CLERICS OF SAINT VIATOR. - A religious congregation, founded for teaching and the sacred ministry by the priest Luigi Querbes (1793–1859), parish priest of Vourles near Lyons, 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 consists of catechists (teaching religious) and assistants (lay brothers). The catechists are destined for teaching; they may be priests or not, but they profess the same rule
and enjoy the same privileges. The offices of major superiors and masters of novices are reserved to priests. Catechists may be local superiors, members of the general council, and members of provincial councils.
They are established in Belgium, France, Spain, Canada, the United States, China, and Japan, with primary, secondary, and university schools. The priests also exercise the care of souls in parishes and seminaries. The Institute now has 1,500 professed members, of whom 350 are priests, with 22,000 pupils attending its schools.