Edmundites

Last updated
Society of Saint Edmund
Societas Patrum S. Edmundi (Latin) [1]
AbbreviationS.S.E. (post-nominal letters) [2]
NicknameEdmundites
Formation1843;181 years ago (1843) [3]
FounderFr.Jean-Baptiste Muard, SSE [4]
Founded at Pontigny, France
TypeClerical Religious Congregation of Pontifical Right for men [5]
HeadquartersEdmundite Generalate
270 Winooski Park, Colchester, Vermont 05439, USA [6]
Members
22 members (18 priests) as of 2020 [7]
Motto
Latin:
English:
Do the best we can, with what little we have, to serve those most in need
Rev. Fr. David Cray, S.S.E. [8]
Patron saint
Saint Edmund of Canterbury [9]
Parent organization
Catholic Church
Website https://www.sse.org/

The Society of Saint Edmund (Latin : Societas Patrum S. Edmundi) also known as the Edmundites, is a clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men in the Catholic Church founded in 1843, in Pontigny, France, by Jean Baptiste Muard. The congregation is named after Saint Edmund. [10] The members of the congregation add the postnominal letters S.S.E.

Contents

History

Members of the Society, based in Pontigny, fled to the United States through Montreal, Canada in 1889 after widespread anticlericalism seized France. The Society of St. Edmund settled in Winooski, Vermont, and established Saint Michael's College in 1904. [11] The original motherhouse is at Pontigny, but since the expulsion of the religious institutes the superior general first moved to Hitchin, England. The Edmundites gave up both the school and the parish in Hitchin in 1925 due to financial difficulties, relinquishing control to the Order of Augustinians of the Assumption. [12] [13]

In the early 20th century, the congregation had two houses in the United States: a missionary house and apostolic school at Swanton, Vermont, for the training of young men who wish to study for the priesthood and the religious life; and Saint Michael's College in Colchester, Vermont, with 12 fathers, 8 scholastics, and 100 pupils. Saint Michael's College has since expanded to 2,000 undergraduates and 650 graduate students.

In 1937 the Society turned to the missions of African Americans, mainly in Alabama, thanks to Fr Francis "Frank" Casey. During the Civil rights movement and the lead up to the Selma to Montgomery marches, the Society was the only white group in Selma who openly supported the voting rights campaign. [14] Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee staff member Don Jelinek later described this order as "the unsung heroes of the Selma March... who provided the only integrated Catholic church in Selma, and perhaps in the entire Deep South". [15]

In 1953, a Mrs. Alys VanGilder Enders gifted the 11 acres of Enders Island near Mystic, Connecticut to the then Superior General of the Society, Father Purtill, where the Edmundites today operate a retreat center and art school. [16]

Present-day

The Society was formed to keep St. Edmund's memory and life alive through faithful service, for the work of popular missions. The members also devote themselves to parochial work, to the education of youth in seminaries and colleges, to the direction of pious associations, and to foreign missions.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edmund of Abingdon</span> 13th-century Archbishop of Canterbury and saint

Edmund of Abingdon was an English-born prelate who served as Archbishop of Canterbury. He became a respected lecturer in mathematics, dialectics and theology at the Universities of Paris and Oxford, promoting the study of Aristotle. Having already an unsought reputation as an ascetic, he was ordained a priest, took a doctorate in divinity and soon became known not only for his lectures on theology but as a popular preacher, spending long years travelling within England, and engaging in 1227 preaching the Sixth Crusade. Obliged to accept an appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Gregory IX, he combined a gentle personal temperament with a strong public stature and severity towards King Henry III in defence of Magna Carta and in general of good civil and Church government and justice. He also worked for strict observance in monastic life and negotiated peace with Llywelyn the Great. His policies earned him hostility and jealousy from the king, and opposition from several monasteries and from the clergy of Canterbury Cathedral. He died in France at the beginning of a journey to Rome in 1240. He was canonised in 1246.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CICM Missionaries</span> Roman Catholic missionary religious congregation of men

The CICM Missionaries, officially known as the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary and often abbreviated as C.I.C.M, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men established in 1862 by the Belgian Catholic priest Theophile Verbist (1823–1868). Its members add the post-nominal letters C.I.C.M. to their names to indicate membership in the congregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Missionaries of the Precious Blood</span>

The Missionaries of the Precious Blood is a Catholic community of priests and brothers. The society was founded by Saint Gaspar del Bufalo in 1815.

The Clerics of Saint Viator, abbreviated C.S.V. and also known as the Viatorians is a Roman Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men founded in Lyon, France, in 1831 by Father Louis Querbes. Its patron, Saint Viator, was a 4th-century catechist in Lyon. The institute spread from its origins in France to Canada and later to the United States; it now has provinces and missions all over the world. They are a teaching order and are involved in parish ministries and all levels of education, from grade school through university. Its members add the nominal letters C.S.V. after their names to indicate membership in the congregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Society of the Divine Word</span> Catholic missionary religious congregation

The Society of the Divine Word, abbreviated SVD and popularly called the Verbites or the Divine Word Missionaries, and sometimes the Steyler Missionaries, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men. As of 2020, it consisted of 5,965 members composed of priests and religious brothers working in more than 70 countries, now part of VIVAT international. It is one of the largest missionary congregations in the Catholic Church. Its members add the nominal letters SVD after their names to indicate membership in the Congregation. The superior general is Paulus Budi Kleden who hails from Indonesia.

The Brothers of the Sacred Heart is a Catholic lay religious congregation of Pontifical Right for Men founded by André Coindre (1787–1826) in 1821. Its constitution was modeled upon that of the Jesuits, while its rule of life was based upon the Rule of Saint Augustine. Its members bind themselves for life by simple vows of religion. Its members add the nominal S.C. after their names to indicate their membership in the congregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carmelites of Mary Immaculate</span> Female congregation in the Syro-Malabar Church of India

The Carmelites of Mary Immaculate abbreviated CMI, formerly also known as the Servants of Mary Immaculate, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men of the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church, and is the largest such congregation in the Syro-Malabar Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Society of Saint Paul</span> Catholic religious order

The Society of Saint Paul abbreviated SSP and also known as the Paulines, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of pontifical right for men founded on 20 August 1914 at Alba, Piedmont in Italy by Giacomo Alberione and officially approved by the Holy See on 27 June 1949. Its members add the nominal letters SSP. after their names to indicate membership in the congregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pontigny Abbey</span> Church in Burgundy, France

Pontigny Abbey, the church of which in recent decades has also been the cathedral of the Mission de France, otherwise the Territorial Prelature of Pontigny, was a Cistercian monastery located in Pontigny on the River Serein, in the present diocese of Sens and department of Yonne, Burgundy, France. Founded in 1114, it was the second of the four great daughter houses of Cîteaux Abbey. It was suppressed in 1791 in the French Revolution and destroyed except for the church. In 1843 it was re-founded as a community of the Fathers of St. Edmund. In 1909 it passed into private ownership. In 1941 it became the mother house of the Mission de France, a territorial prelature.

The Society of the Divine Saviour, abbreviated SDS and also known as the Salvatorians, is a clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men in the Catholic Church. The members of the congregation use the nominal SDS after their names. It has clergy serving in more than 40 countries throughout the world. It was founded in Rome, Italy on 8 December 1881 by Francis Mary of the Cross Jordan. The Generalate of the community is in Rome, at Via della Conciliazione in Palazzo Cesi-Armellini. The current Superior General of the Salvatorians is the Milton Zonta.

The Canons Regular of the Immaculate Conception are a Catholic religious order for men founded in France in 1871. They follow the Augustinian Rule and are part of the Order of Canons Regular of St. Augustine. They add the nominal initials of C.R.I.C. after their names to indicate their membership in the congregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrician Brothers</span>

The Patrician Brothers officially named Brothers of Saint Patrick, abbreviated F.S.P. is a Catholic lay religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men founded for the religious and literary education of the youth and the instruction of the faithful in Christian piety.

The Pious Workers of St. Joseph Calasanctius of the Mother of God are a Roman Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men founded at Vienna, Austria in 24 November 1889, by Father Anton Maria Schwartz for works of charity, but especially the apostolate among workingmen. This congregation of priests and lay brothers, follow the Rule of the Piarists, modified in some particulars. Its members add the nominal letters C.Op. at the end of their names to indicate their membership in the congregation.

Moses Bosco Anderson, SSE was a bishop in the Catholic Church who served as an Auxiliary Bishop of Detroit from 1982 to 2003. He was a member of the Edmundite Order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Society of African Missions</span>

The Society of African Missions, also known as the SMA Fathers, is a Catholic religious society of apostolic life of pontifical right for men founded by Melchior de Marion Brésillac in 1856. They serve the people of Africa and those of African descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel</span>

The Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel abbreviated CSMA, also known as the Michaelites, is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men founded by the Blessed Father Bronisław Markiewicz, a Polish priest from Miejsce Piastowe, Poland. The Congregation of Saint Michael the Archangel is one of the 30 officially recognized groups of the Salesian Family of Don Bosco.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religious of Jesus and Mary</span>

The Religious of Jesus and Mary, abbreviated as R.J.M., form a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women dedicated to the education and service of the poor. An institute of consecrated life of pontifical right, the congregation was founded at Lyon, France, in October 1818, by Claudine Thévenet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Servants of Charity</span>

The Servants of Charity is a Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men. Members of this clerical congregation are popularly known as 'Guanelliani'. They add the nominal letters SC after their names to indicate their membership in the Congregation.

The Basilian Chouerite Order of Saint John the Baptist is a Melkite Greek Catholic monastic order of Pontifical Right for Men. The members of the Order add the nominal B.C after their names to indicate their membership in the Order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Bétharram</span>

The Priests of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Bétharram is a Roman Catholic clerical religious congregation of Pontifical Right for men. It was established in Bétharram in 1832 by St. Michael Garicoits as fulfilment of a dream. The task of this congregation, dedicated to the Sacred Heart, was to evangelize the people through missions and to teach the young. It received formal approval of the Pope after Garicoits' death.

References

  1. "Society of Saint Edmund (S.S.E.)".
  2. "Society of Saint Edmund (S.S.E.)".
  3. "Society of Saint Edmund (S.S.E.)".
  4. "Society of Saint Edmund (S.S.E.)".
  5. http://www.gcatholic.org/orders/ 145.htm
  6. http://www. gcatholic.org/orders/145.htm
  7. http://www.gcatholic%5B%5D. org/orders/145.htm
  8. orders/145. htm "Society of Saint Edmund (S.S.E.)".{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  9. "Society of Saint Edmund (S.S.E.)".
  10. "Our History". The Edmundites. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
  11. Urban, Cori. "Society of St. Edmund elects new superior general, Vermont Catholic, diocese of Burlington, July 15, 2018
  12. "Timeline".
  13. "Hitchin".
  14. "Edmundite Southern Missions", Encyclopedia of Alabama.
  15. "Don Jelinek, Oral History/Interview, 2005-Selma Underground: Fathers of St. Edmund", Civil Rights Movement Archive website.
  16. "History".