SULPICIANS. - They were founded in Paris in 1642 by J. J. Olier (v.), pastor of St. Sulpice, to raise the fortunes of the French clergy, which had fallen into a deplorable state. The remedy had already been indicated by the Council of Trent with the institution of seminaries, but the attempts made had not succeeded.
Olier did not wish to found a religious congregation of wide diffusion, but a restricted society of secular priests destined for the direction of seminaries.
The S. 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 little ones (boarders, minor seminarians) from the older ones (philosophers) and from the theologians (major seminary) and on participation in all the offices and exercises of the seminary. The method of government abstracts totally, or almost totally, from disciplinary means: a reminder of duty suffices; as a last resort, expulsion is used. The S. work upon the young above all by cultivating the interior life: they give great importance to spiritual reading or the daily "conference" given by the superior to the whole community, and to the individual spiritual direction of each one every week by the spiritual director, independently of sacramental confession. The apostolate of the S. continues to be exercised upon the clergy even after the seminary, both from the intellectual point of view (publications, conferences, etc.) and from the spiritual (confessions, retreats, etc.).
Among the martyrs of the Revolution are counted 9 S. and 30 ecclesiastics educated and formed by them in the seminaries, including 3 bishops. The spirituality of the Society is that of the "French school," and links back to De Bérulle, to St. John Eudes, to St. Francis de Sales.
In the history of the Society, particular mention should be made of A. de Bretonville, Olier's successor, who opened the first houses; L. Tronson, rightly called the legislator of the Society; J. A. Emery, famous for his activity during the Revolution and the firmness he showed toward Napoleon; H. Garriguet, restorer of the Society after the separation of 1904 and the war of 1915-18; Cardinal Verdier, first superior general and later archbishop of Paris (1864-1940). The Society is governed by its own 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, United States, it numbers about 600 members and directs 48 seminaries in France, 9 in Canada, 12 in the United States. The general house is at St. Sulpice, the general procurature in Rome with a college of the Canadian province. - See plate CVI.
Bibliography9 works
Michele Ruggero Jeune