In France
The Society of Saint Sulpice was founded in France in 1641 by Father Jean-Jacques Olier (1608–1657), an exemplar of the French School of Spirituality. The state of the priesthood in France at that time was sadly deficient. For the purpose of a new approach to priestly preparation, Olier gathered a few priests and seminarians around him in Vaugirard, a suburb of Paris, in the final months of 1641. Shortly thereafter, he moved his operation to the parish of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, hence the name of the new Society. After several adjustments, he built a seminary next to the current church of Saint-Sulpice and thereby formally inaugurated the first Sulpician seminary. There the first seminarians got their spiritual formation, while they took most theology courses at the Sorbonne. The spirit of this new seminary and its founder caught the attention of many leaders in the French Church; and before long, a number of seminaries opened elsewhere in the country, staffed by members of the new Society. After the Revolution and the secularization of the University of Paris, theology courses were offered exclusively in the seminaries. The reputation of the Sulpicians and their seminaries has lasted to the present day. They have consistently been famous for their solid academic teaching and high moral tone. In the 18th century they attracted the sons of the nobility, as well as candidates from the common class, and produced a large number of the French hierarchy. The Society spread from France to Canada, the U.S. and to several other foreign countries, including eventually to Vietnam and French Africa, where French Sulpician seminaries are found even today.
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Famous quotes containing the word france:
“America was too big to have been discovered all at one time. It would have been better for the graces if it had been discovered in pieces of about the size of France or Germany at a time.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)