| Servas do Sanctissimo Sacramento | |
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| Abbreviation | SSS., Servants |
|---|---|
| Formation | 13 May 1856 |
| Founder | Peter Julian Eymard, Mo. Marguerite Guillot |
| Type | Catholic religious order |
| Headquarters | 580 rue Dufferin Sherbrooke Qc Canada J1H 4N1 |
Superior General | Sr. Fe Manalo, S.S.S. |
| Website | www |
The Servants of the Blessed Sacrament (in latin: Societatis Ancillarum a Sanctissimo Sacramento) is a Roman Catholic contemplative, but not cloistered, congregation of sisters with a focus on Eucharistic adoration.
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The Servants' religious congregation is the women's branch of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, founded by Peter Julian Eymard over one hundred forty years ago. [1]
Marguerite Guillot was born December 4, 1815, in Chasselay, Rhône, the youngest child of Jean and Jeanne Boin Guillot. In February 1840, she recovered from a bout of typhoid fever and the family made a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Fourviere in Lyons in thanksgiving. In December 1845 she joined the Third Order of Mary, and in 1853 became the directress. Eymard was the group's spiritual director. [2]
Guillot collaborated with Eymard and became the first superior general for the congregation, which was approved by Pope Pius IX in 1871. [3] The Congregation of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament marks July 31, 1859, as the date of foundation. Guillot founded houses in Angers and Lyon. She died July 7, 1885.
From France, the Congregation spread throughout the world. In 1903 a house was opened in Canada, in Brazil in 1912, and in Australia in 1950. [4]
The first house in the United States was established in Waterville, Maine, in April 1947, by six sisters from the Canadian foundation. In June 1956 a second American foundation was established in Pueblo, Colorado. [1] The sisters maintain continuous adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in their communities. [5] In 2009, due to lack of vocations, the American sisters asked the help of the sisters in the Philippines so the Congregation could continue its Eucharistic presence and mission in Pueblo. Four sisters came. [6]
In January 1996, a tragedy occurred at the Sisters' convent, located in Waterville, Maine. A mentally ill man broke into the convent in the middle of a winter storm, and attacked four of the nine Sisters who lived there. Two, including the Mother Superior were killed, while another was so severely injured that she had to be placed in a nursing home. The nuns who survived the attack have since died. The individual was committed to what was then Augusta Mental Health Institute, now Riverview Psychiatric Hospital, but in June 2013 was granted unsupervised time in the community, despite objections from prosecutors. [7]
The Australian foundation was established in 1950, when six Canadian sisters and one Australian who had taken her noviciate in Quebec arrived in Melbourne. This community made its income by producing the altar breads for the parishes of Melbourne and parts of regional Victoria. These sisters practiced continuous adoration of the Blessed Sacrament in their chapel at Armadale, a suburb of Melbourne, and lived by a strict regimen of silence, prayer and work. They were allowed only half an hour of reading per day, and education was not emphasised. All of this changed soon after Vatican II, when Catholic religious were asked to review and update their Rule of Life and adapt it to the contemporary world. A group of sisters used hammers and saws to remove the grille that separated them from their visitors in the convent's parlour, dismantling the enclosure that had separated them from the broader community for decades. The nuns pursued education in theology and other disciplines, and practiced a renewed liturgy at their chapel. In 1980, three of the sisters moved to Sydney to establish a convent in Newtown, where they worked closely with Fr Ted Kennedy and the local Indigenous community of Redfern. [8] There are now just two sisters remaining in the Australian community.
Their houses are located in France, Canada, Brazil, Holland, the United States, Australia, Italy, the Philippines, Vietnam and Congo. The congregation's generalate is in Sherbrooke, Quebec. [3]
The congregation is centered on the person of Christ in the Eucharistic Mystery and dedicated to his love and glory. The celebration of the Eucharist, the Liturgy of the Hours and Eucharistic adoration give form to their mission of prayer. Eucharistic Adoration has the priority of their time and attention. [6] However, they also engage in other ministries, such as serving as extraordinary Eucharistic ministers to the sick and elderly. [2] The patroness of the congregation is Mary, under the title of Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament. [4]
Eucharistic adoration is a Eucharistic devotional practice primarily in Western Catholicism, but also to a lesser extent in certain Lutheran and Anglican traditions, in which the Blessed Sacrament is adored by the faithful. This practice may occur either when the Eucharist is exposed, or when it is not publicly viewable because it is reserved in a place such as a church tabernacle.
Perpetual prayer is the Christian practice of continuous prayer carried out by a group.
Peter Julian Eymard was a French Catholic priest and founder of two religious institutes: the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament for men and the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament for women.
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, also called Benediction with the Blessed Sacrament or the Rite of Eucharistic Exposition and Benediction, is a devotional ceremony, celebrated especially in the Roman Catholic Church, but also in some other Christian traditions such as Anglo-Catholicism, whereby a bishop, priest, or a deacon blesses the congregation with the Eucharist at the end of a period of adoration.
During the Mass of the Faithful, the second part of the Mass, the elements of bread and wine are considered to have been changed into the veritable Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. The manner in which this occurs is referred to by the term transubstantiation, a theory of St. Thomas Aquinas, in the Roman Catholic Church. Members of the Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran communions also believe that Jesus Christ is really and truly present in the bread and wine, but they believe that the way in which this occurs must forever remain a sacred mystery. In many Christian churches some portion of the consecrated elements is set aside and reserved after the reception of Communion and referred to as the reserved sacrament. The reserved sacrament is usually stored in a tabernacle, a locked cabinet made of precious materials and usually located on, above, or near the high altar. In Western Christianity usually only the Host, from Latin: hostia, meaning "victim", is reserved, except where wine might be kept for the sick who cannot consume a host.
Eucharist is the name that Catholics give to the sacrament by which, according to their belief, the body and blood of Christ are present in the bread and wine that are consecrated during the Catholic eucharistic liturgy, generally known as the Mass. The definition of the Eucharist in the 1983 Code of Canon Law as the sacrament where Christ himself "is contained, offered, and received" points to the three aspects of the Eucharist according to Catholic theology: the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, Holy Communion, and the holy sacrifice of the Mass.
The Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters are a Roman Catholic religious institute. The nuns live a contemplative life, focused on perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, offering intercessory prayers for the world 24 hours a day. Inside the enclosure the nuns wear rose-colored tunics with their habits symbolizing their joy for the Holy Spirit. As a consequence of these habits, the nuns are known colloquially as the "pink sisters".
The Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament, commonly known as the Sacramentinos is a Catholic Clerical Religious Congregation of Pontifical Right for men founded by St. Pierre-Julien Eymard. Its members use the nominal letters S.S.S. which is the acronym of its official name in Latin, after their names. By their life and activities, they assist the Church in her efforts to form Christian communities whose center of life is the Eucharist. They commit themselves to the implementation of this ideal in collaboration with lay men and women engaged in various ministries.
The Tabernacle Societies were lay Eucharistic Adorative associations within Roman Catholic parishes, principally in America and Australia, forming part of the Archassociation of the Eucharist under the guidance of the Association of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
Servants of the Most Blessed Sacrament is a Roman Catholic religious institute of women, founded by the Pierre-Julien Eymard in 1858, assisted by Marguerite Guillot, with the authorization of François-Nicholas-Madeleine Morlot, the Archbishop of Paris.
The Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and Our Lady is an enclosed religious order and a reform of the Dominican Order devoted to the perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The congregation was founded in Marseille in 1659 by a Dominican priest, Anthony Le Quieu.
The Priests' Eucharistic League was a Roman Catholic confraternity set up in the nineteenth century, with primary object the frequent and prolonged worship of the Blessed Sacrament by priests.
This is a glossary of terms used within the Catholic Church. Some terms used in everyday English have a different meaning in the context of the Catholic faith, including brother, confession, confirmation, exemption, faithful, father, ordinary, religious, sister, venerable, and vow.
Mechtilde of the Blessed Sacrament, born Catherine de Bar was a French nun, the founder of the order of Benedictine Nuns of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. She is recognized as the Servant of God in the Catholic Church.
The Tyburn Nuns, formally, Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of Montmartre, is a Catholic congregation of Benedictine nuns. The congregation was originally founded in Paris but was obliged to find a new Mother House due to French legislation passed in 1901. Two years later it relocated to London and subsequently established additional convents in nine other countries. The nuns at the London convent practice the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and maintain a shrine dedicated to the Catholic martyrs of the English Reformation.
St Peter Julian's Church is a Roman Catholic church and shrine of eucharistic adoration in Sydney in the care of the Congregation of the Blessed Sacrament.
The Order of the Blessed Sacrament is an enclosed congregation and a reform of the Dominican Order devoted to the perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception Brando, born Adelaida Brando, was an Italian saint, nun and the founder of the Congregation of the Sisters, Expiatory Victims of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, an international teaching institute. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 27 April 2003, and canonized by Pope Francis on 17 May 2015.
Benedictine Nuns of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is an female enclosed Catholic order founded in Paris, France in 1653 by Mechtilde of the Blessed Sacrament.
Maureen Patricia Brigid Flood was an Australian religious sister and member of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament order. When she was the order's regional superior in Australia and deputy superior general, she travelled to Rome, where she created programs for Vatican Radio. She later became interested in feminist theology and worked with Aboriginal community members in Redfern, New South Wales.
