional” disciples of Jesus Christ. Her beautiful and inspiring story bears witness to the truth that, in one’s personal encounter with Jesus, the life of a Catholic evangelist is vigorous, lively, and fully engaged.
A Cast of Light is more than a memoir of the founding and development of an extraordinary community. It is an invitation to take up the adventure of encountering a deeply personal, dynamic God who is alive, active in our world and in our lives, walking beside us, with us, and within us. In A Cast of Light there is nothing dull or formulaic. As Anna and the ICPE missionaries testify, we all have a call, and invitation to enter into the great adventure of God’s mission in our world.
Anna Cappello Fava’s beautiful chronicle of how a small group of Catholic lay missionaries from the island of Malta developed into a global force of faith, joy, service, and transformation is a balm for the soul. Anyone yearning for greater meaning and for a way to live faith to its fullest expression will find great inspiration in this delightful book. A Cast of Light brings the joy of the Gospel alive through a series of compelling stories about dedication to a mission of evangelisation across the globe.
The story of the ICPE Mission spans over 40 years of making Jesus known through witness, proclamation, and acts of mercy worldwide, for our faith in God shapes our vision of the world and our place within it!
A Cast of Light illustrates how the ICPE Mission has transformed lives, inspiring many to live out their faith actively and wholeheartedly. This book is a valuable resource for those seeking to understand the role of laypeople in evangelisation and service within the Catholic Church. Within its pages, Christian readers will find inspiration and a call to step beyond the familiar boundaries of their spiritual journey. For those searching for meaning in their lives, this book offers a profound reflection on the possibility of embracing friendship with God.
The ICPE Mission is an amazing group of individuals serving the “least of these” (Matthew 25) in this world. They go into the world’s toughest and most remote parts with hardly a thought to themselves to serve others. I hope you read this book! It’s truly inspiring.
It is truly providential that the commemoration of the 40th anniversary of the founding of the ICPE Mission, a breath of the Spirit for a Church in mission, coincides with the implementation phase of the latest Synod on Synodality. Mission and synodality cannot exist without each other: they support one another, grow in harmony, and together help to shape the Church’s path in the third millennium. […] I hope that this 40th anniversary may serve as a kairos for the ICPE missionary members, inspiring them to embrace the call to synodal conversion, a journey that will undoubtedly strengthen and support their missionary activity.
Endorsements (9)
Forty years in pictures
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