The Congregation of the Holy Spirit (officially the Congregation of the Holy Spirit under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary; ) is a religious congregation for men in the Catholic Church. Members are often known as Holy Ghost Fathers or, in continental Europe and the Anglosphere, as Spiritans, and members use the postnominals CSSp.
History Claude Poullart des Places
Claude Poullart des Places was born on 26 February 1679, in Rennes, the capital city of Brittany, France. He was the eldest child and only son of Francis des Places and Jeanne le Meneust. Claude was tutored at home before being enrolled at the age of nine or ten as a day student in the nearby Jesuit College of St. Thomas, thus beginning his lifelong association with the Society of Jesus. Graduating at 16, Claude studied at the University of Caen, Normandy, before graduating at 22 with a Licentiate in Law from the Law School of Nantes.
In 1701 Claude Poullart began his studies for the priesthood, as a boarder at the Jesuit College in Paris. However, he soon left his college room to share lodgings with the poorer day students who often struggled to find food, lodgings, and facilities for their studies. With a dozen of such students, Poullart des Places opened the Seminary of the Holy Spirit. It gradually developed into a religious society.Murphy, John I. "Religious Congregations of the Holy Ghost", The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 26 June 2019
Foundation The Spiritans were founded in Paris on Whit Sunday (Pentecost), 1703. Having opted for the priesthood, Claude Poullart des Places wanted to form a religious institute for young men who had vocations to become priests but were too poor to do so. He became especially interested in such students, and supported them with his own funds and donations from friends. In 1707 Poullart was ordained a priest. His work grew rapidly; and the foundation developed. But Poullart developed pleurisy and died on 2 October 1709, at age thirty-one.Henry J. Koren, CSSp, Henry J., The Spiritans, Duquesne University (Ad Press, Ltd., New York; 1958)
After the founder's death, the Congregation of the Holy Spirit continued to progress. It became fully organized, and received the approbation of civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Formed in dedication to the Holy Spirit to minister to the poor and to provide chaplains in hospitals, prisons, and schools, the community soon developed a missionary role: some volunteered for service in the Far East and North America.
In 1765 the Holy See entrusted it with direct care of South American missions, in colonies such as French Guiana. Spiritans also sent missionaries to China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand (Siam), and India under the auspices of the Paris Foreign Missions Society. In 1779 the first Spiritan missionaries arrived in Senegal, Africa.
Those in France served in various dioceses or alongside the de Montfort missionaries, due to the close friendship between Poullart and Louis de Montfort. The Congregation had trained 1,300 priests in the years leading up to 1792, when the seminary was suppressed by the French Revolution. Some Spiritans sought refuge in England, Switzerland, and Italy.
Merger
After the French Revolution, only one member, James Bertout, remained. He had survived miraculously, through a series of vicissitudes – shipwreck on the way to his destined mission in French Guiana, enslavement by the Moors, and a sojourn in Senegal, where he had been sold to the English, who then ruled there. On his return to France, after peace was restored to the Church, he re-established the congregation and continued its work. But it was found impossible to recover adequately from the disastrous effects of the dispersion caused by the Revolution, and the restored society was threatened with extinction.
The congregation's numbers in Europe declined sharply until 1802, when the Napoleonic government allowed the seminary to reopen. The congregation was asked to supply missionary priests for work in the French colonies in Africa, the West Indies, and the Indian subcontinent. In 1824, Rome approved the Rules of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit; prior to that it had been a diocesan congregation.
In 1842, Francis Libermann had founded the "Society of the Holy Heart of Mary," a society dedicated to serve mainly the emancipated black slaves in the French colonies. The taking-up of the African missions by Libermann was due to the initiative of two American prelates, under the encouragement of the first Council of Baltimore. Already in 1833, John England, Bishop of Charleston, had drawn attention to the West Coast of Africa, and had urged sending missioners to those regions. This appeal was renewed at the Council of Baltimore, and the assembled fathers commissioned Edward Barron to undertake missionary work at Cape Palmas. Barron went over the ground carefully for a few years, and then repaired to Rome to give an account of the work, and to receive further instructions. He was consecrated bishop and appointed Vicar-Apostolic of the Two Guineas.Meehan, Thomas. "Edward Barron." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 16 (Index). New York: The Encyclopedia Press, 1914. 26 June 2019 But as he had only one priest and a catechist at his disposal, he went to France to recruit missioners. Libermann supplied him at once with seven priests and three coadjutor brothers. By 1844, five members of this first group had died, either in Africa or at sea. The first missionaries suffered high mortality from tropical diseases; all but one died within a few months.
Discouraged, Barron returned to America, where he devoted himself to missionary work. He died during the 1853 yellow fever epidemic in Savannah, Georgia, aged 52.
In 1848, the Holy See requested Libermann to merge the relatively new Society of the Holy Heart of Mary with the older Congregation of the Holy Spirit, as they shared missions. Libermann was made first superior general of the united societies; he is credited with renewing the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, whose name became known as "... under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary", reflecting the merger.
The new superior general first concentrated on strengthening service to the old French colonies. He developed bishoprics and provided for the supply of clergy through the Seminary of the Holy Ghost. His disciples worked largely in Africa. Libermann recruited and educated missionaries, both lay and clerical. He negotiated with Rome and with the French government over the placement and support of his personnel.
Father Libermann and his associates retained the African mission; gradually they established new Christian communities on the continent. By 1913, nearly 700 missionaries had died while serving in Africa. Their work resulted in establishing the Diocese of Angola and the eight Vicariates of Senegambia, Sierra Leone, Gabon, Ubangi (or French Upper Congo), Loango (or French Lower Congo), on the West Coast, and Northern Madagascar, Zanzibar, Bagamoyo, on the East Coast. Prefectures were developed in Lower Nigeria, French Guinea, Lower Congo (Landana), and a mission at Bata in Spanish West Africa.
Besides the missions in Africa, the Congregation of the Holy Spirit started missions in Mauritius, Réunion, and the Rodriguez Islands. In the Western Hemisphere, they had missions in Trinidad, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti, and Amazonia. In addition, they conducted such educational institutions as the French Seminary at Rome, the colonial seminary at Paris, the colleges of Blackrock, Rockwell College, and St Mary's in Rathmines in Ireland, St Michael's College, Dublin, Saint Mary's College, Trinidad and Tobago, the Holy Ghost College of Pittsburgh (now Duquesne University), Pennsylvania, and the three colleges of Braga, Porto, and Lisbon in Portugal.
20th century By the early 20th century the congregation was organized into the following provinces: France, Ireland, Portugal, United States, and Germany. The whole society was under the jurisdiction of the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda. Houses have been opened in England, Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands, intended to develop into distinct provinces, so as to supply the colonies of these respective countries with an increase of missionaries.
On 31 December 1961 twenty Spiritans: nineteen Belgians and one Dutch man, were killed in Kongolo, in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo, by government troops during the Katanga secession rebellion.
In Rome, on 24 April 1979, Pope John Paul II presided over the beatification ceremony for Jacques-Désiré Laval, the first member of the Spiritans to be so honoured."Jacques Désiré Laval", Dictionary of African Christian Biography
Today The Spiritans' goal is always to establish a viable local faith community with its own leadership, while incorporating the language and customs of the people. Spiritans live in community and practice the evangelical counsels. The congregation's international headquarters is in Rome. The 2019 General Chapter was held in Tanzania. As of 2019, more than 2,800 Spiritans served in 62 countries on five continents. They are often associated with schools and chaplaincy, and missionary work.
Some noted English-speaking Spiritans in the late 20th-century include Fathers Vincent J. Donovan, Adrian Van Kaam, and Henry J. Koren. Father Donovan (1926–2000) wrote Christianity Rediscovered. He worked in Tanzania, most notably among the Maasai, from 1955 to 1973. During this period, the Maasai Creed was composed, with support from the Spiritans as a culturally relevant creed. Father Van Kaam was notable for his work in psychology and spirituality. He also wrote a key work on Venerable Father Libermann, one of the Spiritans' founders. Father Koren was a historian of the Congregation and a philosopher.
In other countries, such as Mexico, the Spiritans were invited by local Catholic bishops to minister to Catholics in remote areas where there were not enough diocesan priests to serve the growing numbers of faithful.
Superiors general
the Congregation has had twenty-four superiors general since its foundation in 1703:
No. Name Years served 1. desClaude Poullart des Places 1703–1709 2. garJacques Garnier 1709–1710 3. bouLouis Bouic 1710–1763 4. becJulien-François Becquet 1763–1788 5. dufJean-Marie Duflos 1788–1805 6. berJacques Bertout 1805–1832 7. fouAmable Fourdinier 1832–1845 8. warNicolas Warnet 1845–1845 9. legAlexandre Leguay 1845–1848 10. monAlexandre Monnet 1848–1848 11. libFrancis Libermann 1848–1852 12. schwIgnace Schwindenhammer 1853–1881 13. levFrédéric Le Vavasseur 1881–1882 14. emoAmbroise Emonet 1882–1895 15. lerAlexandre Le Roy 1896–1926 16. lehLouis Le Hunsec 1926–1950 17. griFrancis Griffin 1950–1962 18. lefMarcel Lefebvre 1962–1968 19. lecJoseph Lécuyer 1968–1974 20. timFrans Timmermans 1974–1986 21. haaPierre Haas 1986–1992 22. schoPierre Schouver 1992–2004 23. hocJean-Paul Hoch 2004–2012 24. fogJohn Fogarty 2012–2021 25.Alain Mayamasince 2021
Spiritans around the world
British Province The British Province covers Great Britain, but not Northern Ireland, although a part of the United Kingdom.
The Spiritans came to Britain 200 years after their foundation when the anti-Catholic government in France was starting to close convents and monasteries. In 1903 they rented Prior Park, a mansion near Bath in Somerset as a refuge abroad. In 1907 Castlehead at Grange-over-Sands, Lancashire, opened as a junior seminary. Father John Rimmer from Widnes was the first British Spiritan, having joined in France in 1894. He was appointed as Superior of Castlehead and gradually under his leadership the school flourished and boys were put through their secondary studies before going to France for the novitiate and training for the missionary priesthood. The school was closed in 1978 due to declining vocations.