HOLY
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HOLY
lously , as it were, all manner of vicissitudes — shipwreck
on the way to his destined mission in French Guiana,
enslavement by the Moors, a sojourn in Senegal, where
he had been sold to the English, who then ruled there.
On his return to France, after peace was restored to
the Church, he re-established the congregation, and
continued its work. But it was found impossible
to recover adequately from the disastrous effects of
the dispersion caused by the Revolution, and the re-
stored society was threatened with extinction. It
was at this juncture that there came to its relief Fa-
ther Libermann, and his fellow-missionaries of the
Society of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which he
had founded in 1842. Since the object of both socie-
ties was the same, the Holy See requested the founder
of the new society to engraft it on the older Congre-
gation of the Holy Ghost. This was done in 1S4S.
Ven. Francis Mary Libermann was made first superior
general of the united societies, and the whole body
became so impregnated with his spirit and that of
his first followers that he is rightly regarded as the
chief father and founiler of the Congregation of the
Holy Ghost and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary,
such as it exists to-day.
The first care of the new superior general was to organize on a solid basis the religious service of the old French colonies, by seciu'ing the establishment of bishoprics and making provisions for the supply of clergy through the Seminary of the Holy Ghost, which was continued on the lines of its origmal purpose — to serve as a colonial seminary for the French colonies. But the new superior general set himself to cultivate still wider fields of missionary enterprise. There had already been opened to him the vast domain of .Africa, which he was, practically, the first to enter, and which was to be henceforth the chief field of labour of his disciples. It is a fact to be noted that the taking-up of the African missions by ^'en. Francis Mary Libermann was due to the initiative of two American prelates, uniler the encouragement of the first Council of Balti- more. Already, in 1833, Dr. England, Bishop of Charleston, had drawn the attention of the Propa- ganda to the activity of heretics on the West Coast of Africa, and had urged the sending of missioners to those benighted regions. This appeal was renewed at the Council of Baltimore, and the Fathers there assembled commissioned the Rev. Dr. Barron, who was then Vicar-General of Philadelphia, to undertake the work at Cape Palmas. That zealous priest went over the ground carefully for a few years, and then repaired to Rome to give an accoimt of the work, and to receive further instructions. He was consecrated bishop and appointed Vicar-Apostolic of the Two Guineas. But, as he had only one priest and a cate- chist at his disposal, he repaired to France to search for missioners. Ven. Francis Mary Libermann supplied him at once with seven priests and three coadjutor brothers. The deadly climate played havoc with the inexperienced zeal of the first missionaries. All but one perished in the course of a few months, and Dr. Barron returned in despair to America, where he de- voted himself to missionary work. He died from the effects of his zeal during the yellow-fever epidemic in Savannah, in 1853, in the fifty-third year of his age. Father Libermann and his disciples retained the African mission: new missionaries volunteered to go out and take the places of those who had perished; and gradually there began to be built up the series of Christian communities in darkest Africa which form the distinctive work of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost. It has proved a work of continued sacrifice. Nearly 700 missionaries have laid down their lives in Africa during the past sixty years. Still, the spiritual results have compensated for it all. Where there was not a single Christian among the thirty millions of people who inhabit the districts confided to the Holy Ghost Fathers, there are to-day some hundred thou- VII.— 27
sand solid, well-mstructed Catholics. These Christiana
are spread over the Diocese of Angola and the eight
Vicariates of Seneganibia, Sierra Leone, Gaboon,
Ubangi (or French Upper Congo), Loango (or French
Lower Congo), on the West Coast; and Northern
Madagascar, Zanzibar, Bagamoyo, on the East Coast.
There are, moreover, the Prefectures of Lower Ni-
geria, French Guinea, Lower Congo (Landana), and
missions at Bata, in Spanish West Africa, and at
Kindou, in the Congo Independent State.
Besides the missions in Africa, the Congregation of the Holy Ghost has missions in Mauritius, Reunion, the Rodriguez Islands, Trinidad, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Haiti, and Amazonia. Moreover, the congregation conducts some very important educational institu- tions, such as the French seminary at Rome, the colonial seminary at Paris, the colleges of Blackrock, Rockwell, and Rathmines in Ireland, St. Mary's College in Trinidad, the Holy Cihost College of Pitts- burg, Pennsylvania, and the three colleges of Braga, Oporto, and Lisbon in Portugal. The congregation is organized into the following provinces: France, Ire- land, Portugal, United States, and Germany. These several provinces, as well as all the foreign missions, are under the central control of a superior general, who resides in Paris, and who is aided by two assists ants and four consultors — all chosen by the general chapter of the congregation. The whole society is under the jurisdiction of the Cardinal Prefect of the Propaganda. Recently, houses have been opened in England, Canada, Belgium, and Holland, and it is hoped that they will develop into distinct provinces at no distant date, so as to supply the colonies of these respective countries with an increase of missionaries. The province of the United States was founded in the year 1873. It comprises to-day 74 professed fathers, 19 professed scholastics, 30 professed coadjutor broth- ers. It is equipped with a novitiate and senior scholasticate, at Ferndale, in the Diocese of Hartford, an apostolic college at Cornwells, near Philadelphia. The main object of these institutions is to train mission- naries for the most abandoned souls, especially for the coloured people. The province has already estab- lished two missions for the coloured race, one in Philadelphia, the other at Rock Castle, near Rich- mond. Others will be established as quickly as missionaries are formed. Moreover, missions for various nationalities have been established in the following dioceses, at the urgent request of the re- spective bishops: Little Rock, Pittsburg, Detroit, Grand Rapids, La Crosse, Philadelphia, Providence, and Harrisburg. In all there are twenty-three houses.
The latest statistics for the entire congregation, published in April, 1908, give 195 communities, 722 fathers, 210 professed scholastics, 655 professed bro- thers, 230 novices, 595 aspirants. About half the professed members are engagetl in the African mis- sions. The congregation is slowly but steadily form- ing a native clergy and sisterhood in Africa. A dozen negro priests and about one hundred negro sisters are at present working in the several missions.
II. CONGKEG.\TION OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE
Holt Ghost. — This congregation was founded in Brittany, in the year 1706, by two pious ladies, Renee Burel and Marie Balavenne, imder the direction of a zealous missionary. Father Leuduger. Its principal object is the education of children; but it also under- takes all kinds of charitable work. The congregation developed rapidly, and the "White Sisters", as its members were called, from the colour of their habit, became very munerous all over the north-west of France. It suffered the fate of all religious societies at the Revolution; but it quickly recovered, and in- creased a hundredfold during the course of the nine- teenth century. The iniquitous French anti-congre- gation legislation of 1902 has caused the congregation to disperse. While still in possession at its mother-
