300rome

SPIRITAN PRESS RELEASE from Rome

Three hundredth anniversary of the founding of the Spiritans

On May 27 of this year, the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost Fathers - Spiritans) will be 300 years old. From very humble beginnings - an effort by Claude Poullart des Places to help train poor students to minister as priests to neglected people in France - it developed into a missionary family that now works in five continents and which has played a crucial part in the Church's missionary work throughout the last three centuries.

The beginnings
Claude was born on February 26th, 1679 into a rich and influential Breton family. The world was at his feet, but after a retreat which changed the whole course of his life, he decided to become a diocesan priest in the service of the poor. When he came across an impoverished seminarian at the door of the theology faculty (Louis-le-Grand, in Paris), he felt he had to help him. Very soon, there was a sizeable group of young men who depended solely on Claude; they moved into run-down lodgings near the Sorbonne University. On May 27th, 1703, which was Pentecost Sunday that year, this small formation community consecrated itself in a special way to the Holy Spirit, with Mary as guide. More and more poor students came to rely on Claude; they were determined to spend the rest of their lives in the service of the most abandoned and forgotten people.
Within a year, Claude was exhausted by the heavy responsibility he had taken on. He realized through his prayers that he needed to have a greater trust in the love and providence of God. He saw the need to share his burden with other like-minded people, and so was born the Society of the Holy Spirit which would run the Seminary of the Holy Spirit. It gave an excellent training which was both demanding but respectful of these students of limited ability. He himself was only ordained priest in December, 1707, and less than two years later, on October 2nd, 1709, he died at the age of 30, victim of an epidemic that swept through the city of Paris. He was buried in the common grave for poor people at the church of Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, leaving 70 young men dependent on him and the Society.
Throughout the 18th century, the Seminary of the Holy Spirit trained 1,200 priests. Most of them worked in the poor parishes and chaplaincies of French dioceses, but from around 1730, the seminary developed a strong missionary orientation; its past students were to be found working especially in Canada and the Far East (with the Missions Etrangères de Paris). By the time of the French Revolution (1789), the Seminary was solely responsible for providing priests for the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon (off the coast of Canada), Guyane on the north coast of South America and the area of St. Louis in the northern part of Senegal in West Africa. Like many others, the Society was suppressed at the outbreak of the French Revolution, but it was restored in 1816 and subsequently concentrated on the pastoral needs of the French colonies that were springing up around the world.

A fruitful marriage
Its missionary orientation became firmly established when it joined forces with a new religious family in 1848, that of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, founded by Francis Libermann to serve the black peoples. Libermann was not just one of the greatest spiritual masters of his age: he was an outstanding organizer and administrator, exactly what was needed at this time when slavery was being abolished and Africa was opening up to the preaching of the Christian faith. The charisms of these two families - the service of the poor and marginalized in society and the preaching of the good news of the Kingdom to those who have not yet heard it - were molded together by him to become the dominant characteristic of the combined societies.
Despite many setbacks, missions were established along the west coast of Africa and, a little later, along the east coast. By 1880, they had a foothold in Angola. From these missions, they gradually moved into the interior of the continent. In the south, missions were opened in Mauritius and Reunion from 1841 and in the northern part of Madagascar from 1898. By the end of the last century, there were hardly any countries south of the Sahara where Spiritans had not played a significant part in the evangelisation of the people. Two unsuccessful attempts were made to have a missionary outreach in Australia (in 1846 and 1889); it was only from 1970 onwards that Spiritans found a permanent home in that continent and in Papua New Guinea to the north. The early South American missions in the Amazon region of Brazil were greatly augmented by Spiritans of different nationalities working in the north and center of that huge country. In more recent times, work has been undertaken in Paraguay and this year, a start has been made in Bolivia. Very recently, the first Asian foundation in Pakistan has been followed by the establishment of Spiritan teams in Taiwan and the Philippines.

The Spiritans today
Since the foundation of the Congregation in 1703, there have been 14,442 professions. Between 1961 and 1968, there were over 5,000 Spiritan brothers and priests working throughout the world. As with nearly every religious order, the overall figure began to fall steadily from that time onwards, but it is now holding steady at around 3,000. (29 bishops, 2,192 priests, 209 brothers and 563 professed students). The origins of the current membership is very informative: 1,666 come from Europe, 1,058 from Africa and the Indian Ocean, 160 from North America, 113 from Latin America, 7 from Asia and 3 from Oceania. In addition, there are 75 Lay Spiritan Associates in many different countries, a development that is of great significance for the future. So the declining number of vocations and the death of elderly confreres in the northern hemisphere is now being compensated by an impressive increase in the number of young men from the south who are committing themselves to the missionary adventure. Of the 550 men in training, more than 500 are from the southern hemisphere. For the last 10 years, the average number of professions has been around 80, which is practically the same as the number of deaths.
Even though the total membership is less than in the past, Spiritans are now working in 61 different countries - far more than at any other time in their history. Missionaries from Africa are at work in more then 50 of these countries, showing that the Congregation is in the forefront of the African missionary movement that is such an encouraging feature for the Church at the start of this new century.

The future?
As Spiritans celebrate their 300th birthday, they are facing the future with renewed confidence and trust in the Holy Spirit. They have drawn up certain priorities for the coming years:

First evangelisation and development work - especially in countries that have been destabilised by civil wars;

Pastoral and humanitarian help for refugees, migrants, minorities and marginalized young people;

Dialogue with Islam and other religions;

A relevant training for the demands of missionary life today.

Collaborative ministry with other men and women of good will and the development of associate lay membership in the Congregation.

This year, Spiritans throughout the world are giving thanks for the share God has given them in his mission to all peoples. They are looking forward to the future with the same assurance and confidence in the Holy Spirit which inspired Claude Poullart des Places to take on a seemingly impossible task 300 years ago.