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Who We Are

Who We Are

 

The Spiritans are a Roman Catholic religious missionary congregation – the Congregation of the Holy Spirit – with a 300-year legacy of announcing the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the poor and serving as “the advocates, the supporters and the defenders of the weak and the little ones against all who oppress them”.

Our Motto

 

Cor Unum et Anima Una – One Heart and One Soul. (Acts 4:32)

Our Mission

 

 “The evangelization of the “poor” is our purpose. Therefore we go especially to peoples, groups and individuals who have not yet heard the message of the Gospel or who have scarcely heard it, to those whose needs are the greatest, and to the oppressed. We also willingly accept tasks for which the Church has difficulty in finding workers.”

Our Founders

 

On the feast of Pentecost on May 27, 1703, Claude François Poullart des Places Founded the Congregation of the Holy Spirit “with a view to training priests consecrated to working in the most neglected works”.Fr. François Marie Paul Libermann, on September 25, 1841, assisted by Frederic Le Vavasseur, Eugene Tisserant and l’Abbé Desgenettes, celebrated the mass of foundation of the Society of the Holy Heart of Mary at Notre Dame des Victoires in Paris.In 1848, the Society of the Holy Heart of Mary was suppressed and its members joined theCongregation of the Holy Spirit, giving it a new impetus. Fr. Libermann became its 11th Superior General and saw it become a religious congregation.

Our Leadership

 

The Congregation is led by the Superior General and his Council in Rome. In each country where we serve, there is a Major Superior and his Council.

One Heart and One Soul

 

“We are dedicated to the Holy Spirit, author of all holiness and ‘source of the apostolic spirit̀’. We place ourselves under the protection of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who was filled beyond measure by the same Spirit ‘with the fullness of holiness and apostolic

zeal’ ”.

 

Our lifestyle is community centered, simple and unencumbered. We get to know,  accept, and respect each other as a family. We then try to serve others by  living in solidarity with them.

 

  • We are all around the globe, living where conditions are most difficult, where people are suffering and diminished in spirit.

  • We assist people who are poor. We work with communities in need.  We serve in parishes, schools, prisons, and many other marginal works of the Church, in our home countries and overseas in international missions.

  • We educate young men and women to serve humanity.

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