Holy Ghost Fathers
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- For other Congregations of the Holy Ghost see Congregation of the Holy Ghost
The Congregation of The Holy Spirit and Immaculate Heart of Mary (known more simply as the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, or in Latin, Congregatio Sancti Spiritus, C.S.Sp.) is a Roman Catholic congregation of priests, lay brothers, and since Vatican II, lay associates. Congregation members are known as Spiritans on Continental Europe, and as the Holy Ghost Fathers in English-speaking countries, although even there, they are becoming known as Spiritans. A Spiritan priest or brother has the abbreviation 'C.S.Sp.' after his name.
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[edit] History
The Spiritans have a rich history of serving the poor and marginalized. Spiritans in the 1840s dedicated themselves to working with newly freed slaves on the islands of Haiti, Mauritius and Reunion. In East Africa, where most of the American Spiritans now serve, they began work in the 1860s by buying men and women out of slavery in Zanzibar. They opened schools and hospitals, taught people marketable skills, and gave property to those who needed it. The Spiritans pioneered modern missionary activity in Africa and ultimately sent more missionaries there than any other religious order in the Catholic Church.
In other countries, such as Mexico, the Spiritans were invited by the local Catholic bishops to minister to Catholics in remote areas where there were not enough diocesan priests to serve the growing numbers of faithful. Today, Mexican-born Spiritans outnumber Spiritan missionaries from other countries. The seminary program is a vital aspect of the Spiritan presence in Mexico.
The core of mission remains constant -- the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus to those who have never heard it at all and to those who have heard it inadequately. But the manner in which we do it varies according to context and opportunity. The goal is always to establish a viable local faith community with its own leadership, incorporating the language and customs of the people.
[edit] Foundation
The Spiritans were founded in Paris on Whit Sunday 1703 for the purpose of preparing missionaries for the most abandoned souls, whether in Christian or non-Christian countries by a young, holy ecclesiastic of noble Breton birth and of brilliant talents, a wealthy young Breton lawyer, Claude-François Poullart des Places, who, three years previously, in the twenty-first year of his age, had given up the bright prospects of a parliamentary lawyer to embrace the ecclesiastical state. Having opted for the priesthood himself, he wanted to form a religious order for young men who had a vocation to become priests but were too poor to do so. From the very beginning of his ecclesiastical studies he manifested a particular attraction for lowly and neglected works of charity. He became especially interested in poor, deserving students, on whom he freely spent all his own private means and as much as he could collect from his friends. It was with a dozen of these gathered round him that he opened the Seminary of the Holy Ghost, which afterwards developed into a religious society.
The community, formed in dedication to the Holy Spirit to minister to the poor and to provide chaplains in hospitals, prisons, and schools, soon developed a missionary role — some volunteered for service in the Far East and North America — and by 1765 the Holy See was entrusting it with direct care of South American missionary territories like French Guiana. 1,300 priests had been trained in the years leading up to 1792, when the actions of the seminary was suppressed by the French Revolution.
The work grew rapidly; but the labours and anxieties connected with the foundation proved too much for the frail health of the founder. He died on 2 October, 1709, in the thirty-first year of his age, and in only the third of his priesthood. The portraits which remain of Father Poullart des Places depict a distinguished and intelligent countenance, combining energy with sweetness.
After the founder's death, the Congregation of the Holy Ghost continued to progress; it became fully organized, and received the approbation of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. It sent missionaries to the French colonies, and to India and China, but suffered much from the French Revolution. The congregation's numbers in Europe declined sharply until 1802, when the Napoleonic government allowed the seminary to reopen and the congregation was asked to focus on supplying priests for work in the French colonies in Africa, the West Indies and the Indian subcontinent.
[edit] Suppression and Merger
After the French Revolution, only one member, Father Berout, remained. He had survived miraculously, as it were, all of vicissitudes — shipwreck on the way to his destined mission in French Guiana, enslavement by the Moors, 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.
In 1848 the Spiritans were joined by a convert Jew, Fr. Francis Libermann, who in 1842 had founded a society dedicated to the Virgin Mary to serve mainly the emancipated black slaves in the French colonies. Since the object of both societies was the same, the Holy See requested the founder of the new society to merge with the older Congregation of the Holy Ghost. Ven. Francis Mary Libermann was made first superior general of the united societies, and the whole body became so impregnated with his spirit and that of his first followers that he is rightly regarded as the chief father and founder of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, such as it exists to-day.
The first care of the new superior general was to organize on a solid basis the religious service of the old French colonies, by securing the establishment of bishoprics and making provisions for the supply of clergy through the Seminary of the Holy Ghost, which was continued on the lines of its original purpose — to serve as a colonial seminary for the French colonies. But the new superior general set himself to cultivate still wider fields of missionary enterprise. There had already been opened to him the vast domain of Africa, which he was, practically, the first to enter, and which was to be henceforth the chief field of labour of his disciples.
The taking-up of the African missions by Ven. Francis Mary Libermann was due to the initiative of two American prelates, under the encouragement of the first Council of Baltimore. Already, in 1833, Dr. England, Bishop of Charleston, had drawn the attention to the West Coast of Africa, and had urged the sending of missioners to those benighted regions. This appeal was renewed at the Council of Baltimore, and the Fathers there assembled commissioned the Rev. Dr. Barron, who was then Vicar-General of Philadelphia, to undertake the work at Cape Palmas. That zealous priest 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. But, as he had only one priest and a catechist at his disposal, he repaired to France to search for missioners. Ven. Francis Mary Libermann supplied him at once with seven priests and three coadjutor brothers.
The deadly climate played havoc with the inexperienced zeal of the first missionaries. All but one perished in the course of a few months, and Dr. Barron returned in despair to America, where he devoted himself to missionary work. He died from the effects of his zeal during the yellow-fever epidemic in Savannah, in 1853, aged 52. Father Libermann and his disciples retained the African mission; new missionaries volunteered to go out and take the places of those who had perished; and gradually there began to be built up the series of Christian communities in Africa which form the distinctive work of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost. It has proved a work of continued sacrifice. Nearly 700 missionaries have laid down their lives in Africa during the past sixty years. Still, the spiritual results have compensated for it all. Where there was not a single Christian among the thirty millions of people who inhabit the districts confided to the Holy Ghost Fathers, there are to-day some hundred thousand solid, well-instructed Catholics. These Christians are spread over the Diocese of Angola and the eight Vicariates of Senegambia, Sierra Leone, Gaboon, Ubangi (or French Upper Congo), Loango (or French Lower Congo), on the West Coast; and Northern Madagascar, Zanzibar, Bagamoyo, on the East Coast. There are, moreover, the Prefectures of Lower Nigeria, French Guinea, Lower Congo (Landana), and missions at Bata, in Spanish West Africa, and at Kindou, in the Congo Independent State.
Besides the missions in Africa, the Congregation of the Holy Ghost started missions in Mauritius, Réunion, the Rodriguez Islands, Trinidad, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti, and Amazonia, while conducting some very important educational institutions, such as the French seminary at Rome, the colonial seminary at Paris, the colleges of Blackrock, Rockwell, and Rathmines in Ireland, St. Mary's College in Trinidad, the Holy Ghost College of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and the three colleges of Braga, Oporto, and Lisbon in Portugal.
[edit] Twentieth Century
By the early 20th century the congregation was organized into the following provinces: France, Ireland, Portugal, United States, and Germany. These several provinces, as well as all the foreign missions, are under the central control of a superior general, residing in Paris, aided by two assistants and four consultors — all chosen by the general chapter of the congregation. The whole society was under the jurisdiction of the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda. Houses have been opened in England, Canada, Belgium, and Holland, intended to develop into distinct provinces, so as to supply the colonies of these respective countries with an increase of missionaries.
The province of the United States, founded in the year 1873, comprised 74 professed fathers, 19 professed scholastics, 30 professed coadjutor brothers. It had a novitiate and senior scholasticate, at Ferndale, in the Diocese of Hartford, an apostolic college at Cornwells, near Philadelphia. The main object of these institutions is to train missionnaries for the most abandoned souls, especially ethnic minorities. The province had already established two missions for ethnic minoriies, one in Philadelphia, the other at Rock Castle, near Richmond, planning to establish more. Moreover, missions for various nationalities were established in the following dioceses, at the urgent request of the respective bishops: Little Rock, Pittsburg, Detroit, Grand Rapids, La Crosse, Philadelphia, Providence, and Harrisburg. In all there were twenty-three houses.
Statistics for the entire congregation in April 1908, gave 195 communities, 722 fathers, 210 professed scholastics, 655 professed brothers, 230 novices, 595 aspirants. About half the professed members are engaged in the African missions. The congregation was slowly but steadily forming a native clergy and sisterhood in Africa. A dozen native priests and about one hundred native sisters were working in the several missions.
[edit] Marcel Lefebvre
On July 26, 1962 the Chapter General of the Holy Ghost Fathers elected the former Archbishop of Dakar, Marcel Lefebvre as Superior General. Lefebvre was widely respected for his experience in the mission field[1] and his ability to deal with the Roman Curia. On August 7, 1962 Lefebvre was given the titular archiepiscopal see of Synnada in Phrygia.
Lefebvre first instituted a major reform of the seminaries run by the Holy Ghost Fathers. He transferred several professors whom he considered too Modernist (relativistic, liberal) to non-educational posts. He ordered books by certain modern theologians, including Yves Congar and Marie-Dominique Chenu to be removed from the seminary library, finding them too Neo-Modernistic. (One book of Chenu was inserted into the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in the 1940s.)
Lefebvre was increasingly criticized by influential pro-reform members of his large religious congregation who considered him out-of-step with modern Church leaders and the demand of bishops' conferences, particularly in France, for drastical revision and reform.[2] A general chapter of the Holy Ghost Fathers was convened in Rome in September 1968. The first action of the chapter was to name several moderators to lead the chapter's sessions instead of Lefebvre.[3] Lefebvre then handed in his resignation as Superior General to His Holiness Pope Paul VI.[4] He would later say that it had become impossible for him to remain Superior of an Order which no longer wanted him nor listened to him. On October 28 a new superior general was elected to replace him; the new superior general proved willing to allow the demands for reforms.
Lefebvre left the Holy Ghost Fathers and went on to found the Society of Saint Pius X in Ecône (Diocese of Fribourg), Switzerland.
[edit] Today
The Holy Ghost Fathers are active now in about forty-seven countries; they are often associated with schools and chaplaincy, and also with missionary work.
[edit] Holy Ghost Fathers around the World
[edit] United States
The Holy Ghost Fathers run two schools in the United States, both in Pennsylvania: Duquesne University (near Pittsburgh) and Holy Ghost Preparatory School (near Philadelphia).
[edit] Ireland
The Holy Ghost Fathers run five schools in Ireland.
- Blackrock College was founded by the Holy Ghost Fathers in 1860.
- St. Michael's College, Dublin was bought by Blackrock College in 1944 as a second feeder school with Willow Park. In December 1970 St Michael's officially became an independent school and community from Blackrock College.
- St Mary's College was founded in 1892 and is located in Rathmines, Dublin
- Rockwell College was founded in 1864 and is located near Cashel in South Tipperary
- Templeogue College was founded in 1966 and is located in Templeogue, Dublin 6W
[edit] United Kingdom
The Holy Ghost Fathers 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. Before returning to France three years later, the Bishop of Liverpool allowed them to open Castlehead at Grange-over-Sands, Lancashire as a junior seminary.
Father John Rimmer from Widnes had become the first British Spiritan having joined them 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.
In 1939, the Spiritans brought a property in Wiltshire to act as a senior seminary but the house was requisitioned as a military hospital during Second World War. In 1940, 30 senior seminarians escaped from France aboard a Polish troopship.
The refugees from France shared Castlehead for two years with the junior students. Then they moved to Sizergh Castle near Kendal and continued their studies for the priesthood there. On an average, four new priests were ordained every year being posted to missions in Sierra Leone, Nigeria and East Africa. When the war ended, the senior students moved in to Upton Hall near Newark.
In 1947 a house was acquired in Bickley, Kent, and used as headquarters for the English Province and a centre for late vocations. Ex-servicemen were applying to join and some needed help to complete their studies prior to going to the Novitiate.
Recognising the importance of Scotland, as both a place for missionary vocations as well as support for missionary work, in 1956 the Holy Ghost Fathers set up a community at Uddingston on the outskirts of Glasgow. In 1970 the Congregation transferred to the Old parish house and church in Carfin. It was also opposite the Carfin Grotto, a place of Catholic pilgrimage which had been established during the 1920’s. The Carfin community continues to serve the people of Scotland and witness to our Missionary commitment.
After the Second Vatican Council the various missionary societies in England pooled their resources and started the Missionary Institute, London (MIL) in 1969. As one of the founding members, the Holy Ghost Fathers closed their center in Wellesborough, moving their students to London and opened a community house in Aldenham Grange, near Watford, Herts.
From the late 1980's there was a decision to concentrate on work with young people, in order to develop strong committed young catholic leaders.
From the Salford community has also grown the group of Lay Spiritans. These are married or single catholic’s who are inspired by the Spiritan way of life and wish to share in it while leading their normal professional and domestic lives.
[edit] References
- ^ During his thirty year apostolate in Africa the role of Mgr. Lefebvre was of the very highest importance. His fellow missionaries still remember his extraordinary missionary zeal which was revealed in his exceptional abilities as an organizer and a man of action. Father Jean Anzevui quoted in Volume 1, Chapter 1, Apologia pro Marcel Lefebvre, by Michael Davies, citing J. Mzevui, Le Drame d'Ecône (Sion, 1976), p. 16
- ^ "This little group was very active. They included a number of seminary professors like Fr. Lécuyer who was in Rome. They formed a small group of intellectuals - very progressive, rather modernist and very determined. Moreover, since it seemed the Council was working in their favour they felt emboldened and took the opportunity of spreading their ideas of modernising - the aggiornamento - the Congregation." July/August 2003 Monsignor Lefebvre in his own words, Society of Saint Pius X - Southern Africa
- ^ "With no authorisation from the Congregation for Religious, they wanted the chapter to be presided over by a triumvirate which meant that I, the Superior General, was not to preside over the chapter at all even though it was clearly written in the constitutions that the Superior General was to be in charge of all business discussed at the General Chapter." July/August 2003 Monsignor Lefebvre in his own words, Society of Saint Pius X - Southern Africa
- ^ "Back at the Mother House, I wrote a nice letter to the Pope saying that I was tendering my resignation because of what was going on in the Congregation and what I was going to have to do. I told him I couldn’t take responsibility for something like that." July/August 2003 Monsignor Lefebvre in his own words, Society of Saint Pius X - Southern Africa
