Eudists
Encyclopedia
The Congregation of Jesus and Mary (Latin
: Congregatio Iesu et Mariae), commonly referred to as the Eudists (Latin: Congregatio Eudistarum) is a Society of Apostolic Life
in the Roman Catholic Church.
, in Normandy
, France
on 25 March 1643, by Saint Jean Eudes
, exemplar of the French school of spirituality
. The principal works of the Congregation are the education of priests in seminaries and the giving of missions.
To develop the spirit of Jesus Christ in the members of the Congregation, Father Eudes caused to be celebrated every year in his seminaries the feast of the Holy Priesthood of Jesus Christ and of all Holy Priests and Levites. After the feast of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus
and Mary
it is the primary feast of the community. The solemnity begins on 13 November, and thus serves as a preparation for the renewal of the clerical promises on 21 November, the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin. As early as 1649 Father Eudes had prepared an Office proper to the feast. Some years later the feast and office were adopted by the Sulpician Fathers
.
During the lifetime of Father Eudes, the congregation founded in France seminaries at Caen (1643), Coutances
(1650), Lisieux
(1653), Rouen
(1658), Evreux
(1667), and Rennes
(1670). These were all "grand" or "major"seminaries; Father Eudes never thought of founding any other. He admitted, however, besides clerical students, priests with newly granted benefices who came for further study, those who wished to make retreats, and even lay students who followed the courses of the Faculty of Theology.
After his death, directors were appointed for the Seminaries of Valognes
, Avranches
, Dol
, Senlis
, Blois
, Domfront
and Séez
. At Rennes, Rouen, and some other cities, seminaries were conducted for students of a poorer class who were called to exercise the ministry in country places. These were sometimes called "little" seminaries. The postulants were admitted early and made both secular and ecclesiastical studies.
During the French Revolution, three Eudists, Fathers Hébert, Potier, and Lefranc, were martyred at Paris in the massacres of September 1792. The cause of their beatification with that of some other victims of September has been introduced in Rome. Father Hébert was the confessor of King Louis XVI
, and shortly before his death he made the king promise to consecrate his kingdom to the Sacred Heart if he escaped from his enemies.
After the Revolution, the Congregation had great difficulty in establishing itself again, and it was only in the second half of the nineteenth century that it began to prosper. Too late to take over again the direction of seminaries formerly theirs, the Eudists entered upon missionary work and secondary education in colleges. The "Law of Associations" (1906) brought about the ruin of the establishments which they had in France.
In more recent times, the Congregation is active in Phoenix AZ and Southern California (Los Angeles and San Diego) in four parishes. And in 2005 the Congregation opened its first community in Asia in Tagaytay Philippines.
and Jean-Jacques Olier
, who also did not think it proper to admit religious vows in the orders which they founded. Even Saint Vincent de Paul
did so only after great hesitation and on the condition, ratified by the pope, that his priests should not form a religious order, but an ecclesiastical congregation.
The Congregation of Jesus and Mary is not a religious order, but an ecclesiastical body under the immediate jurisdiction of the bishops, to aid in the formation of the clergy. It is composed of priests, and seminarians; there are also lay brothers employed in temporal affairs, but who do not wear the ecclesiastical habit.
Although not a religious order, the Congregation of Jesus and Mary is subject to discipline which does not differ from that of orders with simple vows. The administration is modelled on that of the Oratorians to which Father Eudes had belonged for twenty years. The supreme authority resides in a general assembly which names the superior general
and which is called, at intervals, to control his administration. It alone can make permanent laws. In the intervals between the general assemblies, the superior general, elected for five years and can be re-elected for a second term of the same duration, exercises full authority in matters spiritual and temporal. He has the right to name and depose local superiors, to fix the personnel of each house, to make the annual visit, to admit, and, in case of necessity, to dismiss, subjects, to accept or to give up foundations, and, in general, to perform, or at least to authorize, all important acts. He is aided by assistants, named by the general assembly, who have a deciding vote in temporal affairs, and a consulting vote only in other questions.
The current superior general of the Congregation is Father Michel Gerard; the vicar general is Father Gustavo Londono.
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
: Congregatio Iesu et Mariae), commonly referred to as the Eudists (Latin: Congregatio Eudistarum) is a Society of Apostolic Life
Society of Apostolic Life
A society of apostolic life is a group of men or women within the Catholic Church who have come together for a specific purpose. Unlike members of an institute of consecrated life , members of apostolic societies do not make religious vows...
in the Roman Catholic Church.
History
The Congregation of Jesus and Mary was instituted at CaenCaen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
, in Normandy
Normandy
Normandy is a geographical region corresponding to the former Duchy of Normandy. It is in France.The continental territory covers 30,627 km² and forms the preponderant part of Normandy and roughly 5% of the territory of France. It is divided for administrative purposes into two régions:...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
on 25 March 1643, by Saint Jean Eudes
Jean Eudes
Jean Eudes was a French missionary, founder of the Congregation of Jesus and Mary and of the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of the Refuge, and author of the Propers for Mass and Divine Office of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.-Biography:John Eudes, born at Ri, Orne, was a brother of the...
, exemplar of the French school of spirituality
French school of spirituality
The French School of Spirituality was the principal devotional influence within the Catholic Church from the mid 17th Century through the mid 20th Century not only in France but throughout the church in most of the world...
. The principal works of the Congregation are the education of priests in seminaries and the giving of missions.
To develop the spirit of Jesus Christ in the members of the Congregation, Father Eudes caused to be celebrated every year in his seminaries the feast of the Holy Priesthood of Jesus Christ and of all Holy Priests and Levites. After the feast of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus
Sacred Heart
The Sacred Heart is one of the most famous religious devotions to Jesus' physical heart as the representation of His divine love for Humanity....
and Mary
Immaculate Heart of Mary
The Immaculate Heart of Mary originally The Sacred Heart of Mary is a devotional name used to refer to the interior life of Mary, her joys and sorrows, her virtues and hidden perfections, and, above all, her virginal love for God, her maternal love for her Son, Jesus, and her compassionate love for...
it is the primary feast of the community. The solemnity begins on 13 November, and thus serves as a preparation for the renewal of the clerical promises on 21 November, the feast of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin. As early as 1649 Father Eudes had prepared an Office proper to the feast. Some years later the feast and office were adopted by the Sulpician Fathers
Society of Saint-Sulpice
The Society of Saint-Sulpice is a Catholic Society of Apostolic Life named for Eglise Saint-Sulpice, Paris, in turn named for St. Sulpitius the Pious. Typically, priests become members of the Society of St. Sulpice only after ordination and some years of pastoral work. Uniquely, Sulpicians retain...
.
During the lifetime of Father Eudes, the congregation founded in France seminaries at Caen (1643), Coutances
Coutances
Coutances is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.-History:Capital of the Unelli, a Gaulish tribe, the town took the name of Constantia in 298 during the reign of Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus...
(1650), Lisieux
Lisieux
Lisieux is a commune in the Calvados department in the Basse-Normandie region in northwestern France.Lisieux is the capital of the Pays d'Auge area, which is characterised by valleys and hedged farmland...
(1653), Rouen
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
(1658), Evreux
Évreux
Évreux is a commune in the Eure department, of which it is the capital, in Haute Normandie in northern France.-History:In late Antiquity, the town, attested in the fourth century CE, was named Mediolanum Aulercorum, "the central town of the Aulerci", the Gallic tribe then inhabiting the area...
(1667), and Rennes
Rennes
Rennes is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France. Rennes is the capital of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department.-History:...
(1670). These were all "grand" or "major"seminaries; Father Eudes never thought of founding any other. He admitted, however, besides clerical students, priests with newly granted benefices who came for further study, those who wished to make retreats, and even lay students who followed the courses of the Faculty of Theology.
After his death, directors were appointed for the Seminaries of Valognes
Valognes
Valognes is a commune in the Manche department in Normandy in north-western France.It lies on the Merderet river, southeast of Cherbourg.-History:...
, Avranches
Avranches
Avranches is a commune in the Manche department in the Basse-Normandie region in north-western France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. The inhabitants are called Avranchinais.-History:...
, Dol
Dol-de-Bretagne
Dol-de-Bretagne , cited in most historical records under its Breton name of Dol, is a commune in the Ille-et-Vilaine département in Brittany in north-western France.-History:...
, Senlis
Senlis, Oise
Senlis is a French commune located in the Oise department near Paris. It has a long and rich heritage, having traversed centuries of history. This medieval town has welcomed some of the most renowned figures in French history, including Hugh Capet, Louis IX, the Marshall of France, Anne of Kiev and...
, Blois
Blois
Blois is the capital of Loir-et-Cher department in central France, situated on the banks of the lower river Loire between Orléans and Tours.-History:...
, Domfront
Domfront, Orne
Domfront is a commune in the Orne department in north-western France.Beginning from the strategically sited castle of Domfront, the dispossessed count Henry, youngest son of William the Conqueror, rallied support among local lords and eventually ruled the Anglo-Norman dominions as Henry I of...
and Séez
Séez
Séez is a commune in the Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.It is located at the top of a valley at the edge of the Vanoise National Park....
. At Rennes, Rouen, and some other cities, seminaries were conducted for students of a poorer class who were called to exercise the ministry in country places. These were sometimes called "little" seminaries. The postulants were admitted early and made both secular and ecclesiastical studies.
During the French Revolution, three Eudists, Fathers Hébert, Potier, and Lefranc, were martyred at Paris in the massacres of September 1792. The cause of their beatification with that of some other victims of September has been introduced in Rome. Father Hébert was the confessor of King Louis XVI
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
, and shortly before his death he made the king promise to consecrate his kingdom to the Sacred Heart if he escaped from his enemies.
After the Revolution, the Congregation had great difficulty in establishing itself again, and it was only in the second half of the nineteenth century that it began to prosper. Too late to take over again the direction of seminaries formerly theirs, the Eudists entered upon missionary work and secondary education in colleges. The "Law of Associations" (1906) brought about the ruin of the establishments which they had in France.
The Congregation as of 1913
Besides the scholasticates which they have opened in Belgium and in Spain, the Eudists directed in the early 20th century seminaries at Carthagena, at Antioquia, at Pamplona, at Panamá (South America), and at San Domingo, West Indies. In Canada they had the Vicariate Apostolic of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, a seminary at Halifax, N.S., a college at Church Point, N.S., and at Caraquet, N.B., and a number of other less important establishments. They numbered about fifteen establishments and about one hundred and twenty priests in Canada in 1913. In France, where the majority still remains, the Eudists continue to preach missions and to take part in various other works.In more recent times, the Congregation is active in Phoenix AZ and Southern California (Los Angeles and San Diego) in four parishes. And in 2005 the Congregation opened its first community in Asia in Tagaytay Philippines.
Canonical status and organization
The purpose which Father Eudes assigned to his congregation made him decide not to introduce religious vows. He was persuaded that, better than instituted religious, priests were in a position to inspire young clerics with a high idea of the priesthood and of the sanctity which it required. He also felt that bishops would not so willingly give their seminaries over to priests who were not entirely subject to them. Father Eudes shared the opinions of Pierre de BérullePierre de Bérulle
Pierre de Bérulle was a French cardinal and statesman, one of the most important mystics of the 17th century in France, and founder of the French school of spirituality, who could count among his friends and disciples St. Vincent de Paul and St...
and Jean-Jacques Olier
Jean-Jacques Olier
-Early life:At Lyon, where his father had become administrator of justice, he made a thorough classical course under the Jesuits ; he was encouraged to become a priest by St. Francis de Sales, who predicted his sanctity and great services to the Ccatholic Church. He studied philosophy at the...
, who also did not think it proper to admit religious vows in the orders which they founded. Even Saint Vincent de Paul
Vincent de Paul
Vincent de Paul was a priest of the Catholic Church who became dedicated to serving the poor. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion. He was canonized in 1737....
did so only after great hesitation and on the condition, ratified by the pope, that his priests should not form a religious order, but an ecclesiastical congregation.
The Congregation of Jesus and Mary is not a religious order, but an ecclesiastical body under the immediate jurisdiction of the bishops, to aid in the formation of the clergy. It is composed of priests, and seminarians; there are also lay brothers employed in temporal affairs, but who do not wear the ecclesiastical habit.
Although not a religious order, the Congregation of Jesus and Mary is subject to discipline which does not differ from that of orders with simple vows. The administration is modelled on that of the Oratorians to which Father Eudes had belonged for twenty years. The supreme authority resides in a general assembly which names the superior general
Superior general
A Superior General, or General Superior, is the Superior at the head of a whole religious order or congregation.The term is mainly used as a generic term, while many orders and congregations use other specific titles, notably:* Abbot general...
and which is called, at intervals, to control his administration. It alone can make permanent laws. In the intervals between the general assemblies, the superior general, elected for five years and can be re-elected for a second term of the same duration, exercises full authority in matters spiritual and temporal. He has the right to name and depose local superiors, to fix the personnel of each house, to make the annual visit, to admit, and, in case of necessity, to dismiss, subjects, to accept or to give up foundations, and, in general, to perform, or at least to authorize, all important acts. He is aided by assistants, named by the general assembly, who have a deciding vote in temporal affairs, and a consulting vote only in other questions.
The current superior general of the Congregation is Father Michel Gerard; the vicar general is Father Gustavo Londono.