CLERICS OF SAINT VIATOR. - Religious congregation, founded for teaching and the sacred ministry by the priest Louis Querbes (1793-1859), parish priest of Vourles near Lyon, in 1823. It was approved by the civil authority in 1830, by the ecclesiastical authority the following year, and definitively by the Holy See in 1839. The Congregation is composed of catechists (religious teachers) and helpers (lay brothers). The catechists are destined for teaching; they may or may not be priests, but they profess the same rule and have the same privileges. The offices of major superiors and of masters of novices are reserved to priests. The catechists may be local superiors, members of the general council and of the provincial councils.

They are spread throughout Belgium, France, Spain, Canada, the United States, China and Japan, with primary, secondary and university schools. The priests also have the care of souls in parishes and seminaries. The Institute today numbers 1500 professed members, of whom 350 are priests, with 22,000 pupils attending its schools.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: P. Robert, Vie du p. Louis Querbes, Bruxelles 1922; Anon., L'Institut des Clercs de S. Viateur, Parigi 1927; A. Bernard, Histoire des Clercs de S. Viateur au Canada, Montréal 1947.

Luciano Pagé

@incollection{ec3_chierici_di_san_viatore, author = {Pagé, Luciano}, title = {Chierici di San Viatore}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {1435--1436}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/chierici-di-san-viatore} }

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Clerics of Saint Viator

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