|
 |
Solidarity and Integrity:
Libermann and the 21st century
by Fr. Bernard Kelly, CSSp, April 2004
|
Continued
Fr Leguay did not delude himself that the Spiritans were in good
health. At the same time he knew that they held trump cards in terms
of legal recognition. He asked himself if the situation was
retrievable through better organisation. He felt that it was and in
this he proved to be mistaken. He cannot be faulted for the lack of
effort. He felt called upon to attempt a rescue operation and he went
about it methodically. He consulted widely, tried to build on
Fourdinier’s efforts to establish links with priests serving in
the colonies and went to Rome to seek support for his plans. These
involved efforts to centralise authority in the Seminary in Paris
over a membership that now would have two categories: a first order
that would practise the pooling of resources and a second order that
would have only spiritual bonds. Ecclesiastical superiors would be
chosen from among the members. Rome sat on the request, but did
eventually agree to a change in the rules that allowed second order
members (21 February 1848). Fr Leguay’s efforts were finally
frustrated by the February 1848 revolution in Paris which led to the
abdication of Louis Philippe and the proclamation of the Second
Republic. Victor Schoelcher, a staunch abolitionist who bided neither
nuance nor compromise, assumed special responsibility for the
colonies and the abolition of slavery. In his eyes Fr Leguay and the
Holy Ghost seminary were representatives of the status quo and
preferential treatment for whites. With only polite support from Rome
and now devastating, if unfair, criticism from the French government,
Fr Leguay decided that the Spiritans would be best served by his
resignation (accepted 2 March 1848).[15] Fr Monnet, who had been
expelled from Reunion for favouring the blacks, was elected to
succeed him. Schoelcher gave his approval, while at the same time
cutting the seminary’s subsidy in half.
The lines of authority and responsibility in the colonies were not
always clear.[16] In 1848 Schoelcher proposed two unsuitable
candidates (Dugougeon and Castelli) to take charge of the missions of
Martinique and Guadaloupe. Monnet got in touch with Libermann to try
to block the appointment. They failed in this but they succeeded in
recreating momentum for a union of their congregations. A
representative meeting was held in Paris in June and after a few days
an agreement in principle was reached on the vigil of Pentecost (10
June).[17] An unresolved and sensitive issue remained. Who would be
Superior? Most favoured Libermann and a way out was sought in
proposing to Propaganda that Monnet become vicar apostolic in
Madagascar. Libermann and Monnet were poised to travel to Rome when
another revolution erupted in Paris. So Loevenbruck went instead with
letters from each (Monnet, in favour of the merger - Libermann,
proposing Monnet’s appointment as vicar apostolic of Madagascar).
Political unrest in Rome prevented extensive discussion and
important matters that Loevenbruck was to bring up orally, such as
the importance of poverty, were left unmentioned. On the other hand
the political unrest brought an urgency to arriving at a decision.
Another meeting in Paris in August resulted in a more precise
agreement (Signatories: Monnet, Warnet, Gaultier (sold a horse for a
set of Suarez), Hardy and Vidal - Libermann, Briot, Boulanger,
Francois and Ignatius Schwindenhammer). The principal points: 1) the
Congregation will have a double title to reflect its double origin 2)
an addition to the constitutions to require religious poverty 3) no
further admission of second order members 4) a copy of the agreement
to be sent to each member. Monnet proclaimed Libermann superior.
The Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith gave a favourable
response to the request for the fusion on the 4 September and papal
approval by Pius IX was given on 10 September. Monnet and Libermann
were officially notified on 26 September.[18] Michel Legrain tells us
that “Libermann was surprised at the precision of the Roman
decision. All that he expected was a simple approval, leaving the
implementation to the interested parties.”[19] In the Roman
reply there was no mention of poverty nor of the end of the second
order. Libermann was taken aback, not by the disappearance of his own
society, but by the omission of reference to conditions that he
regarded as essential for survival. While these had been agreed in
the preparatory meetings, they were not specifically mentioned in the
official Roman document.
On 28 October 1848, Libermann leaves for Rome with Loevenbruck to
deal with the loose ends. He received a sanatio for his appointment
as Superior, as he felt Monnet had exceeded his authority in simply
having him become superior by acclamation in August. A month later
when Monnet officially resigned, in an official secret ballot on 23
November, Libermann is unanimously elected (again!) Superior General.
In Rome in October he had also requested the changes in the
constitutions concerning poverty and the second order that he
considered essential but that Loevenbruck had not got around to
requesting in his July visit. Rome hesitated a long time over the
change concerning poverty, taking its time to reassure itself that
the whole congregation were in favour of a stricter observance. It
was finally approved in July 1850 as a result of constant prodding by Libermann.[20]
In a letter to the Cardinal prefect (Fransoni) of the Congregation of
the Propagation of the Faith of 21 February 1850, Libermann wrote
that at the time of the merger “the whole original congregation
( of the Holy Ghost) had only seven members. Six of these signed the
agreement (of 24 August) that I had the honour of presenting to you.
The members of the Society of the Holy Heart of Mary that joined them
were forty-nine in number.”[21] Koren has a detailed breakdown
and puts the number of Spiritans higher at nineteen.[22]
There is grieving associated with all mergers and this was no
exception. It was not possible for Libermann to consult all the
members. Distance communication was extremely slow. The Roman
decision of 1848 did not mention the observance of poverty, dear to
the members of the Holy Heart of Mary. This led to accusations of
confusion and even of betrayal. In the clerical corridors of Paris,
an unfounded opinion circulated that Libermann was working a deal to
pay off his debts and ensure his financial future. Mergers do not
take place without “aggro”. Achieving solidarity and
maintaining integrity come at considerable personal cost.
The heartbeat of mission
In speaking of Libermann in terms of personal integrity and of human
solidarity, I hope I have sounded some echoes in your own experience.
I wanted to take an approach to Libermann that I hadn‘t tried
before. I allow myself this final paragraph to return to what I
consider the heart of the matter. Where does the energy come from?
What prevents the panic? What keeps discouragement at bay? Where does
the buoyancy come from at the height of the storm? And the patience
in the long delays? And the courage to take the risks? I think the
heart of the matter is conversion. For Libermann this was the
invasion of the incarnate God in a room in College Stanislas in Paris
in 1826. God showed his hand in a powerful way. Thirteen years later
there was a second moment in Rennes, a Gethsemane moment when a
hidden God asked for an unconditional surrender. Libermann laid down
his arms and began the most creative period of his life.
Francis Libermann (1802 - 1852)
1802 Birth of Jacob (later to be called Francis) Libermann in Saverne
1813 Death of his mother
1820 Departure for Metz, to pursue his studies at the Talmudic
School.He undergoes the crisis of faith of a university student away
from home.
1825 He hears of the conversion of his brother, Samson, to Catholicism.
1826 He returns to Saverne to visit his father and earns his blessing
on his journey to Paris. Torn in different directions, he finds his
life becoming a web of pretence. In desperation he resorts to a
fervent prayer. God rushes into his life again. He becomes a Catholic
and enters the seminary of Saint-Sulpice.
1828 (December) His first serious epileptic attack.
1830 Death of his father.
1831 He goes to the Sulpician house at Issy. Organisation of prayer groups.
1837 He becomes novice director of the Eudists at Rennes. The
following summer Levavasseur came from Saint-Sulpice to discuss
“The Work for the Blacks”.
1840 Libermann goes to Rome with Maxime de la Brunière to seek
approval for the missionary project (Work for the Blacks).
17 February: audience with Gregory XVI (Questo sara un santo)
March, de la Brunière withdraws. 6 June, some official
encouragement. Pilgrimage to Loreto. Acceptance for ordination.
1841 18 September, he is ordained priest in Amiens, and sets up the
first house there. Strong association with Notre Dame des Victoires in
Paris, where he celebrates a first Paris Mass on 25 September.
1842 Levavasseur leaves for Reunion (Feb) and Tisserant for Haiti (Nov).
1843 Seven priests and three helpers leave for West Africa with Mgr Barron.
1844 8 October, a letter arrives from Mgr Barron: all but one of the
priests have died in Africa.
1845 June, two priests and a brother embark at Bordeaux for West Africa.
16 September, three priests and two brothers leave for Australia.
7 December, Eugene Tisserant dies in a shipwreck.
1846 Benoit Truffet, a talented priest from Savoy arrives at La
Neuville, Amiens. A year later he becomes the first bishop of the
society, Vicar apostolic of the Two Guineas, but he lasted only seven
months in Africa.
1847 Levavasseur recovers his enthusiasm for the society after a
year’s disenchantment.
1848 Fusion of the Society of the Holy Heart of Mary and the
Congregation of the Holy Ghost.
1852 Libermann dies on 2 February at rue Lhomond
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[1] Nicholas D Kristof in an article “Millions for moochers”
in the New York Times, Saturday 6 March 2004: “The average
C.E.O. of a major corporation now gets $10.8 million a year, twenty
times as much as in 1981, the result of a classic market
failure.‘The salary of the chief executive of the large
corporation is not a market award for achievement,’ John Kenneth
Galbraith noted back in 1980. ‘It is frequently in the nature of
a warm personal gesture by the individual to himself‘ ”.
[2] Libermann to Jérome Schwindenhammer, 3 Aug 1846, ND VIII 203
[3] Libermann to Carron , 27 July 1838 Spiritual Letters to Cergy and
Religious vol.II 262 & 265
[4] Libermann to Féret, 13 November 1839 LS II 293f
[5] “I find it very difficult to converse with men, but it is my
duty to do it at every turn. I must be occupied with giving direction
to others from morning till night, in spite of the mortal repugnance
I feel for it. I constantly have to give instructions, and the least
subject of meditation that I am called to prepare for others upsets
me three hours before I have to propose it.Everything within me seems
to go counter to my remaining in my present situation. Every
attraction of nature and of grace points in a different direction.
There is not one fibre in my body nor one tendency in my soul that
does not prompt me to seek solitude.” Libermann to LeVavasseur
28 January 1846, Spiritual Letters to Clergy and Religious III 31f
[6] Libermann to Briot, 8 June 1845 ; Spiritual letters to Clergy and
Religious vol I p 213 & 216
[7] Libermann to Levavasseur , 28 January 1846, Spiritual letters to
Clergy and Religious vol III p 31
[8] Libermann to Lairé, 8 May 1851, Spiritual Letters to
Clergy and Religious, vol 1 p 274
[9] ND IX 330, translation from You have laid your hand on
me&ldots; Alphonse Gilbert p 97
[10] Libermann à Levavasseur, 24 février 1848 ND X 79
[11] Libermann to Kobes, 1 November 1851, Spiritual Letters to Clergy
and Religious vol I p318 &320
[12] Maurice Briault CSSp, La reprise des Missions d’Afrique au
dix-neuvième siècle, Le Vénérable
Père F-M-P Libermann p 413
[13] Henry Koren, To the ends of the earth p244
[14] Koren, p145. “In May 1845 Libermann, without informing the
Superior General of the Holy Ghost Congregation, asked the Holy See
and the French government to transfer the entire Senegal Prefecture
to his own society, in order to facilitate the establishment of the
central mission planned for the African West coast; to secure the
necessary resources he added, “we would undertake to fill the
position of prefect apostolic and pastors.” “My request to
be charged with Senegal” he reported later, “has been shown
to the Superior of the Holy Ghost Fathers and he is extremely
irritated with us.” Leguay had every right to be irritated at
this procedure; elementary politeness would have demanded that
Libermann notify him of his steps. The local clergy of Senegal also
were upset by the way the newcomers acted; the acting prefect
complained that they had failed to present themselves to him&ldots;.”
[15] Koren, p 151 “If political events had not swept him away
and if the nuncio had been less swayed by public opinion, he would
probably have succeeded in restoring the Spiritan congregation to
full vigor by giving it a substantial basis in the home country,
establishing missions in the United States and other foreign
countries, and providing a better management of Church affairs in the colonies.”
[16] Koren p 161 “This relationship (Church-State) also was far
from clear. The colonial clergy had been governed successively by the
statutes of the Ancien Régime, the laws of the Revolution, the
Concordat and Organic Articles of 1802, the statutes of the restored
royal monarchy, by all kinds of government regulations. In 1827 all
of them were declared still applicable, but together they constituted
a hodge-podge of contradictory statements.”
[17] We don’t have minutes of this meeting but a few days later
(14 June) Libermann writes at length to Levavasseur about it
mentioning the changes that will be required in the Spiritan rule,
eg.1) the second order to be discontinued, 2)poverty according to the
Holy Heart of Mary rule, 3) no missionary to live alone and 4) no
travel without permission. Cf. ND X 221 In this interesting letter
Libermann proclaims the aims of the two congregations as identical:
les âmes pauvres et délaissées (p 220) and
considers sharing the responsibility of superior with Monnet. (pp
222-223).
[18] Koren, p 203 “The merger document read in part: ‘It is
your task to bring about this merger of your two congregations in
such a way that from now on the Congregation of the Most Holy Heart
of Mary ceases to exist and its associates and members are aggregated
to the Congregation of the Holy Ghost, thereby becoming its
associates and members, sharing the same rights and privileges and
being subject to the same disciplinary rules.’”
[19] Legrain, Michel “Une union de congrégations au XIXe
siècle: le ‘Saint-Esprit’ et le ‘Saint Coeur de
Marie’” dans Libermann 1802-1852 éds. Coulon,
Brasseur p 712-713. My main references for the fusion have been
Briault, Koren, Legrain and the chronology by Paul Coulon and Bernard
Ducol in this same volume “Libermann 1802-1852” pp 89-131
[20] Coulon et Ducol, “Chronologie biographique” dans
Libermann 1802-1852 p125
[21] ND XII 80
[22] Koren, pp 204 & 207
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.
