Congregation of the Holy Spirit

Officially known as: the Congregation of the Holy Spirit under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of the Virgin Mary. Or in Latin: Congregatio Beatissimae Virginis Mariae.

This is a religious congregation for men in the Catholic Church. Members are known as Holy Ghost Fathers. Or in continental Europe, & the Anglosphere, as Spiritans. Members use the postnominals: CSSp. Postnominals are letters placed after a person’s name to signify academic degrees, professional qualifications, awards, military decorations, or honorific titles (like PhD).

The order began in Paris on Pentecost Sunday, 1703. Claude Poullart des Places was a wealthy young lawyer who abandoned his social standing to become a priest. He wanted to form a religious institute for young men who wanted to become priests but were too poor to do so.

Unlike orders that focused on the elite, Claude was moved by the plight of “poor scholars.” HIs vision was a “proletariat” clergy. Priests assignments in hospitals, rural parishes, & overseas missions.

Claude was born on February 26, 1679 in the capital city of Brittany, France: Rennes. Claude was tutored at home before being enrolled at the age of 9-10 as a day student in the nearby Jesuit college of St. Thomas. Thus beginning his lifelong association with the Society of Jesus.

Graduating at 16, Claude studied at the University of Caen, Normandy. Before graduating at 22, with a Licentiate in Law from the Law School of Nantes. A licentiate in law is an individual holding an academic degree or professional certification. This is usually below a doctorate but above a bachelor’s, that authorizes them to practice law.

In 1701, Claude Poullart began his studies for the priesthood, as a boarder at the Jesuit College in Paris. His work grew quickly. The Order developed. However, Claude passed away at 29, or 31 depending on the source, of pleurisy after founding the order.

After the founder’s death, the order became fully organized. In 1765, the South American missions, in colonies such as China, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand (Siam), & India under the support of the Paris Foreign missionaries arrived in Senegal, Africa.

Those in France served in various dioceses or alongside the de Montfont missionaries. This was due to the close friendship between Poullart & Louis de Montfont. The Order had trained 1,300 priests in the years leading up to 1792, when the seminary was suppressed by the French Revolution. The French Revolution saw the Spiritans have their property seized & many were executed or exiled to England, Italy, & Switzerland.

After the French Revolution only 1 member remained, James Bertout. He survived a series of hardships like being shipwrecked on his way to his destined mission in French Guiana, enslaved by the Moors, & a short stay in Senegal (where he had been sold to the English).

On his return to France, he reestablished the Order & continued its work. But he found it VERY hard to recover sufficiently from the effects caused by the Revolution.

In 1841/1842, Francis Liberman founded the Society of the Holy Heart of Mary (a.k.a. Society of the Immaculate Heart of Mary) This society is/was dedicated to serve mainly the emancipated black slaves in the French colonies. Particularly in Africa & the Caribbean.

In 1848, the Holy See asked Liberman to merge his relatively new society with the struggling Congregation of the Holy Spirit. Lieberman was made the 1st Superior General of the united groups. This effectively saving the Spiritan name & legacy.

Liberman’s approach to missionary work was revolutionary from the time. He instructed his missionaries not to “Europeanize” the people they served. Besides the missions in Africa, the society started missions in Mauritius, Reunion, & the Rodriguez Islands. In the Western Hemisphere, they had missions in Trinidad, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti, & Amazonia.

The Spiritans arrived in the United States in 1972, fleeing the Kulturkampf (persecution of Catholics) in Germany. They found a home in industrial heartlands, particularly Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

The Order is known in the United States for founding Duquesne University in 1878. This university was originally established to provide an education to the kids of poor immigrants working in the steel mills. It grew into a major research institution. The university’s motto (Spiritus est qui vivificat, “It is the Spirit who gives life”) reflects the order’s charism.

By the early 20th century the organization into the following provinces: France, Ireland, Portugal, United States of America, & Germany.

On December 31, 1961, 20 Spiritans: 19 Belgians & 1 Dutch man, were unalived in Kongolo (in what is now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) by government troops during the Katanga Secession Rebellion.

In Rome, on April 24, 1979, Pope John Paul II presided over the beautification ceremony for Jacques-Desire Laval. The 1st member of the Spiritans to be honored.

Today, there are about 3,000 Spiritans serving in over 60 countries. They’re often associated with schools & chaplaincy, & missionary work.

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Three Secrets of Fatima

In Portuguese: Os Tres Segredos de Fatima.

This was a series of apocalyptic visions & prophecies given to 3 young Portuguese shepherds (Lucia Santos, & her cousins, Jacinta & Francisco Marto) by a Marian apparition. It started on May 13, 1917. The 3 shepherd kids claimed to have been visited by the Virgin Mary 6 times between May & October 1917. This apparition is now popularly called: Our Lady of Fatima.

According to Lucia (who became the de facto leader of the 3 kids), around noon on July 13, 1917, the Virgin Mary entrusted the kids with 3 secrets. 2 of the secrets were revealed in 1941, in a document written by Lucia, at the request of Bishop Jose Alves Correia de Silva (Bishop of Leiria) to help with the publication of a new edition of a book on her cousin, Jacinta.

When the bishop asked, in 1943, to reveal the 3rd secret, Lucia struggled for a short period. Because she was “not yet convinced that God had clearly authorized her to act.” In October 1943, the bishop ordered her to put it in writing. Lucia then wrote down the secret & sealed it in an envelope not to be opened until 1960, when “it will appear clearer.”

The text of the 3rd secret was officially released, allegedly, by Pope John Paul II in 2000. Some claim the 3rd secret wasn’t fully revealed by Lucia. Despite the Holy See’s protests to the contrary. According to various Catholic interpretations, the 3 secrets involve Hell, WWI, WWII, & the modern-day persecutions of Christians.

NOTE: Only 12 of the hundreds of alleged Marian apparitions the Catholic Church has investigated have gotten ecclesiastical approval. 9 occurred between 1830 & 1933.

On June 17, 1921, 14 year old Lucia was accepted as a boarder at the Sisters of St. Dorothy school in Vilar. In 1925, at the age of 18, Lucia began her novitiate at the convent of the Sisters of St. Dorothy in Tui, just across the border in Spain. Novitiate is the period of training, or probation, for a beginner, or novice, usually in a religious order, during which they learn about that community’s practices & deepen their commitment to a vowed life, or to see if they want to continue their journey within the organization.

Lucia continued to report private visions intermittently throughout her life. In the mid-1930s, the Bishop of Leiria encouraged (or strong-armed, depending on the account) Lucia to write her memoirs. So that she could disclose further details of her cousins & the 1917 apparitions.

As early as July 1917, mention was made that the Lady of the apparitions had entrusted to the kids a secret, “that was good for some & bad for others.” It wasn’t until her 3rd memoir, written in 1941, that Lucia began to write more in depth about the content of the secret.

In this, she follows the French visionary, Melanie Calvat, who saw Our Lady of La Salette in 1846, who wrote down the secrets from that event almost 20 years after. Lucia wrote that the secret has 3 parts. The 1st 2 of which she revealed in 1941. The 3rd wasn’t written down until January 3, 1944.

In her 3rd memoir (1941), Lucia said that the 1st secret was a vision of Hell. This was given to the kids on July 13, 1917.

The 2nd secret refers to the devotion to the devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. It was initially only partially revealed to the kids of July 13, 1917.

Various prophecies related to this devotion were made. Such as a statement that WWI would end. Along with a prediction of another war during the reign of Pope Pius XI, should men continue offending God & should Russia not convert. The 2nd half is a future request of the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary & the First Saturdays Devotion.

On December 10, 1925, Sister Lucia reported an apparition of the Virgin Mary, joined by the Child Jesus on a luminous cloud, while living at the Convent of St. Dorothea at Pontevedra, Spain. The Virgin Mary specified the conditions for the First Saturdays Devotion & asked her to spread the devotion. Later, on February 15, 1926, she reported a subsequent vision on the Christ Child reaffirm this request.

On June 13, 1929, she reported a vision of both Mary & the Holy Trinity, in which Mary had asked for the Consecration of Russia to her Immaculate Heart by the Pope. This is in communion with all the bishops of the world.

This later vision fulfilled what was said in 1917 about how the Virgin Mary would come later to request the consecration. The message regarding the establishment of the 1st 5 Saturday Devotions is reminiscent of that reported by Margaret Mary Alacoque in the 17th century which led to the First Friday Devotions.

The 2nd prophecy wasn’t revealed until August 1941, after WWII had already begun. Those skeptical of the prophecies have questions whether Mary, in 1917, explicitly referred to Pope Pius XI. As Ambrogio Ratti didn’t choose the regnal name until after his election in 1922.

The European portion of WWII is generally held to have begun on September 1, 1939. But by then, Pope Pius XII had succeeded Pope Pius XI. As for the Conversion of Russia, the Bolshevik Revolution didn’t happen until November 1917.

Some supporters of the Fatima prophecies argue that the secret didn’t say the war must begin in Europe, & during the pontificate of Pope Pius XI, Japan had already invaded China in 1937, which is generally seen by historians of China, & other parts of Asia, as when the WWII actually began.

Some critics argue that the Russian Civil War (1918-1921), the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), the Chinese Civil War (1927-1937), the war between Italy & Ethiopia (1935-1936), & the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) serve to illustrate that the prediction that 1 war will end & that another will start isn’t necessarily an indication of divine inspiration.

Supporters of the prophecy point out that the 2nd secret called for a war worse than WWI, not simply any armed conflict. In addition, with regards to the conversion of Russia, there was already, at the time, strong revolutionary ferment in Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution as witnessed by the earlier February Revolution in 1917 & the active Communist & anarchist movements. This would explain Mary’s reference on July 13, 1917 to the need for a conversion of Russia.

Sister Lucia chose not to disclose the 3rd secret in her memoir of August 1941. Lucia fell seriously ill with influenza & pleurisy. Pleurisy is inflammation of the membranes that surround the lungs & line the chest cavity (pleurae).

Bishop Silva, visiting Lucia on September 15, 1943, suggested that Lucia write the 3rd secret down to ensure that it would be recorded in the event of her death. Lucia was hesitant to do so. Because upon receiving the secret, Lucia had heard Mary say not to reveal it.

Because Carmelite obedience requires that orders from superiors be regarded as coming directly from God, she was in a dilemma as to whose orders took precedence. Finally, in mid-October, Bishop Silva sent her a letter containing a direct order to record the secret. Lucia continued to struggle, even after this direct order. According to Lucia, she overcame it after the Virgin Mary appeared to her in early January 1944.

The 3rd part of the secret was written down “by order of His Excellency the Bishop of Leiria and the Most Holy Mother” on January 3, 1944. In June 1944, the sealed envelope containing the 3rd secret was delivered to Silva. This is where it stayed until 1957, when it was finally delivered to Rome.

Canon Galamba, who was an advisor to the Bishop of Leiria, is quoted as saying that when the bishop refused to open the sealed envelope, Lucia made him promise that it would definitely be opened & released to the world at her death, or in 1960, whichever came 1st. The bishop passed away in 1957.

It was announced by Cardinal Angelo Sodano on May 13, 2000 (83 years after the first apparition of the Lady to the kids in Cova da Iria & 19 years after the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II) that the 3rd secret would be FINALLY be released.

In his announcement, Cardinal Sodano implied that the secret was about the 20th century persecution of Christians that concluded in the failed Pope John Paul II assassination attempt on May 13, 1981, which was the 64th anniversary of the 1st apparition of the Lady at Fatima. The idea of an already fulfilled secret is contested by some Catholics.

There’s speculation that the 3rd secret hasn’t either fully been or revealed at all. There’s a plethora of reasons for why & what the secret actually said/says. Such as the secret contained info about the Apocalypse, apostasy, & Satanic infiltration of the Church. Yes, like the actual devil, Satan himself. Why they don’t release it is because they don’t want to induce mass panic among the global Catholic community.

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