SUMMARY - This article offers an overview of reflections concerning community, discussed among Oblates between 1926 and 1972. The year 1926 was celebrated as the 100th anniversary of the approval of the Constitutions and Rules, and the year of their substantial revision. In 1966 the Oblates celebrated the 150th anniversary of their Foundation, and once undertook a substantial revision of their fundamental text. Between those two dates – 1926 and 1966 – a significant change in perceiving community life was noticed among the Oblates. According to the early questionnaires of the canonical visitations and the acts of such visits, community life was based principally on religious observance and fidelity to detailed prescriptions of the Rule. Since 1950 there was growing dissatisfaction with this notion. The Oblates started to express their wishes for a more fraternal and straightforward collaboration in the apostolic initiatives and a sharing of faith and values within a community. The General Chapters of 1966 and 1972, as well as articles published by the Oblates during those years prove, that the Congregation faced a period of transition and looked for a deeper experience of community life as the foundation of an expected renewal. This attitude also fostered a growing decentralization of Oblate life and a move from a unified Congregation towards more diversified experiences, which were valued and appreciated. However, despite the high ideals and ambitious expectations the atmosphere of confusion and insecurity persisted and the search for a true Oblate community, adapted to the contemporary world and at the same time meaningful as the religious experience, continued. A text written by Fr Soullier in 1894 serves as the counterpoint to those deliberations and a thought provoking invitation to reconsider the historical continuity of Oblate experiences, beyond rigid chronological boundaries.