SULPICIANS. – The Society was founded in Paris in 1642 by J. J. Olier (q.v.), parish priest of Saint-Sulpice, to restore the state of the French clergy, which had fallen into a deplorable condition. The remedy had already been indicated by the Council of Trent with the establishment of seminaries, but the attempts made had not succeeded.
Olier did not wish to found a religious congregation of broad scope, but a restricted society of secular priests destined for the direction of seminaries.
The Sulpicians have no vows and are bound only by the bond of charity. They are secular priests for the formation of secular priests. Their educational system is based on the separation of the young (collegians, minor seminarians) from the older students (philosophers) and the theologians (major seminary), and on participation in all the offices and exercises of the seminary. Their method of governance relies almost entirely, or entirely, on moral means: a simple reminder of duty suffices; expulsion is resorted to only as a last measure. The Sulpicians act upon the young especially by cultivating the interior life: they place great importance on spiritual reading or the daily conference given by the superior to the entire community, and on the individual spiritual direction provided weekly by the spiritual father, independent of sacramental confession. The apostolate of the Sulpicians continues to be exercised over the clergy even after their time in the seminary, both from an intellectual standpoint (publications, conferences, etc.) and from a spiritual one (confessions, retreats, etc.).
Among the martyrs of the Revolution are counted nine Sulpicians and thirty ecclesiastics educated and formed in their seminaries, including three bishops. The spirituality of the Society is that of the French School, and is linked to de Bérulle, Saint John Eudes, and Saint Francis de Sales.
**SULPICIANS – La Solitude or the novitiate of the Priests of Saint-Sulpice.** In the background, the bell tower of the parish church of Issy.
In the history of the Society, particular mention must be made of A. de Bretonville, Olier’s successor, who opened the first houses; L. Tronson, justly called the legislator of the Society; J. A. Emery, renowned for his activity during the Revolution and his firmness with Napoleon; H. Garriguet, restorer of the Society after the separation of 1904 and the war of 1915–18; and Cardinal Verdier, first superior general and later Archbishop of Paris (1864–1940). The Society is governed by proper constitutions approved by Benedict XV in 1921 and by Pius XI in 1931. It has a superior general elected for life, assisted by four consultors. Divided into three provinces—France, Canada, and the United States—it numbers about 600 members and directs 48 seminaries in France, 9 in Canada, and 12 in the United States. The general house is at Saint-Sulpice, and the general procurator is in Rome with a college of the Canadian province. See plate CVI.
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