Assumptionists

Born in Le Vigan on August 30, 1810, Emmanuel d'Alzon received his initial formation in the major seminary of Montpellier (1832–1833) which he completed in Rome. A student of Félicité de Lamennais, he broke with his former mentor but remained influenced by several of his ideas. He launched numerous pastoral initiatives in the diocese of Nîmes under successive bishops : Claude Petit Benoit de Chaffoy (1822–1835), Jean-François-Marie Cart (1837–1855), Claude-Henri Plantier (1855–1875), and François-Nicolas Besson (1875–1878). D'Alzon founded two congregations, one for men (the Assumptionists) and one for women (the Oblates of the Assumption).

D'Alzon resigned from his post as vicar general in 1878 after 43 years of service. With his first disciples he undertook bold apostolic goals: the foreign missions (Australia, eastern Europe), education, the press, and pilgrimages. He died on November 21, 1880, in Nîmes and was declared Venerable by Pope John Paul II in December 1991.

The congregation had its origin in the College of the Assumption, established in Nîmes, France, in 1843, by the Rev. d'Alzon vicar-general of that diocese. Organized in 1847, the members took their public vows at Christmas of the next year. A second house was established in Paris, and they continued their work there. The congregation was formally approved by a Brief of 26 November 1864. The chief objects of the congregation are to combat the spirit of irreligion in Europe and the spread of schism in the East. To this end the Assumptionists have devoted themselves to the work of Catholic higher and secondary education, to the spread of truth by means of the Press, to the conduct of pilgrimages, and to missionary work in the East. In addition to their college at Nîmes they established Apostolic schools where poor students were educated for the priesthood without expense to themselves.[3]

In the 1870s, the Assumptionists established "La Bonne Presse" which issued periodicals, pamphlets, and books in great numbers and expanded into one of the largest Catholic publishing houses in the world, Bayard Presse. They founded one of the oldest and most influential daily newspapers in France, La Croix. In English-speaking countries its best known publication is Catholic Digest.

In 1873 these religious also began a series of large-scale pilgrimages both within France and to the Holy Land which developed into such current endeavors as the popular national pilgrimage to Lourdes every year on the occasion of the feast of the Assumption, gathering thousands of pilgrims.

Their activities at the time of the Dreyfus Case aroused controversy. The Assumptionists actively promoted the conspiracy theory that unnamed Jews were destroying French institutions, in particular the Army and the Catholic church, and oppressing the people. One of many examples of their unsourced anti-Semitic polemic can be taken from their widely-circulated daily newspaper, La Croix, for 2 February 1898:

Chaque semaine, les Juifs, qui emploient le fisc à cette triste besogne, se ruent sur les biens de gens désarmés; on vole, au nom de la secte, le pain des pauvres; ça et là, des misérables consentent à acheter à bas prix les immeubles sous la direction occulte du syndicat juif,[4]

(Each week, the Jews, who exploit tax law in this sorry task, seize the goods of defenceless people; in the name of their sect, the bread of the poor is stolen; here and there, wretched people agree to buy buildings at knockdown prices under the secret instruction of the Jewish conspiracy.)

No proof of these assertions is given and no Jewish person or organisation is identified. This overt hate campaign no doubt contributed to the subsequent laws which curtailed the activities of the Assumptionists in France.

When the Republican party came to power, it required religious orders to be reorganized and registered. Some organizations, including the Assumptionists, refused and went into exile instead. In 1900 the congregation was suppressed within French territory, this action being based on the charge that they were accumulating a fund to be used in a royalist movement to overthrow the Republic. Many priests went abroad; other remained in France as secular priests under the authority of local bishops.[5]

At the time of their "suppression" the Assumptionists maintained twenty Apostolic schools which were all closed. The congregation then took up the work in other quarters. Similar schools have been established in Italy, Belgium, England, and the United States. "La Bonne Presse" was purchased at the time of the suppression by Paul Feron-Vrau, a wealthy manufacturer of Lisle, and all its publications were continued without any change. Much of the good accomplished by the Assumptionists was effected through this medium. No popular Catholic paper had reached a degree of circulation equal to that of "La Croix". In Chile, they publish in Spanish "Echoes from the Sanctuary of Lourdes". In their journalistic work they were aided by the Oblate Sisters of the Assumption, an order established by d'Alzon to assist in their Oriental missions, but whose activities are not contained to that field. Until the suppression they directed the women's section in the publishing rooms of the "Christian Press" as well as the hospitals, orphan asylums, and schools.[3]

Among other works carried on by the Assumptionists in France prior to their suppression was that of the "Association of Our Lady of Salvation", a society devoted to prayer, almsgiving, and setting a good example for the reformation of the working class. This society was established in eighty dioceses, and it succeeded in drawing the higher classes of society more closely to the workingmen. It encouraged everywhere social prayer, and social and national expiation, and discouraged human respect, social apostasy, and isolation in piety. It raised funds to convey workmen, pilgrims, paupers, and sick poor to Lourdes to the number of a thousand each year; it was zealous in the cause of workmen's clubs, and of Catholic Schools, and was active in the movement in favour of the keeping of Sunday as a day of rest.[3]

Another field of missionary labour was found among the Newfoundland fishermen. Every year 12,000 or 15,000 fishermen left the coasts of France, Belgium, and Ireland, to go to the Banks of Newfoundland for codfish. The Assumptionists organized prominent catholic sailors into a committee and were encouraged to equip two hospital ships to aid the fishermen. The vessels were wrecked twice, but replaced.

In 1925, the Assumptionists absorbed the English branch of the Fathers of St. Edmund, also known as the Oblates of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, founded in 1843 by Dom Muard.

On 11 November 1952 at the central prison of Sofia, Bulgaria three Assumptionist priests (Augustinians of the Assumption), Kamen Vitchev, Pavel Djidjov and Josaphat Chichov were executed by firing squad by the Communist regime. All three have since been beatified as martyrs for the faith.[6]

The current Rule of Life of the congregation draws its inspiration from that of St. Augustine of Hippo. This international congregation is present in nearly 30 countries throughout the world, with the most recent foundations being established in 2006 in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Togo. The congregation has long been involved in education, the press, ecumenism, pilgrimages, and the missions.

At the General Chapter of 2011, a French priest Benoit Griere, was elected on 11 May to succeed Father Richard Lamoureaux- who had served the maximum of two successive six-year terms-as the 10th superior general. The religious institute's new superior general, a physician, theologian, and ethicist, was born in 1958 in Chauny, France. He studied medicine in Reims, France, and simultaneously began his formation as a candidate for the Assumptionist priesthood in seminary, studying philosophy and sacred theology. He entered the Assumptionists in 1991 and was ordained to the priesthood in 1995. According to the 2012 Annuario Pontificio, the Augustinians of the Assumption number 882 religious, of whom 541 are priests, in 125 communities.

There are thirteen religious congregations which, in one capacity or another, trace their roots either directly to the three major founding figures (Rev. Théodore Combalot, 1797–1873, Saint Marie-Eugénie de Jésus Milleret de Brou, 1817–1898, and Fr. Emmanuel d'Alzon, 1810–1880) or indirectly under the inspiration. Members are present in over 60 countries throughout the world.

In addition to the Assumptionists, a number of other congregations belong to the larger Assumption Family: The Religious (Sisters) of the Assumption, the Oblates (Missionary Sisters) of the Assumption, the Little Sisters of the Assumption, the Orantes of the Assumption, the Sisters of St. Joan of Arc, the Brothers of the Assumption, the Little Sisters of the Presentation of Our Lady, the Missionary Sisters of the Assumption, and the Sisters of the Cross.

The Religious Sisters of the Assumption

Marie Eugénie de Jésus Milleret de Brou

The Congregatiion of the Religious of the Assumption was founded in Paris (Seine), Férou Street, in 1839. The foundress, Mother Marie-Eugénie de Jésus (Marie-Eugénie Milleret de Brou), was born in Metz on August 25, 1817. After being received into the Church in 1836, she met Rev. Théodore Combalot in 1837. Under his inspiration, she founded with four other women, a religious congregation, after having trained with the Benedictines of the Blessed Sacrament in Paris and with the Visitation Sisters of Mt. St. Andrew (Isère).[7] At the age of 22, in 1839, she was elected superior of the new congregation. In 1841 Fr. d'Alzon became her spiritual guide. She made her final vows at Christmas 1844, and resigned as superior general in 1894. The mother-house was located in the Auteuil mansion from 1857 till their expulsion in 1900 when they moved to Val Notre-Dame in Belgium. The generalate is located in Paris.

• Missionary Sisters of the Assumption

The Missionary Sisters of the Assumption (M.S.A.) were founded in 1849 in Grahamstown (South Africa) as a result of a split with the Religious of the Assumption. The original mother-house was located in Grahamstown, but was later transferred to Johannesburg. The first superior general was Mother Marie-Gertrude Henningsen (1822–1904). The current superior general is Sr Barbara Standing. There are approximately 70 religious in 10 communities.

Other foundations of the Assumption Family took place in the 20th century and not all of them bear the name "Assumption" even if they owe their origin to an Assumptionist.

• The Sisters of St. Joan of Arc (S.J.A.) were founded in 1914 in Worcester, Massachusetts (USA) by Fr. Marie-Clément Staub, A.A and Sr. Jeanne du Sacre Coeur, born Célina Benoît. (1876–1936). The mother-house was established in Sillery, Québec in 1917.
• The Servas Obreras Catequistas (S.O.C.) were founded in Argentina by Fr. Joseph-Marie Moreau, A.A. (1897–1947) in 1934.
• The Sisters of the Cross were founded in Athens in 1939. Their mother-house is located on Ipirou Street Agia Paraskevi. This congregation was founded by Fr. Elpide Iannis Stephanou, A.A.(1896–1978).
• The Brothers of the Assumption were founded in 1951 in Beni (Democratic Republic of the Congo) by Bishop Henri Piérard, A.A. (1893–1975), as a lay diocesan institute for the diocese of Beni-Butembo. It has remained a small congregation.
• The Little Sisters of the Presentation of Our Lady were founded in 1948 also by Bishop Piérard as a diocesan institute. Its mother-house is now located in Butembo, North Kivu (DRC).
• The Little Missionaries of the Cross were founded in Bogotá in 1955. They later became and remain a secular institute with no particular link to the Assumptionists.

Especially since the 1970s, the various congregations of the Assumption Family have highlighted in a more visible way their common origins and their similarities of spirit and life. These efforts have led to greater exchanges and shared programs: inter-novitiates, assemblies, get-togethers of young members of the Assumption Family, colloquia, annual meetings of the general councils of the congregations, joint foundations, collaboration on a provincial level, and the joint preparation of two magazines (Assomption et ses oeuvres and Itinéraires Augustiniens).

In 1993, a series of articles gathered under the title, The Spirit of Assumption according to Emmanuel d'Alzon described Assumptionist spirituality.

• Mather, Judson Irving. "La Croix and the Assumptionist response to secularization in France, 1870-1900" PhD Dissertation. University of Michigan, 1971.

• Official website
• Augustinians of the Assumption - U.S. Region, North American Province