Hopefully
during the present tercentennial celebrations in honour of Claude des
Places, it will be remembered that great men and great enterprises
never come into the world fully developed like Athena from the head
of Zeus, but start off small and needing tender loving care.
A MODEL CHRISTIAN HOUSEHOLD
Claude des Places was born on February 25, 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. All too frequently
during the bloody pogroms of the French Revolution, noble families
and rich business people of the Old Regime were demonized as enemies
of the People and the Republic, idle, arrogant and ruthless
exploiters of the working class and, as such, well deserving of the
guillotine. There were however many exceptions, especially in
Brittany. Claude was fortunate to have been born into one such
household. His parents were exemplary Christians and citizens, very
hardworking and magnanimous in their dealings with employees and the
poor neighborhood.
Claude's father was not only one of the wealthiest business men in
the city but also enjoyed considerable standing in the community as a
lawyer advocate in the Breton Parliament. He was legitimately proud
of his family that could trace its nobility back to the Middle Ages
and spoke frequently about its many deeds of valor on the battle
fields of France and their outstanding loyalty at all times to the
Catholic church.
CLAUDE'S MOTHER
Claude's mother also belonged to the aristocracy and although her
father died young and "left nothing to his daughter except a
good education", it was thanks to it that Jeanne became
governess to the First Family in Brittany, that of the President of
the Provincial Parliament, Claude Marbeuf. After the President's wife
died leaving a large family, Jeanne became as indispensable to the
Marbeuf children as Maria, the Sound of Music heroine, was to the Von
Trappe family. In fact, even after Marbeuf remarried, Jeanne delayed
her own marriage another twelve months in order to help the new bride
cope with her instant large family, a big city mansion and three
country castles.
THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE.
As a result of her own husband's frequent absences on business and
government affairs it was left to Claude's stay-at-home mother to
take care of him and who more qualified than this wonderful lady who
had previously given so much of herself to look after other people's
children? What wonder then that these early years chez lui were to be
the all-important foundation of Claude's future holiness. Jeanne had
him baptized and consecrated to the Blessed Mother the day after his
birth and, up to his seventh birthday, dressed him in white for all
Mary's big feast days. With such a loving mother's care, Claude, as
the records show, early manifested a great love for prayer and the
things of God - even building little altars in honour of the Mother
of God.
EARLY CHILDHOOD SCHOOLING
As early childhood kindergartens were unknown in those days, Claude
was fortunate that his parents could afford to hire the best of
tutors for him before they enrolled him at the age of nine or ten as
a day student in the nearby Jesuit College of St. Thomas, thus
beginning his life-long association with the Society of Jesus.
CLAUDE'S FATHER
While well deserved credit is always given to Claude's mother for her
wonderful influence in his childhood, all too often little or no
importance is ever given Claude's father for his role in his son's
teenage and early manhood years. Yet Francis was always there at the
most decisive moments of those years - a rock of savoir-faire and
common sense for an often-impetuous young man.
In fact to know the father was to know the son, so alike were they in
so many ways, even as shrewd entrepreneurs in real-estate. For
example just as his Dad moved the family mansion very often in Rennes
and in Paris, Claude moved his Seminary three times in its first six
years and always to a bigger and better location!
A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS
When he was one of the most eligible bachelors of Rennes as a young
man, Francis waited for years for his girlfriend, Jeanne, to end the
saga of her self-sacrificing devotedness to the Marbeuf family. When
Claude, as a young boy once nearly killed his sister, Francis blamed
himself for leaving his gun still loaded after he had scared off an
intruder the night before.
One can imagine the scene - a mischievous little sister (six years
his junior) annoying an older brother practicing his lead role in a
high school play. To scare her, he picks up his father's gun and
presuming it unloaded as it always was, aims it at her head - a
perfect scenario for a family tragedy! Fortunately, the shot passed
inches above Jeanne Françoise's head and in between Claude's
mother and a cousin, Anne Marie, who lived with them at the time.
Then not long after, when Claude himself on a hunting trip was nearly
killed by a careless close-range discharge from a companion's gun, it
was mon père again, to the rescue relieved that his son was
recovering from a life threatening stomach wound, he happily covered
the operating surgeon's costs.
Later Claude full of himself in his early twenties, rode out on
horseback on his way to law school in Nantes, and got himself into a
roadside brawl in which he seriously wounded an unarmed 'commoner'
with his sword. Once again mon père, in an out-of court
settlement, safeguarded his son's good name and like many a father in
public life today, forgave his son for all the bad publicity Claude
had brought to the family.
And not surprisingly, mon père at first had difficulty in
understanding why his only son, a very eligible bachelor, would not
marry and keep the family name alive and why as a qualified lawyer he
turned his back on a promising career in law. But when Claude finally
indicated that he wished to dedicate his life to the service of God,
although just as hard-headed a business man as the father of St.
Francis of Assisi, Francis did not disown his son but backed him up
completely even when Claude indicated that he would not be joining
the Upper Clergy, so powerful in France at that time or entering a
religious community as influential and as closely associated with the
family as the Society of Jesus. Claude's plan was to start a small
seminary to train young men from the working classes as priests to
meet the long neglected spiritual and social justice needs of the
common people of France. In this venture Francis gave his son his
total support.
THE REST OF THE STORY
The home-life story of Claude des Places, and that of so many of his
followers, over the last 300 years might be seen as simple
endorsements of what Pope John Paul so strongly stressed in a recent
encyclical. "It is through the family that all humanity passes
for good or ill..."
As Spiritans so often attest, the seeds of their vocation to serve
God in a special option for the poor were sown early in their hearts
by the living example of wonderful parents rather than by any formal instructions.
Welcome
to the site of the TransCanada Province of the Spiritans. We are a
Roman Catholic Religious Congregation of over three thousand members,
founded in 1703. Our missions are spread worldwide. While we may be
found involved in many diverse ministries, we have dedicated
ourselves to working with the poor and in those situations where the
Church has difficulty in finding ministers. We hope you enjoy your
visit to our site and that while browsing you will keep us in your
prayers. May God bless you.
