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THE REDEMPTORISTS 



IMPRIMI POTEST: 
JOANNES BENNETT, C.SS.R.. 
Sup. Prov. Ang. 



CLAPHAM, 
Die n a Martii, 1924. 



NIHIL OBSTAT : 

G. H. JOYCE, S.J., 

Censor Deputatus. 

IMPRIMATUR : 
EDM. CAN. SURMONT, 
Vicarius Generalis, 



WESTMONASTERII, 
Die i9 a Mait, 1924. 



THE REJDEMJPT0RISTS 

. '. : V ; ' " 

J * '. 1 *' 'i" ' '' a " ' ' ' 

BY GEORQE &TEBBING, C5Sf.BL 



LONDON 

BURNS GATES & WASHBOURNE LTD. 

PUBLISHERS TO THE HOLY SEE 
1924 



Made and Printed in Great Britain 



716890 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I. THE REDEMPTORIST LIFE i 

1. EXTERNAL OBJECT - - i 

2. INTERIOR SPIRIT - - - - n 

3. GOVERNMENT - - - - 16 

II. PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION - 20 

1. THE FOUNDATION- - - - - 20 

2. THE TRANSALPINE DEVELOPMENT - 55 

3. THE REVOLUTION OF 1848 AND ITS RESULTS - 78 

4. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONGREGATION SINCE 1855 86 
ITALY - - - - - - 86 

FRANCE - - - - - - 100 

SPAIN ------ 106 

AUSTRIA ------ 109 

THE PRAGUE PROVINCE - - - - 112 

POLAND ------ u^ 

GERMANY - - . - - - -117 

BELGIUM ------ 122 

HOLLAND ------ 128 

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA - - 131 

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND - - - 151 

(a) ENGLAND - - - - 168 

(6) IRELAND - - - - - 172 

(c) AUSTRALIA ----- 175 

vii 



viii CONTENTS 

PAGE 

III. THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INSTITUTE - 179 

REDEMPTORISTS WITH FAME OF HOLINESS - - 180 

THE APOSTOLATE OF THE PEN - - - 189 

THE REDEMPTORISTINES - - - - 194 

HOUSES OF RETREAT ----- 200 

PILGRIMAGES - - - - - -201 

FOREIGN MISSIONS - - - - - 202 

HOME MISSIONS ..... 204 

CONCLUSION ------ 206 



THE REDEMPTORISTS 

:-.- .-.,.' I - . ' '; 

THE REDEMPTORIST LIFE 



THE word Redemptorist is accepted by the authors 
of the chief English dictionaries as the name of the 
members of the Congregation of the Most Holy 
Redeemer. It is not the same as Redemptionist, which is 
applied by the same authorities to the members of the 
Order for the Redemption of Captives. But it has equiva- 
lents which are sometimes used .in popular language. For 
example, in Italy the Redemptorists are commonly called 
Liguorini, thus receiving the name of their founder, some- 
what as the Order of Preachers are called Dominicans, and 
the Friars Minor, Franciscans. The members of the Con- 
gregation are accustomed to sign after their name, C.SS.R., 
which identifies them as belonging to their Institute. 

Redemptorists do not belong to a regular Order in the 
strict canonical sense of the term, and hence they are not 
monks or friars, nor are their houses monasteries, properly 
speaking. They are religious, though not with solemn 
vows, and their residences are religious houses. Collegium 
is the Latin term which designates them, but on account 
of the almost exclusively scholastic use of that word in 
English, it becomes somewhat of a misnomer when applied 
to a community of religious priests. 

The original idea of the Founder St Alphonsus Maria de' 
Liguori, was to gather together a body of priests who should 



2 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

follow as closely as possible the life and example of the 
priest's great model Jesus Christ our Lord; and who, for 
external development of that imitation, should devote 
themselves to the preaching of the Gospel to the poor, 
mindful of the testimony of their Redeemer: "Pauperes 
evangelizantur " ("The poor have the Gospel preached to 

them"). 

In the Holy Founder's mind, however, the scope and 
means of that apostolate were much more closely defined, 
and even limited. By way of preference, at least, the Saint 
and his companions were to go forth into rural districts, 
even the most remote, and there instruct and exhort the 
rustics who were deprived of the more abundant spiritual 
aid to be found in cities and towns. This was a preference 
rather than a limitation. But there were to be limitations 
too. Apostolic missions or set courses of religious instruc- 
tion and preaching were to be the almost exclusive external 
work of the Congregation. It is true that it was always 
intended to work for the faithful in the churches belonging 
to the Institute, by preaching, administering the Sacra- 
ments, and other public services. But occupations which 
might draw off the fathers from the missions were formally 
set aside. Such were the government of seminaries or 
schools, the giving of Retreats to nuns, as well, as all care 
of them, the holding of parishes, and the preaching of set 
courses of Lenten sermons. All these things are put on 
a level as beside the original scope. 

It was intended that a Mission should be a complete 
renovation of the spiritual life of the place where it was 
given, and St Alphonsus spared no pains to secure that it 
should indeed become so. No one knew better than he 
that such a result must be above all a work of Divine 
Grace, but the missioner has to co-operate. And the plan 
formed by the zealous founder was eminently calculated to 



THE REDEMPTORIST LIFE 3 

do this. Those Eternal Truths which concern all men were 
to be the chief subject of their preaching. The dogmas of 
the Catholic Faith were supposed as accepted by all, 
though, alas ! by too many neglected. The practice of the 
.faithful was to be brought back into conformity with what 
they believed. The fathers were to go forth in sufficient 
numbers to hear the confessions of all, and they were not 
to depart until there had been time to satisfy all, and to 
leave the place thoroughly renewed and reconciled with the 
Christian law. 

But there was no thought in St Alphonsus' mind that his 
fathers should lose sight of the places in which they had 
once given missions, and that is why he insisted on the im- 
portance of what he called Renewals. He urged that 
wherever it was possible they should return within four or 
five months to the places in which they had given missions, 
and there preach another course of exercises, which he 
called a Renewal of the Mission. The time employed was 
to be shorter, the number of missionaries less, and the 
sermons different. The aim was to be not so much the 
reaching of souls untouched by the mission, as solidifying 
the conversions brought about by means of the mission. 
It seems, from the wording of the Rule, as if it were con- 
templated that the fathers should return again and again 
in this way to the same place, inasmuch as it is laid down 
that, expressly to render this return easier, the houses are 
to be established in convenient situations, and not too far 
from the places where the fathers who dwell in them are 
accustomed to work. 

There remains one other work of charity and zeal which 
did not appear to* be foreign to the special aims of the 
Institute, and this was the throwing open of its doors to 
those desirous of making a Retreat in a religious house, 
shielded from the noise and distractions of the world. It 



4 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

was for this purpose that St Alphonsus and the. early 
fathers, his contemporaries, built on a scale that would 
enable them to accommodate in their houses, not only their 
own community, but a number of clergy and laity from 
outside who might come there to spend some time in 
seclusion and prayer. There were to be clergy Retreats, 
preached in common to the priests of one or more dioceses; 
there were to be public Retreats also, preached in similar 
fashion to the laity. (In Holland and Belgium several 
houses have been established to facilitate the giving of 
Retreats, especially to bodies of working men.) At other 
tunes single Retreatants, whether priests or laymen, were 
to be welcomed, that they might go through similar exer- 
cises alone. Those to be ordained were to be received, in 
order that they might be helped to prepare worthily for the 
dignity about to be conferred upon them. By fidelity in 
adhering to this ideal, untold good has been effected for 
those chosen souls in various Redemptorist houses all over 
Christendom. In Perth, Scotland, all the clergy of prac- 
tically all the dioceses come in turn to make their " annual 
Retreat." 

St Alphonsus had to lay the foundations of his Institute 
amid surroundings of .almost impossible difficulty on account 
of the interference of the State and the anti-religious spirit 
of the age. Hence he had to frame his rules in such a way 
as to avoid, as far as he could, clashing with the prejudices 
of those in authority. This led to limitations being made 
by him which are scarcely understood by those living in a 
freer atmosphere. It seems undeniable that at first only 
those already priests were to be aggregated to the Congre- 
gation, except that there were always to be lay brothers. 
But the Chapter of 1743 decided to receive sub-deacons 
also, and in 1747 clerics who had no Orders at all were 
received as early as eighteen years of age with the prospect 



THE REDEMPTORIST LIFE 5 

of making their studies in the Congregation before ordina- 
tion. The members were all to have their own patrimony, 
which was to be the title for their ordination, though they 
were not to have the use or the administration of it. 

That they might not be a burden either to clergy or 
laity the missions and similar exercises were to be given 
" gratis " at the expense of the Institute, and hence, when 
the fathers came into any parish, they did not live with the 
priests, but in a hired lodging of their own, where they were 
waited on by one of the lay brothers whom they had brought 
with them. 

It is obvious that on these lines the number of the 
members, as well as the extension of their work, however 
excellent, would be subject to considerable limitations. 
But it was left to circumstances to bring about a bolder 
flight, and thus to lead to developments far beyond the 
ken of those who gathered round the Holy Founder in the 
kingdom of Naples. 

The outstanding event which may be looked on as the 
turning-point to a new condition of things was the reception 
into the Congregation of Clement Hofbauer and his friend 
Thaddeus Hubl in 1784. Here were two strangers whose 
homes were far removed from Italy and from Italian cir- 
cumstances, and who were both of the working class, without 
patrimony or material resources. Both had made their 
way, so far, relying on the unfailing help of Divine Provi- 
dence. It seems to have been understood by St Alphonsus, 
then still in this life, and by the Superiors who received the 
two pilgrims with the express intention that they should 
propagate the Institute abroad, that their work and their 
methods in the lands north of the Alps would have to be 
somewhat different from what had been customary in 
Italy. And so indeed it proved, perhaps even to a greater 
extent than the Italian fathers could have foreseen. 



6 THE REDEMPTQRISTS 

In 1785 St Clement 1 and his companion went forth to 
their great enterprise with all the breadth of outlook and 
the indifference to details of men carrying a message into 
an unknown land. They bore the unmistakable credentials 
of a commission from then: own highest Superior, and they 
looked for guidance to the representative of the Holy See 
in the regions to which they came. It was the voice of the 
Nuncio which pointed out to them their field of labour hi 
Warsaw, the capital of Poland. 

Missions in the sense given to that term in Italy were 
impossible under the conditions prevailing in the Trans- 
alpine countries to which they now came, and as a result the 
fathers had to content themselves with preaching and 
hearing confessions, and in general labouring for the 
spiritual good of the faithful as occasion served. And the 
work was abundant. Though the Austrian Government 
and the Republican authorities of other parts of Germany 
would not authorise the giving of regular missions, the 
missionary spirit animated the fathers -in all their work 
for souls. In the pulpit, in the confessional, and in their 
whole conduct the people could discern this, and flocked 
to such exercises as the circumstances allowed, so that 
without the name of mission many of the results of a 
mission were thus attained. 

One side of the development since St Clement's day 
seems to be this. The support of the fathers of the Insti- 
tute has been thrown in the mam on the people, whether 
on missions or at home. The title of patrimony has been 
given up, the gates of the Congregation have been thrown 
open to many who had none, and hence a great broadening- 
out of the sphere of labours has been possible, and the 
results have been great in proportion. 

Although it would be possible to find cases of missions 

1 Holer's Life of St Clement. 



THE REDEMPTORIST LIFE 7 

given during the lifetime of St Clement in Germany and 
elsewhere, it was only with the entry , of the Redemptorists 
hito Belgium in 1831 that they were able to undertake 
regularly that succession of fully organised missions which 
had been never totally interrupted in Italy, and which they 
must always look upon as the primary occupation for their 
apostolic zeal. From that moment the Redemptorists 
have never looked back, and though there have been 
periods long and bitter, when not only missions, but their 
very corporate existence has become impossible now in 
one, and now in another of the countries of continental 
Europe, it would be true to say that on the whole the work 
of the home missions as given by the Congregation has 
been an ever-increasing quantity. Accidental modifica- 
tions have had to be introduced in order to meet the needs 
and the customs of the different countries, but in substance 
the work goes on, reaping ever greater fruits of conversion, 
of sanctificatipn, and of edification among the Catholic 
populations of Christendom. 

Meanwhile, the introduction of the Institute into the 
United States of America about the same time as into 
Belgium paved the way to another development almost 
as great as that of the missions. But here, also, they 
were led not as they expected, but by the unforeseen trend 
of events and the guidance of Divine Providence. We 
know now that they went to America expecting to be 
employed hi the evangelisation of the Red Indian tribes, 1 
and, in fact, some of the first who went there put them- 
selves to infinite trouble hi order to undertake this work, 
but other imperious claims came in to divert them. They 
found swarms of Catholic immigrants from all the countries 
of Europe, but above all from Germany, and hi number 
far exceeding any Red Indians whom they could reach, 

1 Chronicle of the American Province. 



8 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

living without pastors or spiritual care, and in imminent 
danger of losing their Faith. They felt themselves bound 
to labour for these, and as their forces increased they were 
able to accomplish work of incalculable value in evangelising 
the immigrants, and thus saving them to the Church. Of 
course, parishes in the strict sense of the word did not 
exist, but the ordinary care of the faithful fell upon the 
Redemptorists, who gradually built up a set of German 
Catholic congregations which have proved to be amongst 
the most solid in America. Efforts have been made 
repeatedly to moderate the " quasi " parochial charge, or 
to found purely mission houses, but in vain. In fact, the 
position seems now pretty generally recognised that in 
countries such as America, where the clergy are supported 
directly by the faithful, and not by the Government as hi 
the European countries where until lately Catholicism has 
been the established religion of the State, the choice lies 
between assuming pastoral charge of the faithful who 
frequent the church, or planting the houses where there 
are no faithful to serve. The competition between paro- 
chial and non-parochial churches in centres of population 
is under these circumstances productive of jealousy, dis- 
order, and strife. 

Inasmuch as the Rule originally approved does not con- 
template the care of parishes, but looks to a frequented 
public church which is non-parochial, some difficulty arises. 
The General Chapter of 1921, while leaving the Rule as it 
stands, has assigned it to the Rector Major to decide what 
has to be done when the exigencies of our mission life, or 
the securing of a public working church would seem to 
require the acceptance of a parish as well. Roughly 
speaking, America and England are the only countries 
where hitherto this necessity has been recognised as at all 
general. On the other hand, some few examples may be 



THE REDEMPTORIST LIFE 9 

found in other lands, the chief of which is the Pontifical 
Church of St Jdachim hi Rome, which is parochial. 

Alongside of this development has come another- 
namely, the' giving-' of Retreats to nuns. In this case we 
are face to face with two outstanding facts, the one of 
which is the extraordinary increase of religious orders of 
women in nearly all the countries of Europe, as compared 
with Italy hi the time of St Alphonsus; the other is the lack 
of clergy both willing and able to conduct the religious 
exercises of a Retreat for this multiplicity of devoted souls. 
Resting on these two facts, the General Chapters, using 
the powers conferred on these assemblies by the Rule, and 
approved by the Holy See, have given a General Dis- 
pensation to the Congregation in this matter, so that at 
the present time the preaching of such Retreats has come 
to be regarded as one of the normal forms of missionary 
activity for Redemptorist fathers. 

There has been no extension of the original scope of the 
work in the direction of taking charge of seminaries or 
schools. It is true that all the provinces have what is 
called a Juvenate or Preparatory College to train boys for 
the novitiate when they offer themselves at too early an age 
to become novices. Such Institutions have become almost 
a necessity in order to provide a supply of subjects adequate 
to keep up the numbers. But, certainly, these are not 
colleges or schools in the ordinary sense of the term, as they 
do not accept pupils only for the purpose of giving them 
an education. None are accepted but those who hope 
eventually to become Redemptorists. Hence such Insti- 
tutions cannot be considered as against the original Rule, 
and seem to have existed in some embryonic form almost 
from the.beginning. 

That St Alphonsus always had a strong attraction for 
foreign missions is beyond doubt, and, in fact, he seems 



io THE REDEMPTORISTS 

himself to have thought of issuing forth as a foreign mis- 
sioner to South Africa. Furthermore, in his first draft of 
the Rule, it was required that the fathers should take a 
vow to go on missions to the heathen, should the Holy See 
demand it. But in the revision of the Rule made by the 
Roman censors, this provision was struck out as being 
unnecessary, the willingness of the fathers to undertake 
such missions at the command of the Pope being supposed 
as a matter of course. A foreign mission was proposed to 
the Holy Founder later on namely, an expedition to the 
East. Yet it was not to the heathen, but to the Nestorian 
heretics inhabiting Mesopotamia. For reasons which have 
not wholly come to light the proposal never resulted in any 
actual work being done. But the mind of St Alphonsus 
is so clear on the subject that there is ample reason for the 
subsequent declaration of Redemptorist Superiors that 
missions both to the heathen and to heretics or non- 
Catholics are not outside the scope of the Congregation, 
but entirely in accordance with it. As a matter of fact, 
as time goes on, these missions tend to take an ever- 
increasing part in the sum total of the labours of the 
Institute. The most extensive and thoroughgoing of 
these missions to the heathen at the present time is the 
Prefecture Apostolic of Matadi in the Congo, which is being 
worked by the Belgian fathers. But others are following 
suit, and we may look forward to still further increase in 
the future. 

The Apostolate of the Press, inaugurated we may say 
by the Holy Doctor St Alphonsus himself, continues to 
engage the attention of a considerable number of Redemp- 
torist fathers. A large proportion of this is concerned with 
periodical literature of a religious type. But above and 
beyond this, nearly every province can count amongst its 
members, past and present, the authors of works of im- 



THE REDEMPTORIST LIFE n 

portance in the literature of the Church. Here and there 
we find books written by Redemptorists on subjects of 
secular interest, but these are rather the exception than 
the rule. 

Thus the sons of St Alphonsus would seem to keep ever 
in mind the bright example set by the Saint of never losing 
tune, but, trying to fit themselves to be of use to the 
Kingdom of God hi whatever circumstances their labours 
may be required, the Apostle's warning: " Labour as a 
good soldier of Christ Jesus," must be ever ringing in their 
ears. A Redemptorist's life is one of labour, some hi one 
field, some hi another, but all directed proximately or 
remotely to that evangelising and saving of souls for which 
their Institute was founded. 

n 

Although devotion to the absorbing work of the missions 
constitutes a career of constant and exhausting labour, the 
Holy Founder was too deeply versed in the ways of God 
not to know that the spiritual life must come first. In a 
picturesque " obiter dictum " attributed to him he summons 
his followers to be " Apostles abroad and Carthusians at 
home." Hence he drew up hi the Rule a framework of 
daily life which would bring them face to face with the 
practice of the ulterior life at every turn. Three daily 
meditations, the double Examen of Conscience, Rosary and 
Visit to the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady, besides the 
greater obligations towards the Mass and Divine Office, go 
far to fill up the day with exercises of piety in succession. 
Moreover, the intervals were to be passed in recollection, 
fostered by seclusion, silence, and ejaculatory prayer. The 
Redemptorist in his own home, if he keeps his Rule, cannot 
get away from the direct worship of God from morning to 
night. 



12 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

But neither can he get away from his own brethren. 
The household forms a Community in the strictest sense 
of the word. That length of range or tether, once certain 
fundamental obligations are fulfilled, which is suitable to 
other forms of the religious life, is not meant for him. The 
common life, the common stock, the common table, the 
common recreation call for his attention, each in its own 
time and place. Even his vow of Poverty appeals to him 
more in its negation of anything special to himself, than in 
infliction of any notable privation. In his ranks there is 
no room for the hermit, and while the real Carthusian spends 
his day all alone with God in his solitary lodging, the 
Redemptorist has to meet his brethren, confer with them, 
help them, spare them, take share with them in nearly all 
the exercises of the order of the day. Hence anyone who 
has few social instincts, and wishes to go his own way 
without either the help or the hindrance which constantly 
consorting with others demands, is unlikely to find himself 
happy in a Redemptorist house. 

To the three simple but perpetual Vows of Poverty, 
Chastity, and Obedience, the Redemptorist adds a vow 
and oath of Perseverance in the Congregation until death. 
The dispensation from these vows and oath can only be 
given by the Pope or the Superior General. The obligation 
of the vows is of course taken in conformity with the pre- 
scriptions of the Canon Law, but all dignities, such as the 
Episcopate, are explicitly renounced. Practically only the 
command of the Pope can impose the duty of accepting a 
bishopric upon anyone who has been professed as a Re- 
demptorist. This was the way in which St Alphonsus 
himself was, in 1762, raised by the Pope to the episcopal 
see of St Agatha of the Goths. 

The ideal number of the members of a community is 
twelve fathers and seven lay brothers, but the surroundings 



THE REDEMPTORIST LIFE 13 

of the different houses and their work are so various that 
the size of the household has to vary considerably. Never- 
theless, the spirit of the community life is so strong that 
it is only with the greatest difficulty that foundations are 
accepted which do not allow of a considerable number 
inhabiting them. On the other hand, for individuals to 
stay long outside their own house, alone, whether for work 
or for convenience, is only permitted under the plea of 
some necessity. The almost infinite variety of scale on 
which the missionary labours are conducted may demand 
any strength of staff from the hundred fathers or more 
needed for a general mission in a large city, to the single 
missionary who can alone be occupied in the small village. 
But in any case, the staff should be adequate to the work. 

Obedience includes that which is paid to the regulations 
laid down in the Rules and .Constitutions, and that ren- 
dered to the various Superiors when in the sphere of 
authority entrusted to them they impose any commands on 
their subjects. Moreover, just as the pressure of the yoke 
of obedience is all the more constant, the more minute 
are the prescriptions of the Rule, so is the same thing true 
with regard to the guidance given by the living voice of 
authority. Both in the one respect and in the other the 
Redemptorist has ample opportunities to obey. It may 
be true to say that the average Redemptorist has not to 
face those great sacrifices to obedience which fall to the 
lot of the foreign missioner, or to the elite of certain other 
Institutes. But, on the other hand, it may perhaps be 
claimed that in the habitual reference of the countless 
occasions of daily life to the decision of his Superior's will, 
he has to deny self with a frequency that exceeds that of 
those who are left more to themselves in the religious life. 

The testimony of those best qualified to pronounce an 
opinion is that the Holy Founder meant to place the 



14 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

spirit of his Institute in the virtues of Humility and 
Simplicity of Heart. He put before his disciples in an 
especial way the model of our Redeemer, meek and lowly 
in his dealings with his flock, and exclaiming for their 
guidance: " Learn of me, because I am meek and humble 
of heart," as also that of his Apostle protesting: "For 
our glory is this, the testimony of our conscience that in 
simplicity of heart, and sincerity of God, and not in carnal 
wisdom, but in the grace of God, we have conversed in this 
world" (2 Cor. i 12). That these virtues are above all 
otners necessary to the members of an Institute whose 
principal object it is to preach the Gospel to the poor is 
patent. Hence, St Alphonsus never tired in his letters 
and conferences of impressing their value on his sons. This 
spirit must give a tone to the obedience of the true Re- 
demptorist, it must influence the expression of his charity 
towards his brethren, and it must impress its character 
upon his behaviour in treating with the faithful at large. 
It is true that the Constitutions exhort the members to 
labour without ceasing in the acquisition of knowledge, 
and pass all their lives among books, so as to become skilled 
in those branches of learning which shone so brightly in 
our Divine Redeemer, the Master of all. They remind us 
that an illiterate labourer, like an unarmed soldier, is useless 
to do the Church's work. Yet, to cultivate erudition ex 
professo is beside the scope of the Institute. The studies 
of its members should refer to their ministry in one way 
or another. The spirit of the Congregation warns them 
" not to mind high things, nor to be more wise than it 
behoveth to be wise, but to be wise unto sobriety and con- 
senting to the humble " (Rom. xii 3). If for any reason 
this or that father should have to devote himself beyond 
the ordinary limits to literary and scientific pursuits, this 
must always be with the approbation of his Superiors, 



THE REDEMPTORIST LIFE 15 

who then hold that in his case the good of the whole 
Institute or of the Church is involved. 

As to the devotions characteristic of the Institute,, for 
most religious orders are marked by such, few acquainted 
with the history of .St Alpnonsus and his sons will doubt 
that the dominant note of devotion in. the Congregation 
is that to the Blessed. Sacrament and to the Blessed Virgin. 
Formal Visits to the. Presence of our Lord in the Tabernacle 
have been fostered by the example and writings of St 
Alphonsus more perhaps than by any, one single influence. 
The same attraction is revealed in the care taken by the 
Saint to inculcate the greatest decorum and even splendour 
in the celebration of the public services in the churches, 
in the attention paid to the Forty Hours' Exposition of the 
Blessed Sacrament, and in the help given to the pious 
reception of Holy Communion. On the other hand, he 
made himself the Universal Apostle of devotion to most 
holy Mary, writing in her honour The Glories of Mary, 
preaching in her praise every Saturday, and directing 
that all the labours of the missioners should be put under 
her special protection. Every mission must be marked 
by a sermon on her intercession, every other sermon 
should contain some reference to her, and every oppor- 
tunity should be used to show love for her by trying, to 
enkindle that same love in the hearts of others. 

It would be hard to find a saint more imbued with a 
childlike love for the Mysteries of our Lord's infancy than 
the Founder of the Redemptorists. Few, indeed, were 
more distinguished for their love to the sorrowful Passion 
of our Saviour. On that subject, he warns his brethren, 
they will more profitably meditate than on any other. 
Since his time, as it would be idle to deny, the devotion 
to the Sacred Heart has received a wonderful impetus 
through papal pronouncements and the preaching of 



16 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

zealous priests, but it was no new form of piety to St 
Alphonsus, and his sons would be false to his example if 
they made little of it. Among the Patrons of the Con- 
gregation come St Joseph, St Michael, and especially all 
the Holy Apostles, whom the fathers have to look on as 
their exemplars and leaders in the life of missionary 
activity to which they are called. It is nourished on 
these solid devotions that the Redemptorists are to 
cultivate that interior spirit of piety which alone can give 
life and force to their exterior labours. 

in 

The Institute is governed by a Superior General, who 
also bears the traditional title of Rector Major. He is 
elected for life by a General Chapter convoked for this 
purpose, and resides in Rome. To aid him in the govern- 
ment of the Congregation there are six Consultors General, 
also elected by the same Chapter which chooses the Rector 
Major. They remain in office as long as the Rector Major 
remains in his, but if one should die or resign, a new 
Consultor is co-opted to take his place. At the same time 
a Procurator General is elected, whose duty it is to manage 
the temporal affairs of the Congregation, and to act as 
its agent in dealing with the Holy See. Forming part of 
the General's Curia are a certain number of other fathers 
to filj the offices of Secretary, Archivist, and such like. 
For the interval between the death of one Rector Major 
and the election of another, the government is in the hands 
of a Vicar General designated in writing by the late General 
before his death. 

The Congregation is divided into Provinces, of which, at 
the present time, there are about twenty. Each of these 
is presided over by a Provincial. The Provincials are 
appointed by the Rector Major for a period of three, years, 



THE REDEMPTORIST LIFE 17 

and are assisted in their office by two Provincial Consultors 
named in the same way. A Provincial Procurator is chosen 
to administer the temporal affairs of the Province, in the 
same way as the Procurator General does those of the whole 
Institute. Most of the Provinces have attached to them 
one or more external missions of sufficient importance to 
be called Vice-Provinces. These are under the care of a 
Vice-Provincial for each, aided by two Consultors, and 
exercising his office in due subjection to the Provincial of 
the Province on which his mission is dependent. 

The head of each fully established house is called the 
Rector. He also is assisted by two Consultors and an 
Admonitor. All these officials are nominated by the 
Rector Major for a period of three years, called a Trienniiim. 
But the Rectors at the end of their three years' term of 
office are eligible for another term of the same length, but 
not for a third, according to the prescriptions of the Codex 
of the Canon Law, unless a dispensation be obtained from 
the Holy See. The same is the method of appointment for 
the fathers who are made Prefects of Students, Masters of 
Novices, and Directors of the Juvenate, as well as for the 
Lectors, or Professors, in the House of Studies; but in their 
case there is no canonical difficulty in their being re- 
appointed again and again. 

It devolves on' the Rector to choose one of the fathers 
of his community and make him Minister. His duty is to 
manage the temporal affairs of the house, and to govern it 
in the absence of the Rector. In like manner the Rector, 
having heard what his Consultors have to say, appoints 
the minor officials, whose duty is to attend to the various 
departments of the activities of the community: the 
Prefects of the Church, of the Sick/of the Guests, of the 
Brothers and of the Library, as well as a Sub-Minister to 
aid the Minister in his work. It is the Minister's work, 



18 



THE REDEMPTORISTS 



assisted by the Sub-Minister, to assign their duties to the 
Lay Brothers. 

When the fathers live in a house not yet fully estab- 
lished, and called for this reason a Hospice or temporary 
lodging, the Rector Major sets over it a father with the 
title of Superior, not Rector, and his appointment is not 
for three years, but simply at the will of the Rector Major. 

Even outside the case of the death of the Superior 
General, a Chapter of the whole Institute is called every 
nine years to discuss the affairs which may require settle- 
ment, and likewise to make suitable regulations in ac- 
cordance with, and in explanation of, the Rules and Con- 
stitutions approved by the Holy See. Moreover, the 
authority to give a general and permanent dispensation 
from the Rule is restricted to the Chapter. It is com- 
prised of the Rector Major, his Consultors and Procurator, 
together with the Provincial and one elected representative 
from each Province. Appropriate rules have also been 
made for the representation of the Vice-Provinces. 

The following is the list of the General Chapters held 
from the beginning: 



I. Ciorani 

II. 
III. 1 

IV. 

V. 

VI. Pagani 
VII. 

JVIII. Ciorani 
\ Scifelli 

IX. Pagani 

X. ,, 



1743 

1743 (September) 

1744 (August) 
1747 

1749 

1755 
1764 

1783 
1785 
1793 
1802 



1 According to the reckoning adopted in 1747, the three former 
chapters were considered as one, that of 1747 being called the 
sejcojid. 



THE REDEMPTORIST LIFE 



XI. 
XII. 
XIII. 
XIV. 
XV. 
XVI. 
XVII. 
XVIII. 
XIX. 



11 
n 

Pagani 

Rome 

i> 
a 



1817 
1824 
1832 



1894 
1909 
1921 



CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF RECTORS MAJOR 

St Alphonsus . . 1743-1787 

1 /Francis di Paola .. 1780-1793 

\AndrewVillani .. 1787-1792 

Peter Paul Blasucci 1793-1816 

Nicnolas Mansione.. * 1817-1824 

Celestin M. Code . . 1824-1832 

John Camillus Ripoli 1832-1850 

Vincent Trapanese. . 1850-1853 

Joseph Lordi .. 1854 

l /Celestin Berruti .. 1855-1869 

\NicholasMauron .. 1855-1893 

Matthias Raus . . 1894-1909 

Patrick Miuray . . 1909. 

1 During the division of the Congregation. 



II 

PAST HISTORY OF THE 
CONGREGATION 

I. THE FOUNDATION 

THE Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer is 
not one of those institutions which have sprung, 
so to speak, fully armed from the head and heart 
of their Founder, as some Religious Orders may be said 
to have done. Neither had it after its birth the rapid and 
almost miraculous growth which distinguished others. 
It was only developed slowly and gradually, under the 
strokes of adversity, and amid very difficult surroundings. 
This applies both to its Rules and to its numerical ex- 
tension. Perhaps in this it partakes to some degree in 
the gradual and long-drawn-out advance to sanctity which 
marked the earthly career of its Founder. But, at the same 
time, it can hardly be doubted that much of its slow 
growth was due to the very unfavourable character of the 
epoch in which it was planted. That it survived at all 
amidst such hostile influences was something of a portent. 
That it did not shoot up at once into something great was 
what must have been expected as a necessity. Anyhow, 
it took almost a century from its establishment to make 
it a Religious Order stretching into the various Provinces 
of the Catholic Church. And a century had been enough 
in the case of some Orders not only to make them world- 
wide, but to make them already enjoy some of the fruits of 
their Golden Age ! 

We have to seek the cradle of the Redemptorist Con- 
gregation in the kingdom of Naples in the first half of the 

20 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 21 

eighteenth century. It was begun there by Don Alphonsus 
de' Liguori, son of a Neapolitan gentleman employed in 
the Royal Navy of that kingdom. Alphonsus was born at 
Naples on the 27th September, 1696. Don Joseph Liguori, ^ 
his father, and Donna Anna Cavalieri, his mother, joined 
their pious care, each in their own way, to watch over the 
early years of their son, and to guide his early training. 

In this way the' young Alphonsus had every assistance 
to lead a life of innocence and piety, as well as to profit 
by the excellent education which was provided for him. 
His early studies were done, not at a school, but at home," 
under the tuition of able and experienced masters. When 
the branches of a home training were supplemented by the 
technical studies needed to fit him for the legal profession 
chosen for -him by- his father, Alphonsus made such rapid 
progress 'that at the age of sixteen he was thought not 
unworthy to receive the degree of Doctor of Laws, and 
henceforth embarked on the barrister's career. In this he 
was phenomenally successful, until an error of importance, 
which he had unwittingly committed in defending a case 
before the courts, led him to lose his suit, and disgusted 
him with the precarious honours of fame at the Bar; As 
a layman he led a most edifying and pious life, spending his 
leisure time in visiting the sick, in prayer, and in adoration 
before the Blessed Sacrament. When his fervour was in 
danger of flagging, he Was wont to renew it by going into 
Retreat in the house of the Vincentian Fathers. But his 
breakdown in court had prof oundly affected him, and he 
determined to leave the world and devote himself to the 
salvation of souls. Nor were there wanting supernatural 
warnings to draw him along the same path. One day, 
while at the Hospital of the Incurables on an errand of 
charity, he heard a mysterious voice speaking to him: 
" Leave the world and give thyself to me." Henceforth 



22 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

nothing could stop him, neither the entreaties of his father 
that he would continue his legal practice, nor the repeated 
efforts of that same ill-judging though devoted parent to 
arrange for him attractive matrimonial alliances. He gave 
up his inheritance as the eldest son to his brother Hercules, 
and put on the clerical dress, discarding the picturesque 
garb of a Neapolitan gentleman, and laying his sword at 
the feet of our Lady's statue in the church of our Lady of 
Ransom in Naples. This event happened in 1723, -when 
Alphorisus was twenty-six years of age. 

Alphonsus now devoted himself to the ecclesiastical 
studies preparatory to the holy priesthood, but continued 
at first to live in his father's house. His wide range of 
previous acquirement made the period necessary for his 
further grounding all the shorter. He attended the classes 
of several renowned professors of theology, he kept up his 
former devout practices of zeal and piety, and even added 
to them. He received the Tonsure and Minor Orders in 
1724, the Subdiaconate in 1725, the Diaconate in 1726, 
and with this last came the faculty to preach in the Neapoli- 
tan churches. His first sermon was on the Most Holy 
Sacrament of the Altar. On the 2ist of December, 1726, 
at the age of thirty he was ordained priest, and on the 
f ollowing day celebrated his first Mass with the most tender 
piety and thankfulness to God. 

To the work of preaching, to which he devoted himself 
with ever-increasing ardour, Alphonsus was now able to 
add other labours of apostolic zeal. There was the hearing 
of confessions; and so great was his success in this, that his 
confessional soon became surrounded with a host of peni- 
tents of all ages and ranks. There was also what is known 
as the work of the Chapels a kind of confraternity of 
men which met in certain chapels of the churches of 
Naples on Sundays and holidays hi order to progress in 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 23 

common meditation and other exercises of the spiritual 
life. His work gained so great an extension as to spread 
over nearly the whole city, and still subsists, the source 
of untold blessings of piety and zeal to the Neapolitan 
people. Many of its leading spirits owed their conversion 
to Alphonsus, and as long as he remained in the city he 
was its guiding star and inspiration, now in one locality of 
the city, and now in another. 

In order to give more freedom in the press of work that 
had gathered round him, Alphonsus left his' father's house 
in June, 1629, and went to live in the Chinese College, 
lately founded by Father Matthew Ripa, receiving charge 
of the little church attached to that foundation. 

He found further outlets for the zeal for souls which 
devoured him hi becoming a member of the Society of secular 
priests called that of the Apostolic Missions, popularly 
known as the Propaganda, not, of course, to be confounded 
with the Roman Congregation of that name. .At one time 
he had thought of joining the Chinese Missionary Society 
under Father Ripa, at another he was attracted to the 
Congregation of the Oratory, under whose spiritual guidance 
most of his youth had been passed. But God had other 
designs for him, which tune alone gradually revealed. He 
had already taken part in missions and similar exercises 
given by the Neapolitan Propaganda, when his health 
completely broke down and he was brought to death's 
door. Some twenty exercises of this kind had proved too 
much for his physical strength, though insufficient to satisfy 
his boundless zeal for the salvation of souls. 

With a view to taking a little rest from his labours, as 
soon as he could travel, Alphonsus with one or two chosen 
companions left Naples in the month of May for the little 
seaside town of Scala, which was a bishop's see on the Gulf 
of Salerno some twenty miles from Naples. He was offered 



24 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

a little hermitage with chapel adjoining on the mountain 
side, about four miles from the town. Unable to abstain 
entirely, even hi times of recreation, from their missionary 
labours, Alphonsus and his companions began to instruct 
and exhort the wandering herdsmen of the neighbouring 
mountains, who found their way from time to time to the 
little hermitage. The reception they met with made such 
an impression on these poor countrymen that they began 
to spread the report of it far and wide, so that the number 
of rustic visitors increased daily. In fact, the spiritual 
work done amongst them took on the character of a sort 
of popular mission. Then the reputation of Alphonsus' 
zeal and eloquence penetrated into Scala itself, and the 
holy missionary was invited by the bishop to speak hi his 
Cathedral. 

This he did with such remarkable success that he was 
invited to return and preach a Novena there in the follow- 
ing September. He was next asked to give a Conference 
to the nuns enclosed in the Convent of the Most Holy 
Saviour. Here, too, he found such acceptance that- he 
was asked to give them a Retreat when he should return for 
the Novena in the Cathedral, This acquaintance with 
the pious community of nuns at Scala proved to be the 
opening leading him on in God's providence to the great 
work of founding the Redemptorist Congregation. 

The Convent at Scala, though existing as a religioushouse 
only since 1719, had already passed through several 
vicissitudes. At the beginning of that year it was only a 
community of pious women, living together, but without 
any approved Rule, and sadly bereft of spiritual guidance 
from without. It was at this juncture in its fortunes that 
it came under the influence of Thomas Falcoja, at that time 
a zealous missionary among the so-called Pii 0-perarii, but 
destined in the future to be inseparably connected both 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 25 

with the development of the Convent at Scala and with the 
vocation of St Alphonsus. 

Thomas Falcoja was born in Naples on the i6th of 
May, 1663, and in his youth led a life of spotless innocence 
and fervent piety. After a brilliant course of studies, at 
the age of twenty he joined the missionary congregation of 
the Pii Operarii with a mind already matured and a soul 
full of zeal. No sooner was he ordained than his Superiors 
sent him to. Rome to found the house of their order at 
Santa Balbina. Here he remained for twenty years, 
edifying clergy and laity alike by his spirit of prayer, his 
activity .on the missions, and his enthusiasm for the con- 
version of sinners, which reached even to the Jews and 
Mahometans. But in the last year of his sojourn in Rome 
an event occurred which stirred his soul to its depths. 

He was walking on the banks of the Tiber one day, when 
he saw a vision in which he was shown that God willed the 
foundation of a new religious family of men and women 
whose aim should be, though in different ways, to imitate 
the life and virtues of our Saviour. He was so persuaded 
of the truth of this, and that he was the one designated to 
give form to this Institute, that he was henceforth con- 
tinually seeking means to begin it. Failure followed failure 
in his different attempts. Transferred to Naples in 1710, 
he essayed to make a start there. Elected General of his 
Order in 1714, he had to devote himself entirely to its 
government. But no sooner was he free again from this 
charge than he made a further attempt, and even gathered 
twelve priests for the purpose. Still, after a while, these 
were again dispersed, and his efforts for the time came to 
nothing. 

In 1720, with the consent of his Superior, he undertook 
the work of reorganising the Convent at Scala, twelve new 
aspirants having joined the knot of pious women already 



26 THE REDEMPTORISTS- 

in community. Falcoja gave them, as at least a temporary 
guide, the Rule of the Visitation Nuns, which was accepted, 
while he himself was unsparing in his viva voce guidance of 
the little flock. In 1724 a quite remarkable person joined 
the band in the person of Sister Maria Celeste Crostarosa. 
She had been already in a Carmelite Convent where Falcoja 
had given a Retreat, and when this Convent was dissolved, 
he had offered her and two of her fellow religious a refuge 
in the Scala Community. Some six months after her 
reception into the house God bestowed upon her, according 
to her own testimony in her autobiography, extraordinary 
spiritual favours. One of these was the inspiration, as she 
felt it to be, that God intended to make use of her for the 
foundation of a new religious order. 

She was told all the details as to the habit to be worn, and 
the spirit which was to animate its members, which latter 
was to consist in the imitation of the life and virtues of 
Jesus Christ. She was further commanded to communicate 
all to Falcoja, the spiritual director of the Convent. 

When Falcoja came to learn the points of the revelation 
which Sister Maria Celeste told him she had received, they 
made upon him the most powerful impression that any 
message from another world could produce. It carried him 
back over the last fifteen years to the vision he had had 
in Rome on the banks of the Tiber. The idea that in God's 
good time he was to be instrumental in this great work 
had never left him. And here, again, he found the outline 
of the Institute with two branches, but both devoted to the 
imitation of Jesus Christ; the one to reproduce the mis- 
sionary life of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, the other to 
imitate his hidden life of prayer and of mortification. He 
read the written account which the Sister transmitted to 
him with the most scrupulous attention. From caution 
he at first forbade her to pay any attention to the idea, but 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 27 

the more he read the more he admired, and not to rely 
on his own judgement alone, he submitted the manuscript 
to a number of theologians, asking their opinion as to the 
suitability of the outline drawn out as a Rule for the Scala 
Community. Did they but adopt it, half of his long- 
cherished plan was on the eve of accomplishment. The 
reply was favourable, but he was warned that the consent 
of the community to the change of rule would have to be 
obtained. Fortified by this counsel, Falcoja, after ex- 
plaining all point by point, put the question to the members 
of the house one by one. In chapter all were unanimous 
for the acceptance of the new Rule with the exception of 
the Superioress, who declared that Father Filangieri, 
Superior of the Pit Operarii, ought to be consulted. The 
result of consulting him was that he opposed the plan 
utterly, treated Sister Maria Celeste as a visionary, and 
forbade Falcoja to have anything more to do with the 
affairs of the Convent. The latter, crushed but resigned, 
submitted himself in all simplicity to the command of 
his Superior, and waited for God's good time. 

It was in the years which followed these events that 
Falcoja met Alphonsus at the Chinese College. He had 
already heard of the young priest, whose zeal had wrought 
so many conversions at Naples, but there had been ho 
opportunity for personal intercourse. No sooner did they 
meet than the closest friendship sprang up between them. 
Falcoja seemed to see again in Alphonsus the virtues he 
had admired in his former friend, the late Bishop Cavalieri 
of Troja, who was Alphonsus' uncle. Just then the 
bishopric of Castellamare was offered to Falcoja by the 
Emperor Charles VI. The humble religious examined the 
proposition carefully, but at last, reflecting that Castellamare 
was close to Scala, and that the episcopate would set him 
free and enable him to direct the Convent as seemed best, 



28 THE REDEMPTOKlSfS '. 

he accepted the appointment, and was consecrated in 
Rome on the 8th of October, 1730. 

The nuns at Scala were overjoyed at the election of 
their first director to the episcopate, and wrote begging him 
to come to them as soon as he possibly could. He replied 
that he would be unable to come to them for some months, 
but that in the meantime he was sending them a man after 
God's own heart, Don Alphonsus de* Liguori, who would 
give them their Retreat and hear their Confessions. In 
fact, he had asked Alphonsus after giving the Retreat he 
had promised hi the Cathedral to go on to the Convent 
and give the Retreat there. 

It was in response to this invitation that our Saint left 
Naples for Scala in 1730, and having finished the Novena, 
proceeded to the Convent for the Retreat. He went some- 
what unfavourably impressed by the. reports he had heard 
concerning the nuns, but proceeded to listen patiently to 
the members of the community and to preach to them. 
The exercises produced a singularly deep effect on the nuns, 
stirring them to a higher degree of fervour. They were 
delighted with him, and begged him to return. 

Falcoja was now able to resume the direction of the 
Convent, and the drawing up of new rules for its govern- 
ment. He made use of Alphonsus to supplement any 
instructions he could give the community, and also entrusted 
to hun the revision of his manuscript of the Rules. At last, 
on Pentecost Sunday, 1731, the nuns accepted the new 
Rule, and on the Feast of the Transfiguration following were 
clothed in the new habit of red with a blue cloak which has 
ever since been the garb of the Redemptoristines. Episcopal 
approbation .was obtained at once, and later on the more 
general one which it belongs to the Holy See to grant. 

On the 3rd of October Sister Maria Celeste had a visioil in 
which she saw Alphonsus as the head of the new Institute 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 29 

for men which was to be the counterpart of that for women. 
She informed Falcoja of this, and though affecting at first 
incredulity, he sent for Alphonsus to Castellamare, and 
told him of his firm conviction that he was the one chosen 
by God to raise up in the Church the new Institute which 
would fulfil the longings he had had, and would do good to 
souls by the preaching of missions and spiritual exercises. 
Alphonsus was full of amazement, and protested that he 
already had much work before him as a member of the 
Neapolitan Propaganda. Moreover, he said, he was in- 
capable of such a great and difficult work. Falcoja bade 
him consult his Director, Father Pagano of the Oratory. 
Alphonsus did so, and to his surprise, after a period of 
hesitation, the latter expressed his firm belief that the 
call was from God. To make assurance doubly sure, he 
counselled him to ask the advice of one or two enlightened 
men. Both these, Father Cutica, the Jesuit Provincial, 
and Father Manulio, Superior of the Vincentians, after a 
careful examination of the scope of the proposed Institute, 
pronounced in favour of the plan, and advised Alphonsus 
to follow the leading of Divine Providence therein mani- 
fested. There was opposition from his relatives> more 
opposition from the Chinese College, -more again from the 
Superiors of the Propaganda. However, on the 5th of 
November, 1732, Alphonsus was able to free himself from 
all these ties and leave Naples for Scala to make a begin- 
ning of his new enterprise. 

The inauguration took place in the Cathedral at Scala 
on. the gth of November in the morning. After a long 
meditation, Mass was said by Mgr. Falcoja, and then the 
TeDeum was recited. The Lodge of the Convent became 
the first abode of the new community. But few of those 
who intended ultimately to join had been able to dispose 
of their affairs hi Naples soon enough to be present at 



30 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

the beginning. However, Falcoja was able to assemble in 
the tiny foundation, besides St Alphonsus, the priests v 
Mannarini, Donate, Romano, and the two laymen, Vito 
Curzio and Silvestro Tosquez. The apparitions were 
renewed in the chapel during the days preceding the gth, 
showing the Cross surrounded by the instruments of the 
Passion resting on three mounds, which had been seen by 
Falcoja, Alphonsus, and the others in the Sacred Host, and 
made a deep impression on them all: probably they are 
the origin of the device which still forms the Arms of the 
Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer. Don Donato 
was named Superior by Falcoja. 

The subsequent days were spent in conference as to the 
Rules which were to form the external framework of their 
lives. So far there was but little in writing, but there was 
common consent that the outline shown in vision to Sister 
Maria Celeste should form the general plan. It was when 
it came to filling in that plan in detail that differences of 
opinion began to make themselves felt. Alphonsus thought 
that the work for the souls of others should be mainly done 
by the means of missions, retreats, and similar exercises. 
Some wished to introduce not only primary but also 
secondary education in schools. Some thought the 
imitation of our Redeemer should be symbolised, as in 
the case of the nuns, by a red and blue habit; others wished 
to retain the ordinary cassock and cotta of the Neapolitan 
clergy. Alphonsus aimed at the recitation of the Office 
in common: this did not recommend itself to all. Similar 
differences arose about poverty and other things. Clearly 
only authority could settle, such points as these. To 
Falcoja, as an authoritative interpreter of the main idea, 
Mannarini, Tosquez, and Romano would not bow. On 
the other hand, Alphonsus looked on Falcoja as his 
divinely appointed guide, both in the internal and external 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 31 

forum, and plainly declared that he would be led, not by 
visions or revelations, but by unreserved obedience: on this 
subject division of view was to be pushed to breaking point. 

Eventually Mannarini, Tosquez, and Romano left Scala, 
on the ist of April, -1723, to found a Congregation under the 
title of the Most Holy Sacrament at Teano, and then 
Alphonsus was left alone with Caesar Sportelli, who was 
studying for the priesthood, and the lay brother Vito Curzio. 
Donato was still there as chaplain to the nuns, but never 
seems to have intended to join Alphonsus as a member of 
the Congregation. The departure of the two dissidents was 
soon followed by that of Sister Maria Celeste from the 
Convent at Scala. Remaining firm in her opposition to 
the guidance of Falcoja, she was allowed to depart by the 
Superior, and went first to Nocera and thence to the 
Carmelite Convent at Foggia, where she died with the re- 
putation of sanctity in 1755 . The cause of her beatification 
has been introduced. 

Alphonsus now found himself almost alone to begin his 
work anew. To be better able to lead a life secluded 
from the world and its noise, he and his two companions 
moved about July, 1733, from the Convent Lodge, into 
a small house on the hillside overlooking Scala, which was 
known as the Casa d'Anastasio. It was small and ill 
furnished, but they were able to fit up a little chapel, and 
in the garden was a kind of grotto which served them for 
a place of retreat and solitary prayer. Here,. for some 
months, the life was that of the most austere and mortified 
religious. The missions, .which had been begun before the 
departure of Mannarini and his partisans, at least with 
two such exercises namely, at Tramonti and Ravello 
must perforce be interrupted now that Alphonsus was alone. 
Nevertheless, there were signs that several of Alphonsus' 
former friends were being called to share his vocation, and 



32 THE REDEMPTOR1STS 

he was further encouraged next year by the offer of another 
house, made in the name of the Bishop of Cajazzo by the 
priest Don Xayier Rossi, who proposed afterwards to join 
Alphonsus himself. Under those circumstances the Saint, 
after consulting Falcoj a, betook himself to this house 
at Villa dei Schiavi, leaving the others meanwhile at Scala 
under the priest Pietro Romano. Meanwhile, one of our 
Saint's former friends, Januarius Sarnelli, already a priest, 
had made up his mind to join the Congregation, and 
after taking part hi a mission, and then preaching the 
Novena of St Michael at Scala, took up his residence with 
the community there hi May, 1734. In the same way 
Joseph Mazzini, a secular priest whom Alphonsus had 
likewise known hi Naples, joined him at Villa dei Schiavi 
in August. A regular Novitiate was established in this 
place in the following April, and though out of the ten who 
were expected to present themselves the majority dropped 
off, the solid vocations of others, such as Rossi, Mazzini, 
and Sportelli, gave promise of future growth. The Holy 
Founder, by Falcoj a's direction, gave himself chiefly to 
the training of those new recruits, and by his example still 
more than by his words, led them along a path of the 
strictest self-denial and the most ardent love of God. 

A third foundation had been offered by the relatives of 
Don Januarius Sarnelli, as early as 1734, at Ciorani, a village 
in the diocese of Salerno, where his father, the Baron Sarnelli, 
owned large estates. Nothing could be done at the time, 
but when it was found that the prospects were not too 
brilliant, either at Villa or at Scala, Falcoj a urged Alphonsus 
to close with the offer. Consequently an agreement was 
entered into with/ the Sarnelli family in the following year 
as to the terms of the foundation, and on the 5th of March, 
1736, Alphonsus, accompanied by Father Rossi and Brother 
Gennaro, took possession. Temporary accommodation, 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 33 

of the poorest kind indeed, was found for them in the 
baron's house, but in the month of July the building of the 
monastery s and church on the site provided was com- 
menced. 

Meanwhile, things were not going well at Villa. The 
cordial reception given at first had changed into in- 
difference, or open hostility. Calumny and persecution 
paralysed the labours of the fathers. At last Falcoja, who 
had never toped much from this foundation, directed its 
abandonment, and hence the four fathers and two brothers 
who made up the community left secretly in June, 1737, 
and restored the. keys into the hands of the bishop, to his 
great grief. 

Neither did the affairs of the Congregation prosper better 
at Scala. The people of this place, while willing to use the 
spiritual ministrations of the fathers in preaching and in 
teaching the children, refused to make any provision for 
their support. Falcoja and Alphonsus consulted as to 
what was to be done, and on the 25th of August, 1738, the 
subjects who were in Scala received orders to leave and 
transfer themselves to Ciorani. Romano then dropped off 
from the community, but the other two joined their 
confreres at the new foundation. 

Here, then, was another new starting-point. There re- 
mained now but one foundation, that of Ciorani, and at this 
place Alphonsus assembled all his companions. In 1738 
there ; were five priests: Alphonsus himself, who was made 
Rector by Falcoja, Sportelli, Mazzini, Villani, Rossi, with 
four lay brothers. Sarnelli had gone back to his work in 
Naples. Ciorani, which still remains a house of the Con- 
gregation, has always been considered in some ways its 
cradle, and its first really solid resting-place. Here it was 
that the Holy Founder as Rector, for the next five years, 
led in the highest perfection that mixed life of prayer and 

' '' '3 



34 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

apostolic labour which had been his own ideal, and with 
which he now strove to inspire the little band who were 
gathered around him. On the other hand, the work of the 
missions, which had never been lost sight of even in the days 
when Alphonsus was almost alone, could now be under- 
taken in more regular fashion. The instability of those 
who had left made those who remained desirous to bind 
themselves more definitely to the work. Hence, on the 
2ist of July, 1740, they made their vowi which was that of 
Perseverance in the Congregation, in the hands of Falcoja. 
The little band grew but slowly, yet under Falcoja's 
fostering care, and led not only in burning words but with 
the shining of his example by St Alphonsus, the foundations 
gradually sank deeper. 

In 1743 Mgr. Falcoja died at Castellamare, being assisted 
at his deathbed by Sportelli, who almost equally with 
Alphonsus had been his beloved disciple and penitent. 
As soon as it was feasible after this, a Chapter of the 
Fathers was held at Ciorani viz.-, on the nth of May, 
1743. After the celebration of Holy Mass, and after three 
fruitless scrutinies by .vote, St Alphonsus was at the 
fourth scrutiny elected Superior General by the assembled 
fathers, who were Fathers Sportelli, Mazzini, Rossi, Villani, 
Cafaro, and Giordano. Up to this time St Alphonsus had 
acted under obedience to Falcoja, first as a subject under 
Don Giulio Romano at Scala, and then as local Rector at 
Villa, and lastly at Ciorani. Henceforth he was Rector 
Major and Superior General for life, for the Rule made this 
office, not for a mere term of years, but to last for the life- 
time of the father elected to hold it. 

Already, before Falcoja's death, negotiations had been 
set on foot for another foundation at Pagani, in the diocese 
of Nocera. Hence, after the Chapter, Alphonsus had to 
divide his little flock between this new centre of labour 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 35 

and Ciorani. Remaining as Superior himself at Ciorani, 
with Fathers Rossi, Villani, and Cafaro, the last of whom 
he chose as his Spiritual Director now that his beloved guide 
was dead, and with the brothers Andrew and Gennaro, 
Sportelli was made by him Superior at Pagani, with Fathers 
Mazzini arid Giordano and Brothers Vitus, Curtius, and 
Francis. Here, as everywhere, the cross cast its shadow 
over the enterprise, but eventually all opposition was over- 
come, and a new church and monastery built. And to the 
opposition which came from outside was now added the pain 
of separation from beloved companions snatched away by 
death. In 1744 died Alphonsus' old friend and companion, 
Don Januarius Sarnelli, who breathed his last at Naples 
on the soth of June with the reputation of heroic sanctity. 
The cause of his Beatification has since been introduced. 
He had lived in the community but a few months, and this 
at the very beginning of its existence, but on his return to 
Naples laboured there with the zeal of an apostle by 
preaching and by writing quite a number of excellent 
spiritual books, till he fell exhausted by his labours at the 
early age of forty-two. At Pagani, within a year of its 
establishment, died the zealous young Father Giordano. 

But new companions were now coming in more than 
sufficient to take the places of those who had gone. The 
Novitiate again comprised ten candidates. The labours 
of the missionary field were ever on the increase. Hence 
it came to pass that the Holy Founder was able to consider 
proposals for still other centres for the activity of the 
Congregation. 

the year 1744 saw Alphonsus with a band of his com- 
panions established at Iliceto, a solitary sanctuary dedicated 
to Our Lady of Consolation in the diocese of Troja. In order 
to preside in person over the community and to help them 
over their initial difficulties, Alphonsus fixed his own 



36 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

residence at Iliceto from 1744 to 1747, and brought the 
Novices here as to a spot secluded from disturbance and 
the presence of seculars. But life was hard, and means 
were scanty to the point of destitution in the new abode, 
and in 1747 Novice Master and Novices were brought back 
to Ciorani, to which house Alphonsus also returned a few 
months later. He had, however, already accepted a fourth 
foundation at Caposele in the diocese of Salerno in 1746, 
where Sportelli was made Superior; Father Mazzini re- 
placing him in the government of the house at Pagani. 

Alphonsus had now four houses, and the number of his 
companions was increasing rapidly. The following years 
were given by him to the vital work of training his junior 
subjects, and the equally momentous enterprise of securing 
a more general approbation for his Institute than the local 
authorisation of bishops on which he had hitherto rested. 
Alphonsus began this latter undertaking by approaching the 
civil authorities of the kingdom of Naples. It was with 
a view to obtaining recognition from the King and the 
Royal Council that he made repeated visits to the capital 
in 1748, sometimes prolonging his stay for several months. 
He drew up a petition, explaining the work of the Con- 
gregation. This was sent to the Council, and the Holy 
Founder passed from one to another of the members and 
their officials, endeavouring to enlist their interest and 
secure their favourable vote. But the obstacles were great 
indeed. The irreligious spirit of the times, the exaggerated 
regalism of the court and the court clergy, the jealousy of 
ecclesiastics, all combined to withstand any plan for setting 
up any new religious order in the country. Alphonsus 
joined memorandum to petition and verbal explanations to 
both, but it was all in vain. After six months of waiting 
he had to leave Naples without having obtained the royal 
approval, but not without having received the fertile sug- 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 37 

gestion that it would be easier and more to the point to 
apply for the approval of the Holy See than for that of the 
State. To this, then, he now addressed himself. He sent 
Father Villani as his envoy to Rome, armed with a copy 
of the Rules drawn up by Falcoja and himself, and also 
provided with introductions to Cardinals and Prelates 
capable of furthering the object he had in view. 

The Roman negotiations cost Father Villani months of 
weary waiting and tiresome attendance upon the various 
authorities concerned, but at last his efforts, supported 
by the prayers of Alphonsus and all his confreres, were 
crowned with success. On the 25th of February, 1749, 
a Papal Brief appeared approving of the Congregation. 
Some few changes were made. The title was changed from 
that of the Most Holy Saviour to that of the Most Holy 
Redeemer; the sum allowed for permanent income was 
increased; the vow to go on foreign missions at the Pope's 
command was deleted; the office of Rector Major was 
retained as a lifelong appointment. The Holy Founder 
was overjoyed at the result. He ordered thanksgiving to 
be offered up publicly in all the houses, and expressed his 
gratitude to the Sovereign Pontiff. Soon after (gth 
November, 1752) he obtained a decree from the King 
tolerating the four existing houses, with the proviso that 
no more were to be founded, but without recognising 
the corporate existence of the Congregation. With this 
Alphonsus had perforce to be satisfied, and was sanguine 
enough to hope that in some way he was now at liberty to 
proceed with his work, meantime cherishing the belief that 
later on something more positive might perhaps be gained 
from the royal authorities. 

On the other hand, his numbers were growing, and his 
apostolic work on the missions was developing. His 
Novitiate was full, and he had organised a regular course 



38 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

of studies for those aspiring to the priesthood. He had one 
bad set-back in the departure of the Abbot Muscari with 
four students. This clever but inconstant man had been 
admitted without Novitiate from the Basilian Order, 
and had been entrusted with the direction of the studies. 
But he soon grew tired of the Redemptorist life, and left, 
taking with him a portion of the flock of students entrusted 
to him. Still, this defection was before very long repaired. 
Other and more trustworthy professors were found in the 
ranks of the fathers, and Alphonsus had again a flourishing 
body of students at Pagani. 

The work of the missions, too, might now be said to be 
fully organised. Alphonsus could point to a total of about 
forty missions a year, given by one or other of his four 
houses in the different dioceses of the kingdom of Naples. 
The fathers went on horseback in bands of varying number, 
but never less than two, from one town or village to another 
for eight or nine months of the year, and then returned to 
the regular routine of a strict religious life in their own 
houses. Their simple forcible preaching, their assiduity in 
the confessional, where they aspired to hear the whole 
population of the places where they went, and the edifying, 
austerity of their lives combined to produce the deepest 
impression wherever they went. Often whole districts 
were changed from neglect and universal setting at naught 
of the morality of the Gospel into homes of piety and the 
Christian life. Great was the reputation which Alphonsus 
and his companions gradually acquired in those parts of 
the country which had benefited by their labours. 

It was during these years, moreover, that Alphonsus was 
beginning in real earnest the composition of that long 
series of books, which give him such an ample title to the 
honours of Doctor of the Universal Church. He had already 
years before published a few small ascetical works: the 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 39 

Visits -to the Blessed Sacrament, and a small collection. of 
pious Hymns. It was in 1748 that he published the first 
edition of his Moral Theology, in the form of Notes to the 
work of the Jesuit Theologian Busembaum. Soon after 
this namely, in 1750 appeared the renowned Glories of 
Mary. But Alphorisus was still working hard in the 
intervals between his missions and other external labours 
at his Moral Theology, so that in 1754 a second volume 
appeared. He dedicated it to the reigning Pontiff Bene- 
dict XIV, from whom he received a gracious letter of 
acknowledgement. 

Henceforward his career as a writer was secure. Scarcely 
a year passed without some new publication from his pen. 
As to the Moral Theology, as its merits became more widely 
known, edition after edition was called for, so that before 
he died the- ninth was already in the hands of the clergy. 
Moreover, the Saint epitomised and abbreviated it, both 
in Latin and in Italian, so that these shorter works might 
be at the service of those who were not equal to the study 
of the more extended volumes. 

There was some considerable interval before a fifth 
foundation was added to the four which have been spoken 
about above, and in the meantime, though the Congregation 
had grown, Alphonsus had to lament the death of many 
of his original companions. Saraelli died hi 1744, and 
Sportelli in 1750, Then came the death of Father Cafaro 
in 1753, and of Father Rossi in 1758. The heroic lay brother 
St Gerard Majella, whose shining virtues and supernatural 
gifts have caused his being raised to the Altar by the Papal 
Decree of Canonisation (nth December, 1904), lived the 
Redemptorist life from 1749 to 1755, when he die4, only 
in his thirtieth year, but already ripe through his con- 
summate sanctity for the life of eternity. 

All this tune AJphonsus could not but feel that the 



40 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

grudging toleration of the Neapolitan government formed 
a precarious support for his Congregation. Hence, when 
it was suggested to him that he would gain in stability 
by setting up houses outside the jurisdiction of the authori- 
ties at Naples, he welcomed the idea. Such an opportunity 
offered itself in 1755 in the duchy of Benevento, which, 
though tossed to and fro between the Papal States and the 
kingdom of Naples, happened at that date to be counted 
as part of the Pope's dominions. With the warm approval 
of the Archbishop a villa was offered to the fathers at 
St Angelo a Cupolo, some four miles from the city of Bene- 
vento, and in a central situation for missionary work. 
Father Villani was sent by Alphonsus as Superior of the 
new foundation, and he was soon joined by Father De 
Robertis and others. The house proved exceedingly 
useful, both on account of the new field of labour it opened 
out, and also because of its political position alluded to 
above. Alphonsus gave a mission in the Cathedral at 
Benevento, and the results more than justified the highest 
hopes that had been formed. 

Turning in another direction, an opportunity occurred 
soon after this of extending the missionary labours of the 
fathers to Calabria, which in those days was regarded as a 
distant and especially arduous field. Alphonsus was not 
able to accompany his fathers in person. But a missionary 
band went forth to evangelise the rustic inhabitants of that 
province hi 1756, and another in 1757. In both cases it 
was a question, not of a single mission, but of a whole 
series of these exercises. The effect produced was so great 
that the grateful people endeavoured to secure a permanent 
foundation in then* midst, and even sent to Naples to ask 
for the royal permission. But the spirit of the times was 
against the extension of religious establishments, and leave 
was refused. This was only reversed hi 1790 after 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 41 

Alphonsus' death, when the King himself asked for the 
fathers for foundations in Calabria. These were accepted 
and occupied, but the more recent persecutions have put 
an end to them all 

In the following year (1758) the first dawn of an attempt 
to share in the foreign missionary labours of the Church 
appeared to Alphonsus, and was warmly welcomed by him. 
Personally, he had had repeated yearnings for the apostolate 
to the heathen, even before establishing the Congregation 
at all. The missions in China had strongly appealed to 
him when he lived with Father Ripa at his newly-established 
Chinese Collegerhi Naples. Then, again, he had longed to 
go and preach to the negroes of South Africa in the neigh- 
bourhood of the Cape of Good Hope. But his directors 
had counselled him that his field of work was at home in 
the founding of his Congregation, and he had obediently 
acquiesced in their decision. But the spirit both of 
Alphonsus and his companions remained as keen as ever 
for this apostolic vocation. 

This time it was not a mission to the heathen, but to 
heretics that was proposed to him. A certain number 
of the Nestorians, who still subsisted in Chaldea and the 
neighbouring lands, had shown a disposition to cast off 
their hereditary errors and submit to the Holy See. Hence 
it was determined to send missionaries to them to instruct 
them in the Catholic doctrine. The Cardinals de Pro- 
paganda Fide cast their eyes on Alphonsus and his 
zealous band of labourers, and asked for their services. 
The Holy Founder accepted the invitation with alacrity, 
and wrote a circular to his priests and students, asking for 
volunteers for this enterprise. The response was so whole- 
hearted and zealous that he could not but be filled with 
joy. He wrote again to urge them to hold themselves in 
readiness, and in the meantime to prepare by study, and 



42 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

still more by the practice of self-denial and the other 
virtues. 

The conditions laid down proved impossible. Those 
chosen would have had to give up the Congregation and 
become secularised. Moreover, there may have been 
difficulties over the Oriental Rite needed for their work. 
Hence the proposal fell to the ground, but it is valuable 
as showing how deep down in the very heart of Alphonsus 
and the early fathers was the desire to devote themselves to 
the evangelisation of the heathen and of those separated 
from the Church by heresy and schism. 

But, if it proved impossible to embark hi a far-reaching 
enterprise such as Nestorian missions, a new field of labour 
was opened up to the growing Congregation, involving a sea 
voyage and a greater distance from Naples than anything 
hitherto attempted by it. This came from the invitation 
given by Mgr. Lucchesi, Bishop of Girgenti, to make a 
foundation in Sicily in the ancient city over which he ruled. 
Alphonsus at first thought of applying for the permission 
of the Neapolitan government, but was soon convinced 
that to obtain this would be hopeless. It was, therefore, 
decided to proceed hi a more informal way. They relied 
on the good offices of the bishop, and in September, 1761, 
five fathers and two brothers left for Sicily under the leader- 
ship of Father Peter Paul Blasucci. They encountered 
such a storm at sea that they were forced to return storm- 
tossed and shaken. However, in the following December 
they started again, and this time succeeded hi reaching 
Girgenti in safety. Here, without any formal erection 6f 
a new religious house, they were lodged in an abandoned 
monastery, and began to give missions and conduct other 
religious exercises. The bishop gave them a yearly pension 
of 4ooducats, and remained their constant friend. Yet it was 
many years before they gained a firm footing on the island. 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 43 

In the year 1762 a new crisis came in the affairs of the 
Congregation through the appointment of St Alphonsus 
to the vacant see of St Agatha of the Goths. The diocese 
was small, but fairly wealthy in proportion. Hence the 
vacancy had called many candidates into the field. The 
choice between them was not easy for the Holy See, 
especially as some of those whose selection was supported 
by the greatest influence were unacceptable to the Pope. 
The Holy Father determined to escape by naming one 
whose learning and piety were altogether on a higher plane, 
and for this reason fixed his eyes on Alphonsus. It was 
a thunderclap to the humble Saint. All -reasons seemed 
to unite hi making the office distasteful to him. But when 
he found that Clement XIII was inflexible in the matter, 
he obediently acquiesced, and softly murmured: "Will 
of the Pope, Will of God." He was ready to sacrifice 
everything to that. He journeyed to Rome, paid the 
customary visits, underwent the required examination, and 
was consecrated in the church of St Maria Sopra Minerva 
on the 2oth of June, 1762, by the Dominican Cardinal 
Rossi. 

He had little taste to visit the sights of Rome, but after 
a pilgrimage to Loreto, set off on his homeward journey, 
reaching St Agatha on the nth of July. 

It was arranged that he should still retain the title of 
Rector Major for life, his old friend and confessor, Father 
Villani, being named to administer the affairs of the 
Institute with the style of -Vicar General. 

The removal of the Founder to other engrossing duties, 
while yet retaining his office of Superior, it is easy to believe, 
might in the long run lead to tension, produce discontent, 
and prejudice the spirit of obedience. This was hardly 
noticed during the first years of the new arrangement, and 
the Institute continued to prosper under the austere but 



44 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

paternal government of Father Villani. The. four houses 
in the kingdom of Naples carried on the missions with the 
same fervour and success as of old. The hospice in Sicily 
had but five or six missionaries, who were constantly 
passing from place to place on their labours of evangelisa- 
tion. Moreover, every year a band of fathers selected 
from the various houses spent six months in Calabria, 
preaching to the mountaineers. The bishops were calling 
out for new foundations. The harvest was ripe, but there 
was still a dearth of labourers to gather it in. The Novi- 
tiate, now at St Angelo a Cupolo, was indeed full, but those 
who came forth from it could not do much more than fill 
the gaps which death and desertion from time to tune 
caused in the ranks. 

One of the Rules approved by Rome in 1749 was that a 
General Chapter should meet every nine years to regulate 
the affairs of the Institute. One such Chapter had been 
assembled in the very year of the Papal approbation, and 
another in 1755, both being held at Ciorani. But nine 
years had now elapsed, and Father Villani reminded 
St Alphonsus that another was due. Besides, there was 
need of arrangement and codification of the regulations and 
traditions on which the Institute had grown up. After 
a certain amount of negotiation, this assembly met at 
Nocera on the 3rd of September, 1764. It consisted of 
twenty members, and set to work on the important task of 
going through all the Constitutions already in force, and of 
amending them or adding to them where necessary. St 
Alphonsus had already entrusted Father Tannoja, his future 
biographer, with the duty of reducing all these regulations 
to some kind of order, but the whole body of them had to 
be read before the Capitulars. St Alphonsus himself was 
present, at least during the early part of the Chapter, 
and his signature was affixed with the others at the end 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 45 

when its labours were completed. These Constitutions of 
1764, the first considerable body of legislation which the 
Congregation possesses, are the foundation of most subse- 
quent decrees of the same kind. The Chapter came to its 
close on the i5th of October, when Alphonsus was already 
back in his diocese. 

The Holy Founder, no matter how occupied he might be 
with his trying diocesan affairs, never ceased to think, to 
pray, and to labour, whenever occasion presented itself, 
for the beloved Congregation, in the midst of which he had 
left his heart. His advice, his support, his written exhorta- 
tions were still at the service of his sons. But it was only 
natural that the details of actual government should fall 
into the hands of Father Villani as Vicar General. And 
he had his troubles to face in no unsparing measure. The 
Sicilian foundation, which St Alphonsus had accepted just 
before his episcopate began, continued to give cause for 
anxiety. It was not that the fathers failed in finding a 
fruitful field for their labours. From Girgenti they passed 
into other dioceses one after the other, and everywhere 
they met with an enthusiastic welcome, and were able to 
mark their passage with striking results for the conversion 
and sanctificatiori of the people. But in 1768 Mgr. Lucchesi 
died, and his successor in the see of Girgenti proved less 
favourable to the fathers. He withdrew the pension from 
which they derived their support, while at the same time 
an attack on the opinions of their Founder in MoralTheology 
led to a violent and long-sustained controversy on Proba- 
bilism, in which Father Blasucci did his best to defend the 
teaching of his Superior. The storm raged for several 
years, and prejudice ran so high that at one time it seemed 
as though the Redemptorists would have to leave Sicily 
altogether. However, under the prudent guidance of 
Father Blasucci they succeeded in weathering the storm, 



46 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

and in 1772 Blasucci was able to inform Alphonsus that 
a calm had been restored to them. 

The Sicilian persecution reinforced the lesson that the 
Congregation would have no secure existence unless it 
possessed houses outside the Neapolitan dominions. And 
the time had arrived when another step in that direction 
could be taken. On occasion of a mission on the confines 
of the Pontifical States, Father Francis di Paola and his 
companion visited the Cistercian Abbey of Casamari. The 
Abbot, when he learned that their vocation was to preach 
missions to the most abandoned souls, told them that 
nowhere would they find a more suitable place to exercise 
their zeal than in his neighbourhood. He directed them 
across the frontier to a village called Scifelli, in the diocese 
of Veroli, where a pious French Abbe named Arnauld was 
endeavouring to minister alone to the destitute inhabitants. 
He had built them a church and presbytery, but felt unable 
to cope with all the apostolic labour which the necessities 
of the people demanded. Hence, when visited by Father 
Di Paola, he offered to hand over church and house to the 
fathers, if they would settle there and work for the people. 
Di Paola wrote to consult St Alphonsus, and he, threatened 
as he was with possible ruin from the Neapolitan govern- 
ment, thought this offer quite a providential one, and in- 
structed Di Paola to accept it. The approval of the Bishop 
of Veroli was cordially given, and on the 25th of April, 1773, 
the foundation was an accomplished fact, Di Paola himself 
being made the first Superior. 

It was not so long before a third house in the Papal States 
was added to Scifelli and Benevento. This was Frosinone, 
situated in the same diocese of Veroli in which Scifelli 
lay. Following on a very successful mission given in this 
town, the local authorities came to offer a foundation to the 
fathers in 1776. This .also Alphonsus was glad to accept, 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 47 

and willingly sent a reinforcement from the Neapolitan 
houses to form the new community. Father Di Paola 
became Superior at Frosinone, and was replaced by Father 
Criscuoli at Scifelli. 

Having borne the burden of the episcopate for more 
than twelve years, Alphonsus took advantage of the election 
of Pius VI in 1775 to renew the petition to resign his see 
which he had already made unsuccessfully to Clement XIII. 
And great was his joy when the newly-elected Pontiff, 
having regard to his great age and his ailments, acceded 
to his request. Thereupon, the formal resignation was 
sent to Rome, and the Holy Founder was at liberty once 
more to return to the bosom of his Institute. Full of joy 
he laid down the office which he had only accepted out of 
obedience to the Pope, and set out for Pagani, the house 
in which he elected to live. This was to be his home up to 
the day of his death. It seemed to give him new life to 
find himself once more in the midst of his brethren with the 
weight of responsibility lifted from his shoulders. But, 
though he knew it not, he had to drink the cup of humiliation 
and disappointment to the dregs before he was called 
to the reward of his long and meritorious life. 

To begin with, the Saint had almost immediately to 
engage in a life-and-death struggle to ward off from his 
Congregation in the kingdom of Naples the total suppression 
with which it was threatened. Arising out of lawsuits 
brought by the Sarnelli family against the Redemptorists 
for the possession of a vineyard which had been given by 
themf or the support of the community at Ciorani, Ferdinand 
De Leon, the Procurator Fiscal to whom the drawing up 
of a Report on the rights of the case had been entrusted 
by the royal authorities, both pronounced in favour of the 
Sarnelli petition, and further recommended the total sup- 
pression of the Redemptorist Congregation. Henceforth, 



48 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

Alphonsus had to strain every nerve to parry this mortal 
thrust. He drew up a skilful reply to Leon in favour of 
his fathers and their work, and was so far successful that 
on the 2ist of August, 1779, he obtained a royal decree 
which, without approving of the Congregation as a regular 
religious Institute, permitted the exterior government of 
the four Neapolitan houses to be carried on according to 
Rule. 

It seems to have been the encouragement afforded by 
this decree that led Alphonsus and his companions to 
proceed further, and attempt to get a formal royal appro- 
bation of their Institute and its Rules. Father Majone, 
whom the Saint looked upon as a trustworthy and skilful 
agent, was appointed to negotiate for this purpose with the 
Grand Almoner of the King. This Prelate, however, took 
it upon him to make essential changes in the Rule, alleging 
that without these changes it was idle to expect royal 
approbation. Majone and his companion seem to have 
weakly consented to these alterations. There were to be 
no Vows of Religion, the Oath of Perseverance ceased, the 
power of the Rector Major was curtailed, there were to be 
no General Chapters. In fact, it was no longer the same 
Rule fashioned by St Alphonsus and his holy guide Falcoja, 
and then approved by Benedict XIV. Majone in Sep- 
tember, 1799, brought this changed Rule to St Alphonsus 
at Pagani. The Holy Founder began to read it, but it 
was full of corrections and in handwriting too difficult for 
his failing sight, and hence he turned it over to Father 
Villani, the Vicar General, to read it in his stead. Villani 
soon comprehended how vital were the changes that had 
been made, but he lacked the courage to tell the Saint of 
them in detail, and gave him the general assurance that all 
was practically right. This comforted Alphonsus, and he 
consented that Majone should return with it to Naples to 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 49 

get the royal approval. Majone boldly set out with this 
surreptitious leave, and naturally found his task in Naples 
an easy one. Being altered in constitution so as to bring 
it in line with the regalist and anti-religious views of the 
court, the new document, or Regolamento as it was called, 
encountered no obstacle. The royal approval was given, 
the manuscript was printed, and was soon on its way back 
to Pagani sealed and directed to the Rector Major himself. 
Majone was not the bearer of the missive, but had entrusted 
Father Cajone with the commission to deliver it. There 
was also a short letter from the Grand Almoner, which 
prescribed the immediate observance of the Regolamento. 

As soon as the contents of the document became known 
to the fathers, there was a tremendous outburst of dis- 
pleasure and disappointment. Alphonsus himself was 
struck dumb with grief, and went on to blame himself above 
all others for not reading the original manuscript, but 
trusting to the report of Father Villani. It was almost 
a death-blow to his hopes, and he seemed to foresee the 
ruin of the Congrejgation which had cost him so many years 
of labour and sacrifice. 

Nevertheless, as soon as he could recover a little from 
the first shock of the bad news, Jie began to consider what 
means could be taken to ward oiTRTe blow. The dilemma 
was a cruel one. If he refused the Regolamento the State 
would suppress the houses; if he accepted it, it was no 
longer the Congregation as he had fashioned it. 

The first step which the Holy Founder took was to with- 
draw Father Majone's commission as Procurator. He then 
arranged for a General Assembly of the Fathers to be held 
at Pagani. This gathering, which lacked the conditions 
required for a General Chapter, met, however, and held its 
sessions from the lath of May to the 26th of June, 1780. 
Fourteen fathers from seven houses met together, and these 

4 



50 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

were soon joined by two from the eighth house, Frosinone. 
But Sicily was not represented at all. 

The deliberations were marked by profound differences of 
opinion between the Neapolitan fathers and those from 
the Pontifical States. Eventually the Neapolitan fathers 
signed an acceptance of the Regolamento pro forma, except 
two who sided with those from the States of the Church in 
declining to vote. Thus the acceptance was only made 
by six, besides the Holy Founder himself. New Consultors 
were then elected, St Alphonsus was confirmed in the oflfice 
of Rector Major, and the fathers separated without having 
resolved on any common and united action. 

Father Leggio, Procurator of the houses in the Papal 
States, denounced the Regolamento in Rome, and soon after 
Father Di Paola presented a petition for the appointment 
of a temporary Superior or President to rule these houses 
until such time as the Regolamento was given up. Father 
Tannoja and others betook themselves to Rome to give 
the best explanation they could of what had happened at 
the Assembly in Pagani, but they came too late. The blow 
had fallen. Leave was given for the election of a Superior 
General for the Papal States, and the Congregation of 
Bishops and Regulars declared that so long as the Neapoli- 
tans recognised the Regolamento they were not regarded as 
a Canonical Religious Institute approved by the Pope. 

The consternation which these decisions caused, both to 
Alphonsus and to the fathers in Naples, may be imagined. 
The Saint himself was almost driven to despair. In spite 
of his immediate act of resignation to the will of God, he 
had to sustain a long conflict with temptation, as he seemed 
to see the work of his lifetime destroyed, and the favour 
of the Holy See withdrawn from him. He accused himself 
of being by his sins the cause of the ruin which had been 
wrought. He could do nothing but pray most earnestly 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 51 

to Jesus and Mary. But at last the effect of his sup- 
plications was evident: peace returned to his troubled soul, 
and henceforward nothing could be heard from him but the 
patient exclamation: "The Pope has thought it good. 
God be praised. The will of the Pope is the will of God." 

There were not wanting further efforts on the part of 
Alphonsus and his brethren at Naples to explain that they 
had only acted under duress to prevent the total sup- 
pression of the Congregation in the kingdom of Naples, 
and they were still as much devoted to the Rule as ever. 
They considered the Oaths to have the same binding force 
as the Vows. But the Roman Curia was determined to 
defend its ecclesiastical rights against the encroachment 
of the regalist government at Naples. Hence, almost 
the only effect of the representations was a new Rescript 
confirming the decision already given, and signifying that 
the question was to be regarded as closed. 

Alphonsus could not but now regard himself as excluded 
in the eyes of the Church from the Religious Institute 
which he had himself founded. But he submitted, and only 
asked that the special faculties and indulgences which had 
been granted to the fathers for their apostolic work might 
be continued to him and the fathers of the kingdom. This 
concession was made, and proved to be some consolation to 
him and his brethren in their distress. 

Even though Father Di Paola and the fathers with him 
may have-acted inconsiderately in forcing the issue before 
the Roman Curia as to the Regolamento, there can be no 
doubt that the result caused them almost as much re- 
pugnance as it did to their Neapolitan brethren. Di Paola 
himself wrote to Alphonsus protesting that he would 
always consider him as his Father and Superior, and the 
reply of the Saint was affectionate and full of interest. 
Father Blasucci in Sicily, declaring he would not accept the 



52 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

Regolamento, told Di Paola that he had been hasty in his 
action, and probably this protest was not without its 
effect. 

On the other hand, external success was all on the side 
of the Roman fathers. The students from Naples all trans- 
ported themselves with their Prefect out of the kingdom 
into their Papal States. New foundations were accepted 
at Spello in 1781, at Gubbio in 1782, and at St GiuUano 
in Rome at the beginning of 1783. A few months later 
Father Di Paola was named by the Pope Superior General 
of the houses in the Papal States, and shortly after the new 
house at St Giuliano was designated by another Pontifical 
Brief as the residence for the General and the seat of his 
government. 

On the other hand, before these arrangements had been 
completed, the gradually ebbing vital forces of Alphonsus 
impressed upon the Neapolitan fathers the need of pro- 
viding against the eventuality of his death. Consequently, 
the royal permission having been asked and obtained, 
a General Chapter met at Ciorani on the 4th of August, 
1783, which elected Father Villani as Coadjutor to the Saint 
with right of succession. The assembly made some regu- 
lations for enforcing certain points of regular observance, 
renewed its acceptance of the Regolamento, and then dis- 
persed. As a counterpart to this meeting, Father Di Paola 
held a General Chapter of the fathers in the Papal States 
at Scif elli on the I5th of October, 1785, which drew up a body 
of Constitutions which for many years were the only ones 
at the disposal of the fathers who had carried the banner 
of the Congregation northwards outside of Italy. 

The Holy Founder was now nearing the end of his long 
life. To his multiplied bodily infirmities had been added 
interior trials still harder to bear; trials, temptations, 
disappointments, the disfavour of the Pope and the Roman 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 53 

Curia, the division and threatened .destruction of his beloved 
Congregation, had all assailed him hi turn, and his strength 
was well-nigh exhausted. ' He said Mass for the last tune 
on the 25th of November, 1785. From that day forward 
he had to be contented with receiving Holy Communion at 
the Mass which was daily celebrated in his room. His 
ninetieth birthday was kept on the 2Qth of September, 1786, 
with solemn High Mass hi the church, and then his brethren 
flocked round him with affectionate congratulations and 
good wishes. But his humility broke out into: "I do 
not deserve all this. I owe all to the divine mercy. I 
thank all the fathers for their great charity." Then came 
one warning after another that death was stealing on. 
Each time that the news of the departure from life of one 
of his old friends was brought to him he took the lesson to 
himself. He seemed enlightened from heaven to know 
that he was hi the last year of his life: he even longed for 
the hour of his death. At length, on the sist of July, 1787, 
he entered on his agony, and at twelve o'clock on the 
following day peacefully breathed his last. He had lived 
for ninety years and ten months, having reached the 
diamond jubilee of his priesthood and the silver jubilee of 
his episcopate. 

As it so often happens with God's servants, so was it with 
Alphonsus. The hour of his death was the hour of his 
success: not only for his own career thus brought to a 
triumphant conclusion, but also for the Religious Institute 
which he had founded.. 

Father Blasucci hi Sicily had sympathised with his 
Neapolitan brethren in their difficulties, and had never 
accepted the Regolamento. He had kept quiet and gone 
on with his local work; he had even succeeded in making 
a second Sicilian foundation at Sciacca in 1787. He now 
took the opportunity of petitioning the King for permission 



54 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

to observe the old Rule in Sicily, on the ground that the, 
oaths were a ground of scruple to his subjects. The 
Grand Almoner, author of the Regolamento, being now 
dead, Blasucci gained his request. This encouraged the 
fathers in Naples to present a similar request to the Royal 
Court. This also was granted by a decree of October gth, 
1790, which decided that all the religious of the Most Holy 
Redeemer, in Naples as well as in Sicily, were to follow the 
ancient Rule without adding anything thereto. Here was 
another example of how God holds in his hands the hearts 
of kings, and makes them all unconsciously do his holy 
will. 

The Regolamento being thus abolished, Villani convoked 
a General Chapter to effect reunion, but death surprised 
him in the course of these preparations. He had reached 
the age of eighty-six, and expired peacefully on the nth of 
April, 1792. He was followed to the grave during the same 
year by his lifelong friend, Father Mazzini. 

The Chapter met at Pagani under orders from the Pope 
on the ist of March, 1793. Forty-four deputies repre- 
sented the houses both in the Papal States and in the 
kingdom. Father Di Paola gave in his resignation, re- 
ceiving the title of Ex-General, and Father Blasucci was 
duly elected as Rector Major of the whole Congregation. 
Reunion, which had been predicted by St Alphonsus as 
coming after his death, was thus an accomplished fact. 
At this time the Congregation counted one hundred and 
eighty fathers and students, besides lay brothers, who 
were distributed in seventeen houses: seven in the kingdom 
of Naples, for three others had been added to the original 
four at the King's request viz., Catanzaro, Tropea, and 
Stilo; seven in the Papal States; two in Sicily, and one at 
Warsaw. 
Scarcely was Alphonsus dead when many persons of 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 55 

high rank, moved by the ever-increasing opinion of his 
sanctity, petitioned Pius VI to institute a juridical inquiry 
into the holy .life of the servant of God. The Supreme 
Pontiff acceded to this, and such was the success of the 
investigation that Alphonsus was declared Venerable only 
nine years after he had died. In 1803 a Decree was issued 
by the Holy See, declaring that after a most diligent 
examination nothing worthy of censure was found in all 
the works of the holy prelate. Thirteen more years elapsed, 
and then Alphonsus was beatified by Pius VII. Finally, 
on the 26th of May, 1839, the Feast of the Most Holy 
Trinity, he was canonised by Gregory XVI with all the 
splendid ceremonial which the Church uses on these 
occasions to honour her chosen champions. 

II. THE TRANSALPINE DEVELOPMENT 

In 1784 two pilgrims came to Rome and found their 
way to the house of St Giuliano, which Father Di Paola 
had founded in the preceding year, whose career was to 
have an immense influence on the future development of the 
Redemptorist Congregation. One of these was a Moravian 
named Clement Mary Hofbauer, the other was his bosom 
friend and fellow student, Thaddeus Hubl. 

Clement Hofbauer was born at Tasswisz in Moravia at 
the end of 1751. His father, a small farmer, died when 
the boy was six years old. His pious mother, then 
took her orphan child before the crucifix, saying: "My 
son, He must be your father now ; follow Him. ' ' At sixteen, 
being obliged to work for his living, he was apprenticed to 
a baker, but soon after, feeling the first drawings of a 
religious vocation, he entered the Premonstratensian Abbey 
of Znaim as a servant. Here he spent whatever tune he 
could spare by day, and even by night, in the study of Latin. 
But being overcome with a longing for solitude he left the 



56 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

Abbey, and lived for some time as a hermit first in 
Austria, and then in the neighbourhood of Tivoli. After a 
period of strict seclusion thus spent hi prayer and austere 
penance, he became convinced that God called him to 
the holy priesthood and to active labour for souls. Inspired 
with this thought, he left Tivoli, and returned to Vienna 
that he might carry on his studies for the sacerdotal state. 
The means of following the courses at Vienna University 
having been put at his disposal by two kind ladies whom 
his character had impressed, he went through the classes, 
having Thaddeus Hubl, a young man somewhat younger 
than himself who shared his aspirations, as constant com- 
panion. However, he became so disgusted with the Anti- 
Roman and Erastian teachers at the University that he 
determined to seek a purer fount of knowledge and com- 
plete his course hi Rome itself. This was the design that 
brought the two strangers to Rome, where they were guided 
to the little Church of St Giuliano in October, 1784. 

They found the few fathers whom Di Paola had attached 
to the house at meditation hi the church, and asking a child 
at the door who they were, received the striking reply: 
" These are the fathers of the Most Holy Redeemer, and 
you also will join them." In very truth, Hofbauer did 
ask for an interview, and was so struck with the account 
of their life and vocation that he asked to be received into 
their ranks. Moreover, it did not take him long to decide 
his friend Hubl to make a similar request. That the 
request was granted to these unknown strangers was surely 
a remarkable happening, hi which we can scarcely fail to 
see the special guidance of Divine Providence. On the 
24th of October they were clothed in the habit of the 
Congregation, thus beginning their Novitiate under Father 
Landi, a former companion of St Alphonsus, as Novice 
Master. On account of their fervour and the necessities 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 57 

of the case their Novitiate was shortened, and they took 
their vows on St Joseph's Day, the igth of March, 1785. 
They were now sent from St Giuliano to Frosinone for 
Ordination. They received the sacred dignity ten days 
later. That Father Di Paola had received permission from 
the Holy See to profess subjects without patrimony solved 
one difficulty in this matter. The rest of their time in Italy 
was occupied in pursuing their studies. In the course of 
the same year (1785) * they left Italy together to undertake 
the great enterprise of carrying the standard of the Con- 
gregation across the Alps into those northern lands 
where St Alphonsus had already prophesied that it would 
flourish. 

Father Di Paola's first intention in sending the two 
strangers back to Austria was to found a house there. 
But on reaching Vienna they soon found this impossible. 
They meanwhile attended a course of Christian doctrine 
to complete their Theology. When they wrote to inform 
Father Di Paola how things stood, he offered their services 
to the Propaganda, and they were directed to proceed to 
Warsaw, the capital of Poland, where Mgr. Saluzzo, the 
Nuncio, warmly welcomed them together with Emmanuel 
Kunzmann, once Clement's companion in his hermitage 
at Tivoli, who now joined him in the capacity of a lay 
brother. The Church of St Benno, the German National 
Church at Warsaw, was at that time unoccupied, and the 
Nuncio begged Clement to take charge of it, and labour for 
the abandoned Germans hi the city. This was in 1787. 

St Benno's was a fairly serviceable church, but for house 
they had only a small unfurnished dwelling, and for funds 
but a few shillings. Moreover, the moral and religious 
state of Warsaw at the time was deplorable. There was 
unbelief in the air, and the corruption of life which follows 

1 Hofer. 



58 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

on this .dominated all classes. Besides, at first both 
Clement and his companion were unpopular with the 
Polish inhabitants of the city, being looked upon as 
foreigners and enemies of their race. But in time they 
changed all this. They set to work indefatigably for the 
salvation of the multitudes around them. At first they 
laboured for the souls of the Germans, but before long this 
was merged hi a more universal apostolate. One after 
another new recruits came in to join the community. In 
1793 they received their first Polish subject, John Podgorski, 
who after his ordination attracted the admiration of his 
fellow-countrymen by the eloquence and zeal of his sermons. 
The fathers gained recognition from the Polish King as 
a religious corporation, and other natives followed Podgorski 
into the Redemptorist ranks. By the end of the century 
they numbered twenty-five in all: nine priests, seven 
students, two novices, and seven lay brothers. Besides 
this, a second house had been established at Mitau in 
Courland. 

For the remainder of St Clement's stay in Warsaw the 
services at St Benno's resembled a perpetual mission. 
The community rose at four, and made meditation from 
half-past four to five. At five the fathers went to the 
confessional, except one, who gave an instruction to the 
people. This was followed daily by High Mass, during 
which the people sang in Polish. After this came a Polish 
sermon, during which the church was thronged. A second 
High Mass accompanied by singing in Latin was fol- 
lowed by a German sermon from Clement himself, who 
afterwards himself sang a third High Mass. At this the 
music was by the best singers hi the city, professional and 
amateur, who all offered then* services free. In the after- 
noon devotions recommenced at 3.30 with a second German 
sermon, followed by the singing of Vespers and Exposition 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 59 

of the Blessed Sacrament. Then the Germans left the 
church, and Father Podgorski preached in Polish. Then 
came the Way of the Cross. This was concluded by Bene- 
diction> an examination of conscience, and the acts of 
faith, hope and charity made aloud with the people. This 
went on day after day for weeks, months, and years. 

There were other works of zeal going on outside St Benno's 
scarcely less important. Confraternities were set on foot, 
sermons were preached for the benefit of the French in 
Warsaw, and a society established somewhat on the lines 
of the Catholic Truth Society for the diffusion of good 
literature. There were daily classes of instruction for 
Jews and for Protestants. Clement also undertook the 
service of a second large church, that of the Holy Cross. He 
likewise managed to inaugurate a Catholic college or pre- 
paratory seminary in the city, which gave Poland many 
excellent priests. Nor did he count the temporal mis- 
fortunes of the poor outside his range, moved by the extra- 
ordinary circumstances of the place and time; he therefore 
set on foot two separate orphanages, one for boys and the 
other for girls. To beg for these he made light of fatigue, 
insult, and disappointment. It is hard to see what limit 
would have been put to his pious enterprises had the times 
been favourable, but the French Revolution was soon at its 
height, and threatened as it spread to involve nearly all the 
countries of Europe hi one great catastrophe, wrecking 
their religious institutions. So Clement had to think how 
he might save something for the future should the threatened 
storm break over Poland. 

In one respect the Revolution had brought him aid. 
For it had brought to his feet zealous candidates for the 
Congregation, exiles from the persecution in France. In 
years to come, when their studies were made and they had 
been ordained, he was able to employ these companions 



60 THE REDEMPTORTSTS 

from the West to plant the houses of his Institute in new, 
hitherto unvisited lands. 

The greatest and most celebrated among these French 
recruits was Joseph Passerat, destined to become only 
second to St Clement himself in propagating the Redemp- 
torist Institute far and wide. This true servant of God was 
born at Joinville hi Champagne hi 1772, and had been a 
model of piety and virtue from his tenderest. years. While 
studying for the priesthood, the wars of the French Revolu- 
tion had forced him out of the Seminary into the barracks. 
Being intelligent and of heroic stature, he was made drum- 
major and then quartermaster, but he aspired to another 
kind of warfare. Thinking that no government had a right 
to interfere with vocation, he fled into a dense forest, and 
as soon as possible made his way into Belgium. Refused 
admission into the seminary at Liege, he sought in vain 
at one college after another that solid theological learning 
which he needed to prepare for the priesthood; At Wurz- 
burg he heard of the zealous labours of St Clement and 
the Redemptorist fathers at Warsaw, and resolved to go 
there. After a journey of several hundred miles, Passerat 
and three companions got to Warsaw, and offered them- 
selves to St Clement, who received them all with open arms 
hi 1796. The holy Superior soon found what extraordinary 
gifts of piety and prudence were to be found in Joseph 
Passerat, who. became, especially after the death of Father 
Hubl, his right-hand man in his enterprises for the develop- 
ment of the Congregation. 

After Clement had been praying for several years that 
God would provide a refuge for this community in view of 
the expulsion of the fathers from Poland, which the advance 
of the Revolution warned him could not be far distant, he 
was offered an old castle, called Mount Tabor, not far from 
Schaffhausen on the borders of Austria and Switzerland. 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 61 

He did not shrink from taking the long journey to visit 
it in company with his old friend Father Hubl. Poor and 
almost ruinous as it proved to be, he did not hesitate to 
accept it, for the position seemed a favourable one. Then, 
hastening back to Warsaw, taking Rome on his way, he 
left Father Passerat with a small number of fathers to 
take possession and set up the community. The new house 
was the abode of poverty and the scene of many hard 
privations, yet Father Passerat and his companions began 
to labour for souls, and soon found themselves sought after 
by crowds of the faithful whom their virtues and preaching 
attracted round them. 

The good work done at Mount Tabor told, and hence 
when Clement came back to visit his sons in 1804, after an 
absence of more than a year, he was offered the care of 
a Shrine of the Blessed Virgin at Triberg in the Black 
Forest. Taking with him a certain number of subjects out 
of Father Passerat's community at Mount Tabor, he pro- 
ceeded to Triberg, accepted the offer, and settled dowc 
with the others to labour incessantly for the pilgrims who 
came to visit our Lady's Sanctuary. But his very success 
proved ruinous. Jealousies were excited, especially among 
those whom the fathers had displaced. The administration 
of the diocese sided with the hostile clergy, until at last all 
faculties were withdrawn and Clement with his two com- 
munities was reduced perforce to inactivity. What was 
he to do ? In his perplexity he addressed himself to the 
Bishop of Augsburg, in consequence of which appeal that 
prelate offered him a refuge in the town of Babenhauseh, 
not far from his episcopal city. Thither, then, Clement 
transferred both the community of Triberg and that of 
Mount Tabor before the end of 1805. Meanwhile the 
situation in Warsaw had grown so critical that the presence 
of the Superior was urgently needed. Wherefore, leaving 



62 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

thp flock at Babenhausen in none too secure surroundings, 
but under the prudent guidance and inspiring example of 
Father Passerat, he returned to Poland. 

He had not been gone from Germany more than two 
months when the blow fell upon the storm-tossed Redemp- 
torists there. Bavaria had fallen under French influence, 
and the existence of foreign religious was a grievance to 
the new government. Father Passerat received notice to 
quit. He had once more to seek a resting-place elsewhere 
for himself and his little band of confreres. 

He now bent his footsteps in the direction of Switzerland, 
and came to the episcopal city of Coire (1807). Here his 
trust in Divine Providence was unexpectedly rewarded, for 
the Bishop of Coire put at his disposal a fine monastery 
named that of St Lucius, recently handed over to the 
diocese by the Premonstratensians, to whom it had formerly 
belonged. Here they founded a well-furnished church and 
a solid roof over their heads. They at once began their 
accustomed labours for the people, preaching, hearing con- 
fessions, and keeping up a round of daily services. But even 
this nest was not destined to hold them for more than a few 
months, for the Bavarian government having seized another 
building in their dominions which served as Bishop's 
Seminary for Coire, the generous prelate had no alternative 
but to claim as a home, for his clerics the house he had so 
readily allowed the Redemptorists to inhabit. 

Thus, before the end of 1807, after a residence of less 
than six months at St Lucius, the pilgrims' packs had again 
to be loaded, and the harassed community were again on 
the road in search of a lodging. Father Passerat led the 
way in the direction of the Canton of Valais. They had to 
pass the Grimsel in the depth of winter, a journey full of 
hardships and not without danger, but the unconquerable 
spirit of their leader bore them over all their trials. Always 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 63 

praying as he went on his way, ever cheerful, however black 
the outlook, Father Passerat's example shone like a beacon 
light guiding them to safety. 

The descent being accomplished, the party reached the 
village of Viege in the Valais. Here they made friends 
with the parish priest, who was able to point out to them 
a house which they rented, and thus found themselves once 
more with a shelter over their heads. But the accommoda- 
tion was insufficient for such a considerable number, and 
means of subsistence there were none. Consequently, 
Father Passerat was driven by necessity to disperse a great 
part of his flock, and at last to abandon ViSge altogether. 
Six fathers were sent to different places in Switzerland to 
assist hi the parishes, while Father Passerat, retaining with 
him his junior confreres, established himself at Farvagny 
in the environs of Fribourg, where he acted after some time 
in the capacity of Vicar to the parish priest of the place 
until the year 1815. 

But before this period had elapsed, the long-threatened 
blow had fallen on Warsaw. The King, influenced by his 
French republican masters, signed, though unwillingly, 
the royal decree for the suppression of the community of 
St Benno's. Though the police kept this decree a secret 
until the actual day appointed for its execution, a friendly 
official had warned Clement of what was in store for him. 
An ulterior light had forewarned him hi prayer some days 
previously. Hence he communicated the sad intelligence 
to his fathers, distributed whatever money was in his 
possession amongst them, and directed them to be in readi- 
ness to depart. One morning the police entered the house, 
and bade Clement assemble his community. Many of them 
were engaged in different functions in the church. One 
after another they were summoned. The cries and 
lamentations of the people, who saw them gradually vanish 



64 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

from sight, were unheeded. Carriages with an escort of 
cavalry were at the door. Into these they were hurried, 
carrying only their personal belongings, and the "cavalcade 
started off at a brisk pace through the streets of the city. 
St Benno's mission was a thing of the past. 

The exiled fathers, after spending a month in the fortress 
of Kustrin in Brandenburg, had to bid farewell to their 
beloved Superior, and were then despatched by the police 
to their respective countries. Father Clement himself, 
accompanied by the student Martin Stark, set out for 
Vienna, where in the capital of the Austrian Empire he 
hoped to find some means of maintaining a foothold. 

St Clement Hofbauer did, indeed, find a home in Vienna 
for the remaining twelve years of his life, but any hope he 
might have entertained of establishing a regular religious 
community had to be abandoned, at any rate for his own 
lifetime. He found occupation as Confessor to a convent 
of the Ursuline nuns, which was established hard by the 
Italian church. This was then without a Rector through 
the death of the good priest who had been in charge of it. 
Clement was named by the Archbishop Vice-Rector of 
this church, and here he was enabled to preach the Word of 
God and minister to the faithful. Rich and poor, learned 
and unlettered alike, flocked to his confessional! He was 
ever the same, full of zeal for souls, merciful to the sinner, 
a wise counsellor to the doubtful, always a dauntless 
champion of the rights of the Apostolic See in an atmo- 
sphere pervaded with the blight of Josephism or Gallicanism. 
His power with the young men was above all remarkable. 
He gathered round him quite a circle of these, and among 
them were to be found some of the most promising and 
brilliant of the university students. They used to meet 
each evening at the lodging of the servant of God, and while 
entertaining them with his cheerful ways and friendly con- 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 65 

versation, he was able to ground them in those solid 
principles of Catholic faith and practice whose fruits they 
were to show forth later on. Out of this circle were to come 
the men who hi years to come were to renew in Vienna the 
work which had been destroyed inWarsaw. 

While doing with all his might the tasks which God found 
for him in Vienna, Clement could not be indifferent to the 
lot of his sons, now scattered as curates in the towns and 
villages of Switzerland. He was twice visited hi Vienna 
by Father Passerat, who made the long journey to and fro 
on foot, hi order to consult with his venerated Superior. 
At length he was offered the deserted Carthusian house at 
Val Sainte in the canton of Fribourg, and, the local 
authorities being willing, Father Passerat began the task 
of gathering together his dispersed community hi its 
austere solitude. Thus, on the I2th of May, 1818, after 
fifteen years of perpetual wandering, regular observance 
could be once more set up/and no efforts were too laborious 
for Father Passerat to get everything once more hi order 
according to the Rule. Not every member of the flock 
returned to the sheepfold. Some were detained by the 
bishops, who urged the scanty numbers of their clergy. 
Some had lost all love for the community life, and left 
the Congregation rather than return to it. However, in 
the following year (1819) the Superior had been able to 
gather round him at Val Sainte twenty fathers, besides 
students and brothers. With regard to the dispersed 
community, it is not easy to trace the fortunes of the 
members one by one. Gradually information is coming 
to light which accounts for most of them, and we know 
that a house was begun in 1815 at Bucharest in Roumania, 
which, however, only remained open until the year 
1820. 

It is now high time to devote our attention to the 

5 



66 THE REDEMPTOR1STS 

.n*"*** 1 . 

fortunes of the Congregation in Italy during the years 
which comprised St Clement Hofbauer's wonderful aposto- 
late on the other side of the Alps. 

The torrent of the French Revolution swept into Italy 
some years after it had spent the most violent outbreak 
of its force in France itself. Bonaparte crossed the Alps, 
defeated the Austrians, and stripped the Pope of his States. 
Pius VI was taken from Rome on the aoth of February, 
1798, and conducted first to Florence, and then to Valence, 
in which city he died in the following year. The invasion 
was disastrous for the Congregation of the Most Holy 
Redeemer. The fathers of Gubbio and Spello were driven 
from then- houses and forced to take refuge in the General's 
residence of San Giuliano at Rome. Later on, when the 
French army occupied the Eternal City and proclaimed 
the Roman Republic, they had to flee again. San Giuliano 
was confiscated. Its inmates then hoped to find a safe 
asylum at Frosinone. But the hope was vain, for the 
invaders passed on to seize Frosinone as well, sacked the 
monastery and burned the archives. Hence the fathers 
who resided in that house, as well as those in Scifelli, had 
to be dispersed through the country districts waiting for 
better times. 

The disturbance now spread to the kingdom of Naples. 
Both fathers and faithful were living hi the midst of con- 
tinual alarms. So much so, that Father Blasucci, the 
Rector Major, one day, losing patience, happened to say: 
" Let the French come: anything is better than these 
perpetual alarms." These hasty words were reported to 
the King, and as at that time any, even an equivocal, sign 
of sympathy with the invader was taken ill, the venerable 
Superior was arrested and interned in the Camaldolese 
Monastery near Sorrento. There he had to remain shut 
up in his little cell from April, 1798, to November, 1799, 



PAST HISTORY OF THE COMGREGATION 67 

when the storm had passed away. But he spent the whole 
time in prayer and in the practice of the gentlest patience. 
Then, the falsity of the charge made against him having 
been shown, he was set at liberty, and quietly took up 
again the reins of government of his Congregation. 

When, by January, 1800, the tide of invasion had been 
rolled back, and Pius VII, .elected at Venice, was able to 
return in triumph to his capital, it appeared that the 
Redemptorists had not lost so very much in the tempest 
as at first sight appeared. It is true that San Giuliano in 
Rome had been sold by the French, and never afterwards 
came back into the possession of the fathers. But they 
were able to return to all their other houses in Italy, while as 
early as 1804 the royal permission was given for a third 
foundation in Sicily, which was established at Palermo. 

Once again the invasion of Italy, the seizure of the Pope 
at the bidding of Napoleon, and the incorporation of the 
Papal States in the French Empire, brought on a period of 
crisis for the Italian Redemptorists in 1809. The King of 
Naples had to flee to Sicily, and the armies of the French 
seized Benevento. This meant the closing of the house 
at St Angelo, so dear to St Alphonsus. The house in 
Benevento itself, on the other hand, was saved by being 
converted into a museum with permission for three of the 
fathers to continue to reside there. In the same way, 
although all the other houses in the Papal States were 
declared suppressed, Father Di Paola, who had proposed 
that Frosinone should be converted into an educational 
establishment, was allowed to remain there. Here he 
died on the 8th of November, 1814, assisted at his last hour 
by one of the other fathers sent on purpose to be with him, 
and fortified by .the blessing of the Pope. Scifelli also 
was spared, not without supernatural intervention as it 
seemed, and the fathers continued to reside there, though 



68 THE REDEMPTORISTS - 

they wore their habit in public, and never took the ob j ection- 
able oath demanded by the new civil authorities. 

The European peace, which was secured by the Congress 
of Vienna in 1815, gave opportunities for a fairly complete 
restoration of the Catholic institutions which had been 
overthrown during the period of warfare which then ended. 
As with others, so with the Redemptorist Congregation, 
there was a return to the old abandoned houses, and withal 
an attempt at further expansion. In the restored king- 
dom of Naples Father Blasucci, with the encouragement 
of King Ferdinand, founded two new houses; the one at 
Somma near Mount Vesuvius, and the other hi the city of 
Naples, where the church and monastery of St Antonio a 
Tarsia, as it was called, was handed over to the fathers. 
Both these foundations took place in 1817, and in that year 
Father Blasucci died at the age of eighty-eight, having 
ruled over the reunited Congregation for twenty-four years. 
Both he, as a devoted religious and prudent Superior, and 
his brother, Venerable Dominic Blasucci, who, after a few 
years of Redemptorist student life, died the death of a 
saint, and whose cause of beatification has been for some 
years before the Roman Tribunals, will ever be dear to 
their confreres, and their memory will be sweet wherever 
Redemptorists live. 

Father Nicholas Mansione Was chosen on the 26th of 
September, 1817, to succeed to the office of Rector Major. 
He ruled the Congregation for about six years, and was 
able, in the course of that time, to add four new houses 
to the Neapolitan region. These were Caserta, founded 
in 1818, and three others founded in 1820 at Aquila, 
Corigliano, and Francavilla respectively. 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 69 

AUSTRIA 

St Clement Hofbauer came to the end of his earthly 
pilgrimage on the I5th of March, 1820. Just before his 
final illness he had gamed from the Emperor Francis I 
authorisation for the establishment of the Redemptorists 
in ^Vienna, and with this the offer of the tenth-century 
Church of Maria Stiegen, and an adjoining house as a 
starting-point for the new development. Yet, as these 
arrangements were only hi prospect, without any steps 
being taken to carry them into effect, it almost seemed as 
if the unfinished work might expire at his graveside. But 
John Madlener, one of the foremost disciples of the de- 
parted saint, and already a priest, stepped into the breach, 
invoking the assistance of Archbishop Hohenwart to secure 
that the plan might not be suffered to lapse. Kaiser Franz 
thereupon renewed the leave he had given, with positive 
instructions that the dilapidated church and house should 
be put in a state of repair to receive its future inhabitants. 
However, this must needs take time, and hence, to save 
delay, the Franciscan Fathers charitably came to the 
rescue, and allowed the first band of aspirants to the new 
foundation to begin their Novitiate hi then: house under 
the direction of St Clement's former companion Father 
Martin Stark. Out of the twenty-seven whom Madlener 
had collected as candidates, only six were ready to 
take up their residence in the Franciscan house on the 
20th of May: Pajalich, Unrechtsberg, Nossal, Prigl, 
Springer, and De Held. Though these were at once 
clothed, the 2nd of August was the formal opening of 
the Novitiate. 

Meanwhile, the Superiors of the Congregation had done 
what was hi their power to replace St Clement as head of 
his confreres north of the Alps by appointing Father 



70 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

Joseph Passerat Vicar General in his room for the Trans- 
alpine countries. 

Father Passerat had by this tune spent eighteen years 
driven from pillar to post in his persevering attempt to 
plant the Congregation hi Western Europe since the day 
in 1802 when he had been sent forth for that purpose from 
Warsaw. The last two years had been spent as narrated 
above, in a comparative calm, at the old Carthusian 
Monastery of Val Sainte near Fribourg. This very year, 
1820, had brought to a conclusion his negotiations for 
bringing the Redemptorists into France. On the 2nd of 
August he had been able to establish a community at 
Bischenberg in Alsace, but now he had to leave all that 
and hearken to the call of obedience. He reached Vienna 
at the end of October, and found the church and house at 
Maria Stiegen nearly ready for occupation. On the 22nd of 
December the community were transferred thither from 
the house of the Franciscans, and on Christmas Eve the 
old church was blessed anew. 

Father Passerat assumed the direction of the Novitiate 
himself, and named Father Stark Rector of the house. 
Several fathers dispersed at Warsaw at the time of the 
persecution were now able to rejoin the community, and 
many of the twenty-seven candidates named by Madlener 
came to the Novitiate one after another as their engage- 
ments ended. This made quite a notable band when 
Father De Held and those first clothed were professed 
(2nd August, 1821) . Then, as the newly professed advanced 
in their studies and were ordained, came a gradual growth 
hi the numbers at Maria Stiegen, so that new foundations 
became possible. 

In 1825 the Bishop of Seckau offered the fathers the 
disused convent at Mautern in Styria, and in 1827 Fathers 
Unrechtsberg and De Held were sent to take possession of 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 71 

it. This became the House of Studies for the Austrian 
Fathers. Frohnleiten was accepted in 1826, and another 
house at Innsbruck hi 1827. Meantime the confreres who 
had remained under the leadership of Father Czech in 
Switzerland had made a certain amount of progress. 
Val Sainte indeed was given up soon after Father Passerat 
left for Vienna, but it was replaced by a more suitable 
foundation at Fribourg itself, where the fathers were able 
to assemble a large community of priests, students, and 
brothers. At the same time Bischenberg became a 
prosperous Novitiate, and a third house was opened near 
Colmar in 1824. 

In 1826 a still more distant enterprise was engaged hi 
through the acceptance of a foundation at Lisbon hi 
Portugal. Four fathers and two brothers were sent there, 
and, having been given permission to receive novices, there 
seemed promise of growth and hope of cultivating a new 
field of labour. But civil disturbances over the succession 
to the throne came in to frustrate all this. The. Redemp- 
torists were thrown into prison, and then banished. They 
travelled to Ostend, making en route a short stay at 
Plymouth, this being the first time a Redemptorist had 
landed in England; then they pursued their way to Vienna, 
taking with them several Portuguese subjects who had 
preferred expatriation to an abandonment of their vocation. 

BELGIUM 

In 1831 a new departure was made by the sending of the 
first Redemptorists into Belgium. This enterprise seemed 
to open an auspicious field to their zeal. It must be remem- 
bered that up to this time, neither in Austria nor in 
Switzerland, though the Congregation had taken root and 
grown, had its own special work, that of the missions, been 
possible. The interference of the civil power raised too 



72 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

great obstacles. But Belgium was a new state, and as far 
as its people were concerned, mainly a Catholic one. It 
seemed that here would be found a sphere where the missions 
might be carried on in untrammelled freedom. This amply 
explains the welcome Father Passerat gave to the invitation 
which two pious Belgian priests pressed upon him, as well 
as its importance in his eyes. As a temporary abode, a 
house at Rumillies was assigned to the fathers, and here 
on the ist of November, 1831, were installed five fathers 
and one lay brother. About the same time a talented 
young Dutch priest, Bernard Hafkenscheid, who had just 
gained his Doctorate hi Rome, had been received into the 
Congregation, and on his way to take leave of his friends 
had called on his former master and lifelong friend Bishop 
Van Bommel of Li6ge. This great man at once offered a 
foundation in his episcopal city, and as he proposed 
temporary charge of the Church of St Paul (1832), Father 
Passerat thought this foundation should be accepted as well 
as that of Rumillies in the preceding year. 

But what was now wanting was a man of energy and of 
outstanding religious fervour to carry these attractive 
beginnings to a successful issue. Father Passerat believed 
he had this man close by his side in Vienna. Hence he 
made the sacrifice, and gave his trusty lieutenant, Father 
De Held, the commission to go to Belgium as Visitator, 
that he might take charge of the affairs of the Congrega- 
tion in that land. Frederic De Held accepted the onerous 
office, and no sooner had he reached Lie*ge than the zealous 
Bishop Van Bommel proposed to him a further foundation 
at St Trond, where he said there was a disused friary 
which could easily be bought and converted into a suitable 
residence for the fathers. It was almost embarrassing to 
be led on so quickly from one enterprise to another, but 
Father De Held promised to consider it, and after three 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 73 

days' stay in Ltege visited St Trond, which he found so much 
to his taste that he agreed to do all in his power to accept 
the place. 

It may be easily seen that with three new communities 
to form, the zealous Visitor had to strain every nerve to 
collect confreres in sufficient numbers for the purpose. 
Even of those who were already around him, more than one 
proved unsuitable for the extraordinary efforts which their 
position required. Passing on from St Trond to make the 
visitation hi Rumillies, Father De Held found much that was 
disappointing. 

Not grasping sufficiently well the character and work 
of the fathers, the clergy of the neighbourhood had asked 
for their assistance singly hi their ordinary parochial work, 
so that they were in danger of taking up the duties of curates 
to the parish priests, and were scattered over the environs 
in such a way that community life was almost abandoned. 
Some of the first fathers to come there had unfortunately 
yielded to the clergy in this matter, but with the coming of 
Father De Held all this was changed. As soon as he could 
manage it, two of the fathers were removed, and a Superior 
appointed who could be trusted to maintain a high standard 
of regular observance. This was Father Pilat, who was 
just returned from Lisbon, where he had held the office of 
Superior until the expulsion thence which the Revolution 
had brought about. In fact, the departure of the Redemp- 
torists from Portugal, just alluded to above, though at first 
sight a misfortune, provided Father De Held with Several 
missioners for Belgium. For all the fathers who arrived 
thence in 1833 were handed over to the Belgian mission. 

During all this time the Visitor never lost sight of his 
primary object, which was the development of the exercises 
of the Apostolic Missions hi the strict sense after the 
manner and in the spirit of St Alphonsus. It was not long 



74 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

before an opportunity was given him of making a com- 
mencement in very providential circumstances. It was 
not, however, to be in Belgium itself, but just across the 
border in the Dutch Province of Limburg. The invitation 
came from the parish priest of Giilpen, a village hi that 
part of the country, which had suffered much hi its Catholic 
life from the opposition of Jews and Calvinists. But, 
since the church of the neighbouring village of Wittem was 
a better centre, and more suitable for the mission, the 
exercises were begun by Father De Held with three other 
fathers at Wittem on the 22nd of December, 1833. The 
results were beyond all expectation. Not only from Wittem 
and Gulpen, but from still more distant places, such as 
Aix-la-Chapelle and even from Cologne, thousands flocked 
to attend the exercises. The closing exercises took place 
amid scenes of devotion and enthusiasm, which showed a 
widespread renewal of faith and practice. It was followed 
by other missions in Gulpen and Heeren with equally 
remarkable success, and the work of the fathers, at least 
.as far as the German-speaking people were concerned, 
seemed assured of a great future. It remained now to do 
as much with regard to those who spoke the French language. 
Fortunately, an opportunity to do this was offered in the 
summer of 1834, through an invitation to Themister, a 
parish not far from Liege. Father De Held could not 
himself preach hi French, but the coming of Father Bernard 
Hafkenscheid to Liege after his profession hi 1833, as well as 
the presence of Father Passerat, the Vicar General, who 
came to Belgium to make the visitation in person hi 1834, 
amply supplied any deficiency. The Venerable Father 
Passerat undertook to preside over the mission himself, 
so that under his leadership, and with Father Bernard as 
an eloquent co-operator, there could be little anxiety as 
to the work. Themister was a great success, and was 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 75 

followed by another French mission in Verviers. Hence- 
forward the fathers were able to go on from one mission to 
another with ever-growing reputation and with mighty 
results for the good of souls. The work was secure, both 
in the German and the French languages. 

Meanwhile there had been developments in other 
directions. The mission of Wittem had the further con- 
sequence that it suggested another foundation of consider- 
able future, benefit to the Congregation. As soon as 
St Trond was in a state to receive them, both novices and 
students had been sent there, as well as the missionary com- 
munity, and as a considerable number of new recruits 
continued to arrive, a new difficulty arose. Before long 
St Trond became inconveniently crowded. Moreover, as 
a house planted hi the midst of a town, it was not ideal as 
a house of studies. Father De Held was determined, as 
soon as possible, to provide for the better accommodation 
of his junior confreres during their years of preparation. 
It was then that the remembrance of Wittem came back 
to him. Wittem contained an abandoned Franciscan house 
of considerable size, which, after the suppression of the 
religious orders at the Revolution, had passed into the 
possession of a noble Dutch family named Van Veldhoven. 
Negotiations were set on foot, both with the proprietors 
and with the diocesan authorities. Meanwhile the students 
were bidden to pray their best with petition and pilgrimage. 
The outcome was that the monastery and church were both 
secured on favourable terms, and were gradually fitted up 
to become the Redemptorist house of studies. At the 
beginning of 1836 Father De Held gave orders for the 
students to move from St Trond, and on the I2th of 
January the new establishment was formally commenced 
with Father Alexander as Superior, and Father Heilig as 
Professor of Philosophy. Before long the newly professed 



76 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

Father Victor Dechamps, later on Cardinal Archbishop of 
Malines, was sent to Wittem to take charge of the students. 
His influence contributed greatly to make the new house 
a model of religious life and of theological study, to which 
came as the years passed on students from nearly all the 
European countries, to live in amity under one roof. 

St Alphonsus was canonised on Trinity Sunday, the 
26th of May, 1839, and the gathering of the fathers in Rome 
for the ceremony drew the attention of the Pope and of the 
Roman Court to the recent development of the Saint's 
Institute. Whence came all these Superiors, who then 
appeared in the Eternal City, and by what ties were they 
united to the mother house ? Owing to the regalist claims 
of the Neapolitan government these ties had become well- 
nigh invisible. The system of that kingdom required that 
the Rector Major must always reside within its bounds 
and make it his centre. There the General Chapters must 
be held. The King claimed to confirm or reject every 
Statute that it made. The result of all this was that the 
Rector Major had practically become a stranger to the 
affairs of the fathers who dwelt beyond the Alps. These 
fathers depended in practice almost entirely on the Vicar 
General, who lived at Vienna, and even he was hampered hi 
the exercise of his government by the civil authorities. 

Gregory XVI, when informed by Father Passerat of 
these defects of organisation, determined to apply a remedy. 
By a Decree of the 2nd of July, 1841, he divided the 
Redemptorist Congregation into six provinces: the Roman, 
Neapolitan, and Sicilian hi Italy; the Austrian, Swiss, 
and Belgian, north of the Alps. Furthermore, the Sovereign 
Pontiff ordered the Rector Major to transfer his seat of 
government to Rome, offering the fine monastery and noble 
Church of St Grisogono hi the Trastevere to provide him 
with a suitable headquarters. The office of Vicar General 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 77 

was to be abolished, and the Provincials were to depend 
directly on the Rector Major. 

However, it proved impossible to put this organisation 
into full operation on account of the Neapolitan opposition. 
The King of Naples protested, declaring that -the Con- 
gregation was a Neapolitan institution, St Alphonsus 
a patron of the kingdom, and Naples necessarily the centre 
of his Order. 

The Pope, having to make a choice of evils, yielded to these 
representations. Father Ripoli, the Rector Major, con- 
tinued to govern from Naples all the houses in Italy, and 
Father Passerat remained Vicar General, though with 
three Provincials: Father Michalek in Austria, Father 
Neubert hi Switzerland, and Father De Held hi Belgium, 
administering the houses under their respective jurisdic- 
tions. This lasted until 1848, except that new Provincials 
were found for Switzerland and Austria in Fathers Czech 
and Brachmann respectively. 

With regard to the German side of the Congregation, the 
most important event of the intervening years up to 1848 
was the invitation from King Louis of Bavaria that the 
fathers would accept part charge of the celebratedpilgrimage 
to Our Lady of Alt-Oetting hi 1841. Besides the church, a 
large monastery formed part of the offer, and as time went 
on as many as twenty fathers were employed in the spiritual 
care of the crowds of pilgrims who flocked to the place. 
Moreover, when trouble began in Vienna, it was found 
convenient for the Provincial to change his residence to 
Alt-Oetting. It also became a residence for novices and 
students. A second house in Bavaria was founded about 
the same time at Vilsbiburg in the diocese of Ratisbon. 

From Switzerland, on the other hand, the fathers were 
ever taking deeper root in the soil of France, especially in 
those provinces of Alsace and Lorraine which have ever 



78 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

been remarkable for their religious spirit. Landser, in 
the diocese of Strasbourg, was founded in 1845, and 
Teterchen in Lorraine hi 1847. Further south, in the hill 
country of Savoy, Contamine-sur-Arve (1847) brought the 
fathers into the land sanctified by the labours of St Francis 
de Sales. As the work increased in France, and through 
persecution failed, at least temporarily, in Switzerland, it 
became evident that Swiss Province was a misnomer, and 
leave was given by the Holy See to adopt the name of 
Gallo-Helvetic Province. 

It is also to these years that we must refer the beginning 
of the Congregation in England, as well as all but the 
earliest commencement of its great developments hi the 
United States of America, but these things will be narrated 
more in detail below. On the whole, it was a tune of 
progress and peaceful growth, but storms were in the ah-.. 
When the tempest broke out in 1848, there were but few 
Redemptorists whose fortunes were not to a greater or 
less extent affected by the changes which it wrought. 

III. THE REVOLUTION OF 1848 AND ITS RESULTS 

The first disturbance of the regular order of life among 
Redemptorists caused by the Revolution happened hi 
Switzerland. In 1847 the Protestant Canton of Berne 
decreed the expulsion of religious. This was resisted by 
the seven Catholic Cantons, and the dispute culminated 
in a sort of civil war, which ended in the establishment 
of a new government determined to expel all religious 
from the neighbourhood of Fribourg. This meant the 
fall of the large house which the Congregation held in that 
town. It had been the residence of the Provincial, and at 
the time of the suppression comprised twenty-five fathers, 
besides students, novices and lay brothers. Dispersed 
from their home in the Congregation, they had to seek 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 79 

refuge where they could in France, in Savoy, and else- 
where. 

But the persecution at Fribourg was only the prelude to 
still greater evils. In February, 1848, a fresh revolution 
drove Louis Philippe from the French capital, and from 
this commencement one after the other nearly every throne 
in Europe began to totter. In Italy, the Carbonari, after 
overthrowing the government in the north of Italy, seized 
upon Rome and the States of the Church, and proceeded to 
overturn the royal government at Naples. In all these cases 
the closing of the religious houses and the exile of their 
inhabitants followed almost as a matter of course. In 
May, 1848, the Revolution reached Vienna. A violent 
mob from the street chased the religious out of their houses, 
forcing them to find a temporary asylum with their friends. 
At the Redemptorist house of Maria Stiegen an attack 
was made on the church doors, and, though the crowd 
was for the moment beaten off by the soldiers on guard, 
it returned the next day hi increased numbers and broke 
into both house and church. Both were sacked and the 
fathers, forced into vehicles, were driven into the open 
country and forbidden ever to return to Vienna. A Decree 
was then published which suppressed all Redemptorist 
houses hi the Austrian -States. Ten of these thus remained 
closed from 1848 to 1854. The German Confederation then 
followed suit with a similar Decree. The only region where 
it was not executed was the kingdom of Bavaria; there 
the wonderful shrine at Alt-Getting went on its way un- 
harmed among the general destruction. 

Amid the general stream of fugitives from the German 
and Austrian houses the most illustrious was the Vicar 
General, the Venerable Father Passerat. Sheltered for 
a time hi a neighbouring priest's house, he never once lost 
his peace of mind and resignation to the will of God. As 



8o THE REDEMPTORISTS 

soon as he was able to come to a decision about his future 
abode, he elected to pass on to the Redemptorist house at 
Tournai in Belgium. He reached this refuge in safety, 
but almost immediately gave in his resignation of the office 
of Vicar General, which his great age, combined with the 
fact that he was perforce removed from the centre whence 
he had guided his confreres' career, made a burden too 
heavy for him to bear. He survived another ten years 
in the house he had chosen, entirely given up to recollec- 
tion, prayer, and mortification, suffering much, but always 
resigned. On the 30th of October, 1858, he died the death 
of a saint at the age of .eighty-six. He was declared 
Venerable by Leo XIII (i3th May, 1901) in the Decree 
which permitted the Introduction of the Cause of his 
Beatification. 

It was several years before any lasting or satisfactory 
settlement could be reached for the government of the 
Transalpine houses. Father Ripoli .survived as Rector 
Major at Naples until 1850, but it was almost impossible 
for the fathers north of the Alps to communicate with him. 
Hereupon, the Holy See, being approached as to what 
should be done, showed its desire for the reunion of all 
the fathers under one head. Consequently, instead of 
choosing a successor to Father Passerat, ampler powers 
were given to the three Provincials Father Heilig in 
Belgium, Father Bruchmann in Bavaria, and Father 
Ottmann in France to govern their respective provinces 
until a Rector Major could be elected to rule the whole 
Congregation. Hence the Transalpine fathers were 
practically governed by the Provincials for the next two 
years (1848-1850). Then in 1850 Father Ripoli died, 
and Pius IX of his own accord named Father Nicholas 
Trapanese as Rector Major provisionally, until a General 
Chapter could assemble and elect a Superior General to 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 81 

reside in Rome, and thence preside over the entire 
Congregation. 

But here, again, they were reckoning without the restored- 
court at Naples. King Ferdinand was willing to approve 
of Father Trapanese's appointment, but riot of the transfer 
to Rome, nor of the union with Redemptorists who were 
not subjects of His Majesty. In face of this attitude, 
Pius IX, being under great obligations to the Neapolitan 
King, felt obliged to yield for the time. In this way the 
status quo was maintained for yet a few years: Father 
Trapanese continued to rule the Italian houses from Naples, 
while those of the Transalpine fathers were placed under 
the jurisdiction of a Vicar General, as in Father Passerat's 
time. The new Vicar General was the brilliant Austrian 
lawyer, Father Rudolph Von Smetana. Vienna was still 
closed to him, so Father Smetana went to live for the next 
three years (1850-1853) at Coblenz on the Rhine, where a 
temporary house had been secured in May, 1849. Two 
Procurators were appointed to live in Rome, as for the 
moment neither Rector Major nor Vicar General could do 
so. These were Father Centone for the Neapolitans, and 
Father Queloz for .the Transalpine fathers. 

As soon as possible after this, since a General Chapter was 
out of the question as an immediate event, Father Smetana 
summoned the Superiors of that portion of the Congregation 
which was under his jurisdiction to Bischenberg in Alsace, 
where an assembly met in November, 1850, at which 
several important points were decided. The gradual 
abandonment of the small houses in which the fathers in 
England were dispersed was there decreed. About the 
same time, on the other hand, new foundations were ac- 
cepted at Bornhofen in the Rhineland, at Treves, and at 
Amsterdam. After this meeting Father Smetana pro- 
ceeded to make the Triennial Nominations for the provinces 



82 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

and houses under his rule. While Father Bruchmann 
was confirmed in office in Germany, Father Dechamps, 
already a leader among his confreres, became Provincial in 
Belgium, and Father Mauron, the future General, in the 
Gallo-Helvetic Province. The growth in America had been 
so great and the difficulty caused to the Belgian Province 
by the distance was so considerable that a new Province, 
the American, was added to the three existing Transalpine 
ones in 1850, Father Bernard Hafkenscheid being named 
the first Provincial. Next year (1851) Father Smetana 
undertook a Canonical Visitation with the laudable object 
of becoming personally acquainted with the fathers and 
houses in the now widely spread organisation over which he 
had control. Doubtless both what he was able to see for 
himself and what he learned from others must have been 
enough to convince him that progress was being made, 
and great good for souls achieved. 

The disasters which had befallen the Congregation in 
Germany were used by Divine Providence to spread it into 
yet new lands, and to strengthen its forces where as yet its 
members were few and scattered. A field of labour had to 
be found for the fathers in more distant lands. The needs 
of the American houses with their overwhelming work 
attracted some of the fathers across the Atlantic to take 
a share in bringing in the great harvest, others crossed 
the English Channel, and enabled a wider range to be given 
to the hitherto limited range of the doings of the fathers in 
England. In 1848 also a few others passed into Norway, 
and settling at Christiania, were able, by the generosity of 
pious benefactors, to build a monastery and the handsome 
Church of St Olaf , now the pro-cathedral, in that city. 

The fathers remained at Christiania until about 1853, 
and then, the Austrian troubles being now at an end, they 
returned to their native land. A certain number of others 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 83 

managed to remain in Austria singly during the days of 
persecution, and then, when peace was restored, rejoined 
their own communities. 

Meanwhile, the feeling in favour of the reunion of all 
Redemptorists under one Superior General residing in Rome 
was growing, and some of the fathers took it upon them to 
urge the matter upon the Holy See. Father Dechamps 
and Father Pilat were especially prominent in these repre- 
sentations. Father De Held, while heartily in sympathy 
with these steps, did not himself take any active measures 
to further them. The Vicar General, Father Smetana, 
though not opposed to the reunion on principle, seems to 
have thought that it was inopportune just then, and to have 
discountenanced bringing any pressure to bear upon the 
Holy See to change the existing arrangement. However, 
things were moving in that direction in spite of him, and 
in 1853 he seems to have been convinced that it was his 
duty to leave Coblenz, being summoned by Pius IX to 
take up his quarters in Rome, so as to be ready for what- 
ever might happen. He had the good fortune to meet 
Pius IX, and to be welcomed by him, just as he was 
entering the gates of the Eternal City. Some days later 
he was named a member of the Commission chosen to pre- 
pare the declaration of the Immaculate Conception. But, 
he was, badly off for a house of residence. The only Re- 
demptorist establishment in the Capital of the Christian 
World was the little house and Church of S Maria in Mon- 
terone: there he took up his abode for the moment. 

On the 6th of September, 1853, appeared a Papal Decree 
separating the houses in the States of the Church from 
those in Naples and Sicily, leaving only the latter under the 
Rector Major, and joining the Roman houses to those under 
the Vicar General. On the 8th of October another Decree 
directed Father Smetana to settle upon a permanent place 



84 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

of residence in Rome and to call a General Chapter to 
meet there. 

It was clear that S Maria in Monterone was an impos- 
sible centre for the whole Institute; St Grisogono was no 
longer available, so a new site had to be found. In these 
difficulties a benefactor appeared in the person of Father 
Edward Douglas, the first native of Great Britain to join 
the Congregation. He was at that time in Ireland, engaged 
in the work of the missions, but wrote to his Superior, 
offering part of his fortune for the purchase of a suitable 
house to be the residence of the General and his Curia. 
Full of gratitude for the generous offer, Father Smetana 
summoned Father Douglas to Rome. 

Pending the acquisition of a suitable house, Father 
Smetana had gone to Alt-Getting in Bavaria, and there 
Father Douglas met him. Passing on to Rome he then 
took up his abode with the Procurator General at S Maria 
in Monterone, and with his assistance began to negotiate 
for the purchase of a suitable house. Finally, the Villa 
Caserta, the property of the Duke Gaetani, on theEsquiline, 
was acquired early in 1854, and as soon as all the formalities 
had been completed, was adapted and prepared not only 
for the residence of the General, but also as the place for 
holding the General Chapter. Father Douglas was named 
Provincial of the Roman Province, and as soon as the Villa 
Caserta could be fitted up for their residence, he, as well 
as the Vicar General and a small community, took up their 
abode there on the 25th of March, 1855. The General 
Chapter had been summoned for the 26th of April, so the 
intervening month was fully occupied with the necessary 
preparations, and with the arrival of the various repre- 
sentatives from the different countries. 

On the appointed day the Chapter commenced. It 
consisted of twenty-seven members: the Vicar General and 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 85 

his Curia, and the Provincial with two Vocals from each 
of the seven provinces represented. The original three 
had grown to seven by the erection of the American and 
of the German Province, as distinct from the Austrian, the 
counting of the Dutch and English houses as a Province 
in view of its coming foundation, and the Papal Decree 
transferring the Roman houses from Naples. The Capitulars 
were a notable band. To mention only a few, there were 
Fathers Smetana and De Held, who were the favourite 
candidates for the Generalship; Fathers Konings and 
Heilig, the Moralists; Father Bernard, the world-renowned 
missionary; Fathers Mauron and Douglas, henceforth in- 
separable friends and companions hi the government 
of the Congregation; Fathers Dechamps and Swinkels, 
both destined to wear the mitre in widely different 
circumstances. 

The first business was the election of a Superior, for such 
was the Pontifical command. Fathers Smetana and De 
Held stood out conspicuous before the eyes of all as 
equally distinguished men, tried servants of the Congrega- 
tion, and both supported by a weighty body of opinion as 
best suited to preside over the family of St Alphonsus. 
A two-thirds majority was needed for a valid election, but 
at the end of ten scrutinies these two were left with ten 
votes apiece, the few others being divided amongst various 
members of the Chapter. Father Douglas from the first 
had given his vote to neither of the two, but had consistently 
voted for the young and unknown Provincial of France, 
Father Mauron. At last, when it became evident that 
neither Father Smetana nor Father De Held could secure 
the requisite number, others likewise transferred their 
votes to Father Mauron. Thus it came to pass that on 
the 2nd of May he had the required majority, and was duly 
elected. Pius IX received the Capitulars two days later, 



86 THE REDEMPTORISTS, 

and benevolently blessed the new regime which Father 
Mauron's election inaugurated. 

But the Chapter had other work. It had to go through 
the Rules of the Institute, and make whatever further 
regulations seemed necessary for regular observance and 
the work of the fathers. Thus the Sessions continued for 
two months, and it was only on the 2oth of July that the 
members were able to finish their labours and return to their 
respective homes. Six Consultors had been chosen to aid 
the new General in his government. Among these, per- 
haps, the most prominent was Father Douglas. The 
management of the affairs of the Congregation had thus 
fallen in the main into new hands. The General, a Swiss, 
was but thirty-seven years of age ; Father Douglas had only 
been in the ranks of the Institute a few years. As to the 
former leaders, Father De Held and Father Smetana, the 
former retired to Belgium and then to Aix-la-Chapelle, 
where for a long period he led a life of most edifying 
regularity and piety, not dying till 1881 ; the latter similarly 
retired to Gars in Bavaria, where he also lived in studious 
and devout seclusion, but neither the one nor the other took 
much part in the public life of the Redemptorists. Father 
Smetana died at about the age of seventy. He had em- 
ployed part of his leisure in composing a valuable Clergy 
Retreat, which has been published and repeatedly trans- 
lated into English. 

IV. DEVELOPMENT OF THE CONGREGATION 

SINCE 1855 

ITALY 

When the new Rector Major and his Consultors were 
left in charge of affairs after the Chapter, they found many 
difficulties pressing for solution. It must be always 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 87 

remembered that the Neapolitan fathers, who were at that 
time far more numerous than those in the Roman States, 
were by Papal Decree under another jurisdiction. The 
Roman Province had to be built up almost from nothing. 
The Neapolitans had nineteen houses and over 300 fathers. 
A first enterprise was the building of a new church dedicated 
to St Alphonsus alongside the Villa Caserta. Under the 
superintendence and at the expense of Father Douglas 
a commencement was made in 1855. The church was 
finished and opened hi 1861. It was something of a pheno- 
menon in classic Rome, for it was built in the Gothic style 
of architecture after the designs of the English architect 
George Wigley. To extend the sphere of labours of the 
Province, new foundations were made at Trevi and Gubbio, 
but they only survived until 1861. A better fate was in 
store for Bussolengo, founded hi 1855, for being in Austrian 
territory, as was also Finale, both escaped the Revolution 
which wrecked Gubbio and Trevi. 

The church at the Villa Caserta had not been open many 
years before it became one of the most celebrated shrines 
of the Madonna which the city contained. Investigations 
into the history of the Villa Caserta brought to light the 
fact that on part of the garden had formerly stood the old 
Church of St Matthew, in which a miraculous picture of 
Our Lady had been honoured. The church had been 
destroyed at the time of the French occupation, but in- 
quiries showed that the picture existed still in a private 
oratory belonging to the Augustinian fathers at S Maria 
in Posterula. One point in the history of the picture was 
that Our Lady had signified her wish that it should be 
publicly honoured between the Lateran Basilica and St 
Mary Major, as it actually was in St Matthew's. Hence 
the desire arose to get it back as near as might be to its 
original resting-place. At last, after reflection and prayer, 



88 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

Father Mauron approached the Sovereign Pontiff, asking 
that on account of its past history itmight be given to the 
Church of St Alphonsus, compensation being, of course, 
made to its actual guardians. Pius IX, having examined 
all the circumstances, wrote an Order to this effect, and on 
the i6th of January, 1866, the holy picture was brought to 
the Redemptorist church in procession, amid scenes of the 
greatest enthusiasm and devotion. As time went on, its 
new home became a centre of veneration and prayer to 
the Madonna. Many answers to prayer, some of them 
partaking of the miraculous, were obtained, and from this 
shrine devotion to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, for so 
is the picture styled, has radiated over the whole Christian 
world. 

On the other hand, storms were gathering over Italy and 
the Holy See, and in each successive outburst of the tempest 
the Redemptorists were to bear their full share. First 
came the troubles in Sicily, where the Revolution led to the 
suppression, on the i8th of June, 1860, of all the four 
houses then existing in that island, and the dispersion of 
the communities. Then came the ejection of the King of 
Naples, and the union of the kingdom with the Sardinian 
crown to form the.new kingdom of Italy. Here, of course, 
the ruin was on a larger scale, because the Congregation 
had more houses on its native soil, and there were more 
fathers to feel the stroke of the enemy. By a Decree of 
the I4th of July, 1866, no fewer than thirteen houses were 
suppressed, and their inhabitants sent flying. In Pagani 
and one or two of the older houses, a few of the fathers and 
brothers managed to exist on sufferance. But the main 
body had to abandon the community life and find a refuge 
where they could. It seemed as if the days of the Neapoli- 
tan Province were numbered. Even the Roman Province 
felt the effects of the blow, and lost five out of its ten houses. 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 89 

In all some four hundred religious were left without a home. 
Father Mauron's grief may be imagined at beholding the 
Institute thus falling to pieces all over the Peninsula, and 
especially at seeing the danger of those venerable foundations 
in the kingdom of Naples which had cost St Alphonsus 
such care and pious labour. Thus, at any rate, was shown 
the truth of the Holy Founder's saying: " If the Congrega- 
tion is not established outside of Naples it will come to 
an end !" One ray of consolation was that the Neapolitan 
Redemptorists, whom regalist interference had kept so 
long separated from their brethren in the rest of the world, 
voluntarily embraced reunion. On the I7th of September^ 
1869, this was accomplished. Father Trapanese, who had 
been appointed by Pius IX, Rector Major of the Neapoli- 
tans in 1850, died soon after the Chapter of 1855, and had 
been succeeded by Father Lordi, and then by Father Berruti. 
The latter now went, in company with Father Mauron, to 
the Congregation of Bishops and Regulars to agree upon 
the terms of reunion. Father Mauron was henceforth to 
rule the whole Institute hi Naples as elsewhere, but Father 
Berruti was to keep the title and privileges of Rector Major 
as well. Pius IX ratified the act on the same day. 

The number of fathers in the Neapolitan kingdom had 
decreased from 300 to 240, but, of course, it was im- 
possible to find an abode in other lands for such a number, 
especially hi view of the practical impossibility for a 
Neapolitan to support life in the cold regions .of the North. 
Therefore, they remained for the most part living singly in 
a kind of dispersion or diaspora. But Father Mauron did 
what he could; the students were, through the brotherly 
cp-opefation of the Provincials, sent at one tune to Puchheim 
hi Austria, at another to Wittem hi Holland, while room 
was found for some in the mother house at the Villa 
Caserta. 



9P THE REDEMPTORISTS 

But, before long, the breath of persecution was to touch 
the General's own residence, and make life there almost 
as precarious as in the houses already suppressed. 

The Vatican Council was summoned to meet on the 
8th of December, 1869, and its assembling was made the 
occasion of much opposition, both on the part of the 
European Powers, and also on the part of individual enemies 
of the Papal Power. It is true that the plans mooted for 
open interference with the Council came to nothing, but 
the events of the following summer, when war broke out 
between France and Prussia, proved an insuperable obstacle 
to the further continuance of the Council. 

It may be, perhaps, worth mentioning that the Common 
Room at the Villa Caserta was the chosen place of assembly 
for many of the most prominent supporters of the definition 
of Papal Infallibility. Here came Manning, Dechamps, 
and others to discuss the situation and the measures to be 
taken hi dealing with it. Father Mauron was the trusted 
counsellor of many of them, and Father Douglas was an 
enthusiastic supporter of the same cause. 

Napoleon III withdrew the French garrison which for 
-twenty years had stood between the Pope and any further 
attempts to deprive him of the temporal sovereignty of 
Rome. The Italian government was already prepared for 
this eventuality, and almost at once put its troops in 
motion towards the Papal States. After a brief formal 
resistance the city was surrendered on the 2oth of Sep- 
tember, 1870, the Pope's little army was disbanded, and the 
invaders had everything at their mercy. Pius IX retired 
into the Vatican, and much ecclesiastical property was. 
seized by the intruding government. The Villa Gaserta 
was in danger of a similar fate. It was therefore deemed 
best to fly the British Flag, and to send on the deed of 
purchase by Father Douglas as a British subject to the 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 91 

Ambassador. The latter forwarded this to the Foreign 
Office in London. There, however, it was held that the 
estate could not count as British property, and that there- 
fore the flag must be hauled down. 

First of all, a lawsuit was commenced in the Italian 
courts, but the decision was adverse to the claims of Father 
Douglas. Help, however, came from an unexpected direc- 
tion. A Polish lady, wife of the French Ambassador, the 
Marquis de Noailles, had lately come with her husband to 
Rome, on the transfer of the latter from the Legation at 
Washington to that at Rome. Before leaving Washington 
she had been begged by a friend to visit in Rome the 
shrine of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour and pray for her 
there. Some time after her arrival she did so, and was so 
struck with what she saw that she came to the house, asked 
to see the Superior, and asked many questions about the 
church and the picture. The Father General received her 
himself, and having satisfied her pious questions, began, 
after she had explained who she was, to speak of the 
danger the establishment was in of being confiscated, and 
of the injustice with which Father Douglas had been treated 
in.the matter. He then made bold to ask her if she thought 
that on account of her position she could give any help or 
counsel hi the matter. Seeing the distress of the Father 
at the danger the house was in, she promised that she 
would do her utmost. And she was as good as her word. 
With wonderful energy she spared herself no pains, and left 
no stone unturned to rescue the community from its perils. 
She approached the Italian Royal Ministers* as well as the 
English Ambassador and others, and she did so to such 
good purpose that though the Tribunal of Appeal had 
already given an unfavourable decision, a new hearing 
was ordered before the Council of State. The result of this 
was that, against all expectation, this Council, influenced 



92 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

by what the Marchioness de Npailles had urged, and there 
is reason to believe after the expression of a wish on the 
part of King Victor Emmanuel himself, decided that the 
College of the Redemptorists had been validly set up as a 
corporate body of international character, and that hence 
the property was exempt from the general decree of sup- 
pression. Furthermore, that as the garden had already 
been seized for the purpose of making public improvements 
and erecting new houses in the district, some compensation 
should be paid for what had been taken . This decree of the 
Council of State bears date the igth of June, 1879, and ever 
since the community has remained in peaceful possession 
of both house and church. 

To compare smaller things with greater, one may reason- 
ably think that as a pendant to the Decrees of the Vatican 
Council for the Universal Church there came for the 
Redemptorist Institute the declaration that St Alphonsus 
should be counted among the honoured few who bear the 
title of Doctor of the Church. The wish for this declaration 
sprang up almost naturally as an immediate sequel to the 
Canonisation of the Saint in 1839. It was important to 
brmg forward Catholic lea'rning and science, especially hi the 
person of those who were Saints. As early as 1844 a 
petition was prepared to Gregory XVI for this end, and 
signed by more than seventy bishops, amongst whom was 
the Bishop of Imola, afterwards Pius IX. But the circum- 
stances were such that little further was done in the matter 
at that time. It was only a quarter of a century later, on 
the occasion of the centennial celebrations in honour of 
SS Peter and Paul in 1867, that the renewed petitions, full 
of testimonies which form but a long panegyric of the 
Saint, and signed by a multitude of cardinals, bishops, 
generals of orders, chapters, university faculties and others, 
invited the Holy See to take action. The Sovereign Pontiff 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 93 

then authorised the introduction of the cause of St Alphon- 
sus' Doctorate before the Sacred Congregation of Rites. 
The three following years were spent hi examining anew 
all the writings of the Saint, and in replying to the objec- 
tions urged by the Promoter Fidei, or Devil's A dvocate, as he 
is popularly called. When everything had been satis- 
factorily cleared up, the Sacred Congregation unanimously 
advised the Pope to bestow the title of Doctor of the Church 
on St Alphonsus. On the 22nd of March, 1871, the Holy 
Father acted upon this and promulgated the Decree. 
Therein St Alphonsus is praised not only for his valuable 
works on Moral Theology, but also for his defence of the 
two doctrines whose successive definition cast such a bright 
light on the reign of Pius IX viz., the Immaculate Con- 
ception of the Blessed Virgin, and the Infallibility of the 
Roman Pontiff. The sons of St Alphonsus could not but 
regard this Papal declaration as the brightest jewel in the 
crown of their Holy Founder before the eyes of the 
world. 

The dark days of the Roman See which followed the 
Italian occupation of the city in 1870 drew the Institute 
still closer to the side of the Vicar of Christ. A more than 
ordinary friendship sprang up between the much-tried 
Pontiff and Father Mauron. Especially did the Redemp- 
torist General win the gratitude of Pius IX when others 
in the darkest hour thought only of safety in flight, in that 
he stayed at his post to the end, determined to share the 
fortunes of the Holy Father. And so, hi fact, he did, until 
at last in 1878 Pius IX came to the end of his long Ponti- 
ficate. 

Father Mauron had to bear the burden of office for yet 
another fifteen years under another Pontiff. His trials 
and anxieties were not confined to Italy. There was 
persecution for his confreres in turn in France, in Germany, 



94 THE REDEMPJORISTS 

in Spain, and in his native Switzerland. He even tried 
to do his best to provide for the subjects of these various 
provinces in their exile and their other necessities. But as 
years advanced his strength grew less, and in 1882 he had 
a stroke of apoplexy which at first, it was feared, would 
prove fatal. Still, after a while the crisis passed, and he 
gradually recovered some measure of strength. But hence- 
forth he had to husband his powers, and rely more on the 
co-operation of pthers in governing the Institute. In the 
beginning of 1893 he again became ill, and repeated attacks 
of paralysis gave warning that death was at hand. Finally, 
on the I3th of July, 1893, he peacefully expired. 

The General had already before his death despatched a 
Circular Letter summoning the General Chapter, so long 
delayed on account fo the evil times, to meet hi Rome in 
the following year. Consequently, the arrangements he had 
made held good, the required elections took place, first in 
thehouses and then in the provinces, and on the 25th of 
February, 1894, the Capitulars gathered in Rome, both to 
elect his successor and to pass whatever legislation the 
circumstances demanded. 

The development of the Institute during the thirty-eight 
years of Father Mauron's Generalate had been so con- 
siderable that it was a much larger body of delegates which 
met in 1894 than that which had elected him in 1855. The 
English Province had been erected in 1865, and the second 
North American one, that of St Louis, in 1875. Besides, 
the three Italian Provinces had accepted the reunion. 
Hence there were now twelve instead of seven. The 
election was not a very lengthy one. The only two fathers 
whose claims stood out above their confreres were Father 
Raus, who had been Consultor, and then named by the late 
Father Mauron as Vicar General for the interim; and Father 
Oomen, the able and zealous Dutch Consultor, who acted 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 95 

as Secretary to the Chapter. Before midday on the ist of 
March Father Matthias Raus had the required number of 
votes. 

Father Raus was already nearly sixty-five, but he sur- 
vived to govern the Congregation for fifteen years, edifying 
his confreres by his pious and observant life, and winning 
their affections by his kind fatherly ways. In 1909 he 
resigned the office of Rector Major at the age of eighty, and 
retired to Bischenberg in his native Alsace; but even then 
his life was continued in a hale and holy old age, until on the 
9th of May, 1917, he died at the age of eighty-eight. He 
had deserved well of his brethren. In Italy he built a new 
house of studies for the Roman Province at Cortona, 
which had just been founded in 1892 when he assumed the 
reins of government. In Naples he made persevering 
efforts to win back one by one the houses which had been 
confiscated by the State. In Sicily, where the Provincial 
had for years been living almost alone in a temporary 
house, he succeeded in getting somewhat more of a com- 
munity set on foot both at Mazzara and at Sciacca, and 
for this purpose sent several fathers from the Roman 
Province to fill up the ranks. What he was able to initiate 
or approve outside of Italy will be mentioned as we sketch 
the history of the other provinces in turn. 

When the next Chapter met in 1909, after Father Raus' 
resignation, the votes of the fathers fell upon the Irish 
Provincial, Father Patrick Murray, who is still living and 
presiding over the fortunes of the Institute. The decision 
come to in 1909 to establish in Rome a College of Higher 
Studies for the fathers has been carried out, and since that 
time it has always been the wish of the Superiors that 
at least one father from each province shall be sent to 
follow this curriculum for two or three years, and to specialise 
in some one branch ol ecclesiastical science, thus to fit 



96 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

himself to become later on Professor of the branch he has 
chosen in the house of studies of his own province. 

As to the local progress made in the Italian houses, a 
foundation was made at Mestre, near Venice," in 1908, but 
when the charge of the Venetian Oratory was accepted in 
1912, the former house, as being so near and unnecessary, 
was abandoned. Cortona has become a common centre 
of studies for all the Italian students, and hi like manner 
Pagani, hard by the relics of St Alphonsus, an inspiring 
novitiate for them all. Every effort is being made to 
retain the Neapolitan houses intact, in spite of financial and 
other difficulties. The old foundation at Girgenti in 
Sicily, which goes back to the days of St Alphonsus, has 
been recovered. The fathers both hi the Roman and 
Neapolitan part of the Congregation continue to labour 
zealously in the way and the spirit, nowhere better pre- 
served than here from the traditions of the Holy Founder. 

On a subsequent page, in speaking of the Redemptorists 
who have died with a reputation for extraordinary sanctity, 
there will be an opportunity of showing how honourable 
a place the sons of the Italian Provinces take in that list. 
It may also be worth mentioning that in no other part of 
the Congregation have so many members been raised by 
the Holy See to the honour of the episcopate. 

Father Leggio, the Procurator General, whose activities 
added to the troubles of St Alphonsus in the days of the 
Regolamento, retired, after the reunion had been effected, 
to live at Pagani. But in 1797 he was made Bishop of 
Umbratico, and died suddenly on the Feast of the Most 
Holy Redeemer, 1800. The Rector Major from 1824 to 1832, 
Father Code, was made Archbishop of Patras and Almoner 
to the King of Naples hi 1832. He took refuge in Malta 
during the Revolution of 1848, but returned to Naples and 
died there in 1857. Father Alexander De Risio (1823-1901) , 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 97 

entering the Congregation as a Subdeacon, devoted himself 
to the work of the missions with such indefatigable zeal, 
and commended his preaching by such high examples of 
virtue, that he became popularly called a Second Atyhonsus. 
His field of labour was, first for eleven years hi Sicily, and 
then in Naples. His fame for piety and zeal caused 
Pius IX hi 1872 to name him for the archiepiscopal see of 
St Severina. He evangelised his diocese, following closely 
in the footsteps of his Holy Founder, for twenty-four years. 
At last, worn out with his labours and racked with disease, 
he resigned in 1896, and went to end his days by the shrine 
of his holy father at Pagani. Steps have been taken to 
introduce the cause of his Beatification. He is the author 
of a History of the Redemptorist Institute. Father Capone 
was made Bishop of Muro in 1883, and survived until 1908. 
Father Giordano became Bishop of Calvi and Teano in 
1884, dying in 1908. He and Mgr. Capone both passed 
away in the house of St Antonio a Tarsia in the same year. 
Father Consenti filled the sees of Nusco and Lucera in 
succession. At the latter city he died in 1907. Father 
Saeli of the Sicilian Province was named Bishop of Mazzara 
in 1882, and governed that diocese -till his death hi 1900. 
Father Di Nonno was made Bishop of Termoli hi 1889. 
He was later translated to the Archbishopric of Acerenza 
and Matera. He died hi 1895. The results won by the 
apostolic labours of Father Carmine Cesarano hi the 
difficult missionary field of Sardinia led to the obedience 
given him by the Pope hi 1915 to accept the see of Ozieri 
in that island. He was translated to the Archbishopric of 
Conza in 1918, and still survives the primitive Redemp- 
torist, following his Holy Founder in poverty, charity, 
and zeal. 

The mother house of all the Congregation, and the 
residence of the Father General, who still bears the time- 

7 



98 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

honoured title of Rector Major, is St Alfonso on the Via 
Merulana, between St Mary Major's and St John Lateran. 
Here reside, besides the Rector Major, his six Consultors, the 
Procurator General, and a certain number of secretaries 
and others attached to the General's Curia. Eight Italian, 
fathers attend to the work in the church. Moreover, here 
also are to be found with their Superior some twenty junior 
fathers pursuing higher studies in the various colleges or 
universities of Rome, and constituting what is called the 
Major College of St Alphonsus. 



(i) ROMAN PROVINCE 

The Roman Provincial has his residence in the old 
Church of S Maria in Monterone, which is still cared for by 
three or four fathers, and remains a centre of devotion 
to the faithful. The Papal Church of St Joachim in the 
Prati, entrusted to the Redemptorists by Leo XIII in 
1898, is directly under the Holy See, and is a large and 
populous parish. The ancient foundations at Scifelli 
and Frosinone still evangelise the surrounding country, 
even as in the days of St Alphonsus. Bussolengo yet 
remains, and a second effort has been made to maintain 
a house at Modena. At Cortona a large and recently built 
house of ample dimensions serves as the united House of 
Studies for the Neapolitan and Roman Provinces. The 
church and house of B.V.M. della Consolazione, popularly 
called della Fava, once the seat of the Venetian Oratory, 
is now under the charge of the fathers. Lastly, in 1918, 
the Redemptorists assumed the direction of the celebrated 
pilgrimage of Oropa, on the slopes of the Alps, in the diocese 
of Biella. To Oropa there came recently hi pilgrimage 
the daughters of the King of Italy, to return thanks for their 
recovery from a critical attack of illness. 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 99 

Thus in all the Roman Province has nine houses and a 
personnel of seventy-five fathers and over fifty other 
subjects. 

(2) NEAPOLITAN PROVINCE 

Were it not for the residence of the General and the 
centre of the Congregation being in Rome, the Neapolitan 
Province would assuredly rank first. For here was the 
abode of the Holy Founder, and here consequently are the 
oldest and most venerable houses of the fathers. No other 
province has undergone such vicissitudes of fortune by 
stress of recurring persecution. Pagani, the last earthly 
home of St Alphonsus, and the place where his remains repose 
in an ornate shrine, is the residence of the Provincial- 
Moreover, just as Cortona is a common House of Studies 
for Romans and Neapolitans alike, so is Pagani a common 
Novitiate for both bands of novices. Of the other primi- 
tive houses, Ciorani and Caposele, and St Angelo a Cupolo 
have been recovered, the former serving as a preparatory 
college or Juvenate. The other existing houses are all 
foundations of a date later than the death of St Alphonsus, 
though one of them is situated in a part of his father's 
country villa at Marianella. The establishment of 
St Antonio a Tarsia hi the city of Naples itself has been 
chronicled above. Lettere (1878), Teano (1880), Avellino 
(1881), and St Andrea del Jonio in Calabria (1898) are all 
of recent date. Many other foundations there have been, 
but, under the pressure of persecution and the pinch of 
poverty, they have all been abandoned. 

The numbers are about equal to those in the Roman 
Province. The ten houses contain fifty-seven fathers and 
some sixty others. 



ioo .. THE REDEMPTORISTS 

(3) SICILIAN PROVINCE 

The Sicilian Province, on account of its lack of subjects 
and other difficulties, is under the immediate care of the 
Rector Major. He has a Visitor living at Palermo, where 
the house in the quarter known as Uditore dates from 
1804. The old houses at Girgenti and Sciacca are still 
inhabited by small communities; a house at Mazzara was 
opened in 1881 . The province has twenty-five members, of 
whom seventeen are priests. 

FRANCE 

The Chapter of 1855 elected the French Provincial as 
General, but Father Mauron in his new office had the con- 
solation of seeing that the Congregation continued to make 
rapid progress in his former sphere of activity. The 
Belgian fathers were expelled by the French government 
from the houses they had founded hi France at Douai, 
Dunkirk, Boulogne, and Lille. But the only one really lost 
to the Institute was that of Douai. The others were trans- 
ferred to the French Province, and repeopled by it with 
subjects who could not be expelled as foreigners. More- 
over, new houses were begun at Chateauroux and Avon. 

In 1865 a Provincial of exceptional ability and energy 
was appointed in the person of Father Achille De Surmont. 
During the first ten years during which he guided the 
fortunes of the Redemptorists in France, he was able to 
establish no fewer than seven new houses, the most im- 
portant of which was that at Paris, facing the well-known 
Cemetery of Pere La Chaise, hi 1874. Houdemont and 
Perouse had been founded hi the preceding year, as well 
as Valence in the South. Then in 1875 came another 
house at Gannat. Nor was his zeal confined to his native 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 101 

land: he saw a wide opportunity for the missionary aposto- 
late in South America. He therefore gladly welcomed the 
invitation made by two bishops of Ecuador, supported by 
the noble President Garcia Moreno, to send a colony of 
Redemptorists into that country. Two foundations were 
made hi 1870, at Cuenca and Rio Bamba, whence the 
fathers passed on to Santiago hi Chili, to Buga hi Colombia, 
and to Lima hi Peru. It was also in great part due to his 
zeal and encouragement that a second entry was effected 
into Spain, after the restoration of the Monarchy hi 1878. 
This time the enterprise was under the auspices of the 
French Province, and five houses were established hi rather 
rapid succession. 

In 1880 there was an outbreak of persecution against 
religious in France, and the fourteen houses were declared 
to be suppressed. Father De Surmont had already pro- 
vided places of refuge hi other countries, at least to lodge 
his junior subjects. The novices were sent to Stratum 
and the students to Dongen, both these places being in 
Holland, while for the Juvenate, or preparatory college, a 
large factory was taken at Uvrier, near Sion in the Valais. 
So much could not be done for the fathers. They had to 
live dispersed, some going to England, others elsewhere, 
but the violence of the storm did not last, and the houses 
were gradually repeopled, though the churches in many 
cases remained closed to the faithful. 

It was a great test of courage and confidence hi God to 
work on, and even keep up the tone of his subjects amid 
the thousand vexations which the anti-Catholic regula- 
tions of the French government occasioned, but hi all this 
Father De Surmont excelled. He even had the boldness 
to accept a new foundation in the very environs of Paris 
viz., at Antony hi 1886. But, hi fact, missionary work 
abounded, though missions had to be given under great 



102 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

difficulties, and in spite of his other cares the Provincial 
took a considerable share in these labours. It was not so 
much on the actual missions, but rather as a conductor of 
retreats, above all to the clergy, that Father De Surmont 
became a well-known preacher all over France. His as- 
cetical works, which have been published in a uniform 
edition of fourteen volumes, show with what skill he was 
able to elaborate the great truths on which he had so firm 
a hold. In 1887 he laid down the burden of office, but 
continued to preach and teach. He returned to his old 
post of Lector of Pastoral Theology. In 1898 he was again 
made Provincial, but the hand of death was already on him, 
and he died at Thury en Valois (23rd July, 1898) at the age 
of seventy. 

By this time the prospect again seemed bright and in 
1900 the French houses were divided into the Provinces 
of Lyons and Paris. Nevertheless, the calm was only a lull 
between two storms, and soon after Waldeck-Rousseau 
brought in his Bill to compel the religious orders to seek 
state authorisation. Some Institutes sought it, others, 
more suspicious of the government, thought better to leave 
France. The Redemptorists, after anxious consultation, 
decided to apply for authorisation, and placed an inventory 
of their property in the hands of the officials. But, under 
M. Combes, things went from bad to worse, the authorisa- 
tion applied for was refused, the religious ordered to leave, 
and the inventory lodged with the government used as an 
easy means to confiscate the twenty houses then existing in 
France. Very much the same measure was meted out to 
all the other religious Institutes in the country. 

The confiscation of the houses in France naturally led 
to a wide dispersion of their inhabitants. A large estab- 
lishment was opened as Provincial house and Juvenate for 
the Paris Province at Mouscron, near Courtrai, and Belgium 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 103 

received a large number of French Redemptorists in other 
parts of the land. Attert became the Lyons Novitiate, 
and Glimes that of the Paris fathers. The Paris students 
were received at Bishop Eton for some years, until later 
on they were able to find a home at Falkenberg hi Dutch 
Limburg. But a large proportion of the subjects of the 
two provinces crossed the Atlantic, and were able by their 
presence to contribute to a great extension of the Congre- 
gation in the various Republics of South America. Thus 
driven from their own land, they were used by God to 
evangelise the millions of Catholics hi the New World, 
who were so badly provided with clergy of their own 
tongue and race. 

A somewhat singular future lay before the houses, in- 
cluding the oldest in France, which had been founded hi 
the regions of Alsace arid Lorraine. At the epoch of the 
Franco-Prussian war they were four in number, and fell 
after the Prussian victory into German hands. Difficulties 
were at once raised as to allowing French subjects to re- 
main, and all authority on the part of the French Superiors 
was discountenanced. Then at the Kulturkampf of 1873, 
these houses were suppressed equally with those in the rest 
of Germany. To meet the difficulties still remaining when 
the iron hand of persecution was lifted, a Vice-Province was 
formed under the immediate jurisdiction of the General in 
1895, consisting of the houses at Bischenberg, Teterchen and 
Mulhouse, whose inhabitants should be German subjects. 
But the old house at Landser remained closed to the fathers. 
The students were sent to Echternach in Luxemburg, 
handed over by the German fathers, and to provide for 
future growth a preparatory college was opened at Bertigny, 
near Fribourg, in Switzerland. German police regulations 
were stringent, but somehow or other the work went on. 
Hence, in 1911, the Holy See approved of the erection of 



104 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

the Province of Strasbourg to comprise the houses in Alsace 
and Lorraine. Many of the best vocations for the religious 
life have ever been found among the good Catholic people 
of these provinces. But, at present, the need is rather 
that of a more extensive field of labour, inasmuch as the 
territory of the province is shut in by France on the one 
side and by Germany on the other. The fathers have 
commenced a transatlantic mission in South America, where 
they have houses at La Paz and Tupiza in Bolivia, and at 
Huara in Chile. At the present time there are in all ten 
houses in the Strasbourg Province with about eighty 
fathers, thirty students and novices, and nearly fifty lay 
brothers, or about 160 hi all. 

The rapid development of the Redemptorist work in 
Spain justified the formation of a separate Spanish Province 
in 1900, though for the first few years many of the French 
fathers, whose labours had built up the houses, remained as 
Superiors, or in other capacities. But before long the 
native fathers became sufficiently numerous to supply all 
their needs. 

It was quite otherwise with the extensive developments 
which the French fathers had been responsible for hi South 
America. These could not depend on vocations won on 
the spot, and hence they remained and still are united to 
the French Provinces. Beginning with the two founda- 
tions hi Ecuador, which were firmly established hi great 
part by the zeal and energy of Father John Didier, who, 
entering the Congregation at Luxemburg as a lay brother, 
had been allowed to make his clerical studies and was then 
ordained, the fathers gradually spread into all the Republics 
of Spanish America. The house at Santiago hi Chile 
was begun in 1876, to be followed by that of Buga in 
Colombia, and Lima hi Peru, both hi 1884. Then came 
a period of solidification, and a pause in the work of ex- 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 105 

tension. But, after a decade or so, further houses were 
opened at St Bernardo, Valparaiso, and Los Angeles in 
Chile, at Piura and Huanta in Peru, and at Popayan and 
Seville hi Colombia. These houses are in addition to the 
houses of the Strasbourg Province in Bolivia. In all these 
localities there seems to be abundant harvest for souls to 
be reaped by really apostolic men. Of course, the greater 
part of the labour is among the civilised majority who are 
Catholics, but often almost without priestly aid or the 
consolations of religion. Yet, it must be remembered that 
the fathers also find constant opportunities to evangelise 
the uncivilised aboriginal inhabitants of the ulterior. 

As for the work at home hi France, the events of the 
last few years have led to a more tolerant attitude on the 
part of the civil authorities towards religious institutions, 
and the Redemptorists have profited by this to make several 
new foundations. The Lyons fathers have opened houses 
at Marseilles hi 1899, at Lyons itself in 1913, at St Etienne 
in 1900, at Fontaines-lez-Dijon hi 1919, and at Chatel St 
Denys in 1921, besides a house on the Italian slope of the 
Alps at Varallo. On the other hand, besides reoccupying 
all their old houses where possible, the Paris fathers have 
new foundations at Bordeaux (1900), Rennes (1913), and 
Angers (1911). It has not hitherto been thought desirable 
either hi the North or the South to recall the junior members 
of the Congregation from the houses mentioned above, where 
they are safely lodged outside the frontiers of France. 
Mission work is abundant, especially hi the northern de- 
partments, and there seems hope that the Union Sacre"e 
may not be disturbed, leaving the fathers at liberty to 
develop their spiritual work for souls without too much 
interference on the part of the State. 

At the present tune the Catalogue shows that the Lyons 
Province has hi all nearly 200 fathers, 50 students and 



io6 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

novices, and some 60 lay brothers distributed in twenty-one 
houses. The Paris Province has 150 fathers, 35 students 
and novices, and more than 80 lay brothers. It has twenty 
houses. 

SPAIN . . . 

The attempt to found houses in Spain from the Roman 
Province was not of long duration. Huete in New Castile 
was founded in 1864, and Alhama in the neighbourhood 
of Granada hi 1867. Several excellent fathers were chosen 
for the work, among them Fathers Lojodice, Cagiano 
d'Azevedo, Grisar, Palliola, and Chierici. But the Revo- 
lution of 1868 involved the closing of both establishments, 
and most of the members of the communities left the 
country. There only remained Fathers Lojodice and 
Cagiano, who stayed at Madrid, serving a small Franciscan 
chapel and hoping for better times. In 1879, after the 
restoration of the Monarchy, a favourable moment seemed 
to have arrived, and the attempt to reform the Spanish 
region of the Congregation was now entrusted to Father 
De Surmont and the French Province. Father Jost was 
named Visitor, and five foundations were projected and 
accepted. These were Espino near Burgos, Nava del Rey 
in the diocese of Valladolid, Granada, Madrid, and Villarejo. 
These houses were all commenced in 1879, and were at once 
formed into a Vice-Province. In 1882 Father Jost died 
suddenly, and the General appointed in his stead the same 
Father John Didier who had been the first Superior of the 
Redemptorists in the foundations of the French hi South 
America. In the three years from 1883 to 1886 Father 
Didier was able to do much in the direction of strengthening 
and solidifying the position of the fathers hi Spam. At 
Espino he organised a large Juvenate. The novices were 
installed at Nava del Rey. Instead of the house at 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 107 

Villarejo, which he gave up as unpromising and unsuitable, 
he took another at Astorga, added to the existing buildings, 
and made it the house of studies. At Madrid also he was 
able to put quite a new complexion on things. The small 
hospice in which the fathers lived could hardly become 
their permanent abode in the capital, and through the 
generosity of pious benefactors means were found to build 
a church in honour of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour 
and a suitable convent for a full community. It is true 
that the realisation of this project only took effect 
after Father Didier's departure. Meanwhile, the already 
existing foundation had to go on. Eventually it was 
exchanged for the Church of St Michael, which belonged 
to the Papal Nunciature, but the lodging of the fathers 
here also was small, and hence unfitted for a regular 
Redemptorist house. Father Didier was able to arrange 
for a foreign mission for the Spanish fathers at St German 
hi the island of Porto Rico, and then he was called away 
to other labours hi a new sphere, the fathers moving from 
St German to San Juan. 

Nevertheless, the Spanish houses prospered. In 1891 
a house was opened at Pampeluna, and in 1894 another at 
Cuenca. And, supplied by the numerous Juvenate and 
Novitiate, the personnel grew even more rapidly than the 
number of houses. At length, in 1900, the Rector Major, 
Most Rev. Father Raus, who had himself been Visitor in 
Spam, obtained from the Holy See the faculty to erect 
a separate Spanish Province. There were now eight houses, 
and the promise of still further increase. Moreover, the 
apostolic labours on the mission never fail to augment. 

The house at St Anne in San Juan, Porto Rico, was handed 
over to the American fathers when the island passed into 
the possession of the United States, but a second attempt 
was made to introduce the Redemptorist Congregation 



io8 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

into Portugal. A house was established at Lourosa in the 
diocese of Oporto in 1903, and another at Canidello in 1907. 
These foundations subsisted until the Revolution of 1910. 
Anti-religious persecution broke out at once, and the com- 
munities were forced once more to take refuge in Spain. 

The prosperity of the Institute in Spain, and also the 
exemption of the members from military service, have for 
long depended on the acceptance of a foreign mission. 
The loss of the Spanish colonies by the home land after 
the war with America naturally made the choice more diffi- 
cult. But hi 1908 it was decided to accept a foundation 
in Mexico. The attempt was full of risk, seeing the anti- 
Catholic character of the Mexican government. But the 
needs, of the faithful were great, and no other country 
but Spain could have come to the rescue effectively. A 
house was begun at Vera Cruz in 1918, and another about 
the same time at Cuernavaca. In the following year 
also the fathers were able to establish themselves at Mexico 
City, as well as at Monterey in 1911. An outburst of 
violent anti-religious persecution compelled the fathers to 
fly from the country soon after this, and some took refuge 
in the United States. As soon as it was feasible, however, 
they returned, and took up their work again, making further 
foundations at Oaxaca and at Puebla. It cannot be said 
that, in view of the political state of the country, the 
situation is very favourable, but with caution the com- 
munities manage to exist, and now form a Vice-Province 
of six houses with thirty fathers and about a dozen lay 
brothers. 

On the other hand, hi Spain itself there continues to be 
excellent progress. Two new houses have been begun at 
Valencia and Santander respectively, and the labours of 
the fathers are still on the increase. At the present time 
Spain has ten houses with no fathers, more than eighty 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 109 

students and novices, and about seventy lay brothers. If 
we add those employed hi the Mexican mission, this gives 
a personnel of 300 members. 

AUSTRIA 

After the six years of confusion subsequent to the 
Revolution of 1848, the Institute was restored in the 
Austrian dominions in 1854. Hence, by the time of the 
General Chapter of 1855, all was once more fairly in order, 
and the Provincial with his two Vocals was able to proceed 
to Rome. There were at that time ten houses: Vienna, 
Mautern, Leoben, Innsbruck, Frohnleiten, Eggenburg, 
Puchheim, and three small ones hi Northern Italy, then 
under Austrian domination viz., Modena, Finale, and 
Monticuli. Therefrom began a lengthened period of 
advance and prosperity. The houses in Italy were, indeed, 
attached to the Roman Province, but then: loss was 
more than made up by new foundations hi the other parts 
of the Empire. As in civil matters, so also hi the affairs 
of the Congregation, a good deal of this progress was not 
among German people, but among the Slavic populations, 
which always made a considerable proportion of the 
Austrian Empire. Entrance was gained into Bohemia in 
1856, when a house was established at Prague, and another 
at Ketzelsdorf in the diocese of Koniggratz. These were 
followed by a foundation to take charge of the great 
pilgrimage to Heiligenberg, and a first establishment in 
Moravia at Littau. Even hi Vienna, long before, the fathers 
had been working for the Slavs, because the Church of 
Maria Stiegen was to some extent recognised as a national 
centre for the Czechs. 

On the other hand, a new Novitiate for the whole 
province was begun in 1857, in the neighbourhood of 
Vienna at Katzelsdorf . After this the efforts of Superiors 



no THE REDEMPTORISTS 

were for some years directed rather to the increase of the 
number of subjects than to the multiplication of houses. 
And in the attainment of the former of these two aims 
considerable success attended their efforts. Moreover, at 
Innsbruck a large house and an exceedingly handsome 
church have replaced the buildings of more ancient days. 

In 1880 or thereabouts the energetic . and capable 
Provincial, Father Andrew Hamerle, appeared to think 
that the time had come when further expansion was 
desirable. New houses were established soon after this at 
Dornbirn hi the Vorarlberg in 1881, at Muttergottesberg, 
another pilgrimage, in 1883, while he also co-operated with 
great cordiality in the reintroduction of the Redemptorists 
into Poland. In 1885 a house was started at Philippsdorf, 
and another at Budweis. Both these last foundations were 
in the kingdom of Bohemia. 

In 1889 a large church, dedicated to Our Lady of Per- 
petual Succour and in honour of St Clement Hofbauer, was 
begun at Hernals, a suburb of Vienna, and when Father 
Hamerle ceased to be Provincial he was made Rector here, 
so as to bring the foundation to completion under his 
fostering care. 

The Austrian fathers also were to have their foreign 
mission, and an opportunity was found in 1899 of intro- 
ducing them into the very Protestant land of Denmark. 
A foundation was made at Odense, Father Schmiderer being 
chosen as Superior, and in the course of the next few years 
they had built an elegant church and a house for the com- 
munity alongside of it. In 1903 a second house was 
established at Copenhagen, the capital, and a third, in 1921, 
at Nestved. The Catholics are, of course, few and far 
between, but the fathers find ample sphere for their labours 
in instructing converts, in teaching in the schools, and in 
labouring for the Polish Catholic immigrants. There 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION in 

are now some twelve fathers engaged on the Danish 
mission. 

A further foundation, which has since been transferred 
to the German fathers, was set on foot in 1900 at Wartha 
in Silesia. 

The exigencies of race and language led to the establish- 
ment in 1901 of a separate Prague Province for Bohemia 
and Moldavia, and with this went the houses established 
in Poland, so that henceforth the Austrian Province went 
on its way hi the German parts of the Empire with fewer 
houses and a diminished number of subj ects. Linz had been 
already founded in 1899, and it gradually became an im- 
portant church and centre of labour. 

It may be safely asserted that on no part of the Congre- 
gation did the misfortunes of the war fall more heavily 
than on Austria. Fathers had to become chaplains, lay 
brothers had to serve in the ranks, and when hi the subse- 
quent years Austria was left defenceless and impoverished, 
a full share of the burden of this fell upon the Redemptorist 
houses. New foundations in the ordinary sense of the 
word did not appear practical, but a disused abbey at Gurk, 
whose church had once been the cathedral of the diocese, 
was acquired for a house of studies, instead of Mautern. 
There is no intention, however, of abandoning this latter 
house, which will become a house of retreat and home for the 
missionaries who may find work in the neighbourhood. 

Thus, at the present time, the Austrian Province consists 
in all of thirteen houses viz., Maria Stiegen and Hernals 
in Vienna, Innsbruck, Eggenburg the Novitiate, Mautern 
and Gurk, the old and the new houses of studies, two 
Juvenates, the one at Katzelsdorf, the other at Leoben; 
Puchheim and Linz, together with the three houses in 
Denmark at Odense, Copenhagen, and Nestved. These are 
inhabited by over 100 fathers, some twenty students and 



H2 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

novices, and about eighty lay brothers, or about 200 mem- 
bers in all. This is a diminution from former times, but 
it has to be remembered that two other provinces, whose 
separate fortunes we must now briefly sketch, have been 
carved out of the Austrian. 

THE PRAGUE PROVINCE 

The Czech element in the Austrian Province had been 
a very strong one even from the beginning, which is not 
surprising when we consider that St Clement Hofbauer was 
a native of Bohemia. The church assigned to the Con- 
gregation in Vienna was much frequented by the faithful 
of Slavic race, so that hi these ways there were bonds that 
went far back indeed. But it was some years before any 
permanent establishment was made in Bohemia. The first 
house was that established at Ketzelsdorf in 1855. Then, 
in the f ollowing year, came the more important foundation 
at Prague, the capital of the country. This, of course, soon 
became a busy and flourishing establishment. Yet, as far 
as concourse of people goes, it was far exceeded when, in 
1861, the celebrated sanctuary of Heiligenberg, or Svatahora, 
whose beacon light draws pilgrims from every side, was 
entrusted to the guardianship of the fathers. Moravia was 
entered in 1860, when a foundation was made at Littau. 
After this there was a pause, but the number of Bohemian 
fathers was increasing; so was the national and religious 
life of the country as a distinct unit. Hence, in 1883, a 
house was founded at Muttergottesberg, another sanctuary 
of the Madonna, near Grulich, in the diocese of Koniggratz. 
In 1885 two more foundations were made: one at Philipps- 
dorf, and the other at Budweis. Here the fathers had 
come back to the town whence St Clement Hofbauer had 
set out more than a century before. 

The creation of the Prague Province was no consequence 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 113 

of the Great War. Long before that the racial and still 
more the linguistic difficulties had pointed to the desirability 
of a division from Austria, and there were houses and men 
to justify it on both sides. Hence the Holy See was 
applied to, and on the igth of April, 1901, the new organisa- 
tion was commenced, the Austrian Province at the same 
time receiving the name of Viennese, inasmuch as both 
portions were still hi the Austrian Empire. The new pro- 
vince began with the houses of Prague or Praha, Cervenka 
or Littau, and Heiligenberg taken out of the old province, 
and immediately proceeded to found a new house at 
Oboriste as a house of studies, and at Bilsko as a Novitiate. 
Besides these, there were the three houses hi Poland, which 
fell at least for the time under the Czech jurisdiction. The 
first Provincial was Father Nemec, formerly Rector at 
Vienna, and well known all over the Congregation for his 
abilities. He had been one of the Capitulars at the 
Chapter of 1894. 

Since then the Bohemian fathers have advanced along 
the lines suitable to the circumstances of their country. 
New houses were established at Brunn in 1905, at Plzen in 
the diocese of Prague in 1907, and at Stropkov hi Slovakia 
in 1921. This last meant the entry of the Congregation 
into a region hitherto new and untried for its labours. 

There still remained the difficulty of providing for the 
work among the millions of German-speaking Catholics, 
who at the end of the war found themselves within the 
national boundaries of the new Czecho-Slovakian state. 
The expedient adopted was the foundation of an hide- 
pendent Vice-Province, German-speaking, but situated in 
the new state. It was named the Vice-Province of Zwittau, 
arid comprised, besides the old-established houses at 
Zwittau and Muttergottesberg, newer foundations at 
Filippsdorf and Plan near Prague. 

8 



H4 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

The province has now nine houses and nearly ninety 
fathers. The students and novices number twenty, and 
the lay brothers about forty. To these we must add four 
houses with forty fathers, nine students, and about thirty 
lay brothers for the Zwittau Vice-Province. 



POLAND 

The resurrection of the Redemptorist Institute in Poland, 
which had been the first home of St Clement Hofbauer 
when he carried its banner north of the Alps, is a remarkable 
and hope-inspiring chapter in its history. There had been 
a long interval since the expulsion of 1808, but in 1882 at 
length an opportunity was offered to make a new com- 
mencement. The instrument made use of by Divine 
Providence to effect this was Father Bernard Lubienski, 
who had since his youth been a member of the English 
Province. Through the intervention of his family, one 
of the most distinguished in the land, a foundation was 
secured at Moscisca in the diocese of Przemysl, hi Galicia, 
and Father Lubienski offered himself for the work. Going 
to Rome in company with Father Coffin, whose secretary he 
had been, and who was about to be consecrated Bishop of 
Southwark, he obtained the cordial blessing of Leo XIII, 
and set out for the new enterprise. The new house was 
to belong to the Austrian Province. On his passage through 
Vienna two other fathers joined him to form a community 
as well as two lay brothers, and the fathers were established 
at Moscisca in 1883. . 

There were difficulties without end in store from poverty 
and other causes, but from the very first apostolic labour 
was abundant, and working from Moscisca as a centre the 
fathers could never thank God enough for the fruits of 
salvation they were able to see in the crowds of the faithful 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 115 

to whom they ministered. This went on for ten years, by 
which time they were somewhat more numerous, but still 
quite insufficient to cope with the labours which multiplied 
still faster. In 1893 they were able to make a second 
foundation at Tuchow, in the diocese of Tarnow. The new 
departure was justified by a still further development of 
work; and about this time it was thought desirable to form 
a Vice-Province out of the Polish houses, though always 
under the jurisdiction and protection of the Austrian 
Superiors. But hi 1901, when the Prague Province was 
formed for the Czechs, the Polish houses were transferred 
as a Vice-Province under this new organisation. In 1903 
a third house was opened at Podgorze, a suburb of Cracow. 
Then hi 1906, besides a successful effort at Maksymowka, 
which became the house of studies, an appeal was made 
to the Russian government to allow the fathers to settle 
anew in Warsaw. Father Lubienski went to Petrograd. 
and interviewed the minister Stolypin. The result was 
permission to stay there for three years. Hence, in 1906, 
the fathers were once more back hi Warsaw. 

The union with the Czech Province proved to be only of 
short duration. In reality Poland fared better from 
Austria than from Bohemia, and the racial antagonisms 
were less acute. Consequently, one of the earliest acts 
of Father Murray, hi the very year of his election, was to 
get the approval of the Holy See to erect a separate Polish 
Province. Troubles were still met with, for the Russian 
government, when the three years' permission for the Warsaw 
residence had expired, refused to prolong the leave given, 
and in 1910 Warsaw had to be again abandoned. But 
other opportunities for expansion hi more promising 
directions were found. ~ - 

In 1914 the outbreak of the World War plunged the 
Polish houses into the midst of the great conflict between 



n6 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

Russia and the Central Powers. There were Poles fighting 
in thousands hi the armies of all the belligerents. The 
tide of battle "swayed to and fro, and it was, now the 
Russians, and now the Austrians and Germans, who were 
in possession of the country. There were depredations 
here and there, and it was deemed prudent to remove the 
students from Maksymowka to Mautern. Those Redemp- 
torists who remained had to suffer their share of the 
privations and dangers of war-time. But, on the whole, 
the military chiefs seem to have done their best to restrain 
their men from plunder as far as the churches and religious 
houses were concerned. Then came the Peace, and the 
unexpected resuscitation of Poland as a mainly Catholic 
state. 

This gave a new impetus to the work of the Congregation. 
The freedom so long denied by the. Russians was at last 
within reach, and with it came demands for new f ounda- 
tions. At the request of Cardinal Kakowski, one was 
accepted at Warsaw hi 1918, the former parochial Church 
of St Stanislaus being entrusted to the fathers. In the 
diocese of Posen, now reunited with Poland, two other 
houses were commenced in 1920 : the one at Poscian, and 
the other at the ancient city of Thorn, where a Juvenate 
was begun, and preparations made for quite an extensive 
scholastic establishment. 

The popularity of the missions which the fathers conduct 
is attested by the great numbers asked for, far beyond 
what is possible for their limited staff, as well as by the 
overwhelming crowds which attend them. The Polish 
fathers have already managed to penetrate into distant 
Siberia, where they have given a series of missions in all 
the leading towns, reaching as far as Vladivostok. Hence 
all the signs point to a quite extraordinary increase hi the 
work of the Congregation hi Poland. 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 

At the present time there are in the seven houses about 
fifty fathers with fifty students and brothers i.e., 100 
in all. 

GERMANY 

The German Province, as distinct from the Austrian, 
dates from the year 1853. At the time of the Chapter 
of 1855, which was attended by the Provincial Father Vogl 
and his two Vocals, it consisted of the houses of Treves, 
Luxemburg, and Bornhof en in the Rhineland, and of 
Alt-Oetting, Vilsbiburg, Niederachdorf, and Fuchsmuehl 
in Bavaria. But progress was rapid, both hi Lower and 
Upper Germany, and hi 1858 a large agricultural estate 
with opportunities for lodging a large community was 
taken over at Gars hi the diocese of Munich. When another 
foundation in the same diocese was added to this at 
Heldenstein in 1855, and account taken of the new houses 
in the Rhineland, it will be seen that a case had been made 
for division. Moreover, the education and manners of the 
inhabitants were widely different. Hence, in 1859, a 
Lower German Province was canonically erected, and the 
Bavarian houses went then: way alone. 

The Gars establishment now became the headquarters 
of the province, and a further foundation was made at 
Maria Dorfen also, in the diocese of Munich like the 
last two. There now ensued a period of fifteen years of 
peaceful labour and gradual advance. The Bavarian 
government was fairly friendly, and hi its own way fostered 
the enterprises in which the fathers were engaged. The 
concourse of the faithful, especially to places of pilgrimage, 
of which Alt-Oetting was the chief, was great and salutary 
to their souls, but in 1873 the Kulturkampf, nearly as 
ruinous hi Bavaria as in Prussia, cut into all this apostolic 
.labour, and, suppressing the houses, forced the fathers to 



n8 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

fly into exile where they could. Austria, untouched by 
the storm, welcomed a certain number; others found a 
refuge in England, Belgium, and America. At Gars the 
Provincial and a few fathers were able to remain, although 
the house was officially suppressed, and one or two stayed 
as caretakers at some of the smaller houses. But Alt- 
Oetting, Maria Dorfen, and Fuchsmuehl seemed gone for 
ever. New foundations were made at least temporarily at 
Durrnberg, Schwarzbach, and Kirchenthal, in the Austrian 
dominions. Eventually, students, novices and juvenists 
were all gathered at Durrnberg for the time, but the number 
of all these grades of juniors woefully declined. 

It was only in 1894, after twenty years of painful 
waiting, that liberty was given to return to Bavaria and 
resume the labours so long interrupted. But about the 
same time, spurred on by. what had been done in South 
America, both by the French and by their brethren from 
the Rhineland, the Bavarian fathers sought an outlet 
for their zeal in transatlantic missions. Brazil, which had 
been thought of for the Rhine Province, and then con- 
sidered less suitable than Argentina; became the scene 
of this new missionary enterprise. In 1894 a band of six 
fathers and six brothers, under the leadership of Father 
Wiggennann, set out for Brazil, and in the course of the 
same year had opened two houses: the one at Campininhas 
hi the diocese of Goyaz, and the other at Apparecida in 
the diocese of Sao Paulo. At this moment the students were 
still in exile hi Austria, but peace was in sight, and thus 
there was hope of being able to send reinforcements before 
long. In 1895 a new house of studies was founded at 
Deggendorf hi the diocese of Ratisbon, and the numbers 
began to grow. But in Brazil the Bavarian fathers were 
more concerned to solidify the two foundations they held* 
than to launch out into any further extension. Hence it 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 119 

was only in 1905, after eleven years, during which the two 
existing communities had become quite numerous, that a 
third foundation was made at Penha in the diocese of 
Sao Paulo. 

Indirectly the war has brought its advantages to the 
Church hi South Germany. For example, the Wurtemberg 
government, which had always opposed any religious 
establishments being opened in its jurisdiction, withdrew 
this restriction. Consequently, the German fathers settled 
at Schonenberg in 1919. The older houses at Gars, at 
Niederachdorf in the Palatinate, at Cham in the same 
province, at Halbmeile hi the diocese of Passau, have been 
added to by foundations at Forchheim, at Gunsberg, and at 
Bickesheim in Baden. Hence we may say that, in spite of 
the hard conditions which are a sequel of the World War, 
there are signs of real progress. 

At the present time the Upper German Province has in 
all fourteen houses, containing 120 fathers, about thirty 
students and novices, and some eighty lay brothers, or 
about 230 subjects. A good quarter of these are working 
in the Transatlantic missions. 

In 1859, as stated above, the growth of the Congregation 
in Germany, as well as the difference of situation and 
government, prompted the Father General to arrange for 
the division of the German Province into two. The new 
one was to be known as that of Lower Germany, and 
comprised the houses of Treves, Bornhofen, and Luxem- 
burg, already hi existence in 1851, and the more recent 
foundations at Maria Hamicolt and Aix-la-Chapelle. The 
novices were to be at Treves and the students at Maria 
Hamicolt. The new organisation began with about sixty 
fathers, and about as many others. All the houses, except 
Luxemburg, were hi the Prussian dominions, but at first 
there was no attempt at interference on the part of the 



120 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

Protestant State. The fathers had nearly fifteen years of 
peaceful labour and growth before the Kulturkampf of 
1873 came to threaten ruin for nearly all their establish- 
ments. They had profited by the interval to build a 
handsome church and house at Bochum, near Essen hi 
Westphalia, but now the storm had caught them. Father 
Heilig, the Provincial, had to try and provide for his 
subjects in the best way he could. All the houses under 
the German government were closed, and their inhabitants 
compelled to leave. Luxemburg, being under an hide- 
pendent authority, was, of course, untouched, and there 
Father Heilig fixed the headquarters of the province. He 
also secured a second foundation in the same duchy at 
Echternach in 1873. Vaals in Dutch Limburg was at 
the same time opened as a Juvenate, and a further residence 
in Dutch territory was also at last fixed at Glanerbrug hi 
the diocese of Utrecht in 1884. Many of the fathers found 
a temporary field of labour in England and Ireland; others 
passed into the United States. It was suggested to Father 
Heilig that there was a vast field of labour for. German 
fathers in South America, and he welcomed the idea of 
emulating on the Atlantic coast the enterprise which the 
French fathers had already been for some years engaged 
in along the Pacific slope. The first expedition led to 
nothing, but in 1883, through the good ofl&ces of the Papal 
Nuncio to the Argentine Republic, the Church of Our Lady 
of Victories at Buenos Ayres was offered to the fathers. 
Three fathers and a brother were sent out in the same year, 
and then a further reinforcement, including as Visitor the 
experienced founder of new houses, Father Felix Grisar. 
It was not easy to make this church, unprovided as it was 
with suitable quarters, a suitable establishment, aind the 
arrangements made by the Visitor were not approved of. 
Hence, in. 1886, he was made Rector at .Lima, and Father 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 121 

Didier from Spain was sent to take up the work at Buenos 
Ayres. During his time in the Argentine he was able 
not only to put matters on a satisfactory footing at Buenos 
Ayres, but also to make two further foundations, the one at 
Montevideo hi 1889, where a large church was built, and the 
other at Salto. Father Didier died at Buenos Ayres in 
1896, having been Visitor in Spain and on both coasts of 
South America for over twenty-five years, and having had 
one of the most romantic careers ever given to a Redemp- 
torist. Since then the Argentine Vice-Province has made 
still further advances with two more houses, begun respec- 
tively at Rosario ..in 1909, and Bella Vista in 1918: it has 
now over forty fathers. 

The onerous task of ruling the province during the latter 
part was in the careful and experienced hands of Father 
John Spoos, who resided at one time at Luxemburg, 
and at another at Vaals. It meant twenty years of exile, 
of dispersion, of difficulty hi providing for the future. Had 
it not been for the excellent system employed in the 
Juvenate at Vaals, the province would have finished the 
period denuded of subjects and almost helpless. But at 
last the iron hand of the government was lifted, and 
recovery was, on the whole, remarkably rapid. Aix, 
Treves, and Bochum were successively reoccupied, and 
then there came proposals for new foundations. A hand- 
some new house .of studies was established hi 1903 at 
Geistingen on the Rhine. Echternach was ceded to the 
Strasbourg Province to provide it with a Studentate, and 
it was not practicable to recover possession of Bornhofen, 
or of .Maria Hamicolt. However, the fathers went on 
developing their work, and recovering the ground they had 
lost in other directions. The troubles of the Great War 
(1914-1918) hit the fathers very hard, but it is remarkable 
that since that tune considerable progress has been made. 



122 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

Vaals being now an expensive and unnecessary site for the 
Juvenate, it has been transferred to the Dutch, and instead 
of it a new college to carry on its traditions has been 
established at Bonn in 1921. There the present Father 
Provincial has fixed his residence. Three other houses, 
recently accepted, have tended to extend the labours of 
the fathers greatly towards the East. These are Wartha 
in Silesia, which has been taken over from the Austrian 
fathers; Breslau, commenced in 1918; and Heiligenstadt 
in Saxony, which dates from 1921. Finally, in 1923, a 
house was begun at Braunsberg in East Prussia. 

In this way, besides the five houses in the Argentine 
Republic spoken of already, there are now ten houses at 
home hi Germany. In these fifteen houses hi all there are 
150 fathers, about fifty students and novices, and over 
100 lay brothers i.e., 300 hi all. 

BELGIUM 

At the time of the Chapter hi 1855 the Belgian Province 
was very far reaching, for it comprised not only the houses 
in Belgium, but several in France, and as yet those in 
Holland and in the British Isles only made a Vice-Province. 
But everything was ready for the new Dutch Province, 
which was set on foot immediately. A narrow nationalism 
led to the expulsion of the fathers from the three houses 
they had founded in the north of France, and thus the 
Belgians had the alternative of either confining themselves 
to their own little country, or of going forth to foreign 
missions. It is true that hi 1857 a new foundation was 
made at Antwerp, which soon became an important centre 
of work, and another at Roulers hi 1868, but vocations 
were abundant, and thus there was the possibility of 
development abroad. The Island of St Thomas hi the 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 123 

West Indies was handed over to the fathers in 1858, and, 
though for a few years belonging to the American Province, 
it soon was attached to Belgium, Father Buggenoms being 
appointed Superior. It was the first case Of a foreign 
mission, hi the strict sense of the word, taken up by the 
Redemptorists, but it was soon to lead to other progress. 

The national pilgrimage of Canadian Catholics to St 
Anne at Beaupre, on the St Lawrence, had been for a short 
while in charge of the American fathers, but in 1879 it was 
transferred to the Belgians. There were great advantages 
hi this: the Americans were not at that time so well 
supplied with missioners, besides which the language of 
the majority of the pilgrims was French. Before long the 
foundation of St Anne was followed by another hi 1884 
at Montreal, and then, when the West Indian house at 
St Thomas, and a more recent one in the neighbouring 
island of St Croix had been joined to Canada, the Belgians 
had a flourishing Vice-Province across the sea well able 
to employ a large number of their fathers. 

At home there was no house of studies distinct from the 
Dutch house at Wittem until 1882, When a large property 
was generously given to the Congregation at Beau Plateau 
in the Ardennes. There the Provincial Father Kockerols 
set himself to build a large and well-arranged house for 
his students with a considerable church adjoining it. It 
proved to be a great step in advance, and the number of 
students increased until Beau Plateau contained a com- 
munity of more than 120 Redemptorists. 

A still more striking step in the direction of missions to 
the heathen was taken when hi 1899 the Belgian fathers 
responded to the invitation to take a share hi the evangelisa- 
tion of the Congo State, which came under the Colonial 
administration of their native land. A small band of 
six or seven was sent to Matadi under Father Billiau, but 



124 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

reinforcements were soon forthcoming, and in the f ollowing 
year a second station was established; Since then the cry 
has always been "more missionaries and more work of 
conversion." The population is almost exclusively negro, 
and has been until recently entirely pagan. The work of 
civilisation and evangelisation has to go on hand hi hand, 
but the methods are carefully chosen and cautiously 
applied, so that as the coming years roll on, really vast 
results may be hoped for in the spread of the faith in the 
Belgian Congo Colony. At the present time twenty-four 
fathers and twenty-four brothers, distributed hi ten 
stations, are contributing their share to the work of 
evangelisation which several of the Religious Orders are 
now carrying on. The Redemptorists are under a Prefect 
Apostolic of their own Institute, Father Heintz, whose 
residence is at Matadi. 

The leader under whom most of this progress had been 
achieved was Father John Kockerols, whose career at the 
head of the Belgian Province was somewhat similar to 
that of Father De Surmont in France, and of Father Coffin 
in England. Being first appointed in 1862, he had been 
re-nominated every Triennium for the space of more than 
twenty years, until at the age of seventy he died at St 
Joseph's, Brussels, in 1894. It may be affirmed of the 
General Father Mauron that when once he had given 
his confidence to a Superior he was slow to withdraw it, 
and it may be affirmed also of Father Kockerols, no less 
than of his two fellow companions in like office, that he 
went very far by his energy and thoroughness to justify 
the extraordinary trust reposed in him. Moreover, he 
was successful hi training up younger men to carry on the 
government of the Province on similar lines to his when 
he should be no more. 

In fact, though Canada became a separate Province in 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 125 

1911, and thus was no longer to the same extent a field of 
labour for the Belgian fathers, there were other lines along 
which progress was made of which any Institute might be 
proud. The West Indian mission was very much extended. 
One after another houses were opened in the Islands of 
Dominica, Antigua, Montserrat, and St Kitts, so that 
when in 1902 the Redemptorist Father Schelfhaut was 
made Bishop of Roseau, he found that the greater part of 
his clergy were from the ranks of his confreres. Bishop 
Schelfhaut governed the diocese for nearly twenty years, 
only dying hi 1921. He was then succeeded by another 
Redemptorist, Father James Moris. The Islands of 
St Thomas and St Croix have been handed over to the 
Baltimore fathers, but there still remain in the Belgian 
mission at least twenty fathers besides the bishop. 

Another very interesting direction hi which Belgium 
has led the way for its brethren is that of evangelising 
Catholics of the Ruthenian Rite. It would seem that the 
idea was first put into the minds of the fathers in the 
course of their missionary labours in Central and Western 
Canada. They there came across many thousands of 
Uniat Ruthenians, deprived of the ministrations of the 
Church in their own rite, and at the same time unwilling 
to abandon this rite for the Roman liturgy. But, of course, 
the Canadian fathers were without experience of their 
ways, and had small acquaintance with their language. 
It was decided to send some Belgian fathers to Poland, 
where their services might be useful, and where at the same 
time they might learn the Oriental Rite and the Ruthenian 
language. This was done, but it became evident that from 
the Polish side very little could be done for these people. 
The opposition between Pole and Russian, between 
Western and Oriental, was too deep to allow of dealing with 
the one from the standpoint of the other. But several 



126 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

Belgian fathers learned the language, adopted the Greco- 
Ruthenian Rite, and then passed from Poland to Canada 
to labour for the people. The results were most encouraging, 
and pointed to the desirability of extending the sphere of 
operations. There also appeared the larger hope of being 
able to give missions to the millions of Ruthenian Catholics 
in Russia and the Ukraine. But as nothing could be 
expected if the work was done from Polish houses, it was 
decided to set up houses in Galicia, independent of the 
Polish Province, pledged not to interfere with its work, 
but devoted to the Oriental Uniats. This has now been 
done, and there are two Ruthenian Vice-Provinces, one 
in Canada, with houses at Yorkton, Komarno, and Ituna; 
and the other in Eastern Galicia, with houses at Zboiska 
and at Stanislaow. Altogether, at least twenty fathers 
have , thus sacrificed country, rite, and companionship 
for this apostolic venture. It has its own students, 
brothers, and novices. 

It is but the truth to say that the distant missionary 
enterprises which have been mentioned above have not 
been allowed to interfere with the gradual strengthening 
of the position and the labours of the fathers in Belgium 
itself. At Brussels the old Church of St Mary Magdalen, 
which had been in possession of the fathers since 1841, 
has been replaced by a large church and monastery at 
Jette St Pierre in 1904. Through the generous instru- 
mentality of Father F. X. Godts, a property had been 
acquired at Esschen in Flanders, and a spacious convent 
and church built in 1907. This was used by the Lyons 
fathers as their house of studies, until they moved to 
Falkenberg hi 1911. Esschen then passed into the pos- 
session of the Belgian fathers, who have established there 
a Juvenate, attaching a considerable number of Lectors 
to the establishment. It was wished to give some of the 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 127 

students an opportunity of following the courses at the 
University of Louvain. Hence, that they might not have 
to live outside a Redemptorist community, a house for 
their accommodation was opened in that city in 1912. 
Even since the war there has been still further progress: > 
a new foundation was made at Namur in 1920. 

The result of all this is that the Belgian Province is still 
one of the largest and best supplied with subjects of the 
whole Congregation. In Belgium itself there are twelve 
houses viz.,- St Joseph's, Brussels; Jette St Pierre, 
Antwerp, Tournai, Mons, Louvain, Liege, Namur, Roulers, 
St Trond, Beau Plateau, and Esschen, with 180 fathers, 
or an average of fifteen per house. There are sixty students 
and novices, and over 2 100 lay brothers. The " status " 
of the missions abroad has been already mentioned. Thus 
hi all the Belgian Province has 250 fathers and over 200 
others, or a total of 467, according to the last Catalogue. 

The most celebrated amongst the Belgian fathers in 
the eyes of the church at large would certainly be Father 
Victor Auguste Dechamps, who joined the Congregation 
in 1834, very soon after it had been established in Belgium: 
he was at that time twenty-four years of age. For the next 
thirty years he played a very important part in the public 
affairs of the Institute, and, besides this, gained a great 
reputation as an eloquent and convincing preacher. His 
part in the negotiations which led to the summoning of the 
General to reside in Rome has been already mentioned. 
He afterwards filled the office of Provincial in Belgium, 
and gained renown as an apologetic writer on Christian 
evidences. In 1865 he was chosen Bishop of Namur, 
and in 1867, on the death of Cardinal Sterckx, was trans- 
lated to succeed him in the metropolitan see of Mechlin. 
At the Vatican Council he was associated with Cardinal 
Manning and others in advocating the Definition of Papal 



128 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

Infallibility. He was made Cardinal in 1875. He was the 
chief leader of the Belgian Catholics in their great fight to 
secure religious education for their children. But he always 
remained a true Redemptorist, on the most cordial terms 
with the Superiors, and keeping up into old age the tradi- 
tional practices of piety which he had learnt hi his youth. 
He died at Mechlin on the 2Qth of September, 1883. A 
uniform edition of his works has been published in seventeen 
volumes. 

HOLLAND 

It will be remembered that the introduction of the 
Redemptorists into the Netherlands followed close upon 
its arrival in Belgium, through the acceptance of the 
disused Franciscan monastery at Wittem, in Limburg, in 
1836. Yet it must not be forgotten that Limburg at that 
time was under Belgian rule. And, in fact, Wittem re- 
mained one of the strongholds of the Belgian Province for 
a long series of years. It is true that a house was founded 
at Amsterdam in 1850, but there for a period progress was 
arrested. The house of studies at Wittem took on some- 
thing of an international character: students from Holland, 
Belgium, France, Italy, England, Ireland, and America 
being all found in the ranks of its numerous " alumni." 
In fact, even after the separation of the Dutch and Belgian 
houses, Wittem remained a common Studentate for both 
countries, until the Belgians built Beau Plateau. A third 
house was founded at Bois le Due in 1854. These were the 
foundations which, with the three houses in the British 
Isles, formed the new Dutch Province which was erected 
in 1855 with Father Swinkels as its first Provincial. 

The establishment of Ruremonde in 1864, and the growth 
of numbers gave an opportunity for a further division in 
1865, when the English Province was erected. Hence- 



\ ^ 

PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 129 

forth the limits of the home field of labour and those 6f 
the kingdom of the Netherlands were conterminous: 
Rosendaal, a pilgrimage in honour of Our Lady, was estab-' 
lished in 1865. Bois le Due became the Novitiate, and 
Ruremonde the Juvenate of the new province. 

But a development far away from the native land 
followed soon after. The Holy See offered the Dutch 
fathers the pastoral care of the colony of Surinam or 
Dutch Guiana. This was accepted in 1866, andj a band of 
fathers and brothers was sent forth. One of these, the 
late Provincial Father Swinkels, was consecrated bishop 
and appointed Vicar Apostolic. The saintly Father Peter 
Donders made his Novitiate as a priest hi Surinam, and 
then devoted his life to the care of the lepers segregated in 
a separate hospital. Among -them he lived and died. It 
was/a long and self-sacrificing apostolate, lasting for nearly 
^twenty years, At last, worn out by his labours, Father 
Donders died in the colony in 1887 at the age of seventy- 
seven. The cause of his Beatification has been already 
introduced. 

- Mgr. Swinkels was able to give the last ten years of his 
life to organising the new Vicariate, receiving from time 
to tune new reinforcements from the homeland. In 1875 
he died at Paramaribo at the age of sixty-five. There was 
an interval of several years before his successor was 
appointed. But in 1880 Father Henry Schaap was named 
Vicar Apostolic. He had been already Superior of the 
chief house in the colony at Paramaribo, and survived for 
about ten years to carry on the work. After Mgr. Schaap 
came Mgr. Wulfingh, a Redemptorist who had filled various 
offices in the Institute hi Holland. As Bishop he had a 
longer period of government than either of his prede- 
cessors, and moreover represented his confreres at the 
General Chapter of 1894. When he died at sea in 1906, 

9 



130 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

the former Dutch Provincial, Father Meeuwissen, was 
chosen to succeed him. Mgr. Meeuwissen fell into bad 
health after a few years and, returning to Holland, 
resided in the Redemptorist house at Amsterdam till his 
death in 1916. After his resignation Father Van Roos- 
malen was appointed to succeed him, and still continues 
to rule the Vicariate. There are now over thirty fathers 
employed in the Surinam mission, which has some 20,000 
Catholics within its borders. 

In 1894 the Dutch Province supplemented its work 
outside of the home country by a second enterprise, which 
proved to be capable of still greater expansion than the 
field already cultivated in Surinam, by sending a missionary 
band to Juiz de Fora in Brazil. The first Superior was 
Father Schrauwen, afterwards Rector of Wittem. In 
Brazil the clergy are few in number, and the Catholic 
population very numerous. Hence the fathers found 
their labours both fruitful and abundant. They were 
able to make a second foundation at Bello Horizonte in 
1900, and a third in Rio de Janeiro in 1903. These were 
followed by Curvelho in 1906, and Therezopolis in 1921. 
Hence the Dutch fathers have now a flourishing Vice- 
Province in Brazil with five houses containing forty fathers. 

It may be said hi their praise that no province in the 
Congregation has at the present time such a large pro- 
portion of its members engaged in missionary labours 
outside their native land, but this has not been done at the 
expense of development at home. Here, too, there has 
been growth, though naturally it could not take place on 
the same scale as in such a predominantly Catholic land as 
Belgium. After a considerable interval, a house was 
opened at Rotterdam in 1881, and since the war the house 
of refuge at Vaals in Limburg, which the German fathers 
had used as a Juvenate since 1873, has been acquired by 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 131 

the Dutch fathers as being no longer needed for the pur- 
pose for which it was already intended. Besides the work 
of the home missions which they pursue with the same zeal 
as then: confreres in other lands, the Dutch fathers have 
made rather a speciality of Houses of Retreat for laymen, 
and they find this both a very popular enterprise and one 
productive of much solid good for souls. 

The second Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church chosen 
from the ranks of the Redemptorists is a member of the 
Dutch Province. Cardinal William Van Rossum had 
a long career as a Redemptorist in his native land before 
he was called to Rome from the Rectorate of Wittem to 
take part in the work of the Holy See. He became Consultor 
of the Sacred Congregation of the Inquisition. At the 
General Chapter of 1909 he narrowly escaped election as 
Rector Major. Soon after he was raised by Pius X to 
the Sacred College. He became Grand Penitentiary, 
and then Prefect of the Congregation de Propaganda Fide. 
In this last capacity his influence has been marked by the 
translation of the administration of the Association of the 
Propagation of the Faith to Rome, and also by his energy 
in developing the missions of the Church in far distant 
lands. To do this in Northern Europe he made a long 
and important visitation to Scandinavia and Iceland. He 
has published a work on St Alphonsus' teaching on the 
Immaculate Conception. 

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

The rumours of the wide field for missionary labours 
gradually opening out in the United States of America had 
reached Vienna in the later years of the life of St Clement 
Hofbauer. He had expressed the intention, should the 
founding of the Congregation in the Austrian Empire be 
frustrated, of himself passing to this land of freedom. 



132 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

But he was near the end of his laborious career, and, more- 
over, the leave to work in Austria was on the way. Father 
Passerat, too, in the midst of his wanderings, had seriously 
thought of leading a band of missionaries to labour beyond 
the Atlantic. But he. was put at the helm of government 
in St Clement's place, and when a definite invitation came 
from Bishop Fenwick of Cincinnati, in 1828, he had to look 
elsewhere for a leader. The first named for this enterprise 
was Father Frederic De Held, but he was needed for the 
work of the Congregation in Belgium, so that eventually 
Father Saenderl, with Fathers Haetcher and Tchenhens and 
three lay brothers as companions, was appointed. 

Little was known of the character of the work before the 
fathers; it was believed that in the main they would be 
employed hi the evangelisation of the Indian tribes. There 
seemed also a vague hope that they might be able to live 
hi community, but the circumstances were almost unknown. 
However, having received a sum of money from the 
St Leopold Society, the six Redemptorists embarked at 
Trieste on the I5th of April, and reached New York on 
the aoth of June, 1832. 

From New York they pushed on to Cincinnati, where they 
found that as they had come unprovided with independent 
means, there was no possibility of their being supported 
as a community in any one place. Father Tchenhens re- 
mained at Cincinnati; the other two went on to Green 
Bay, Michigan, where they hoped to establish some kind 
of a community life. There were many tribes of wandering 
Indians who frequented the place, and there were a certain 
number of neglected and careless white people, but there 
were neither means nor prospects of establishing a religious 
house hi such a backward locality. ' The plan fell through, 
and the fathers were driven to serve various localities singly, 
finding abundant labour but no chance of working together. 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 133 

The same thing applies to the early years of Fathers Prost 
and Czackert, who joined the three as a reinforcement in 
1835. Meanwhile, as the hope of any permanent founda- 
tion among the Indians faded away, the abandoned state 
of their German fellow-countrymen sank deep into their 
minds. Thus, hi 1836, Father Prost, who was now 
Superior, undertook the charge of the German Catholics 
hi Rochester. This foundation subsists to the present 
day, the oldest surviving house of the Congregation in the 
United States. But the other fathers were still labouring 
singly amid great hardships hi small undeveloped towns, 
such as Newark, Green Bay, Tiffin, and Sault St Marie. 

In 1839 came an invitation to Pittsburg to take charge 
of .the German Catholics. The offer was accepted, and 
Father Prost, calling Fathers Tchenhens and Haetcher to 
join him, took charge of the foundation, Father Saenderl 
being sent to carry on the work at Rochester. Arising out 
of his presence at the Council of Baltimore hi 1840, Father 
Prost was offered the charge of the German Congregation 
in that city. This he accepted, as here also there seemed 
a probability of a solid and growing foundation. But, in 
the meantime, more than one of the original band had 
returned to Europe, and there spoke unfavourably of 
Father Prost's manner of acting, so that the Vicar General 
determined to send out a new Superior. 

With the arrival of Father Alexander Cvitkovitz, 
accompanied by several additional fathers, in 1841, a 
period of greater opportunities began. Though dealing 
out a somewhat hard measure of disapprobation to Father 
Prost, who was sent back to Rochester, Father Alexander 
succeeded in putting the community life on a more regular 
basis, both at Pittsburg and Baltimore, and when the 
numbers at his disposal increased by the ordination of 
a student and the profession of the secular priest now 



134 THE REDEMPTOR1STS 

known as the Venerable John Nepomucene Neumann, who 
was soon followed by two other priests, he even accepted 
new foundations hi New York and hi Buffalo, which both 
belong to the year 1842. These were followed in 1843 
by the German parish of St Peter, Philadelphia. 

In 1845 Father Alexander became involved in an enter- 
prise which, though prompted by the worthiest of motives, 
brought with it a load of unforeseen difficulties and expense. 
This was the project to found a German agricultural colony 
in Elk County, Pennsylvania, which should be exclusively 
Catholic. He warmly supported the plan, and besides 
contributing money, sent now one, now another, of the 
fathers to attend to the spiritual needs of the colony. The 
number of colonists increased rapidly, but the necessary 
skill to make the experiment a success seemed wanting. 
The colony was called St Mary's, and as the numbers grew 
the responsibilities of Father Alexander and his confreres 
grew in like measure. On the other hand, Father Alexander 
was much blamed by other fathers for the persistent way 
in which he held to the plan, which, others professed to see, 
had not in it the conditions of success. This question, and 
the great difficulties in the matter of community life, 
prompted Father De Held, the Belgian Provincial, under 
whose care the American houses had now been placed, to 
make a Visitation in person in the year 1845. 

Father De Held seems to have undertaken with great 
courage the Visitation of the houses where the fathers still 
abode, but being little accustomed to the nature of the work 
they had to do, seems to have acted with undue severity, 
and to have tried to exact a standard of regularity which, 
under the circumstances, was not practical. His companion, 
Father Bernard Hafkenscheid, seems to have got a better 
grasp of the situation, but, of course, could only advise. 
Anyhow, Father De Held sent Father Alexander to take 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 135 

charge himself of the Colony of St Mary, giving the general 
care of the other houses to Father Czackert, Superior at 
Baltimore. He made various regulations for the govern- 
ment of the houses, and then returned to Europe. Several 
foundations were offered, but the only one taken was 
Monroe, where Fathers Gilet and Poilvache were able to 
labour successfully hi a promising Hospitium, besides 
giving missions chiefly hi French, 

Meanwhile, Father Czackert had been induced to accept 
the German Catholic Church of the Assumption in New 
Orleans. It was much opposed by Father De Held and 
others on account of the small number of fathers, but 
finally, in 1847, permission was given, and Father Czackert 
was left free to devote himself to this new field of labour. 
In the following year in the midst of his labours he was 
attacked by yellow fever, and died a most holy death. 

Father Neumann had already replaced Father Czackert 
as Vicegerent of the Provincial in America before the New 
Orleans foundation had been set on foot, and on the nth 
of February, 1848, he became Vice-Provincial. The saintly 
father earnestly begged to be freed from the great responsi- 
bility, whilst, on the other hand, the extremely fervent and 
unworldly stamp of his government led to complaints on 
the part of the less spiritual of his brethren. These two 
things acted so strongly on the minds of the Superiors, 
that before the end of 1848 Father Bernard Hafkenscheid 
was named to succeed him. 

This able and zealous religious was, indeed, a happy 
choice. The services he rendered for the next five years, 
first as Vice-Provincial and then as Provincial of the newly- 
erected Province, have led to his being regarded more than 
any other as the founder of the great development since 
attained by the Congregation in the United States. Father 
Bernard, as he was usually called, was at that time in 



136 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

Europe, but he hastened to his new field of authority 
with a fresh force of helpers. 

Father Bernard reached America on the Qth of January, 
1849, and immediately set to work on the visitation of all 
the existing houses. By circular letters and by the 
memoranda he left hi the various foundations he laboured 
to advance regular observance. At the same time he was 
the first to inaugurate the systematic and constant work 
of giving missions according to the method of the Rule. 
But he was still hampered for want of subjects. He 
therefore made another voyage to Europe hi 1850, and 
whilst there learned both of the establishment of the 
American Province and of his new appointment as first 
Provincial. On his way back to America he passed through 
England, and when he landed hi the United States he 
brought with him six fathers, as well as some students and 
novices. Among the priests were the native Americans 
Fathers Hecker and Walworth, whom he had found in 
England. He was now hi a position to form a regular 
missionary band, whilst the foundation made at Cumber- 
land in 1849 was formed into a house of studies. Mean- 
time, the acceptance of Annapolis in Maryland provided 
the Province with an almost ideal Novitiate. The church 
and house of St Alphonsus at Baltimore were built and made 
the Provincial's residence. Furthermore, other fathers 
came from Europe, and others were ordained and professed 
hi the United States, so that the work of the Congregation 
in America was assured for the future. The Provincials 
who followed Father Bernard when he went to Europe 
in 1853, never to return, had in the main but to build on 
the lines that he had bravely and prudently laid down 
during the five years of his Provincialate (1848-1853). 

The new Superior appointed to take Father Bernard's 
place, when it was decided to retain him in Europe, was 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 137 

Father George Ruland, whose term of office lasted from 
1853 to 1859. Father Ruland was an exemplary and 
amiable religious, who enjoyed the confidence of his con- 
freres, both as Provincial and as Rector of various houses, 
before and after this period. He died as Rector of the 
House of Studies in 1885. 

In the course of Father Ruland's administration an 
event occurred which modified to some extent the future 
of the Redemptorists in America. Several native-born 
Americans had by this time joined the Congregation, and 
after making their Novitiate and their studies hi Europe, 
or hi the recently founded American houses, had. been 
formed into a band of missionaries under Father Bernard. 
In 2807 an agitation had been started for the founding at 
Newark of a house which should be exclusively a mission 
centre, and should occupy its members in those labours 
carried on in the English language. It must be remembered 
that hitherto German had, in the main, been the vehicle 
of the fathers' apostolate. Father Ruland and the other 
Superiors were anxious to encourage preaching in the 
language of the country, as well as in German, but they 
thought that the segregation of the English-speaking 
fathers hi this way would be fatal to the unity of the 
Congregation. Hence they opposed the scheme. Father 
Hecker, leader of these native American fathers, supported 
by prominent ecclesiastics from outside, thought he should 
appeal to Rome. He therefore started for the Eternal 
City without the leave of his immediate Superior to plead 
his cause with the Rector Major. The latter, on the other 
hand, considering that he had acted disobediently hi coming 
thus, unbidden and unauthorised, expelled him from the 
Congregation. Against this decision Hecker appealed to 
the Holy See. Finally, the Pope dispensed him and his 
four companions, Fathers Walworth, Hewit, Deshon, and 



138 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

Baker, from their vows, and they were eventually authorised 
to begin a new Institute without religious vows to work 
especially for the conversion of America. They took the 
name of the Congregation of St Paul, or Paulists. It is 
probable that with more patience the aims of these fathers 
would have been attained without any separation from the 
Redemptorists, and their departure was, for the time, 
a grave setback to the missions in English. But, seeing 
the excellent work since accomplished by the Paulists in the 
field they have chosen for their own, and the uninterrupted 
growth of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer 
on its traditional lines, the event may have been a blessing 
in disguise. 

In 1859 Father Ruland was succeeded by Father John 
De Dycker, and his six years of office sufficed to nearly 
double the number of fathers hi the Province. In 1859 
the German parish of St Michael, Baltimore, was accepted, 
and in 1861 the fathers were summoned to Chicago to end 
a period of trouble for the parish by accepting the care of 
St Michael's in that city. This latter foundation became 
a very large and flourishing one as the years rolled on. 
The house at New Orleans grew into a busy centre serving 
three churches, devoted respectively to the faithful using 
the English, German, and French languages. 

The next Superior of the Province was Father Joseph 
Helnipraecht, to whom the American fathers owe much. 
In 1866 a beginning was made of the mission Church of 
St Louis, which opened out a new field of apostolic labour. 
Another similar foundation was started in 1871 at Boston. 
Both these houses were commenced without any parochial 
charge, though they were led to assume it later on by the 
force of circumstances. St Patrick's, Quebec, the only 
English parish in that city, was accepted in 1874. 

One of the chief leaders and most eloquent preachers in 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 139 

the ^missionary band now already for some years engaged 
in these labours in the English language was Father William 
Gross. But hi 1873 he was appointed by the Pope Bishop 
of Savannah, and hence could take no further part in the 
Redemptorist work. Still, both hi Savannah, and later 
on when, hi 1885, he was made Archbishop of Oregon, he 
remained devoted to the Institute. It was partly through 
his advocacy that thef athers made their first foundation on 
the Pacific Coast. He died a holy death in 1898. 

In the last Triennium of Father Helmpraecht's period 
of office as Provincial, an important step was taken by the 
division of the American Province into two. This was 
effected on the gth of November, 1875, the new Province 
being called that of St Louis, while the former American 
Province was henceforth to be called that of Baltimore. 
The distances were great, and this division would make 
administration easier from that point of view, but only four 
houses were assigned to St Louis, and about forty fathers. 
Had Vice-Provinces been customary in those days, perhaps 
the forming of a Vice-Province instead would have been 
easier. But the new creation, under Father Jaeckel as 
Provincial, faced its difficulties bravely. To the original 
houses, St Louis, New Orleans, Chicago, and Chatawa, 
they proceeded to add others. Kansas City was founded 
in 1878, and became the Novitiate. Chatawa was dis- 
posed of, and then for a period the students were lodged 
with those of the Eastern Province at Ilchester. Detroit, 
given up earlier hi the history of the American Province, 
once more became the scene of a foundation hi 1880, 
while hi 1882 a second house and parish, dedicated to 
St Alphonsus, was taken in Chicago. A Juvenate was 
started at Kirkwood, near St Louis, in 1887, and the 
students were recalled to Kansas City. The latter house 
was, however, needed for the novices, hence a new House 



140 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

of Studies was opened at De Soto in 1897. Already the 
fathers had pushed on to the foot of the Rocky Mountains 
by making a foundation at Denver in 1894. All this time 
the Province was struggling with very great difficulties, 
through the lack of subjects to cultivate the vast field en- 
trusted to them. It was only after the twentieth century 
had begun that the result from their houses of training for 
their younger members was on a scale to grapple with this 
problem. 

In the Baltimore or Eastern Province, while these things 
were being done in the West, progress was also being made 
quite as remarkable in its own way. An advance was 
made into Canada. The only English parish hi Quebec, 
St Patrick's, was accepted in 1874, and four years later 
the fathers took charge of the National Pilgrimage of 
St Anne de Beaupre on the banks of the St Lawrence. 
St Anne's, Montreal, was founded in 1884, and St Patrick's, 
Toronto, in 1881. Then came a foundation at St John, 
New Brunswick, in 1884. These houses taken together 
constituted a very considerable field of labour for the 
Baltimore fathers outside the frontiers of the United States. 
As has been mentioned above, the two houses founded in 
Lower Canada among a French-speaking population were 
transferred later on to the Belgian Province viz., St Anne 
de Beaupre" and Montreal. 

Father Joseph Schwarz was entrusted with the task of 
inaugurating a large preparatory college for the Province 
in 1881 at North-East, on the shores of Lake Erie, which 
has gradually grown up to be one of the most extensive 
establishments in the possession of the Congregation. 

At the urgent request of the Archbishop, the charge 
of the German parish of St Boniface, Philadelphia, was 
taken over in 1876, and new churches were begun in 
Baltimore, called respectively the Sacred Heart and St 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 141 

Wehceslaus. In New York also a church for the Bohemian 
Catholics, who were much neglected at that time, was 
begun in 1887, and a German parish was formed by the 
fathers under the title of the Immaculate Conception in 
150th Street in 1886. 

Then, having received a pressing invitation from the 
Archbishop of Oregon, Dr. Wm. Gross, C.SS.R., a band 
of missioners was sent right across the continent to found 
a house on the Pacific Coast. Portland at the moment 
being unsuitable, a stable foundation was made at Seattle 
hi 1891. But the distance was so great that after a few 
years this house was transferred to the St Louis Province, 
and became the first of several communities afterwards 
belonging to that Province on the Pacific slope. 

A good many of the foundations which have been noticed 
above took place not under Father Helmpraecht, who went 
out of office in 1877, but under his successor, Father Elias 
Schauer, who was Provincial from 1877 to 1890. This 
good father, whose long administration was highly fruitful, 
survived into extreme old age, healthy and hearty almost 
to the end. When he was replaced at the head of the 
Province by Father Lite in 1890, he fell into his place hi the 
ranks with the most edifying cheerfulness and humility, 
and remained at the ordinary Redemptorist work of preach- 
ing, hearing confessions, and giving the Sacraments, almost 
until the approach of death. He kept his golden jubilee 
of profession in 1906, and of ordination in 1913, and died 
at New York, aged eighty-seven, hi the year 1920. 

Father Litz remained Provincial until the year 1898, 
when he was succeeded by Father William Lucking. But 
the intervening years saw much solid progress and several 
new enterprises undertaken. The Boston house, whose 
origin in 1871 as a mission house has been already alluded 
to, continued to develop into a centre of unrivalled 



142 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

activity. A great new church was dedicated in 1878 
under the title of Our Lady of Perpetual Succour, whose 
vast proportions surpassed anything that the Redemp- 
torists had hitherto attempted in America, and it was 
always thronged with crowds of the faithful. In 1883 it 
became a parish church, without, however, losing any- 
thing of the character it already possessed as a great 
mission centre. Since that time a great wealth of sub- 
sidiary institutions has been grouped round it as a f ocus> 
to serve the various needs of a large and devout body of 
Catholics. Parochial schools were built, divided, and 
rebuilt. A convent was provided for the Sisters teaching 
in the school. St Alphonsus' Parochial Hall for meetings 
and entertainments was opened in 1900, mainly through the 
energy and ability of Father John Frawley, who, after 
renovating the church and building the hall, put the crown 
on his period as Rector (1890-1904) by building a new 
and spacious Rectory for the accommodation of a large 
community. Father Hayes, who then became Rector, 
utilised to the full the magnificent cluster of buildings he 
inherited, and devoted his attractive gifts to intensifying 
the already keen spiritual life of the place. He also added 
the towers to the church. When Father Hayes went out 
of office in 1918 he was succeeded by Rector James Kenna. 
An establishment was commenced in 1893, whose growth 
in recent years bids fair to rival that of Boston. This was 
the foundation made at Brooklyn in 1893. The be- 
ginnings here, as in the former case, were small, but the 
fathers found themselves in the midst of a dense and grow- 
ing Catholic population, and provision had to be made for 
them. A large monastery was built by Father Frawley, 
who became Rector here in 1904, and to this were added 
schools and convent. A large parochial hall was then 
erected as in Boston, and the crypt of a large church opened 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 143 

to the public. The fathers are on the eve of building 
a noble upper church on these foundations, which has been 
planned on a scale even greater than that of Boston. 

A Vice-Province was erected in 1912 with Toronto as 
a centre, and to it were attached the houses at Rochester, 
Buffalo, Quebec, St John, Detroit, and Grand Rapids, 
besides the central establishment at Toronto. This ar- 
rangement with certain modifications lasted until the 
establishment of the Canadian Province of Toronto in 1918. 

The main achievement of Father Lucking was the 
foundation of a house of studies at Esopus on the Hudson 
in 1907. Ilchester was overcrowded, and the warm climate 
of the neighbourhood was not considered favourable to the 
health of the students. Hence a new home was designed 
in a more northerly latitude and on a more ample 
scale. One of the Province, Father Dooper, endowed with 
ample means, promised his co-operation. Consequently, 
in 1907, the students with their staff of professors were 
removed from Ilchester to the new house. Henceforward, 
Ilchester became the Novitiate, and Annapolis was used 
for other purposes. Esopus, as it stands to-day, built of 
solid granite, with its front of more than 300 feet, with its 
tasteful chapel and its extensive park-like grounds, is one 
of the most complete and well-proportioned houses in the 
Congregation. It provides accommodation for the moment 
for the Canadian students as well as those of the Baltimore 
Province, but though it will house some 170 inmates, it is 
none too large for the purpose for which it was built. If 
the numbers grow, it will be necessary to place the Canadians 
elsewhere. 

Father Joseph Schneider became Provincial in 1912, 
and pursued an active policy of pushing on the apostolic 
work of the fathers, and renewing or extending the material 
houses and churches served by them. A large new house 



144 ^THE REDEMPTORISTS 

was built at Saratoga as a sanatorium, and part of a very 
artistic group of buildings erected at Squirrel Hill, Pitts- 
burg, to replace the old Church of St Philomena, now 
purchased by the railway. .In 1914 a house was opened 
with the idea that it might^be used almost solely for 
missions at Ephrata, near Lancaster, in Pennsylvania. 
Passing on into Ohio, a foundation was made at Lima, an 
important railway junction. There Father Schneider built 
a house with ample accommodation for a large community 
and a parochial school. Father Schneider died in office, 
being struck down suddenly with illness early in 1900* He 
was succeeded by the present Provincial, Father James 
Barron. 

The Baltimore fathers have a transmarine mission in 
the West Indies. In 1902 they accepted an invitation from 
the bishop to take charge of Mayaguez in Porto Rico. 
There they found themselves responsible for 40,000 of the 
faithful, who were almost without priests and ill-instructed 
in their religion. In 1912 they made a second foundation 
in the same island at San Juan, the capital, where som2 
Spanish fathers of the Congregation were settled up to the 
time of the war of 1898. Finally, in 1915, a third house 
was begun at the populous town of Caguas in the interior. 
In all these places spacious houses for the clergy have been 
built. Everywhere the labour is overwhelming, seeing 
that the population of the three parishes is very great, and 
that to this must be added the serving of more than a dozen 
outlying stations and the giving of missions in the strict 
sense of the word, which has been perseveringly pushed on 
by the present Vice-Provincial, Father Murphy. 

Meanwhile, the Western Province, whose home-field is 
very much more extensive than that which is available 
in the East, has pushed on with at least equal rapidity of 
growth. The inauguration of a mission church, popularly 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 145 

known as the Rock Church, in the important city of St 
Louis, has been mentioned. This became the centre of 
the new Province> and was made parochial. Father 
Jaeckel was succeeded as Provincial by Father Loewekamp 
(1884-1893) and two new centres of labour were set up at 
Detroit (1880) and at Grand Rapids (1888). These two 
houses for some years formed part of the Toronto Vice-. 
Province, but eventually were restored to St. Louis. In 
1888 also the Preparatory College begun at Kirkwbod soon 
became a flourishing establishment. To free Kansas City 
for the Novitiate, a new Studentate was begun at De .Soto 
in Missouri in 1897. At the same time the fathers pushed 
on westward, and began a small house at Denver at the 
foot of the Rocky Mountains. Seattle, which had been 
begun from Baltimore, was accepted by the St Louis 
Province in 1894. 

With regard to the older houses, solid progress was made 
in Chicago and Detroit, but at this epoch the expansion 
of the Province was much hampered by the lack of numbers, 
and several more years were needed before the supply 
of fathers could be put on a footing to meet pressing needs. 
Fathers Girardey, Schwarz, Mullane, and Firle ruled the 
Province in turn after the death of Father Helmpraecht, 
but in 1907 a Provincial was found who was confirmed in 
office every Triennium until his sudden death in 1919. 
This was Father Thomas Brown, who was Superior at 
Denver when chosen for the higher charge. The length of 
time he held office must be taken as testimony to the success 
of his administration. There ensued notable development 
in the region known as the Pacific slope. A second founda- 
tion there had already been made at Portland in 1906, 
but there was more to come. A site was selected, and a 
house and church built at Fresno in California in 1908. 
The parish and church at Cceur d'Alene, near Spokane, was 

xo 



146 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

taken over from its zealous founder in 1914, and another 
foundation which has several times shifted its site was 
accepted in the neighbourhood of Los -Angeles in 1921. 
An entrance into Texas was effected by the opening of a 
house at San Antonio in 1911. This has been supplemented 
in more recent years by the founding of a second house 
and the building of a second church, exclusively for the 
benefit of the Mexicans in the same city. This latter house 
is faced with an immense pressure of work. It is true that 
the St Louis Province has no foreign mission outside the 
United States, but the Apostolate to the Mexicans, who 
have flocked over the border to the number of 500,000, 
presents some of the characteristics of such a mission. 
Besides keeping up a round of services hi the church at 
San Antonio, the fathers attend no fewer than nineteen 
outlying stations in order to enable those at a distance to 
comply with the laws of the Church. Moreover, when the 
Mexicans pass to the north, and settle in other states, the 
fathers follow them up with missions and such exercises, 
to try and keep the faithful of this race to their religion. 
This work seems likely to increase still further with the 
passage of time. 

Another undertaking which fell within Father Brown's 
term of office was the establishment of a new house of studies. 
This was set on foot in 1911 at Oconomowoc, near Mil- 
waukee, in Wisconsin. The existing buildings were 
utilised and greatly added to, so that gradually quite an 
extensive foundation sprang into life and activity. The 
present Father Provincial is already preparing to build 
a large house on a scale which may be commensurate with 
the vast needs of the Province. Consequent upon the 
removal of the students, De Soto became vacant, and has 
become the -Novitiate. The house at Kansas City was no 
longer suitable for that purpose, for the city has grown 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 147 

in the direction of the site held by the fathers. A hand- 
some new church has been built, and Kansas City is 
now one of the most prosperous foundations in the whole 
Province. 

The Detroit house has also taken on immense develop- 
ments. The city has increased by leaps and bounds^ both 
in population and in wealth, so that it has been difficult 
to keep pace with the growth. Twice the fathers have 
built a church for their flock, and twice the accommoda- 
tion became inadequate. At last a splendid new church^ 
almost of the size of a cathedral, was built under the super- 
intendence of Father Cantwell, the Rector, and was opened 
in 1923. At present it would seem that the 12,000 or 
14,000 Catholics in the parish are well provided for. Of 
course, it must be understood that schools, parochial hall, 
and other buildings are on a proportionate scale. 

Meanwhile, new openings were accepted at Omaha in 1918, 
and at Wichita hi 1920. Given a sufficient supply of 
missioners, there is still opportunity for almost unlimited 
expansion hi the St Louis Province. Father Brown died 
quite suddenly in the midst of the assembled community in 
1918, and was succeeded by Father Christopher McEnniry, 
who still guides the fortunes of this part of the Con- 
gregation. 

We may now sum up in a few words the present position 
of the three Provinces into which the American fathers are 
grouped. 

(i) BALTIMORE 

The senior of the two Provinces into which the houses 
in the United States of America are divided still bears the 
name of Baltimore, although the Provincial house is now 
at Brooklyn. It has become in numbers the largest Pro- 
vince in the Congregation, and contains possibilities of 



148 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

still further development. It still bears traces of the 
special work of the early fathers in devoting themselves 
to preserving the faith of the German emigrants, but, 
needless to say, these -limits have long since been trans- 
cended. There remain, all the same, twelve of these older 
houses, built in cities, primarily to look after the German 
or other foreign Catholic population. Of these there are 
four in New York, and four in Baltimore. To these we 
must add St Peter's and St Boniface in Philadelphia, and v 
the houses at Rochester and Buffalo. Apart from early 
attempts, two others have recently been surrendered 
namely, St Alphonsus', Baltimore, and St Philomena's, 
Pittsburg. There are two large city foundations more 
recently established viz., Boston and Brooklyn to 
minister to English-speaking congregations, far more 
numerous in both these cases than in those of the foreign- 
speaking foundations. Recently, two houses have been 
founded with but little parochial work, with the outlook 
that they might be in the main mission houses. These are 
Lima and Ephrata. Two others have been transferred to 
sites outside of cities, where there can be but little home 
work viz., Pittsburg and Saratoga. There remain four 
others connected with the training of the younger Re- 
demptorists: Ilchester, near Baltimore, which is now an 
almost ideal; Novitiate; North-East, on Lake Erie, where 
a Preparatory College of nearly 250 boys secures a constant 
supply of vocations for the Novitiate; Annapolis, which 
has been in great part devoted to the second Novitiate, or 
period of training for the special missionary work of the 
Congregation; and Esopus, on the Hudson, where a noble 
pile of buildings houses the professed students, 120 in 
number, with their staff of professors. The foreign mission 
of the Baltimore fathers in the West Indies comprises six 
houses. In this way the whole numbers are twenty-eight 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 149 

houses, containing nearly 300 fathers, 120 students, and 
about eighty or 100 lay brothers and novices. Thus, the 
whole Province has about 500 members. 



(2) ST Louis 

The St Louis Province, whose separation, from the rest 
of the American houses has been already mentioned, con- 
tinues to make still more rapid progress in numbers than 
its eastern neighbour. . Endowed with an almost bound- 
less expanse of territory and almost unlimited possibilities 
of future expansion, it has been long hampered by the 
want of men and means. Now, however, these difficulties 
have been in great part overcome, and it presents a 
flourishing and vigorous aspect. St Louis is the Provincial 
house, and the Rock Church hi that city is the centre of 
much parochial and missionary activity. The two Churches 
of St Michael and St Alphonsus, in Chicago, minister to 
large bodies of Catholics, German for the most part hi 
origin, but fast losing the distinctive language and some 
of the other characteristics of that race. At Detroit, 
that almost unrivalled home of present-day industry and 
wealth, a very large and architecturally planned church 
is the centre of religious life to nearly 14,000 Catholics. 
New Orleans, with its three churches and triple parish 
under the care of one community, still retains the unique 
character it has so long possessed. In Kansas City a noble 
new" church is attended by an ever-growing congregation. 
At Grand Rapids the fathers have possibly the best church 
in the .city. As we move further westward we .find the 
establishments smaller, but, at the same time, the possi- 
bilities of future growth. These considerations apply to 
the houses at Denver (1894), I)avenport (1908), Omaha 
(1918), and Wichita (1920). Texas contains two houses 



150 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

in the same city San Antonio but the foundation of the 
second one was due to the need of providing a special church 
with a staff of iathers to meet the immense influx of Mexican 
Catholics into the place. On the Pacific slope there are 
Redemptorist houses at Portland, Seattle, Cceur d'Alene, 
Fresno, and in the suburbs of Los Angeles. These last 
establishments are distant enough and important enough 
to form a Vice-Province, but certain difficulties have 
first to be overcome. 

The Province has a roll of over 300; there being nearly 
200 fathers, more than fifty students and novices, and 
about the same number of lay brothers. 



(3) TORONTO 

This Province, which was for some years a Vice-Province 
of Baltimore, was founded in 1918. Some of its most 
prominent members are natives of the United States. At 
Toronto, the Mother House, there are two churches, the 
second being devoted to the care of the Italian Catholics, 
while two of the community of twelve fathers are them- 
selves Italian, and find full scope for their zeal among their 
fellow-countrymen. St Patrick's, Quebec, was accepted in 
1874, and is the only English-speaking parish in that city. 
A fine new church and monastery are being erected there 
on the Grand Alice. St Anne's, Montreal, is also a church 
for those who speak English, while, of course, St John, 
New Brunswick, is chiefly surrounded by the descendants 
of emigrants from Scotland and Ireland: this house is at 
present the Novitiate of the Province. A large Juvenate 
was opened in 1920 at Brockville, on the banks of the St 
Lawrence. Westward, rapid development has taken place, 
and there are small houses at Brandon, Yorktown, Regina, 
East Kildonan, and also at London, Ontario. 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 151 

The Province consists of about 100 members, of whom 
more than half are priests. The students are at present 
with the Baltimore students in then: large house at Esopus, 
New York. 

GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND 

The Redemptorists had found a home in most of the lands 
of Continental Europe for some years before any attempt 
was made to secure a foundation in England. On their 
way back from then: short-lived residence at Lisbon, already 
spoken of, the fathers did, indeed, land in 1833, but no 
permanent settlement took place. They owed their first 
invitation to the zeal of Bishop Baines, Vicar Apostolic of 
the West. This enterprising prelate was on friendly terms 
with the Cure" in Liege who had been such a good friend to 
the fathers in that city. At his house Dr. Bames met 
Father De Held, already engaged on his mission from 
Father Passerat as Visitor of Belgium. Being struck 
with the zeal and piety of that father and by the account 
he received of the Redemptorist work, Dr. Bames invited 
Father De Held to come and examine whether it would 
not be possible to make a foundation in Wales. This was 
in 1839, when South Wales was still in the Western District. 
In response to this invitation Father De Held visited 
England in 1841, but South Wales was no longer in the 
District, since the number of Vicariates was increased to 
eight in the year 1840. But he visited the Bishop at Prior 
Park. In 1841 Father De Held came again, when it was 
arranged that the Redemptorists should take charge of 
the mission of Falmouth in Cornwall, which Dr. Baines 
agreed to hand over to them. Father De Held then 
returned to Belgium. 

On the loth of June, 1843, the subjects chosen for the 
new enterprise, Fathers Lempfried and Louis De Bugge- 



152 THE REDEMPTORISTS 



i with the lay brother, Felician Dubucquoy, arrived 
in London. They had need of all their confidence in God 
to nerve them to face the difficulties ahead. From London 
they journeyed to Prior Park, and thence again to Falmouth, 
which they reached on the I7th of June. The Vicar 
General accompanied them from Prior Park to Falmouth, 
but there they found the priest in charge quite unprepared 
-to make way for them. 

Through the Vicar General, Bishop Baines was appealed 
to that the offer already made should be made good, and 
eventually an order was sent to the priest to make way 
for the fathers. But it was only on the 3oth of June 
i.e., nearly a fortnight later that the incumbent left, and 
the fathers took formal possession of the Falmouth mission. 
As far as their foundation depended on the support of the 
zealous Vicar Apostolic, they were only just in time, for 
on the 5th of July Dr. Baines died quite suddenly, and six 
months elapsed before his successor was appointed. 

Meanwhile, Father Lempfried did all hi his power to 
strengthen his position at Falmouth. In December he 
went to Paris to meet Father De Held by appointment, 
but met with little success. The Sisters whom he invited 
in Paris to come to Falmouth could not see their way to 
dp so, and the Association of the Propagation of the Faith 
could not give any pecuniary assistance for the moment, 
though next year they made a grant of 10,000 francs. Yet, 
in other ways, the fathers were not forgotten by their 
continental friends. In the course of 1843 they were visited 
at Falmouth by the well-known Mgr. De Merode and the 
illustrious Count De Montalembert. In ' Mr. Edward 
Douglas they welcomed a visitor, who, after his reception 
as the first British Redemptorist, was to have a dis- 
tinguished career as Consultor General and as a generous 
benefactor of the Congregation. 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 153 

*The new Vicar Apostolic, Dr. Baggs, when Father De 
Held came to England to visit Falmouth in the June of 
that year, gave the formal authorisation for the foundation, 
which had hitherto been lacking owing to Bishop Barnes' 
death. 

And now we meet with a strong proof of the holy audacity 
and confidence in God which these early fathers showed. 
They had come from Belgium, being only two priests and 
a brother, and the only reinforcement they had since re- 
ceived was the arrival in March, 1844, of another lay brother, 
Stephen Seneugers. Yet with this scanty force, when a 
second foundation was offered by Mr. Hornyold at his seat, 
Blackmore Park, Worcestershire, it was accepted. On the 
4th of September, 1844, Father Lempfried with Brother 
Stephen left Falmouth for this new enterprise, and two 
days later were installed at Blackmore Park. 

Meanwhile, Father Buggenoms, left alone with Brother 
Felician at Falmouth, tried to push on as well as he could. 
In November he opened a school for boys, but his under- 
taking was bitterly opposed, and did not prosper. Besides, 
this left the girls and infants still unprovided for. Hence, 
having discussed the situation with Father De Held when 
he paid his annual visit hi September, 1845, he determined 
to try and induce a community of teaching nuns to come 
to the rescue. 

Father Petcherine had come to Falmouth from Liege 
in the beginning of the year, while Father Ludwig had 
been sent to help Father Lempfried at Blackmore Park. 
This made it possible for Father Buggenoms to leave Fal- 
mouth in charge of Father Petcherine in October, while he 
betook himself to Namur. Here he was fortunate enough 
to secure the services of a band of six Sisters of Notre 
Dame, and he conducted them to England. They reached 
Falmouth on the nth of November, 1845, and there 



154 THE' REDEMPTORISTS 

established themselves at Penfhyn in the same neigh- 
bourhood. Before long a girls' school was opened by 
these Sisters, which rapidly developed in numbers. While 
the boys' school met with so many difficulties that it had 
to be closed, the girls' school by the following June counted 
more than sixty pupils. 

As soon as the fathers were established at Blackmofe 
Park, Mr. Hornyold set about the building of a church and 
of a small monastery. These were completed in August, 
1846, and on the igth of August the church was conse- 
crated by Bishop Wiseman. Father De Held, as Pro- 
vincial of Belgium, was present at the function, which was 
also attended by the future Cardinal Dechamps, C.SS.R., 
and by many other distinguished Catholics. It was quite 
an event for the Church in England in those days. The 
sacred edifice was dedicated to Our Lady and St Alphonsus. 
The first Superior had already been replaced by Father John 
Baptist Lans, a native of Holland, whose name will ever 
be in honour among English Redemptorists on account of 
his outstanding piety and zeal for souls. . Father Lans now 
began the self-sacrificing labours and the missionary 
activities in which he persevered at Blackmore Park, 
Hanley, and other places till the foundation was given up 
in 1851. He at once accepted the task of saying Mass at 
Upton-on-Severn, besides the service of the church at 
Blackmore Park, and eventually succeeded in opening a 
school chapel at Upton. During these five or six years he 
received over one hundred persons into the Church, and 
when Jie left there remained a memory scarcely yet obli- 
terated of his life of piety and constant labour. 

Two houses had thus been begun in England, but there 
had hitherto been rip opportunity of engaging in the 
specific work of the Congregation, viz., the giving of the 
exercises of a regular mission. Moreover, the two houses 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 155 

were both quite small and unable to lodge sufficient subjects 
for the full observance of the routine of the religious life. 
But 1848 was to see a change in this. Father De Held, as 
Belgian Provincial; had come to England every year to visit 
his subjects. Now, in 1848, he was Provincial no longer, 
but was sent to reside in England as permanent Visitor 
of the houses, and as Superior of the one at Blackmore 
Park. There was a strong f eeling among the fathers that 
there was no future for their Institute in England, so long 
as they lived in such small and out-of-the-way places, and a 
consequent disposition to seek a foundation hi London. 
Father De Held did not at first share this feeling, thinking 
that the fathers were better responding to their vocation 
by trying to labour in small places and in the rural districts. 
Hence he came prepared to resist any action of the land 
favoured by the others. However, while passing through 
London, he met Mr. Philp, a well-known Catholic book- 
seller of the day, who urged the advisability of the attempt 
to settle in London, and advised him to seek an interview 
with Bishop Wiseman. The latter at this interview spoke 
strongly in favour of the fathers coming to London, and 
offered a warm welcome. This seems to have influenced 
Father De Held to change his mind. 

Through Mr. Philp, Father De Held got to know that 
a house was for sale at Clapham, which seemed to offer 
all the accommodation which a normal Redemptorist house 
should have both in rooms and garden, and negotiations 
were set on foot to acquire it. As the residence of Sir 
James Shore, afterwards Lord Teignmouth, it was the 
scene of the first meetings of the Bible Society. Finally 
it was bought for 4,000, but, as immediate possession 
could not be had, Father De Held had to cast about for 
a temporary lodging. 

In the preceding year (1847) a community of religious 



156 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

women not living in enclosure, known as the Filles de 
Marie, had settled at St Ann's House in the Old Town, 
Clapham. Here Mass was said for the first time hi 
Clapham since the Reformation at Christmas, 1847, by 
Rev. Mr. Sheehan as Chaplain to these ladies. The Filles 
de Marie offered one whig of their house as a temporary 
abode for the fathers, and here Father De Held said Mass 
from the 4th of June. Not being able to preach in English, 
the Visitor called the eloquent Russian convert Father 
Petcherine, C.SS.R., from Falmouth to assist him, and 
they both stayed at St Ann's for about two months. Then 
viz., on the 3ist of July, 1848 possession was taken 
of Lord Teignmouth's house at the corner of Acre Lane, 
The parlours and adjacent passages were transformed into 
a chapel. This chapel was opened to the public on St 
Alphonsus' Day (2nd August, 1848), when Dr. Talbot 
preached at Mass, and Bishop Wiseman at the Evening 
Service. 

The district assigned to the care of the fathers was an 
extensive one, and therefore the people who came to the 
chapel soon became so numerous that it was impossible 
to find room for them. It became a matter of vital im- 
portance to undertake the building of a permanent church. 
But at first funds were wanting, and there was delay. 

Meanwhile, difficulties had multiplied at Falmouth, 
and it was decided to give up the foundation. On the 
other hand, the Revolution which broke out in 1848 drove 
various fathers from foreign lands to seek a refuge hi 
England. Their presence offered an opportunity for 
development on a larger scale. At the same time, the 
Chaplain of the Carmelites at Llanherne begged to be 
. allowed to go to our Novitiate, and to have his place sup- 
plied at the Convent at least for the time. Two fathers were 
accordingly sent there, and another to Rotherwas, Here- 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 157 

ford, where the Bodenham family had a small church. 
When the recent convert Mr. Scott Murray asked for 
fathers to serve the church he had just built at Great Marlow, 
two fathers were sent there. Finally, Father Buggenoms 
and Brother Felician, from Falmouth, were attached to 
Clapham, and in November, as soon as they could arrange 
matters, joined the London community. The Notre Dame 
nuns at Penrhyn had already preceded them to Clapham, 
finding their position no longer tenable. They took a 
house in Bedford Road. Three more fathers and several 
brothers reached England from the Continent, and thus 
the Clapham community began to take shape. This year 
was also notable for the first beginning of the strictly 
missionary works which are the primary vocation of the 
Redemptorists. A mission was given by Fathers Petcherine, 
Walworth, and Buggenoms in the newly-opened St George's 
Cathedral, Southwark, while a commencement was made 
in the work of nuns' Retreats, which have since become so 
important, through one given by Father De Held to the 
Ladies of the Sacred Heart at Acton. 

As Dearly in 1848, as. he was relieved of his chaplaincy, 
Father Weld went to the Novitiate at St Trond, whither 
he was followed at the beginning of 1849 by one whose 
coming was to exercise a great influence over the whole 
Congregation. This was Edward Douglas, a friend of 
Mr. Scott Murray, whose invitation to the fathers to come 
to Great Marlow has been mentioned above. Mr. Douglas, 
born in Edinburgh in 1819, was the son of two members 
of a junior branch of the noble Queensberry family. He 
inherited a considerable fortune, and was generously minded 
to spend it on good works, especially on those of the Con- 
gregation he was bent on joining. He was clothed as a 
novice on the and of February, 1849, and when he came 
to know of the lack of means for the building of a church 



158 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

at Clapham he came to the rescue. His offer was accepted 
by the Superiors, and new heart animated them to under- 
take the work. It was decided to commence at once, and 
plans were prepared by Mr. Wardell, later on architect of 
the Cathedral at Melbourne. On the 2nd of August, 1849, 
just one year after that other Feast of St Alphonsus when 
the chapel in the house had been opened, the foundation 
stone of a permanent church was laid by Bishop Wiseman, 
who preached on the occasion. The work gradually ad- 
vanced, and Father Douglas continued to provide the 
necessary funds until the edifice was complete. Meanwhile, 
there were not wanting other signs pointing to progress 
and development in the position of the fathers in England. 
The charge of the German Church in Cannon Street was 
accepted, and one of the fathers was sent to reside there. 
The American convert Isaac Hecker, who had been at- 
tached to the Clapham community in the preceding year, 
was ordained at Old Hall by Bishop Wiseman on the isth 
of October, while early in 1850 Father Weld and Father 
Douglas, who had taken their vows at St Trond in Sep- 
tember and December respectively, also joined the Clapham 
house. This community was now constituted a regular 
Collegium, where Father De Held, named its first Rector, 
presided over a band of ten fathers besides lay brothers. 
Fathers Prost and Van Antwerpen remained at Great 
Marlow, and Fathers Lans and Walworth at Blackmore 
Park. 

The meeting of Superiors held at Bischenberg in 1850 
was attended by Father De Held, and though the appoint- 
ments which followed made no change in the staff in 
England, another decision affected their future in the 
country. It was determined to withdraw the fathers 
from the small missions and chaplaincies, and to concentrate 
on one or two large houses where the community life could 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 159 

be carried on in all its fulness. Rotherwas was given up, 
and notice was given that the fathers would have to leave 
Great Marlow. The charge of the German Chapel was 
also resigned. 

With regard to Blackmore Park, it was at first hoped 
that, if enlarged, the miniature monastery might be made 
into a regular Redemptorist house, and a proposal was 
made to build an extension at the expense of the Con- 
gregation. To this, on the other hand, Mr. Gandolfi- 
Hornyold demurred, and thus, though with mutual regrets, 
he was told that the fathers must leave, as the existing 
house was not adequate to the accommodation of the 
number of fathers our life requires for its full observance. 
Our thanks were rendered to Mr. Gandolfi-Hornyold for the 
generosity he had already shown. 

Several missions had been given in Lancashire in the 
course of the preceding year, whose success had turned the 
thoughts of the Superiors in that direction. Hence, when 
a house and chapel and four acres of ground, belonging to 
Bishop Brown of Liverpool and his coadjutor. Bishop 
Sharpies, were offered for sale, negotiations were opened 
for their acquisition. It was called Bishop.Eton, and was on 
the high road from Wavertree to Woolton. The price was 
considerable i.e., 6,000 but here, again, Father Douglas 
came to the rescue, and gradually provided the whole sum. 
On the loth of June, 1851, Father Prost took possession 
of the place, and was joined soon after by Father Lans 
from Blackmore Park, and by other fathers. The elegant 
little chapel was opened to the public, and from Bishop 
Eton as a residence missions were given in various parts 
. of Lancashire, and also in Ireland. 

Meanwhile, the new church in Clapham was verging on 
completion. It was opened on the I4th of May, 1851, 
When Cardinal Wiseman again preached for the fathers. 



160 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

There was still something to be done to finish the building 
with its elegant spire, but on the I3th of October of the 
following year the Cardinal solemnly consecrated the 
church. 

The mission in St John's Cathedral, Limerick, in 1851, 
which was the first apostolic labour of the Congregation 
in Ireland, was so extraordinarily successful that in 1853 
came an invitation, which was cordially accepted, to make 
a foundation in Limerick. But more of this when the 
fortunes of the Redemptorists in that country are dwelt on. 

Up to 1850, or even later, the fathers working in England 
were not natives of the country, but in that year a notable 
band of English-speaking candidates made their Novitiate 
in St Trond. Their profession in 1851 and 1852 gave new 
hope of growth and extended usefulness to the English 
houses. This circle of devoted religious included Fathers 
Coffin, Vaughan, Bradshaw, Furniss, Bridgett, Stevens, 
and Plunkett. All survived to do great work for souls in 
their own way. With Father Douglas, their forerunner 
by a couple of years, they may be looked upon as the first 
line of native-born Redemptorists for the English Province, 
and their virtues and example laid down the solid lines on 
which their successors have tried to build. 

By this time the various works of the specific apostolic 
ministry were hi full vigour, both in England and in 
Ireland. Missions, Renewals, Retreats to Clergy, Religious, 
and Laity were given in scarcely interrupted succession. 
The number of missionaries grew, but scarcely fast enough 
to cope with the increasing demands made by the pastors 
and their flocks. Father Furniss (i8oo/-i865) soon 
developed the remarkable talent for preaching to children 
which gained him the name of the Apostle of the Children, 
and for about ten years devoted himself to children's 
missions almost exclusively. The substance of his dis- 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 161 

courses was afterwards published under the title of God and 
His Creatures, while his practical method of managing the 
young people when they were gathered in church formed 
the basis of his other book known as The Sunday School. 
It must be remembered that the Catholic children in 
England in those days had no schools of their own, and 
heace grew up without even the most elementary knowledge 
of religious doctrine and practice. Father Furniss died 
in 1865. 

- Another form of apostolate commenced about the same 
time was that of the pen. And what more natural than to 
make a beginning of this by the translation of the works of 
St Alphonsus ? Already, in 1852, the first start was made 
by the publication of The Glories of Mary, translated by 
Father Weld. Father Coffin now took up the work, and 
was made Editor of the whole series which was in con- 
templation. In June, 1854, appeared the collection of 
smaller works comprised in the general title: The Practice 
of the Christian Virtues. Then came out another collection 
of meditations and discourses on The Incarnation. This 
was followed by volumes on The Passion and on The Holy 
Eucharist. The Eternal Truths, sometimes called The 
Preparation for Death, was a systematic series of medita- 
tions suitable for a Retreat. Moreover, Father Coffin 
made a new translation of the Visits to the-Blessed Sacrament, 
and revised The Glories of Mary for a new edition hi 1868. 

During the years from 1855 to 1865 various changes 
were made in the government of the English houses, 
to keep pace with the general growth of the Congregation 
in Europe, which was at this period fairly rapid. Thus, 
at the beginning of 1855, these houses were put into the 
new Anglo-Dutch Province under Father Swinkels as 
Provincial. This state of things lasted nearly eleven 
years, Father Lans acting as Vice-Provincial for the first 



162 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

half of that interval, and Father Coffin for the latter portion 
of the time. A new church was built at Bishop Eton in 
1857 and 1858 from the designs of Edward Pugin, to replace 
the old one built for Bishop Brown. At Limerick the 
temporary premises at Bank Place and Thomas Street 
were replaced by a regular monastery the gift of Father 
Van Ryckevorsel in 1856 and by a large church, which 
was opened on the 7th of December, 1862. The novices 
and students for the first few years made their probation 
and their studies on the Continent, but a regular Novitiate 
was begun at Bishop Eton in 1860, and students began 
to make their studies in the same house from 1863. At 
length, on the 24th of May, 1865, an English Province was 
created, Father Coffin being chosen as the first Provincial. 
It comprised the three houses of Clapham, Bishop Eton, 
and Limerick, and had a personnel of seventy- two members, 
of whom thirty-two were priests. By this time the mis- 
sionary work of the fathers had grown to between thirty 
and forty missions a year, besides a still larger number of 
lesser exercises. Father Coffin had become widely known 
to the priests of the country as an impressive and successful 
conductor of the Annual Clergy Retreats, while Father 
Furniss had won a quite unique position by his long series 
of missions for children, which were never forgotten by 
those who had been once present at any one of them. 

The first year of existence of the English Province had 
not advanced far when the design was mooted of trying to 
make a foundation in Scotland. The plan lay very near to 
the heart of Father Douglas. The Father General warmly 
approved, and hi 1866 Father Coffin, with Father Vaughan, 
spent ten days hi Scotland, interviewing the Vicars Apos- 
tolic, and visiting possible sites for a new monastery and 
church. At last they found what seemed an admirable 
position on Kinnoull Hill, overlooking the city of Perth. 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 163 

The Earl of Kinnoull, owner of the ground, was Willing to 
let some eighteen acres of land, so the fathers returned to 
England and reported progress. They had not to wait, 
long for the General's authorisation, and to get plans pre- 
pared for a church and religious house. In the following 
year (1867) the new buildings were commenced, several 
fathers, under Father Vaughan as Superior, residing mean- 
while at St Mary's, Dundee. In 1869 both church and 
house were completed and taken possession of. Hence- 
forward the house at Kinnoull, with ever-increasing range 
of utility, became a centre both for missions in all parts of 
Scotland and for the Annual Clergy Retreats of the various 
dioceses of that country. 

Father Coffin would be accepted very generally as a 
typical specimen of the English convert priest and 
Oxford scholar, fully in touch with all that was highest 
in the general religious life of the country. But he was a 
thorough Redemptorist as well, both in his contempt for 
worldly aims and worldly reputation, and also in his 
sense that the Congregation is all one, transcending any 
national limitations. Hence he was always ready to 
welcome, amidst his fathers, the exiled members of 
provinces enjoying less civil liberty than his own. It was 
in pursuance of this policy that six fathers from the Italian 
Provinces found a home in England when the Revolution 
chased them from their native land. Thus also, in 1868, 
when the short-lived houses in Spain were overturned, two 
fathers, one of whom, Father Palliola, lived and died as 
a zealous missioner in England, were received from Spam. 
During the Franco-Prussian war several French fathers 
escaped to London. And, again, in the German Kultur- 
kampf, a good number also crossed the sea to England. 
One became Novice Master, and several others devoted 
themselves with great zeal to the work of the missions: 



164 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

several laid their bones on English soil. When called 
upon to give some share out of his small staff for the foreign 
missions, Father Coffin was not found wanting, and in 
1872 Father Dodsworth was sent to the Island of St 
Thomas in the West Indies. He was succeeded in turn 
by Father Cameron and Father Octavius Owen, both of 
whom gave their lives in that difficult and trying field of 
missionary labour. 

The Bishop Eton house, especially after the addition of 
a new wing in 1862, proved a suitable Novitiate, but Father 
Coffin was faced with the problem of providing for the. pro- 
fessed students. These had hitherto made their studies 
at Wittem in Dutch Limburg, but the climate proved trying 
to all, and fatal to not a few. Two unsuccessful attempts 
were made to house both novices and students at Bishop 
Eton, and the French House of Studies was tried for a 
while, but the want still remained. Hence, when in 1875 
an invitation came from the Bishop of Plymouth to estab- 
lish a house at Teignmouth, in Devonshire, the proposal 
was accepted. In the course of the same year the students 
were transferred thither from Bishop Eton, Father George 
Corbishley being appointed Superior. 

A piece of land was bought on the hill behind the town, 
where a new religious house was built. Then, under Father 
Coffin's successors the numbers grew, above all through the 
steady expansion of the work of the fathers in Ireland. 
Many improvements were, of course, gradually made, until 
at last it became almost an ideal house of study and retreat, 
in lovely surroundings. All the students from England, 
Ireland, Scotland, and Australia were housed here for 
twenty-five years. It was a side issue of the division of 
the Province into two, that this house, becoming thus 
too big for the English students alone, was in 1900 sold to 
the Sisters of Notre Dame. The Irish students went to 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 165 

Ireland, and the English students were temporarily sent 
to Mautern in Austria. 

As the years rolled round Father Coffin gradually fell 
into bad health, and was less able to take an active part in 
the external work going on around him. Each Triennium 
brought his re-nomination to the office of Provincial, and 
he still inculcated with undeviating fidelity adherence to 
the great principles he had learned from St Alphonsus: 
religious simplicity, obedience to Superiors, a true family 
life in community, and a great distrust of the ways of the 
world. It fell to him to preside over two important steps 
of progress which will be spoken of again further on. 
The one was the foundation of a second house in Ireland, at 
Dundalk, hi 1876, and the other the acceptance of an 
invitation from Bishop Murray of Maitland to send fathers 
to Australia in 1882. 

In 1882 Father Coffin received the Papal command to 
accept the see of Southwark, and hence a new Provincial 
had to be chosen. The choice of the General fell upon 
Father Hugh Macdonald, at that time Rector of the house 
at Kinnoull. Father Macdonald was a fervent and prudent 
religious, iand, though most unwillingly, set himself to 
administer the Province with all the quiet energy of his 
character. He inaugurated a new departure, from which 
Father Coffin always shrank, hi the establishment of a 
Juvenate or preparatory college for the Novitiate. The 
site selected by him was the house of Limerick, and it was 
designed in this way to provide more numerous candidates 
not only for Ireland but for Great Britain as well. He 
did not remain in office long enough to enjoy the fruits of 
this enterprise, but by other methods he was able, during 
the eight years of his rule over the Province, to increase 
the number of students from about ten to thirty, so that he 
left the available forces when he laid down the reins of 



166 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

government far greater than he found them, while at the 
same time his strict insistence on regular observance was 
a guarantee that quality was not sacrificed to quantity. 
In 1890 he was called upon to enter the ranks of the Scottish 
hierarchy, of which his brother, Dr. Angus Macdonald, was 
already a distinguished member. He was consecrated 
Bishop of Aberdeen on the 23rd of October, 1890, having 
exercised the functions of Provincial for eight years. 

Father John Bennett, at that time Rector at Bishop Eton, 
was now appointed to fill the office left vacant by Father 
Macdonald's elevation to the episcopate. He had under- 
taken while at Bishop Eton an extension of the house 
there which gave much additional accommodation. It 
was a consolation to him to open this new wing in the 
course of the same year. 

Since the foundation of Dundalk, Mass had been said in 
the refectory of the house used as a temporary chapel, but 
in 1890 the foundations of an attractive new church 
dedicated to St Joseph were laid. In 1892 this was com- 
pleted and opened to the public. Meanwhile, in Clapham, 
Father Bennett set to work with great energy on the some- 
what difficult enterprise of enlarging the church, and at 
the same time of replacing the two old houses, which the 
fathers had so long inhabited, by a properly designed 
monastery. The architect chosen was Mr. J. F. Bentley, 
and by 1894 there rose a transept skilfully fitted into the 
side of the existing church, and a commodious religious 
house, at the cost in all of some 20,000. In Teignmouth 
also, through the increase in the number of students,, there 
was a lack of space, and four of the English students were 
sent to complete their studies in the French Studentate at 
Dongen, in Holland. But relief was not long in coming. 
In 1894 the Teignmouth house was enlarged, and there was 
now room for all. In April, 1893, new nominations were 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 167 

published, and Father Bennett was reappointed Provincial. 
But great changes were at hand. On the isth of July 
Father Mauron, after ruling the Congregation for thirty- 
eight years, died, and this meant a General Chapter. When 
all the usual preliminaries had been complied with, the 
Capitular Fathers met in Rome on the 25th of February, 
1894. Father Raus was elected General, and in the course 
of the year sent Visitors into the various Provinces with 
a view to making new appointments. 

As to the Institute in Great Britain and Ireland, it was 
urged that the great developments possible to the work in 
Ireland and Australia pointed to the need for a separate 
Province for those countries. As there were difficulties 
in the way, Father Raus made a last attempt to postpone 
this division by calling home from Australia Father Vaughan, 
one of the few survivors of the earliest English line of 
Redemptorists, and making him Provincial. 

Father Vaugnan reached England in January, 1895, 
and, though already in failing health, attacked the problems 
before him to the best of his power. In 1894 the English 
Juvenists at Limerick were separated from the Irish and 
brought to Bishop Eton, where Father Hull became their 
Director. Through the generosity of Father Oddie, 
Father Palliola, Rector at Perth, was enabled in 1895 to 
commence the extension of the house there with a view to 
provide separate quarters for the Novitiate. This was 
ready when the novices moved thither from Bishop Eton 
at the end of 1896. In 1896 also a new and important 
foundation was made at Clonard, Belfast. Father Griffith, 
then Rector of Limerick, was appointed to take charge of 
the new enterprise. It progressed by leaps and bounds. 
A large temporary chapel was filled to overflowing, and a 
commencement was made with a roomy and well-built 
monastery. When this was finished the building of 



168 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

a spacious church was undertaken, which was opened in 
1911. Ever since, the concourse of the faithful at Clonard 
has been so great as to present the appearance of a con- 
tinual mission. 

These developments foreshadowed still more distinctly 
the forming of a new Province. Finally, on the 28th of 
January, 1898, the Irish Province was begun, Father Andrew 
Boylan being chosen as the first Provincial. The Austra- 
lian houses were attached to the Irish Province. At the 
same time Father Bennett was re-nominated Provincial hi 
England. 

(a) ENGLAND 

After the erection of the Irish Province in 1898, the 
English Province made what may be called a fresh start 
with dimhiished numbers. It commenced again with 
thirty-six fathers, nine students, two novices, and thirty 
lay brothers. There remained four houses : Clapham, 
Bishop Eton, Perth, and Teignmouth. The Irish students 
having been withdrawn from Teignmouth in 1900, the place, 
as being too large for the English students alone, was dis- 
posed of as mentioned above, and several new foundations 
were undertaken. The first of these was at Bishop's 
Stortford, in Herts, hi 1900. It was accepted at the in- 
vitation of Cardinal Vaughan, Archbishop of Westminster, 
in whose diocese it is situated. A beginning was made 
under Father Vassall-Phillips in a temperance hotel in the 
poorer part of the town. An iron church was built on a 
plot of land alongside of this, and a full round of Catholic 
services inaugurated. There were only one or two Catholics 
then in the place, but the services attracted great attention, 
and, at least on Sundays, the little chapel was usually 
quite filled with the Protestants of the neighbourhood. 
A considerable number of non-Catholics were received into 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 169 

the Church. But the premises were small and very un- 
suitable for a regular religious community, so that after 
some years it was almost decided to give up the foundation, 
when the opportunity offered itself of securing a larger house 
with ample grounds on Windhill at the outskirts of the town. 
This was acquired, and Father Vassall-Phillips devoted a 
portion of his means to the building of a beautiful Roman 
church adjoining the house. The house itself was enlarged 
so much that for a period it was able to accommodate not 
only the community, but the novices as well. At present 
the good work slowly but surely advances, converts being 
received one after the other, and the fathers going forth 
from Bishop's Stortford to give missions in the neigh- 
bouring dioceses. The church, which has been consecrated, 
is dedicated to St Joseph and the English Martyrs. 

In September of the same year (1900) the invitation of 
the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle was accepted to 
assume charge of the Church of St Benet, Monkwearmouth, 
Sunderland. This was a populous parish of some 6,000 
souls, with a handsome church already built. Father 
Stebbing, the late Rector of the House of Studies, was sent 
as Superior .with three other fathers and three lay brothers. 
The counties north of the Humber formed a promising 
field for missions, and this work was carried on simultane- 
ously with the parochial charge from the beginning. Hence 
it became necessary very soon to increase the staff of 
fathers to a considerable extent. Consequent upon this, 
the small presbytery was demolished, and a new and more 
commodious religious house erected. The schools were 
thoroughly renovated and also enlarged, a new sanctuary 
added to the church, and one by one numerous improve- 
ments made hi the decoration and equipment. A second 
school was built at Southwick, about a mile higher up the 
River Wear. This became the nucleus of a new parish, 



170 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

which was given back to the diocese in 1907 . But there 
remained ample scope for the exercise of zeal in Monkwear- 
mouth itself, where the Catholic life of the place was much 
intensified, the attendance at Mass and the Sacraments 
incredibly increased, and the organisation of parochial life 
completed. 

Even before 1900 a project had been entertained for the 
foundation of a new house in Bristol or its environs. This 
scheme only became a reality in 1901. A house was 
bought at Kingswood, some four miles from the centre of 
the town on the eastern side. Here, as at Bishop's 
Stortford, an iron church was built, and services com- 
menced somewhat on the same lines as there. Some 
progress was made, but opposition was strong, and finally, 
in 1912, the foundation was given up. This was not, 
however, before a new parish had been formed, and a small 
congregation handed over to the care of the diocesan 
clergy. 

A further foundation, which was destined to have but 
a brief existence, was begun at Norden, Rochdale, in 1904. 
It was hoped that it would provide a suitable house for the 
Juvenate, at that time unsuitably lodged at Kingswood, 
but when, after five years of experiment, it proved quite 
unfit for the purpose for which it was intended, it was 
given up in 1909. 

There was greater hope of success in a new venture made 
at the request of Cardinal Vaughan at Lower Edmonton 
in 1903. Father MacMullan was named Superior, and at 
first lived with his few companions in two small cottages 
alongside of a vacant plot of ground, which was acquired 
as the site for church and house. A generous benefactor 
came to the rescue, and both house and church were built 
some four years after. Then followed a parochial school, 
the old iron chapel in which the first services were held 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 171 

being converted into a parochial hall. Edmonton was 
a case of commencing the work from the beginning. Very 
few Catholics were known, as being residents of the locality 
when the first fathers came there, but by dint of careful 
visiting, with the influence of the school and the reception 
of several hundred converts, a parish of over 1,000 people 
has been formed. 

After this there was no further attempt at new houses 
in England for a long period of eighteen years, but a mission 
was taken at the wish of the Holy See in South Africa. 
Father Creagh and three other fathers were sent out to the 
Colony, and directed to proceed to the Transvaal hi 1912, 
for this was the State in the Union to which the Sacred 
Congregation had directed them. A site was secured at 
Pretoria, and through the generosity of a kind benefactor 
a religious house was built, part of which served excellently 
well for a temporary chapel. There were but few Catholics 
in that part of the environs of the capital which had been 
committed, to .the care of the fathers, but they were able 
to begin almost at once their missionary journeys to the 
various parts of the Union where they were invited to 
preach to the faithful, who in South Africa are but a small 
minority of the white population. The house at Pretoria 
has now been in existence for nearly twelve years, and 
each year has seen its succession of missions given by the 
fathers working from it as a centre. Hitherto, it has not 
been feasible to evangelise the negroes who form the 
majority of the inhabitants of the Union. 

In quite recent years a promising foundation has been 
made in the very centre of England by the acquisition from 
the Benedictines of Beuron of St Thomas' Abbey, Erdington, 
Birniingham (January, 1922). In this case the incoming 
fathers found everything already built: a beautiful parish 
church, a solid monastic house, schools and outlying 



72 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

buildings, with a considerable extent of land. It was hoped 
that this would form an accessible and central position for 
a missionary house, while there was a compact and well- 
organised congregation of more than 2,000 faithful. Father 
Charlton was named Superior, and before long there was 
a community of twelve fathers, as well as the proper 
complement of lay brothers, in residence. The students 
from Perth, with then- professors, have been" transferred to 
Erdington, and Perth has once more become the Novitiate, 
as was originally intended. 

The eight houses of the English Province at present 
contain more than seventy fathers, about thirty students 
and novices, and nearly fifty lay brothers i.e., 150 in all. 



(6) IRELAND 

The first introduction of the Redemptorists into Ireland 
was by the mission in St John's Cathedral, Limerick, in 
1851. It was an almost direct consequence of this that 
they were invited to make a permanent settlement in this 
city. They began in Bank Place hi 1853. Early in 1854 
a suitable site was secured at the end of Henry Street, 
the fathers converted a row of cottages into a temporary 
residence, and a large chapel was opened on the 28th of May. 
The first Superior, Father De Buggenoms, was replaced 
by Father Bernard, who, besides being Superior, was also 
named Director of all the missions. In 1856 a regular 
Redemptorist house was commenced, Father Van Rycke- 
vorsel having generously contributed a large portion of 
his fortune to cover the expense. In 1858 this was 
followed by the building of a large church. For this 
public subscriptions and private donations were solicited, 
and though the construction was interrupted hi the course 
of the year, it was soon resumed, and in 1862 it was 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 173 

solemnly dedicated to St Alphonsus, Father Plunkett being 
at that time Rector of the house. 

With church and house complete, Limerick now became 
the busiest centre of missioiiary work the fathers in the 
British Isles possessed, while at home labours were also 
abundant. After a mission to men at the beginning of 
1868, the Confraternity of the Holy Family for men was 
started, and rapidly took on a wonderful development, 
which has never since been interrupted. Father Bridgett 
was Rector at the time, and he and the celebrated preacher 
Father Harbison worked together to organise and guide 
it. It met every week, and then, the church being filled to 
overflowing, a second night had to be taken. Finally, 
in recent times, a third night every week is needed to afford 
space for the meeting of the junior or boys' division. 
Comprising as it now does some 8,000 members, the Limerick 
Holy Family is probably without rival in any part of the 
world, and continues to accomplish untold good among 
the men of the city and neighbourhood. 

The growth of the labours of the fathers in Ireland 
seemed to call for the establishment of a second house in 
the country. After a great mission hi Belfast, in 1872, a 
parish hi that city was offered by the bishop. This, how- 
ever, was declined, and in 1876 a commencement was made 
at Dundalk, a town about equidistant from Belfast and 
Dublin. Father Harbison was named Superior, and it 
was due to his reputation with the clergy and people, 
and his energy in collecting, that means were found to 
build a commodious religious house, to which was added, 
after some years, a remarkably fine church. Father 
Harbison remained Rector at Dundalk until his death, 
which occurred in 1888. 

Meanwhile, as part of the English Province, the students 
and novices from Ireland were sent to England for their 



174 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

probation and their studies. But in 1885 a Juvenate was 
begun in Limerick, which it was calculated formed the 
best centre to foster vocations for the yet undivided 
Province. 

Still, the Institute was far from having reached its full 
development in Ireland. In 1894 it became evident that 
there would be before long a separate Irish Province, and 
already some of the steps necessary to prepare for this were 
taken. The Juvenate was divided in 1896, the English 
boys being removed to Bishop Eton, and negotiations were 
begun for a third foundation in the country. This was 
commenced at Clonard, Belfast, in 1896, with Father 
Griffith as the first Superior. This proved to be a house 
with exceptional opportunities for work. It was not a 
parish, but was surrounded by a large Catholic population, 
not too well .supplied with facilities for church-going. 
A large monastery was first built with a temporary church, 
and then, when it became possible, a handsome and 
spacious permanent church was opened. It was frequented 
from the very first by a vast concourse of the faithful. 
The confessionals were almost besieged, a large number 
of Masses were celebrated for crowded congregations, and 
confraternities were set on foot to aid the devotion of the 
people. 

At length, hi 1898, the Irish Province was established 
with Father Boylan, later on Bishop of Kilmore, for first 
Provincial. As the Irish fathers and brothers were more 
numerous than the English, and as the Catholics in 
Australia are in the mam of Irish descent, it was arranged 
that Australia should form part of the new Province, and 
the English fathers there were withdrawn, being replaced 
by others from Ireland. 

In the following year a house was opened at Carrick-on- 
Shannon, but it did not prove suitable, and in 1901 was 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 175 

closed. In lieu of it, and to provide a separate house of 
studies, the old Dominican establishment of Esker, near 
Athenry in Galway, which had passed to the diocese, was 
acquired hi 1901, and prepared for the reception of the 
students. These had remained at Teignmouth for two 
years after the division of the Province, and when Teign- 
mouth was closed were lodged for about a year hi the 
Belfast house. This, however, could only be a temporary 
expedient, and in 1901 they were removed to Esker, which 
has grown and prospered steadily since then. Further- 
more, in order to provide a pied d terre in the capital, and 
to accommodate those who have been studying for the 
Congregation in the National University, a house has been 
taken in the Orwell Road, Rathgar, Dublin, which has 
no public church and only a small number in community, 
but which all the same is useful for the above-mentioned 
purposes. 

The work done by the Irish fathers in Australia has been, 
in the main, missionary preaching to Catholics of their 
own kith and kin. But scarcely was the Province estab- 
lished when a foreign mission was assigned to it, calculated 
to tax its zeal to the utmost. This was the foundation 
made in 1906 in the Philippine Islands. After going out 
alone to spy the land, with almost heroic courage, Father 
Boylan organised a band which received from the Bishop 
of Cebu charge of the Island of Opong, lying across the bay, 
opposite to the episcopal city. It has well over 10,000 
Catholic inhabitants, and hence requires a considerable 
amount of pastoral care. This the fathers have bestowed 
upon it now for the space of over twenty years. But as 
soon as their numbers allowed, the community began to 
exercise their primary vocation of preaching missions, 
and this with signal success. The hearing of general con- 
fessions by the thousand, the baptism of children by the 



176 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

hundred, the revalidation of almost innumerable marriages ; 
these have been but a few of the benefits they have 
been able to secure for a people almost without priests 
or spiritual assistance. In 1913 a second house was 
established in the suburbs of Manila. The circumstances 
in these islands are emphatically those in which the harvest 
is great and the labourers few. There seems hardly any 
limit to the possible growth of the work, given a sufficient 
number of missioners. 

In all, the Irish Province has thirteen houses: five in 
Ireland, five in Australia, one in New Zealand, and two in 
the Philippines. The roll of members of the Province 
comprises about 120 fathers, fifty students and novices, 
and some seventy lay brothers i.e., 240 or 250 in all. 

In the course of the intervening years three members 
of the Irish Province have been raised by the Holy See 
to the episcopal dignity. In 1907, Father Andrew Boylan, 
who had guided the fortunes of the Redemptorists in Ireland 
with great success for nine years, was appointed Bishop of 
Kilmore, and governed that diocese for three years till his 
death in 1910. Then, in 1916, Father Bernard Hackett, 
after years of zealous labour for souls at Limerick and 
elsewhere, was called to fill the see of Waterf ord, over which 
he still presides. Father Clune, one of the foremost 
missioners of the Congregation hi Australia, was named 
Bishop of Perth, Western Australia hi 1910. This diocese 
was raised to metropolitan rank in 1913. 

(c) AUSTRALIA 

The invitation for the Redemptorists to settle in Australia 
came first from the Bishop of Maitland, Dr. Murray, who 
offered charge of the Singleton district until such time as 
the fathers could find-a place to build a monastery suitable 



PAST HISTORY OF THE CONGREGATION 177 

to their aims and their rule. Early in 1882 a colony was 
sent out, including Father Edmund Vaughan as Superior, 
Fathers O'Farrell, Hegarty, and Halson, and two lay 
brothers. The fathers took charge of Singleton, and also 
at once began to give a series of missions which were blessed 
with extraordinary success. This position of affairs lasted 
for some five years, when, their numbers having been 
doubled, they were able to found, hi 1887, a permanent 
religious house at Waratah, near Newcastle, N.S.W., and 
Singleton was handed back to the bishop. In the f ollowing 
year Dr. Moore, Bishop of Ballarat, invited the fathers into 
his diocese in Victoria, and, the invitation being accepted, 
a second Australian foundation was made at Wendouree, 
Ballarat, in 1888, Father O'Farrell being named Superior. 
The distances to be travelled by the fathers in passing from 
place to place on their apostolic journeys, combined with 
other hardships, made these Australian missions excep- 
tionally laborious. They indirectly pointed to the need of 
multiplying houses over the wide area where the Catholics 
are to be found. By this time Father O'Farrell hadacquired 
a great reputation as a preacher in the colonies, and in 
1898, when on the creation of the Irish Province the 
Australian houses were attached to it, he was Tnade Vice- 
Provincial. 

Meanwhile, the fathers had extended their missionary 
labours to New Zealand, at first going there periodically 
from Australia to give a series of missions. A permanent 
foundation was gained by the establishment of the house 
of St Gerard's at Wellington in 1905. Further houses were 
founded at Perth, Western Australia, in 1899, in 1917 at 
Galong hi Victoria, where they accepted an estate which 
had been left for a religious foundation by a pious bene- 
factor, and lastly at Brisbane in 1920. Father O'Farrell, 
who had been repeatedly proposed for an episcopal see 

12 



178 THE REDEMPTORIST S 

in Australia, returned to Ireland before his death, Father 
Bannon and Father Gleeson in turn succeeding him in 
charge of the Australian houses. The Vice-Province has 
its own Novitiate at Ballafat, and Juvenate at Galong, 
but after profession the students are sent to make their 
studies in Ireland. However, another foundation has just 
been made at Sydney, and it is proposed to move the 
Juvenists thither. The novices being left in Ballarat, it 
will thus be possible to devote Galong to the purposes of 
a house of studies. In short, everything is gradually being 
prepared for the erection of a separate Australian Province. 
The seven Australasian houses have between thirty and 
forty fathers, besides lay brothers, students, and novices, 1 

1 Further details concerning the work of the Redemptorists in 
Australia may be found in The Redemptorists : Their Life and Work, 
by R. F. Mageean, C.SS.R. (Sydney, 1922). 



Ill 

THE PRESENT STATE OF THE 
INSTITUTE 

HAVING now sketched in more or less of a con- 
tinuous narrative the history of the Redemp- 
torists from their foundation ; up to the actual 
times in which we are living, it remains to give by way 
of summary some account of the position of the Con- 
gregation in general at the present time. There has 
been on the whole steady growth, though, of course, this 
growth has not been uniform either as to time or place. 
In common with most of the religious orders, the drain 
upon the resources of nearly all the lands of Europe both 
in means and men caused by the Great War has to some 
extent checked its advance. But, as in so many other 
cases, God has brought good out of evil, and in some 
places results have been brought to pass through the 
very clash of political change which, humanly speaking, 
would not have been possible without it. There are now 
twenty Provinces, having attached to them nearly as 
many Vice-Provinces or foreign missions. Thus we find 
in all about 280 houses, including those recently founded. 1 
These contain nearly 5,000 subjects, about half of whom 
are priests, the other half comprising students, novices, 
and lay brothers. 

An ever-increasing proportion of both houses and 
members is to be found in the New World, or in the foreign 
missions which have been noticed in turn in the preceding 

1 The catalogue of the year 1921 gave a total of 279 houses, con- 
taining 2,462 fathers, 643 professed students, 171 clerical novices, 
1,261 professed lay brothers, and 91 lay novices i.e., in all, 4,628 
members. 

179 



i8o THE REDEMPTORISTS 

narrative. Finally, a few words will be said as to the 
members of the Institute who have died with a reputation 
for remarkable sanctity, the pilgrimages served, the 
literary labours to which the Redemptorist Fathers have 
devoted themselves, as well as the Order of the Redemp- 
toristine nuns so closely connected with the Congregation. 



REDEMPTORISTS WITH FAME OF HOLINESS 

True as it no doubt is that God is especially wonderful 
in his hidden saints, yet he just as surely wishes to bring 
forward the virtues of others, and set them as on a candle- 
stick to teach and edify. And it has been with the Con- 
gregation as with the Church in general. It has had its 
examples of shining merit exhibited before the world, and 
acknowledged by the highest authority as out of the 
ordinary, and, in fact, heroic. 

Hence there must be place in this little sketch for 
some short account of these, if the picture is to be in due 
proportion. The beatification of St Alphonsus took place 
in 1816, and his canonisation on Trinity Sunday, the 3ist 
of May, 1839. For many years he remained the only 
Redemptorist raised to the altar, and the last or most 
modern Saint of the Universal Church. 

The biographies of St Alphonsus are numerous, the first 
place being held by the Acts of his beatification, canonisa- 
tion, and doctorate. The Life written by Tannoja, his 
disciple and contemporary, almost challenges comparison 
with the immortal work of Boswell. Among later Lives 
we may mention that in French by Cardinal Villecourt, 
the eloquent French Life by Father Berthe, since translated 
into English by Father Harold Castle, with many notes 
and corrections, and the scholarly and critical Biography 
of Father Dilgskron hi German. Cardinal Capecelatro's 



THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INSTITUTE 181 

polished Italian Biography gives much local colour, and 
every few years gives rise to a new rendering of his life 
story in one form or another. The latest of these is an 
artistic sketch by Father Pichler (Ratisbon, 1922). 

But other causes were introduced before the Sacred 
Congregation of Rites. A devoted Postulator was chosen 
to promote these causes in the person of Father Claudius 
Benedetti, and the first result was the beatification of Father 
Clement Hofbauer in 1889. Before the final decree which 
declared Clement a Saint was published, the holy lay brother 
Gerard Majella, had been beatified by Leo XIII in 1893, 
and canonised by Pius X in 1904. Then, after another 
five years, came the canonisation of Blessed Clement 
Hofbauer hi 1909. The career of St Clement Hofbauer is 
so interwoven with the general Redemptorist annals that 
it is superfluous to dwell upon it here. His Life has been 
written by Father Haringer, and then again in turn by 
Father Dilgskron, Father Innerkofler, and Father Hofer. 
All these Lives are hi German. There is an elegant French 
Life by Father Dumortier, and an English one by Father 
Vassall-Phillips. Those of Father Haringer and Father 
Dilgskron have been translated into English. 

St Gerard Majella was a contemporary of his Holy 
Founder. He had been received into the Congregation 
hi 1749 at the age of twenty-three, and another six years 
completed his marvellous life of virtue and suffering. 
He was professed hi 1752, and died at Ciorani in 1755. 
The whole career was one tissue of heroic acts of virtue, 
attested and illumined by miracles. It would be hard to 
find among modern saints one better entitled to the appella- 
tion of Ihe Wonder-Worker. Hence it is not to be wondered 
at that devotion to him has spread far and wide among 
the faithful. Father Tannoja wrote a short Biography 
in Italian, and Father Benedetti a far more extended one 



182 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

on the occasion of his beatification^ There are French 
Lives by Fathers Dumortier and Kuntz and Father Saint 
Omer. Father Vassall-Phillips has written an English one. 
With regard to the three holy men just mentioned the 
case is finished, and the judgement of the Church has been 
pronounced. With respect to any others for whom it is 
hoped to win a similar judgement it would be, of course, 
wrong to anticipate it. Yet it will not be without interest 
to enumerate those whose lives have been such that the 
case for their canonisation has been, or is about to be, 
submitted to the Sacred Congregation of Rites. They are 
the f ollowing : 

1. Venerable Father Cessar Sportelli was the first com- 
panion of St Alphonsus, and almost equally high with him 
in the esteem of Mgr. Falcoja. His virtues were so remark- 
able that he was able in the course of his missionary 
labours to win all hearts from sin to a virtuous life. After 
his death, which occurred in 1750, his body was found, 
when the tomb was opened, free from corruption. His cause 
was introduced, but then an unforeseen obstacle appeared. 
It has so far been impossible in recent times to find his 
tomb, and therefore to identify his remains. But the hope 
has not been abandoned of one day rendering him the honour 
due to the Saints. There are Lives by Father Landi and 
by Father Di Coste. 

2. Venerable Father Januarius Sarnelli, who had been 
the Holy Founder's friend even when he was a layman, 
was not long after Sportelli in following him into the Re- 
demptorist house. But, with due consent of St Alphonsus, 
he spent his life for the most part at Naples, where he exer- 
cised a true apostolate in favour of all classes of the faith- 
ful, and more especially of sinners and the fallen. He also 
wrote many volumes of ascetical works, burning with love 
of God and of souls. These works have been published 



THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INSTITUTE 183 

repeatedly, ind in recent times a collected uniform edition 
has been jrought out in eighteen volumes. He died at 
Naples, aged forty-two, in the year 1744, and is buried in 
the Redemptorist church in that city. He was declared 
Venerable by the Sacred Congregation hi 1874. There is 
an .excellent French Life by Father Dumortier, and a short 
one in English hi the Oratorian Series of The Lives of the 
Saints, translated from the Italian of St Alphonsus himself. 

3. Venerable Father Paul Cafaro (1707-1753) was a priest 
of the diocese of Cava, of which he was a native. After 
working as a secular missioner for some years, he was made 
parish priest of St Pietro di Cava. During the mission at 
St Lucia in 1741 he asked St Alphonsus to receive him into 
his Congregation. After his profession he became the conr 
fessor of St Alphonsus. He was made Novice Master, and 
later on Rector of Iliceto. He sacrificed himself with the 
greatest zeal, in spite of his poor health, in the labours of 
the missions, and died worn out by his austerities and 
labours hi 1753, at Caposele. His Life was written first 
by St Alphonsus himself, and then an elegant French 
Life was published by Father Dumortier. Leave for the 
introduction of the cause of his beatification has been given. 

4. Venerable Brother Dominic Blasucci was the ideal 
clerical student of the early days of the Institute. Born in 
1732 at Terra di Ruvo, he entered the Novitiate hi 1750, 
and was professed in the following year. He led a life 
in the House of Studies which was graced by heroic virtue, 
and became a shining example of sanctity to his companions. 
The year 1753 had not come to an end before he was struck 
down with consumption, and died a most holy death. 
His Life was written by Father Tannoja. Father 
Dumortier translated this into French with many additions. 
Leave has been given by the Sacred Congregation of Rites 
to introduce the cause of his beatification. 



i84 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

5. Venerable Amand Joseph Passerat was born at Join- 
ville in Champagne in 1772, and joined the Congregation 
under St Clement at Warsaw hi 1796. The years that inter- 
vened between that date and St Clement's death in 1820 
saw him gradually become the latter* s chief helper both hi 
his apostolic enterprises, and also in the no less important 
work of training the members in piety and hi the true spirit 
of their vocation. His own life was a model of the most 
striking virtue. At St Clement's death he was chosen to 
succeed him, and ruled the Transalpine portion of the In- 
stitute for twenty-eight years (1820-1848). Driven from 
Vienna by the Revolution, he resigned the office of Vicar- 
General, and passed the last decade of his life in seclusion 
at Tournai, where he died a most holy death hi 1858. 
Father De Surmont wrote an account of his earlier years 
(1893), and a complete Life on a smaller scale was then 
brought out by Father Girouille. There is another by 
Father Genoud (1903). The introduction of the cause of 
his beatification was approved by Leo XIII on the I3th of 
May, 1901. 

6. Venerable John Nepomucene Neumann (1811-1860) 
was born at Prachatitz hi Bohemia, and while pursuing 
his studies as a seminarian he was inspired with the wish 
to devote himself to the American mission. He was or- 
dained by Archbishop Dubois of New York in 1836, and 
laboured as a secular priest for four years in the most 
difficult missions of that still wide-spreading diocese. 
In 1840 he joined the Redeniptorist Fathers, being the first 
to be professed in the United States. He filled various 
offices in the Congregation, laboured unceasingly for the 
people, and built the Church of St Philomena at Pittsburg. 
In 1846 he was made Vice-Provincial, and in 1852 received 
the formal command from Pius IX to accept the episcopal 
see of Philadelphia, thus becoming the fourth bishop of that 



THE PRESENT. STATE OF THE INSTITUTE 185 

city. While leading a life of the most exalted piety, he 
was able to accomplish many works of outstanding import- 
ance for the good of his flock. He founded nearly one 
hundred parochial schools. He built a cathedral for his 
diocese, as well as fifty churches. He published two 
Catechisms of the Christian Doctrine, which received the 
approbation of the Council of Baltimore. He died in 1860, 
and his remains lie in the Redemptorist Church of St Peter, 
Philadelphia. His Life was written in German by Father 
Berger, and afterwards translated into English. A more 
detailed Life by Father Mullaney is on the verge of publica- 
tion hi America. Leave for the introduction of his cause 
was given in 1896, and the Decree on the heroicity of his 
virtues was read on the nth of December, 1921, in the 
presence of Benedict XV, who on that occasion pronounced 
an eloquent discourse in his honour. 

7. Venerable Peter Bonders (1809-1887) was "born at 
Tilburg in Holland on the 27th October, 1809. From his 
early youth he wished to be a priest, but had to begin life 
as a worker in a factory. Later on a benefactor gave him 
the means to pursue his clerical studies. The reading of 
the Annals of the Propagation of the Faith determined 
his missionary vocation. He volunteered for Dutch 
Guiana, was ordained, and hi 1842 began his long career 
of apostolic work among the natives.. In 1855 he devoted 
himself specially to the care of the lepers. When the 
Redemptorists received 'charge of the colony in 1865 he 
joined the Institute, and after his novitiate went back 
to twenty years' more labour among his beloved lepers, 
to whom he sacrificed his health and his life. He died in 
1887, and so great was his reputation for holiness that de- 
positions were taken hi Surinam with a view to his canonisa- 
tion. On the I4th of May, 1913, leave was given by 
Pius X to the Sacred Congregation of Rites for the intro- 



186 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

duction of his cause. His Life was written in French by 
Father Looyaard, and in Dutch by Father Govers hi 1915. 

8. Venerable Francis Xavier Seelos. Born hi Bavaria 
in 1819, he entered the Congregation of the Most Holy 
Redeemer, offering himself for the American mission; 
He was ordained priest in 1844, and was stationed in turn at 
Baltimore, Pittsburg, Detroit, and New Orleans. In all 
these places he laboured with wonderful success for the good . 
of souls, showing meanwhile a bright example of piety 
and virtue in his own life. He was proposed as bishop for 
the vacant see of Pittsburg, but declined the honour. 
At New Orleans he was attacked by yellow.fever, and died 
an edifying death in 1867. Father Limmer wrote his Life 
in German in 1887. The cause of his beatification was 
introduced. 

9. Venerable Michael Di Netta (1788-1849). Born at 
Vallata, a small town in the kingdom of Naples^ he mani- 
fested in his youth a great inclination to piety. While at 
the seminary he felt the wish to join the Redemptorists, 
but as the Neapolitan government at that time had for- 
bidden the admission of any more novices, he. had to pass 
into the Papal States. Here he was received indeed and 
made his vows, but for family reasons had to return to 
his home. He entered the Novitiate a second time at 
Ciorani in 1808, again was professed, and having com- 
pleted his studies was ordained priest hi 1811. He now 
devoted himself with all his strength to the missionary life. 
To these labours he consecrated more than thirty years, 
his indef atigable preaching of missions, the scene of which 
lay for the most. part hi the Province of Calabria, being 
only interrupted for a brief period, by his being appointed 
Novice Master. He earned the title in popular esteem 
of Apostle of Calabria. Worn out with his exertions and 
his austerities, he died the death of a saint at Tropea, on 



THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INSTITUTE 187 

the 3rd of December, 1849. His reputation for holiness, 
increased by the miraculous favours ascribed to his inter- 
cession, led to the ordinary processes of inquiry into his 
life and virtues being undertaken. On the 22nd of June, 
1910, Pius X gave leave for the introduction of the cause 
of his beatification before the Sacred Congregation of Rites. 

10. Venerable Emmanuel Ribera (1811-1874). He was 
born at Amalfi, and early showed signs of remarkable 
piety. He entered the seminary of his native diocese, 
and while there, through reading the works of St Alphonsus 
conceived the desire of joining his Institute. Being accepted 
by the Rector Major, he went through his studies, and 
was ordained priest in 1835. He spent nearly forty years 
in the Neapolitan Province, distinguishing himself by his 
exalted, virtues and by his zeal for souls, shown in minister^ 
ing to the sick and in assiduously labouring hi the confes- 
sional. He was the chosen counsellor of those in doubt 
and distress. He died of cholera in Naples on the loth of 
November, 1874. So great was his reputation for sanctity 
that after the ordinary inquiries had been duly under- 
taken, leave was given for the introduction of his cause on 
the 8th of May, 1912. We owe Lives of Father Ribera 
and Father Di Netta to Father Di Coste, Consultor General 
of the Redemptorists. . 

11. Venerable John Baptist .Stoeger (1810-1888). A 
native of Enzerfeld, hi Lower Austria, after a youth of 
remarkable piety, he was received into the Congregation 
by Venerable Father Passerat at Vienna in 1836 as a lay 
brother; he made his vows hi 1840. For forty-six years 
he laboured with humble assiduity in the offices of cook, 
baker, gardener, and sacristan, and succeeded admirably 
in uniting with these external labours the deepest spirit of 
prayer, trying to realise in his own life his maxim: " We 
ought to labour as if we were to live on earth for ever; 



i88 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

and we ought to pray as if we were to die to-day." He 
died in the odour of sanctity at Eggenburg on the 3rd of 
November, 1883. His fame for sanctity and the answers 
to prayer attributed to him led to the usual processes of 
inquiry into his virtues. On the 22nd of December, 1915, 
Benedict XV signed the Decree for the introduction of his 
cause. Father Polifka has written his Life hi German 
(Vienna, 1912). 

12. Venerable Alfred Pampalon (1867-1896). He was 
a native of Canada, being born at Levis, near Quebec. 
He became a pupil at an early age hi the Redemptorist 
preparatory college of St Anne de Beaupre". After finishing 
his course there, he was sent to St Trond, in Belgium, for 
his novitiate, and, after taking his vows in 1887, passed to 
Beauplateau for his sacerdotal studies. Here he was 
ordained priest in 1892, and in the following year was sent 
to Mons, where he began to exercise his priestly ministry. 
In 1894 unmistakable signs of consumption declared them- 
selves, and by the doctor's advice he was sent home to 
Canada to enjoy his native air. Reaching Beaupre, hi 
1895, he tried to exercise his ministry for a while, but his 
disease made rapid progress and he had to retire from the 
field. He, nevertheless, employed the time that remained 
to him in prayer, reading, writing, and meditation. He died 
a saintly death on the 30th of September, 1896. When the 
Diocesan Processes with regard to his virtues and the 
favours set down to his intercession were complete, they 
were sent to Rome. On the 22nd of February, 1922, Pius 
XI signed the Decree for the introduction of his cause. 
There is a Life by his brother published at St Louis in 1907, 
and another by Marchal hi 1915. 



THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INSTITUTE 189 



THE APOSTOLATE OF THE PEN 

The Redemptorist, almost alone among the religious 
clergy of the Church, has this characteristic feature in his 
general view of his Institute, that the same holy man who 
was his Founder is also his chief teacher or Doctor as well. 
In most of. the greater orders at least, these two positions 
are not held by the same saint. It would seem that this 
double position which belongs to St Alphonsus gives a point 
to the pursuit of the Apostolate of the Pen among the 
fathers, and also suggests, at least in outline, the method 
and objects of that apostolate. The literary work of St 
Alphonsus bears upon it certain well-defined marks which 
point out the road to those disposed to follow in his foot- 
steps. The following salient notes can hardly fail to strike 
one in the Holy Doctor's writings: 

(a) That he always aimed directly at the salvation of 
souls. 

(6) That he ever set forth his meaning in the most con- 
cise way without syllogistic or rhetorical development. 

(c) That he preferred, where possible, the vernacular 
tongue. 

(d) That he only, began to write on a large scale when 
strength failed for the physical labours of preaching and 
giving missions. 

This is not the place to give an extended list of the works 
of St Alphonsus. They form part of the literary treasure of 
the Universal Church, of which he has been declared, a 
Doctor, and the full tale of them may be found in his Life. 
Most of them have been many times reprinted, as the diffu- 
sion of them among the faithful has been regarded as a 
sacred charge by his sons. The authoritative edition of the 
Moral Theology is that brought out hi Rome by Father 



190 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

Leonard Gaude in four volumes (1905-1912). This is 
acknowledged to be an excellent piece of theological 
editing, carried through with such thoroughgoing industry 
that it seems to have cost the editor his health and even his 
life. 

Translations, more or less complete, of the works of St 
Alphonsus have been made in all the chief European lan- 
guages. Since most of the theological works were written 
in Italian and not in Latin, it was deemed a point of honour 
to make a translation, as classic as it could be done, into the 
official tongue of the Roman Church. This work was 
carried through with regard to the Dogmatic Works by 
Father Aloysius Walter (2 vols., 4to., Rome, 1903), who 
also put into Latin the ascetic work on The Love of Jesus 
Christ. The French translation was done in Belgium by 
Fathers Dujardin and Jacques. Father Eugene Pladys, 
hi France, undertook an independent translation later on, 
paying more attention to the exigencies of French literary 
style, but he did not live to finish it. The German trans- 
lation is from the pen of Father Hugues, a convert from 
Hamburg, familiar with the best German models. The 
first attempt to translate any large portions of the Saint's 
writings into English was due to the zeal and industry of 
Dr. Nicholas Callan, one of the Professors at Maynooth, 
in Ireland. The fathers hi England entrusted the editor- 
ship of a new translation to Father Coffin, and about six 
volumes appeared at short intervals, but the work was not 
carried any further then. . At length Father Grimm, in 
the United States, was given the commission to bring out, 
in 1887 or thereabouts, the so-called Centenary Edition. 
He used for this Father Coffin's translation as well as those 
of Dr. Callan, Father Vaughan, Father Livius, and others, 
and added to them. The result was a large edition in 
twenty-four volumes. There also is a pretty complete 



THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INSTITUTE 191 

Dutch translation. The Spanish and Polish fathers havealso 
"worked at translations in their native language. Further- 
more, it is well known that some of the more popular ascetic 
works have been rendered into all the more important 
tongues of the world. In this way the teaching of the Holy 
Doctor has been rendered world-wide, reaching hundreds of 
thousands of readers whom neither his personal presence 
nor the preaching of his sons would ever reach. 

Both the predominant place held among the works of St 
Alphonsus by his Moral Theology, and the large space filled 
in the life of Redemptorist missioners by the work of the 
confessional, have combined to "point -out the cultivation 
of that branch of ecclesiastical science as especially suitable 
for the Redemptorist writers. And we find, as a matter of 
fact, that this has been so. Not to speak of the labour 
spent by such moralists as Fathers Heilig, Haringer, and 
Gaude" on the text of the Holy Founder's books, indepen- 
dent works on the same subject have been published from 
the earliest years of the Institute. Thus we have Father 
Panzuti hi Italy as early as 1824. In Germany also a 
very short compendium was published by Father Schmidt 
in 1847. Father Konings took the text of Father Gury, 
S.J., bodily over, and, modifying it where he thought it 
necessary, whether to put it into harmony with the system 
of St Alphonsus or to make it practical for American use, 
published his Moral Theology in the United States in 1874. 
Meanwhile Father Joseph Aertnys, after teaching Moral 
Theology for many years at Wittem, utilised his unrivalled 
knowledge of his Holy Founder's work to compose a short 
and useful compendium which has been often reprinted. 
The last edition is very carefully brought up to date by 
Father Damen, Director of the Schola Major at Rome. 
The theses defended in favour of the Doctorate of St 
Alphonsus formed the foundation of a two-volume Moral 



IQ2 THE REDEMPTOR1STS 

Theology published by Father Marc at Rome in 1885, 
and since re-edited in turn by Father Kannengiesser and 
Father Gestermann. Father Wouters, at Wittem, has also 
written a course of the same science, and essays on the 
system of St Alphonsus have been published by Fathers 
Ter Haar, De Caigny, Wouters, Jansen, and others. Courses 
of Pastoral Theology have been brought out by Father 
Michael Benger in Germany, and by Father De Surmont 
in France. 

If we now pass on from Moral to other branches of 
Theological Science we find the following works worthy of 
notice, but of course this does not claim to be in any sense 
an exhaustive list. There is a course of Dogmatic Theology 
by Father Joseph Hermann hi three volumes. This has 
passed through several editions. Father Ernest Dubois, 
of the Belgian Province, devoted a great part of his life to 
the composition of an encyclopaedic work on Divine 
Exemplarism, on the Traces of the Doctrine of the Trinity 
in Creation, which was published (in four volumes, 4to.) 
in 1899-1900. Dissertations on special points of Dog- 
matic Theology have been brought out by Fathers Van 
Rossum, Godts, Roesler, and Ryder. 

Father Simon, of the Spanish Province, has published a 
regular course of Introduction to the Holy Scripture. Father 
Peskja, of the Bohemian Province, has written a course of 
Canon Law. Various books on the Rubrics have been 
brought out by Father Aertnys in Holland, Father Schober 
in Germany, and Fathers Putzer and Wuest in America. 

History has claimed the attention of Father Alexander 
di Meo (Annals of the Kingdom of Naples), Archbishop De 
Risio (History of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer), 
De Meulemeester (Summary of the History of the O.S5.5.), 
Kronenburg (Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the 
Netherlands a most exhaustive and elaborate work in 



THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INSTITUTE 193 

several volumes), Bridget! (History of Holy Eucharist in 
Great Britain and Dowry of Mary), Schmiderer (Short Latin 
History of the Church), Douglas (The Holy Redeemer and 
His Church), Stebbing (Story of the Church and Church in 
England). 

Besides these, a great number of local histories, some in 
pamphlet form and others reaching the proportions of a 
book, have been brought out by the fathers in various 
languages. 

To Biography a considerable proportion of the literary 
activity of the Redemptorists has been devoted. Many 
of these works which treat of the career of members of the 
Redemptorist Institute have been mentioned above. 
With regard to biographies of personages -unconnected 
with the Congregation, the following will serve at least 
as examples: Father Berthe, hi France, besides his eloquent 
Life of St Alphonsus, wrote the Life of Garcia Moreno; 
Father Bridgett has~written standard Lives of Blessed 
John Fisher and Blessed Thomas More. Father Barry 
has published Lives of Blessed Margaret Mary and of 
Count Arthur Moore ; Father Roesler has written that of 
Blessed John Dominici. 

The many volumes of Catechetical Instruction compiled 
by Father Michael Miiller, of the Baltimore Province, 
have been published in a uniform edition and have obtained 
a large sale. Moreover, we owe a large number of trans- 
lations from the French, both ascetical and dogmatic, to 
the indef atigable pen of Father Ferreol Girardey, of the St 
Louis Province. 

The collected works of Cardinal Dechamps, C.SS.R., 
seemed of such importance as to be reprinted hi a uniform 
edition of seventeen volumes. The same is to be said 
of the miscellaneous writings of Father De Sunnont, of the 
French Province (fourteen volumes). 

13 



194 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

There are excellent Retreats by Fathers Bouchage, 
Boumans, Smetana, Hamerle, De Surmont, and others. 
Courses of Sermons have been printed by Fathers Wissel, 
Hamerle, Marin, and MacMullan. 

Apologetic and controversial theology has been enriched 
by the writings of Fathers Bridgett (Ritual of the New 
Testament), Livius (St Peter : his Name and office, Blessed 
Virgin Mary in the Fathers of the First Centuries), Vassall- 
Phillips (Mustard Seed and Catholic Christianity), Geiermann 
(A Manual of Theology for the Laity, 1906). The literature 
of Devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary has always been a 
favourite field for the fathers. Witness St Omer (Our Lady 
of Perpetual Succour), Vassall-Phillips (Mother of Christ), 
Ven. Sarnelli (The Greatness of Mary), and many others. 
But we must renew the protest that there is no attempt here 
to give an exhaustive list of books, but merely to mention 
some as specimens, specially selecting those which are 
most likely to appeal to those who speak the English 
language. 

Moreover, there is scarcely any province which does not 
control and publish more than one periodical to which the 
fathers contribute articles, some of which are afterwards 
collected and published hi book form. Without attempt- 
ing to be exhaustive, we may cite as examples of this 
periodical literature La Sainte Famille in France, La Voix 
du Redempteur in Belgium, the Volksmissionaris in Holland, 
and the Liguorian in the United States. 



THE REDEMPTORISTINES 

The history of the Order of Nuns known as that of the 
Most Holy Redeemer, or Redemptoristines, is closely con- 
nected, as even the name would imply, with that of the 
Redemptorist fathers. In common with them they have 



THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INSTITUTE 195 

as Founder the Holy Doctor St Alphonsus, and are recog- 
nised by the Church in the Divine Office as his spiritual 
daughters. They form the Order of, the Most Holy 
Redeemer, as the Institute of men forms the Congregation 
under the same name. Just as the fathers subjoin to their 
signature C.SS.R., so do the nuns write O.SS.R., which gives 
a similarity with a difference sufficient to mark out the posi- 
tion of the two Institutes. 

The early stages of the growth of the Order have been 
already related in speaking of St Alphonsus, inasmuch as 
his vocation was inextricably bound up with their founda- 
tion. It remains to give a short sketch of their subsequent 
history. We know that the Holy Founder, during the entire 
year after his first gathering of his companions round him, 
which he spent at Scala, did not fail to extend his care to 
his beloved daughters. Moreover, after he left Scala for 
Villa, he returned, at least in 1735, to preach them a Retreat. 
It is possible that they had the same happiness other years 
as well. 

From 1738 to 1741 the Rule was given up at Scala on 
account of the opposition headed by the old superior, and 
probably backed by the bishop of the diocese. All copies 
of it were burnt except one, which Sisters M. Raphael and 
Angela managed to hide. After the death of Mgr. Santoro, 
in 1741, the Redemptoristine Rule was restored. Soon 
after the approbation given to the Redemptorist Congre- 
gation by the Holy See was received, efforts were made to 
obtain a similar approval for the nuns. The Order was 
'Sealed with the Roman approbation on the 8th of June, 
1750. As to the Constitutions written by Falcoja hi colla- 
boration with St Alphonsus, these met with the formal 
approval of the Bishop of Scala in 1762. In that same year 
St Alphonsus became Bishop of St Agatha. He soon con- 
ceived the desire to found a Redemptoristine house in his 



196 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

episcopal city, knowing so well how the life of prayer and 
mortification led by a pious and cloistered community such 
as theirs works wonders for the conversion and sanctifica- 
tion of the faithful. In 1766 four religious left Scala to 
make this new foundation. They were cordially welcomed 
by the holy bishop, who could not do enough by his assist- 
ance and encouragement to show his joy in the fulfilment 
of his wishes. 

The Redemptoristine Rule, which was due to the careful 
collaboration of Bishop Falcoja and of St Alphonsus, has 
for its main object the imitation of the life and virtues of 
our Redeemer. In this it agrees with the Rule of the 
Redemptorist Fathers, only the imitation is to be practised 
in a different way. The fathers have to try and copy the 
example of the Divine Shepherd spending his strength and 
even his life for the salvation of the lost sheep; and hence, 
though their labours must be firmly based on the ulterior 
life, yet they are, after all, an Institute of working priests, 
busily occupied in the salvation of souls. The nuns, on the 
other hand, have to follow our Lord's hidden life. They 
have to sanctify themselves in the seclusion of the cloister 
entirely occupied in prayer and exercises of piety. It is not 
meant that they should be indifferent to work for the souls 
of others; far from it. They were intended to be full of 
zeal for apostolic labours; only that their part in it was 
not to be hi preaching and teaching, but in using the more 
powerful means of intercessory prayer. So much was this 
prized by their Holy Founder that it is acknowledged to 
be one of the chief reasons for their existence. The fathers 
count on the prayers of the sisters to fructify their missions 
and other external labours. As an example of this we may 
mention that the house in Clapham reckons as one of the 
main reasons of its foundation the promotion of prayer for 
the conversion of England. 



THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INSTITUTE 197 

The routine of their daily life is filled in to further as 
much as possible the great idea on which their Institute is 
based. There is the daily Mass and Communion in a chapel 
open to the faithful, as they require all their chapels to be. 
There is the public recitation of the Divine Office. There 
are the three daily meditations, the three hours' silence in the 
afternoon, the twofold examen of conscience, the spiritual 
reading, the numerous prayers prescribed for the community 
to recite for the needs of the Church and the conversion of 
sinners ; all these things show how completely their life is one 
of prayer and intercession for those outside who pray not at 
all, or pray too little. Moreover, their life is one of sacrifice 
as well. There is an Apostolate of Suffering as well as an 
Apostolate of Prayer, and the mortifications, such as the 
Friday fast, the abstinence, the early rising, the austere cell, 
are offered for souls and especially for sinners. 

The habit is a red gown with a blue scapular over it, and 
in choir a blue cloak. An oval medallion is borne on the 
scapular, representing the Most Holy Redeemer. The 
Rosary hangs from then* girdle. A white veil is worn by the 
Novices, but at Profession the black veil is put over this, 
the scapular is put on, and a golden ring, with the words 
engraved on it, " Ego te sponsabo," is placed on the finger. 
These characteristic articles form an impressive and at the 
same time modest and dignified religious costume. 

It was to Scala that the Venerable Father Passerat sent 
his two penitents, the Countess Welsersheimb and Eugenie 
Dijon, that they might learn at its source the Redemptoris- 
tine Rule and life and reproduce it at Vienna. For eight 
years there had lived in community a number of pious souls, 
of whom these two were the chief lights, under the direction 
of Father Passerat, who had done his best to prepare them 
for embracing the Redemptoristine life. On the return of 
the two ladies the new house was begun in 1831. They had 



198 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

been given the habit by Cardinal Odescalchi in Rome, 
receiving the names of Mary Anne Joseph of the Resurrection 
and Mary Alphonsa of the Will of God. They found on 
their arrival at Vienna that those whom they had left behind 
had been clothed in their absence by the Bishop Auxiliary, 
and hence all was ready to begin the new community. Sister 
Mary Anne Joseph had been married before she entered 
upon the religious life, and one of her daughters, Sister Mary 
Victoria, followed her into the cloister. Once the Vienna 
house had been established, it entered on the exercises of its 
new life with the greatest fervour and exactitude. The 
house subsisted, shining as a bright example of religious 
virtue until the Revolution of 1848, when the convent 
was suppressed and its inhabitants scattered. In 1853 the 
sisters were able to return to their home, and ever since the 
Vienna house has gone on its round of worship and piety. 

The house at Stein in Lower Austria, an affiliation from 
Vienna, suffered in 1848 somewhat in the same way as its 
mother house, but was sooner (1851) put on its feet again. 
However, in 1854 ^ was transferred to Gars, where the fathers 
already possessed a flourishing establishment. 

Sister Mary Alphonsa left Vienna in 1841 to found the 
convent at Bruges in Belgium. This foundation was a 
suitable counterpart to the houses which had been begun 
in the same country during the preceding year by the fathers. 
For some tune one or two fathers also resided at Bruges, 
but this arrangement proved unsuitable, and did not last 
beyond the year 1850. 

However, the Bruges convent continued to flourish, and 
was able in its turn to send forth more than one colony from 
its midst to other places. After a temporary sojourn in 
Brussels a new community became solidly established at 
Malines in 1858, and at Louvain in 1874. In its turn the 
house at Malines sent a colony into France, which found 



THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INSTITUTE 199 

a home at Saint Amand les Eauxio. 1875, but in consequence 
of the troubles which later on reached the French religious 
this community, in 1903, removed to Rein, near Tournai. 
Another band from Malines passed to Grenoble in 1878, 
and yet another to Soignies in the same year. 

After the Austrian Revolution of 1848 it was judged 
better that the members of the Vienna community who were 
not natives should not attempt to return to then* old home. 
They therefore passed into the Rhineland, and a temporary 
house was found for them at Galoppe, near Wittem. Here 
they remained for some years, but in 1849 a convent in the 
same neighbourhood was built for them in exact accord 
with all the prescriptions of the Rule. This new foundation 
received the name of Marienthal. In 1853 some of the native 
Austrian sisters returned to Vienna; others began a new 
house at Ried, in the diocese of Linz. 

In 1858 there seemed likelihood that, in consequence of 
a wave of anti-religious feeling which was passing over the 
land, the monastery of Bruges was in danger. To provide 
against the future a property was bought at Velp, in 
Guelderland, which became an independent foundation. 
In the following year (1859) another band left Bruges, under 
the leadership of Mother John of the Cross, to begin a 
convent at Dublin. Aided by generous benefactors, a 
handsome house with a beautiful chapel was built at Clon- 
liffe Road, Drumcondra, and before long it was occupied by 
a numerous and fervent community. Dublin in its turn 
has sent forth a community to London, where, after a tem- 
porary commencement in Rectory Grove in 1897, a more 
commodious house was purchased in Clarence Road, Clap- 
ham Park, in 1900. There is a public chapel attached to lie 
convent, which is much appreciated by the faithful who live 
in its vicinity. 
The only further growth in Italy itself has been the house 



200 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

at Vibonciti, begun in 1838 . Later foundations in other lands 
are those of Gagny (Versailles), removed to Namuria. 1903; 
Armentieres, also removed to Maffles (Belgium) in the same 
year; Lauterach, in the Tyrol (1904); Madrid, which meant 
the introduction of the Order into Spain, in 1904; Sainte 
Anne de Beaupre, hard by the pilgrimage to that Saint in 
Canada, in 1905 ; Vassouras, in the neighbourhood of Rio de 
Janeiro, Brazil, which was founded by a superior sent from 
Bruges in 1921. Meanwhile, a second Spanish foundation 
was made at Pampeluna in 1915. 

Altogether, the Redemptoristines possess twenty-four 
houses, which are inhabited by about 700 religious. Car- 
dinal Van Rossum, C.SS.R., has been appointed Protector 
of the Order, and has distinguished himself in a way which 
has earned their deep gratitude by codifying their Constitu- 
tions and by personally visiting and strengthening their 
foundations at St Anne de Beaupre and at Scala. 



HOUSES OF RETREAT 

A great impetus has been given in recent years to the 
pious work of providing Houses of Retreat on a large 
scale where the laity may retire to spend some time in seclu- 
sion, occupied in the exercises of piety proper to a period of 
recollection and the care of their souls. It is only fair to 
acknowledge the efforts made by the Jesuit Fathers to in- 
augurate such centres of solid piety and devotion; the scale 
on which they have done so is beyond all comparison great. 
But the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer has also 
found such work well within its scope, and has tried to take 
some part in it. In fact, in Holland two houses have been 
acquired for this exclusive purpose, the one at S&ppe, where 
over 3,000 Retreatants stay in the course of the year, the 
other at Amersfoort, where a still greater number viz.. 



THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INSTITUTE 201 

4,500 are annually received for these exercises. The Bel- 
gian fathers at Roulers have also undertaken on a large scale 
similar exercises. In Canada the spacious house at Sher- 
brooke is utilised for the same purpose. It has long been 
the custom to hold these exercises at Kinnoull, Perth, 
N.B., and at Limerick in Ireland. These are but 
examples of a form of missionary activity which seems 
destined to play a still larger part in the life of the Church 
in future years than it has in the past. It is difficult to ex- 
aggerate the solid good wrought in the lives of those who 
are so well inspired as to take part in any one of these 
devout exercises. 

PILGRIMAGES 

In many provinces the fathers have accepted charge of 
celebrated places of pilgrimage in honour of Our Lady or 
the Saints, serving the pilgrims' sanctuary, receiving the 
various bands of pious travellers when they arrive, preach- 
ing to them, hearing their confessions, and administering 
Holy Communion. 

The celebrated sanctuary of Our Lady of Perpetual 
Succour in the church of St Alfonso in Rome, is not, strictly 
speaking, a pilgrimage, but in the devotion of the faithful 
to the miraculous picture, in the concourse which attends 
the services, and in the frequentation of the Sacraments 
which is there found, this devout centre presents many of 
the features of a pilgrims' church. 

In the North of Italy, the fathers have accepted charge 
of the sanctuary of "Maria Santissima " at Oropa, near 
Biella, almost under the shadow of the Alps. This, after 
Loreto and Pompeii, is perhaps the sanctuary which attracts 
the greatest number of pilgrims of any in the land. There 
is also the shrine of Mater Domini at Caposele, and the 
Madonna del Paradiso at Mazzara in Sicily. 



202 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

In Bohemia the Redemptorists have long had charge of 
the most renowned pilgrimage in the whole country viz., 
that of Heiligenberg, which the Czechs prefer to call by its 
native name of Svatahora. Another shrine in the same land 
served by them is at Muttergottesberg, near Grulich. 

To these we must add that of Our Lady at Bischenberg 
in Alsace; that of the Chapel in the Sand at Ruremonde in 
Holland; that of Tuchow in Poland; the shrine of St Chris- 
tina the Wonderful at St Trond in Belgium; as well as the 
shrine of the Madonna at Espino in Spain. In the Philip- 
pines the church at Opong is widely renowned among the 
native faithful as Nuestra Senora della Regla. 

Beyond the Western Ocean there is a sanctuary, which 
is not indeed sacred to the Madonna, but which may vie with 
any of them in the number of its pilgrims, and in the char- 
acter of a national shrine which it has won. This is the 
Church of St Anne de Beaupre, situated on the left bank of 
the St Lawrence, some twenty miles below Quebec. 

In South America we have the sanctuary of Nossa Senhora 
at Apparecida in Brazil, as well as the Mexican shrines at 
Cuernavaca and Puebla. 

Of course, this list is by no means exhaustive, as nearly 
every frequented church of the Congregation has some 
favourite chapel to which the faithful flock in their needs to 
pour out then* souls, as in a privileged spot, for the gaining 
of heavenly favours, but enough has been said to show that 
the fathers are taking an important part in reaping the fruits 
of salvation which sometimes spring from the devotion en- 
kindled at the larger pious sanctuaries of the Catholic world. 

FOREIGN MISSIONS 

The first Foreign Mission definitely assigned to the 
Redemptorist Fathers was the Island of St Thomas in the 
West Indies (1858). This was soon followed by the accept- 



THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INSTITUTE 203 

ance of the spiritual charge of the Dutch colony of Surinam, 
or Dutch Guiana, which was taken over by the Dutch 
Province in the year 1866. Both these missions were organ- 
ised in the usual way pursued by the Congregation de 
Propaganda Fide, the Vicar Apostolic being chosen from 
the ranks of the Institute to which the mission was entrusted. 

A still more striking departure was the commencement 
of sharing in the great movement for the evangelisation of 
the Belgian Congo which received new life at the end of the 
last century. The Belgian fathers took charge of Matadi 
in 1899, an< i the mission has since developed into a Pre- 
fecture Apostolic. Beyond these missions in lands still 
chiefly heathen, the missions or Vice-Provinces attached 
to the various lands of continental Europe have nearly all 
of them opportunities from tune to tune to preach to the 
aboriginal inhabitants not yet converted to Christianity. 

This is the case with the extensive enterprises of the 
Lyons Province on the South Pacific coast of South America, 
with those of the Paris Province, and of that of Strasbourg, 
further to the north on the same coast, and also, to some 
extent, with those of the Dutch and Germans in Brazil and 
Argentina. This also applies to the labours of the Irish 
fathers in the Philippine Islands, though there also the 
majority of the inhabitants are of the household of the 
Faith. In South Africa the English fathers, though sur- 
rounded by a population which is for the main part pagan, 
have not yet been able to inaugurate any systematic work 
for them, but have been limited to work among the white 
Christians. 

The work undertaken by the Belgians for the Ruthenian 
Catholics, both in Galicia and in Canada, offers the unusual 
spectacle of an apostolate in favour of a people already 
united with the Church, yet irrevocably wedded to another 
rite and many customs at variance with those of the Western 



204 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

Church. This work embraces great possibilities of future 
extension. 

The Austrian fathers in Denmark are labouring among a 
population which is Lutheran in an overwhelming propor- 
tion, but they are slowly winning their way, making a certain 
number of conversions every year. 



HOME MISSIONS 

Some account has been already given above to show how 
predominating is the part which Home Missions take in the 
missionary activity of the Redemptorists. All that need be 
said by way of recapitulation is that probably there never 
was a time when the Congregation gave as many missions 
as now, or was able to extend the field in which these exer- 
cises are possible over so many countries of the world. 
Where, through a long familiarity with these apostolic 
works, something of the novelty has worn off, there is still 
solid work to be done, and then new parishes, and even new 
regions, are coming into the scope of the fathers' labours 
with time. For a striking instance of this, the Polish 
fathers were able hi the year 1911 to conduct a long series 
of missions in all the chief towns of Siberia, as far as 
Vladivostok. 

A special feature which our own day has developed is 
that of the General Mission viz., a simultaneous course of 
exercises in all the churches of some city or large town. 
These missionary works sometimes take quite imposing 
proportions, employing over 100 missionaries, and evangelis- 
ing at the same time hundreds of thousands of people. 
In England and Ireland hardly a year passes without one 
or more of these crusades, for so indeed we may call them, 
taking place, and often with lasting and far-reaching results 
for the Catholic population. 



THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INSTITUTE 205 

St Alphonsus prescribed from the beginning that in every 
mission special instructions should be given to the children 
of the place, but in more recent times his sons have gone a 
step further, and have organised a system of missions for 
children, distinct from those given to the adults. The most 
celebrated leader in this attractive but difficult work was 
Father John Furniss, one of the earliest native fathers of the 
English Province. Father Furniss died, worn out with his 
labours, after ten years of preaching these missions. But 
others have tried to follow in his 'footsteps, and these mis- 
sions still remain one of the characteristics of the Redemp- 
torist activities. 

It is scarcely possible to give complete statistics for the 
whole world of the scale on which the Congregation is 
devoting itself to the Home Missions at the present time, 
so an example or two must suffice. In the United States 
the members of the two Provinces, in the year 1922, gave 
676 missions, 96 renewals, and 483 retreats, either to priests, 
to nuns, or to the laity. In the course of these works the 
number of confessions heard was over 700,000, and 514 per- 
sons were received into the Church. 

Another striking example is furnished by the record of 
the band of some twelve Irish fathers working in the Philip- 
pine Islands, where the one house of Opong gave in 1923 
no fewer than 26 missions, in which they heard 85,638 
confessions, put right 1,217 marriages, and received 806 
people into the Church. 

Such instances are eminently calculated to show that the 
missions are still increasingly in demand, and are producing 
ever greater results, as far as such spiritual work can be 
shown by numbers. 



206 THE REDEMPTORISTS 

CONCLUSION 

This short sketch has now traced the history of the 
Redemptorists from the small beginnings with which its 
Founder, St Alphqnsus, started his enterprise in 1732, 
through an existence of nearly two hundred years. It 
has been a record of steady though chequered increase. 
The small handful who took the first vows had grown to 
300 at the death of the Holy Founder. Another generation 
up to 1820 had not done more than to add another hundred 
or so to this total. But then more rapid progress was 
made, so that at the General Chapter of 1855 there were 
about 800 in the Transalpine Congregation and 400 hi the 
Neapolitan one. Since that these two totals have been 
merged in one, and have twice doubled, reaching 2,500 in 
1890, and approaching 5,000 at the present tune. Prob- 
ably next year the figure of 5,000 will be fully reached. 

To the limited range of St Alphonsus' day has succeeded 
a vastly extended sphere of operations both geographically 
for there is no quarter of the world, nay, there are but few 
countries where at least some Redemptorists are not to be 
found occupied in the labours of their vocation but also in 
variety of work. The missions still hold their primacy of 
place, but to these have been added very numerous labours 
for the various Orders of nuns and the pastoral care of hun- 
dreds of thousands of souls, besides Foreign Missions, an 
Apostolate of the Press, work for the Roman Congregations 
of the Church, the visitation of religious houses, and other 
duties arising out of the local conditions in which the fathers 
find themselves. 

What of the future ? Is it likely that there will be further 
extent ion either relative or absolute ? The answer would 
seem to depend on the possibility of continuing to unite two 
things: (a) Fidelity in adhering to the missionary spirit and 



THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INSTITUTE 207 

the traditions handed down from St Alphonsus and the early 
fathers; (b) a reasonable amount of flexibility in adapting 
the life and labours of the fathers to the changed require- 
ments of what is hi many respects a new world. 

The lack of the former of these two conditions would lead 
to gradual deterioration and decay. The lack of ^he latter 
would crystallise the Congregation into a venerable monu- 
ment of a bygone age. 

But there is hope, after all, that, under the prudent 
guidance of successive superiors, and sheltered by the foster- 
ing care of the Holy See, whose obedient servants the 
Redemptorists ever strive to remain, the harmony between 
the two elements the one conservative, the other progres- 
sive may yet be maintained, and the Congregation retain 
its place among the Religious Institutes which make up 
one of the glories of the one Church of God, which alone of 
the earth's organisations cannot fail. 



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