COMPANY OF THE DAUGHTERS OF MARY OUR LADY
Founded by St JEANNE DE LESTONNAC, Baroness of Montferrand-Landiras, in 1607, it was the first institute in France dedicated to teaching. It spread rapidly in Europe and the Americas. The persecutions suffered in various nations, and especially in France in 1904, made it necessary to unite the institute under the authority of a superior general, which occurred in 1921 with the union of part of the existing communities. At present the nuns number more than 3,000.
COMPANY OF THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT
A religious organization founded in Paris in 1630 as a secret society by Henri de Lévis, Duke of Ventadour, with the cooperation of the Capuchin Philippe d’Angoumois and two priests, with the aim of uniting the forces of the best Catholics “to accomplish all possible good and avoid all possible evil.” Its members belonged to the highest classes (clergy, nobility, magistracy); among the most famous were St Vincent de Paul, the Venerable Olier, Bossuet, Abelly, Coligny (son of the murdered admiral), the Prince of Gondi, the Marquis de Salignac-Fénelon, the Count de Noailles, the Baron de Renty, and Le Fèvre d’Ormesson. The Company had foundations in the principal cities (49): all received directives from Paris. The central organization consisted of nine members, from among whom were chosen the president, the spiritual director, and the secretary. On Thursdays, dedicated to the Most Holy Sacrament, the Company held its meetings, at which the most suitable means for achieving its aims were discussed, correspondence from the provinces was reported, and prayers were said and a chapter from the Bible, from the *Imitation of Christ*, or from the *Spiritual Combat* was read.
The strictest secrecy was considered an absolute condition for success, since it placed members beyond the reach of their adversaries and enabled them to imitate the hiddenness of Jesus in the Eucharist. Louis XIII, informed of the existence and aims of the Company, showed himself favourable and asked, by private letter, for its approval from the Archbishop of Paris, who refused, claiming jurisdiction. The Holy See, repeatedly urged by royal ambassadors and members of the Company, always replied evasively, limiting itself to granting indulgences as if it were dealing with any confraternity. Although not approved, the Company spread rapidly, covering France with a dense network of cells and exerting a strong influence on the religious and political life of the nation. Indeed, almost inspired by the motto *facere et pati fortia catholicum est*, in thirty years it accomplished the most daring enterprises: the *Hôpital Général* for all the beggars of Paris, the seminary of the Foreign Missions, welfare works for prisoners, galley-slaves, the lost, the shamefaced poor, and parish storehouses linked to the general one (a kind of Catholic assistance for all the hungry). The vast charitable work of St Vincent is partly explained by the aid that the Company gave him; meanwhile it had waged a merciless war against blasphemy, immorality, gambling, and duelling. It effectively influenced the interpretation of the Edict of Nantes in a restrictive sense, thus preserving France’s homogeneity as a Catholic nation. In 1659 it held its general congress in Paris with great success: militant Catholicism reviewed its forces. But the following year the secret was revealed at Caen, and a royal decree, desired by Mazarin, prohibited all secret societies.
The Company disappeared, but its great works remained as a perpetual testimony to its supernatural vitality. The “great century” of France cannot be studied or understood without taking into account this extraordinary, though short-lived, institution. Documents discovered at the end of the 1800s caused a great scandal because of the presence of a “Catholic freemasonry in full Counter-Reformation.” The fact that a society was secret does not mean that it was immoral, especially since similar ones arose in France and abroad; and just as, in the previous century, the Companies of Divine Love (v.) in Italy had done, secrecy was a safeguard for doing good in Christian brotherhood without exposing oneself to the criticism of the general public. Therefore, while admitting some excess of zeal in men who lived in the still overheated climate of religious wars, it is a historical injustice to continue to describe the Company as a cabal of the devout. It was not a company of “Tartuffes” that counted among its members St Vincent, Olier, Bossuet, and that was inspired by the hiddenness of Jesus in the Eucharist to perform great works of social charity with that “modest silence” which every follower of the Gospel must praise.
From the Protestant side: F. Rabbe, *Une société secrète catholique au XVIIe siècle*, in *Revue historique*, 71 (1890), pp. 243-302; R. Allier, *La Cabale des Dévots*, Paris 1902; A. Rabellau, *Un épisode de l’histoire religieuse du XVIIe siècle*, in *Revue des deux-mondes*, 17 (1903), p. 621.