Society of Saint-Sulpice

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The Society of Saint-Sulpice (Latin: Societas Presbyterorum a S. Sulpitio) is a Catholic Society of Apostolic Life. Typically, priests become members of the Society of St. Sulpice only after ordination and some years of pastoral work: The purpose of the society is mainly the education of priests and to some extent parish work.

It was founded in Paris by Jean-Jacques Olier, an exemplar of the French school of spirituality, then pastor of the Church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, in 1642 for the purpose of educating priests. The Sulpician seminaries, above all the one in Paris, were famed for their solid orthodox teaching and high moral tone. In the 18th century, they became fashionable, attracting the sons of the nobility, and producing a large percentage of the French Church's hierarchy.

1 In Canada
- 1.1 New France
2 In the USA
3 Sulpicians today
4 Notes
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] In Canada

[edit] New France

The Sulpicians played a major role in the founding of the Canadian city of Montréal, where they engaged in missionary activities, as well as in the training of priests. In 1657 Olier, shortly before his death, sent four priests (Gabriel de Queylus, Sovart, d'Allet, and Galinier) to take over from the Jesuit Fathers. ^[1]

As the new feudal lords of Montreal, the order granted easy terms to settlers. They tried to encourage settlement of villages around the city as a first line of defense against attacks by native peoples.^[2]

In 1794, twelve Sulpicians fled persecution by the National Convention and emigrated to Montreal, Quebec. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the Sulpicians of Montreal would have become extinct had not the English Government humanely opened Canada to the priests persecuted during the French Revolution. Under the previous French Colonial government, the King of France had granted the Sulpician Order large parcels of land in Montreal. The Catholic Encyclopedia also records that after lengthy disputes, in 1840 the possessions of the Sulpician Order, coveted by the English business agents, were recognized by the British Crown and the Sulpicians were free to keep all their holdings and to continue undisturbed their work for the Church and society. Included in their vast land holdings was the property through which the Lachine Canal was built in 1825. After convincing the government to designate the property on the banks of the canal as industrial zones, the Order began selling off parcels for industrial development at enormous profits that helped finance their good works.

[edit] In the USA

On 10 July 1791 St. Mary’s Seminary in Baltimore was established by four Sulpicians: Francis Charles Nagot, Anthony Gamier, Michael Levadoux, and John Tessier who were fleeing the French Revolution. They purchased the One Mile Tavern on the edge of the city, dedicated the house to the Blessed Virgin, and in October opened classes with five students whom they had brought from France, becoming the first Suplician Order in the United States.

In March, 1792 three more priests arrived, Mr. Chicoisneau, Mr. John B. David and Mr. Benedict Joseph Flaget. Two seminarians arrived with them, Steven T. Badin and another named Barret. In June, 1792 Messrs. Ambrose Maréchal, Gabriel Richard and Francis Ciquard arrived. Many of these early priests were sent as missionaries to remote areas of the United States and it's territories. Flaget and David founded the Roman Catholic Seminary of St. Thomas, at Bardstown, Kentucky. This was the first seminary West of the Appalacians. A church built there in 1816, St. Thomas, is the oldest standing brick church in Kentucky.

In 1796, Louis William Valentine Dubourg arrived and became the president of Georgetown University. He would later become the first bishop of the Louisiana Territory.

In 1898, at the invitation of San Francisco archbishop Patrick William Riordan, the Sulpicians founded Saint Patrick Seminary in Menlo Park, California.

From the 1920s until about 1971, the Society operated St. Edward Seminary in Kenmore, Washington, USA. The grounds now form Saint Edward State Park and Bastyr University.

[edit] Sulpicians today

According to the Annuario Pontificio 330 priests were members of the society in 2004.

[edit] Notes

^ Francis Parkman, La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, France and England in North America 3 Williamstown, MA: Corner House Publishers, 1980), 10.
^ Parkman, 11.