france1703

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.

Spiritan Year

Pilgrimage to France
May 6-14, 2003
In the Footsteps of the Founders

As part of the Spiritan Year, a pilgrimage was organized to retrace the footsteps of our founders, Claude Poullart des Places and Francis Libermann, as well as to visit other sites in France that are of significance to the Spiritans.

PARIS 1703
Spiritans Around Paris

1 The corner of Rue. St. Jacques. near the college of Louis le Grande.

2 On Pentecost Sunday, May 27th 1703, after Mass, in Our Lady's chapel of the church of St. Etienne des-Grès in Paris in front of the statue of Notre Dame de Bonne Délivrance, the so called Black Madonna of Paris, the 24-year-old, not yet ordained, Claude Francis Poullart Des Places (1679 - 1709) and his dozen friends consecrated themselves to bring the Good News to the poor by dedicating themselves to the Holy Spirit under the invocation of the Blessed Virgin. That day marked the humble beginnings of the Spiritans, the Congregation of the Holy Ghost. The Church no longer exists, but the statue was taken to the Chapelle des Srs. de St Thomas de Villeneuve.

3 Location of the first Spiritan house on Rue. des Cordiers near Rue. St. Jacques. The location was ideal due to the proximity of the Jesuit college of Louis le Grande.

4 Sorbonne Chapel

Claude was ordained in 1707 and less than two years later he was dead. The severe winter of 1709 proved too much for him. They cared for him in his seminary as no bed was available in the local hospital. They buried him in a pauper's plot in the nearby churchyard of St Etienne - in a common ditch, to be covered over with earth and used again as needed. An unmarked grave. No monument. But an enduring legacy.

The church of St. Etienne-du-Mont from which Claude Poullart des Places was buried in 1709. The church is located near the present Spiritan Mother House. The grave site is now gone.

Chevilly

Rue Lhomond

Auteuil

Notre-Dame de la Bonne Délivrance

Notre-Dame de Victoires

St. Sulpice

Sights of Paris

...to Rennes

...to Saverne