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CSSp Congregation Sancti Spiritus - Congregation of the Holy Spirit, known as Spiritans in mainland Europe and as Holy Ghost Fathers in English-speaking countries.
Beginnings
The Spiritans were founded in Paris in 1703 by a wealthy young Breton Lawyer, Claude Poullart des Places, then but 24 years old. Having opted for the priesthood he came to the help of poor young students who wanted to be priests but could not afford it. He founded a community for them dedicated to the Holy Spirit and trained them to be available to work in preference in neglected areas. They served as chaplains to hospitals, prisons, schools etc. In time some volunteered for service on the foreign missions in the Far East - China, Cambodia and Vietnam, in North America, especially among the Indian and Acadians in Canada, in French Guyana etc.In 1765 the Holy See begun to entrust the Congregation with the direct care of mission territories beginning with French Guiana, and in 1779 the first two Spiritan missionaries arrived in Senegal, Africa.
The Spiritans in Europe
Some 1,300 had been so trained by the time the Seminary was suppressed in 1792 by the French Revolution. Reduced in Europe to a few members the society was allowed to restart under Napoleon in 1902 when they were asked to concentrate exclusively on supplying priests committed to work in the French colonies in Africa, the West Indies and the Indian Ocean. Some Irishmen were enlisted as from 1920, but the 1930 Revolution threatened once again to undo the work of rebuilding the Society.
In 1848 the Spiritans were joined by a convert Jew Fr Francis Libermann, who had launched a society to cater mainly for the emancipated black slaves in the French colonies. Fr. Libermann was elected superior of the society. When Irish-born Bishop Baron of Philadelphia volunteered to go to Liberia to take charge of the pastoral cares of the slaves repatriated from America he turned to Fr. Libermann for personnel.
