Congregation of the Holy Spirit | Rome
In 1734, M . Bouic, the second successor of Poullart des Places, presented the Rules of the Congregation, saying, in part:
“The Society… aims to train poor clerics in ecclesiastical discipline, zeal and love of virtue, especially of obedience and poverty, to serve in hospices, to evangelise the poor and the infidels…”.
During the 18th century, one out of three Montfortans were “Spiritans”
During the 18th century, one out of three Montfortans were “Spiritans”. This cooperation between the foundations of Grignion de Montfort and Claude Poullart des Places would last for more than a century. Many Spiritans undertook posts which had no benefice attached: running seminaries, ministering to country parishes, acting as spiritual directors to Religious.
The Spiritan Associates directed the Seminary of the Holy Spirit and the Seminaries of Meaux and Verdun. Two Spiritans became the Superiors of the Seminaries of Sens and Quimper. Another was appointed director of the Seminary of Pondichery, India, in 1781.
By 1750, four of the six Bishops of the Foreign Missions of Paris were Spiritans.
In 1732-33, several Spiritans joined the Society of Foreign Missions of Paris, to work in far off countries in the Far East, North America and Canada.
In 1737, in Nova Scotia, Spiritan Pierre Maillard, was the apostle of the Micmac Indians. He had learned their language, created a hieroglyphic alphabet, a grammar, and a dictionary, in addition to a book of prayers, hymns and sermons.
By 1750, four of the six Bishops of the Foreign Missions of Paris were Spiritans. In 1768, the parish priest of Isle-Dieu wrote to Cardinal Castelli, Prefect of the Propaganda: “Throughout the thirty eight years in which I have been Vicar General of all the French missions in the vast Diocese of Quebec in North America, I have only accepted priests who were trained in the Seminary of the Holy Spirit, all of whom exceeded our expectations”.
After the suppression of the Jesuits, in 1773, The Propagation of the Faith in Rome asked the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (now at 800 members) to take charge of the Apostolic Prefectures of the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, Guyana and Saint Louis of Senegal.
During the 18th century, the Seminary formed more than 1,300 priests
In 1792, the French revolutionaries took over the Seminary, the Congregation of the Holy Spirit was suppressed and its members dispersed.
During the 18th century, the Seminary formed more than 1,300 priests: around 100 of them went abroad to serve in Canada, the Far East and Africa.
In 1809, Napoleon again suppressed Religious seminaries. Though reestablished after the abdication of Napoleon, the revolution of 1830 provoked a further crisis and for the third time, the Seminary was closed.
The Seminary started again, but not for long. During a cholera epidemic in Paris, it was taken over as a hospital and was only able to start again as a seminary in 1835.