Spiritans in USA
United States
USA ia a Spiritan Province and is part of the Union of Circumscriptions of North America and the Caribbean (UCNAC).
| CSSp U.S.A. | |
| CSSp U.S.A. (facebook) | |
| Spiritan Office for Mission Advancement | |
| Wikipedia |
| 28 Spiritan Communities: |
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| 1745 | First recorded presence of a Spiritan in what is now the USA: Père Pierre Maillard at Boston. (U.S.A. 1745-04-23) |
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| 1793 | From 1793-1794, several Spiritans settle in the USA after being expelled from Guyane. (U.S.A. 1793-01-17) |
| 1804 | Fr. Jean Moranville becomes the first Spiritan holding American citizenship. (U.S.A. 1804-03-09) |
| 1841 | Edward Barron, John Kelly and Denis Pindar set out from the U.S. for Liberia. (Deux Guinées 1841-12-15) |
| 1844 | The death of Louis Pindar (USA) at Capes des Palmes. (Deux Guinées 1844-01-02) |
| 1847 | The Propaganda Fide authorises the sending of Spiritan missionaries to the U.S.A. (USA 1847-12-24) |
| 1872 | Corporate involvement of the Congregation in the form of a vice-province begins when Fr. George Ott (of the German province) and two others sail for the USA to establish a community in Kentucky. When this fails, they move to Ohio. (USA 1872-11-07) |
| 1874 | Arrival of Fr. Joseph Strub and other Spiritans exiled from Germany as "Jesuit- related". Fr. Strub becomes the true founder of the Province and makes Pittsburgh the centre. Its purpose: pastoral care of foreign immigrants, educating aspirants in an open school or schools and work among African Americans. (U.S.A. 1874-01-14) |
| 1877 | The first Junior Seminary is started at Ross Manor: it transfers to Perrysville a few months later. (U.S.A. 1877-01-04) |
| 1877 | The first Junior Seminary starts at Ross Manor: it is transferred to Perrysville a few months later. (U.S.A. 1877-03-06) |
| 1877 | Opening of a junior seminary for American aspirants at Perrysville, Pa. (U.S.A. 1877-04-01) |
| 1878 | Fr. Strub obtains a property of 900 square miles near Morrilton, Arkansas. A brothers' community is opened and confreres build schools and churches throughout the region. The project comes to a halt in 1892 because of persistent tempests. (U.S.A. 1878-03-11) |
| 1878 | Frs. John Quinn and Michael Dunne arrive in Pittsburgh to teach in the newly opened High School. They are followed by Fr William Power, who is appointed the first rector. He is succeeded in that office by Fr. John T. Murphy in 1886 and by Fr Martin Hehir in 1899. In 1911, Fr Hehir succeeds in having Duquesne recognised as a University. (USA 1878-09-27) |
| 1879 | Despite dire warnings against accepting African-Americans as members of the Congregation, Fr. Strub courageously begins to admit some as postulant brothers in Arkansas. As a former missionary in Senegal, he has seen African Blacks become excel-lent religious and priests. (U.S.A. 1879-03-26) |
| 1880 | After two years, there are already 150 students in the upper school and the group of brothers expelled from Germany begins to build a large house in the "Golden Triangle" where the two rivers meet in the centre of Pittsburgh. (USA 1880-09-01) |
| 1882 | The college at Pittsburgh obtains a charter enabling it to confer degrees. (USA 1882-07-07) |
| 1888 | Fr. Patrick McDermott becomes pastor of St. Benedict the Moor in Pittsburgh, the first parish for African-Americans entrusted to the Congregation and the forerunner of many others. (USA 1888-07-01) |
| 1889 | Spiritans take charge of the first black parish in Philadelphia; St. Peter Claver. Many more will be taken on subsequently. (USA 1889-06-03) |
| 1894 | Tthe first Trinidadian is professed in the Con-gregation: Henri Pollonais takes his vows, under the name of Brother Rupert, in Pittsburgh, USA. (Trinidad 1894-02-26) |
| 1897 | Official opening of a clerical noviciate at Cornwells Heights, near Philadelphia, with about ten novices. The house also serves as a senior seminary and from 1905 as a junior seminary. It is now a pre-paratory school. (USA 1897-07-24) |
| 1900 | Br. Philippus Lafferty becomes the first U.S.-born Spiritan to sail for Africa. Stationed in Sierra Leone, he dies four years later. (USA 1900-10-03) |
| 1906 | Opening of a noviciate at Norwalk, CT; a senior seminary follows in 1910. They will serve the Congregation until the 1970s, although the noviciate is transferred to Ridgefield in 1922. (U.S.A. 1906-08-17) |
| 1907 | Ordination of the first African-American member of the Congregation, Fr. Joseph A. Burgess. (USA 1907-07-14) |
| 1911 | The Spiritan College in Pittsburgh is now Duquesne University. (U.S.A 1911-03-30) |
| 1911 | Fr. Joseph Schmodry becomes the pioneer of Spiritan missionaries to African-Americans in the Deep South at Alexandria, Louisiana; many others in the southern States are to follow. (USA 1911-11-18) |
| 1921 | Fr. Sigismund Rydlewski, of the U.S.A. Province, is authorised to lay the foundation of a province in Poland and opens a junior seminary at Bydgoczsz. (USA 1921-10-11) |
| 1932 | The Province of the United States takes over responsibility for the Vicariat of Kilimanjaro. Two years later, Dutch Spiritans will be asked to run Bagamoyo. (Bagamoyo 1932-05-09) |
| 1932 | The Holy See names an American citizen, Fr. Joseph Byrne, as Vicar Apostolic of Kilimanjaro in East Africa, a Vicariat it entrusts to the U.S. Province. (USA 1932-07-29) |
| 1939 | Fr. George Collins becomes the first US-born Provincial of the Province. (U.S.A. 1939-09-19) |
| 1943 | Fr. James Hyland C.S.Sp. (1886-1953), an Irishman of the "Mission Band", publishes his novel "The Dove Flies South", graphically exposing what it means to be black in a white society, seen through the eyes of a white supremacist who temporarily turns black and experiences in person the injustices he himself has always practised. The book is a best-seller that stimulates America's awakening conscience. (USA 1943-11-25) |
| 1946 | Fr. James Hyland and several others be-come the founding fathers of Spiritan missions in the Far West of the U.S.A., notably in Southern California at Hemet, Riverside and Bakersfield. They address themselves mostly to Mexican-American immigrants. (U.S.A. 1946-01-24) |
| 1950 | One half of the confreres in the U.S.A. are engaged directly in mission work with African-Americans (90), Africans in Kilimanjaro (51) and Puerto Ricans (26); the others are in ethnic parishes, education and formation. (U.S.A. 1950-06-02) |
| 1951 | Death in Pittsburgh, USA, of P. Joaquim Alves Correia of the Portuguese Province. He had a great influence on the catholic renewal movement in Portugal during the time of the Salazar government. (Portugal 1951-06-05) |
| 1960 | The work of the Spiritans in Arecibo (Puerto-Rico) is so successful that the Holy See creates the Diocese of Arecibo, entrusted to the diocesan clergy. (U.S.A. 1960-04-30) |
| 1964 | The Province of the United States is split into two, USA-East and USA-West, with the Mississippi river as their boundary, except that all of Louisiana be-longs to USA-West. (USA 1964-06-25) |
| 1977 | First meeting of the Major Superiors of North America and the Caribbean in Puerto Rico. (America 1977-02-20) |
| 1982 | The American Provinces of the SMA, CSSp., and White Fathers finance a feasibility study for an African Faith and Justice Network, which re-sults in its creation. It subsequently spreads to Europe and over forty religious institutes become members. (USA 1982-05-24) |
| 1984 | With the backing of the USA-East Prov-ince, Fr. James F. Healy, Director of Justice and Peace for the province, opens the Washington Center for Haiti to obtain redress for Haitian victims of injus-tice, whether in the U.S.A. or in Haiti itself. It be-comes a powerful factor in their search for human rights. (U.S.A. 1984-03-15) |
| 1986 | The Diocese of Brooklyn ceases to be responsible for the Spiritans who have been working with Haitian refugees. They meet together to plan their return to Haiti. They draw up a common plan, giving priority to the poor. They will not take over the College of Saint-Martial again. (Haiti 1986-11-18) |
| 1991 | The first world-wide meeting of Spiritan Lay Associates is held at Bethel Park, Pittsburgh. (C.S.Sp. 1991-06-17) |
| 1992 | The noviciate of St. Mary Magdalene of the province of USA East is set up in the diocese of Chicago. (U.S.A. 1992-02-17) |
| 1995 | The first Vietnamese Spiritan makes his profession at Houston, Texas. (USA West 1995-09-09) |
Spiritans in USA
A series of short documentaries about the Spiritans in USA, produced by Fr. Jean-Michel Gelmetti and edited by Dr. Dennis Woytek.
UCNAC Newsletter 2018
News from the Union of Circumscriptions of North America and the Caribean