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The Foundation of the Seminary of the Holy Spirit
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A change of direction
In Paris, at the beginning of the 18th century, the Sorbonne, the Seminary of St. Sulpice and the Collège Louis-le-Grand, directed by the Jesuits, were all places where candidates could study theology with a view to ordination. At the start of the academic year of 1701, the Jesuits accepted one of their former students from their college at Rennes, Claude François Poullart des Places. He had obtained a degree in law at Nantes in 1700, but he gave up the idea of a promising career in the legal profession in order to study theology. At Louis-le-Grand, he became close to several other students who were hoping to become priests. Those who were better off were boarders in the college, their families being in a position to pay for their boarding fees, tuition, and all the other expenses. But others had to find their own accommodation because they could not afford to live in.
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The Black Virgin of Paris : Our Lady of Deliverance
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Friendship with Grignion de Montfort
While Claude was studying the humanities and philosophy at Rennes, he became very friendly with a fellow student, Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort, who was six years his senior. They met again in Paris in the summer of 1702 and Louis -Marie talked of his plans: the foundation of a small company of poor priests who would work under the standard and protection of the Blessed Virgin. Claude at this time was about to open a little community of poor scholars.
A year later, Louis-Marie asked Claude to help him start this community. But even though Claude, at that time, dreamt of being a missionary and martyr, he did not feel drawn to being the co-founder of such a religious family. He preferred to pursue his own plan of a work for poor students. But he told his friend that if God blessed his work with success, he could count on him for providing missionaries. "I will train them and you will put them to work. In this way we will both be satisfied".
The Assembly of Friends
There was great poverty and suffering in the streets of Paris and in the hospices for the poor who were sick. Organisations were started whose members would devote themselves to helping these unfortunate people. One of them was called the "Assembly of Friends" (Aa): they committed themselves to a spirituality and charitable works that would be carried on in secret and without any fuss. One passage in their handbook read:
"There is no greater proof of the love we have for God than that which we have for our neighbour, who has taken the place on earth of the dying Jesus in order to be the nearest and most immediate object of our affections. And as in our own families, it is the weakest who are the dearest to their father and mother, it is they whom we also will strive to love: the poor, the sick, the afflicted, and particularly, the sinners. The ones in the worst state are the sinners who are outside God's grace. These are to be regarded with the most compassion and comforted with the most care".
Through the Sulpicians and the Lazarists, the work of the "Aa" groups also played a significant part in the training of future priests along the lines of the reforms of the Council of Trent. Claude Poullart des Places became a member of the "Aa": his adherence to this group had a great influence on his preparation for ordination and on the work which he was to found.
It was as a member of the "Aa" that Claude undertook to share his resources with a poor student who was studying theology. Then at the beginning of the 1702-1703 academic year, we find him engaged in "quietly providing the necessary food for four or five poor students". So in the shadow of the Sorbonne and Louis-le-Grand, a few poor scholars were able to survive and improve their conditions of life and study thanks to the generosity of one of their number.
The Church of St. Etenne-des-grès in the centre of the Latin quarter, destroyed during the French Revolution.
Foundation of the Seminary of the Holy Spirit
The little group continued to grow. Finally, a dozen students asked Claude to set up a community, so at Pentecost, 1703, in the Church of Saint Etienne-des-Grès, the group consecrated themselves to the Holy Spirit under the protection of the Immaculate Conception. Guided by Providence and with the approval of his confessor, Claude became the founder of the Seminary of the Holy Spirit even though he was not yet a priest and was only 23. During a retreat he made in the Christmas holidays of 1704, he wrote: "It is already three years since the Lord in his extraordinary mercy, pulled me from the world".
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Six years of direction (Ordination and the death of Claude)
These poor clerics received an extended and solid theological formation from the Jesuits of Louis-le-Grand. Claude encouraged them to live their lives as priests in poverty and amongst the poor. They should deliberately avoid any lucrative benefices: they will be the apostles of the abandoned souls. In 1705, the Seminary set up a body of directors called "The Associates" who would jointly oversee the work. Claude was finally ordained priest on December 17, 1707, but he died of pleurisy on October 2, 1709, aged only 30. Following his wishes, he was buried with the poor in a common grave in the little cemetery of Saint Étienne-du-Mont, beside the chapel of Our Lady.
The Seminary, based solidly on poverty and a love of abandoned souls, already had 70 students. In an incredibly short time, it had built itself up as a practical response to the decrees of the Council of Trent on the formation of priests, becoming the nucleus of a religious family, the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, present today throughout the five continents.
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The Diocese of Paris introduced the cause of the beatification of Claude François Poullart des Places in 1989.
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The spirit behind the foundation of Poullart des Places
From its foundation, the Seminary of Poullart des Places was known by the following characteristics: the poverty of its students, the lack of fees charged for formation, the length and depths of its studies and its dedication to poverty and apostolic availability.
To be admitted to the Seminary of the Holy Spirit, it was not enough to be just poor; the applicant had to have obtained high marks in the entrance exam, which included amongst other things, an aptitude for study. These poor students received exactly the same formation as the scholastics of the Company of Jesus at Louis-le-Grand:
three years of philosophy, four years of theology and, for the more able, two years of further study.
To be poor meant to accept the conditions of the life of the poor. Throughout the XVIII century, the Seminary lived from hand to mouth. Pierre Caris, who was in charge of getting food for the poor students for more than 40 years, relied entirely on Providence to fill their plates: "I do my best to pay my debts but I never catch up with them..."
The Diocese of Paris introduced the cause of the beatification of Claude François Poullart des Places in 1989.
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