Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12.djvu/763

 REDEMPTORISTS

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REDEMPTORISTS

Zeal was to be exercised by prayer, each tlay of the week being devoted to an object affecting the well- being of the Church. They were to pray in a special manner for the apostolic works of the Redemptorists. The habit is deep red, and the scapular and choir- mantle blue. The institute began on 23 May, 1731. A second monastery was founded by .St. .\lphonsus, when bishop, in his episcojjal cit}', St. .\gatha of the Goths. Nearly a hundred years after the foundation at Scala, the Yen. Joseph Passerat sent two ladies. Mile. Eugenie Dijon and the Countess Welsersheim, to St. Agatha to learn the rule and spirit of the Redemptoristines. They received the habit at Rome from Cardinal Odescalchi. They founded houses at \'ienna and Bruges. Convents of the institute now exist in Austria, Bavaria, Belgium, France, Holland, Ireland, England, the Tyrol, Spain, and Canada. The rule was approved by Benedict XIV in 1750. (See Alphoxsds Liguori, S.unt; Passerat, Venerable Joseph.)

Ddmortier. Les premieres redemptoristines (Bruges, 1SS4) contains a notice on the institute: Hugues, Vies de deui religieu- ses redemptoristines (Tournai. 1884); Dumortier. Fleurs de VinstUut des redemptoristines (Tournai, 1910); Beut. el canoniz. S. D, SoToris Maris Celeste Crosterosa.

J. Magnier.

Redemptorists (Coxgreg.ation of the Most Holy Redeemer), a society of missionarj' priests founded by St. Alphonsus ^laria Liguori, 9 Nov., 1732, at Scala, near Amalfi, Italy, for the purpose of labouring among the neglected country people in the neighbourhood of Naples.

The Redemptorists are essentially and by their specific vocation a missionary society. According to their rule they are "to strive to imitate the \'ir- tues and examples of Jesus Christ, Our Redeemer, consecrating themselves especially to the preaching of the word of God to the poor". They take the simple vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, and by the vows of poverty they are bound to refuse all ecclesiastical dignities outside of the congregation. To these vows they add the vow and oath of per- severance to Uve in the congregation until death. Their labours consist principally in missions, re- treats, and similar exercises. In order to render these labours most effective, all their sermons and instructions should be solid, simple, and persuasive. On all their missions they are obUged to preach a sermon on prayer and one on the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In order to secure the salutarj- effects of their missions, they should, after four or five months, return to the places where they have given missions, and preach another, shorter course of sermons. On missions proper the rule obliges them to hear all the confessions themselves. Wherever the Redemptorists have parishes they labour in the same spirit, both in the pulpit and in the confessional. One of the great means of preserving truly rehgious fervour among all classes of the faith- ful is the Archconfraternity of the Holy Family, which they establish in all their parishes. They are also most sohcitous in providing well-equipped parochial schools, and they take special care of grow- ing youth.

Within ten years of the order's foundation, per- manent establishments were made at Nocera Ci- OTaru, Ihceto and Caposele. In 1749 Benedict XIV canomcally approved the work, under the title of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer Royahsm, however, caused the greatest obstacle to the development of the new congregation \n effort to obtain the royal exequatur to the papal appro- bation proved disastrous, ami brought about a temporary separation of the Neapolitan houses and those which had been founded in the Papal States In 1793 a reunion was at last effected under the new supenor general, Pietro Paulo Blasucci, who governed the congregation until 1817. In the next

six years several houses were opened in different parts of Southern Italy and Sicily, and the society flourished, though subjected to many grave trials. It was destined, however, to take on an international character. In 1785 a young Austrian, Clemens Maria Hofbauer, journeyed to Rome with a com- panion, Thaddeus Hiibl. There they were deeply impressed by the fen-our of the Fathers of the church of St. JuUan, and appUed for admission into the community. Aiter profession and ordination, their chief desire was to transplant the congregation to northern countries. They received permission from the general to estabUsh a house in Vienna or in any other Austrian city. But the Government was unfriendly, and Father Hofbauer offered his services to the Congregation of the Propaganda at Rome. He was sent to labour for a time in Courland, Russia. In 17S6, with his former companion. Father Hubl, he arrived at Warsaw, where the papal nuncio Saluzzo gave them charge of St. Benno's church, whence they were known in Poland as "Bennonites". Their apostolic zeal and untiring efforts procured the salva- tion of many souls, and effected the conversion of many heretics and Jews, while their church pre- sented the spectacle of an uninterrupted mission.

In 1793 Father Blasucci, the reclor major, then residing at Nocera, appointed Father Hofbauer his \-icar-general with all necessary authority. His first thoughts turned to Germany, though the time seemed inopportune, since Febronianism, Josephin- ism. Freemasonry, and infidehty held sway all over Europe. He succeeded, however, in estabUshing three foundations in Southern Germany, at Jestetten, Triberg, and Babenhausen, which he confided to the care of his favourite disciple. Father Passerat. These foundations were eventually suppressed, and the members banished. Father Passerat then betook himself to Switzerland, where in 1818 he organized a community at Valsainte in a dilapidated Car- thusian monastery. In the meantime, owing to opposition, the house at Warsaw was suppressed. In 1808 the Fathers were ex-pelled from St. Benno'a and deported to the fortress of Kiistrin, Prussia, where they were disbanded. Father Hofbauer, after directing his companions to work for God's glory whenever and wherever they could, proceeded alone to Vienna, where he became an assistant chaplain and conjfessor of nuns. His influence was soon felt on all sides, even in the Congress of Vienna (1815), where the destinies of the Church in Germany were then being shaped. He was styled by Pius VII the "Apostle of Vienna". In the meantime he kept up a constant correspondence with his former companions, did all in his power to find for them suitable fields of labour, and predicted that after his death a brighter future was in store for the congre- gation, a prophecy that was soon fulfilled. He died 15 March, 1820. In accordance with the request of the Emperor Francis I, the first house of the Re- demptorists was canonically established in Vienna on Christmas Da}', 1820. In May several prominent young men, former disciples of Father Hofbauer, had already received the religious habit.

Father Passerat succeeded Hofbauer as vicar- general; the onerous and trying duties of his office were rendered more difficult by the prevalent spirit of Josephinism. The years intervening between 1815 and 1S21 found some of the Fathers labouring in Bulgaria, but, owing to the hostility of the schismat- ics, they were compelled to abandon this field. k number of flourishing foundations were established between 1820 and 1848. In 1826, at the request of the .Austrian Government, a foundation was started at Lisbon. Portugal, for the benefit of German Catholics, but it did not last long. In 1.820 the Re- demptorists acquired the convent of Bischenberg, Alsace. The new community was sent from Val-