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[German Version] This movement of spiritual renewal emerged in 1914 from the educational work of Father J. Kentenich at the seminary of the Pallottines in Schönstatt (today a district in Vallendar am Rhein); it became independent in 1964. It seeks to provide support for a humane Christian life in a pluralistic society, through a spirituality and teaching ministry emphasizing the biblical notion of a covenant (V), pursuit of “everyday holiness,” and an apostolic mindset. Its goal is ultimately to t…

[German Version] in the broad sense are members of the many orders and congregations of women whose primary apostolate is in the field of education and teaching; in the narrower sense, the term denotes sisters of the communities whose names reflect their teaching ministry. I. Sisters of the Christian Schools of Mercy (Soeurs des Écoles chrétiennes de la Misericorde, Sisters of St. Mary Magdalene Postel, SMMP), founded in Cherbourg (Normandy) in 1807 by Julie Postel (St.; 1756–1846), a teacher, to educate the rural population. The first Ge…

[German Version] (Ordo Sanctae Ursulae, OSU), the most important women’s religious institute for the education (V, 2) of young girls. The order was founded by St. Angela Merici (c. 1470–1540) in Brescia (northern Italy) as a women’s congregation with vows of chastity and a rule but without living in community. Its most important sponsor was C. Borromeo, who saw to a revision of the original rule and in 1576 ordered settlement of the Ursulines, who had been working in Milan since 1566, in all the d…

[German Version] The Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Redeemer was founded in 1849 by the mystically inclined Elisabeth (Maria Alfonsa) Eppinger (1814–1867) in Niederbronn (Alsace), with the assistance of the local pastor Johann David Reichard (1796–1867), for the care of the sick and the poor (fourth vow), and of children; it was ecumenically oriented from the outset. The congregation grew rapidly in Alsace, Germany (from 1852), Belgium, Switzerland, Holland, African countries (from 1931),…

[German Version] (Prêtres du Clergé, Congregatio Sulpitiensis, Societas Presbyterorum a Sancto Sulpitio, PSS), a congregation of secular priests (without vows) founded in 1641 by Jean-Jacques Olier (1608–1657), pastor of St.-Sulpice in Paris, for the education and spiritual formation of seminarians and priests in the spirit of the Tridentine decree on seminaries. It is named after Archbishop Sulpicius II of Bourges (615–647). Their spirituality is christological, eucharistic, and Marian and was st…

[German Version] The Feuillants are a reform order of the Cistercians (separated 1592) named for the abbey at Feuillant (Lat. Fulium) near Toulouse and founded by abbot Jean-Baptiste de la Barrière O. Cist (1544–1600). It is characterized by rigorous intensification of the observance of the rule (going barefoot, sleeping on boards, kneeling to eat) and liturgical peculiarities. In 1630, it divided into a French congregation with 33 monasteries (abolished in the French Revolution) and an Italian congregation with 43…

[German Version] Since the turn of the 14th to the 15th century, in the wake of Humanism and of J. de Gerson's pastoral work with children, youth fraternities and communities of Christian doctrine in northern Italy (e.g. in Florence and Bologna) had already begun to devote themselves to the main interests of the later Christian doctrine brotherhoods. The latter emerged in the second half of the 16th century as a reaction to the confessional conflicts of the time and aim…

[German Version] are institutes of consecrated life in which members of the faithful (clergy and laypeople, hardly distinguishable outwardly) remain in their secular (and often familial) environment while pursuing perfection in love and sanctification of the world from within. Secular institutes were recognized canonically by the pontifical constitution Provida Mater issued in 1947. They are rooted in efforts, observable since the 17th century, to live a life consecrated to God without the characteristic features of the traditional orders, as …

[German Version] (Visitationists, Sisters of the Visitation, Ordo de Visitatione Beatae Mariae Virginis, OVM, VSM). The order was found in 1610 in Annecy (France) by Francis of Sales and J.F. of Chantal as a contemplative order with simple vows and modified enclosure, enabling them to minister to the poor and the sick. In 1618, at the insistence of the archbishop of Lyon, they adopted the Augustinian rule (Augustine, Rule of Saint), solemn vows, and papal enclosure; as a result, they concentrated …

[German Version] (Congregatio Passionis Jesu Christi, CP) was founded in 1720 as a clerical congregation on Monte Argentario near Orbetello, in Italy, by the hermit and preacher of repentance Saint Paul of the Cross (Paolo Francesco Danei, 1694–1775); the original name of the congregation was Discalced Clerks of the Most Holy Cross and Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Members take a special vow to venerate and preach the passion and death of Jesus Christ; they engage in a contemplative life, alon…

[German Version] I. Origins The origins of an Ordo fratrum hospitalis sanctae Mariae Theutonicorum Ierosolymitanorum are said to date back ¶ to a hospital of Mary in Jerusalem in the first half of the 12th century. The spiritual order of knights arose in 1198/1199 from a hospital brotherhood that was set up during the Third Crusade (1189/1190) near Acre by merchants from Lübeck and Bremen. Because they were supported both by German crusaders and the Hohen­staufen, most members came from the Empire, and their estates…

[German Version] The Marianists (Societas Mariae, SM; Society of Mary; also Brothers of Mary) were founded in Bordeaux in 1817 by Guillaume-Joseph Chaminade (blessed; 1761–1850) to establish and lead Marian congregations as well as for pastoral and educational ministry. They take a fourth vow of stability (daily renewal of their commitment to Mary). Since priests and lay brothers engaged in teaching and other work tend to live together as equals, the Marianists occupy a special place among the cle…

[German Version] (Nov 29, 1905, Tourcoing, France – Mar 25, 1991, Martigny, Switzerland) studied at the Gregoriana in Rome from 1923 to 1930 (Dr.phil. 1925; Dr.theol. 1929), was ordained to the priesthood in 1929, and subsequently served as parish curate in a suburb of Lille. He joined the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (Spirit; Order of the Holy Spirit, CSSp, Spiritans) in 1931 (member until 1968) and worked as a missionary in Gabon from 1932 to 1947. In 1948, he was appointed apostolic delegate…

[German Version] (Ger. Dernbacher Schwestern [Dernbach Sisters]), founded in 1851 by the maidservant Katharina (Maria) Kasper (1820–1898; beatified in 1978), in her hometown of Dernbach (Westerwald; today the general mother house), for the care of the sick and the poor, for the education of girls, and work in orphanages. They were recognized as a society by papal right in 1870; in 1890, the regulations based on the rule of St. Vincent de Paul were approved. The Dernbach Sisters, who at the founder…

[German Version] is a significant Marian pilgrimage site near Ancona (central Italy). According to legend, the sanctuary there (“Santa Casa”), a simple rectangular wall with no foundation surrounded by a magnificent hall church (1468–1587) and clad with marble (1513–1538), probably following plans by D. Bramante, is Mary's place of birth in Nazareth, the house in which the annunciation of the immaculate conception took place, and in which Jesus grew up. After the Muslim conquest of Akko in 1291, a…

[German Version] I. Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul – II. Strasbourg Congregation I. Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul (Filles de la Charité de Saint Vincent de Paul [FdC]; Puellae Caritatis), a congregation founded in Paris in 1633 by Vincent de Paul and L. de Marillac, initially to assist the Confrérie des Dames de Charité, a society of gentlewomen formed to care for poor and solitary invalids. They took only private vows, renewed annually, leaving them free for charitable work since they we…

[German Version] The order of the “Sisters of Clement” (“Merciful Sisters of the Most Blessed Virgin and Sorrowful Mother Mary”) was founded in 1808 by C.A. Droste-Vischering in Münster, Westphalia. The first German congregation since the secularization of 1803, it was dedicated to the care of the sick (from 1820 in the Clement Hospital, hence its name) and conceived on the model of the Vincentians. Their first prioress was the converted pastor's daughter and art…

[German Version] Marian Congregations or sodalities are Catholic lay fellowships or associations ¶ that seek to help their members grow in the faith, live their religion in everyday life, and support the apostolic mission of the church. To make Jesuit spirituality (Jesuits) available to lay people, in 1563 the Belgian Jesuit Jan Leunis (1536–1584) brought together a group of students at the Jesuit College in Rome to form the first Marian Congregation. In 1584 Gregory XIII erected it canonically as the mother congregation ( Prima Primaria) of all Marian Congregations. As the Jesu…

[German Version] A missionary society founded in 1849 in Vic (Spain) by A.M. Claret. The men's branch (Mission Society of the Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, CMF; Immaculate Conception, Orders of the), whose constitutions were given papal approval in 1870 and renewed after Vatican II, has always devoted itself to missionary service of the word (popular missions, religious exercises, school teaching, press apostolate, pastoral care beyond the parish, mission…

[German Version] ( Congregatio Patrum Doctrinae Christianae, DC). The Congregation of Doctrinarians (Pères Doctrinaires) that exists today was founded in 1592 in Avignon by César de Bus (1544–1607) and arose out of ¶ communities of priests and laity for providing religious instruction (Confraternities of Christian doctrine). Combined with the Somaschi from 1616 to 1647, it was able to develop independently from that time as a Catholic …