On Sunday, June 29th, the Feast of the two Apostles St Peter and St Paul, over 40 members of the Enlarged General Council, after an early breakfast at Chevilly Larue, boarded a coach at 6.50am which drove us to Montparnasse station in Paris where we took the fast 8.22am TGV train to Rennes to begin our Pilgrimage tracing the steps of Claude François Poullart des Places.
Arriving at Rennes at 10.20am we were met by our confrères Raymond Jung, Dominique Bodinier, Richard Fagah and Miriam Herveau, a Lay Spiritan Associate, who warmly welcomed us to the birthplace of our Founder. They led us on a short walk into the centre of Rennes to the beautiful church of St. Germain which had played a significant role in the life of Poullart and his family. Sadly, the church where Claude was baptised on 27th February 1679 (the day after he was born) – Saint-Pierre-en-Saint-Georges – no longer exists (the site being covered today by a swimming pool!) and when Claude was six years old his family moved from that parish of Saint-Pierre to the Rue des Cordeliers in the parish of Saint Germain where they were to spend the next five years. It was here that the ECG members all participated in a very lively Sunday Parish Mass in honour of SS Peter and Paul, presided by the PP, Fr Herbert, with a good crowd of his regular parishioners.
It was in this Church of St Germain that the young Poullart between the age of six and twelve came to worship every week with his parents and younger sister. It was here he grew in faith. But it was also here where he came to pray with his friend, Louis Grignon de Montfort, who was older than him by six years. Claude and Louis were particularly drawn to pray in the side chapel dedicated to the Holy Spirit, where after our own Mass all the Spiritans gathered together to pray with our Superior General, Fr Alain Mayama, who lit a candle in front of the memorial plaque to Poullart that was erected there in 1959 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the young Founder’ death.
After Mass we walked in the sunshine to a lovely local restaurant, La Taverne, for lunch where we had an excellent meal, with the French Province offering us a local Breton apéritif. Suitably replenished, after lunch, we resumed our pilgrimage, walking in the footsteps of Poullart. Our very first stop, appropriately enough, was outside the little chapel of the last remains of the ancient 15th century hospital of St Yves. It was here at this hostel that as a young boy Claude first awakened to the needs of the poor. Under the influence of a local priest, Father Julien Bellier, curate at the cathedral, Poullart and Louis were encouraged to visit the sick and the ill who were at the St Yves hospital. A member of the newly formed association of «Priests of the Holy Spirit», Fr Bellier urged the two friends to teach catechism to the young street kids and to give alms to orphans. It was here at the Hostel of Saint-Yves that Poullart’s sensitivity to help poor youth first began, when he himself was still quite young. We owe a huge debt to Fr Julien for this initiative.
We continued our walk through the back streets of Rennes towards the Parliament building. It was good to feel the atmosphere of these old back streets, breathing in the Breton air that Poullart had breathed so long ago. It cannot be over emphasised how much living in this particular area of Rennes shaped and fashioned the character of our young founder. His family moved house two or three times – but always within this small central area which was in walking distance of several churches, including the Cathedral of Saint Pierre and the Church of Holy Saviour. Poullart’s wealthy father, François-Claude des Places, held a couple of important positions, especially that of Director of the Mint (Juge-Garde des Monnaies) and he brought his family to live above his work-place. So, we stopped there outside the house on Rue De La Monnaie where his father worked and the family lived. It was the central office – the Hotel des Monnaies de Bretagne – for many years between 1418 and 1774.
In 1690 (the year that Claude started School with the Jesuits at Collège Saint-Thomas) the des Places family moved again, only a few hundred yards away to Rue Saint Sauveur, [probably at number 5], just around the corner from the church of the same name. but also very close to the Cathedral of Saint Pierre. Unfortunately, we are not able to pinpoint the exact location of where the family lived but there is no doubt about the massive role these churches of Saint Germain, Saint Sauveur and Saint Pierre played in the life of young Poullart. We went first into the imposing Cathedral of Saint Pierre, grateful for its cool shade compared to the sweltering heat outside. Then, welcomed briefly by its Parish Priest, we popped into the Basilica of Saint Saviour where Claude and Louis Grignon de Monfort were frequent visitors, praying in front of the ancient statue of Our Lady of Miracles and the Good Virtues. We noticed two statues there on either side of the venerated Virgin Mary, one of St Jean Eudes and one of St Louis Grignon de Montfort. We expressed sadness that there is nothing there to remind us of Poullart des Places!
Next crossing the Saint Germain footbridge, we paused for a while in Parliament Square, admiring the architecture of the magnificent Parliament building which François-Claude had hoped would be the professional destination of his son Claude-François. Instead, it became the venue where at the end of his studies at Collège Saint-Thomas, the 19-year-old Claude brilliantly publicly defended in Latin his thesis in the «Great Act» in 1698 and for which he was given a prize of the works of Cicero. This occasion was captured in the famous portrait of Poullart by Jouvenet.
We then took a short break from following Claude’s footsteps by taking the Metro to the Rennes suburb of Gros Chêne to visit the new Spiritan parish of Saint Laurent, where we were welcomed by our three confrères Basil Dike [Nigeria], Anaclet Asingwire [Uganda] and Michel Ossoua [Cameroun]. There we were treated to excellent refreshments and a lively reception by a group of parishioners who furnished each of us with a picnic bag to sustain us for the return journey to Paris. Their kindness was much appreciated by the weary pilgrims.
Resuming our pilgrimage in the old centre of Rennes, we crossed the famous footbridge again and once more passed in front of the Saint Germain church, on to our final destination which was – the site of the Collège Saint-Thomas and its Jesuit church. This was the School run by the Jesuits where Claude studied from the age of 11 until he was 19. The importance of Collège Saint-Thomas in shaping the mind and heart of our young Founder cannot be exaggerated. It was an enlightened decision to end our pilgrimage to Rennes by going to pray Evening Prayer in this beautiful baroque Jesuit church of Toussaints – All Saints, attached alongside the College.
There we experienced the surprise of being joined in the church by the Archbishop of Rennes himself, Mgr. Pierre D’Ornellas, who led us in our singing of Vespers. Before Evening Prayer started, our confrère Raymond Jung shared a beautiful reflection on what we owe Collège Saint-Thomas and its Jesuit teachers who accompanied Poullart so closely and helped him mature in his faith and discern his future pathway in the years between 1690 and 1698. This was also the place of the decisive Retreat which changed the whole direction of Claude’s life.
Mgr. D’Ornellas, with great humour, expressed his appreciation and joy at having the Spiritans working in his archdiocese, and Fr Alain Mayama replied articulating our gratitude for the support and encouragement he gives to our brothers, and pledging our availability for future service. After final photos together with the Archbishop in All Saints Church, we began to head back to get our train for P aris.
At the station we said our goodbyes to the Rennes confrères – Raymond, Dominique, Richard and Myriam – and then took the fast TGV train back to Paris where at Montparnasse our faithful coach-driver was waiting to drive us home to Chevilly Larue where we arrived just before 10:00pm – hot, tired and weary – but delighted and grateful for the privilege of retracing the early footsteps of the Rennes-born Founder of the Spiritans, Claude-François Poullart des Places. So ended an excellent, unforgettable day – a grace for those members of the EGC who were able to participate in this Pilgrimage to where it all began.
