ADOLPHE PETIT. - Jesuit, born in Ghent on 22 May 1822, died at Drongen (Tronchiennes) on 20 May 1914.
He entered the Society of Jesus in 1842, and in 1855 was appointed instructor of the Third Probation at Drongen. He served as rector from 1870 to 1875, and thereafter as spiritual father of the same community until his death. Of extraordinary industry, he founded the Workers’ Retreats and Spiritual Exercises for laypeople; the “Œuvre du Sacré-Cœur” to aid the missions of the Congo; and “Le Calvaire” at Dieu, where he saw that women afflicted with cancer—poor and without access to other hospitals—might sanctify themselves through their care for the sick. He was also a co-founder of the Priestly Union for the clergy.
Endowed with special gifts of prayer and union with God, he became the confessor and spiritual director of the highest ecclesiastical, political, and civil figures. Among MERCIER, DÉSIRÉ (v.), Archbishop of Mechelen. Informative processes on his holiness were begun in 1931, and apostolic processes in 1937.
Among his printed works, the following are well known for their meditations and instructions: *Sacerdos rite institutus pius exercitationibus menstruae recollectionis*, 5 vols. (Bruges 1888, frequently reprinted); *Templum spirituale* (I, ibid. 1902; II, ibid. 1907); *Mon Navire. Souverain de mes retraites* (for religious; ibid. 1912; Italian trans., Turin 1930).