Congregation of the Holy Spirit

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search

For other Congregations of the Holy Spirit / Holy Ghost, see Congregation of the Holy Ghost
(disambiguation).

Congregation of the Holy Spirit

The seal of the Congregation depicts the Immaculate

Heart of Mary, and the Holy Spiritproceeding from
the Trinity.

Abbreviation C.S.Sp.

Motto Cor unum et anima una (Latin)

One heart and one spirit(English)

Formation 27 May 1703; 315 years ago

Type Clerical Religious Congregation of

Pontifical Right (for Men)

Headquarters Clivo di Cinna 195, 00136 Roma, Italy

Membership 2,705 members (2,075 priests)

(2016)

Superior General Fr. John Fogarty, C.S.Sp.

 Website www.spiritanroma.org

The Congregation of the Holy Spirit (full title, Congregation of the Holy Spirit under the protection
of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, or in Latin, Congregatio Sancti Spiritus sub tutela Immaculati
Cordis Beatissimae Virginis Mariae, and thus abbreviated C.S.Sp.) is a Roman Catholic congregation
of priests, lay brothers, and since Vatican II, lay associates. Congregation members are known
as Spiritans in Continental Europe, and as the Holy Ghost Fathers in English-speaking countries,
although even there they are becoming known as Spiritans. A Spiritan priest or brother has the
abbreviation C.S.Sp. after his name.

Contents

 1History

o 1.1Claude Poullart des Places

o 1.2Foundation

o 1.3Merger

o 1.420th century

o 1.5Marcel Lefebvre

o 1.6Today

 2Superiors general

 3Spiritans around the world

o 3.1Kenya

o 3.2Canada

o 3.3Ghana

o 3.4Germany

o 3.5Ireland

o 3.6Madagascar

o 3.7Mauritius

o 3.8Trinidad and Tobago

o 3.9United Kingdom

o 3.10United States
 o 3.11Vietnam

 4References

 5External links

History[edit]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please

help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources.
Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March
2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Spiritans in the 1840s dedicated themselves to working with newly freed slaves on the islands
of Haiti, Mauritius and Réunion. In East Africa, where most of the American Spiritans now serve, they
began to work in the 1860s by buying men and women out of slavery in Zanzibar. They opened
schools and hospitals, taught people marketable skills, and gave property to those who needed it.
The Spiritans pioneered modern missionary activity in Africa and ultimately sent more missionaries
there than any other religious institute in the Catholic Church.

In other countries, such as Mexico, the Spiritans were invited by the local Catholic bishops to minister
to Catholics in remote areas where there were not enough diocesan priests to serve the growing
numbers of faithful. Today, Mexican-born Spiritans outnumber Spiritan missionaries from other
countries. The seminary program is a vital aspect of the Spiritan presence in Mexico.

The core of mission remains constant—the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus to those who
have never heard it at all and to those who have heard it inadequately. But the manner in which this
is accomplished varies according to context and opportunity. The goal is always to establish a viable
local faith community with its own leadership, incorporating the language and customs of the
people.

Claude Poullart des Places founded the Congregation of the Holy Spirit on Whit Sunday 1703.
Claude Poullart des Places[edit]

Main article: Claude Poullart des Places

Claude Poullart des Places was born on February 25, 1679, in Rennes, the capital city of Brittany,
France, the eldest child and only son of Francis des Places and Jeanne le Meneust. Claude was
tutored at home before being enrolled at the age of nine or ten as a day student in the nearby Jesuit
College of St. Thomas, thus beginning his lifelong association with the Society of Jesus. Graduating at
16, Claude studied at the University of Caen, Normandy, before graduating at 22 with a Licentiate in
Law from the Law School of Nantes.[1]

In 1701 Claude des Places commenced his studies for the priesthood, as a boarder at the Jesuit
College in Paris. However, soon he left his college room to share lodgings with the poorer day
students who often struggled to find food, lodgings, and facilities to do homework. It was with a
dozen of these gathered round him that he opened the Seminary of the Holy Spirit, which afterwards
developed into a religious society.[1][2]

Foundation[edit]

The Spiritans were founded in Paris on Whit Sunday (Pentecost), 1703. Having opted for the
priesthood himself, Claude Poullart des Places wanted to form a religious institute for young men
who had a vocation to become priests but were too poor to do so. He became especially interested
in poor, deserving students, on whom he freely spent all his own private means and as much as he
could collect from his friends. In 1707 Claude was ordained a priest. The work grew rapidly; but the
labours and anxieties connected with the foundation proved too much for the frail health of the
founder. Father Poullart des Places developed pleurisy and died on 2 October 1709, in the thirty-first
year of his age.[3][2]

After the founder's death, the Congregation of the Holy Spirit continued to progress; it became fully
organized, and received the approbation of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities.[2] The community,
formed in dedication to the Holy Spirit to minister to the poor and to provide chaplains in hospitals,
prisons, and schools, soon developed a missionaryrole – some volunteered for service in the Far
East and North America – and by 1765 the Holy See was entrusting it with direct care of South
American missions, in colonies such asFrench Guiana. It sent missionaries to the French colonies, and
to India and China, but suffered much from the French Revolution.[3][2] At that time, the actual
members of the Congregation were only the seminary teachers, thus a relatively small number, even
if the new priests who left for mission maintained strong ties with their home seminary. The
Congregation has trained 1,300 priests in the years leading up to 1792, when the seminary was
suppressed by the French Revolution.

Merger[edit]

After the French Revolution, only one member, Father James Bertout, remained. He had survived
miraculously, as it were, through a series of vicissitudes – shipwreck on the way to his destined
mission in French Guiana, enslavement by the Moors, and a sojourn in Senegal where he had been
sold to the English who then ruled there. On his return to France, after peace was restored to the
Church, he re-established the congregation and continued its work. But it was found impossible to
recover adequately from the disastrous effects of the dispersion caused by the Revolution, and the
restored society was threatened with extinction.[3][2] The congregation's numbers in Europe declined
sharply until 1802, when the Napoleonic government allowed the seminary to reopen and the
congregation was asked to focus on supplying priests for work in the French colonies in Africa, the
West Indies, and the Indian subcontinent.

In 1848 the Spiritans were joined by a Jewish convert, Fr. Francis Libermann, who in 1842 had
founded a society dedicated to the Virgin Mary to serve mainly the emancipated black slaves in the
French colonies. Since the object of both societies was the same, the Holy See requested the founder
of the new society to merge with the older Congregation of the Holy Spirit. Ven. Francis Mary
Libermann was made first superior general of the united societies, and the whole body became so
impregnated with his spirit and that of his first followers that he is rightly regarded as the renewer of
the Congregation of the Holy Spirit, then called also "...under the protection of the Immaculate Heart
of Mary" after Libermann and his followers joined the Congregation.[2]

The first care of the new superior general was to organize on a solid basis the religious service of the
old French colonies, by securing the establishment of bishoprics and making provisions for the supply
of clergy through the Seminary of the Holy Ghost, which was continued on the lines of its original
purpose – to serve as a colonial seminary for the French colonies. But the new superior general set
himself to cultivate still wider fields of missionary enterprise. There had already been opened to him
the vast domain of Africa, which he was, practically, the first to enter, and which was to be
henceforth the chief field of labour of his disciples.[2]

The taking-up of the African missions by Ven. Francis Mary Libermann was due to the initiative of two
American prelates, under the encouragement of the first Council of Baltimore. Already in 1833, Dr.
England, Bishop of Charleston, had drawn the attention to the West Coast of Africa, and had urged
the sending of missioners to those benighted regions. This appeal was renewed at the Council of
Baltimore, and the assembled Fathers commissioned the Rev. Dr. Barron, who was then Vicar-
General of Philadelphia, to undertake the work at Cape Palmas. That zealous priest went over the
ground carefully for a few years, and then repaired to Rome to give an account of the work, and to
receive further instructions. He was consecrated bishop and appointed Vicar-Apostolic of the Two
Guineas. But as he had only one priest and a catechist at his disposal, he repaired to France to search
for missioners. Ven. Francis Mary Libermann supplied him at once with seven priests and three
coadjutor brothers.[2]

The deadly climate played havoc with the inexperienced zeal of the first missionaries. All but one
perished in the course of a few months and Dr. Barron returned in despair to America, where he
devoted himself to missionary work. He died from the effects of his zeal during the yellow-fever
epidemic in Savannah, in 1853, aged 52. Father Libermann and his disciples retained the African
mission; new missionaries volunteered to go out and take the places of those who had perished; and
gradually there began to be built up the series of Christian communities in Africa which form the
distinctive work of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. It has proved a work of continued sacrifice.
Nearly 700 missionaries have laid down their lives in Africa before 1913. Still, the spiritual results
have compensated for it all. Where there was not a single Christian among the thirty millions of
people who inhabit the districts confided to the Spiritans, there are in 1913 some hundred thousand
solid, well-instructed Catholics. These Christians are spread over the Diocese of Angola and the eight
Vicariates of Senegambia, Sierra Leone, Gaboon, Ubangi (or French Upper Congo), Loango (or French
Lower Congo), on the West Coast; and Northern Madagascar, Zanzibar, Bagamoyo, on the East Coast.
There are, moreover, the Prefectures of Lower Nigeria, French Guinea, Lower Congo (Landana), and
missions at Bata in Spanish West Africa and at Kindou in the Congo Independent State.[2]

Besides the missions in Africa, the Congregation of the Holy Spirit started missions
in Mauritius, Réunion, the Rodriguez Islands, Trinidad, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti, and Amazonia,
while conducting some very important educational institutions, such as the French Seminary at
Rome, the colonial seminary at Paris, the colleges of Blackrock, Rockwell, and Rathmines in Ireland,
St. Mary's College in Trinidad, the Holy Ghost College of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the three
colleges of Braga, Porto, and Lisbon in Portugal.[2]

20th century[edit]

By the early 20th century the congregation was organized into the following provinces: France,
Ireland, Portugal, United States, and Germany. These several provinces, as well as all the foreign
missions, are under the central control of a superior general, residing in Paris, aided by two assistants
and four consultors – all chosen by the general chapter of the congregation. The whole society was
under the jurisdiction of the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda. Houses have been opened in
England, Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands, intended to develop into distinct provinces, so as to
supply the colonies of these respective countries with an increase of missionaries.[2]

The province of the United States, founded in 1873, comprised 74 professed fathers, 19 professed
scholastics, 30 professed coadjutor brothers. It had a novitiate and senior scholasticate at Ferndale in
the Diocese of Hartford, and an apostolic college at Cornwells near Philadelphia. The main object of
these institutions is to train missionaries for among the poor, especially ethnic minorities. The
province had already established two missions for ethnic minorities, one in Philadelphia and the
other at Rock Castle near Richmond, planning to establish more. Moreover, missions for various
nationalities were established in the following dioceses, at the urgent request of the respective
bishops: Little Rock, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Grand Rapids, La Crosse, Philadelphia, Providence,
and Harrisburg. In all there were twenty-three houses.[2]

Statistics for the entire congregation in April 1908 showed 195 communities, 722 fathers, 210
professed scholastics, 655 professed brothers, 230 novices, and 595 aspirants. About half the
professed members were engaged in the African missions. The congregation was slowly but steadily
forming a native clergy and sisterhood in Africa. A dozen native priests and about one hundred native
sisters were working in the several missions.[2]

In Rome, on April 24, 1979, Pope John Paul II presided over the beatification ceremony for Jacques-
Désiré Laval, the first member of the Spiritans to be so honoured.

Marcel Lefebvre[edit]

Main article: Marcel Lefebvre

On July 26, 1962, the Chapter General of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit elected the
former Archbishop of Dakar, Marcel Lefebvre, as Superior General. Lefebvre was widely respected
for his experience in the mission field[4] and his ability to deal with the Roman Curia. On August 7,
1962, Lefebvre was given the titular archiepiscopal see of Synnada in Phrygia.
Lefebvre first instituted a major reform of the seminaries run by the Spiritans. He transferred
several Modernist (relativistic, liberal) professors to non-educational posts. He ordered books by
certain modern theologians, including Yves Congar and Marie-Dominique Chenu, to be removed
from the seminary library, finding them too Neo-Modernistic. (One book of Chenu was inserted into
the Index Librorum Prohibitorum in the 1942.[5])

Lefebvre was increasingly criticized by influential pro-reform members of his large religious
congregation who considered him out-of-step with modern Church leaders and the demand of
bishops' conferences, particularly in France, for drastic revision and reform.[6] A general chapter of
the Congregation of the Holy Spirit was convened in Rome in September 1968. The first action of the
chapter was to name several moderators to lead the chapter's sessions instead of Lefebvre.[7] Finding
it impossible to lead the congregation after being undermined, Lefebvre then handed in his
resignation as Superior General to Pope Paul VI.[8]

He would later say that it had become impossible for him to remain Superior of an institute that no
longer wanted him nor listened to him. To replace him, on October 28 a new superior general was
elected who proved willing to allow the demands for reforms. Lefebvre's tenure as Superior saw the
congregation at its zenith in terms of numbers, missions, and missionary activity. Lefebvre left the
Spiritans and went on to found the Society of Saint Pius X in Écône (Diocese of Fribourg), Switzerland.

Today[edit]

The Spiritans are active in some 57 countries. They are often associated with schools and chaplaincy,
and missionary work. Some famous English-speaking Spiritans in the late 20th-century include
Fathers Vincent J. Donovan, Adrian Van Kaam, and Henry J. Koren. Father Donovan (1926–2000)
wrote Christianity Rediscovered. He worked in Tanzania, most notably among the Maasai, from 1955-
73. Father Van Kaam was notable for his work in psychology and spirituality. He also wrote a key
work on one of the Spiritan's founder's Venerable Father Libermann. Father Koren was a historian of
the Congregation and a philosopher.

Superiors general[edit]
Venerable Francis Libermann, often called the Congregation's "second founder", was also its
eleventh superior general (1848–1852).

The Congregation has had twenty-four superiors general in its 315 years of existence:[9]

No. Name Years served Nationality

1. Fr. Claude Poullart des Places 1703–1709 French

2. Fr. Jacques Garnier 1709–1710 French

3. Fr. Louis Bouic 1710–1763 French

4. Fr. Julien-François Becquet 1763–1788 French

5. Fr. Jean-Marie Duflos 1788–1805 French

6. Fr. Jacques Bertout 1805–1832 French

7. Fr. Amable Fourdinier 1832–1845 French

8. Fr. Nicolas Warnet 1845–1845 French

9. Fr. Alexandre Leguay 1845–1848 French

10. Bp. Alexandre Monnet 1848–1848 French

11. Ven. Francis Libermann 1848–1852 French

No. Name Years served Nationality

12. Fr. Ignace Schwindenhammer 1853–1881 French

13. Fr. Frédéric Le Vavasseur 1881–1882 French

14. Fr. Ambroise Emonet 1882–1895 French

15. Abp. Alexandre Le Roy 1896–1926 French

16. Abp. Louis Le Hunsec 1926–1950 French

17. Fr. Francis Griffin 1950–1962 Irish

18. Abp. Marcel Lefebvre 1962–1968 French

19. Fr. Joseph Lécuyer 1968–1972 French

20. Fr. Frans Timmermans 1972–1986 Dutch

21. Fr. Pierre Haas 1986–1992 French

22. Fr. Pierre Schouver 1992–2004 French

23. Fr. Jean-Paul Hoch 2004–2012 French

24. Fr. John Fogarty 2012–present Irish

Spiritans around the world[edit]

Kenya[edit]

 St. Mary's School, Nairobi, founded in the Parklands area of Nairobi in 1939 from Blackrock
College in Dublin, Ireland.

Canada[edit]

 Neil McNeil High School

 Francis Libermann Catholic High School

 Regina Pacis Catholic Secondary School - closed 2002

 Marian Academy - closed 2002

Ghana[edit]
  Province of Ghana. The Spiritan mission in Ghana was started in 1971 by a group of Irish
Spiritans who left Nigeria after the civil war. With more than forty years of Spiritan mission,
Province of Ghana continues to flourish with more than 100 members working both at home
and abroad.

Ghana is a democratic constitutional republic divided into ten administrative regions, with a multi-
ethnic population of around 24 million as of 2010. Fourteen percent of the population is estimated to
be Catholic. Located along the Gulf of Guinea and Atlantic Ocean, in West Africa, Ghana has a land
mass of 238,535 km2, with 2,093 kilometres of international land borders. Its varied geography
includes savannas, woodlands, forests, a coastal line, springs, cave systems, mountains, estuaries,
wildlife parks, and nature reserves. The coast of Ghana, which consists mainly of sandy beaches,
stretches 350 miles and includes a rich assortment of culturally significant castles, forts, ports and
harbors. In Ghana, Spiritans are ministering in sixteen parishes in nine of the eighteen dioceses.
Many of the parishes are in a situation of primary evangelization in rural and deprived areas. The
Province gives attention to basic and primary education in all of its twelve parishes. The Spiritan
Technical Vocational School in Ada Nkwame, the Computer school in Kumasi, the Libermann Senior
High School in Elubo, and the Spiritan University College in Ejisu are all examples of the Spiritan
commitment to evangelization through education. Thirty-five Spiritans from Ghana are on mission
outside their home country in fifteen different countries.

Germany[edit]

See Heilig-Geist-Gymnasium

Ireland[edit]

The Spiritans run six schools in Ireland:

 Blackrock College was founded by the Holy Ghost Fathers in 1860.

 Rockwell College was founded in 1864 and is located near Cashel, County Tipperary.

 St. Michael's College, Dublin, was bought by Blackrock College in 1944 as a second feeder
school with Willow Park. In December 1970, St Michael's officially became independent from
Blackrock College.

 St Mary's College, Rathmines, Dublin, was founded in 1892.

 Templeogue College was founded in 1966 and is located in Templeogue, Dublin.

 Kimmage Development Studies Centre (KDSC) – Holy Ghost Fathers Missionary College,
Kimmage Manor, Dublin, was founded in 1974.

 Kimmage Mission Institute (KMI) – Institute of Theology and Cultures, Kimmage Manor,
Dublin, founded 1991, moved to Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy in 2003.

Notable Irish Spiritans include William Patrick Power, first head of Duquesne University,
Pittsburgh; John Charles McQuaid, forceful Archbishop of Dublin 1940–73; Fr Denis Fahey, founder
of Maria Duce; Fr Aengus Finucane, who organised food shipments to the Ibo during the Biafra
War; John C. O'Riordan, former Bishop of Kenema, Sierra Leone; Robert Ellison, current Bishop of
Banjul, Gambia.

Madagascar[edit]

Mauritius[edit]

Trinidad and Tobago[edit]

The Spiritans run these schools in Trinidad and Tobago:

 Saint Mary's College established in 1863

 Our Lady of Fatima College established in 1945

 Saint Anthony's College (Trinidad)

United Kingdom[edit]

The Spiritans came to Britain 200 years after their foundation when the anti-Catholic government in
France was starting to close convents and monasteries. In 1903 they rented Prior Park, a mansion
near Bath in Somerset as a refuge abroad. Before returning to France three years later, the Bishop of
Liverpool allowed them to open Castlehead at Grange-over-Sands, Lancashire, as a junior
seminary.[citation needed]

Father John Rimmer from Widnes had become the first British Spiritan, having joined them in France
in 1894. He was appointed as Superior of Castlehead and gradually under his leadership the school
flourished and boys were put through their secondary studies before going to France for
the novitiate and training for the missionary priesthood.[citation needed]

In 1939, the Spiritans brought a property in Wiltshire to act as a senior seminary but the house was
requisitioned as a military hospital during the Second World War. In 1940, 30 senior seminarians
escaped from France aboard a Polish troopship. The refugees from France shared Castlehead for two
years with the junior students. Then they moved to Sizergh Castle near Kendal and continued their
studies for the priesthood there. On an average, four new priests were ordained every year and
posted to missions in Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and East Africa. When the war ended, the senior students
moved into Upton Hall near Newark.

In 1947, a house was acquired in Bickley, Kent, and used as headquarters for the English Province and
a centre for late vocations. Ex-servicemen were applying to join and some needed help to complete
their studies prior to going to the novitiate. In the early 1990s with elderly missionaries living longer
and returning home, the Bickley community centre of Provincial administration was converted to a
retirement home. The Administration moved to Northwood, in North West London, and then
to Burnt Oak, north London.[10]

Recognising the importance of Scotland, as both a place for missionary vocations as well as support
for missionary work, in 1956 the Holy Ghost Fathers set up a community at Uddingston on the
outskirts of Glasgow. In 1970 the Congregation transferred to the Old parish house and church
in Carfin. It was also opposite the Carfin Grotto, a place of Catholic pilgrimage which had been
established during the 1920s. The Carfin community continues to serve the people of Scotland and
witness to Missionary commitment.

After the Second Vatican Council the various missionary societies in England pooled their resources
and started the Missionary Institute, London (MIL) in 1969. As one of the founding members, the
Holy Ghost Fathers closed their center in Willesborough, moving their students to London and
opened a community house in Aldenham Grange, near Watford, Hertfordshire.

From the late 1980s there was a decision to concentrate on work with young people, in order to
develop strong committed young catholic leaders. The "Just Youth" ministry was established in order
to foster these aims. It provides chaplaincy facilities for several high schools in the Salford Diocese
and undertakes outreach work in schools throughout the north of England. Since early 2008 Just
Youth has been based in Lower Kersal, Salford, at the former Catholic University Chaplaincy, now re-
opened as the Spiritan Youth Centre.

From the Salford community has also grown the group of Lay Spiritans. These are married or single
Catholics inspired by the Spiritan way of life and wishing to share in it. They bring their professional
skills to the various ministries.

In 2001, two Lay Spiritans of the Salford community founded Revive, a voluntary social work agency
committed to the long-term support of asylum seekers and refugees. This work, in conjunction with
the Catholic Diocese of Salford and the British Red Cross, involved the support of all asylum seekers,
including the destitute whose asylum claims had been refused. Revive also had a significant role in
the training of student social workers to work with asylum seekers and refugees in partnership
with Manchester University, Manchester Metropolitan University, and Salford University. Revive is
based in Salford and is considered to be a missionary work of the Congregation, who are its principal
funders.[11]

In 2009, a report from Caritas - Social Action highlighted the work of Revive as an example of good
practice with asylum seekers and refugees in the Catholic Church in England and Wales.[12]

Lay Spiritan involvement in the management of Revive ceased in 2009. The project is now managed
by a Spiritan priest.[13]

One former Lay Spiritan, Ann-Marie Fell, was the recipient of a Catholic Women of the Year award in
2010 for her work as a prison chaplain.[14]

The UK Spiritan Provincial Fr Philip Marsh CSSp spent much of his time travelling and meeting with
the various communities and works of the Province, with a base in Whitefield,Bury, where the small
Provincial Residence Community is located.

United States[edit]
Duquesne University, founded in 1878 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the only Spiritan institution of
higher education in the world.

The French Spiritans' first contact in North America was in Acadia between 1735–1763 under Father
Louis Bouic. Unfortunately, the settlers and natives of this region were caught in the political and
military clash between the French and the British. One of the most famous Spiritans was Fr. Maillard,
named "the Apostle of the Micmacs". After arduous learning over eight years, he wrote the first
Micmac grammar. Through this he was able to introduce to them the Catholic faith which they kept
even without a priest for a long time.

Father Maillard tried to attenuate the savagery of brutal warfare (instigated at times by the French
and the British). Many more missionaries, such as John Le Loutre, came but later had to flee with the
Micmacs as the British conquered these areas. Fr. Maillard himself was captured in Louisbourg and
deported to a Boston jail.

It was in 1794 that a Spiritan refugee of the French Revolution in Guiana became a highly respected
missionary in Baltimore. He started a new mission in the U.S. and two others followed a few years
later. However, it was only when Archbishop Purcell repeatedly asked (between 1847–1851) for
personnel to staff a seminary in Cincinnati that Spiritans steadily entered. Other dioceses such as
Savannah, Florida, Philadelphia, and Natchez requested for personnel too.

For the sake of maintaining a community life the Spiritans concentrated on the Pittsburgh area.
Despite knowing of four failures of setting up a Catholic college in Pittsburgh, the Spiritans persisted
in setting up an institution which became Duquesne University.

The Spiritans in America concentrate on work among immigrants, black parishes, and education
in Duquesne University along with Holy Ghost Preparatory School (near Philadelphia). Historically,
they have supplied missionaries for Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Puerto Rico, Latin America, and Ethiopia.
Today, Spiritans are focusing on Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, and Taiwan. In 1964 there was a
separation between a Western Province and an Eastern Province (at the Mississippi River) but both
provinces are being joined. Candidates in theological formation are sent to Catholic Theological
Union in Chicago where several Spiritans teach.

Vietnam[edit]

The Spiritans arrived in Vietnam in September 2007. In September 2017, the Congregation
celebrated its 10th anniversary in Vietnam. At present, the Congregation have three communities in
Ho Chi Minh City. There are more than 40 members. Website: http://www.spiritans.vn/